Rovers v Brentford

[Boz]

I think this is a weather-vane kind of match. Win and you feel that the foothills of the play-offs might be possible, a draw suggests safety, but lose and there is a real fear that we could end up in another relegation battle.

Rovers had a good away win at Griffin Park during our bright start to the season, with Tiryaki and Robinson apparently doing well. Last season we got hammered at PP, by a struggling Brentford side, who we gifted a win to. Their current line-up are in touching distance of the play-offs and number former Rovers loanee Shay Logan amongst their squad. Not the best of recent results, but they were up against 2 of the top 6, so expecting a tough game.

Interesting team-selections for Les, as the squad approaches full fitness. There have been efforts to loan a striker, which haven't so far come to fruition. As commented elsewhere, Les seems to have given up on Tiryaki, rather than trying to adapt our play to take advantage of his strengths. Can't see Goodi featuring up front all game, so unless we do borrow, Akins up front again?
Think Goodi may be recalled at the back and Welsh start in the middle. Is Baxter still with us, if not is Robinson over the illness which apparently kept him off the bench at Hillsborough?

Prediction: Crowd of 4.4k to see Rovers scrape a draw.

 

[bigmart]

baxter last game before loan ends, im going for a 1 1 draw

 

[Higgy]

I will go 0-0 Crowd 4.1k

Can't see us scoring using the likely striking options ie Atkins or Tiryaki (thought he might have turned out better). As stated previously I would give McGurk a shot down the middle and Zoum wide left and line up the best centre mid combi we have.

 

[Sparky]

I'm with Higgy on the McGurk issue. No-one else up top is scoring plus Adam has done nothing good recently playing wide so why not give him a go down the middle ?

Les obviously when playing one up front (with Jose behind) likes the strong type who can hold it up etc, although Akins has played there, but nothing else is working in front of goal.

Although in saying that, I suspect Les will look for another performance similar to the Bury one in that it doesnt matter who scores as long as we get the 3 points.

Brentford havent been great at home so I suspect their decent league position is due to away form so it will be a challenge.

I'm being optimistic with us to sneak a 1-0 win with a Baxter goal to finish his loan spell.

 

[Higgy]

Thanks for the endorsement Sparky. I do think played in the middle McGurk will demonstarte he can finish, but also I think the football might be better. Although Les will have liked the Bury result I think we were flattered and the big guy up front trick is not great to watch. Worse given that Tiryaki despite being a big bloke does not seemed suited to how we play it - granted the isolation does not help, but he does not seem stong enough.

Hope you atre correct re Baxter.

 

[Sparky]

I've always thought that arguably McGurk is our most natural goalscorer on the books at the moment.

Certainly when he has had a chance down the middle e.g. towards the end of last season (Leyton Orient springs to mind), he has scored a few poacher type goals. He scored a lot as a youngster and really has been a victim of injuries and being played out fof position by Les.

Same old story tomorrow I reckon tho - big Chicken up top.

 

[Higgy]

Agree totally.

Just disappointed in Chicken as I did think he had decent football brain and looked like he may have a touch of class. Don't think he will make it now.

 

[SonkORLY?]

I'll continue to argue that Les underrates Tiryaki and doesn't really understand how to use him.

Not sold on this McGurk idea basically because we don't have many other options on the left. Well we do but IMO they are not viable. Zoum is pretty awful there and we run into big problems with Robinson and Baxter on the pitch at the same time.

 

[roverstillidie]

McGurk hasn't been given a chance upfront by Les and Tiriyaki is clearly not a target man, he's always looking to play off someone or run onto balls rather than hold them up. Both McGurk and Tiriyaki are players who don't suit hoof ball, until Les realises there isn't a rule against passing the ball we wont see the best of either of them.

I agree that Zoom is pretty poor on the wing - his crossing is awful, unfortunately he's the best we've got due to Parry's allergy to signing wingers. I don't think that Baxter has added a great deal, he just looks like a younger version of Robinson and seems have a habit of vanishing during games - although the hoofing wont help. We need a winger and a striker although knowing Les we'll end up with a right back and a centre mid.


I would like to see Les try 4-4-2 as our form in the past 10 games suggests that teams know how to deal with our 4-5-1 approach.

Team I would play:

Rachubka

Holmes McCrystal Goodison Buchanan

Robinson/Devaney (if fit, otherwise Weir/Power) Welsh Labadie Zoom

Tiriyaki McGurk

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

I'll continue to argue that Les underrates Tiryaki and doesn't really understand how to use him.

I can't say if this is true, but I'm not sure our system suits such an inexperienced player. I think he is league standard but if you are right he may need to find another club before he will make the grade.

But I would say that Akins and McGurk are not played in their "best" position - again, that's due to our system. McGurk seems to be a more natural goalscorer, so I would like to see him in a more central role at times - even if it's only for the last 30 minutes.

Just to get you thinking, I spoke to my postie about Showunmi. He said when Enoch played for Luton, he appeared mostly on the left-wing. Luton fans remember him fondly as a speedy, tricky winger not as a goalscorer. OK, this was a few years ago when he was younger, but he might still be useful as a wide player, if we could find an effective target man.

 

[Higgy]

I'll continue to argue that Les underrates Tiryaki and doesn't really understand how to use him.

I think your right he is not rated by Les He is definitely not a target man/battering ram, so his only chance is if he is more of a footballing big man (more Peter Osgood than Peter Withe). As someone who said give him a shot from the start I hope Les can get the ball to his feet more and he may come good. Don't think he will get that chance and I was saying get McGurk down the middle as they would have to play to feet or space rather than hoof it - as there is no way Les could be deluded to think he was a target man.

It is often said that Zoum is poor wide left in terms of delivery. Apart from extra defensive attributes I think he is also good at putting the opposing defenders under pressure when they are trying to bring the ball out....often too comfortably for me. I saw Tiryaki tracking out to close the full back and a centre half down, who both could have played some keepy uppy there was so little pressure.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I still think Tiryaki is the best option up front if supported properly. I am not against the idea of McGurk playing there, but I think his attitude has been dreadful in recent matches, and I am not convinced he is the answer to our problems at present.

Tiryaki still has the best goals to games ratio of the strikers, and as suggested earlier on, Parry almost seems to be willing him to fail at the moment by playing him in an identical role to Enoch, with no variation in tactics.

Looking at the game tomorrow, our best performance of the season came at Griffin Park in August when Robinson and Devaney were in their pomp, but Brentford's away form has been excellent, with only two defeats on their travels. A very tough game against a side on the fringe of the play offs, but just about winnable I think. Brentford have a decent and likeable manager in Uwe Rosler, by the way.

 

[Sparky]

Think it's a bit harsh to say McGurk has been dreadful. I think his confidence is rock bottom due in part to being played out of position supporting no decent frontman. If Adam has been dreadful then so have most of the team in recent weeks when you look at our results.

As for Rosler he has made some interesting pre match comments in that they have a score to settle with us as we were so physical last time. Will be interesting to see how it goes.

 

[Boz]

Les isn't very good with strikers; he's not prepared to tinker with how we set up depending on who is playing up front. Don't think Tiryaki is that poor a striker, but neither were Terry Gornell or Marvin Sordell. They didn't make much impact here, yet are doing well at their current clubs.

I haven't seen many of the recent games, but am a little puzzled as to what makes RLC say McGurk's attitude is dreadful. There are arguments for playing him out wide or up front, but by nature he's more of a front-man. The advantage of having a slightly smaller guy up front are that it cuts down on the tendency to play hoof-ball.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I haven't seen many of the recent games, but am a little puzzled as to what makes RLC say McGurk's attitude is dreadful.

In recent games he has had little or no impact on our attacking play, and gave the ball away twice in midfield with sloppy passes in the second half against Bury which almost cost us the game and resulted in him getting subbed. Hence he was left out for Bakayogo at Sheffield Wednesday.

I think he is a decent player, and clearly centre forward is his best position, but I am puzzled as to why people think he would be much better in that role than Tiryaki, unless he got the service and support that Mustafa isn't getting at the moment. He can play well out wide, as we saw in the first couple of months of the season, but hasn't in recent weeks in my view, although he does give the team a better shape defensively on the left, compared to Robinson.

 

[Ian]

I think some of the critisicm aimed at Tirkayi is harsh. He can hold his own most of the time. He's certainly got more strength than Akins and McGurk and there have been times when he's been pushed and shoved but he shakes it off and gets on with it. I like his attitude. He always seems to be up for it.

Let's be honest, anyone is going to struggle in that lone strike role when most of the time you are chasing aimless balls hoping to latch onto something. No need to single Tiryaki out in that respect. But he shows good touch and can play some really good balls at times. Sadly, whenever he receives the ball, he's always 10 yards behind where he needs to be due to the system.

As has been mentioned, his goals to games ratio is still the best at the club and he has a wicked shot when he gets the opportunity to use it. I'd certainly like to see more of him but sadly it will never work under Parry. Whether or not his cards are marked with Parry, he needs more support up front to really play to his strengths. Weighing up the alternatives, he would be my first pick of the bunch.

Going to be tough tomorrow and we won't get away with hoofing balls all game. Let's get the ball down and play some football.

Is Devaney any closer to a return?

We really need to start picking up some points now otherwise we can kiss the season goodbye. Three home games this month is a great opportunity. Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

 

[DIW]

I'll continue to argue that Les underrates Tiryaki and doesn't really understand how to use him.

I would agree with this Sonk.

Haven't see the comments Les has made but considering we pulled Tiryaki from non-league he hasn't done too badly. Too early to give up on him yet surely.

 

[Mal]

Unfortunately, I believe Aldridge and Muir would have struggled to score the way we play at the moment. At least, Aldridge record would have been akin to his RoI tally, if not worse. There was an old joke about Jack Charlton's teams that went, "Team A will play Team B with Charlton's team across the middle". that's how I feel about how we play at the moment. shame really because I do believe we have forwards who would score if they played for teams like MK Dons.

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

Interesting line-up, our most attacking for some time and not what Les had us believe. Good to see Tiryaki still there with support from Devaney and Baxter. Ash and Mark in defence. Strong bench too. Zoom at left back. Where is Buchanan?