League Two Rovers v Carlisle

[bigmart]

Shambles

 

[Boz]

Couldn’t see the penalty foul but there didn’t seem to be too many protests

 

[Sparky]

Game over. A well worked corner routine saw our player push over their lad who was lining up a shot. As boz says no protests.

 

[Ian]

I thought Tranmere were better team and piling on the pressure for last 10 mins before half time !

They were but nothing to show for it. Done zero second half.

 

[Sparky]

Morris and cogley create a good chance for Nevitt but it’s blazed over

 

[Sparky]

Burton on for Nevitt. Should have tried that on Tuesday.

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

Could be a long afternoon

Could be a long season.

 

[Ian]

Just a write of that game.

 

[Sparky]

Well as frustrating as Rochdale was this was even worse. The worst possible start saw us a goal down after a minute. A long ball in behind Bristow saw stretton pull it back for Dennis to easily score.

The goal understandably shocked us for a while but we kept battling and late in the half had a couple of half chances and corners.

However conceding another early goal this time in the second half basically ended the game. As I suspected their centre halves dealt with Nevitt and Hemmings easily. Merrie was poor and rightly taken off by although Nolan was good in possession I would have preferred the mobility and goal threat of mcalear. In the end it didn’t matter and Burton was feeding off scraps. Simeu looked dodgy but Morris and cogley probably our best two players. I kept thinking about our striker recruitment as we were linked with carlisles on loan forward stretton who was dangerous, mobile and fit. Instead we signed injury prone strikers

The worry is that you look at the options on the bench and their isn’t much. We’ve flogged the front two to death and they looked off the pace today.

What on earth does Micky do ahead of in form Stockport on Tuesday? He’ll have his work cut out to turn that around. No doubt like he said pre match, he’ll say we asked for this with the change in policy and with youngsters you’ll get inconsistencies, but I certainly didn’t and part of me thinks we’re further back from the top 7 than we were last season.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

A miserable afternoon.

I think the timing and manner of both goals completely killed us today. The opening goal was absolutely ridiculous from our point of view, a bread and butter move where there was no pressure on the cross and the centre halves were asleep. I think the goal stunned us and we were all over the place for the first twenty minutes of the first half, sloppy defensively, failing to retain the ball and losing too many individual battles.

On the twenty minute mark we did settle and begin to play some decent football. However, after the concession of the penalty we were never going to get back into the game against a side that plays five at the back and does not lose many games. In the last three matches we have given away soft goals in the first half which has left us chasing against a packed defence, something that obviously needs to change.

I thought Doohan, Cogley, Morris and O'Connor had reasonable games, but few others. The fact we had to look to Burton to try and inject some spark in the second half again demonstrated the limitations in the squad.

We need a win on Tuesday night to get moving again.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Well as frustrating as Rochdale was this was even worse. The worst possible start saw us a goal down after a minute. A long ball in behind Bristow saw stretton pull it back for Dennis to easily score.

The goal understandably shocked us for a while but we kept battling and late in the half had a couple of half chances and corners.

However conceding another early goal this time in the second half basically ended the game. As I suspected their centre halves dealt with Nevitt and Hemmings easily. Merrie was poor and rightly taken off by although Nolan was good in possession I would have preferred the mobility and goal threat of mcalear. In the end it didn’t matter and Burton was feeding off scraps. Simeu looked dodgy but Morris and cogley probably our best two players. I kept thinking about our striker recruitment as we were linked with carlisles on loan forward stretton who was dangerous, mobile and fit. Instead we signed injury prone strikers

The worry is that you look at the options on the bench and their isn’t much. We’ve flogged the front two to death and they looked off the pace today.

What on earth does Micky do ahead of in form Stockport on Tuesday? He’ll have his work cut out to turn that around. No doubt like he said pre match, he’ll say we asked for this with the change in policy and with youngsters you’ll get inconsistencies, but I certainly didn’t and part of me thinks we’re further back from the top 7 than we were last season.

I think it is the depth of the squad that is the issue, which is almost certainly due to finances.

 

[Sparky]

As an aside the Carlisle forwards should have been booked for their celebrations in front of the kop. Nearly caused a riot and one guy had to be held back by his mate

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Could be a long season.

It depends what our expectations are. We have hit a dip in form, but it is still only one defeat in eight and we are comfortably placed. Financially we are not in a position to blow the division away.

 

[ONIGP]

Very disappointing. On the back foot after such an early first goal; a very poor decision by Bristow. The stats would suggest that we were unfortunate but, in reality, we didn't have the nouse to break down a well organised if unspectacular opponent. It was a tough watch. I hope I'm wrong but I'm struggling to see how we switch the lights back on for Tuesday. Certainly plenty for the coaching staff to think about.

 

[Goody Two Shoes]

I’m normally fairly up-beat, but it’s hard to take many positives out of that.
Thought Carlisle we’re good value for their win and just did a job on us.
Naive for both goals/penalty and we created very little, but we’ve all got to take it on the chin and hope we’ll be better on Tuesday.
Undefeated runs are always a bit of a monkey on your back, so now the monkey’s been banished, let’s start again.
If we win on Tuesday, selling 4 points out of 9, from three consecutive home games, as being a positive might prove difficult, but for me a win will put today into room 101.

 

[bigmart]

They were by far the better side and got in behind us far too easily early on, the switch to a back 3 didn't make much difference and we didn't really create anything of note in the entire game.
The front 2 do not look like a partnership as the look up play is virtually none existent. Why doesn't one of the defenders drop deep to receive the ball from Doohan instead of him kicking long only for it to come straight back again as the front 2 barely won a header.

 

[Sparky]

Micky critical post match of the front two about having two strikers over 6 foot tall and not doing enough. But there were several out of sorts today.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

The eleven that started the game today are all good players, but there are signs of fatigue, loss of form or even complacency from some at the moment, which brings us back to the lack of depth and competition in the squad. Merrie was particularly poor in the first half and I think Simeu has been sloppy in the last couple of matches.

We have possibly reached the point where we have to take make a few changes to freshen things up, even if those coming into the side are poorer players on paper than those they replace.

 

[Sparky]

The eleven that started the game today are all good players, but there are signs of fatigue, loss of form or even complacency from some at the moment, which brings us back to the lack of depth and competition in the squad. Merrie was particularly poor in the first half and I think Simeu has been sloppy in the last couple of matches.

We have possibly reached the point where we have to take make a few changes to freshen things up, even if those coming into the side are poorer players on paper than those they replace.

Yes I agree. Micky talked previously about some players perhaps thinking they had no competition so were a nailed on starter. I’m not sure that was the case but we’ve had a busy schedule and players do get tired. The issues is do you stick with probably our strongest eleven or thereabouts, or play a weaker but fresher starting team? I don’t think the defence will change but the likes of Hughes, Nolan, mcalear and Burton could arguably get a start on Tuesday.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Yes I agree. Micky talked previously about some players perhaps thinking they had no competition so were a nailed on starter. I’m not sure that was the case but we’ve had a busy schedule and players do get tired. The issues is do you stick with probably our strongest eleven or thereabouts, or play a weaker but fresher starting team? I don’t think the defence will change but the likes of Hughes, Nolan, mcalear and Burton could arguably get a start on Tuesday.

We could do with Lewis back ASAP. He allows us to rotate the strikers and gives us another source of goals, whereas Burton does not look ready / good enough to make an impact.