• Nigel Adkins has been given the Tranmere job on a permanent basis signing until the end of the 25/26 season. Continue the discussion here.

Rovers v Colchester

Rovers v Colchester
Posted by Ian
Prenton Park
Saturday, September 8, 2018 - 03:00 PM
Until: Saturday, September 8, 2018 - 05:00 PM
(Adjusted for timezone: Europe/London)
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Boz

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Iain Hume
Felt a draw was a fair result, if Colchester had adopted a more positive approach, they could have taken all 3 points. Unsure the subs had much impact, save fresh legs. Agree with sponsors Monthe MoM. Will post in more depth when I get home.
 
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aldo
The midfield just didn't do there jobs to mutch way ward passes . They didn't look like scoring untill a howler by scottie. And sick of never getting the ball over the first man at corners or missing everybody . Dont they practice them on the training ground. Cole never looked like scoring . Did think dmh should have been on a lot earlier and if the boys in the middle of the park had opend there eyes he was free a few times. We should have won but at least we didnt lose
 

Ian

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I don’t think we should have won. I agree with a Boz, I think a draw was fair. Even though we gifted them a goal through Scottie’s antics, I thought there were too many below par performances today.

Smith was anonymous, Banks and McCullough struggled to control the game in the middle. The front two worked hard but as is the case in almost every game, Norwood gets a goal and Stockton fades into the background.

I think Sparky touches on this briefly but we lack firepower up front. Norwoods goals will only get us so far. We’ll scrape 1-0 wins and draws all season as we don’t have enough goals in the team. Shame, as we’ll do OK this season but will hold us back until we can strengthen in this area.

On a positive note, Monthe was immense at the back and rightly deserved his MOTM award. Didn’t put a foot wrong all game.
 

Sparky

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Chris Greenacre
That’s the third time this season we’ve took the lead and drawn or lost
 

bigmart

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First half was quite decent the second half was very poor against for me looked like a National League team, came with no ambition at all. A howler gifted them a goal which they rarely looked like scoring except for the first half following the mistake by McNulty. Banks was very disappointing today his passing was very poor I thought the two wide men were fairly poor, CJ really should have buried his header.

Monthe was very deserving of MOM had a fantastic game
 

Sparky

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I do wonder about Jenningsj. He did well as a wide man in the national league but he’s up against stronger and quicker full backs in league 2. Not easy for him as he’s not a winger
 
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aldo
You gotta feel for mullin he got 10 goals last season on the wing . Cole don't look like scoring even when he had a good chance he fluffed his lines. If mullin is only gonna get 15 mins then he is hardly gonna get a chance. Starting to wonder what the point of motley dilan Henry comming back if he not gonna get used . Jennings today looked lost . And seen smith 2 times now not impressed at all.
 

Cowshed Kid

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As has been said, a bit too many of them were off colour today. And I have to say that the crowd couldn't seem to get going properly either.
A game of few chances, a terrific finish by Nors and a self inflicted equaliser.
When he chooses to punch, Scottie is normally safe put that was a real flapper today and it did seem to knock the stuffing out of them.
Did think Zoum would get his place back but didn't expect man mountain Manny to oust Ellis.
Ellis can rightly feel disappointed but what a performance from Manny.
Stockton didn't have a bad game save for one Eeyore air shot in the box in first half. But ultimately he's up front to score goals and we need goals to supplement Nors's efforts.
Didn't notice the ref much in first half but in the second he made his ineptitude felt. Their no 9 was on about seven offences until he was booked and when he was, within seconds, he was subbed.
Bottom line is that it was a well deserved, hard earned point against another "good yardstick" in this division. And we weren't at our best.
 

Cowshed Kid

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Very early days I know - the table days we're 14th.
Also only three points off third spot!
 

Boz

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Iain Hume
My thoughts on today;

Scott Davies. He'll be remembered for the weak punch that gave them an equaliser rather than saving McNulty's bacon after a sloppy back-pass, another decent save in the second half and some good handling, such is a keeper's lot.

Defence. Both full-backs solid and some good attacking moves by Zoum. McNulty the usual rock in the air, but strangely out of sorts on the deck. Monthe was awesome.

Midfield. In this game, agree with AM that there was a problem. While Banks was involved in the build-up for our goal, he was often too casual or trying to be clever rather than opt for the simple ball, probably the poorest I've seen him in a Rovers shirt. McCulloch seemed to run into dead ends or give away possession rather more than usual. Saw more of Smith in the first half because of swapping ends and he played really well, great trap of Stockton's cross-field ball to bring out a save from the keeper another decent volley punched away by their goalie. Much quieter in the second half. Connor Jennings drifted in and out of the game, brought a good save from their keeper, from which Mullin failed to put the rebound away.

Attack. Norwood took his goal well, had another flagged offside, but was quieter than usual. Stockton had a very good first half, probably the best he's played since coming back, holding play up, winning headers, good cross-field passes and played a part in our goal. He is lacking confidence though, a couple of times being the player furthest forward, but rather than heading for goal, he held play up until team-mates and Colchester defenders caught up.

I was disappointed given the problems in the middle of the park, that Micky chose like-for-like substitutions rather than looking to change things. DMH had little effect and Mullin spurned the only decent chance to come his way.
 
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Higgy

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Dave Higgins
Early days, but disappointing result. I knew MM would start with Stockton - would have preferred Mullin to have had a chance to build on Tuesday's decent showing. Disappointed Cole never got a look in - especially as DMH didn't perform when introduced. Cole can get more involved across the frontline and make things happen.
 

Boz

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Two late goals from ex-Rovers grabbing their teams a point. Cookie coming off the bench (surprising he didn’t start) for Walsall to score in the 88th minute and Alabi leaving it even later to get Orient a point with his first goal for them.
 

joe

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I think folks need to get away from this phrase 'dropping him'. If you listen to Melon he does not say the word team anymore but uses the word 'Group'. He sees it as a revolving group of players who will be picked according to the opposition or how he wants us to play. Its not perfect but he is trying to use the squad as much as possible. We will all have opinions on who plays but lets leave it to Mellon who is the only 'Manager' that matters. As I say we will disagree sometimes but lets leave it to him. One example yesterday was not playing Ellis (who I would have played) but Monthe played and was Man of the Match.
 
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Some belated comments as I have not been able to get on the site since Saturday (anyone else had problems ?).

I thought for the first twenty minutes we were excellent but very poor thereafter, and I agree with Ian that we did not deserve three points. The second half showing was a real disappointment and it was the first time this season I have come away from the ground feeling quite deflated. We simply did not keep the ball after half time, with Banks well below par, and as negative as Colchester were in the first half, I thought they controlled the game after the break.

I thought both wide men really struggled, which made me wonder whether we should be persisting with the 442 formation at the moment. Smith started the season brightly but has faded recently, while Connor is struggling to play out of position at a decent level, as any player would. It might be worth sacrificing Smith to play Jennings centrally in a 532, which might also address our goalscoring problems, at least partially. At the moment we are struggling to maintain consistent performances over ninety minutes, and the lack of control in midfield is a problem, particularly against the better sides; it was an issue at Northampton and again in the second half on Saturday.

I also did not think Micky had his greatest day tactically on Saturday: the substitutions were made too late and were simply like for like. At half time Colchester changed shape, but we did not respond tactically and we lost control of the game from that point onwards. I also thought DMH was lucky to get on the pitch after his really poor showing against Crewe, and Tollitt might have been more effective.

The real positive from the game was that Colchester did not actually carve us open in general play once, and it was another individual error that cost us the goal. It was uncharacteristic from Davies, who has been excellent this season.

I thought Cole put in his best performance since rejoining in the first half, but we are clearly short up front. We seem to have hit a glass ceiling at the moment, where we are always competitive in games, nobody gives us a hiding, but we are clearly two or three players away from being really competitive at this level. I think we need another striker, another creative player in midfield, and something extra in the wide areas, despite the number of bodies we have in that position. However, if I had been offered a mid-table finish this season, I would have been very pleased.
 

Ian

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I thought Cole put in his best performance since rejoining in the first half, but we are clearly short up front. We seem to have hit a glass ceiling at the moment, where we are always competitive in games, nobody gives us a hiding, but we are clearly two or three players away from being really competitive at this level. I think we need another striker, another creative player in midfield, and something extra in the wide areas, despite the number of bodies we have in that position. However, if I had been offered a mid-table finish this season in the summer, I would have been very pleased.
Completely agree with this. We just haven't quite got enough to push those draws into wins at the moment. Four draws out of seven games. We'll be a mid table team this season which I think a lot of us would have taken at the start of the season but we can at least see where we are lacking in some areas. The good news is that we are playing competitive football and there have been some excellent displays on offer from the likes of Banks, Norwood and Monthe to name just a few.

Apologies about the site RLC, I was linking up Wordpress and it went a bit belly up for a few days. :oops:
 
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Mungy's Hairdresser
Firstly, Ian I’m glad to hear that! I’ve been everywhere but here lately, lol! Secondly RLC, I wish MM would take a few minutes out each week to read your posts because you pretty much summarise the majority of thoughts, at least mine anyway! I’m hoping that both MM’s comments about growing into the division & Nors’ regarding ironing out the little mistakes as we did last year to become a consistently winning team prove to be true. At least until Nors leaves, then maybe returns as Micky’s managerial successor one day? What odds?
 

drwhoman

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Thanks for the news about Wordpress Ian. I thought I was going mad (or madder than usual!).
 

Boz

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Iain Hume
I’ve also had the difficulty with wordpress, able to access this site ok on my mobile, but not using the lap-top, so share other’s frustration.

Interesting post from RLC. I’d not seen the same Johnny Smith that you praised in previous games. This match because Rovers were kicking TOWARDS the Kop in the first half, I could appreciate all the positives you’d raised. He was probably the best player that half, with Stockton a close second. The lack of stamina with Johnny is an issue though, faded from the picture at h/t. I agree that on current form DMH is lucky to be on the bench ahead of Tollitt, but would say the same about George rather than Wharton/Pilling...
 
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To be clear, I really like Smith. He is one of our best players and I love watching him play. However, Connor is also a really good player but must be getting frustrated in his current role. Micky's attitude is probably, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it'. We are holding our own and not losing games, so there is not really any incentive for him to tinker at the moment.
 

Boz

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Iain Hume
I hadn’t appreciated how good Smith can be until seeing the full throttle first half showing in this game. Jennings is difficult, he’a not being deployed to maximum effect, yet still came close to getting a winner and mopped up after a great save from Davies.
 
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