• 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.

League Two Rovers v Crawley

Ian

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Final balls and decision making hasn't been great today. Come on whites!
 

Sparky

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Only one sub slot left, not good for a game changing options

Surely CBT will get a go with his pace as otherwise it’s fairly easy for their defence
 

Sparky

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All over the place at the back today. Scottie with a great save and they then hit the bar
 

Sparky

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Crawford and CBT on for Nugent and OConnor.
 

Boz

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We’re not offering that much in attack. I’m not sure putting Feeney to right-back helps in that regard
 

Ian

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We’re not offering that much in attack.
We're not offering anything in attack. Their keeper has had very little to do.
 

Sparky

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We’re not offering that much in attack. I’m not sure putting Feeney to right-back helps in that regard

very odd as he’s arguably our most creative player and has a goal in him. Should have took Lewis off who has contributed nothing and played Feeney centrally
 
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aldo
and with teams winning around us been a shit day oh Bradford have just made it 1-1 v Bolton but our home form is piss poor at the moment
 

Sparky

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Really disappointing that. No game is a given of course but Crawley had won 2 out of 9 and with our recent form I was confident we’d win. We’re not a one man team but Vaughans absence was badly felt today and it is no exaggeration to say if he is out for a while, we could easily slip out of the top 7. Nugent showed some nice touches but is knowhere near a replacement.

When Ferrier left, having only Vaughan and Nugent as proper central strikers was a big risk. Other January signings like Crawford and Kirby look very questionable and Jolley clearly isn’t ready. Contrast with Micky who always signed decent players in January.
Crawley played well and fully deserved the win which could have been greater. Are we a better away side with our players and system? Lewis poor today but no one played well at all. Maybe they are all thinking of Wembley...

No need to panic as Keith will say, but results not going our way today. A bad day at the office.
 

Ian

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Awful day with the other results. Just weren't good enough today. The better team won.
 

bigmart

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A poor performance and a deserved defeat they were the better team and deserved the win.

The worry now is our game form we have only won 1 of the last 4.
 
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You lot are lucky. I’ve got to suffer this on BBC South East News for three days. :(
 
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A very disappointing performance. I thought we were ok in the first half but progressively ran out of ideas and the final thirty minutes was dire.

As Sparky says, Nugent looked decent in the early stages with some nice lay offs, but we massively missed Vaughan as a focal point and the energy and physicality he brings. We struggled to sustain any pressure in the final third in the second half. I think the enforced change of system is also a massive issue, as we did not look as balanced or threatening with a different tactical set up today, added to which we have now lost further players to injury in Morris and Ray. It is a big ask to lose your best player and have to fundamentally change your system and style of play in the middle of a promotion run in, while facing further disruption due to injuries.

Individually, Kirby was poor again and I barely noticed Crawford when he came on. We need much more from the January recruits than we have seen so far. However, I don't think Ferrier was any kind of answer to our problems as his goalscoring ratio is lamentable and he spent most of his time outside the eighteen yard box anyway.

We are still in touch with the automatic places, but it is not inconceivable that we could fall away completely if that kind of performance becomes the norm. Hopefully we can adapt far better to the absence of Vaughan in the weeks ahead.
 

Sparky

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Ferrier had to go arguably given his alleged attitude issues but he did offer something from the bench. If we were inundated with striking options I wouldn’t be bothered but if Vaughan is out for a while and Nugent is knowhere near a replacement, we are going to struggle in that area
 

Boz

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It was a disappointing performance all round today. We didn't look as assured at the back as usual, don't know if Clarke's early booking was a factor in that, but Crawley didn't make the most of their opportunities in the first half and we had a couple of decent efforts of our own. It looked like things had taken an upturn as we started the second half brighter, with Danny Lloyd's extra energy, then poor defending led to the Crawley goal any after that the visitors had plenty of opportunity to extend the lead, while Rovers barely tested their keeper.

The absence of Vaughan spoke for itself. Kirby has disappointed so far, though a decent long range effort tested their keeper. However Danny Lloyd after a bright started when he came on, wasn't able to keep that up, there do seem to be issues with his fitness/stamina. Agree with RLC that Crawford was anonymous and CBT didn't make much impact either. I think that KH would have been better off bringing on Rides instead of Crawford, switching to 3 at the back and wing-backs. Making Feeney right-back effectively nullified his attacking threat when we needed a goal.
 
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Ferrier was no kind of replacement for Vaughan. He was not good enough. Perhaps Nugent is not either, but losing Vaughan was always going to be a massive blow and we could never replace him with someone of similar quality.

Anyway, it has been confirmed he is having surgery next week apparently.

What a crap day.
 

Sparky

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I was wondering if Keith will be asked about Vaughan’s injury after the game but our interviewers are more Jeremy beadle than Jeremy paxman!
 
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