Rovers v Crewe 6 Pointer

[andrewesq]

must must win !
Hopefully Crewe will be tired out after their win against MK Dons.
We can win this game!

 

[Boz]

I feel that the terms 'must win' and 'six pointer' are often overused. Sadly, they do on this occasion seem apt for our current predicament. After this game we have home matches against two play-off contenders with a trip to the Franchise, where we can't even score, sandwiched in between. I wouldn't expect more than a couple of points from those games at best. With Crewe's midweek win and the forthcoming fixtures for both teams, unless we beat them, there is a real risk we will start to fall adrift at the bottom.

It doesn't seem we have many options defensively, so Horwood, despite his weaknesses will start at left-back, unless Danny Holmes is fit and the manager has so little confidence in Horwood that he thinks it worth starting a right-back in his place. Another reason why it was a pity Ronnie fell out with McNulty, his ability to slot in at left-back would be useful now. Midfield, there have been suggestions Robinson will be back in contention. I hope that he does not start, as his lack of fitness hampers the side, when he is operating from left midfield. Keep Kirby there and Robinson can have a cameo from the bench. I'd expect Jennings and Koumas to start in central midfield, although I'm not entirely convinced about Jason's contribution lately. Kennedy on the right. Up front it will be Lowe (against one of his old teams) and Cassidy, will have to see how they gel as a pair and whether Jake's confidence in front of goal will return. Don't expect miracles or quick fixes, though as they have a young keeper, let's hope for a few efforts on target.

Crewe are a fairly young side with some decent loanees and despite results up until their midweek win, sounds like they have been a bit unlucky. Although I won't be able to make it, expect a reasonable turnout from Crewe, pushing the crowd to around 5k. A draw the most likely outcome, if not what's required.

 

[Tartantranmere64]

Crewe were unlucky last week against Orient but that was a good win against MK Scums in midweek.

It will be 442 with youngsters Kennedy and Kirby on either flank. A hell of a lot of pressure on them to deliver quality crosses for Lowe and Cassidy. I could almost live with this formation if the central pairing were Jennings and Wallace, but I really fear for us on Saturday with Koumas in there without extra protection. A lot will depend on how the full-backs play, they will need to support the two young lads out wide. if Goody is fit I'd play him in front of Taylor who looks really short of confidence at present. Robbo can come off the bench if necessary. Crewe will play a sort of 451/433 shape.

It's time to turn our abysmal home form around. Prediction: 2-1 Rovers. Stupidly optimistic.

 

[bigmart]

Anything other than a victory is not worth thinking about, think we will nick it 2 1. We need to start on the front foot be positive and have a go from the start and hopefully that will work.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I would agree with the majority of the comments above. If we fail to win on Saturday, it is highly likely we will be cut adrift in the next couple of weeks and will need a remarakable turnaround in fortunes to stay up.

I too have reservations about a Jennings / Koumas midfield, but that pairing is still the best of the options available. Jason played well at Peterborough and deserves to start. I think Kirby will start ahead of Robbo as he tends to play fairly narrowly on the left hand side which will compensate for our lack of numbers in the middle and also gives good assistance to the full back behind him, who unfortunately will be Horwood: in virtually every game I have seen this season Evan has made a rick which has led directly to a goal and I am just praying this does not happen again on Saturday.

I personally think it is crazy to consider dropping Taylor. Aside from Goody he has comfortably been our most reliable centre half this season and has not done a lot wrong in recent matches. I would not have any qualms about a Goody / Taylor partnership though.

With the exception of the first half against Walsall, there have been positives to take from our recent performances but Crewe are probably playing better than us at present. It is difficult to forecast a Rovers victory with any confidence, but we desperately need one.

To end on a more positive note, Lowey is due a goal as he has not scored for a couple of games and he always seems to find the net aginst his former clubs........

 

[Ian]

Although I don't by any means think it's over if we lose tomorrow, a win certainly would be good for confidence. There are still plenty of games left. I think we'll see a more attacking Rovers tomorrow with renewed energy up front. Like TT64 days, the wingers have got a job to do tomorrow but I would be nervous with Horwood in the side. Still think we'll win by a goal or two.

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

I don't care how well or badly we played, this is a good result. I await the reports, but this must have been a battling performance. We are only two points above the drop zone, although 16th feels a lot better!

As I wrote above, let's see what Ronnie can do with a full squad. For the first time this season we had a bench full of pros who I'd be happy to see on the pitch - and we've got Wallace, Ridehalgh and Bell-Baggie available next week. I'm pretty confident we can pick up enough points to stay up.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

A good, battling display by Rovers and a victory which we just about deserved. After controlling the first half we came under massive pressure after the break, and did not help ourselves with some sloppy play at times. That said, we generally defended well and Crewe had relatively few clear cut chances: if anything, we had the better opportunities in the second half, with Kirby, Koumas and Stockton all going close.

The first 45 minutes was probably as well as we have played in the first half of a home game this season. Cassidy was impressive and made a definite difference to our play. Instead of starting on the back foot and sitting too deep as we generally have at home, we had sustained spells of pressure in Crewe's half thanks to Jake's presence. His hold up play and workrate were impressive and there were signs of a partnership developing with Lowey. Without creating many clear opportuinities, I thought there were a number of impressive individual displays in the first half: Kennedy, Pennington, Taylor and Jennings all did well. Great to see us finally score from a corner as well.

It was inevitable that Crewe would improve after half time given the significance of the game, but we contributed to our own problems at times by going long too early and giving possession away too cheaply. The game became far too stretched from our perspective and I thought we should have gone 4-5-1 with twenty minutes to go to get more of a grip in midfield. As it was, Robbo barely influenced the game coming on as a direct replacement for Kirby. Hopefully Cassidy's injury is not too serious. Man of the match, Ash Taylor.

As BBTC mentions above, it was great to look at the subs and see some genuine quality: Stockton, Robbo and Max are all capable of influencing a game from the bench and for the first time this season we had decent defensive cover as well. A special word should be given to Evan Horwood, who had his best game in a Rovers shirt today; I think it is unlikely that Liam will get his place back on Tuesday night.

We have now dragged several teams back into the relegation mix. Onwards and (hopefully) upwards.

 

[merseyside bossman]

for me,
Jennings was a driving force and MOM, real grit and fight.

Koumas was very creative, best I've seen him play for any team in 10 years.

Great to see Cassidy back at Prenton Park.

 

[Sparky]

An excellent all round display especially in the first half. Would have liked to have tested their keeper more but result was all that mattered.

Thought koumas and Jennings ran the game and Jason for me was mom. Kennedy looked dangerous at times too.

Although also a big shout out for big Steve at the back who I thought was excellent alongside ash. I thought horwood proved some of his recent forum critics wrong by having a good game overall too.

I wasn't totally convinced by the jake/Lowe combo but early days in their partnership.

 

[bigmart]

It wasn't by any means a classic but taking into account how bad the conditions were an ok game really. I thought we were fairly solid at the back had some creativity in midfield but thought we were fairly disappointing up front were Cassidy/Lowe didn't combine too much effect.

A vital 3 points and we managed to keep a clean sheet playing 4-4-2 which showed it can be done despite what people will say. Rotherham will be tougher on Tuesday but we have players returning so things start to look up a bit.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I don't know if anyone else noticed but due to the illness / injury of the referee in the first half, Mike Dean - a self-confessed Rovers fan - stepped in as fourth official. I am sure Crewe would not have been happy about this had they realised !

I must admit, I thought there should have been more than three minutes of injury time in the second half given the number of stoppages in play.......

 

[frenchrover]

I'm quite sure Crewe knew about Mike Dean taking over as the 4th official as it was announced over the Tannoy, and as the 4th official has little or no impact on the game itself I'm sure it wouldn't have bothered them a jot. As the referee is the sole arbiter as to the amount of added time Mike would not have had any input other than holding up the board to signify the minimum time to be allowed.
As for the "stand-in" ref I thought he was really poor and how he failed to notice or punish the Crewe dives in our penalty area in the 2nd half is beyond me.
My MOM was Arthurworrey for a really solid performance although there were good performances too from Jennings, Koumas and Kennedy, although he tends to overdo things at times. I thought Cassidy looked very "rusty" and in need of games whilst Stockton in his 20 minutes on the pitch proved more of a threat to the Crewe goal.
Not a great match but given the weather conditions and the pressure of it being a "6 pointer" that wasn't surprising but as has been said above it was all about the result in the end. I suspect Rotherham, smarting at 2 lost points today, will prove a much more difficult proposition on Tuesday and far less accomodating than Crewe.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I'm quite sure Crewe knew about Mike Dean taking over as the 4th official as it was announced over the Tannoy, and as the 4th official has little or no impact on the game itself I'm sure it wouldn't have bothered them a jot. As the referee is the sole arbiter as to the amount of added time Mike would not have had any input other than holding up the board to signify the minimum time to be allowed.

Crewe might not have known that Dean is a lifelong Tranmere fan is the point I was making. The fourth official definitely can have a major impact on proceedings (remember the Sunderland game where we played with twelve men for a short period.....). My comment about time added on was really a joke, but I thought there should have been an extra 5 or 6 minutes yesterday; had the fourth official indicated five minutes the ref would have been obliged to play it.

Stockton did manage a shot on target when he came off the bench whereas Cassidy did not, but I thought the difference in the quality of their hold up play was evident again yesterday. By holding the ball up and linking the play Cassdiy allowed us to get twenty yards further up the pitch than we have been doing in the first half and that was crucial to the victory.

 

[bigmart]

RLC, the Sunderland game we played with 11 men for a minute or so rather than the 10 men we should have been playing wit, we didn't play with 12 men

 

[Ian]

I thought the lads worked hard yesterday. There's no easy games when your struggling at the bottom, but as long as the team works hard and battles I think we'll be fine. Crewe weren't a major threat. I thought they looked very lightweight up front.

I thought the whistle blew quite early. It didn't seem like 3 minutes at the end. The ref made some daft decisions for yellow cards and should have booked their players for diving towards the end.

I'd agree with Ronnie when he said we had the share of the first half and they had the share of the second. Our goal really gave us a lift and played quite well up to the half time whistle. Thought we were a bit flat in the second. The wind may have played its part.

Great to see Cassidy back and thought he played well. Had some decent chances in the first half which didn't come off, but he'll get us goals. And I have to mention Horwood who I had doubts about. He had a really good game. Defended well and was effective going forward playing some really nice balls into the front men.

Koumas was excellent yesterday and Jennings battled hard in the centre. Defence was solid too.

 

[Boz]

It was a good result and sounds relatively comfortable.

The remarks on the central midfield here seem largely positive. Another viewpoint was that Crewe got more into the game as Jennings/Koumas ran out of steam and maybe Ronnie should have introduced Max or James Rowe at that point or maybe put Robinson in there for the last 20 minutes. Any merit in this?

 

[bigmart]

Robinson came on wide left and looked nackered after 5 minutes hes still nowhere near fitness. I didn't think Jennings/Koumas ran out of steam, If we were going to replace Kirby I would put on Power and played narrow making it more difficult to go through the middle.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I think Robbo should have replaced Cassidy and Kirby should have stayed on, with Robinson played centrally. I would agree with Mart that it was not so much a case of Jennings and Koumas running out of steam, more that Crewe threw men forward looking for an equaliser and outnumbered us: switching to a five man midfield for the last twenty minutes may have countered this. Fortunately, the back four stood up to the late pressure quite well and we held on.

On a related point, I could not believe the size of the front line Crewe finished the game with. Their intention seemed to be to get the ball forward early and outmuscle us, which certainly is not in keeping with the Crewe philosophy of old.

 

[bigmart]

Would agree with RLC in that Crewe were not the passing side of old, I thought that Aneke was very disappointing expected him t be a lot better with the grounding he has had