I've being following this thread with interest since the Doncaster game (which I went to) and the analysis/arguments have made entertaining reading! None of the debates have descended into name calling which is what sets this site apart from the other Tranmere fan sites, I'm going to put forward where I think the problems have arisen this season and what I thought of the Donny game.
Against Doncaster we were outplayed for the first 45 mins, but they never really looked like scoring. Our midfield in particular struggled to get a foot on the ball, whilst the defence seemed reluctant to push out. Upfront Akpa-Akpro offered nothing in terms of movement, challenging long balls or holding the ball up - I don't think their centre backs will have had an easier game all season. In his 5 minute cameo at the end, Goodison caused their centre backs more problems than Akpa-Akpro had all game.
In the 2nd half we started brightly and were on top for the first 15 minutes, then we predictably switched off from a set piece (a problem all season) and they scored. After that we huffed and puffed but never really looked like scoring, whilst Donny threatened on the break. To me the team looks jaded - we've struggled to get round the back of teams for some time now as our midfield seems to lack the intensity to keep pressure up. We didn't deserve to get anything from the game, I wouldn't go overboard on the shots on target stat, as whilst we lacked creativity - so did Donny as it was a very scrappy game. Unfortunately they were fitter and more organised when it mattered, which was the difference between the sides.
As for what has caused our downturn of form I would point to several reasons. Firstly, and most obviously, the season ending injury to Wallace massively disrupted our midfield. Any team would suffer from losing the best central midfielder in the division. Without Wallace we've lost our creativity in central midfield, and the ability to calmly keep the ball under pressure. When Wallace was in the team we were frequently getting over 60% possession.
Secondly Cassidy's imprisonment at Wolves has left us short upfront for the second half of the season. Whilst his form had dipped toward the end of his stay, I believe he would have got 20 goals if he had played a full season for Rovers. People keep citing Yeovil's finances but in Madden and Hayter they have two goal scorers - that is the difference. With Cassidy and JLAA in form we could have matched them.
In terms of where it started to go wrong this season, I would argue it was the MK Dons home game where we lost 1-0. This game took a lot of belief out the side as prior to it, they had approached every game with huge confidence. After this game we drew 4 games in a row - Walsall 0-0 at home, Stevenage 1-1 (away), Portsmouth 2-2 (home), Sheff Utd 0-0 (away). In this run we should have won all 4 games, against Walsall we were massively under par and created very little - none of the top 6 won on this day, an opportunity missed to build a gap. Against Stevenage we let in a last minute goal, against Porstmouth we failed to hold a lead against what was then probably the worst team in the division, finally against Sheff Utd we outplayed them but failed to take advantage (Palmer noticably missing from 6 yards out).
After this run we fell 5-0 to Swindon thanks to some tactical naivety and appaling performances from everyone except OFW. We then managed to win the next 4 games, but ran out steam as we approached the 30 game mark. If we had gained those extra 8 points from those 4 draws, we would have had much better points base to fall back on. I think it was inevitable we would run out of steam around the 30 game mark due to our small squad size and the make up of the players in the squad.
When you look through our squad only OFW, Zoom, Taylor, Goodison, Robinson, Harrison, Zoom and JLAA have played a full season at this level in the first team before. The others have either spent time on loan at various places, had injury problems or only come into sides for half a season. Unfortunately this lack of full season experience has cost us, as of those 8 players, only Robinson has played in a team which has won promotion at this level.
The squads inability to grind out 1-0 wins, or draw 0-0 rather than lose 1-0 as the season drew on (we've lost 9 games by 1 goal, nearly double the number by 2 goals - 5) has being shown by this. At the moment we have won 19 games and lost 15, with a bit more experience and some fresher legs - I would bet at least 5 of those losses would be draws, this would make a huge difference.
Finally our short term loan signings have not had the desired impact - Corry, Sidibe, Daniels, Mcginty, O'Halloran, Jervis and Eccleston have contributed little or nothing to this season. Most of them have served to disrupt the team rather than improve it. Unfortunately this is the risk you take with a small squad, you need short term loans to ensure you have 18 players in your match day squad! A lesson to be learned for next season could be to research potential loanees more thoroughly. I'm not going to criticise Ronnie for signing loan players however, as the nature of modern football means small teams like Tranmere have little choice but to take a gamble and sign them.
In summary I would say that Wallace's injury, Cassidy's return to Wolves, failing to win those 4 games after Mk Dons, the lack of full season experience in the squad, the small squad size and the failure of loanees to have a positive impact have caused our collapse this season. Some people have suggested that Ronnie's tactics have caused problems in the last 10 games, whilst I would agree this is this the case, our problems this season run a lot deeper than what substitutions have/have not been made.
Ultimately this season has been a disappointing success. If you had said last January that next season we would lose 2 of our first 24 games, be 7th with 3 games to go, and score 5 goals away from home twice you would have said you were mad. Hopefully next season we can retain the core of this side and try to challenge for the play offs again. Hopefully our squad will be a bit more "street wise" next season having played a full season. My biggest fear however is that expectations will have been over hyped by this season, and that this time next year Ronnie will not be manager.
We've still got 3 games to go however so its not all doom and gloom just yet, we need to get behind the team and hope for the impossible. A typical Tranmere will win the next 2 games and then have to win the last game to get in the play offs (sound familiar?!).
If we fail to get in the play offs, this season has still being brilliant and at times, heroic by the team, ultimately money does talk to an extent in football and this is the main culprit this season - if you look across all 4 divisions, the top teams are generally the ones with the biggest budgets and squads. We can be proud of this season even if it ultimately ends outside the top 6.