• 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 Gills

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1 Oct 2005
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Alan King, Barry Dyson
It does seem that the squad is better suited to 4-5-1. In midfield, we have Kirby and Robbo to play wide (or ABB or Peterson), Koumas/Wallace in the middle with Jennings/Hateley or AN Other as the holding player. We all recognise the way we defend (or don't defend) as the main issue, but are Ronnie's comments about this helpful. Do they motivate the likes of Taylor and McNulty?
 

Ian

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Aldo
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They should be motivated anyway and any critisicm should be seen as a wake up call. Take it on the chin and improve where necessary.

I do agree with having a covering player for the defence also.
 

Boz

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Iain Hume
It does seem that the squad is better suited to 4-5-1. In midfield, we have Kirby and Robbo to play wide (or ABB or Peterson), Koumas/Wallace in the middle with Jennings/Hateley or AN Other as the holding player. We all recognise the way we defend (or don't defend) as the main issue, but are Ronnie's comments about this helpful. Do they motivate the likes of Taylor and McNulty?

I don't think Ronnie's remarks help at all, they were simplistic and short-sighted.

The central defensive pairing didn't look cohesive from the off. McNulty hasn't been in good form lately, while Taylor's confidence has taken a dent, maybe because of his sending-off. However the first 10 minutes or so were like a re-run of the Brentford game, we struggled to get the ball off them. If Ronnie wants the central defenders to just hoof the ball upfield (something Ash gets a lot of flak for), then it was up to those further forward to chase/harry/close down our opponents, otherwise the ball just comes straight back. For me the defensive problems were exacerbated by the failures in midfield and it is disappointing Ronnie either fails to see or chooses to ignore this.
 

bigmart

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Ian Muir
totally agree with your comments Boz. What really concerns me is that virtually all of us are in agreement we could do with playing a holding midfielder but Ronnie seems to be oblivious to the fact.
 
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Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
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It is noticeable that even in the first half of last season, when we generally had a much stronger side, we started every game with a defensive midfielder (Palmer). By contrast, this season despite our defensive problems we have begun the majority of matches with two attack-minded midfielders in a 4-4-2 (various combinations of Atkinson / Power / Koumas / Rowe / Wallace).

It is strange that Ronnie seems to believe that Wallace's presence means we don't have to use a defensive minded midfield player, despite the fact that Wallace did not play that role last season and his natural instinct is to get forward.

Given that Ronnie does not rate Hateley and Jennings does not look like being fit, it might be worth him enquiring about Palmer's availability, as he does not seem to be appearing regularly for Sheffield Wednesday at the moment.
 

Ian

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Well it looks like Ronnie is on the lookout for an inexperienced central defender. Not altogether by choice, but nevertheless..
 
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