• 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 Oldham

Match result

  • Tranmere

    Votes: 6 75.0%
  • Draw

    Votes: 1 12.5%
  • Oldham

    Votes: 1 12.5%

  • Total voters
    8
  • Poll closed .
Rovers v Oldham
Posted by Ian
Prenton Park
Saturday, April 30, 2022 - 03:00 PM
Until: Saturday, April 30, 2022 - 05:00 PM
(Adjusted for timezone: Europe/London)
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Today I guess was just another reminder of how frustrating it has been winning so often at home and only a few better results on our travels would have seen us in the play offs.

I guess it might mean that not too much needs fixing for next season. You could argue today was our first choice eleven. Reinforcements needed of course but no major overhauls I don’t think
A big challenge will be keeping hold of Morris, Davies and MacDonald. I sensed that Morris's substitution could have been his Prenton Park swan song, given the reaction of Mellon and the players, but hopefully that is not the case.
 

bigmart

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Ian Muir
Today I guess was just another reminder of how frustrating it has been winning so often at home and only a few better results on our travels would have seen us in the play offs.

I guess it might mean that not too much needs fixing for next season. You could argue today was our first choice eleven. Reinforcements needed of course but no major overhauls I don’t think
Have to disagree, we will not make the play offs which is a failure and simply not good enough. Our away form is absolutely appalling, we have the third lowest goals away from home.

I think there are likely be major changes in the summer, both keepers will leave, there must be doubts whether the likes of Macdonald and Davies will stay. Peterborough are after Cogley, think its almost certain Morris will leave, for me Clarke, Spearing, McManaman, Foley and Maynard amongst others should/will leave
 
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I agree with Sparky that our first choice eleven is fine, assuming that Morris, Davies and MacDonald all stay, which of course they may not. It is the lack of depth and alternatives that is the issue. I would also want Clarke and Spearing to move on, but the core of younger players we have is good.

We clearly are not miles away from a successful side, as we are only likely to miss out on the play offs by a couple of points, and as it stands we are still only five points off the automatic places. We don't want to be throwing the baby out with the bathwater every season.
 

Ian

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We have a good side at home, not away, so changes are definitely needed. Not wholesale changes as that would put us back to square one but they need to find out why the away form is so bad and go about resolving it.
 

overthewater

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I'm no expert, but could one of the issues away from home be a lack of pace in the side? It's a given that you're going to be under more pressure and have to defend more deeply away from home. Where we seem to lack is in being able to counter-attack at speed with no pace in midfield. As a result we don't stretch teams away from home and invariably the opposition's confidence grows as we struggle to pose any sort of threat on the break. I think the type of players recruited in the summer will give us a real indication of where the management feels we have come up short away from home this season
 

bigmart

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I'm no expert, but could one of the issues away from home be a lack of pace in the side? It's a given that you're going to be under more pressure and have to defend more deeply away from home. Where we seem to lack is in being able to counter-attack at speed with no pace in midfield. As a result we don't stretch teams away from home and invariably the opposition's confidence grows as we struggle to pose any sort of threat on the break. I think the type of players recruited in the summer will give us a real indication of where the management feels we have come up short away from home this season
I also think we lack a physical presence in midfield as well but yes we are a fairly slow side.
 

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I think the issues run deeper than that. We haven't just been bad, we've been terrible in most of the games. I think there is more to it than just lack of pace but it could certainly be a factor. I think a lot of it is in their heads. They have ability as we have seen at home but there comes a mental block in away games. There have been games where they have just not attacked. Literally done nothing for 45 minutes, sometimes longer.
 
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I think the issues run deeper than that. We haven't just been bad, we've been terrible in most of the games. I think there is more to it than just lack of pace but it could certainly be a factor. I think a lot of it is in their heads. They have ability as we have seen at home but there comes a mental block in away games. There have been games where they have just not attacked. Literally done nothing for 45 minutes, sometimes longer.
I think that is just the cumulative effect of a number of defeats away from home, with low confidence breeding poor performances, breeding even lower confidence and even poorer performances. That cycle can only be broken by actually picking up a couple of results, or starting a new season.
 

ONIGP

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I really enjoyed today's game, mainly because I didn't expect to see another one after Mansfield (due to back op) but also because we won. The new speedier ticket system worked for my brother in law to the extent that it was speedier. However, it failed in that apparently the available seats next to our usual ones in the Main Stand are actually in the Town Paddock! So a brand new perspective on the match for me today! Yes we deservedly won in a fairly lacklustre performance against a poor Oldham side but my highlight was the Oldham fans. Marvellously self derogatory for 90 minutes, "Shall we sing a song for you" followed by a rousing rendition of "Tequila " was class. Particularly after they had applauded us for the same at Brunton Park when Lang briefly (but temporarily and unsuccessfully) derailed our L2 promotion. They were "fortunate" enough to have an away trip AFTER being relegated from the EFL which we didn't due to the sorrowful Plymouth trip. I hope we would have responded the same. They have never been one of my favourite clubs but I wish them all the best in trying to regain their FL status, although it could be a struggle. If Class(less) of 92 had put their money into Oldham or Bury the world might be a slightly better place.
 

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Interesting to see a couple suggesting Clarke and spearing should leave. I’m playing devils advocate but will this really happen? Clarke has played every minute of every league game - got in the EFL team of the season and we’ve had a very good defensive record this season. Micky likes having his veteran players run the dressing room so if Micky stays then I’ll be amazed if Clarke isn’t offered a new deal
 

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Interesting to see a couple suggesting Clarke and spearing should leave. I’m playing devils advocate but will this really happen? Clarke has played every minute of every league game - got in the EFL team of the season and we’ve had a very good defensive record this season. Micky likes having his veteran players run the dressing room so if Micky stays then I’ll be amazed if Clarke isn’t offered a new deal
Rumour that Spearing will go to Liverpool to coach the juniors, but really we should move on from both
 

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I think Spearing is retiring from what I’ve heard.
 

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I wouldn’t be too sorry if spearing went. Especially as we now have OConnor on a permanent deal. Clarke I’d be tempted to keep given our defensive record this season. Over the course of 46 games it’s been scoring goals that’s been the issue rather than conceding them, accepting our dreadful away form has been a factor
 

ADD

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I think the issues run deeper than that. We haven't just been bad, we've been terrible in most of the games. I think there is more to it than just lack of pace but it could certainly be a factor. I think a lot of it is in their heads. They have ability as we have seen at home but there comes a mental block in away games. There have been games where they have just not attacked. Literally done nothing for 45 minutes, sometimes longer.
I don't accept it is a confidence/ mental thing but the way they are set up. We played away from home defensive boring football where we seek not to concede which to be fair we did well enough early on but less so more recently. Either way we are at risk if we concede and it completely stifles creativity with the full backs clearly instructed not to push forward/ overlap which is fundamentally why we didn't win enough games away - the striker issue was secondary IMO. That was a complete waste of Cogley's talents especially.
I understand the rationale given on here is that we need to protect our CB's lack of pace but this team finished top of the home form table with exactly the same supposed vulnerability of lack of pace at the back.
 
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I don't think there is any evidence that the full backs are instructed to go forward at Prenton Park, but not away from home. There are many away games, Colchester being a recent example, where Cogley has got forward a lot and we have had a lot of the ball, but there has been a lack of spark and belief in the performance.

More broadly, I could not care less how attractive the football is away from home. We are not there to entertain the opposition supporters. We are there to get a result, and the fact that too often we have not is the issue.
 
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I wouldn’t be too sorry if spearing went. Especially as we now have OConnor on a permanent deal. Clarke I’d be tempted to keep given our defensive record this season. Over the course of 46 games it’s been scoring goals that’s been the issue rather than conceding them, accepting our dreadful away form has been a factor
I think Clarke's form faded towards the end of this and last season, which was an issue. I would like them both to leave to have some different senior voices in the dressing room.
 
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There is a huge game tomorrow, as Salford host Mansfield, and I was pondering which is the best result from our perspective. I think it is a Salford victory.

If Mansfield avoid defeat, there is only one sequence of results on the final day that allows us to claim a play off place.

Swindon lose
Sutton fail to win

However, if Salford win there are four different permutations which would see us claim one of the two play off places available:

Mansfield lose
Sutton fail to win
Salford fail to win

Swindon lose
Sutton fail to win
Salford fail to win

Mansfield lose
Swindon lose
Sutton fail to win

Mansfield lose
Swindon lose
Salford fail to win

In the latter scenario, we need three results to go our way rather than two, but there are more available permutations so the probability that we get the results we need is still higher (if my maths is correct, which it might not be :)).
 

Ian

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I think Salford will win and then there will be quite a few teams battling for 6th and 7th. However, our last game is away..
 
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