• 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 Silkmen

Boz

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Boxing Day sees the visit of our Cheshire neighbours, the first part of a double-header, with, a little surprisingly, no game in between.

The Silkmen currently sit 8th in the NL and their away form is better than at the Moss Rose. They won the corresponding fixture at New Year, so there would be a pleasing symmetry if Rovers were able to reverse that result to end 2016. Former Rover Jack Mackreth now plays for Macc, Chris Holroyd is their leading scorer and the odious Richard Brodie, instrumental in getting Jeff Hughes sent off at York is on loan. Under manager John Askey, they punch above their weight and managed a good cup win at L1 Walsall.

It will be interesting seeing how MM approaches this game. Rovers were undeniably unlucky not to take something from the Lincoln game, so one approach would be to adopt the same tactics and line-up, though if that were the option, there is an argument for starting Kirby ahead of Harris as a more attacking player. Alternatives would be playing Tollit as a striker alongside Norwood, which would add pace to the forward line, or Connor Jennings in the hole in a 4211 formation.

Prediction : Should be a decent turnout around 400-500 Silkman in a crowd of somewhere in the 6k range. Purely a gut feeling, but think we'll drop points and draw this.
 
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I think Rovers have the toughest Christmas fixtures of all the top sides, as Macclesfield are a decent team in reasonable form. Both last season's matches were tight and I think these games will be no different. Nonetheless, we need to pick up six points, with Lincoln having a potential five point advantage if they win their game in hand.

The highly rated Danny Rowe and the veteran Danny Whitaker are Macc's two most influential players, although Ritchie Wellens has also recently joined them: he is getting on a bit now but could still be a dangerous player at this level. Macclesfield like to pass the ball, so both matches should be entertaining.

In terms of selection, with Cook still absent we might need to make some changes up front as neither Mangan or Norwood are good in front of goal at the moment. As Boz suggests, I would quite like to see Connor Jennings involved, even playing off one of the other strikers in a front two. Elsewhere, I don't think there is any need for wholesale changes as the overall performance at Lincoln was good.

It should be a very good crowd, probably in the region of 6,000 - 6,500 with about 400 from Macc. I think we will win Monday's game, but getting six points from the two matches will be tough.
 
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Alan King, Barry Dyson
Just a thought. Why has Louis Almond not been mentioned for several weeks by anyone at the club or on this site? He is still our number four striker in my view. I don't think he's on loan anywhere but he never seems to feature - even on the bench. He's been unlucky and had a decent game at Dag & Red.
 

Boz

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Dagenham must have been Louis Almond's only decent game for us, saw him play a couple of home games and he was poor v Gateshead in an inexperienced line up. He subsequently seems to have disappeared off the radar. I tend to think of him more as a wide player than striker and don't know that he would offer anything different to the current pair.

Given Cook's injury is worse than a mere broken finger, wonder how Stephenson is doing at Fylde, as he could offer more of a physical presence up front. With Morecambe's Brazilian benefactor going awol, there might even be an unexpected return for Cole Stockton
 

Sparky

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Think due to the weather Stephenson has only featured once or twice for Fylde. Stockton has gone off the boil for Morecambe but then again so has their whole side as they have plummeted down the table. Almond clearly isn't rated by MM and most of the SWA agree I reckon.

Back to the game - I hope I'm wrong but I really do not want Kirby featuring. We need a win here and as I've said before, with all the running he does etc, he still rarely scores or assists in a goal. Dawson looked ok when he came on against York but then didn't feature on the bench at the Imps so is he fit? If he is fit I'd go 4-4-2 with him and Tollit wide, Wallace & Hughes in the middle or Maynard & Hughes.

I think though MM will stick with Nors & Mangan with Tollit behind. Maynard/Harris with Hughes in front of the back 4. Personally I'd like to see Hughes further forward so if a diamond myself would have Lois in front of the back 4 with Hughes/Wallace as the 2 with Tollit (or Connor J) behind the front 2.

Prediction: 0-0 to leave the SWA frustrated.
 
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Personally I would not play Maynard in front of the back four in a diamond as his passing is not good enough. We tried it at Gateshead and it was a disaster. Hughes has also been excellent in that role. Regarding almond, his best game was at Solihull where he played behind the strikers. We now have both tollitt and Jennings who can play that role, hence he is way down the pecking order. I don't think he has the pace to play out wide.
 

Ian

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I can see Almond leaving the club sooner rather than later. He's just not that good and certainly isn't a player to take us forward. With the lack of goals recently, it's really important we step up and get back on the scoresheet. Passing game suits us and I'm sure we'll have decent possession and some good chances. I want to see the front two getting some goals which will really help push us into this Xmas period on the front foot. We have to keep up with Lincoln as we certainly don't want to be losing much ground if we are looking at the top spot in a few months.
 

Sparky

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What will be interesting is whether Macc can stifle Tollit as York were able to if he plays centrally. My own preference would be 4-4-2 - if you have speed then use it out wide with space. A role behind a front 2 is normally more suited to someone like Connor J who isn't the quickest but has a good footballing brain and can pick a pass.

Tollit is a winger in my opinion but trust in Micky.
 
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Tollitt has had a few below par games, but actually played on the wing at Lincoln last week. However, he was tightly marked and could not get into the game. I personally think he can play in either position but struggles when the opposition take special measures to deal with him. I doubt Macclesfield will come and sit back as York did with men behind the ball, so a central position might suit him on Monday.
 

Cowshed Kid

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Me and Sparky singing from the same sheet again about Kirby.
Will never give him stick but others must see a different player to me.
Went to their place last season boxing day and lucky the game was on given all the rain.
Scraped the win and then got porked the new year fixture.
Confident that we'll pick up six points over the break.
 

Ian

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According to some supporters Kirby puts in a decent shift and works hard. Whilst I don't necessarily disagree with this, his end product is sorely lacking.
 

Boz

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Everybody's end product was sorely lacking at Lincoln, Hughes penalty excepted. The closest we came to scoring from open play was a shot from Kirby well-saved by their keeper and Mangan's 95th minute post grazer.

Agree with RLC re Tollit, who can operate as either. Given teams set up to mark him out of the game when played out wide, he might get more space and at least cause a tactical adjustment if deployed up front. After Cook he's probably our best finisher in terms of conversion rate.
 
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Mal

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I never know what to predict with Tranmere anymore. I would rather we win one lose one than two draws but I have a feeling it will be 0-0 in both. I am hoping Guiseley will do the usual bottom versus top 1-0 wins in both games against Lincoln so they lose some momentum.
 
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First start for James Wallace, no harris , presumably injured. Kirby in the eleven again, which won't please many.....
 

Boz

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Lois Maynard might feel a little hard done by, wonder if the international jaunts counting against him. Interesting to see how Wallace fares, no issue here with Kirby starting, Connor Jennings a good option to have on the bench.
 

Ian

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Lots of possession and movement. No end product. Need the shooting boots on at half time.
 

Boz

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Started really brightly tested the keeper and some good balls into the box. Last quarter hour, the visitors had more opportunity but didn't convert. Midfield a bit porous. Kind of game we might lose to a streaky goal
 
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Wow. You couldn't make it up. Another 1-0 and look at the other results. Lincoln conceded a 90th minute goal to lose at Guiseley. FGR fought back from 3-0 down to concede a late goal at Torquay. Dag & Red also lost. So we are back on top. Happy New Year!
 
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A vital victory for Rovers. Although the second half performance was pretty dreadful, I thought we deserved the win over the ninety minutes.

The first half was dominated by Rovers, with a lot of good football played. Our passing and movement was excellent, in the first half an hour particularly, but it is obvious what our problem is at the moment. The chances we did create were not finished, with the Macc keeper only really tested once or twice, and on other occasions we got into good areas but our final ball or decision making let us down. All of that said, I thought Wallace fitted seamlessly into midfield and was excellent and we were barely tested at all at the other end of the pitch, with the back four looking really solid.

In the second period things went awry. After having dominated for so long without scoring, we seemed to lose confidence and composure and started to misplace passes. The shape of the team also did not seem right to me: we seemed to initially switch from the diamond to a flat 4-4-2, but when Jennings came on I was not sure if he was playing on the wing or as one of a front three. Either way, we seemed to lose all shape and I could not see us scoring until the bizarre winning goal: it was a great ball into the box from Ridehalgh which the wind seemed to catch and carry away from the keeper who - from my position - seemed to knock it into his own net.

Individually, I thought Mangan had a decent game linking the play, but came far too deep on occasions, perhaps emphasising the lack of service he got at times and his lack of confidence in front of goal. Liam Ridehalgh did well at left back and, while Big Mac had a couple of nervy moments, I thought Sutton was excellent alongside him. My man of the match, however, would be James Wallace who looked a class apart from everybody else on the pitch. His passing and awareness was superb and I was pleased his fitness held up for the ninety minutes. At the other end of the spectrum I thought Norwood was really poor, although I don't think he got the right kind of service today, with very few balls played into the channel.

Our shortcomings in front of goal are a concern, but defensively we gave very little away again today, save for a moment of madness from Vaughan which almost gifted Macc a goal. With our ability to grind out these one nil wins, I am really starting to believe it could be our season. With players like Harris, Dawson and Mekki unable to even get on the bench today, we have a strength in depth which few of our rivals can match.

As BBTC says, other results were great for us and I certainly did not expect to return to top spot tonight. Another positive was the crowd: 7,300 in the ground with less than 400 from Macc, which has to be encouraging.

On to Moss Rose.
 
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