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Rovers v Walsall

Rovers v Walsall
Posted by Ian
Prenton Park
Tuesday, August 14, 2018 - 07:45 PM
Until: Tuesday, August 14, 2018 - 10:00 PM
(Adjusted for timezone: Europe/London)
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Alan King, Barry Dyson
Interesting that there are quite high incentives to win every game. Perhaps that's to discourage clubs fielding weak teams.
 

Boz

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Strange line-up. George in goal, Pilling not even on the bench, Monthe and Ellis in central defence, Stockton and Mullin up front. I'm surprised there are so many changes.
 
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Surprised there are so many changes but it will be interesting to see how the newcomers get on.
 

Boz

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Cook, Ginnelly and Ferrier start for the Saddlers :eek:
 

drwhoman

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With such a thin squad and it being so early in the season key players have to be protected. Also, George probably has tp play if Liverpool are to continue to send us their promising players.
 

Ian

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OK first half. Had some decent chances as have Walsall who have slowly grown into the game and are having some joy with Ginnelly on the left.

Looking a bit light in midfield. Some changes needed really.
 
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Decent display and unlucky to be behind, but I think we have made a couple of changes too many. Banks has been class and unlucky not to score, but front two are working hard without a goal threat.
 
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Pretty frustrated after that. You can't make seven changes against a side from a higher division and expect to get anywhere, and I think we got what our approach deserved in the end. I don't know why we felt the need to make quite so many changes when Walsall were at full strength. We played some decent football in the first half an hour, but once their best players - Ishmail, Cook, Ferrier - got into the game they were in control, other than our late rally in the final fifteen minutes.

Individually, Cole did ok and linked up well with Caprice, Mullin worked hard without carrying much threat and Banks was excellent. Other than that, the fringe players showed exactly why they are on the fringes at the moment. Tollitt and Gilmour in particular were very disappointing. Ellis started well but was culpable for a couple of the goals.The front two did not look like scoring all game, and the gulf between their strikers and ours in the absence of Norwood, was pretty obvious. On that display I think Mullin deserves to start ahead of Stockton, not that either is really convincing. Hopefully the injury to Zoum is not a bad one, as he is a big player for us.

The round of applause for Cook as he left the pitch was a nice touch from the Rovers fans.
 
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Decent crowd for a first round game of 3,817, with about 300 from Walsall.
 
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thought we tested their keeper a few times in the 1st half impressed with ellis even though he made a couple of errors monthe a disaster at full back tollit seems to have lost his confidence knackered if ever banks gets injured he was class again
 
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Yes, I still like Ellis although he had a couple of dodgy moments tonight. It seems he will be getting more game time soon as Ritchie Sutton has broken his leg.
 

Ian

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Ellis made some really important blocks in the first half, but like our defence, crumbled a bit in the second. I feared a bit of an onslaught at 3-0 so it was nice to get one back. It's obvious were Micky sees this in terms of his priorities this season but it was a bit disappointing to make so many changes. Like RLC says above, difficult to get anywhere against a full strength Walsall.

There were some poor performances tonight. Tollitt has lost his way and needs to find ground quickly. Gilmour was poor and Banks whilst putting in another good performance struggled in the centre with no support. The front two of Stockton and Mullin while they worked hard, just don't have the quality. There is little goal threat between them.
 
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Returning to Ollie Banks, he was by some distance the best midfielder on the pitch tonight, for either team.

I really think he could play at Championship level, he has that much quality.
 

Ian

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Agreed. Very good player.
 
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It's easy to be negative about this game, but clearly Micky thought having a look at his squad players was his priority. It's a shame we've now lost both our left backs and one of our centre halves to injury, but at least that's one department with a lot of backup. The fact our second best players we weren't swamped by a full strength L1 side must be reassuring. Micky now knows more clearly who he can rely on for L2 duty and where he needs to strengthen before the end of the month. A striker and a holding midfielder must be the minimum.
 

Boz

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Find it hard to understand why there were so many changes. McNulty already on 2 yellow cards and Smith who lacks stamina being replaced by Tollitt would have been enough for me. Doesn't sound like Ben followed up on his good start at Stevenage.

Sutton apparently broken his leg and Zoum injury tonight not looking good, so defensively things now looking as thin in terms of cover as the rest of the field. We seem to be having a problem getting loan deals atm.
 
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Mal

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rumour is Sutton has sustained a broken leg, is this true as i cannot find anything official as yet. i know he missed the Walsall game
 
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