Rovers v Yeovil

[Boz]

Game moved forward to the Saturday afternoon, to increase the prospects of the pitch being playable. Frustrating for me, as already committed to doing something else then. Gather there's still some doubt about the game; frozen pitch.

Assuming it does happen, a must win, given it's followed by a pair of difficult away matches. Alan Mahon may come back into contention from the side that lost to Wolves, but probably will have to settle for a place on the bench as lacking match fitness. Most likely the same line-up as Wolves.

Prediction: Think it will be a close game with the odd goal settling it.

 

[bigmart]

i rekon we will win 1 0 with curran the scorer

 

[SCooperSomersaults]

Better for me that it's on Saturday but sympathise with you Boz. Last minute fixture rearrangements are very frustrating and you can plan very little if you (like me) plan your work and social life around Tranmere fixtures!

The temperatures are rising so hoping the game gets the go-ahead. Fingers crossed anyway, sure the players are raring to go having done very little in the last couple of weeks, and no training on the green green grass.

Yeovil is most certainly a winnable game, and at home we simply MUST win if we're to get out of this mess. We should be at full strength so if the players perform as well as they have done recently, there's no reason why we can't get the 3 points from this one.

 

[SCooperSomersaults]

Ps. Don't forget it's Kids for a quid. As much as I hate the little blighters running up and down every 2 minutes, they're the fans of the future, and it would be nice to see a decent sized crowd in again.

 

[Ian]

I think the game will be fine for Saturday. Few more days of thawing.
Been ages since we played, getting those withdrawal symptoms. The lads will be fired up and we'll win 2-0.

 

[Sparky]

Yes lets hope the game is on. Am sure they will make an early decision with Yeovil fans having to set off early.

I think it will be a narrow win, 1-0 or 2-0. I fancy Gornell to stick one away.

3 points won't see us out of the bottom 3 due to our awful goal difference but if we can be level on points with teams just outside of the relegation zone, could be a big boost for the players (and fans)

Not expecting a great attendance. They won't bring many. Although the kids for a quid could boost things.

 

[Boz]

Game off due to waterlogged pitch. While for the reasons outlined earlier, I wasn't happy with it being moved to Saturday, it's nonetheless a shame that it's gone. Instead, Rovers have a sequence of tough away games to contend with, which could dent our morale.

 

[Tartantranmere64]

Five out of next six away, and some really tough games. Even in dreamland we'd settle for 8 points from next six games, I reckon (2 wins, 2 draws. 2 defeats). It could leave us with a lot of catching up to do. We'll have FOUR games in hand on Wycombe after today.

The two games against Oldham with be pivotal....

 

[bigmart]

we have got to get at least a point at oldham as the following 2 games are very difficult, if we lose all three i think were doomed to relegation.

The oldham game is massive weve got to start to score goals

 

[Boz]

Agreed. Our chances of getting anything out of visits to Franchise and The Valley are slim, so desparately need something from the Oldham trip. Wins for Exeter and Brighton yesterday didn't help our cause.

 

[Boz]

This match has been re-arranged at relatively short notice and we really must get something out of it. Ideally a win, as all a point would achieve is to prevent us slipping any further away from safety.

I understand Logan's booking means there will have to be at least one change, as he picks up a 2 match ban. The options are Edds or Broomes at right-back, unless McCready can play there? Broomes had one of his better games playing in that position at Norwich and I would select ahead of Edds, who seems jaded.

If Les is sticking to 4-3-3, we need to become more adventurous in midfield. My option would be replacing Edds with Mahon (would also be tempted to bring Barnett in for McLaren). Up front, Terry Gornell seems to be lacking confidence lately and I'd recall Shuker as a striker with Curran and ITM. The available players seem better suited to a 4-4-2 imo, though not with Gornell playing out wide, which is how I understand we finished the game at Franchise.

Prediction: we'll end the goal drought, but I don't feel confident of a win now. 2-2.

 

[roverstillidie]

It's a must win game, if we fail to score again you can start hit the panic buttons. Les needs to ditch this daft 4-3-3 which is defeatist and leaves the team far too narrow and play a 4-4-2. With Logan suspended I would play Edds there as he has played well there before and I have no confidence in Broomes even though Edds does seem jaded.

Team I would play:

Daniels

Edds Taylor Goodison Bakayogo

Shuker Welsh McLaren Fraughan

Gornell Thomas-Moore

 

[bigmart]

i agree that we should go back to 4-4-2 ive never liked us playing 4-3-3 i dont think it works that well, i would give shuker a run in the team and either barnett or mahon as mclaren clearlyy isnt upto it.

I think we will win 1 0

 

[SonkORLY?]

Agree with Boz entirely. Wouldn't be surprised if Shuker started.

We need to win this. Draw isn't close to being good enough.

 

[Sparky]

Yes its a must win - but I think he'll keep 4-3-3 at least until midway thru the 2nd half. If we are winning at that stage, then I don't think he will change it. If we're not, he'll go 4-4-2 and bring Shukes etc on.

Personally I agree that 4-3-3 isnt a bad system away from home as it can turn to a 4-5-1 and look solid. But at home, especially without a creative midfielder or a striker who can regularly score, its too negative, particularly when your where we are in the league.

I'd start with 4-4-2. Shukes on the right, Barnett on the left - give them the opportunity to stake a regaulr place in the side.

If we score early, I think we'll go on to win.

 

[evo_trfc]

Its a must win game simlple, The games against leeds charlton norwich swindon huddersfield and colchester aren't going to be the games that keep us up we need to beat teams that are around us or will be around us come the season end, the result against Oldham was jsut about acceptable but we have to beat Yeovil ( Who are not as good as there league position states) We need to start winning games and beating the teams around us or who will be near us come the season end,

Atm its not looking good at all, Poor Squad, No Money, No signs of players coming in,

I dont care if we stay up by a point or 30 points i just dont want us in league two because if we go down thats it, We wont be back up untill new investors are found!

Bad Times!

 

[Tartantranmere64]

And more pressure on us: Orient have just won at Charlton. Have to, got to, must win tomorrow.

 

[Boz]

Orient were pulling away, currently fairly safe in mid-table. It's more of a worry in that after Yeovil, our next opponents are Charlton, who'll be looking to make amends.

 

[Tartantranmere64]

If Orient had lost by two goals tonight they would have been 5th bottom. They might look 'mid-table' right now, but we should still be aiming to catch teams like that.

Agree that playing Charlton on Saturday will not be ideal. Still, we have to play them sometime.

 

[TheBunnyBellEnd]

I personally think worrying about how other teams are getting on is pointless as it is something that is beyond our control. What we need to concentrate on is what we do, if we dont start picking up 3 points from games like tonight it will not make a blind bit of difference what the likes of Leyton Orient and Oldham do as we will not be able to catch them anyway.[-(
Back to tonight it is one of those games we have to place in the must win column. Our fixture for February currently look like this:

Yeovil (h)
Charlton (a)
Oldham (h)
Southend (a)
Leyton Orient (h)
Huddersfield (h)
Brentford (a)

We can win tonight, beat Oldham and Leyton Orient a point at home against Huddersfield and a point away at either Brentford or Southend is definately achieveable.
It all starts tonight. Personally I am not a fan of the 433 but I would stick with it. What I would do is change some of the personel. Logan is missing so I would move Edds to right back. I would play Barnett, Welsh, Mahon as my midfield 3 with Welsh in the holding role. I would replace Gornell with Shuker and play ITM in the centre of the 3. My concern with changing the formation is that it may be just too disruptive in such an important game.
Hopefully by swapping some of those players that look a little low in confidence with ones who are hungry to make an impression we may have a little more going forward.:-k

My prediction is this, we will stick with the same team bar Logan who will probably be replaced by McCready. The game will be a tight dull affair with little to seperate the 2 sides. 0-0 at half time. Second half will continue in much the same vain however we will grab a goal around the 70 min mark and then cling on with our finger nails till the bitter end. 3 points job done!\\/