Stevenage v Rovers

[Boz]

Whatever our predictions for this one, it's a pretty crucial game in our battle to stay up. Stevenage were probably the poorest side to visit PP this season, but we didn't manage to beat them. At one stage, they were getting cut adrift at the bottom, but have managed to claw some points back and stay in touch. Their manager may have had a charisma by-pass, but Mr Westley seems to have the ability to get this side punching above their weight. They also have two awkward customers in Rovers old boy Lucas Akins-wouldn't mind a bit of his pace now-along with Zoko.

I went to the game last season, on a wet day with few chances, Rovers went ahead early in the second half, think Cassidy scored, but failed to kill the game off and they equalized with a screamer from Greg Tansey in the 90th minute. At least he's no longer there...

Will be interesting seeing what side McMahon puts out as he tries breaking his awayday duck at the third attempt. He's been talking about the versatility and fitness of Koumas, so hopefully has learned something from the Oldham game. Personally I'd start with the same line-up as Oldham, save Kirby who scored twice for the reserves at Shrewsbury replacing Robinson.

I think we're capable of getting something from this one, but it is often easier taking points from a side on the wane than one like Stevenage who currently appear to be on an upturn.

 

[bigmart]

We need to get at least a point from this game as lose ad we are in even bigger trouble, think we will draw 1 1

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

I'm hoping to go, but I'm currently a jinx on the team, so maybe I should stay at home. A month ago, I'd have been very confident. Now I think a win would be a massive result. I'd be very pleased and relieved with a draw.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

First and foremost we must avoid defeat, although even a draw could see us drop into the bottom four by the time of the Notts County game. However, as I have said earlier, I am surprised by the some of the negativity in the above comments: Stevenage's recent form is good, but so is ours and we have been impressive away from home in the last couple of months.

In addition to the players cited by Boz above, Stevenage have Luke Freeman out wide, so it would concern me if Robbo plays the full ninety minutes again. Jake Kirby's appearance for the reserves unfortunately suggests that he won't be starting.

 

[andrewesq]

i still cant get over their last minute goal last season and listening to the local radio afterwards. We are better away and although stevenage are improving we have a shout, a smash and grab would be good !

 

[Ian]

Got a feeling it's going to be smash and grab and i do think we'll come away with some points.

 

[Ian]

Ohh dear..

 

[Sparky]

Will be interesting to hear from anyone who went the match but the stats show it seemed to be all Stevenage.

If so, an awful result given our league position and Stevenage being below us.

You do wonder whether some of the players e.g Wallace really are thinking of where they will be next season. Not with us that's for sure.

We're at risk of turning into Stockport...

 

[Boz]

Our record against teams beneath us when we play them this season has been poor. Losses to Notts County, Sheffield United and now Stevenage. The match stats, if accurate, seem poor only 2 shots off target all game, while our consolation was an og.

Subs appeared strange too, Ridehalgh off for Robinson and Brown the loanee winger dropping to left-back, where he started his career. If Liam wasn't injured, it just seems either daft or another old pals act from McMahon to Robinson. Why didn't Kirby come on for his youthful energy or Stockton, who would surely have been able to make more impact than Cassidy managed today?

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

Where do I start? It was truly awful. The stats did not lie and it's not often that a side manages to score a goal without having a single shot on target. We never looked like scoring and hardly had a shot on goal. My mate and I could not find any positives, unless you count the fact that Akins missed at least two good chances.

It's difficult to blame any individual players. Jennings had an off day and nothing Lowe or Cassidy tried did went right. Koumas and Wallace showed skill at times, but the midfield failed to click. Brown looked lively until a crunching tackle which earned a booking. I thought the back five, as individuals, were OK. Arthurworrey in particular looks a real prospect, his long legs getting to any ball that comes near him. There was a nice cameo from Robbo after Ridehalgh had gone off and Brown was strangely moved to left-back. Robbo's presence led indirectly to "our" goal - a horrendous back pass that wrongfooted their keeper.

What made the difference was the high intensity of the home team. They hassled all the time and never allowed Rovers to settle. I counted only one move of more than four or five passes. It was as if they had an extra couple of players. The first goal resulted from Brown being dispossessed in the area when surrounded by opponents. The second goal was at the far end, but also it looked like our defence lost the ball near the goal. The third goal, by the way, was a long-range effort by a by then rampant Stevenage.

Our forwards saw little of the ball and when they did they had little support. In particular, we were overrun in midfield and perhaps should have gone back to 4-5-1, but unfortunately I do not think we are allowed to take Cassidy off and taking Lowe off would have been seen to be negative. Stevenage were aggressive, had two players booked early on and got away with a lot of pushes and tugs, but were full value for their win. If they are relegation candidates, I do not know what we are!

 

[Sparky]

Cheers for the report BBTC. Sounds like the stats were accurate.

High intensity etc and aggression from the home side were not a surprise. Westley there manager like him or loathe him can at times get his teams fired up.

I am just surprised and bitterly disappointed that what I thought was our alleged better players was not enough to overcome that.

The manager situation won't be helping. Is JMc good enough? But what else can we do?

I can't even think about next Saturday yet....

 

[Boz]

I can't even think about next Saturday yet....

How about thinking about Tuesday then and a trip to top 3 Brentford

Thanks for the report BBTC. Are you able to throw any light on whether Robinson for Ridehalgh was a 'tactical' substitution or was Liam injured?

 

[Ian]

Bottom line is they wanted it more than us. Looking grim tonight. Where's the fight from the players?

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

Thanks for the report BBTC. Are you able to throw any light on whether Robinson for Ridehalgh was a 'tactical' substitution or was Liam injured?

Liam wasn't obviously injured to me, but I think he must have been. He hadn't had a bad game, so why take him off when you don't have a left-back on the bench? It was lucky Brown can play there, although I think he's more use playing more forward. If no-one was injured and Robbo had to come on, it would have made more sense to take off Brown, who was probably not match fit. We didn't change our formation, so I'm pretty sure Liam has an injury, probably a slight one.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I would echo most of BBTC's comments above. Utter dross from Rovers today, the worst we have played for months, probably all season. Tactically, we were completely unable to cope with Stevenage's long ball game. More worryingly, there was a complete lack of spirit shown by the Rovers players: our strength is in midfield, but we never worked hard enough or got tight enough without the ball for any of the midfield three to get decent posession in good areas. When we did have the ball our decision making was poor, with passes misplaced and aimless punts directed in the direction of a ridiculously isolated Cassidy. Our lack of preparedness for the tactics employed by Stevenage - squeeze up the pitch, hit long balls, pen us around our 18 yard box and win set plays - was seriously concerning as both management team and players must have been aware of their approach beforehand.

We actually started the game reasonably solidly and had it not been for Stevenage scoring so early things may have turned out differently. As it was, a dreadful error by the unimpressive Brown gifted Stevenage the ball on the edge of our 18 yard box, we conceded and never really recovered from that point onwards.

I would disagree with BBTC regarding the back five. There was terrible confusion in the back four at times, particularly on set plays, with a worrying lack of communication and a complete lack of leadership in the defence; Fonners patrolling of his six yard box left something to be desired once again. Individually, Arthurworry played well, but we could easily have conceded further goals, Akins in particualr missing two absolute sitters.

Other than Arthurworrey, no player comes out with any credit. I won't judge Brown on one appearance, but he was really unconvincing today. In a match where we were penned back for long periods, we really needed some pace in the attacking third as an outlet, but he did not appear to have any, nor did he beat, or even take on, the full back in the entire game. The tactical move in the second half was a strange one - my guess is that McMahon thought Brown and Robbo may link up to create an opening down the left - but Brown did actually look slightly more convincing at left back. Still a bizarre move though, as Ridehalgh had been one of our better players.

The performance was encapsulated by the fact that Stevenage's comical own goal was our first shot on target in the entire ninety minutes. Other than one header from Wallace in the second half, I can't remember another effort on goal all game.

Where do we go from here ? Prior to today, I thought we would survive with the players we have available. After today's showing, I think we are in major trouble and I am prepared for the worst.

After the high of the Coventry game, each of the performances under McMahon has been significantly worse than the one before and today we plumbed new depths, even by the standards of early season. This slide has to be arrested quickly if we are to stand any chance of survival. With the quality of players we had on the pitch today, the performance was unacceptable by any standards and I would at least expect the team at Brentford on Tuesday night to be spirited and organised, surely the basic requirements for any relegation threatened team.

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

RLC, on the OS there is a post-match interview with John Mac who says he was expecting Stevenage to play the way they did. But clearly, the team were not prepared for it. The whole team were ragged at times because of the home team's intensity and aggression. They were never given enough time or space to play the ball they wanted.

Yes, it may look like we are in for a hiding on Tuesday, but how often this season has one performance by Rovers been a good predictor of the next one? We haven't been consistently bad or consistently good. We've just been annoyingly inconsistent. I would bet that we will be better next time. Whether or not we get anything from Griffin Park, I think we'll see a different Rovers performance.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Yes, it may look like we are in for a hiding on Tuesday, but how often this season has one performance by Rovers been a good predictor of the next one? We haven't been consistently bad or consistently good. We've just been annoyingly inconsistent. I would bet that we will be better next time. Whether or not we get anything from Griffin Park, I think we'll see a different Rovers performance.

I hope you are right. I am just concerned because the performance today fell so far below the standards we have set in the last two months; signs of the wheels really coming off. We played equally poorly in the early months of the season, but that was with a side which had far less quality and experience.

At least the match on Tuesday will actually be a game of football rather than a wrestling match, which in a strange way may actually suit us.

 

[Ian]

Bbtc is spot on. As disappointing as the performance and result was, you just never know what to expect from one week to the next. However I'm glad we don't play the likes of Stevenage every week because that physical in your face game isn't one we are comfortable with.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Bbtc is spot on. As disappointing as the performance and result was, you just never know what to expect from one week to the next. However I'm glad we don't play the likes of Stevenage every week because that physical in your face game isn't one we are comfortable with.

I am not convinced to be honest. As awkward as Stevenage are, we play similar teams every week in League One and the problem yesterday was what we did -or did not - do to respond, not the opposition.

You really had to see the game to appreciate how utterly inept we were and my fear is that our situation is just too big for John McMahon to cope with: I am not blaming him, he has been put in a difficult situation which was not of his making. We have been inconsistent all season, but yesterday's performance was way below anything we have produced since Wallace / Koumas etc. came back into the side and in such a crucial game.

I think we really need to resolve the manager issue, or at least get senior players like Lowe and Goodison more involved in decision making to give ourselves a fighting chance. However, given the inaction off the pitch this season, there seems little chance of this happening.

 

[bigmart]

This was nothing short of a disastrous result and are chances of staying up now look slim at best, Brentford will beat us easily which makes next Saturday a must win.

Unless we start keeping clean sheets we will go down as we simply do not score enough goals to win games 3 2