• 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.

Tranmere Rovers vs Doncaster Rovers

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Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
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I agree we should keep Micky. But the tide is turning I think with the fans. The question is who would replace him? People keep saying Adkins but Micky has 2 promotions from league 2. Like u say RLC he deserves to stay (for 3 trips to Wembley in 3 years if nothing else).
But he just frustrates fans with certain decisions. Making Davies captain was a mistake - we needed someone out there today in the middle. McCullough did ok but tired and found it difficult at times in a 2 man midfield with Woodyard. Like I say the 3 up top just didn’t work and he is making these decisions
I still think the damage was done last summer. We needed 10-12 League One quality players in the summer window and did not get them. You can't then apply sticking plasters in January to try and make the squad functional.

We had some decent individuals in the side tonight, but they were effectively doing pre-season in early February. Think of the cohesion and fluidity of Doncaster's moves and the understanding in their side, compared to our own.
 
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I agree completely with this. Making any keeper captain is a strange thing to do IMO.
I don't think it really matters who the captain is, if the general quality of your squad is not good enough.
 

Ian

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I don't think it really matters who the captain is, if the general quality of your squad is not good enough.
No it does not matter, we have wider problems of course, but I still find it strange.
 

Sparky

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No it does not matter, we have wider problems of course, but I still find it strange.

on it’s own it doesn’t matter, but as one of a few baffling decisions like some of the wasted recruitment and his tactics so often playing one up front at home this season means many fans are become disillusioned.
 
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ian goodison
that was inept lets keep mellon as he gets teams out of league2 then what brings them straight back down!!!! only seen Vaughan for 1 game but seems no better than mullin/payne, takes a striker off for a mid-fielder then takes McCulloch off fair enough then brings the oldest person on then holy moses takes off at 0-3 a full back to be replaced by another FULL-BACK either mellon has a) given up, b) no idea or c) knows he,s safe as houses next season,what concerns me is when we are relegated will the players on loan stich around (no chance) which means we have to trust mellon to re-build,god help us.
 
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on it’s own it doesn’t matter, but as one of a few baffling decisions like some of the wasted recruitment and his tactics so often playing one up front at home this season means many fans are become disillusioned.
Was the money wasted, or was it simply not there in the first place ? We could not afford to sign a single player of proven League One quality in the summer. The squad we have was never fit for purpose at this level. I am sure Mellon made mistakes in the summer, but I don't think that is the fundamental reason for our struggles.

Lack of finance - inevitable after three years spent outside the Football League and back to back promotions - is not the fault of the manager. I am not apportioning blame to Palios either, but the club was simply never in a position to compete at this level this season. The gulf between Leagues One and Two is enormous now. Consider the quality of some of the football Doncaster played tonight - and they were tenth.

There is no comparison between this division now and the days of Les Parry, when we stumbled along on a shoestring budget. You need genuine quality to survive.
 
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that was inept lets keep mellon as he gets teams out of league2 then what brings them straight back down!!!! only seen Vaughan for 1 game but seems no better than mullin/payne, takes a striker off for a mid-fielder then takes McCulloch off fair enough then brings the oldest person on then holy moses takes off at 0-3 a full back to be replaced by another FULL-BACK either mellon has a) given up, b) no idea or c) knows he,s safe as houses next season,what concerns me is when we are relegated will the players on loan stich around (no chance) which means we have to trust mellon to re-build,god help us.
Yes, because there are loads of managers out there with a better record in League Two than Mellon who would be available to us. Perhaps you could tell us about them........

And that is without even considering the ethics of the situation. Firing the second most successful manager in our history, only nine months after he delivered his latest success.
 

overthewater

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I assume CBT is still injured? When I saw Ferrier on the left I wondered if maybe CBT was meant to be in (how else was Cookie to be supplied?) but that maybe he'd failed a fitness test or something and so Ferrier kept his place. Playing Ferrier, Vaughan and Cookie seemed very strange. I back Micky but as others have said there's zero creativity (even Morris is looking a pale shadow of the player he was earlier in the season) and you wonder where the next goal's coming from (never mind the next win)
 

Sparky

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Portsmouth could be even harder than tonight and they’ll bring a load of fans so Saturday could be even tougher. What Doncaster did show was that you can play good football on our pitch as they passed it well whereas we were a bit slow in moving the ball at times
 

drwhoman

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It sounds as if Rovers are starting to be accepting of their fate. They have been without a win for so long that any confidence they have is drained as soon as the opposition score. I am not sure how you deal with that other than keep trying in the hope that a win, any win, provides some impetus for us to go on a run where we do not lose games even if we draw some of them. We can all blame the Manager or the formation but it is probably too late to either sack MM (even if that was seen as a positive, which is questionable) or to come up with some magical tactical formula that will dramatically change our fortunes. Negative I know but perhaps we should start thinking about what happens with the squad in the summer. The better players will want to go and then it is a question as to who stays!
 
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Well it looks likely that we are going down, if we stay up it will be a real bonus, but in the meantime lets make Prenton Park as positive a place as possible under the circumstances and get behind Micky and the boys.
 

Ian

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or to come up with some magical tactical formula that will dramatically change our fortunes
Even if we found a magical tactical formula, it would not make any difference. Even if we had a high profile manager in charge, it would not make a difference. The bottom line is the players are not good enough at this level. I see people looking for excuses when we lose. It's the manager, it's the tactics, it's Micky's backroom staff, it's Micky's signings (not accepting we've had a low budget and needed to change pretty much the entire squad to be competitive). Hard to accept for some but there it is.

The gulf between Leagues One and Two is enormous now. Consider the quality of some of the football Doncaster played tonight - and they were tenth.
Couldn't agree more. Like I said earlier, that's where we need to be as a team to be competitive in this division. Sadly, we are some way from that.
 

ONIGP

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A pretty good first half with a lot of commitment - a significant improvement on Saturday. I think we took Doncaster by surprise and they handed us a lot of possession although they showed enough slick football to cause concern. Clearly they had us worked out by (or at) half time and they stepped up a gear in the second half, something against which we were unable to respond. It never felt like there was a way back after their first goal and our confidence palpably drained away. We desperately need something good to happen on Saturday against Portsmouth or this could get rather messy. Relegation to League 2 looks pretty inevitable which, while excruciatingly disappointing, is not a disaster. What would be a disaster is some kind of implosion. Now is the time for calm heads, professionalism and maintaining self-respect. If we are going down we need to be going down fighting and in one piece.
 
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ian goodison
Yes, because there are loads of managers out there with a better record in League Two than Mellon who would be available to us. Perhaps you could tell us about them........

And that is without even considering the ethics of the situation. Firing the second most successful manager in our history, only nine months after he delivered his latest success.
I respect your opinion RLC but I watched mellon last night and there was no passion no urging players on nothing upbeat either from him or his staff, I,m not saying sack him because at the minute after the performances I don,t care whether he goes or stays, he,s put most of this squad together many will not be here next year the thought of him putting together another ageing squad because we will never be like Doncaster who drove forward with pace and had loads of energy because mellon won,t buy/pick them,
 

Sparky

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Looking back on last night you can see the type of player Manny is.
He did well when alongisde experienced McNulty last season. Then early this season the defence struggled when he was with Nelson. Then with experienced Clarke he’s looking good again but last night he was hopeless. Clearly needs an experienced head alongside him to give him a rollicking when required and to be vocal and organise things
 
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Ian Goodison
To coincide with the influx of new players during January for me now would be the time to take the captaincy from Davies allowing him to concentrate purely on being a goalkeeper and give the armband to Clarke based on his leadership qualities and experience at a higher level for longer.

Regarding the manager is it time for a new voice possibly?

If Mickey was to be replaced and we were to be relegated back to League Two there aren`t to many managers with a record of getting teams out of League Two into League one as good as our current manager.
 
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[
I respect your opinion RLC but I watched mellon last night and there was no passion no urging players on nothing upbeat either from him or his staff, I,m not saying sack him because at the minute after the performances I don,t care whether he goes or stays, he,s put most of this squad together many will not be here next year the thought of him putting together another ageing squad because we will never be like Doncaster who drove forward with pace and had loads of energy because mellon won,t buy/pick them,
You mean like the hopeless squad he put together twelve months ago to promote us from League Two ? Seven of the players who played at Wembley against Newport were signed by Mellon, many of them crucial players: Monthe, Nelson, Morris, Perkins, Buxton........
 

bigmart

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Ian Muir
I thought they shaded the first half but we battled well, the second half they were much the better team and for all the effort we created virtually nothing.

We are going down with a wimper, we don't look like scoring as we ready very.little.

micky shojld stay but it will be an important summer as decent money needs to be made available if we are to challenge for promotion next season.as we need to get rid of a lot of the squad, the recruitment next summer has to be good
 
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Norwood was such a major factor in us winning promotion last season , even if we had stayed in league 2 we would have struggled without him. You just had to give him the ball and he would do the rest.
 
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