• 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.

League Two Tranmere v Cheltenham

Tranmere v Cheltenham
Posted by Ian
Prenton Park
Saturday, September 19, 2020 - 03:00 PM
Until: Saturday, September 19, 2020 - 05:00 PM
(Adjusted for timezone: Europe/London)
Categories

Upcoming dates
All times have been adjusted for the timezone: Europe/London

This event has expired and has no upcoming dates

Ian

Super White!
Admin
Joined
21 Sep 2005
Messages
12,019
Player
Aldo
Manager
Kingy
We have been better in the second half but it couldn't really have got any worse. Still no real attacking threat though.
 

Sparky

Member
Joined
8 Sep 2009
Messages
7,530
Player
Chris Greenacre
Wouldn’t be surprised if Vaughan gets a second yellow. Keeps fouling their defenders
 

Boz

Member
Joined
30 Sep 2005
Messages
8,851
Player
Iain Hume
0-3 down and still only one recognised striker on the pitch
Agreed. Thought it was worth trying the new formation for a bit but I’d take Morris/Khan off for Payne
 

Ian

Super White!
Admin
Joined
21 Sep 2005
Messages
12,019
Player
Aldo
Manager
Kingy
Banks and Payne on for Spearing and Khan with 10 min to go.
 

bigmart

bigmart
Member
Joined
29 Jul 2009
Messages
7,107
Player
Ian Muir
Seems odd that Jacko can't see the need for a 2nd striker in the pitch.
 

Sparky

Member
Joined
8 Sep 2009
Messages
7,530
Player
Chris Greenacre
Well I never expected that. Absolutely awful. Second half the game was over so Cheltenham just sat back and took their foot off the gas.
Early days but big questions for Jacko to answer.

We got a good point playing 4 at the back at mansfield (ok we went to 5 later on). He changes it for a home game going 5 at the back and only one up front. Vaughan can’t play that role - Nors could, and Ferrier at times, but Vaughan isn’t that type of striker. Spearing looked out way of his depth and banks should have started to support Vaughan.

So Jacko got the system and team wrong IMO. Second half he got it wrong too as we only went to two strikers with 10 mins left. Far too late. Who knows if Payne/Banks had been on earlier we could have nicked a goal early in the second half and it would have been game on. Too little too late, and Jacko must take the blame.
The only positive was feeney but with nothing really in the box for him to aim for it was terrible.
Obviously we shouldn’t go overboard and it’s early days, but big questions for Jacko and is this a sign that he’s too defensive? 4 games played this season and 1 goal scored. Inevitably the questions will be yes he was a good number 2, but can he hack it as a number 1?

Just to mention spearing again. A number of players were poor, but that was possibly the worst home league debut I’ve ever seen
 
Last edited:
Joined
15 Mar 2010
Messages
13,870
Player
Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
Manager
John King
It is difficult to know where to start after such a shambolic display. That was as poor as anything since the dark days pre-Mellon.

I think most of us were surprised by the starting line up and our fears were well founded. We were way too deep, with five defenders, two defensive midfielders and a lone striker, and we handed Cheltenham the initiative. However, whereas we have looked solid defensively in previous games, there was a real lack of organisation at the back today, possibly a case of 'too many cooks', with the three centre backs apparently passing responsiblity to each other a lot of the time. We looked particularly vulnerable from set plays, as for the first goal where I thought Davies should also have done better.

The biggest concern to me was the lack of any established shape or pattern of play. How are we trying to move the ball through the thirds, create chances and score a goal ? I just could not see any evidence that we have worked at our attacking game on the traiining ground, and we did not press well enough when we were out of possession either, with Cheltenahm completely disctating the tempo of the game for long periods.

The second half was a slight improvement after the switch to 442, but the horse had already bolted and I found the decision not to switch to two strikers at half time at the latest, very strange.

The only positives were the performances of Feeney, who looks a quality addition, and Vaughan, who I thought looked sharp despite the generally woeful service. However, it does not matter how many good individuals you have if they are not set up well tactically, as I said when we made the signings last week.

I don't like singling players out, but Spearing was really pedestrian in a poor midfield, and looked completely off the pace of the game.

A huge amount of work for the manager to do, as that kind of display is not acceptable with the money that has been spent this summer.
 

Sparky

Member
Joined
8 Sep 2009
Messages
7,530
Player
Chris Greenacre
I don't like singling players out, but Spearing was really pedestrian in a poor midfield, and looked completely off the pace of the game.

Great minds think alike RLC! He was shocking
 

ADD

Member
Joined
2 Jun 2018
Messages
1,495
Player
Norwood
Got to give jacko time but so far hes been less than impressive in his team selections.
He will be given time but I disagree. Only switching to 2 up front after 80 minutes said it all.
 

ADD

Member
Joined
2 Jun 2018
Messages
1,495
Player
Norwood
Aside from Feeney who was excellent this was shocking.
Jacko is managing to get a team that looks good on paper to play like a bunch of part timers. Really looking forward to hearing his post match interview tonight after hearing how he had seen so many positives last week and then again during training this week.
2 -0 down makes a change fair enough but then waits until the 81st minute to play 2 up front. God almighty talk about being negative.
First half was the worst I can remember from a Tranmere side since we were relegated to NL. Second half was just about better but only because Cheltenham had eased off....
Davies at fault for the first goal.
Central defence all poor. Had 3 of them all marking space on a couple of occasions.
Spearing - truly awful display.
No fight and very little interest either it has to be said from some of the players.
Vaughan did ok - but woefully isoloated and as has been said simply cannot play the lone striker role - few can no shame in that so should have started with Payne alongside.
Only saving grace for the team but especially Jacko is that there were no supporters in.
Simply unacceptable....
 

frenchrover

Member
Joined
4 Feb 2012
Messages
688
Player
aldo
Just watched the manager's post-match interview.....as half-hearted as the teams performance today. No real passion shown although the stupid wishy-washy questions put to him don't help, why was he not questioned about starting with 1 man upfront particularly playing at home . After a performance like todays I would have expected the manager to be seething and passionate in disclaiming that display, simply being "disappointed" is simply not good enough, instead we got more of the same...."we know where we need to be better". Well that's not hard to assess.
 

Sparky

Member
Joined
8 Sep 2009
Messages
7,530
Player
Chris Greenacre
Yes as much as I like Derek jones, he’s not exactly one to ask the tough questions.

as you say why wasn’t he asked why start with 1 Up front, and why did it take until 80mins to have more than one striker on the pitch

and is he still looking at more signings as we clearly need another front man
 

drwhoman

Member
Joined
30 Jun 2008
Messages
2,658
I was shocked by that. Bizarre formation and tactics from a team that should have been really motivated following the unfair demotion. Early days so I am probably being unkind but is Jackson out of his depth? Does Spearing think that is remotely good enough on you might view as his home turf? I hope that he
and the rest of them feel as embarrassed as the fans!
 
Joined
15 Mar 2010
Messages
13,870
Player
Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
Manager
John King
Yes as much as I like Derek jones, he’s not exactly one to ask the tough questions.

as you say why wasn’t he asked why start with 1 Up front, and why did it take until 80mins to have more than one striker on the pitch

and is he still looking at more signings as we clearly need another front man
He is not the toughest interrogator, but I wish he was doing the in-match commentaries.
 

drwhoman

Member
Joined
30 Jun 2008
Messages
2,658
There are a lot of highly experienced players in that team. Maybe they were asking the same question as us. Why are we set up like this against Cheltenham? It was no good for morale and might help explain the lack of enthusiasm.
 

Boz

Member
Joined
30 Sep 2005
Messages
8,851
Player
Iain Hume
Just to mention spearing again. A number of players were poor, but that was possibly the worst home league debut I’ve ever seen
I think the gold standard for this was Marc Laird in Rob Edwards' first home game v York. Spearing was very slow and clearly unfit, but don't think he quite plumbed that depth. However he should be dropped to work on his fitness.

It is worrying that Mike Jackson learnt nothing from pre-season by playing Vaughan on his own up front again. While it was the right thing to throw Feeney on towards the end of the half, his failure to take any further action until past 80 minutes was hard to fathom. Nowhere in the post-match interview did he accept that he'd got anything wrong. ADD makes a valid point about him escaping lightly due to the lack of fans in the ground. We cannot afford to drop out of the FL again and the manager is going to need to learn very quickly if he wants to stay in a job.
 

Ian

Super White!
Admin
Joined
21 Sep 2005
Messages
12,019
Player
Aldo
Manager
Kingy
Surely he can not be this tactically naive because that game takes some beating. After that horror show, I'm very worried.
 

Ian

Super White!
Admin
Joined
21 Sep 2005
Messages
12,019
Player
Aldo
Manager
Kingy
The next few games should be very interesting indeed.
 
Top