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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014:01:31:22:52:11 by Deadly Submarine.

I think they will just nick it 1 2.

1-1. Long johns and thermal socks tonight.

We need at least a draw from this one

I think we will win it 2-1. Ronnie being an ex Miller may gives us that bit more to want to win

GOing for team to be:
OFW
Pennington SAW Taylor Horwood
Kennedy Jenno Wallace Kirby (Koumas would be okay too)
Cass Lowe

And a 3-2 Win, Wallace to score the winner.

we'll win if he slots walace in, not sure I would start with 2 up front

sounds awful need to shake things up try nad have a go at them

Wallace anonymous and offered nothing. Admittedly the rest of the midfield haven't been great either, particularly Kirby but all this hype about bringing Wallace back in has as I expected proved to be over the top.

lend us your hind sight sub so I can try appear smart

No hindsight involved it's about watching us week in week out and realising what's best.

robbo robbo !
so you think we are better without Walace ? tho you never said so b4

Compared to being without Koumas like we were tonight then yes I definitely do!

Rotherham wherever good and a good a team I have seen this season.

I agree they were on a par with Peterborough as the best side to visit Prenton Park this season.

Quote:

Deadly Submarine
I agree they were on a par with Peterborough as the best side to visit Prenton Park this season.

Rotherham were excellent, particularly in the first half. Played crisp incisive football on the floor of a very good standard , which was all the more creditable because of the appallingly wet conditions. They were ''a million miles'' better than us. We could hardly string a pass together. The two lads in midfield, Agard and Pringle , were very good but they were well supported by most of their team mates. They passed and moved whereas we stood and watched. If we'd have equalised at the end,it would have been daylight robbery of the highest order.

Apparently Moore said after the game:-

We knew Rotherham would be just hoofball and they have hurt us with it.



That's the best 'hoofball' I've ever seen by a country mile.If he seriously thinks that, then he needs a visit to the opticians.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014:01:29:09:29:47 by Hoots Mon.

Yes they were a million miles better than us last night and they are a great footballing team who I expect to be up at the top and the end of the season.

my biggest concern from last night is that they played like a team and we played like a bunch of individuals. They were also miles fitter than us which is a great concern because that can sometimes be the difference between winning and losing. As good as.they were, we were equally as poor last night and we've got a lot of work to do if we're going to stay in this division.

Sadly I can see us being relegated with about 38 points well adrift of the other teams. I don't want to be too pessimistic but at this stage of the season when teams start to get their act together and move up a gear we don't seem to have any other gear available.
If we are going to survive it's going to have to involve Koumas. I don't see anyone else in the team with any creative ability.

I can see why Ronnie made the hoofball comment, their approach was to get the ball forward as quickly as possible as often as possible. We made it easy for them though, particularly in the first half, when it looked like we were playing in quick setting concrete and they were playing on astroturf. They were quicker than us, more physical than us and more determined than us. By far the biggest problem was that our distribution was terrible, clearances came straight back and we gave the ball away trying to bring it out - not once or twice but virtually every time. The midfield gave the defence no protection and we barely got out of our half. Frankly we were extremely fortunate to only be 1-0 down at 45 minutes.

In the second half it was far more even, we were unlucky to concede the second and frankly I couldn't work out what the ref was doing with that thrown in. No excuse for the switching off that followed though. We showed in the last 10 minutes that they were vulnerable and I feel that's got to be our approach for the rest of the season - go for it. Our defence is porous so we've got to get wide and attack. Yes, we'll get lose some games badly but at least we've got a chance of winning some too.

I agree Doogie, as good as they were (and I've already said they were the equal best side to visit PP this season), they were very direct a lot of the time.

Their first goal... great football, can't argue with that but the second was a long hopeful hoof and it wasn't an isolated hoof during the game either so Ronnie's comments on that bit are in context.

Quote:

Deadly Submarine
I agree Doogie, as good as they were (and I've already said they were the equal best side to visit PP this season), they were very direct a lot of the time.
Their first goal... great football, can't argue with that but the second was a long hopeful hoof and it wasn't an isolated hoof during the game either so Ronnie's comments on that bit are in context.

Sorry but I totally disagree. They, for the most part, played excellent football.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014:01:29:14:31:55 by Hoots Mon.

There's a difference between playing long balls when you've realised that the opposition has serious problems defending them and panicky hoofing of the ball upfield so that it either goes out or to your smallest player (our usual playing style). The fact is that Rotherham always had options - pass it short or play it long - and always elected the best one.
Our biggest problem is, and always has been since the Matthias team, movement off the ball. Most of the time our players have exactly zero options when they get the ball, hence the hopeful punts!

Going back in time Jim Harvey was very good at playing long balls or another word for it hoofball but his long balls were class and would pick out a man in white 90% of the time.
But our shower last night could not string many passes together
they were slow did not look interested it was painful to watch.
The weather nor the pitch helped last night but there were two teams on it,Rotherham played well were faster fitter and played together as a team and did not stand around ball watching getting stuck in and working as a unit,perhaps it was good it was poor weather and a heavy pitch for if it was a perfect sunny day and a dry level pitch they may have tore us apart.

Who played well in white hard to pick perhaps Ash also big Arthurworrey and Fon Williams for his saves he pulled off.

The down side of Fonners is his ability to command his box, he does not do it in the style of Nico or Achterberg they dominated their area defenders knew who was boss and their ability catch balls in the air by coming off the line but lacking in Fonners,but the lad did keep the score down .
But as for last night it was the first time I gave up watching from my seat and went down to watch the last twenty minutes on the TV perhaps it was the cold weather the performance from those in white but I felt I had reached the depths of concern that my team were reaching new lows,oh one more thing it did not look any better on the telly at least I had a pint in my hand be it in a plastic glass(I hate them)well it was in my hand tell it fell off the edge of the table when I put it down 3/4 full never noticed being plastic had a uneven bottom and tipped over like a pack of cards now that really added to the atmosphere,and to think I go to the match for a feel good trip.

i felt when we attacked we played the ball on the floor and didnt go for hoof ball all the time which can only be a bonus from a bad game

I couldn't honestly say anyone in white had a decent game. Ash and Arthurworrey held back the tide as well as they could but their clearances mostly seemed to result in another immediate attack and they were just as culpable as everyone else for me. Perhaps I just expect something a bit different than giving the ball straight back to the opposition to stage another attack, which seems to me bad defending rather than having a decent game in difficult circumstances.

While Rotherham played well, we helped them by losing the ball in midfield way too much and therefore giving them the opportunity to play from there. They rarely played through midfield (they didn't need to) and seemed to me to look for the ball down the channel first and foremost, then crossing if they had the chance or stretching the defence by playing it back through the midfield if they didn't. It's not a negative to say they played direct attacking football, it's a compliment. It was a very effective tactic that exposed our weakness and played to their strengths. Wish we could do a bit more of this, but I suspect we aren't quick enough to pull it off.

The way we passed the ball around in the first 20 minutes or so reminded me of the Barnes era where we passed the ball about neatly without actually getting anywhere. After that we seemed to try our best to avoid passing the ball to our own players. Rotherham are a busy team that closed us down quickly and made good use of the ball; if only we could do that.

Tranmere might have done better, if they had shown the sort of urgency and grit present in the final 10%-20% of the game, as there was little decisive penetration in the final 3rd, but apart from Robbo's header I don't feel there was much to write home about for Tranmere in Rotherhams half, any positives in the way the team played bar Robbo's header were mostly isolated in and around Fons box.

Rotherham are a good team that clearly were difficult to live with and that was always going to be the danger, but Tranmere were making it a little easier for them to maraud and do damage and 2-1 in the context of both teams performances could feel to Rotherham like a little dissapointing, as they did enough to justify 3 or 4 goals.

Then I ate his Liver.......... with some baked beans and a can of coke.

Rotherham were class..they had pace and plenty of players in support...definite contenders for promotion.We had too many players who were not committed in the tackle and should have started with Koumas instead of Jennings(off the pace)and Robbo instead of Kirby(chickens out of tackles).