7000 + watched an absolutely dire performance from Rovers today okay we have escaped relegation by a margin but we are back to square one,no offense to Accrington but they were poor other than the goal after 1 minute Mildenhall was caught cold never should have scored from there he was unprepared and positioned wrongly after that we could have still been playing now and not scored. My biggest concern is the football was all route one Mildenhall never threw the ball out to either defender or any of the midfield during the whole of the game instructed or preffering to hold the ball then kick long boring I here you cry. Also Richards was absolute pants why was he not substituted far to slow and not strong enough on the ball.We did look better when a forced change (mcdonald) placed Parkes in defence and Norburn (a proper midfielder) partnered Ollie who grew into the game. We desperately require a decent midfielder similar to O Toole who can link defence and attack break up play and slow the game down hopefully JW is able to entice someone if OToole is not avaliable to join us in the summer the guy next to me said after 35 mins he was off to the bar as the game was soooo poor. We have progressively got worse since O Toole left and we have regressed into Magoo football oh and route one football has emerged from the dressing room our midfield is no longer robust in its defence of the the back for unable to string a set of passes together with attack thank goodness we have escaped relegation as on recent displays we would drop like a stone. Theres 90mins of your life you wont get back! Sorry if this sounds negative but the team have already left the building and parked there arses on the perverbrial sunbeds. As for applauding them at the end for a good season hmm only the brain dead would have waited to applaud........applaud what?another mediocre season scrambling for survival Dont be mistaken I am seriously pleased that JW turned the season around and rescued the team (it would not have happened under Magoo) however it will require major surgery during the break to build a spine and challenge for the playoffs next season. What do you think? COR
Dire?? - I think you're being generous! Awful performance...and it's been going that way for a few matches. When will players learn that a huge number of goals come from set-pieces, and giving away stupid fouls may lead to a goal? Much to do for next season...but I'm sure Ward knows that!
It was very poor but to be honest I don't think the patient needs an enormous amount of surgery. A couple of decent combative midfielders a la JJO'T are required and Parkes needs to stay in defence - he ain't a midfielder. In JW's interview with Twentypence on the BBC yesterday he made it clear he was working to get JJO'T back with us. If he does that we will be in with a good chance next year. Let's face it, the players have put in a shift this year to dig us out of the mire and it was quite clear they we already on their hols within a few minutes of this game starting. Having said that we still had a couple of chances to take something from this game but the finishing was poor - especially from Richard. Tounkare hasn't shown enough for me, so I'm looking forward to seeing Harrold back next season. JW will take us forward in 2013-14, of that I'm sure.
it wasnt pretty at all. you are right though COR about looking better when norburn came on and parkes went back to CB. our shape looked better then. CM is our weakest link now. with clucas/woodards our injured and o'toole left the club, we are very lightweight at CM. on top of that the performance looked like a typical end of season game when you have nothing left to play for. ward was correct in his post match interview about the players letting themselves down. im expecting the same type of performance away at torquay.
I think we have to be honest with ourselves we all knew that as soon as o'toole finished his loan spell we would struggle. The sad thing is we had nobody to fill his shoes when he left. I just hope that next season we get a couple of hard hitting no nonsense players in like o'toole.
clucas will be out for a few months when the new season starts and so will woodards. norburn is showing signs of improvement but he cant do it on his own with a CB parkes along side him as he currently is. clarke is a little too inexperienced. i think we need o'toole and another 2 more at CM. and these must have experience to allow norburn and clark and clucas when he is fit again to learn from them all. if we keep mildenhall and mcchrystal, think our defence pretty much is sorted as gough, lockyer and keary would be ok replacements. we need to sort out our whole midfield and get pace in up front.
It will be a test for John Ward as to who he is able to pick up during the break,we have a chance for a fresh start with a nucleus of players as you say CJ we can build a team around. It will be interesting who is availiable during the holidays at least JW should be able to entice some better players now with the new stadium plans and his own stamp firmly on the team tactics formation and selection.His form record was outstanding so players should be less willing to put the phone down on him hopefully wages will be more realistic this time around. He has acheived getting us to first base maintaining league status next I would suggest is challenging for a play off place,oh and not playing route one football all the time during the Accrington match the ball was in the air longer than it was on the ground View attachment 23172 Roll on to next season COR
Nevertheless it is a wake up call. We need the likes of JJOT, but these lads also need to be at full throttle to compete. Anything less and we will keep getting turned over by the likes of Accrington. We'll have th likes of Pompey and Scunthorpe next season, not to mention Chesterfield.
Agree Gastro in theory the back 4 plus Mildenhall should be better next season, older, wiser and more settled under JW's continued stewardship. Midfield needs stiffening up due to injuries and O Tooles departure my view is that we need at least two newbies in that area. As for attack Harrold is a wild card,will he return to full fitness or is he just an impact player or possibly back up,Tounkara needs games and to form a partnership with Brunty or a new attacker as Richards time is possibly up unless we get him on the cheap mainly down to inconsistency. Anyinsah similar terrorises defences one minute not interested the next. As for the team not turning up you are right they will get turned over unless fully on there game,its harder when there is nothing to play for at the end of the season whatever politically correct statement JW makes to the fans perhaps the bonuses for winning etc are not that well embedded in the Rovers team contracts. Pompey,Scunny and chesterfield added to the mix will make it difficult to get out of L2 next season plus the three playoff contenders that dont make it. COR
I agree with most of the above. We need to keep the solid defence, but the midfield just isn't up to the job. Although we have done well under JW, I haven't seen us dominate games in the way that will be required to get out of this Division. Going back to the Gillingham game, eventual champions, they caught Rovers cold in the first few minutes, then their solid defence just cut out everything we threw at them. They were also very lucky with the second when Kenny went down injured in the box leaving an unmarked scorer. Although we didn't create much there wasn't a very large gap between the two teams. I think that we are well served up front, although a little more on the ground ball skills wouldn't go amiss. I don't think JW will wait on J2O. If he wants to come then he will need make his mind up before JW locates someone else.
