Dismal Rovers Suffer Hammering by Early Pace Setters

On the back of an improved performance against Bolton Wanderers in the Carling Cup, Tranmere suffered a horrendous defeat at the hands of Charlton at Prenton Park who took possibly the easiest three points the London based club will get this season.

 Tranmere R 0 - 4 Charlton A

Attendance: 5,417

On the back of an improved performance against Bolton Wanderers in the Carling Cup, Tranmere suffered a horrendous defeat at the hands of Charlton at Prenton Park who took possibly the easiest three points the London based club will get this season. It was not only the result which left more than a bitter taste in the mouth of Rovers fans who showed the players and staff how they felt with numerous boo’s and chants of “Barnes Out”. Last Saturday’s abysmal result at Leeds meant anything out of the game would have been a bonus, but there was no energy, commitment or desire to want to get at the ex Premiership side. From start to finish they dictated play, with Rovers unable to string two to three passes together within 10 yards of their teammates. This was a far cry from last season as Tranmere’s superb home form would have meant teams such as Charlton finding it hard to break the defence down and the players would have upped their game for the so called ‘big’ teams.

The scoreline of 4-0 flattered Tranmere in all honesty with only Luke Daniels superb goal keeping leaving the full time result as it was. However with twenty minutes still to go in the game many had left their seats and made their way home, it was damage limitation for Barnes and his players who showed little pride. John Barnes made three changes to the side that lost narrowly to Bolton in the cup with Shaleum Logan; Ian Thomas Moore and Gavin Gunning being drafted into the first team Gareth Edds; Craig Curran and Ash Taylor all dropped back on the bench. Here is the starting XI in full:

Formation: 4 – 4 – 2

Daniels

Logan                  Goodison                 Gunning                  Cresswell

Shuker                 Welsh                       McLaren                  Mahon

Thomas – Moore (C)                       Gornell

Charlton started the game brightly and rather than settle in to the match they quickly went about creating openings and were camped in Rovers half for the first ten minutes, Tranmere finding it hard to break out and find space which they could utilise. Charlton looked far more comfortable on the ball than their counter parts which summed up the play as a whole. Tranmere fans were getting frustrated at the lack of urgency shown by the players to pass the ball quickly and raise the tempo with the abundance of speed and ability in both full backs to get forward and provide quality service to the strikers.

On four minutes Thomas Moore managed to find space in front of the back four and turned on a six pence running at goal with cries of ‘shoot’ from the home fans instead laying the ball out wide because there was no one near him for support. In the end Kelly Youga of Charlton committed a foul on Chris Shuker and the resultant outcome was a yellow card. The free kick from McLaren was poor and this would be a hindrance for Tranmere as when the opportunity arose for a good quality ball into the box it was wasted. From this attack Charlton swiftly broke with Lloyd Sam and Jonjo Shelvey providing the ammunition to cause Tranmere an array of problems. Shelvey nearly opened the scoring after an initial challenge from Aaron Creswell on Lloyd Sam the referee did well to allow the passage of play to continue, and the ball fell kindly to the sort after midfielder who tested Daniels aerobatics who superbly tipped over the bar. So far Alan Mahon has failed to live up to his own and the fans high expectations after returning to Prenton Park from Burnley but he was very quite throughout the match; the only notable contribution was a dangerous cross on twelve minutes which troubled keeper Rob Elliott.

Daniels (Above) made a string of fine saves

The next real chance for either side came in the shape of ex Derby prodigy Deon Burton who now plies his trade in League One, and he looked hungry for a goal as Daniels tipped yet another shot over the bar this time from 18 yards. It wasn’t long though before Charlton had their noses in front and from then on the floodgates simply opened. The goal on twenty four minutes was deserved as they broke again from yet another appalling free kick. Shelvey who was at the heart of everything Athletic did broke down the left hand side and crossed directly to Lloyd Sam who out jumped young Creswell and sent his powerful header back towards Daniels right hand side who had expected the ball to go left. He was left static as were most of the Tranmere players for the whole game. Fans jumped out of their seats in disgust but this was nothing compared to what was in store minutes later.

The crowd from the top of the kop sung Super White Army even when behind and tried to get the players confidence up. Kick off to Tranmere would come to a second goal for the leaders as Deon Burtons neat back heel was executed perfectly behind three back tracking Tranmere defenders. Jose Semedo who had the speed to overtake Gunning and Goodison took the ball in his stride and fired a low shot past Daniels bottom right hand corner. A huge surge of boo’s followed with many fist pumping and even the players were arguing with each other. How long would the crowd tolerate this kind of performance?

Tranmere had clearly lost their way and the crowd had lost patience with them, every time a player was robbed of possession grunts and remarks would be made heard. Charlton sensed they could go and get a killer third which would surely put the game beyond any considerable doubt and leave Barnes clutching at yet another horror show. On thirty two minutes Nicky Bailey nearly put the icing on the cake for Athletic but his shot went narrowly wide.  Six minutes later McLaren; who had one of the worst games in his career shot pathetically into the hands of Elliott. Charlton even began singing “your worse than Crystal Palace”.  

Rovers best chance of the half arrived a minute before half time and it was from the ever hard working Thomas Moore who must be thinking what has happened in the space of four months. McLaren found Creswell on the left and he sent in a teasing cross just waiting for someone to get their foot on it. Thomas Moore turned it goal wards but it did not trouble Elliott in goal. Paul Tierney blew for the first 45 minutes to be closed and Prenton Park roared with a boo instead of a usual cheer. The troops quickly went down the tunnel with Barnes to ponder on yet another dire first half. Leeds seven days ago looked like Déjà vu.

HALF TIME: TRANMERE ROVERS 0 – 2 CHARLTON ATHLETIC

At the beginning of the second period John Barnes decided to make two changes to try and inject some new hope in the game. Michael Ricketts came on to replace Alan Mahon and the new slim look Gareth Edds replaced the ineffective Chris Shuker. This meant a different formation reverting to 4 – 3 – 3 as Tranmere now had to go looking for an early goal to stand any chance of a comeback.

Ronnie Moore had previously tried to work this formation but it did not work. Could Barnes play a masterstroke and win over the support by turning the game on its head? The simple answer was No. Ricketts and Welsh combined on 48 minutes and the midfielder shot narrowly wide and Rovers showed some signs of early improvement. However, only four minutes in to the second half Charlton attacking their away supports scored the third goal which left Barnes slumped in the dugout and unable to do anything. Some had seen enough as Lloyd Sam got his second header of the game provided from the left. It was all too much as people began to leave only 50 minutes in.

Charlton continued to attack and put constant pressure on the Tranmere back four. Bailey went close again shooting wide from long range and Shelvey just headed past the post when in all fairness he should have got himself in on the rout. Barnes made his final change on 66 minutes when youngster Ryan Fraughan replaced another previous YTS star Terry Gornell who had seen very little of the ball to trouble the Addicks. The winger didn’t even get a touch of the ball when Bailey’s cross went straight in past Daniels as the bounce and height deceived him completely. Shelvey who was about to head the ball left it knowing he was in an offside position. If anybody was to have sympathy with a player it was Daniels who had done superb all game yet found himself picking the ball out of the net again.  5,417 were inside Prenton Park at the beginning of the match but the exit gates opened extra early; 20 minutes until full time in fact to let people out who could not stand to watch another moment. So a whittled down 2,500 watched the remaining of the game, but all could be seen around the ground was pain and embarrassment, it was becoming a farce.

On 76 minutes Ian Goodison should have got a goal back for Rovers when he reacted first to a Ricketts flick on but fired over the bar from six yards, that’s why he is a defender but on today’s evidence not even the strikers would have finished it the amount of effort or sorry lack of it that was on show. McLaren had to clear off his own goal line in the closing stages to stop the scoreline ticking over on to five. He then had a chance to score himself but could not find the power to get it past Elliott at the other end.

At full time the crowd were simply disgusted with the result, performance and attitude of a team that looks certain to be in a relegation scrap from the offset. A goal difference of minus eight and seven conceded against the top two in League One without a single goal in the last four games. Its ominous form of a side looking already relegated. Let’s just hope Tranmere are evenly matched against the likes of Carlisle next week. The true test of Barnes managerial skills starts now…

FULL TIME: TRANMERE ROVERS 0 – 4  CHARLTON ATHETIC

 MAN OF THE MATCH

Luke Daniels

Although he conceded four goals, the young keeper on loan from West Bromwich Albion kept the scoreline down and is only one of about three this season who can honestly say they have performed well.  After a result this emphatic a man of the match is the least of people’s worries.