Tranmere Rovers v MK Dons Match Discussion

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012:11:19:21:20:28 by Deadly Submarine.

It's 2-1 to TRFC in a thriller for the Sky Cameras.
Boost the club profile again.Happy Days.

3 - 0 to MK.

I fear that with the games coming thick and fast and with our depleted squad becoming even thinner on the ground due to our injury curse then this may be one game to much for us. I would be very happy wth one point. This will be the first league game that our back four have not played together and even though Goody will allways be a true legend I fear that he may be the weakest link. He looked well off the pace against Braintree and this is something MK will target. Kay played the opening league cup game in this position and got glowing reviews from Ronnie, he is fully fit, has recently played and I believe a stronger option in this position for hopefully just one game. With a bit of luck hopefully all eleven players will come off the pitch unscathed otherwise we will struggle to put a team out against Walsall. Anyway travelling up from London tonight so getting ready to set off nice and early. 1-1

Why make predictions? It's going to be very tough game so let's just get along to the game tonight and and shout the lads on to three points. If we lose it's no big deal - we have a 5-point cushion and we know we'll have players back next week. If we win our situation will look very good indeed, so lets go into the game without fear and attack, attack, attack!

1 1

there defence is poor but we never got at them, kay was never a solid centre back when he played for us....

For me;

we let them have the extra man in midfield BUT then tried to play through midfield all the time instead of using our strength from 442 and playing down the channels like usual.

we played at their slow comfortable tempo, we weren't organsised at pressing them as a team and gave were both too slow going forward and giving them too much time and space on the ball.

Subs.......Robinson decisive game changing subs.....Ronnie Harrison who I can understand and would argue should have happened after 15 min the way they were running riot and then stockton after going a goal down......we never looked like getting into the game surely stockton or even max power would be worth a go to chance that.

10,000 fans + others on TV and we gave a whimpering display big chance missed.

Also why not try swapping mcgurk/robbo for a bit??

BUT still top of the league and won't play many teams like them!!!

They are a class act. Reality check for us. At least we got a few quid although it will be back to 5000 ish on Tuesday I fear.

They are the best team we've played by mile and they should have been out of sight by half time.Bringing Harrison on was the right decision as Chadwick was running the show ably assisted by Potter.The wrong player was taken off -should have been Robinson who was atrocious and didn't look fit. I'm not saying Jervis should have stayed on-he shouldn't have started-should have been Cole.

I'm a bit dissapointed Cole never got started. He's knocking on the door, but he can't get in it seems.

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

Lets not get too downhearted after last night, at the very least we will be still 2points clear by end of play tomorrow.
They are the best team weve played this season and we didn't play to our best and it showed. I thought we looked tired last night and the games are beginning to pile up and take the toll on the squad which isn't great. We will ride it out though and hopefully get back to winning ways on Tuesday.
However, lets get a bit of perspective here. Their player budget must be twice or three times higher than ours, they just missed out on the play offs last season so this was always going to be a difficult game. What we've achieved this season so far is remarkable and I believe that on our day we could have won the game so I'm not too bothered about the result. They will make mistakes like us all season but in order to compensate for last night's loss, we target win at their place. Although they are a good team, I still think we are as good but unfortunately we just didn't have it in us tonight.

Sorry folks - have to face it Ronnie got it wrong last night. The half time sub meant we were trying not to lose, rather than trying to win.
Cassidy was left isolated and although he ran his guts out was never going to win against their back four on his own.
You knew it was going to be another 'Doncaster' and sure enough with minutes to go......

Stockton should have been on to support Cassidy a LOT earlier (possibly half time) as I reckon with more pressure we could easily have nicked a goal - their back four is nothing special yet we did little to try them out second half. Quite right we needed to use wide men more, and Danny did try to overlap as much as possible, but once he and Zoum got up there, due to formation there were no options for delivery.
I don't often criticise managers (I was a Les supporter to the finish) but Ronnie showed he was scared last night.

the sub shouldn't have meant playing not to lose though.....it should have allowed us to get more men forward and support cassidy which we didn't...

Last night was a perfect example of why 442 is becoming dated and 4-2-3-1 etc... are being used by most of the big teams, you have extra man in midfield and better shape to press etc...

The reason for the half time sub was because our midfield 2 were being over run by their 3 and chadwick wass causing chaos it was not a negative move but a sensible move.

We lost to the best team by a long way we have come up against this season. We have had a great season so far and people should remember this before being too critical of players and management.

Quote:

bigmart
The reason for the half time sub was because our midfield 2 were being over run by their 3 and chadwick wass causing chaos it was not a negative move but a sensible move.
We lost to the best team by a long way we have come up against this season. We have had a great season so far and people should remember this before being too critical of players and management.

Completely agree mate. It's really frustrated me to see people criticising the half-time substitution when it was clear our midfield was being over-run.

If anything the first twenty minutes of the second half it improved things slightly I felt.

Still clear at the top even after this afternoon so that will do me!

Totally agree-what make me cringe as well is the Harrison haters[on both Tranmere websites particularly elsewhere blaming him for it and laying into him].He was given a job to do marking Chadwick and did it ok.

I wasn't at the game, and I bloomin' missed it on the telly. It's my birthday today and I was 'treated' to a meal out by the Mrs last night; so I can't be too ungrateful but inwardly I'm seething from having missed the game. On the flip side my meal was awesome and I didn't have to endure such a bad performance.

A loss to MK Dons is not the end of the season. They're a good solid side at this level. What concerns me most is that statistically we were absolutely awful (I've only seen the numbers and I know they aren't always factually correct). We shouldn't be performing like that as the home side and league leaders. But we can all have days off; I'm sure there will be backsides kicked, ears chewed and warnings to certain players about their performances and selection in future starting line ups.

hi, i was at the game last night, and thought ronnie would of started with cole stockton, after tuesdays display, think jake jervis has been a waste of time if you ask me, give the young lads a run out, max power too, think ronnie was just going for the draw after half time, they were a good team and we defo looked poor, and as always in front on tv cameras. Just hope we get back on track on tuesday night, ok we are missing Akpa Akpro, and bell-baggie, but no excuses, maybe we could do with bringing in someone in jan transfer if we can, an attacking midfieder, to bang in some goals too ???

attacking midfielder to bang in some Goals ? well think Max would do that

Max is lightweight and needs to get more experience under his belt.

and how do you think he can get that experiance ?

think max's time will come when wallace is out...would be ideal if we played 433 and had an attacking midfielder...

Let's remember the teams we have lost to this season. Bournemouth, Prrston & MK Dons. all teams with bigger budgets or certainly millionaires backing them. We should be losing to teams like that. They have bigger and better squads but I'm confident that once we have key players back and less games than the past 2 weeks then we will still be up there. The fans who booed at the end are a disgrace.No need for negativity given our amazing season so far. The true fans in the paddock still clapped them off at the end as I'm sure they did in other parts of tghe ground too. SWA.

Let's also remember that while Preston and MK Dons have the players to dominate games from midfield, it's partly because neither of them have exactly been commiting players to the attack. The result is that while we've been consistently taking 3 points of the smaller teams, they've been involved in some very dull stalemates.
Let's see what happens tomorrow night but I wouldn't be surprised to see us beat Walsall while Shrewsbury grind out a 0-0 against MK Dons which would mean that despite all their efforts on Friday they'd only clawed back a point on us.

P.S. weren't the fans that booed at the end booing the MKD goalkeeper? Don't know what he did to wind the fans in the Kop up (probably nothing) but he was definitely getting a lot of stick off them.

Quote:

Millo
Let's remember the teams we have lost to this season. Bournemouth, Prrston & MK Dons. all teams with bigger budgets or certainly millionaires backing them. We should be losing to teams like that. They have bigger and better squads but I'm confident that once we have key players back and less games than the past 2 weeks then we will still be up there. The fans who booed at the end are a disgrace.No need for negativity given our amazing season so far. The true fans in the paddock still clapped them off at the end as I'm sure they did in other parts of tghe ground too. SWA.

We didn't lose to Preston. Doncaster?

Quote:

Hoots Mon

Quote:

Millo
Let's remember the teams we have lost to this season. Bournemouth, Prrston & MK Dons. all teams with bigger budgets or certainly millionaires backing them. We should be losing to teams like that. They have bigger and better squads but I'm confident that once we have key players back and less games than the past 2 weeks then we will still be up there. The fans who booed at the end are a disgrace.No need for negativity given our amazing season so far. The true fans in the paddock still clapped them off at the end as I'm sure they did in other parts of tghe ground too. SWA.

We didn't lose to Preston. Doncaster?

and brentford

the teams we've lost to have dominated the midfield, we we're out played but not a lot of MK's play was "goal threatening"

onwards and upwards

would it be the end of the world if Sheff Utd take over the Top of the League mantel and we just keep pace in 2nd, with a comfortable cushion on 3rd!

Is a 1-1 draw a loss-that's two teams that we drew that score with that some people say we've lost to.


Not the end of the world but Sheff Utd? Nah. I like their manager but not much else....



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012:11:19:20:40:52 by Hoots Mon.

Quote:

Hoots Mon
Is a 1-1 draw a loss-that's two teams that we drew that score with that some people say we've lost to.

Not the end of the world but Sheff Utd? Nah. I like their manager but not much else....

crap you're right, it just felt like a loss

Some teams may have bigger richer squads, with better players, but it's what they are allowed to do that is also important.

Westley struggled last season with richer players, some of which had Championship pedigree and Coventry started the season with very weak form, and like Portsmouth aren't flying.

Tranmere have procured quality for a budget and no doubt if players like Danny H, Bakayogo, Wallace and Fon were listed tomorrow, rich league one clubs and some chamnpionship ones would sniff around, because even richer league one clubs, would know they could be getting players of slightly higher pedigree, than some of theirs, but without having to pay them as much as their own top earners.

If a chamnpionship club wanted Fon as second choice, I reckon they'd only need to offer about £4-000-£5,000 to bag him, which could be as much as 50% of what their current second choice would be getting, so cheap at half the price.

People will eneivtably expect more now, because Ronnies end of season form, always looked potentially repeatable and being top and doing just that, has no doubt reinforced peoples belief in the team, so it is going to look dissappointing to lose to richer, bigger teams, if you're 5+ points clear of other top 6 sides, because people will expect you to compete with them and have a good chance of winning.

It's when you're 10+ points behind the top 6, you don't expect to beat such teams.

The match was just one of those days. Yes consolidating second would be brilliant, but there's still a great chance to chase the trophy and the league 1 champions cash busary and people shouldn't get very nouty about losing to MK Dons or overly berate players, because winning to Walsall could put Tranmere 4-5 points top again.

The main thing is the back 5 is largely unnaffected by injuries this season, so as long as that frequently miserly bedrock of Fon and the backfield boys, remains integral and therefore very often providing a stable platform for attacks, Tranmere have a chance to keep some solid form going and potentially maintain top spot.

I'm not too bothered by a 1-0 defeat to a good passing side, because I know the team can bounce back, I.E. getting 1 point from 3 games, then 6 points, 3 goals and 0 conceded .

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