Tranmere v Swindon pre match chat and match day thread

[suttonred]

Hadn't realised that was only Tranmeres 2nd home defeat of the season. Even more impressive result.

[Peter Venkman]

I'd like to see us go for Enzio Boldewijn at Notts County. Very good for Crawley but just doesn't seem to have happened for him at NC.

Hes been out injured for 3 months, he returned to action this weekend for the first time in ages. He is also on huge wages at County.

[REDBUCK]

Hadn't realised that was only Tranmeres 2nd home defeat of the season. Even more impressive result.

And they were in the top ten

[Peter Venkman]

Hadn't realised that was only Tranmeres 2nd home defeat of the season. Even more impressive result.

Yep 2nd home defeat in the league but they have lost at home in all the cup competition to Walsall, Crewe, Man City U21 and Spurs.

Good solid all round performance that hopefully we can build upon in the coming weeks and almost safe from relegation.

[Peter Venkman]

From the Tranmere forum...

I'm going to go out on a limb and give some credit to Swindon for that first half. Their high pressing, high energy, incisive passing and controlled possession did for us. Admittedly, we didn't appear to be at the races, but they well and truly rattled us. As much as we changed things in the second half, so did they. I guess it was impossible for them to maintain the first half intensity, despite them looking fitter and faster than us, hence them sitting deeper allowing us more time in possession. They resorted to a more counter-attacking style and were very adaptable due to their pace. In contrast, most of our build-up play was slow and over-elaborate, often giving away possession; Banks being particularly guilty of this.
To our credit, we did control most of the first 20 minutes or so of the second half with our goal being a rare bit of quality. They astutely changed their personnel to largely nullify us for the remainder of the half, creating a couple of good chances themselves making our defense look like they were running in sand; soft and deep sand at that. Disappointing, but we move on and we're still in this.

Swindon were in the League while we spent three seasons in the VNL. They did their homework today. They pressed us first half and marked Ollie out the game. Can we stop criticising our players when other teams play a better game plan. Micky changed it second half and if Connor had scored either of his chances its a different game. And thats no criticism of Connor.

[Reg Smeeton]

Wellens said a few weeks back that we would see the best of this team come end of January.
Certainly signs of that with the last two first half performances, but it will take the new signings a few games to bed in.

A very good shape to the team yesterday, particularly in the first half.
Impressive to restrict Tranmere to very little on target apart from the goal.
Get in front, then play mainly on the counter in the second half. Ideal game plan for playing away.
Signs that Anderson and Woolery are developing an understanding as well.

A long old day but well worth the effort in the end.

Once again like last season we're better on the road than the CG. How do you put that right?   It seemed in the Stevenage/Newport games that a really rapid start and get an early goal worked.... but then if that doesn't work what next?

[Ticker45]

.........It seemed in the Stevenage/Newport games that a really rapid start and get an early goal worked....

Those two games iirc are the only ones that we came out of the blocks quickly and is something that I am always anticipating at   the start of games and are nearly always left disappointed. Perhaps they need fifteen minutes out on the CG extension before a game so they are well and truly on their toes! 

[Reg Smeeton]

Those two games iirc are the only ones that we came out of the blocks quickly and is something that I am always anticipating at   the start of games and are nearly always left disappointed. Perhaps they need fifteen minutes out on the CG extension before a game so they are well and truly on their toes! 

Under Brown, it was more the traditional, keep it tight for 20 minutes and then go from there.... I suppose the full gas early doors approach risks running out of steam late on.  I don't think it matters too much what the approach is if it works.... in the PdC season for example, we didn't really blitz sides at the CG, but being so defensively solid, could pretty much rely on a clean sheet and nicking something.  But with our inexperienced defence I don't think we can rely on this approach.

[@mwooly63]

Once again like last season we're better on the road than the CG. How do you put that right?   It seemed in the Stevenage/Newport games that a really rapid start and get an early goal worked.... but then if that doesn't work what next?

I think we at better on the counter which is why more successful away. At home we are expected to take the game to the opponent and we seem too slow in the build up. Add a lack of striking options to that and we struggle. Wellens seems to be heading in the right direction though so who knows

[Wobbly Bob]

Once again like last season we're better on the road than the CG. How do you put that right?   It seemed in the Stevenage/Newport games that a really rapid start and get an early goal worked.... but then if that doesn't work what next?

Fast start and getting in front is key. Although Flitcroft banged on about this as well and it didn't really happen.
I always feel that the ball being hoofed out of play from our kick off (Taylor was good at this) hands the early initiative to the opposition.
Haven't checked the stats but get the impression that coming back from a goal or two behind has been difficult for all teams in this league.

Also, under PB there never seemed to be enough players in the box.
This has improved a lot under Wellens and there shouldn't be any reason for the team to shit themselves when looking at the remaining home fixtures.

[Reg Smeeton]

Fast start and getting in front is key. Although Flitcroft banged on about this as well and it didn't really happen.
I always feel that the ball being hoofed out of play from our kick off (Taylor was good at this) hands the early initiative to the opposition.
Haven't checked the stats but get the impression that coming back from a goal or two behind has been difficult for all teams in this league.

Also, under PB there never seemed to be enough players in the box.
This has improved a lot under Wellens and there shouldn't be any reason for the team to shit themselves when looking at the remaining home fixtures.

Yes... in recent seasons we've all too often handed the initiative to the opposition, which transmits itself to the crowd, and the players feel the negaitivity.... as you know away is generally better.

[FreddySTFC!]

Hes been out injured for 3 months, he returned to action this weekend for the first time in ages. He is also on huge wages at County.

Yeah, I had a quick look on their forum before I posted last night. Didn't realize he'd been injured for that long. Notts fans seem to think he'll go on the cheap in the summer. & if we think we've had it tough it could be a hell of a lot worse. They're in a real mess at the moment. Some of their fans already want Ardley out & he's their 3rd manager this season!!

[OOH! SHAUN TAYLOR]

From the Tranmere forum...

Good works as always JJ...fans of all teams in all sports tend to just see things from their own perspective and forget there are actually two teams out there and the 'other lot' get paid as well and are there for a reason. So it's interesting to see an objective write up like that.

[Peter Venkman]

Good works as always JJ...fans of all teams in all sports tend to just see things from their own perspective and forget there are actually two teams out there and the 'other lot' get paid as well and are there for a reason. So it's interesting to see an objective write up like that.

Cheers mate, yes although Swindon is my main concern I like to read up what other teams opinions of us are, even if a lot of our fans only "give a shit" about us and don't care about other teams, I like to see what other fans are saying about our style etc as we can all become blinkered at times judging our own club, sometimes positively and sometimes negatively.

[OOH! SHAUN TAYLOR]

I'm the same JJ, I think it's actually fascinating and quite enlightening to get a totally different perspective, even if it does happen to be bollocks. Between reading the comments and your updates on the match day thread on here, the opposition comments and the 10/11 minutes of extended highlights on the OS you get a pretty reasonable picture of what went on if you didn't actually go the the game. There's no substitute for actually being there of course.