Tactically just not good enough

 


After the home win against Carlisle this was a case of back to normal with another home defeat. The worrying thing is we are now into a notoriously bad period for Bristol Rovers. November December is rarely very generous on the points gained. I must admit that even I am becoming disillusioned with the home form and really the way we are actually playing. We are letting in too many wonder goals and by that I mean longshots in that everyone seems to be hitting the net, the reason I see from this is that we are defending too deep and so players are being given room and the time/space they need which is meaning that most shots from long range they are having the time to get them on target. How much of this is down to the keeper I am not really sure but I feel disappointed that he has now been beaten on his near post with longshots on three occasions. The performances very much remind me of the final period of Paul buckles managerial stint as a defence stay too deep, the midfielder rarely in the opponents half and we are playing with two forwards who have little hope of winning balls in the air. It seems we have another winger who likes to go inside rather than stretch the defence out wide and I despair of Daryl Clarkes tactics. What is also worrying is the defeat last Saturday which hopefully is just a blip in our away form but the problem is we are playing a very good Exeter side on Saturday and a poor result Saturday could lead us to nearer the bottom than the top.





It seems that many fans are also becoming disillusioned with the performances at home and the low crowd obviously points to a dissatisfaction. Too much of the good football played by Clarks side is in our own half of the pitch; our midfield players are reluctant to pass forward unless it is a 40 yard pass from Lines.



Nichols 5 a reasonable overall game although he had little in the way of shots to save but I must put a question mark over the winning goal which seemed to go inside his near post although it was a hard shot it was not in the roof of the net and therefore in my mind should've been saved.



James Clark 5 I can't really understand why DC continually picks James Clark as a fullback ahead of Leadbitter who is much better going forward and also, in my mind, a better defensive fallback than Clark. Too often he leaves his winger with far too much space which enables the winger to get in dangerous crosses.



Tom Lockyear 5 Not one of Tom's best performances. Far too deep and when he received the ball on many occasions his passing was back to that of last season,either very poor or far too long for anybody to reach. He was not helped by Parkes inability to mark players closely and fully concentrate.



Tom Parkes 5. I would quiery Tom Parkes positioning on both goals and even bringing out the ball from defence I was worried as his passing is again questionable. The problem we have is that McChrystal was pour last Saturday and it must be said that both our main centre halves have been inconsistent this season.



Lee Brown 5.5 before the game I felt it would be interesting to see how the new winger played in front of Lee Brown, I believe that Lee is one of the problems that we have when playing a left winger because he is more attacking than defending and takes up the position that the winner takes and therefore the winger tends to go inside. He rarely passes the ball accurately to the winger rather bringing it forward and then pass it either long into the box or short to receive a return. Many of his crosses lack quality and I would prefer to see him defend properly and bring his winger into the game quickly.



Bodin 5.5 lots of silky skills but not much in the way of an end product. He's not helped by having James Clark behind him as most of Clarks passing is long and does not tend to be a quick release of the ball which will give the winger time to control the ball and run at his defender. He does always look likely to score a goal and that is why he holds on to his place.



Stuart Sinclair 6.5 as usual a hard-working performance but far too much of the time he spends with the ball is either passing sideways or back. He does not look very likely to score a goal and this is a problem in our midfield department where we get very few goals other than Bodin. At the moment Stu is winning a lot of the ball but is doing very little creative with it.



Chris lines 6.5 this was another lazy performance from Chris and by that I don't mean his passing because that was at times brilliant regarding long passing but very rarely does he venture out of our own half. With Sinclair playing reasonably deep as well it means we get very little in the way of creativity in the opponents half. This is not the Chris Lines of old in that he very rarely looks like scoring a goal and in fact very rarely even has a shot at goal.



Paris Cohen Halls 5.5 set up Taylor with a brilliant pass for Taylor his goal but apart from that he does not look like the winger we are after. He does look more like a forward who was designated to play on the wing but I am not sure whether this is his normal game or whether it is just because Lee Brown charges forward and takes a space which the winger should be covering. I have yet to see a winger who actually combines well with the Brown other than Monkhouse who was not that keen on going down the wing himself but was exceptional at playing Brown in.



Taylor 9 MOM by a country mile. He is in a purple patch as regards scoring and took his goal very well both in terms of the skill to control the pass and the finish just inside the far post. His build up play was of the highest quality and at the moment he always looks like scoring. he could have had another couple as well.



Easter 5 Missed a golden chance in the second half but overall he does not look like a striker but a midfield player. I would think of playing him in midfield where he would be less relied on to score but is very creative but always playing far too deep.



Harrison 5 Missed a good opportunity but did little else.



Montano 5 Didn't do much but to be fair he didn't receive much in the way of service. When he did get the ball he generally found our player with a pass.Until he is given a fair run in the side we will not see the best of him



Leadbitter 5 A couple of good runs



Referee 4 God the standard of refereeing in this League is as bad as the Conference.



Stevenage 5 Another side that we have made look good by giving them far too much time on the ball.



DC Is becoming very predictable now with both his tactics (or lack of them) and his aftermatch comments. His substitutions are very much like for like and it is now near the end of November and we still haven't got an answer to the home form. Can he not see that we play too deep and that wingers need the ball to be passed to them quickly. Most games we end up with all subs having been used and IMO this is due to poor selection and tactics. Until we start playing the defence further up the field and the midfield likewise I cannot see any improvement in our home record. DC talks of good football but if he thinks that passing backwards and sideways and across the back four is good football then heaven help us. His biggest problem is that he has not signed physical presence in the key areas Goalkeeper,Centre half,Cental midfield and centre forward. The only spell we looked redasonably good was just after we scored when we even saw 4 players forward pressurising the home defence but even then Lines and Sinclair were rarely backing them up. Continually passing the ball back to Lockyer and Parkes neither of whom can consistently pass a ball well is not good football and the first goal was scored because we were far too deep and blocked the keepers view. Why he played the new player on the left when he is a right winger does not surprise me but unfortunately the longer this home form continues the less likely he is to see the season through which will be a shame.



Saturday is a very important game after the last two defeats but in all honesty we will be lucky to come back with a point on Saturday,