Let's talk about the Forest Green Rovers game

[In the box]

Well, we won!

They have a terrible home record. Absolutely horrific.

How we got a result is antibodies guess . I’ll take this every week an over head kick and a 25 yard punt at goal !! But this is just shocking . I watched. Two corners from   Molyneux Both going way over everyone’s head and out at the far side within  a minute of each other..,WTF ??

[The Dav]

Defensively we are all over the place, a good side today would have been over the hill by half time, however injuries are clearly costing us ! Glad we’re off the mark now, RTID

[goalkick]

Lucky to win but thank goodness we did.  Tactics were all wrong as we played to hold at one nil. Something has to improve to progress up the league.  Olowu  should be on the bench.

[Butchers Red]

Fantastic performance , faultless, every player brilliant, champions for certain..................

[Rovers91]

All about getting the 3 points today especially with the players we have got out. Hopefully we have got some of the lads back next week.

[CottyRover]

Looks like the BBC can't quite believe it. Coverage stuck at 90 + 6 and 1 - 1

[Lesonthewest]

What was McCann pointing Deeney towards at the end, he jogged away towards something anyway.

[RugbyRover]

Lucky to win but thank goodness we did.  Tactics were all wrong as we played to hold at one nil. Something has to improve to progress up the league.  Olowu  should be on the bench.

bench? I wouldn't have him on the bus

[coventryrover]

Lucky to win but thank goodness we did.  Tactics were all wrong as we played to hold at one nil. Something has to improve to progress up the league.  Olowu  should be on the bench.

Joseph played well today.

3 at the back wasn't working and can't belive mccann didn't change after all the chances they had in the first have

[Ryaldinhio]

That was a stressful watch! But atleast we have finally got 3 points on the board.

Hopefully that will remove the monkey BUT hard game at home next weekend. That will be the real yard stick.

COYR!

[BillyStubbsTears]

Lucky to win but thank goodness we did.  Tactics were all wrong as we played to hold at one nil. Something has to improve to progress up the league.  Olowu  should be on the bench.

Joseph played well today.

3 at the back wasn't working and can't belive mccann didn't change after all the chances they had in the first have

Go and watch the goal again.

Mestered out of it once again.

We've won and thank God for that. But this defence is the sort that gets you relegated. But for inches we could have been 4-0 down after 35 minutes.

[ravenrover]

But we weren't

[BillyStubbsTears]

That's not the point. Our defence is absolutely dreadful. Some weeks, like this one, we'll get lucky. But most weeks we won't. With the defence playing as badly as it is, it's difficult to see much long term improvement in results. Lucky 96th minute winners notwithstanding.

[Chris Black come back]

I know Wood has been injured as has Anderson, so we have had options reduced, but McCann is clearly not convinced by most of them. Senior and Bailey have been drafted in over Faulkner and Long, and he’s rarely played Wood, Anderson or Olowu together in consecutive games. The full backs seem pretty good but the centre is an absolute disaster zone and pulling in Senior to play there is impacting full / wing back options. Not good unfortunately. Anderson and Olowu is a diabolical partnership.

[steve@dcfd]

 :PWe need know about the injuries or illness. Grant said we had two who we were sweating on already knowing that Wood might not be there. We had Wood plus 4 players missing from the squad.

Players out injured or illness today
Lawler
Sterry
Wood
Long
Senior
Maxwell
Hurst
Taylor
Miller

[dickos1]

Lucky to win but thank goodness we did.  Tactics were all wrong as we played to hold at one nil. Something has to improve to progress up the league.  Olowu  should be on the bench.

Joseph played well today.

3 at the back wasn't working and can't belive mccann didn't change after all the chances they had in the first have

Go and watch the goal again.

Mestered out of it once again.

We've won and thank God for that. But this defence is the sort that gets you relegated. But for inches we could have been 4-0 down after 35 minutes.

We were the better side for most of that 35 mins and had our own good chances.
The other side is always going to have chances to count everyone as though it could’ve been a goal is daft

[EasyforDennis]

It didn't help playing Molyneux as a left wingback. His spatial awareness was zero. I really don't understand what some of our fans see in him.

[Rovers91]

It didn't help playing Molyneux as a left wingback. His spatial awareness was zero. I really don't understand what some of our fans see in him.

He's not a left wing back but most of his games he has played this season he has contributed well. Hull, Everton & MK Dons he was a right handful.

[Canadian Rover]

It didn't help playing Molyneux as a left wingback. His spatial awareness was zero. I really don't understand what some of our fans see in him.

He played at full back last season and although wasn't great he still put in 100%. This season he's been one of our best performers. That's what some of us see in him.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Lucky to win but thank goodness we did.  Tactics were all wrong as we played to hold at one nil. Something has to improve to progress up the league.  Olowu  should be on the bench.

Joseph played well today.

3 at the back wasn't working and can't belive mccann didn't change after all the chances they had in the first have

Go and watch the goal again.

Mestered out of it once again.

We've won and thank God for that. But this defence is the sort that gets you relegated. But for inches we could have been 4-0 down after 35 minutes.

We were the better side for most of that 35 mins and had our own good chances.
The other side is always going to have chances to count everyone as though it could’ve been a goal is daft

We WERE the better side for much of that time. But we didn't seriously challenge their keeper in that time. Then we had a 15 minutes of Keystone Kops defending where arguably the worst side in the division hit the woodwork three times, forced Jones into 2 excellent stops and had at least two balls fizz across our 6 yard box within inches of unmarked strikers.

So I'm not counting every chance as though it could have been a goal. I'm being realistic.

[wilts rover]

Lucky to win but thank goodness we did.  Tactics were all wrong as we played to hold at one nil. Something has to improve to progress up the league.  Olowu  should be on the bench.

Sorry? Must have got your players mixed up there, thought Olowu was excellent throwing himself infront of everything and challenging Deeney in the air.

But yes tactically that was appalling. Molyneux at wing back takes away our most potent attacking threat and leaves a big hole behind him that drags Anderson to left back. Faal is good running with the ball but play him alongside Ironside as a target man - why - he's hopeless in that role?

Its the midfield where the problem is. They dont fall back quickly enough to support the defence. And they dont get forward quickly enough to support the attack.

[Chris Black come back]

Jones can walk away from today pleased. Solid return.

[wilts rover]

It didn't help playing Molyneux as a left wingback. His spatial awareness was zero. I really don't understand what some of our fans see in him.

He's our greatest attacking threat. And was today.

[wilts rover]

Jones can walk away from today pleased. Solid return.

Still needs to work on his distribution and place kicking. But yes, played well.

[ncRover]

How were the attacking and midfield players today? This had been a bigger issue than the defence.

[steve@dcfd]

So listening to Grants interview Lawlor felt his Groin before training yesterday and Hurst felt his thigh again so both didn’t train. Senior must be one of the touch and goes and Maxwell must be injured otherwise he would have played wing back

[BillyStubbsTears]

How were the attacking and midfield players today? This had been a bigger issue than the defence.

Very, very open game in midfield. There was acres of space for both sides, especially in the first half. We can, and did, move the ball forward quickly in those situations. But equally we can and we're constantly vulnerable to FGR using the space to attack us.

In all honesty, it felt like two midfields enjoying a day off from the relentless aggressive press you get most weeks. I don't think anything that either midfield showed would have sides higher up the table shiting it.

Ironside worked hard as ever without ever really looking dangerous. Faal is looking very lightweight. Marsh showed some nice touches and had one excellent long range shot.

[selby]

  A win is a win, not pretty, quite lucky but just what we wanted three points, and the first time we have carried any luck this season.
  Now build on it and win against Everton in the cup, let's try and keep some interest in competitions until after Christmas.
  We have a hard game next weekend when we will come up against shithousery of the highest order, so please god for once can we have a decent referee.

[The Beast]

Bookies have forest green as the favourites, make of that what you will.

I think the draw is a decent bet, we won’t be up against a big home crowd so hopefully it’ll be a bit of a leveller, might even get a few decisions. The optimist inside me fancies Rovers but can’t see us keeping a clean sheet and realistically scoring two or more looks a bit far fetched, hopefully they prove me wrong.
[/quote]
Well the bookies paid out on the draw on 90 minutes and Rovers proved me wrong, what a marvellous result!

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Lucky to win but thank goodness we did.  Tactics were all wrong as we played to hold at one nil. Something has to improve to progress up the league.  Olowu  should be on the bench.

Sorry? Must have got your players mixed up there, thought Olowu was excellent throwing himself infront of everything and challenging Deeney in the air.

But yes tactically that was appalling. Molyneux at wing back takes away our most potent attacking threat and leaves a big hole behind him that drags Anderson to left back. Faal is good running with the ball but play him alongside Ironside as a target man - why - he's hopeless in that role?

Its the midfield where the problem is. They dont fall back quickly enough to support the defence. And they dont get forward quickly enough to support the attack.

Just an observation over a few games, seems to me we have a tendency to drop too deep when defending which of course grows the gaps. Simple 10 yard passes become 15 yard passes increasing the risk of them going astray. Midfield have to cover more ground to link defence to attack and the inevitable happens with the opposition finding acres of time and space to operate in.

If we haven't got a keeper who dominates the box then we're more vulnerable to crosses into the box. The opposition can put in deeper crosses to attack knowing the keeper isn't going to come.

I heard a phrase the other day. 'When your opponent is making mistakes, don't interfere" All they have to do is keep getting the crosses into the PMO zone and sooner or later, we'll gift them chances.

The two goals that Notts Co forward scored recently we're prime examples of us defending too deep with a keeper rooted to his line.

Sounds like Jones had a good game today but not sure whether he took more crosses than Lawlor?