2 points wasted.

[mrfrostsdad]

If you didn't see what Marquis was doing then I do wonder what you are watching. He was superb, especially in the second half. Working in an isolated position up front, he never once stopped working and harrying the defence. Some of his touches and movement in the second half was top drawer. Controlling the ball with two much bigger defenders all over him, then laying it off intelligently and accurately.

Plus he had two stonewall penalty decisions go against him.

Stop and think. Imagine Williams in that role. Close your eyes and picture it for 10 seconds.
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There. See?

Crikey Billy! I thought Marquis was awful today, and so did everyone in close proximity in the West stand

[Chris Black come back]

It is a tough gig playing up there alone. He is very hard working which is really essential for that role but he needs to be told that goals are scored in the opposition box and not by providing defensive cover to our centre backs or providing an outlet for Lawlor to pass to in our defensive screen.

[drfchound]

Just had a look at the highlights.
The second pen shout is clearer than the first one.
The defenders arm clearly blocks JM’s shot ( a shot on target by the way ) and it prevents a scoring opportunity.

[mrfrostsdad]

It is a tough gig playing up there alone. He is very hard working which is really essential for that role but he needs to be told that goals are scored in the opposition box and not by providing defensive cover to our centre backs or providing an outlet for Lawlor to pass to in our defensive screen.

Chris, he also needs to be told you actually have to shoot to score goals. On two occasions today, once right on the edge of the box, he tried to pass the ball (and gave it to a Rotherham play) when he could have carried it forward and shot. Second occasion he was only 8 or 9 yards out and had to have a touch instead of shooting first time and he lost the ball.

[mrfrostsdad]

Just had a look at the highlights.
The second pen shout is clearer than the first one.
The defenders arm clearly blocks JM’s shot ( a shot on target by the way ) and it prevents a scoring opportunity.

But Marquis had already handled it first

[selby]

 Which was not given, so how do you know the referee saw him handle it,and was it deliberate? now ask the same thing of Woods,sorry but it was a nailed on penalty and if the referee did not see it he should not be refereeing.

[selby]

  I will add that he gave every shove in the back,and tackle from behind in the match except the one on Marquis in the box,where he was shoved in the back and also tripped at the same time,and in full  view of the referee.
   All round he had a good game,one that was not easy to referee,but those two important decisions he got completely wrong.

[BillyStubbsTears]

MFD

I have wondered for years what you watch at matches, so nothing you say surprises me.

Marquis was given a job to do today. In a 5-1-3-1 or 5-2-2-1 or 3-4-2-1 formation, which we played today, the central striker has a thankless task. It's about sheer bloody hard work and nous. It's about harrying defenders. It's about controlling forward passes under pressure and bringing supporting players into the game.

You're decades out of date if you think that all a central striker does is make chances for himself and shoot. Which is all I ever hear you complain about.

[steve@dcfd]

Last season Marquis did the same running  but difference he could feed off good crosses and was playing against less able defences. Today showed what we are up against in this league especially in Home games, strength, closing down quick and at worst clinical flows. We have manager who wants to play football the right way. The players we have try to do that, but they are working at 100 miles an hour to achieve that. But if we are not allowed to play football we are less creative and hence any striker would suffer.

[hoolahoop]

As much as it pains me to say so , I thought on balance that was just about the right result just I might add.

I too thought JM  did what he was supposed to do and perhaps would add here though that he might just have added to that performance with a tad more vision - basically he seems to be looking for that extra pass or touch rather than the more instinctive striker we saw last season. There were at least 2 occasions when he might have leathered it into the back of the net.
I thought that Rovrum were defensively poor particularly their no. 5 and to a lesser degree their no.2  and we could have exploited that more .

However unlike some I thought it was an enjoyable game to watch , Rovrum are definitely NOT  Play-Off contenders in my view contrary to the view of Ronnie Moore. Enjoyed listening to the Radio Rovrum post- match summarising and wondered whether we actually took part in the game as well ?

[Filo]

The pen shout in the first half was a cast iron one, the defender pushed him over with two hands.
Anywhere else on the pitch and the ref gives a free kick.
He actually did give us a free kick moments later after an identical push on Butler at the other end.
Marquis certainly did put a shift in today but lacked support, especially late on.

I agree anywhere else on the pitch and it's a free kick, in fact he gave Rotherham a free kick later in the half just outside our area for an identicle challenge

[mrfrostsdad]

Which was not given, so how do you know the referee saw him handle it,and was it deliberate? now ask the same thing of Woods,sorry but it was a nailed on penalty and if the referee did not see it he should not be refereeing.

And if the ref didn't see Marquis handle the ball he shouldn't be refereeing because everyone else in the ground saw it

[mrfrostsdad]

MFD

I have wondered for years what you watch at matches, so nothing you say surprises me.

Marquis was given a job to do today. In a 5-1-3-1 or 5-2-2-1 or 3-4-2-1 formation, which we played today, the central striker has a thankless task. It's about sheer bloody hard work and nous. It's about harrying defenders. It's about controlling forward passes under pressure and bringing supporting players into the game.

You're decades out of date if you think that all a central striker does is make chances for himself and shoot. Which is all I ever hear you complain about.

All about opinions Billy. I can assure you everyone in close proximity to me thought Marquis had a stinker yesterday, rounded off by his shocking attempt to pass the ball to himself which ultimately led the their goal. Why didn't he just put it in row Z??
I don't know what's happened to him personally, I know we're playing at a higher level, but he's a shodow of the player he was last season.

[Campsall rover]

MFD

I have wondered for years what you watch at matches, so nothing you say surprises me.

Marquis was given a job to do today. In a 5-1-3-1 or 5-2-2-1 or 3-4-2-1 formation, which we played today, the central striker has a thankless task. It's about sheer bloody hard work and nous. It's about harrying defenders. It's about controlling forward passes under pressure and bringing supporting players into the game.

You're decades out of date if you think that all a central striker does is make chances for himself and shoot. Which is all I ever hear you complain about.

I have to say BST I am pleased someone else saw how hard Marquis worked yesterday.
A thankless task with very little support. If he continues to work as hard and DF plays with 2 strikers
( which I think he must in most matches) then Marquis will in my opinion score 15 this season.

[dickos1]

Thing is, people for one reason or another are set in their ways if they don't like the manager their never gonna like the manager if they don't like a player they're never going to like the player.
Marquis is still scoring goals this season, he's possible got more than he had at this point last season.
Yet he's easily our most criticised player

[RoversAlias]

Marquis took a bit of time to settle in and start putting in regularly impressive performances last season but once he did, around this time of the season, he really hit his stride and was banging them in.

Originally it looked like he'd be a good support striker for Williams, who would remain our main goalscorer, but when Williams got injured against Barnet, Marquis and Mandeville started to find top form and we went into the top three and never looked back.

Marquis isn't a lone striker for me, we are sorely missing the energy and bite that Alfie May provides. Marquis is at his best being busy all around the attacking third, harrying defenders and holding it up. May is always looking for goal, but there's more to Marquis' game than that which can be problematic when he's playing as a lone striker with two supporting midfielders.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

For all his hard work, it doesn't excuse him from not getting shots off when in excellent positions, he's the striker!

I hate to see players suffer when confidence and composure deserts them, just as we've seen with Williams and many others before who couldn't hit a barn door.

However, they've got to keep trying, it's their job! 

[Jonathan]

Have to say I’m astonished to see people criticising Marquis’ work rate. He runs himself into the ground every game, always gives the opposition something to think about (even when not at his best) and we’re a much better team with him in it.

He’s not perfect, anyone can see he’s made a few errors and, even though he has a credible 6 goals to date, he could and perhaps should have a few more. But I think we’re fortunate to have him and I’d hate to see him lining up against us because he’s a total pain to play against.

It’d be really nice if more of our supporters showed some support for our top scorer.

As I said earlier, I think he was left a bit isolated yesterday by the fact that two of our best attacking players (Rowe and Coppinger) were not quite at their best.

[1879Rovers]

For all those knocking Marquis yesterday, he was actually named the man of the match on Sky.

[StocktonRover]

I thought his work rate was outstanding, his confidence isn’t what it was last year which is to be expected with the lack of support he’s getting.

The own goal was as much down to his positioning as it was the quality of Rodney’s cross, his presence made the defender gamble on getting his toe on ahead of Marquis’s.

He showed a flash of that confidence when spinning and firing just over the bar when in a tight space during the second half.

There were a couple of times when he couldn’t get the ball out from his feet quick enough but that’s partially down to the service.

There were also a couple of times when he passed when I would have preferred him to shoot or take it on further.

I do believe it will click and he’ll go on a scoring run again.

[roversam]

if only the rovers had a center foreward that wins90% of the balls crossed to him

or even a centre forward 😊