Let's talk about the Plymouth Argyle game

[dickos1]

Bursik 8 Hallyday 6 Wright 7 Anderson 7 Jon 8 Copps 5 Smith 5 Whiteman 6 Taylor 6 Feiji 4 First half 7 second-half, James 6.
Amos would have been MOM if he had been given 30 minutes.
Sims would have probably have got us a goal had he played instead of an ineffective Copps tonight.

8 for John??
Give over he was dreadful
Feiji played well in the second half

[Tom-RTID]

Wright and Okenabirhie missing those chances at 1 down a big turning point. Too much to do in the last 20 mins even though the performance did pick up

[drfchound]

Agreed, John had a shocker tonight.

[Bessie Red]

Bursik 8 Hallyday 6 Wright 7 Anderson 7 Jon 8 Copps 5 Smith 5 Whiteman 6 Taylor 6 Feiji 4 First half 7 second-half, James 6.
Amos would have been MOM if he had been given 30 minutes.
Sims would have probably have got us a goal had he played instead of an ineffective Copps tonight.

Halliday was awful tonight, both their goals arose from him being totally out of position. Not worth a score of 6 more like a 4. Unusual for him to be that bad!!

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

Struggling for consistency at the moment aren't we. We've done well beating 3 of the top sides but now hit a tough patch. Big result needed Saturday.  The worry is losing so many injured at the moment. We don't have the depth.  Even copps coming in, it's tough for him after so long out at his age, he may well have more impact with more games.

The jury still out on a few players. Lots to be optimistic about but the lack of depth in a season like this up front is a problem.

[StocksArmy]

Sims had to start. But then again he scored on Saturday didnt he. Dont mind me 

[Magicman]

We looked tired and lethargic, and no cohesion between the midfield and the front men for the second game on the trot

[Tom-RTID]

Would love to see Danny Amos starting at LB, if we play James on the wing. Feel we lose an attacking threat with John, looks less comfortable on the ball going forward putting crosses in etc

[drfchound]

Sims had to start. But then again he scored on Saturday didnt he. Dont mind me 

Fejiri on the bench on Saturday then.

[Magicman]

DM has dropped two goal scores the very next game surely that int right

[StocksArmy]

DM has dropped two goal scores the very next game surely that int right

3. James, John & Sims

[Rovers91]

Sims had to start. But then again he scored on Saturday didnt he. Dont mind me 

Tbf I could understand Sims not starting because he hasn't played a lot of football before joining us. Tonight would have been like his 3rd game in a week and we will certainly need him to start Saturday.

[Retdon1]

Bursik 8 Hallyday 6 Wright 7 Anderson 7 Jon 8 Copps 5 Smith 5 Whiteman 6 Taylor 6 Feiji 4 First half 7 second-half, James 6.
Amos would have been MOM if he had been given 30 minutes.
Sims would have probably have got us a goal had he played instead of an ineffective Copps tonight.

Halliday was awful tonight, both their goals arose from him being totally out of position. Not worth a score of 6 more like a 4. Unusual for him to be that bad!!

He was bang average last Saturday too

[scawsby steve]

Bursik was good, Sims and Amos were good and both should have started.

Halliday and John looked as bad a full back pairing as Wabarra and Evina at their worst.

It was the worst game I've ever seen Ben play for us, and Copps needn't have bothered putting his shirt on.

I said on here the other day that these slow starts would cost us, and tonight was a typical example. We put no effort in whatsoever until we were 0-2 down.

As for DM, I sincerely hope he's not going to be another manager for square pegs in round holes.

[Lesonthewest]

John is not, & never will be, a left back. Hallidays positional play is awful, admitted he has improved, but only going forward.

[dickos1]

Most people have see for months that John isn’t a full back. But he keeps playing him there.
James instead of sims is daft
The subsTitutions were ridiculous

[since-1969]

Most people have see for months that John isn’t a full back. But he keeps playing him there.
James instead of sims is daft
The subsTitutions were ridiculous

Rotation is necessary if fatigue isn’t to set in with playing 3 games every week and not enough strikers . 

[Tom-RTID]

Hopefully John-Jules, Tulloch and Taylor Richards aren't too far off coming back

[EasyforDennis]

John is not, & never will be, a left back. Hallidays positional play is awful, admitted he has improved, but only going forward.

For me Halliday hasn't improved at all. He has never been anything but a league 2 player. And that's being kind to him.

[since-1969]

John is not, & never will be, a left back. Hallidays positional play is awful, admitted he has improved, but only going forward.

it’s all about opinions I suppose !

For me Halliday hasn't improved at all. He has never been anything but a league 2 player. And that's being kind to him.

[EasyforDennis]

John is not, & never will be, a left back. Hallidays positional play is awful, admitted he has improved, but only going forward.

it’s all about opinions I suppose !

For me Halliday hasn't improved at all. He has never been anything but a league 2 player. And that's being kind to him.

You are right about opinions but for me he must be a wingers dream. Wouldn't you like Taylor facing someone like him every week?

[Magicman]

Halliday gives the ball away far too much, but tonight he wasn't on his own

[BillyStubbsTears]

Two contrasting arguments.

1) Last two matches leave me worried that we've been rumbled. Get in Whiteman's face and deny him the space to dictate the tempo and we struggle. Crewe and Plymouth for long periods did to us precisely what we did to Ipswich, harrying us and pressing hard when we had the ball and forcing us into mistakes.

2) That said, in both games we have created a decent number of good chances and we probably ought to have come out with 2 draws. We've also had two very strong penalty shouts ignored (Wright was pulled back when he messed up that gold plated header tonight). I assume that sooner or later these big decisions will start going our way, because they sure as hell aren't doing at the moment.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

That's the conundrums DM faces. He's dealing with an increasing injury list, which I'm sure he doesn't want to add to.

With high reliance on Whiteman, Anderson, Wright, Halliday, they can be forgiven for showing some fatigue even at this early stage of the season but the enforced tinkering in front of them doesn't make it easier.

Both the Crewe game and tonight, we created enough chances to get results, just as we converted more of those chances in the previous two games.

The good news is Fejiri is now creating more opportunities for himself, looking much stronger even if he's not converting as many as we would like. Four games ago, he looked lethergic and a forlorn figure.

Already we've seen other teams have their struggles so it's not uncommon.

There isn't anything majorly wrong with what DM is doing. There are very fine lines in football that can make a big difference either way. A set back can be really energy sapping and goals can give the opposite energy boost.

We shouldn't be beating ourselves up about this. It will come again, hopefully sooner rather than later.

[dickos1]

We missed a few chances in the second half but Plymouth missed a few also. I’m not sure we did enough to deserve a draw.
The first half today was as bad as the second half v Wigan

[Campsall rover]

The team isn’t going to function when the entire centre midfield went missing for a full 45 mins.
I didnt even know Whiteman & Copps were on the pitch until the 35th min.
Smith ran around looking busy and it was just as well he did or we would have been completely over run in that very lethargic 1st half.

2nd half we were much better and created enough opportunities to have won the game. Thought Anderson was the best player and good solid games by Bursik, Wright and Ferji.
The latter is improving game on game, holds the ball up well and is creating scoring chances. He misses too many relatively easy ones but has a couple of goals under his belt now and I think plenty more to come.

Don’t like criticising our manager as when we win we are all happy. When we lose we are not happy and find faults to pick out in team selection, positions and tactics.

Having said that like many on this forum I still don’t see CJ as a left back especially as he has 2 good ones in James and Amos at his disposal.

Halliday had a poor game last night but for me that was his first below par performance for a very long time.

I thought DM’s tactics with team selection was somewhat safety first and that is the first time that approach has been used this season.

We need to get on the front foot from the first whistle, use the pace we have in this squad and not allow the opposition to dictate the way the game was played.
We fell into that trap last night and Plymouth took advantage.
They are a decent hard working team much like Crewe were but in all probability no more than a mid table team in this league imo.

Need to step it up on Saturday as we are playing the top of table team so that suggests they are quite useful.
We will have get back to our very best a la Ipswich match to beat them.

[the vicar]

That's the conundrums DM faces. He's dealing with an increasing injury list, which I'm sure he doesn't want to add to.

With high reliance on Whiteman, Anderson, Wright, Halliday, they can be forgiven for showing some fatigue even at this early stage of the season but the enforced tinkering in front of them doesn't make it easier.

Both the Crewe game and tonight, we created enough chances to get results, just as we converted more of those chances in the previous two games.

The good news is Fejiri is now creating more opportunities for himself, looking much stronger even if he's not converting as many as we would like. Four games ago, he looked lethergic and a forlorn figure.

Already we've seen other teams have their struggles so it's not uncommon.

There isn't anything majorly wrong with what DM is doing. There are very fine lines in football that can make a big difference either way. A set back can be really energy sapping and goals can give the opposite energy boost.

We shouldn't be beating ourselves up about this. It will come again, hopefully sooner rather than later.

i don’t think it’s a lot to do with injuries at the moment, as the ones on view last night are players DM has got in to play his system, and we know they all can play but for some reason the last two games have looked a bit amateurish

[DonnyBazR0ver]

As said, fitness v form?

https://www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/sport/football/doncaster-rovers-boss-explains-madger-gomes-absence-and-josh-sims-starting-bench-plymouth-argyle-3017122

Understandable and you can appreciate how difficult it is to keep players motivated when they know they might be rotated irrespective of how they play!

That said, we need John-Jules and Tulloch back pronto.

[wing commander]

  I thought we were pretty poor last night and nobody could take much credit,even Coppinger was awful..This is the problem with these loan players.Yes they are more technically gifted than our contracted players but a few games in and they cant handle mens football..

  I also have to say that whilst i love DM His interview last night had me shouting at the radio...He watched a different game to me,didnt think it was a bad performance and we deserved something from the game.In fact it was almost like he was trying to convince himself..

[5 on Tour]

  I thought we were pretty poor last night and nobody could take much credit,even Coppinger was awful..This is the problem with these loan players.Yes they are more technically gifted than our contracted players but a few games in and they cant handle mens football..

What on earth are you talking about? If we use your logic here then Copps, Madger and Fej can’t handle men’s football either.

Smith was the only thing keeping our midfield in the game first half. Bursik made some great saves. Sims, although tired, looked a threat when he came on.

Halliday, John and Copps looked awful last night. All players have bad games and that’s got to be accepted. What worries me most about last night is Halliday. I have no clue whether he played badly at RB as he was seldom in that position. As a lost sheep somewhere between wing back and defensive midfield he was shocking though.