Tommy Rowe

[Albert Trousers]

Love the man but 80 minutes in, I can't remember him touching the ball yet molyneux gets dragged off.

[KingKendrick]

Love the man but 80 minutes in, I can't remember him touching the ball yet molyneux gets dragged off.

We didn’t have a centre mid on the bench. Molyneux and Rowe were playing different positions. It’s not fantasy football

[Chris Black come back]

I don't know whether they are injured long term or short term, out of favour or tactical, but we had a decent chunk of our wage bill not even in the squad today - Taylor, Close, Sterry, Long, Faulkner, Biggins, Miller and Hurst.

Sterry out for a few months apparently.

[Peebles Rover]

Love the man but 80 minutes in, I can't remember him touching the ball yet molyneux gets dragged off.

He did create the second goal with his shot.  Just saying.

[Jersey Rover]

Midfield is the issue. Exposed the full backs all game. Can’t think of a passage of play where they strung a few passers together.

[Albert Trousers]

Love the man but 80 minutes in, I can't remember him touching the ball yet molyneux gets dragged off.

We didn’t have a centre mid on the bench. Molyneux and Rowe were playing different positions. It’s not fantasy football

Molyneux could haver moved across to centre comfortably & not have done any worse, been a great player for us but getting the run around now.

[jmt23]

Unfortunately I agree. I thought Bailey did ok, but Broadbent and Tommy struggled to get any foot in the game, chasing shadows for most of it. Westbrook was totally anonymous, feel for the lad coming from a long lay off, but he was a passenger today.

For the love of god, will somebody take a yellow for the team - do not let them sail past you.

They had one tactic today - give it to the number 7 and cross to the far post - ALL GAME, what do we do, give number 7 half the pitch, and let ourselves be over loaded at the back post.

Apart from that it was a good game, and we were soooo much better than last Saturday, but still lucky to get the point though, they did look like scoring with every attack.

[Lesonthewest]

The positives. We picked up our first point, we scored 2 excellent goals, we have a proper centre forward. Apart from the mistake for their first goal, I thought we defended really well, throwing bodies on the line, & played with a lot of commitment.

The negatives. We were scarily second best, we had no answer to their  passing, finding space, & movement. First half they played with lots of width, leaving Quinn constantly on his own in acres of space & we never got to grips with it. Second half they put Akins on the right, collecting the ball deep & running through our very weak midfield, again we struggled to combat this.

All in all we are a work in progress, & I am enjoying watching us play again after a  depressing few years. We will continue to improve as the season goes on, especially if we can find better experience in midfield, but I'm not so sure we will be ready for a top 6 finish this season with the players we have.

[Alan Southstand]

Can someone explain to me why Molyneux gets picked every game?

Mr Anonymous.

[RobTheRover]

Can someone explain to me why Molyneux gets picked every game?

Mr Anonymous.

He was the one putting pressure on their back line when they comfortably had the ball. It's not the job I'd like to see him do, necessarily, but it's the one he did tonight.

[Rovers91]

Midfield is the issue. Exposed the full backs all game. Can’t think of a passage of play where they strung a few passers together.

Midfield was the big problem last night  they cut through us on a regular basis and we had no composure in there. We were crying out for someone to play the Bostock role show a bit of composure calm things down and pass it to someone in a red and white shirt.

[Filo]

Can someone explain to me why Molyneux gets picked every game?

Mr Anonymous.

He was good last night, pressured them constantly and looked head and shoulders above the player he was last season

[Alan Southstand]

What I saw last night was our full backs consistently being overloaded on just about every Mansfield attack. Surely, it’s not beyond the 2 lads on either side of Ironside to get back and help, especially when we havn’t got the ball? (Which was quite often the case, as we kept giving them the damn thing back).

[jmt23]

I am certain it was players playing to orders, and sticking to the system. The same for the full backs going forward, they seemed hesitant to do it, even if it was the better option ( this refusal led to Mansfield’s goal)

I am hoping it is just a gelling together period and we will get stronger, hard to pin it on TR he has been an outstanding pro with a good career to date, Broadbent is the one I am most unsure on.

[Chris Black come back]

Noticeable Broadbent is the only midfield constant across all the games this season. McCann clearly sees him as a starter.

[Padge_DRFC]

Noticeable Broadbent is the only midfield constant across all the games this season. McCann clearly sees him as a starter.

Probably doesn't even realise he's playing and forgets to sub him

[steve@dcfd]

Broadbent he will get better but hes having to play because of injuries to others. We need Close and Westbrooke to be available more and do more for the team. Biggins out now injured. But with all the games and extra minutes we’ve got to hope we improve.

[Chris Black come back]

Whether they can perform individually or collectively is a different question, but if all fit there is enough of a mix here to give us options in central midfield - Close, Westbrooke, Bailey, Biggins, Rowe and Broadbent. Six central midfielders is carrying quite a lot in the squad. If all fit, I doubt we would have them all in the squad? Perhaps.

[pib]

Thought Tommy was ok last night personally. I don't think we've got the midfield balance right yet at all though. Remains to be seen whether we have the personnel to make it work.