Lets talk about the Harrogate game

[ncRover]

Looks like only Rowe, Close and Bailey had decent games.

Mistake from Jones for the 3rd?

[Redroy]

Looks like only Rowe, Close and Bailey had decent games.

Mistake from Jones for the 3rd?

Would have to see it again. At the time looked like his feet were stuck in the mud but might be being harsh.

[i_ateallthepies]

On the whole Rowe did have a decent game but it was his slack play receiving a thrown-in in the Harrogate half that started the breakaway for their third goal.

[normal rules]

A crowd of just 1017. How on earth do they sustain lge football ?

[dickos1]

Attendance was over 3000

[ForsolongaRover]

Molly's got to take one of these chances soon or it will bite us on the arse

We created a fair decent amount of chances in early stages of second half.

Ironside has little or opportunities created by our midfield. Mo Faal runs around like fart in trans giving away possession time and time again and no end product We are just not capable of keeping positive possession that results in a shot on goal ..

We looked good coming into second half. Shame we couldn't have converted one of those good chances.

We managed 2 on target up to their second goal, from 16 attempts, more than 3 times as many shots as they had had up to that point. They then added their 3rd and finished with 11 chances overall. We missed the target 14 times up to them getting their second goal. After their second goal we managed just one shot which missed the target.

I think the crowd figure announced was 3000 - there were several hundred ?900 Rovers fans weren’t there?

If we were incompetent (at least in the shooting accuracy department) up to that point, the stats do at least show application. However subsequently it  is difficult to regard what followed their second goal as anything but a lack of resilience. How does confidence dissipate (throughout the team) so dramatically?

[normal rules]

Attendance was over 3000

Apologies. That’s what bbc have as attendance.

[wilts rover]

3137 according to Harrogate

https://twitter.com/HarrogateTown/status/1743658198882537761

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Just seen the highlights which seemed fairly balanced on the chances shown.

I don't think their defending was too hot either but we didn't take our chances but they did.

For their first, it looked like Rowe just let the scorer just wander past him into space to receive the ball.

Rowe immediately made up for it with the goal. Great strike.

Their second. They got the ball unto a good position and the scorer won the race to get the vital touch, although our centre halves were naively dragged out of the middle.

Third, yes Olowu allows him the inside route  too easily, but it's a great strike. (Similar to Rowe's)

As commented by others, those chances for Moly, Biggins and Mo before their second, one of them has to go in. Moly's  especially.

I don't think anyone would want to gloss over the known weaknesses we have, including McCann in his post match, but it's a game we let out of our grasp (again) but the gap isn't as wide as the scoreline suggests.

[selby]

  Not often I listen to Mickey Walker, but more than once he mentioned our lack of intensity and pace in the game. That is a complete change from the MK Dons game just a few days before with exactly the same team starting.  WHY.
  It is a tough question, but even bad teams, and we are poor play above themselves once or twice a season, was that us v Mansfield and MK Dons and today is the norm. a valid question in my mind.
  We have been poor for a long time,and always the mid field comes up for questions and the only constants there when not injured are Close and Rowe, Rowe used as much in other make up positions probably a third of the games he  has played over that period , rom left back, central defender to a No10.
 Close however is put up on a pedestal by some, a player who has cost quite a bit in wages, has rarely got a tackle in over the full time he has been here, and rarely really takes a game by the scruff of the neck, can be neat and tidy but  that's about it really while those trying to get about the field get pelters. 
  If we had something like the Mansfield mid field he would get nowhere near in the team unless injuries allowed it as he is easy to play against.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Just seen the highlights which seemed fairly balanced on the chances shown.

I don't think their defending was too hot either but we didn't take our chances but they did.

For their first, it looked like Rowe just let the scorer just wander past him into space to receive the ball.

Rowe immediately made up for it with the goal. Great strike.

Their second. They got the ball unto a good position and the scorer won the race to get the vital touch, although our centre halves were naively dragged out of the middle.

Third, yes Olowu allows him the inside route  too easily, but it's a great strike. (Similar to Rowe's)

As commented by others, those chances for Moly, Biggins and Mo before their second, one of them has to go in. Moly's  especially.

I don't think anyone would want to gloss over the known weaknesses we have, including McCann in his post match, but it's a game we let out of our grasp (again) but the gap isn't as wide as the scoreline suggests.

I have to correct myself there, it was Close not Rowe who allowed the scorer free passage into the box to get in position. Inexcusable.

[StocksArmy]

Looks like only Rowe, Close and Bailey had decent games.

Mistake from Jones for the 3rd?

Would have to see it again. At the time looked like his feet were stuck in the mud but might be being harsh.

First goal I have no idea where Close is running to and just allows the lad to stroll into the box and slot home.

2nd goal Rowe caught ball watching and the runner goes past him to cross it and after that a half decent GK gets accross his line and saves that comfortably.

3rd goal where do you start. Shite from our own throw in and then Olowu lets him come inside and that man Close yet again sh!ts himself to make a challenge and stop the shot and even turns his back on it and again Jones is out of position, boots stuck in quick sand and its game over.

[Lesonthewest]

As dissapointing as yesterday was, we saw nothing we didn't already know & that McCann had said in a previous interview, that we will still see games like this. He knows aswell as we do this squad needs a serious overhaul. In the game yesterday we gave Harrogate too much respect up to their 1st goal but after we equalised we controlled the it up to half time & up to their 2nd, in that time we could & should have been 3-1 ahead. So there are still signs of improvement amidst the gloom of a defeat to Harrogate, who are a side that have a long standing manager who has put together a side that has been together for quite a while  & have beaten better sides than us comfortably.

That's not to say we weren't poor defensively again, apart from Bailey, not strong enough in midfield, & absolutely no service to Ironside, who spent almost the whole game with his back to goal.

In my opinion we just need to keep a bit of perspective & patience. Was thinking last night regarding injuries & would we had lost that game with the likes of Miller, Westbrook, & Maxwell in it. I think not.

We do have the nucleus of a good side when injuries return, & the manager brings in more in the summer,  I just don't think it's all doom & gloom, frustrating as it is.

[selby]

  Close is and has been since joining the club a nightmare when not on the ball, and not all that when he has the ball, happy for his stats with nothing balls.

[dickos1]

There not nothing balls, if they were nothing balls then that’s all the Man City players would be producing every week.
The problem isn’t close the problem is we don’t have players around him that are needed.
The commentators yesterday on radio York were constantly praising close, we just have supporters that have pre conceived ideas on players that can’t now overcome that. Close has been very good this season

[GazLaz]

There not nothing balls, if they were nothing balls then that’s all the Man City players would be producing every week.
The problem isn’t close the problem is we don’t have players around him that are needed.
The commentators yesterday on radio York were constantly praising close, we just have supporters that have pre conceived ideas on players that can’t now overcome that. Close has been very good this season

Close is probably our best player. He’s very good. He may not be a hatchet man but concentrate what he can do. He was better when he had ZW next to him, someone else who can actually play football.

[ForsolongaRover]

Perhaps it because he has had long term injuries, but Close does not do much challenging for the ball nor does he take risks. In the Notts County game I noticed that he was loth to enter either penalty area and I can’t recall him making many, if any tackles, and he is generally content to play safe by passing the ball square or backwards. It was even apparent that he was not often tackled, perhaps because he was not perceived as representing much of a threat.

You could say of a lot of the team that their shortcomings are
the fault of a lack of understanding of the players around them, but the role of a good midfielder is to play to their strengths.

[roversdude]

I’d have happily driven Close to another club at the start of the season, however he’s been decent since getting over his injury and even put in tackles. That said he is much better when partnered by Westbrooke. Looks like that’s not going to happen again though so something needs to happen.
The game yesterday was there to be won and we once again managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
I think some of the players yesterday were on their last chance listening to McCanns after match interview.
He’s totally correct that it is the same individual errors costing us game after game, however it is also on him to solve this (and I have faith he will), but we need to rip a lot of this squad to pieces

[dickos1]

The chance molyneux had on his right foot came from a superb pass from close. Nobody else in the side can produce quality like that.
It’s wrong to say he doesn’t take risks he’s always looking for ironside’s feet with forward passes. And is comfortable taking the ball in tight situations

[DonnyBazR0ver]

I can see both sides with Close. Without him, we wouldn't see anything near the build up play from back to front. He is a good technical player, who's game, like others is dependent on those around him. We know he's not a combative holding midfielder however, as we can see he's prone to lapses of concentration and sometimes doesn't appear to put his body on the line to the same degree as others. He's not the only one.

It might be easy to assume he was one that McCann was referring to when saying we're not learning the lessons. Likely Olowu in that category too.

We all enjoy expressing our opinions about players who we find frustrating. Biggins for me doesn't seen capable of doing the basics well enough for long enough but, credit where credits due, by his standards, he's been decent overall in the last few matches.

In perspective, no doubt Harrogate could say some of their players were equally culpable when we created chances we could and should have scored.

Once again, McCann has to work with the players individually, just as he must have done prior to Mansfield and MK.

[StocksArmy]

You have got to have more in your game than being comfortable on the ball. We have a hell of a lot of players who are comfortable on the ball. Its not an excuse for turning your back on a shot coming from the smallest player on the pitch. And this is not the first time he has decided to not make a challenge. Some people only see what they want to see. Its like saying Olowu wouldn't have cost us as many goals this season if he had Van Dijk and Trent Alexander Arnold next to him.

[selby]

  Close will give a short pass to someone closely marked rather than take one himself. Not my sort of player, we have had a host of better players such as Brabin when we were a far worse club than we are now.
 Compare his hole game against players like Wellens and Green and a host of others who have played with us in poor sides and. he is miles off

[JonWallsend]

Not really  fair to compare him with Wellens who is in my all time top 3 Rovers players of the last 50 years, or indeed Green, who developed  into a Championship midfielder and won international  recognition.

We've  both seen enough  over the years to name a whole host of players with whom he compares favourably.  Regarding players  from poorer Rovers teams outperforming Close, the table would suggest this team is very much of that poorer vintage.

I think Close is a very good player and, despite the fact that he doesn't  fly into  challenges a la Alan Little, we are better off with him in the team.

We're he able to offer all the aspects of a top midfielder, on and off the ball, then he wouldn't  be playing for us.
He's  in this team on merit. Now that may change as personnel  come in but for the time being, he's  one of our best options  in there.

[dickos1]

  Close will give a short pass to someone closely marked rather than take one himself. Not my sort of player, we have had a host of better players such as Brabin when we were a far worse club than we are now.
 Compare his hole game against players like Wellens and Green and a host of others who have played with us in poor sides and. he is miles off

That’s just your opinion,
For me he is one of the bravest players we have for wanting the ball and receiving it under pressure.

[BigH]

IMHO Close is the best midfielder we've got - absent a fit Westbrooke - and probably one of the few players we have who other teams in the division would want.

What he needs is a couple of horrible workhorses either side of him to do the dirty work and chisel out the space for him to pick his pass. Putting his foot in, blocking opponent's runs and being a physical presence is just not his game.   

[pib]

The Close/Westbrooke slander we have on here at times absolutely astounds me.

We’ve had folk on here this season saying they don’t do anything. Yet when either of them don’t play, and we have no option but to go with triers like Rowe/Biggins, our midfield has no control and no quality on the ball whatsoever and we look like a Sunday league team at times.

It seems like if you’re not diving into challenges you’re not appreciated in the Rovers team.

[Padge_DRFC]

It amazes me the amount of professional footballers who can't pass a ball back to the thrower from a throwing successfully

[Redroy]

  Close will give a short pass to someone closely marked rather than take one himself. Not my sort of player, we have had a host of better players such as Brabin when we were a far worse club than we are now.
 Compare his hole game against players like Wellens and Green and a host of others who have played with us in poor sides and. he is miles off

Eh? Close takes the ball all the time in tight spots with the opposition on him. Must be watching different games. Baffling.

[i_ateallthepies]

Close is our best on-the-ball midfielder without a question but as seen twice yesterday and countless times previously he is as much use as a chocolate fireguard in defence.  The modern game requires that every member of the team can perform their designated defensive duties and Close doesn't come... well, close.

He is needed in the team for his link-up and creative play but is a significant part of the reason we keep getting tonked by three goals on a regular basis.  As soon as we can get a more complete midfielder in he needs to be replaced.

[Lesonthewest]

It amazes me the amount of professional footballers who can't pass a ball back to the thrower from a throwing successfully

We must be one of the worst, if not the worst teams in the league for either giving the ball away, or having no idea of finding space to receive a throw. Absolutely clueless & needs sorting on the training ground.