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[In the box]

Very worrying, once they scored I think we all predicted nothing but a loss. It almost feels like a point gained in the end, it has to come good if we're gonna be in the mix come the end of the season.

Chasing games from behind at home is a demonstration of how we’re not punishing teams when we have the opportunity. Strikers need to be more efficient and get shots off more .

[CJK]

One for the stattos;

It feels like we're not giving many chances away but when we do, a goal often results. Is that reflected in the stats?

Also, we don't seem to be getting shots away, off target or on target despite seemingly dominating possession and attacking territory.

[Campsall rover]

Port Vale have now crept 5 points ahead. Crewe are equal with a game in hand, and Walsall are only 1 point behind and have 2 games in hand. We are looking at being only play-off potential again and we know how that ended last season.

We need to stop conceding the first goal so often and we need Ironside to find the back of the net more often. His goal tally so far is not good enough to finish in top 3.

Answer me, were we play off potential after 16 games last season? It’s not about how you start, it’s how you finish as Grant always says.

Only a fool would think we can finish every season like we finished last season. That broke 50 year records.
Based on current performance we are unlikely to finish top 3.

Only a fool would have negative outlook like you.

I'm not negative, just stating facts anyone can see. i just state the current position. We MAY improve and can only wait and see. But we do need to be more ruthless and chances are wasted as BFYP says.

The current position is we are third and in the automatic spots.

Exactly and we are only playing at 70%
When we really click, well watch this space I think is the phrase.

I hope you're right. Whilst I don't buy in to the panic/negativity, I think the talk of "only being at x%" on a few threads this season is a bit misplaced as well as it's not ineveitable that things will click and we'll go on a run. To get automatic you need a bit of flat track bully about you.

It would be useful if people could identify where the extra 30% is coming from. For all his effort, Ironside seems to get stifled now by close marking and Molyneux takes on men when he would be better passing the ball. In contrast, Sharp finds space.

The extra 30% is the decision making in and around the penalty area and ultimately sticking the ball in the onion bag.

[Lesonthewest]

We are mainly poor in the 1st half of games, & today was no different, lacklustre, predictable, not moving the ball quick enough, poor balls into the box. It's like we need something to fire us up in the 1st half of games. Don't know if it's a mental or a confidence thing, but it has to change. Can't keep relying on our away form. Well done to the players coming back for the point again, but it shouldn't be coming to that at home.

[mushRTID]

We are mainly poor in the 1st half of games, & today was no different, lacklustre, predictable, not moving the ball quick enough, poor balls into the box. It's like we need something to fire us up in the 1st half of games. Don't know if it's a mental or a confidence thing, but it has to change. Can't keep relying on our away form. Well done to the players coming back for the point again, but it shouldn't be coming to that at home.

Agreed we are starting games badly at home.
We don’t seem capable of going for the kill from the first whistle.
I can barely recall many saves the opposition keeper has made these last 2 games.

[ravenrover]

Did we not create a chance in 1st few minutes today for Ironside?
Gibson clean through miss controls
2 or 3 blocked shots but you're right  we don't go for the kill from the off

[coventryrover]

Living in Cov I have managed to get up for Morecombe, Bromley, Chesterfield, Notts and Salford.   Saw us away at Newport and Everton.

Apart from the county second half and Everton away, what I have seen is very poor.

Take today.   When Ironside is playing we play a lot of long ball from the back.    Didn't work.   When we went with width  in the first 15th  it was working...but we stumbled to their level.   We can be sloppy at times.   We let teams shoot from distance.  A lot of our shots don't have any menace.      It's been frustrating and today was not enjoyable.

We need to improve alot to go up.  Salford were poor and we matched them

[Alan Southstand]

I have to add, Coventry, Salford were aided by a very unsuitable referee - he let them get away with murder. To add insult to injury, he booked a couple of our players for hardly anything, by comparison. I don’t know how the hell they finished the game with 11 players!

[Ian Nimmo]

For me it’s the formation which is causing the problems ie 1 up front and 2 wide players.
The opposing two centre halves generally deal with our 1 central striker. Also one of them will be available to assist the full back with our wide players.
Add to this, we don’t seem to be getting the required end product from our wide players. (Thought Josh was off the mark again today)

My opinion would be we start with Joe and Billy plus Mols.

[GazLaz]

One for the stattos;

It feels like we're not giving many chances away but when we do, a goal often results. Is that reflected in the stats?

Also, we don't seem to be getting shots away, off target or on target despite seemingly dominating possession and attacking territory.

At home we have conceded about the amount of goals we should have. The other end is the issue.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Living in Cov I have managed to get up for Morecombe, Bromley, Chesterfield, Notts and Salford.   Saw us away at Newport and Everton.

Apart from the county second half and Everton away, what I have seen is very poor.

Take today.   When Ironside is playing we play a lot of long ball from the back.    Didn't work.   When we went with width  in the first 15th  it was working...but we stumbled to their level.   We can be sloppy at times.   We let teams shoot from distance.  A lot of our shots don't have any menace.      It's been frustrating and today was not enjoyable.

We need to improve alot to go up.  Salford were poor and we matched them

Totally agree with that. I don't understand why when we get a bit of momentum going, we don't seem to be able to sustain the play that creates those good openings. Why did we insist in going long and playing into their hands by making it scrappy?

Sterry and Fleming looked really sharp in the opening quarter. We have good ball players in Kelly and Hurst, yet we started by-passing them. We had them on the stretch when they were giving fouls away so that should be the incentive to carry on playing the ball on the deck. But then, we send Ironside 80 yards up the pitch for TSL to launch kicks up to him, yet our midfield stays 25 to 30 yards back and we don't get on to the second balls.

Whether it's experience or application, we don't seem to have the collective intelligence to impose our game at home, allowing the away team to play on their terms.

Yes, there maybe issues why we're not showing the desired quality in the final third, but today I thought our problems stemmed from being lazy in thought. We became like headless chickens relying on hope.  Bailey was poor today, he should be imposing himself more by demanding the ball off McGrath or Olowu more often to get the team moving, bringing Kelly and Hurst unto play.

Also to add, Ironside is too static, too often content to wrestle with his marker, rather than try to make runs to get sway from him. Contrast with Billy who makes runs and busts a gut to get free.

I'm really miffed as to what the game plan was today and I'm a bit surprised McCann has rolled out the same excuse today about the quality in the final third. Not often I disagree with him. First time I felt angry about the way we allowed the game to develop. Still, it's a game of football and we haven't lost.

[Alan Southstand]

We have gone backwards from that team that went on that fantastic winning streak last season. Adelakun gave us so much threat in the attacking areas and he would have made a difference today (thankfully he was not back in their side today). Also Matty Craig, who gave us so much in that midfield during that run - that’s not to say that Kelly isn’t doing it, rather the 3rd player in midfield is missing. GM has tried Hurst, Close, Clifton, S’Barra and Westbrook but there is no-one that has really staked a claim, for one reason or another.

[Michael Shaw]

It’s funny that McCann can say :-

"I've said it for a few weeks now, particularly at home, we're just not clinical enough. We're not taking our chances and it's not good enough for us. This is why I said we're nowhere near where we need to be. It's ok be good in the defensive third and middle third but we need to be better at the top end of the pitch. It's hard to put our finger on it. We do a lot of attacking phase work in training but it's about doing it out there (on the pitch). For us to score 22 goals after 16 games isn't good enough. It's not promotion form. We need to be scoring 80, 90 goals over a season to get promoted and at the moment we're not doing that so there's a lot of work to do.”

Yet if I say exactly the same I am talking rubbish. That’s why I have so little respect for some on this site.

[Barmby Rover]

It took nearly 75 minutes before we had a shot on target, if Rovers are to get automatic promotion we need to be beating mid-table sides easily, they are not going to do that with that sort of form. Either there is something wrong up front, or the connection between midfield and the two very good forwards we have is not working properly, I suspect it is the latter, and GM needs to work on that. Our forwards are not getting the balls to convert, the wingers are trying to be the sole strike force.

[Donnywolf]

We can be more "clinical" as some highlight as well as "luckier" as others say but we could also benefit from a solid Refereeing performance

The last 2 draws at home "might" have ended differently if the 2 penalties v Notts County had been given and the DOGSO enforced and them down to 10 men

Goals change games is the adage and true we still had to score from the spot but we'll never know

Yesterday the crowd are baying off off off at their No 10 and Ref produces a Yellow. That was for him cheating.

He repeated almost the same cheating method a few minutes later and at least 4 more challenges before half time. The last one imo was in the context of the game a clear Yellow ( was it Moly he upended in from of East Stand Lino)

He's spent 40 plus minutes cheating and the Ref should have seen that for what it was and sent him off .

Hitting posts can be classed as unlucky but there are other factors like the Referee applying the laws of the game of which persistent fouling is one , and one which could ( I will only say could ) have led to different outcomes in both the last 2 home games

[GazLaz]

It’s funny that McCann can say :-

"I've said it for a few weeks now, particularly at home, we're just not clinical enough. We're not taking our chances and it's not good enough for us. This is why I said we're nowhere near where we need to be. It's ok be good in the defensive third and middle third but we need to be better at the top end of the pitch. It's hard to put our finger on it. We do a lot of attacking phase work in training but it's about doing it out there (on the pitch). For us to score 22 goals after 16 games isn't good enough. It's not promotion form. We need to be scoring 80, 90 goals over a season to get promoted and at the moment we're not doing that so there's a lot of work to do.”

Yet if I say exactly the same I am talking rubbish. That’s why I have so little respect for some on this site.

If he thinks we are creating enough at home for a side with aspirations of winning the league he’s wrong. That’s a fact.

[Chris Black come back]

It’s not like McCann is sat on his arse and avoiding trying to adapt. Pretty much every home game he changes set up and personnel in second half to try and adapt to the away side setting up in a sense low block that we can’t get behind. It doesn’t always work but he’s not a patient man. It looks maybe too simple but when away sides do this (pretty much all of them) we need more weight in midfield of player who can play through them. He started with Hurst as a #10 yesterday to do that and then brought on Sbarra to do that. Maybe he plays with just Bailey sitting and played Hurst and Sbarra together behind the #9?

[Nudga]

I know GM wants the front 5 or 6 to play with freedom but to me a lot them look very uptight. Is there a fear that not only they will lose a starting spot in the next game but they will get hooked at 60 minutes. Possibly a reverse mental situation of a player becoming too comfortable in a smaller squad.

Gibson and Hurst are a 1 good game in 6 type player, molly 1 in 4, Sbarra even less.
Sharp should have had at least 5 or 6 more goals but he's been snatching at chances that he's made a career out of. Is this also a case of him being uptight because he knows he'll usually get subbed on 60 minutes. 
Ironside just hasn't had a run of games to get any kind form going. 
The midfield is never settled as its being rotated from match to match. 

The only consistent area is GK, centre backs and right back. Although from thd games I've been to, most goals conceded come from the right back area.

Last season,  once injuries settled down and we added a bit of quality we had a consistent starting eleven and results obviously improved. 

Going back to the strikers, I've said it before but playing a lone striker doesn't work at this level, they are too isolated if the 3 behind them are not at the top of their game.
I'd like to simplify the formation to either a 4-4-2 or 4-1-3-2 and have a ball winner and a ball player in midfield.
Are Sharp and Ironside too slow to partner each other? Not sure but the pace surely comes from out wide?
Sheringham,Shearer
Sheringham, Solksear (sp?)
Shearer, Ferdinand
Shearer, Sutton

Those partnerships were not blessed with  real pace.

Saying all that, overall we have to be happy that we are pushing for promotion,  there's just that little part of wanting see and paying for exciting football.

January will be interesting, I think there's a handful that need to be moved on to free up some squad space.

Edit; I think my post is more suited to the "when it clicks " thread.

[mushRTID]

In my opinion.

The front three were the main reason for our form last season. We’ve weakened that.

Haks was unbelievable for us not just for what he brought himself, but he freed Mols up too.

Gibson is not at that level. So we’re weaker on the left and Mols isn’t firing at the moment.

Ironside second half of last season was surely in the top 3 strikers in the league. His position didn’t need to come under threat.

So now that position is weaker as we’re chopping and changing him and Sharp, neither are performing to Ironside level last year.

To me all this “not clinical enough” in the final third is hardly surprising, its weaker!

[Ryaldinhio]

I don't get the uproar about yesterday. I enjoyed the game.

Last week we should have had 2 penalties, one in the final minutes that would've given a chance to win the game.

Yesterday we could've scored in the first minute, literally 1 or 2 inches away. We had what seemed a perfectly fine goal disallowed, Gibson hits inside of post and it bounces straight to keeper, Billy hits post.

We just aren't having the rub of the green.

The only thing I'm frustrated with is the result.  I think it is beginning to click.

I also think starting with Ironside and Billy coming in fresh for 30 mins looks better than the other way around.

[Chris Black come back]

Salford are a very tough away side. They’ve gone to Chesterfield, Bradford and Crewe and drawn in all of those games. Nobody impartial watching that would have said anything other than us being the best side. It’s not great we are struggling repeatedly at home, but Salford yesterday was not a team of mugs away from home. Far from that.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Let's not go down the road of wishing we still had ex players etc, the players we have are good enough. They have already shown in patches what we can do when we're on it.

There has to be a psychological reason why we stop doing what was working in games, and resort to becoming hesitant, taking easy options to launch balls forward instead of playing through the lines. Of course, mix things up a bit but generally if we get some success  as we did in the first 10 mins or so, keep the foot on the gas. Maybe it's belief or confidence thinking they can't keep it up?

Just another small example. Last week Ironside scored a great headed goal from a whipped in cross from Sterry. Not once did we try to replicate that. We took extra touches, we tried to play one-twos, seemingly making things more complicated than necessary to get the ball into the danger zone.

The frustrating thing is, we're not miles away from where we need to be to win more games. It's opportunities being missed to punish our opponents when we're on top. We are our own worst enemies.

[i_ateallthepies]

Hurst could be so much more effective if he could build his physicality, he just gets brushed off the ball too easily when in promising positions.

[EasyforDennis]

I know stats can be turned to suit different agendas but......

In our last 4 home games we have had 135 touches in the oppositions penalty area resulting in 3 goals!!!!

[ForsolongaRover]

Hurst could be so much more effective if he could build his physicality, he just gets brushed off the ball too easily when in promising positions.

In this context what future can you see for Sabarra?

[Prez]

The lack of movement when we are in possession is a real concern for me. Just static for most of the time. Sbarra only been on the pitch a few mins and he made that great run to set Sharp up. Corner routine as mentioned in another thread is also a concern. Just a high flighted cross which is so easy for the opposition to defend.

Need to back to last seasons routine, we looked far more dangerous playing it short.

[i_ateallthepies]

Hurst could be so much more effective if he could build his physicality, he just gets brushed off the ball too easily when in promising positions.

In this context what future can you see for Sabarra?

Unlikely that he will play at a higher level than L2

[ncRover]

Ironside second half of last season was surely in the top 3 strikers in the league. His position didn’t need to come under threat.

Yes.

I would have signed a younger more mobile version of Ironside as a back up, who could have overtaken him in the future to become first choice for L1. (That wasn’t Miller btw).

But now we have this weird power struggle dynamic with two senior should-be-first-choice strikers who are completely different types of player.

Like for like replacements for Adelakun and Craig were more important than resigning Billy for the vibes.

Just my opinion.

[Fal]

Hurst could be so much more effective if he could build his physicality, he just gets brushed off the ball too easily when in promising positions.

In this context what future can you see for Sabarra?

Unlikely that he will play at a higher level than L2

He has already 18 Championship games and 31 League One games under his belt before Burton released him. Hes got plenty of time to work his way back up again.


 

[Jersey Rover]

I’m actually looking forward to Zain returning. I think he actually brings a lot to our midfield. Paired with Kelly, I think that looks solid.