Pirates tonight! | Page 5 | Vital Football

Pirates tonight!

Can we just rename this the Gavin Massey hate thread. No praise for the young lads giving their all just criticism of one player who, while struggling, still pulls on the shirt and at least puts a shift in for the club.
 
A performance full of effort and desire,with some good play at times especially 1st half.We had to dig in that last 20 minutes to get a respectable,battling point.Rovers gained momentum and energy from that triple substitution,but we kept going and it was important we stopped the run of defeats in the end,which will give the lads heart.

My only slight criticism was we also could've made a few like for like changes on 70 to 80 minutes to the midfield and attacking areas of the pitch.Jolley,Crankshaw,Baningamie as well as McHugh to combat their subs and to freshen us up and inject a bit of energy ourselves into the team,as the lads began to tire.But I suppose on the flip side of that,too many changes could also have an adverse effect as it could disrupt the team.An example of that being McHughs first touch almost led to a Rovers goal as he got up to speed with the pace of the game.

Thought Pearce was superb tonight and mom.Tilt and Long had good,solid games at the back,with the tenacious Merrie and lively Joseph also standing out.

The EFL now surely must make a decision on the Spaniards this week!
 
I see there was the inevitable slating of Massey again, who I accept was poor, but IMO was actually trying, just totally lacking in fitness, confidence and form.
Not one mention of Palmer, who contributed even less than Massey, barely touched the ball at all - whilst out wide.
Could the lack of involvement of both of our wider players be down to formation, tactics and style of play, rather than the perceived "not giving a shit" ?
 
A goalless draw and we had 2 shots on goal. Think I'd prefer to watch paint dry.
Funny how we see things differently, isn't it. .

On the surface of it, nil apiece, drab boring game. In reality, there was an element of end to end about it, with a fair bit to get the pulse racing.........both in a good, and bad way.

Then, just 2 shots on goal suggests a poor performance, while actually, some of our best attacks didn't result in a "proper shot".

If you watched that game Leics, and think drying paying to be better visual stimulation, then we can agree to disagree. If however, you didn't see the game, but that's your conclusion from simply seeing the stats, I'd urge you to speculate a tenner next time out. You may be pleasantly surprised.
 
Perhaps if we actually got the ball out wide to Massey he could be more involved and if we stop pinging the ball long over the midfield they could also control the game instead of having to fire fight all game as the ball just keeps coming back at them.

We started to play the ball out from the back initially and after one error which gave the opposition a chance we reverted back to kicking it long and hoping Joseph and Aasgaard could get the better of a couple of battle hardened pro's with far more experience than them. We basically gave up the midfield for long spells of the game and put ourselves under pressure. When we did start to play through the midfield we looked the better side and Pearce on the overlap was our best player, unfortunately we only did it in spells and when an error occurred the instinct to play it long took over again.

That is what inexperience does to a player.

If we had the experienced players around them to give them confidence they would continue to do what they were doing, however experience is in short supply at present and looks to be even shorter with the departure of Joe Garner.

Thelo Aasgaard looks to be a very skilful young player and has good touch and alongside Joseph, who ran his heart out chasing lost causes last night, look to be the way forward following Joe's departure. I am sure that once Kyle gets his first goal it will be the first of many.

Merrie and Perry are a decent combination in midfield but need someone to guide them and although Palmer is a decent player, for me, he is not a midfield general in the mould of Morsy. The first signing I would make is a hard tackling, ball playing leader to take hold of the midfield duo and give them the freedom to play their natural games without the fear of being exposed when they make the inevitable mistake.

At the back Tilt and Long looked reasonably secure and had decent games. We were lucky not to concede in the opening half but Tilt showed what experience brings to get back on the line to cover Jones's error. Their forward should still have scored and it was a howler from him. With Obi as a back up we have some cover, and I think all three are good enough for the lower half of this division whilst there is still room for both Obi and Long to develop and improve.

Overall it was a decent game and the action flowed from one end to the other. In patches we were creative and our passing game was decent, however those patches need to get longer until we can play that way for 90 minutes. There is still a lot to be done and we can only improve with the addition of those players out injured coming back.

Remember, Bristol had a squad full of experienced players and we held them to a draw, they probably had their best eleven out whereas we are at least five or six down. I am still hopeful that we can avoid the drop once the players we have gain the experience needed to compete in this division.

Some people have said the players are not good enough for this division and yet they competed last night, albeit with a side from the bottom end of the division. I would say that the players we put out last night have shown that the talent and desire to play at this level is there, but the experience is not. Give them the experience and I believe they will prove people wrong.
 
Perhaps if we actually got the ball out wide to Massey he could be more involved and if we stop pinging the ball long over the midfield they could also control the game instead of having to fire fight all game as the ball just keeps coming back at them.

We started to play the ball out from the back initially and after one error which gave the opposition a chance we reverted back to kicking it long and hoping Joseph and Aasgaard could get the better of a couple of battle hardened pro's with far more experience than them. We basically gave up the midfield for long spells of the game and put ourselves under pressure. When we did start to play through the midfield we looked the better side and Pearce on the overlap was our best player, unfortunately we only did it in spells and when an error occurred the instinct to play it long took over again.

That is what inexperience does to a player.

If we had the experienced players around them to give them confidence they would continue to do what they were doing, however experience is in short supply at present and looks to be even shorter with the departure of Joe Garner.

Thelo Aasgaard looks to be a very skilful young player and has good touch and alongside Joseph, who ran his heart out chasing lost causes last night, look to be the way forward following Joe's departure. I am sure that once Kyle gets his first goal it will be the first of many.

Merrie and Perry are a decent combination in midfield but need someone to guide them and although Palmer is a decent player, for me, he is not a midfield general in the mould of Morsy. The first signing I would make is a hard tackling, ball playing leader to take hold of the midfield duo and give them the freedom to play their natural games without the fear of being exposed when they make the inevitable mistake.

At the back Tilt and Long looked reasonably secure and had decent games. We were lucky not to concede in the opening half but Tilt showed what experience brings to get back on the line to cover Jones's error. Their forward should still have scored and it was a howler from him. With Obi as a back up we have some cover, and I think all three are good enough for the lower half of this division whilst there is still room for both Obi and Long to develop and improve.

Overall it was a decent game and the action flowed from one end to the other. In patches we were creative and our passing game was decent, however those patches need to get longer until we can play that way for 90 minutes. There is still a lot to be done and we can only improve with the addition of those players out injured coming back.

Remember, Bristol had a squad full of experienced players and we held them to a draw, they probably had their best eleven out whereas we are at least five or six down. I am still hopeful that we can avoid the drop once the players we have gain the experience needed to compete in this division.

Some people have said the players are not good enough for this division and yet they competed last night, albeit with a side from the bottom end of the division. I would say that the players we put out last night have shown that the talent and desire to play at this level is there, but the experience is not. Give them the experience and I believe they will prove people wrong.

I think Rovers had a few out also, TB.... including their main striker.
 
I think Rovers had a few out also, TB.... including their main striker.

Nevertheless we have a lot less experience in our ranks than Bristol. According to their website the team they put out was an experienced side with a winger being employed as a centre forward, hardly the same inexperienced players that we had out and yet we matched them.

I accept that they were short of experience up front, and it sort of makes my point. If they had had an experienced striker rather than a young 25 year old with limited experience then the chance he missed would probably have been taken.

If you contrast that with Erhun Oztumer in midfield, at 29, with a wealth of experience, against Merrie (22) and Perry (22) with limited appearances for the club I think it is fair to say they performed admirably in helping us to a draw against much more experienced opposition.

Give these players experience and we will see a difference, the talent is there and so is the determination.
 
Nevertheless we have a lot less experience in our ranks than Bristol. According to their website the team they put out was an experienced side with a winger being employed as a centre forward, hardly the same inexperienced players that we had out and yet we matched them.

I accept that they were short of experience up front, and it sort of makes my point. If they had had an experienced striker rather than a young 25 year old with limited experience then the chance he missed would probably have been taken.

If you contrast that with Erhun Oztumer in midfield, at 29, with a wealth of experience, against Merrie (22) and Perry (22) with limited appearances for the club I think it is fair to say they performed admirably in helping us to a draw against much more experienced opposition.

Give these players experience and we will see a difference, the talent is there and so is the determination.

Let's hope you're right. We could definitely use a couple of quality players in midfield and up top.