Did Sir Steve have a bad game ?

[Rayleigh boy]

I thought so.

Leon Clarke is not a target man (although he diidn't shirk giving it a go) so the dreadful semi-hoof ed "out ball" from Richards (cos they don't trust him to knock it 10 yards to the fullback) was going nowhere and Eric was not ready for a gruesomely knowledgeable Tranmere. Perhaps Matt Harolds form had dipped and his legs and robust game were depleted by recent fixtures. So
after 60 minutes Eric was done and the midfield were not being brought into play by a target man with back to goal feeding runners like Baily and Macca.

Gower was not being given the ball early enough to do any damage and the triple substitution was too disruptive.

There were differnt starting options and different substitions that might have had derailed Rovers and Southend were being mugged at set plays. Being drawn into all that pushing and shoving and missing the cute ball is being mugged.

Given the nature of Tranmere there was almost a case for cheap boots Foran to start to get a bit messy and dominate a wide position in the air and if Matty was knackered why not have Charlie Mac on the bench for when predictabley Eric was done for. Even why not get Simon Francis in to try and get a bit more creative out wide. Loads more options as well.

Whatever might have been - and however Tilson could have done it different we didn't get any points and got beat. Saw one of the players afterwards getting some food and he looked absolutely gutted - I guess we could have been top.

Anyway - I am sure Sir Steve is more than dissappointed as well - but how much do you think Ronnie Moore outdid him ?

 

[mattytheshrimper]

i wish we were as affective as them on set plays. they were really organised and done us on 3 or 4 occassions 2 of which they scored from.

Would like us to have a few more plays like theres and really pressure teams from corners/free-kicks because i think we make it too easy for the keeper to collect the from corner because we are to far away from goal.

and boy was i surprised to see a triple sub though!

 

[Welly7]

As soon as it became clear that Rovers were going to play 451, it was obvious that Eric and Leon wasn't going to work. Eric thrives on balls over the top and will cause problems with his pace, but there has to be space for him to exploit and yesterday Tranmere left very little. It surprised me that Tilly left the change so late as Eric was getting little change out of Chorley and Goodison.
Their three centre midfielders didn't allow Maher to play and as a result we didn't get going. Rovers had clearly done their homework on us!! So, yes, Ronnie Moore out did Tilly on tactics, but the two goals we conceded from set-plays had nothing to do with that. It was a lack of concentration at crucial times that gifted Rovers their goals.

 

[mattytheshrimper]

it also looked like tranmere did their homework yesterday and really shut our game down. maybe this is something we should be looking at when playing the better sides.

 

[Beefy]

Hindsight is 20/20.

I think it was a mistake not starting Harrold because if Clarke is the best striker we have then we need to get the best out of him and playing him as a targetman clearly isn't doing that. That said we seemed to hit it long to Odhiambo a fair bit yesterday which was a curious tactic.

Most of the rest of what you said is over-analysising, IMO. If Tilly hadn't made those changes people would be on here asking why he didn't make three changes. Personally I'd have got rid of Wilson & Flahavan from the bench but that's nit-picking really. I'd always have Simon Francis in my squad too but I don't think any of us know what's going on there.

 

[RobM]

I don't believe this - one day Tilly gets moaned at for not making subs early enough - then he gets moaned at for making them too early! When's the correct time - 72.44 minutes?

 

[steveo]

I think it was a mistake not starting Harrold because if Clarke is the best striker we have then we need to get the best out of him and playing him as a targetman clearly isn't doing that

Me too. Harrold has his critics, and plenty of them, but we seemed to be doing ok with him and Clarke starting in the last few games.
As another poster pointed out, if Harrold played like Clarke yesterday he would be slated.

 

[Blue Streak]

I don't believe this - one day Tilly gets moaned at for not making subs early enough - then he gets moaned at for making them too early! When's the correct time - 72.44 minutes?

Read this thread 3 times now Rob and I cant see that anyone was suggesting the Subs were too early. Not sure what your point is.
If youre saying Tilly cant do anything right in some peoples eyes then say it.

I was encouraged to see earlier subs cos it clearly wasnt going right on the pitch. I was however very disheartened how eager Gower was to get off the pitch. He was making his way towards the tunnel as if he was expecting/wanted to be replaced. Maybe he had a wedding to go to. :p

Personally I would have taken Macca off at half time as he kicked the ball all of 3 times in the first half. Maher was having an off day meaning Bailey had to play deeper to compensate. Which virtually meant, because of the "missing" Macca we had no attacking midfield apart from Gower on the flank. Who would I have brought on ? I dont know. I'm not convinced adding another wide player would solve the problem. Was Moussa available ?

 

[Jam_Man]

Funny how we rip Tilsons tactics and decisions to pieces when we lose isnt it ?

Its not like we got torn apart by Tranmere, it was an extremely tight match against a team in good form and a 2nd half set piece decided it.

If Richards header had gone in Im sure we would have gone on to win and no one would have mentioned Tilsons decisions then.

We are still 3 points from the top and have a game against Crewe coming up so lets put Tranmere behind us...

 

[SUFC_Al]

Funny how we rip Tilsons tactics and decisions to pieces when we lose isnt it ?

Its not like we got torn apart by Tranmere, it was an extremely tight match against a team in good form and a 2nd half set piece decided it.

If Richards header had gone in Im sure we would have gone on to win and no one would have mentioned Tilsons decisions then.

We are still 3 points from the top and have a game against Crewe coming up so lets put Tranmere behind us

already have done mate.