Barmy Army
Director
...or not as the case may be.
Absolutely woeful performance from us today, never looked a real threat, never looked like we were going to create anything and never looked like we were bothered about the game.
Collis - 6 - Virtual spectator for the majority of the game. Made one decent save, didn't get a good angle for the goal (from the West) so don't know if he was at fault at all.
Barrett - 5 - If he's going to be deployed as a left-back from now on, can we ring Col Ewe and ask if we can flog him to them? Hasn't got the tactical know-how to play left-back confidently and was slack in position a number of times. Wonder if he knows what his right foot's for...
Hunt - 5 - Never looked comfortable in the centre of defence and when in possession looked even more anxious.
Clarke - 6 - Didn't do much wrong, won the majority of his headers, played sensible balls sometimes rather than following those around him and just hoofing it long ball to the strikers.
Francis - 4 - When somebody plays like he did today, it makes you wonder how you didn't make it as a professional! Maybe he didn't know we were playing in blue, which would explain his desperate need to find either a green-shirted player or touch with each of his passes. At one point Maher played him the ball in the attacking third and said "Take him on", a feat he would never have accomplished had his opponent stood still.
Gower - 5 - Why does he always think that he should try to get to the by-line and cross back with his left-foot, when the world and his wife knows that's what he does the majority of the time? Lost the desire to run at defenders it seems as well.
Maher - 6 - Slack in possession in the main, but at least he wanted the ball and was prepared to drop deep and get it to try and engineer some sort of attack. Needs to whip corners in with some pace, rather than 'hang' it up there.
Bailey - 5 - Looked to have some class in terms of being able to complete passes to his team-mates, but had to play the holding midfielder role today which was disappointing as he had a couple of promising moments when he got forward to attack.
McCormack - 5 - What a petulant little s*** he really is. Took the crowd getting on his back to actually get him to do something and to be fair to him, he created a couple of chances. But it shouldn't have taken the fans abusing him to make him want to play. Seemed to be more interested in mouthing off to Igoe and just about anybody else that was around him. Shouting at Hooper after he missed a chance will really help the guy's confidence. Since when did he earn a reputation that makes him think he's billy-big-time?
McDonald - 6 - Deployed as a target man today. Ingenius to use somebody so small as a target man and unsurprisingly it didn't work. The guy worked as hard as anybody else on the pitch and tried to make things happen by holding the ball up. Disappeared a bit in the second half though.
Morgan - 6 - Having minced about for the first 15 minutes, had a couple of good runs and shots in the first half. Seemed to be the only one who wanted to run at the Rovers' defence. Lacked any kind of support from the midfield.
Subs
Hooper - 5 - Unlucky with the chance he had in the box and had one good run which was messed up through his own unselfishness.
Black - 5 - Think he touched the ball once.
Really was an utterly anonymous performance today. Nobody seemed bothered. The most spirit the team had was when they decided to have a go at each other after going behind. To think we started the day in 10th makes you wonder just how bad Port Vale must be to be 24th! Cling on to those memories from the Championship as those days won't return for a long time.
Absolutely woeful performance from us today, never looked a real threat, never looked like we were going to create anything and never looked like we were bothered about the game.
Collis - 6 - Virtual spectator for the majority of the game. Made one decent save, didn't get a good angle for the goal (from the West) so don't know if he was at fault at all.
Barrett - 5 - If he's going to be deployed as a left-back from now on, can we ring Col Ewe and ask if we can flog him to them? Hasn't got the tactical know-how to play left-back confidently and was slack in position a number of times. Wonder if he knows what his right foot's for...
Hunt - 5 - Never looked comfortable in the centre of defence and when in possession looked even more anxious.
Clarke - 6 - Didn't do much wrong, won the majority of his headers, played sensible balls sometimes rather than following those around him and just hoofing it long ball to the strikers.
Francis - 4 - When somebody plays like he did today, it makes you wonder how you didn't make it as a professional! Maybe he didn't know we were playing in blue, which would explain his desperate need to find either a green-shirted player or touch with each of his passes. At one point Maher played him the ball in the attacking third and said "Take him on", a feat he would never have accomplished had his opponent stood still.
Gower - 5 - Why does he always think that he should try to get to the by-line and cross back with his left-foot, when the world and his wife knows that's what he does the majority of the time? Lost the desire to run at defenders it seems as well.
Maher - 6 - Slack in possession in the main, but at least he wanted the ball and was prepared to drop deep and get it to try and engineer some sort of attack. Needs to whip corners in with some pace, rather than 'hang' it up there.
Bailey - 5 - Looked to have some class in terms of being able to complete passes to his team-mates, but had to play the holding midfielder role today which was disappointing as he had a couple of promising moments when he got forward to attack.
McCormack - 5 - What a petulant little s*** he really is. Took the crowd getting on his back to actually get him to do something and to be fair to him, he created a couple of chances. But it shouldn't have taken the fans abusing him to make him want to play. Seemed to be more interested in mouthing off to Igoe and just about anybody else that was around him. Shouting at Hooper after he missed a chance will really help the guy's confidence. Since when did he earn a reputation that makes him think he's billy-big-time?
McDonald - 6 - Deployed as a target man today. Ingenius to use somebody so small as a target man and unsurprisingly it didn't work. The guy worked as hard as anybody else on the pitch and tried to make things happen by holding the ball up. Disappeared a bit in the second half though.
Morgan - 6 - Having minced about for the first 15 minutes, had a couple of good runs and shots in the first half. Seemed to be the only one who wanted to run at the Rovers' defence. Lacked any kind of support from the midfield.
Subs
Hooper - 5 - Unlucky with the chance he had in the box and had one good run which was messed up through his own unselfishness.
Black - 5 - Think he touched the ball once.
Really was an utterly anonymous performance today. Nobody seemed bothered. The most spirit the team had was when they decided to have a go at each other after going behind. To think we started the day in 10th makes you wonder just how bad Port Vale must be to be 24th! Cling on to those memories from the Championship as those days won't return for a long time.
