Crewe / Bristol Rovers Match Day Thread

Poor defending.Again.

Commentator said we're the 2nd lowest scoring side in league 1

Come on Rovers,let's have a couple more chances!

We were probably the better side second half. Again not quite falling for us in the box. On balance, probably not worthy of a point overall tonight though. Missing a supporting player for Hanlan. He was well marshalled by Beccles all game. Both our goals from set pieces. We'll look better with Oztumer Daly and Nicholson back. But they need to come back soon.
We're back in the brown stuff.

Really good open game which could have gone either way. Going forth. I have three wishes 1) A Finn Goalkeeper 2) Play it again Sam 3) A Little fool in the arm!

They only had a few chances and seemed to cut through us too easily. We didn't close down in front of our box and the 2nd goal was poor, too many players happy for them to have it 10 yards out.

To concede the free kick which led to their 3rd was stupid, and to not do their job from a set piece terrible.

I still had confidence we would score 2 more.

I was angry and frustrated last night but now a little more accepting that we missed 3 forward players who would have started last night, Crewe are unbeaten in 9 for a reason.

The IFollow commentators were horrific. One calling them Bristol all the time and the other did no homework on how to pronounce simple names like Leahy and Ehmer. We had Tidsdale, Kil-gower, Hamer, Lee-high, Brendon Hanlan, McCormack, Ko-i-ky, they made some inappropriate joke about the keepers surname and didn't try to pronounce it.

You're being paid to do a job, the wrong job by the sound of it.

Spot on

Dear oh dear, what's happening to our defence?

In space of 18 months we look a basket case at the back....hands (keeps twice saved, only to push ball into play for opposition).....face (do these defenders defend as a unit because it looks like they don't recognise each other at times).....space (too much of it, too many times in our box)...

Jeez, there's taking government advice too literally.


Having said that, it was entertaining stuff. Many chances squandered, but the chances were mostly created on defensive mistakes.

I liked our approach play in middle third but the final ball, pass cross or shot, was severely lacking from us. Conversely, on the counter attack, Crewe looked better.

What a sweet strike from McCormick!?
Aided and abetted by some wiley end of wall movement from Ehmer +1. An exquisite equaliser.

Plus.... The first goal facsimile of Sheff Utd set play.

But.....two defensive howlers gave us a mountain to climb with Hanlan lone striker Vs 2/3 defenders. I would question Ehmer/Harries marking on the 3rd too.

Such a disappointment after getting back to level terms, to then concede soon after. Back to the training ground on how to defend as in marking, block shots, stop crosses. We defend too narrow and at times, too deep.

One worry....the starting lineup. Maybe covering an injury, but 5 defenders? Then, when one found space (ehmer) in their area it fell to a central defender...?
Hmmm.... only fair to question PT on that. It looked to me like we came for a draw, but after 5 mins had put all eggs in one basket finding ourselves behind.


One fun mention on a dismal night: the commentary!

Exotic pronunciation!

Hamer.
Lee-hi....then, Lee-hee.
Kilgower.
Harriers.
McCormack.

....Hilarious!


Summary.
Poor performance defensively giving the team too much work to get something out of it. Hanlan, McCormick worked hard but were met with an organised response. That's it! Little organisation and leadership didn't compensate for effort and huff puff, led to an evitable defeat. We need new personnel.... quickly.

I thought the same!

I'm surprised nobody has questioned whether Crewe's first goal (so admired by PT in his after-match interview) was offside. We'll never know (unless a view from a different camera emerges) because the iFollow angle didn't take in the full picture across the pitch when the ball was played in. However, as the ball went into the net, the Rovers back-line looked nice and straight, and all running back to goal. That suggests their starting positions (a second earlier when the ball was played) was upfield of the goal-scorer. Three defenders appealed for offside, but that doesn't prove anything, as all defenders always appeal for offside.

Seconds after the restart following that early goal, Beccles pulled back on Hanlon's arm 25 yards out from goal. The officials missed it. It set the pattern.

Crewe had the dark arts off to a "T". Nobody can convince me that so many players needed so much treatment for so long. In the second half alone, more than 6 minutes elapsed whilst the Crewe physio attended to 5 different players at different stages. Add to that the stoppage time for 3 goals and several substitutions and you end up with needing to add on 10 minutes. I remember games where the ref has added on lengthy times like that - why not yesterday? When a Crewe player kicked the ball away, having conceded a free-kick, it took Ed Upson to complain to the ref about time-wasting before he even considered taking the Crewe player to task for it.

Refereeing shortcomings aside, I winced at:
Rovers only sending one defender across to stand 10 yards from a corner being taken with two attackers over the ball. For decades, the accepted practice was that you needed two defenders out there, otherwise the two competent attackers would pass the ball around you, in effect creating a "hockey short-corner" crossing opportunity. I first noticed that DC's teams didn't follow that practice- GC soon re-instated it! - but Ben Garner seemed happy for only one defender ten yards from the corner flag. (He might have instructed another to get out there quickly, if the short-corner was played). PT doesn't seem to insist on the two-defender thinking. 

There were enough bodies to block the shot for Crewe's second goal, but we seemed to lack the urgency to close down the shot. Prior to that, there wasn't enough done to stop the cross coming in. I noticed when we attacked, Crewe always seemed to have a midfielder backing up the full back, so we had to work particularly hard to get any kind of cross in.

Not for the first time (cf Wimbledon's second goal at their place) our defending from a deep free-kick was woeful. The eventual scorer of Crewe's third goal was marked - though not tightly - as the free kick was about to be taken, but had no trouble getting goal-side of his marker to meet the ball unopposed. I contrast our defending there with that displayed by, say, Coventry away last season, where their defenders wrestled our players in an effort to stop a threat from a set-piece. (Remember that? As it happened, we still managed to get the ball in the net, but the referee disallowed the goal, imagining the contact he saw being a foul BY the Rovers man - having seen the video replay the next day, he subsequently contacted Graham Coughlan to apologise, I understand). So the point is, why don't we rough the opponents up in an effort to stop the threat? The referees give random decisions anyway.

Sadly, whilst the above examples focused on Crewe's goals, there were many other preventable Crewe attacks where only last-ditch defending or errant Crewe finishing put off further misery. 

There were many pleasing moves by Rovers - another day some of the last-ditch Crewe blocks in their own penalty area might have gone in, but we need to improve all aspects of the game  - including the dark arts -  if we are going to get out of the League One worry-zone.