Mackday Meldrew - Doncaster Rovers


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Coming out of the ground yesterday and listening to the frustration of those walking back into the centre, I said to my dad that I'm going to get some stick for my report tonight. That is if anyone bothers to reply :lol:
You can only report what you saw mate,,,,after all
Surprised you did one last week to be honest 😂
It's actually fantastic he puts the effort in mind, people's opinions will no doubt go either way,
 
When we didn’t have the ball we set up with a straight back 4. When we did have the ball we were all over the place.

I was in the NW corner and it was obvious the back 4 moved together as a unit.

We were very lopsided with the ball. First half Cirkin was on his own on the left because Embleton and Pritchard wandered all over the place and Gooch stayed out right.
 
So what would people do on Tuesday? There's going to be clamour for big changes, but also for a return to a 4-2-3-1. The problem with the latter is the last away game we tried it, we lost 6-0.

Hoffmann

Hume Batth Doyle Cirkin

Evans

Matete Neil

Pritchard..............Clarke

Stewart
I'm not going to pretend there aren't issues with that. Hume is unknown, Matete is largely unknown, it's a shape we haven't played in ages, and Pritchard is out of position. Not to mention Stewart potentially becoming isolated. However, this should allow us more options in the middle, more protection of the back four, and if deployed correctly, runners get up alongside Stewart. The personnel can easily be switched in midfield, perhaps even dropping Evans to the bench, Neil into a deeper role and Winchester alongside Matete.

There are no easy options which suit everyone. On paper our attackers seem suited to playing in a 4-2-3-1, but in reality our defence becomes a shambles too often in this shape.
 
The pitch didn’t help yesterday, but that’s no excuse to the way we performed.

I looked at the team before we left and I couldn’t believe there was only one change, however that team that started should be beating Doncaster 2 or 3-0. There was no tempo, no urgency, we were just fannying on at the back and ran out of ideas pretty quickly.

There should’ve been 3 subs at half time, Clark, Defoe and maybe Roberts but it took them to the hour mark to realise it wasn’t working whatsoever. Then another double sub 10 mins later.

How on earth Gooch stayed on for the full 90 minutes is anyones guess, absolutely awful. Hume must be dog shit if he can’t get in that team. Just play him.
 
@AC Mack THink I may come out of this post looking a bit of a heathen but here goes.

Maybe you and others over analise now, akin to fellas post match on sky etc.
Most weeks it just feels like were in a garbage match against similar oposition who either want it more or are stronger/more athletic than our premadonas.
I know LJ would have spoken like pep prematch but I feel most tactical talks at this level will be in the style of Bobby Saxton dont you think?
I think if we had better/more intelligent players theyd walk through this league without instruction. Its a fairly simple game.
 
We have to play 4 at the back due to injuries and lack of centre half's.

................... Hoffmann

Hume......... Batth Doyle........ Cirkin

........................ Matete

................ Neil............ Pritchard

Djaku.................................. ......... Clarke

.......................... Stewart

Something like this, a 4-1-2-2-1

Matete to sit and hold to give the centre half's cover and Pritchard to play ahead of Neil in the hole.

Djaku and Clarke to give us width and press from higher up the pitch
 
I also have to say that, at the moment, I'm a bit concerned about our recruitment. As individuals, most of us agree that we've made some potentially really good signings. However, there are a couple of glaring issues.

Firstly, we seem imbalanced, with a lack of defensive options, perfectly summed up in this thread and others with the confusion about our shape. Our defenders have looked more comfortable in a three, yet now we barely have the personnel to play it.

Contrast this with the abundance of options we have on the wings. Our attack seems well suited to two wide players and an attacking midfielder playing off the main striker, yet this is at odds to how we like to set up defensively.

It's confusing. Are we going to stumble upon something that works? Are injuries going to force our hand as we've seen before?

Time will tell I suppose, but at the moment it looks a bit of a mess.
 
@AC Mack THink I may come out of this post looking a bit of a heathen but here goes.

Maybe you and others over analise now, akin to fellas post match on sky etc.
Most weeks it just feels like were in a garbage match against similar oposition who either want it more or are stronger/more athletic than our premadonas.
I know LJ would have spoken like pep prematch but I feel most tactical talks at this level will be in the style of Bobby Saxton dont you think?
I think if we had better/more intelligent players theyd walk through this league without instruction. Its a fairly simple game.

Maybe. I'd like to think we're a bit more advanced than that in this day and age, but maybe.

As for over analysing, my posts must take about five minutes to read. To me that is still pretty simple and basic - it's not as though I'm writing a book!
The pitch didn’t help yesterday, but that’s no excuse to the way we performed.

I looked at the team before we left and I couldn’t believe there was only one change, however that team that started should be beating Doncaster 2 or 3-0. There was no tempo, no urgency, we were just fannying on at the back and ran out of ideas pretty quickly.

There should’ve been 3 subs at half time, Clark, Defoe and maybe Roberts but it took them to the hour mark to realise it wasn’t working whatsoever. Then another double sub 10 mins later.

How on earth Gooch stayed on for the full 90 minutes is anyones guess, absolutely awful. Hume must be dog shit if he can’t get in that team. Just play him.

The fact that there could have been 3 substitutions at half time - and nobody could have complained - emphasises how wrong we got it.
 
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So what would people do on Tuesday? There's going to be clamour for big changes, but also for a return to a 4-2-3-1. The problem with the latter is the last away game we tried it, we lost 6-0.

Hoffmann

Hume Batth Doyle Cirkin

Evans

Matete Neil

Pritchard..............Clarke

Stewart
I'm not going to pretend there aren't issues with that. Hume is unknown, Matete is largely unknown, it's a shape we haven't played in ages, and Pritchard is out of position. Not to mention Stewart potentially becoming isolated. However, this should allow us more options in the middle, more protection of the back four, and if deployed correctly, runners get up alongside Stewart. The personnel can easily be switched in midfield, perhaps even dropping Evans to the bench, Neil into a deeper role and Winchester alongside Matete.

There are no easy options which suit everyone. On paper our attackers seem suited to playing in a 4-2-3-1, but in reality our defence becomes a shambles too often in this shape.

Genuinely don't know how to fix it with it being so unbalanced and having such a lack of depth (or quality tbh) at the back.

Only way I can see us being more solid is 433 with Evans (because theres no-one else) sitting with Matete and Neil but that means leaving out Pritchard and playing lumping eggs in the basket of Roberts/Clarke or both but don't either offering much support off the ball.

Still doesn't fix the problem at RB unless we throw Hume in and hope for the best and LB is looking a concern as well but think this is largely down to Doyle so would swapping him for Wright when he's back although he isn't suited to a back 4 either.

Just constantly trying to put fires our all over the pitch whilst starting others in the process.
 
Maybe. I'd like to think we're a bit more advanced than that in this day and age, but maybe.

As for over analysing, my posts must take about five minutes to read. To me that is still pretty simple and basic - it's not as though I'm writing a book!
Im not knocking you mate, good reply.

Dunno if youve read it but a Bolton fan posted on here a scouting report he’d done on Matate. Did you see it?

Dont know if im too lazy or buzy but it fascinates me the depth some fans look into!
 
I also still think we should never have let Flanagan and Younger both leave. Our defensive options at CB are frightening and I was a worried man when Batth went down hurt in the second half.
Speakman more or less aknowledged this the other day, spoke about trying to get another centre half in, but failing, he also said Wright would be back soon
 
We have to play 4 at the back due to injuries and lack of centre half's.

................... Hoffmann

Hume......... Batth Doyle........ Cirkin

........................ Matete

................ Neil............ Pritchard

Djaku.................................. ......... Clarke

.......................... Stewart

Something like this, a 4-1-2-2-1

Matete to sit and hold to give the centre half's cover and Pritchard to play ahead of Neil in the hole.

Djaku and Clarke to give us width and press from higher up the pitch

I've advocated something like this for a while. My biggest issue is that Pritchard basically plays as a ten and we're just as vulnerable as we saw against Bolton. From a defensive point of view, all you've really done is replaced Winchester with Hume, and Matete with Evans.

I'm not sure it's going to make us any more solid.
Genuinely don't know how to fix it with it being so unbalanced and having such a lack of depth (or quality tbh) at the back.

Only way I can see us being more solid is 433 with Evans (because theres no-one else) sitting with Matete and Neil but that means leaving out Pritchard and playing lumping eggs in the basket of Roberts/Clarke or both but don't either offering much support off the ball.

Still doesn't fix the problem at RB unless we throw Hume in and hope for the best and LB is looking a concern as well but think this is largely down to Doyle so would swapping him for Wright when he's back although he isn't suited to a back 4 either.

Just constantly trying to put fires our all over the pitch whilst starting others in the process.

In some ways, one of our biggest issues at the moment is trying to accommodate Doyle and Pritchard. We don't have a lot of options to take Doyle out of the firing line, and Pritchard is arguably our best player. However, we can't get the balance right with those in the side (due to preferred position in Pritchard's case, and style of play in Doyle's case).
Im not knocking you mate, good reply.

Dunno if youve read it but a Bolton fan posted on here a scouting report he’d done on Matate. Did you see it?

Dont know if im too lazy or buzy but it fascinates me the depth some fans look into!

Not seen it mate!
 
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I've advocated something like this for a while. My biggest issue is that Pritchard basically plays as a ten and we're just as vulnerable as we saw against Bolton. From a defensive point of view, all you've really done is replaced Winchester with Hume, and Matete with Evans.

I'm not sure it's going to make us any more solid.

With the lack of options we have now, I can't see another option.

Tell Matete to sit just in front of the centre half's and drop in when the full backs go forward, a proper defensive midfielders role.

Djaku will graft on the wing so should help push them back or at least give Hume some assistance.

We are so unbalanced as a squad at present thanks to injuries etc.

The other option is to go to a 4 5 1 with 3 in centre midfield, but that doesn't work with Pritchard either and Stewart alone up top
 
With the lack of options we have now, I can't see another option.

Tell Matete to sit just in front of the centre half's and drop in when the full backs go forward, a proper defensive midfielders role.

Djaku will graft on the wing so should help push them back or at least give Hume some assistance.

We are so unbalanced as a squad at present thanks to injuries etc.

The other option is to go to a 4 5 1 with 3 in centre midfield, but that doesn't work with Pritchard either and Stewart alone up top

It feels like a case of 'four at the back and cross our fingers'.
 
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