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League Two Gillingham (2) v Rovers (1)

Ian

Ian

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OK, well after yet another disappointment at home, Rovers head to Kent on Saturday to take on Gillingham. The Gills sit 14th in the league a few places above Rovers and although no-one has worse form than Rovers right now, Gilligham are showing signs of inconsistency. Two wins and three defeats in their last five. They lost against high flyers Bromley at home (4-1), Notts County (1-0) and Swindon (2-0) but did manage wins against the two worst teams in the league, Harrogate and Newport.

It's difficult to know what to expect from Gillingham but even more so for Tranmere as a flurry of last minute signings with players coming and going happened on Monday night.

Players in include:
  • Lewis Warrington from Walsall on a permanent deal
  • Zech Obiero from Leyton Orient on loan
  • Max Dickov from Mansfield Town on loan
  • Stephan Negru from Oxford on loan
  • James Plant from Port Vale on a permanent deal
Players out include:
  • Richie Smallwood to Bristol Rovers on loan
  • Josh Davison to Cheltenham on loan
There are also some injuries that will shorten Andy Crosby's choices on Saturday. Connor Jennings is out for quite a while, recent loanees Dylan Jones and Will Tamen are struggling. Jayden Joseph is out and who knows what's happening with Omari Patrick having been left out altogether last Saturday. Lee O'Connor is edging closer to a return.

The last time the two teams met was in August sharing the spoils with the game ending 1-1. Patrick scored the opener but the usual calamitous defending from Rovers saw Joe Gbode equalise late on in the game.
 
Like bigmart suggests the starting line up could be anything really. With new loanees possibly making debuts and we continue with the system that doesn’t suit our best striker in Ironside then I can only see one outcome sadly.
Suspect Warrington will start and McGowan will come in for Tamen, unless Negru goes straight in.
Surely now that he’s staying until the end of the season, Crosby has kissed and made up with Patrick.
 
I don't see Crosby making major changes in formation for this game, though he may have to adapt if the new recruits don't slot into his preferred system.
The other matter, which will only get resolved nearer the time, is whether Patrick is back in the squad. Nobody other than the pair knows exactly what the issue between them was, but for me it would be unwise not to have one of our more mercurial players involved going forward.

My predicted line-up
Murphy
Norman Negru Smith Brough Bristow
Warrington Finley
Whitaker Patrick
Ironside

I would rather go 442/433/4321 as those formations give Plant and Obiero a better opportunity of getting into the team.
 
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The two centre backs aren't young and have unconvincing CVs esp Negru. He appears to be right sided and Dickov left, difficult to see on footage. Dickov may well have paired with Hockenhull at Brentford who is now at Nantwich!
Obiero played 20 matches at this level but only the same far lower in the last three years.
Strikes me we signed like we did the United pair last year in desperation over numbers and a couple may just fade away if we get players back.
I'd guess Plant will force Norman into central then Bristow/Patrick is a question over LWB, people shouldn't overlook Omari's good form was all in that role. He has bombed in odd cameos elsewhere.
Warrington should start with Finley and probably Blacker back.
Ironside and Whits up top
One of the new defenders will be benched, leaving Kenneh, Obiero, Dennis, Sol, Lowe (who might be above the new loanees who knows?) McGowan to fight over the one left out tag. The other new back is also spare
The odd thing is if Norman plays central, he has cover from a newbie Lowe and McGowan, which really questions why we brought in there.
All clear as mud. I fear more bad individual placings, Patrick with a marker sat behind him with his back to goal is particularly unappealing. In reality we have one centre forward and three to play off him with Sol as out of favour as you could be, that is where we seem short. Most teams replace their front five weekly, we simply haven't been able to for the most part not sure we can even now.
 
Trying to forecast a Tranmere team or the score is harder than sticking a pin in a paper and coming up with the Grand National winner, I have no idea what the team will be or how they will play. I have come to the conclusion that there is not much between the teams at the top and the teams further down the league, everyone can beat each other. Should I go for a Tranmere win, draw or loss, my head says a draw, my heart says a win and intelligence tells me a loss, for this game I will go with my head and settle for a draw, but who knows.
 
dollar'sbloke said:
The two centre backs aren't young and have unconvincing CVs esp Negru. He appears to be right sided and Dickov left, difficult to see on footage. Dickov may well have paired with Hockenhull at Brentford who is now at Nantwich!
Obiero played 20 matches at this level but only the same far lower in the last three years.
Strikes me we signed like we did the United pair last year in desperation over numbers and a couple may just fade away if we get players back.
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Max Dickov is an attacking midfielder or striker, rather than a central defender. The trio signed on deadline day all have some FL playing experience whereas I don’t think that was true for either of the Man U kids we got in last year. Negru played regularly for Salford last season. Although it would be interesting to know why he didn’t make such an impact at Bristol Rovers in the first half of this season, on the face of it he looks a reasonable recruit to me.
 
Boz said:
Max Dickov is an attacking midfielder or striker, rather than a central defender. The trio signed on deadline day all have some FL playing experience whereas I don’t think that was true for either of the Man U kids we got in last year. Negru played regularly for Salford last season. Although it would be interesting to know why he didn’t make such an impact at Bristol Rovers in the first half of this season, on the face of it he looks a reasonable recruit to me.
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Ah found a vid of Dickov seemed to be left footed and was at the back although can be misleading as just highlights. The BR bomb out didn't look good to me. Negru does seem to be in our most resourced position if we ever reach full fitness.
Irrespective of actual numbers, Man Utd appearances aren't that easy to get, but still suspect we grabbed bodies rather than plots! Davison played in the Championship, I keep coming back to that for relativity!
 
Ian said:
He has been asked to play in numerous positions and has done so but he prefers a more attacking role such as a winger or forward.
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That makes more sense. The Moldovan in Irish lge defended like George Ray!!!
 
Where has the information about Murphy being injured come from? Understandably Crosby doesn't mention it.
I do find his pre-match strange in refusing to say who the captain is. While I know the trend is to have leadership groups, there will still be one to wear the armband and I doubt knowing who would make any difference to Gillingham, but is of interest to Rovers fans.
 
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