Latics 1 Rovers 0

[Rockford's Love Child]

Oh dear. One step forwards and two steps backwards.

In the first half today we played pretty well after a slow start, and were actually edging the game. We looked solid at the back and I really fancied us to take three points the way the game was developing.

Unfortunately, an idiotic penalty given away and our usual tactical limitations sent us to another damaging defeat. The foul on Simpson was made on the edge of the box in a position where it is better to simply let the striker hit it than attempt to tackle him. After conceding we threw men forward and huffed and puffed but never looked like equalising. Oldham kept men behind the ball, Brunt was too isolated and on the several occasions where Devaney got decent balls in from wide areas there was nobody in the eighteen yard box.

Substitutions made no sense. Brunt and Wallace were two of our better players, Wallace our best midfielder. The like for like subs did not result in any change in the system and the striker remained too isolated. We continued to fail to create any chances. Robinson was ok but Enoch did nothing, likewise Labadie when he appeared (although he did give away about four free kicks). The failure to change formation resulted in a furious response from the SWA, and not only the Parry Out element (although roughly 50% of our fans were calling for him to go throughput the second half).

Oldham caught us on the break on two or three occasions and should have extended their lead, despite being relatively unimpressive through the game as a whole.

While not wishing to get involved in a pro / anti Parry slanging match, I fear that if Les remains in charge we are certain to be relegated. We have won one in nineteen and are regularly losing to bottom eight sides. We need to win five of the remaining fourteen. It is not going to happen.

Soul destroying really, to watch us slide towards inevitable relegation.

 

[DIW]

I agree RLC. We have to change the manager now or we are definitely down. We at least need to try something. No comment from Les on the official site yet which makes we wonder whether the dismissal is already happening.

 

[SonkORLY?]

I went today. I think Parry will go.

 

[DIW]

Go or be sacked?

 

[bigmart]

He should hold his hands up admit hes not upto the job and go before its too late as we are certain to go dwon if he stays in charge.

 

[SonkORLY?]

Go or be sacked?

Undecided. Been thinking about this since I got back. Ultimately I think he will leave the club though, whether pushed or otherwise.

He has had ages to identify areas where things are clearly not working for us and had showed no indication that he knows how to fix them. The team has ran out of ideas and his "picking up draws" approach to ensuring our survival in this league is horribly misinformed. His low expectations of the players are reflected in his tactics and his inability to motivate them (and their lack of faith in him) has gradually revealed itself over the course of this very long and very poor run of results. Because we did so well earlier in the season, and being as there probably aren't many great potential replacements out there, I was more forgiving of Les than most for the way things have gone. But enough is enough now really.

The reaction of the fans at today's game was too resounding for him too keep his job imo.

 

[Sparky]

I agree with the common consensus. He has to go now. Les has had long enough and he has ran out of excuses about playing well but missing chances. He hasn't put it right and the buck stops with him.

I listened to the commentary and to still play one up front when he brought Enoch on for Brunt summed him up. His stubbornness to persist with 4-5-1 will be his undoing.

Time to go Les before you tarnish your status as a rovers legend any more and let someone else have time for a chance at stopping the rot.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

his "picking up draws" approach to ensuring our survival in this league is horribly misinformed.

I think this is the crux of the matter. In our position, you are better winning one game 3-0 and losing the next two 3-0 than endlessly scraping draws, yet we never take the risks / show the initiative to win any game convincingly.

The teams below us are currently averaging about one win in three and we show no sign of getting close to that kind of ratio.

 

[drwhoman]

latics

I do not get to Rovers much these days but I sense the current disappointment amongst all you guys who follow them every week. It really does sound as if they are one dimensional and they only have to lose a goal and that is it. The goals for column tells it all even if the goals conceded is pretty good. 4-5-1 is never a good look particularly in front of a small crowd in Div One.
The comments about player support are interesting. I have noticed that Les singles out individual players for criticism from time to time which seems strange given he is obviously a very intelligent man. Today it was 'Welshy' for giving away the pen. When Spearing gave United a soft goal the other week there was no sign of Dalglish singling him out even though it was a huge game. Team, team, team is the mantra.
On the website today, Les was blaming the fans says it was adversely affecting the players. With no wins in however many games it is fans have a right to express their frustration.
Great servant though he has been Les has to go or relegation is inevitable. Incidentally, I see Elford scored for Bury. Clearly we let him go back - very odd.

 

[WildRover]

i think he will be here until the next home game at least. If we lose to Chesterfield next week, then God help him with 3 home games on the bounce, with all 3 above us too...If he hasn't gone by the Preston game (assuming we dont win at least 2 of those 4 games all in), then there could well be a lynch mob not just for Les but for the clown of a chairman who is keeping him there too!

 

[bigmart]

I would be surprised if he walks away, he blames everybody else except himself including the fans today. After the carlisle draw he said we had turned the corner he hasnt got a clue.

 

[Boz]

I don't think that it helps making remarks against the fans as Les did following today's defeat.

I wasn't there, but the BBC stats have possession at 50/50 and 11 shots to 8. Brunt had two shots which tested the keeper, whereas Enoch didn't do anything to rate a mention in the 30 minutes he was on. As Drwhoman notes, Lateef scored within 5 minutes of coming on as a sub and I reiterate my view that we ought to have made more effort to keep him (at the expense of Wallace and Brunt if need be).

I don't see Les walking and I'm not sure PJ will take any action to get rid. However after Chesterfield, there are 3 home games, where, barring a miracle, disgruntled fans are likely to be very vocal wanting a change of management.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

As Drwhoman notes, Lateef scored within 5 minutes of coming on as a sub and I reiterate my view that we ought to have made more effort to keep him (at the expense of Wallace and Brunt if need be).

Agreed, but when he was here we played Akins ahead of him anyway. He must have been an expensive benchwarmer.

 

[Boz]

Talking of Akins, I was a little surprised he wasn't on the bench. From the match action clip of the hammering by Man City reserves, he was about our only player to test their keeper.

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

Well, at least it wasn't another 2-1 defeat! But seriously, I don't know where we go from here. I don't think Les is a quitter and I think PJ knows he would find it very difficult to find anyone else to take the job. At best we'd end up with a caretaker such as Kevin Summerfield or John McMahon (who must take some of the blame for the current situation) or Shaun Garnett (who didn't want the job when JB was sacked). So I think Les will soldier on until the end of the season.

Apart from the well-known stat about losing so many times from a winning position, I notice that out of the 14 league games we have lost this season, 10 have been by the odd goal and only Exeter have beaten us by 3 goals. Often the winning goal has been scored well before the end of the match, because since our bad run started on 29th October, we have scored only three goals (from a total of twelve) in the second half. This must give our opponents a lot of confidence.

I haven't given up hope yet. Les's target of five more wins looks impossible. But although confidence must have hit the floor, there is still time and a lucky win may help us turn the corner.

While I understand the fans' frustration with Les and the team, I don't think booing or demonstrating will have any positive effect - quite the opposite.

 

[SonkORLY?]

The booing and demonstrating - although I didn't take part in it - puts the pressure on PJ to take action. As paying supporters, we are his customers. Today reached a real tipping point. Les has contributed to his own problems by repeatedly emphasising a "me vs you" attitude with the fans every time they slightly criticise anything. I, like others, don't like his approach to post-match interviews.

The abuse Weir was getting was way out of order though. Alright he was playing **** and has proved to be a bit of a nothing player this season but he wasn't hiding from the occasion and tried his best. Not sure you could say the same of McGurk, for example. It's not his fault he gets picked every week.

I wasn't there, but the BBC stats have possession at 50/50 and 11 shots to 8. Brunt had two shots which tested the keeper, whereas Enoch didn't do anything to rate a mention in the 30 minutes he was on.

We brought one good save from their keeper - that was it. They would have won by 3+ but were wasteful in front of goal. When we got the ball up to Brunt nobody was there to support him because it went forward too quickly. When we got the ball wide he was in the box by himself. Etc etc.

The game was dead by the time the subs came on which is embarrassing to say at 1-0 but we were exasperatingly starved of creativity and showed no self belief whatsoever. Reaction to going behind was quite pathetic really.

Devaney, Wallace and Holmes were quite good. Holmes dealt with the often-dangerous Chris Taylor very well actually and showed some neat distribution from the back.

 

[bigmart]

Les blames everybody else bar himself when we dont win.

Why he persists with the current formation is beyond me, he praised Brunt the other day also adding its a thankless task playing the lone striker role so why not try a second striker for a few games.

 

[DIW]

Les has a bloody nerve singling out the fans for criticism given that dross we've PAID to watch this season. he needs to go now before it is too late, which it might well be anyway.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Like Sonkorly, I took and will take no in part in protests against the management. However, if such complaints are restricted to the final thirty seconds of a game, no pressure is placed on the board to do anything. While the atmosphere was ugly yesterday, the discontent was noted on the BBC and elsewhere and can't simply be brushed aside as the grumblings of the usual suspects.

Unfortunately, I do not share BBTC's optimism that this run can be turned round without fundamental change. Les is just too inflexible for that. Our current record of one win in 19 is the worst run of form since I started supporting thirty years ago, including the dark days of the eighties. This is by no means the worst set of players we have had in that time, which much raise questions regarding the competence of the management.

I agree that Holmes put in another excellent display yesterday and has been one of the few consistent performers in this poor spell.

 

[Ian]

Les really isn't doing himself any favours regarding the fans. Now is not the time to turn around and tell us we need to get behind the team. I've been doing that for 20+ years with my wallet! There is obvious frustration and disappointment from the fans and that won't go away until results improve. It's a first for Les, getting some stick from the crowd, but he needs to knuckle down and focus on getting some wins under his belt.

Playing a lone striker has always bugged me in general, but it's really getting my goat now. There is obsoletely no bite up front and Brunt needs support. We need goals to win games. What on earth is Parry playing at?

Just two points separate us from the drop zone now. What a devastating last few months it's been. I hate to admit this, but like RLC says, if Parry stays in charge, I think it's time to wave goodbye to division one.