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Brief Synopsis!!! (Bristol Rovers)

Oct 18, 2010
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St Judes
rsp4":t1d6glhl said:
Yep lost us 2 points today. DA at his worst. I thought wtf at the time and it invited them onto us.
Yeah we already had Yann who can drop in and make a 5, so to put a 6th defender on was insane and cost us the win.

Still at least we're still 14th, and there's still 10 teams below us.
 

ChepstowGreen

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🏆 Callum Wright 23/24
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Jade Berrow 23/24
May 1, 2006
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Good game, had done enough to win but there was something inevitable about that equaliser, didn't make it any easier to take though. Think Taylor should have come on. Also, well done to the little lad who managed to launch the ball over the number 15s outstretched arms in giving the ball back, very amusing. I assume it was 15, as he was still vexed at the end (as other thread talks about) about it for some reason. Just a shame they managed to get the equaliser a few moments later!
 
Jul 14, 2008
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Thought it was a very entertaining game between two decent teams. Both teams will be fine come the end of the season
 
Nov 9, 2013
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So nobody thinks that Fox was absolutely knackered and putting an extra, tall defender on to survive the enivitable final push from the opponents and hold on to the 3 points was a reasonable decision that a lot of managers would have taken?
 
Mar 14, 2009
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latchbrookpilgrim":1d4pe0ze said:
So nobody thinks that Fox was absolutely knackered and putting an extra, tall defender on to survive the enivitable final push from the opponents and hold on to the 3 points was a reasonable decision that a lot of managers would have taken?

It’s not that. If this was an isolated incident then that’s fine.

However, look at the bench. He had Taylor for example, someone who could hold onto the ball. Without the ball the opposition can’t score.

Yet, he decides again the best way is to chuck on another central defender, who ends up playing in midfield looking lost and has no impact whatsoever on the game.

Adams always choose the most negative decision.

If you honestly look back at Adams managerial reign our best results are mostly back to the wall performances because in high percentage of games that’s they way we play.
 

demportdave

🍌 Bomber Harris.
Jul 6, 2005
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It’s always disappointing to concede in injury time, but at least it was only an equaliser and not the winner. Being objective, over the 90 minutes they probably deserved a draw but it was still a gutter when it went in.

Positives today were the excellent Macey, apart from a couple of dodgy kicks, Riley until he picked up yet another injury, Songo’o and Lameiras.

Negatives were yet another waste of space performance from Sarcevic who constantly gave the ball away, the pedestrian Ness (what does Adams see in him) who ironically was booked for the only time he actually played the ball forwards when he petulantly kicked it 50 yards downfield after conceding a free kick. The Fox injury was unfortunate, but maybe Adams should have put Songo’o in there and put Jones at the back where he would have been more comfortable.

One of the main reasons I have never been much of an Adams fan is because of the numerous times over the last four years we have sat back in the last 15-20 minutes defending a 1-goal lead. It’s very stressful and difficult to watch because you are almost expecting the opposition to score and quite often they do. Once again today, we had 10 men back defending at the death yet we still conceded.

Why can’t we defend 10 yards further up the pitch?

Why do our defensive midfielders drop back into the back 4/back 5 instead of pushing forwards to make it 2 lines of defenders to get through? We constantly give the ball back in our own half and invite the opposition to attack us, giving them all the time and space they want, which is exactly what happened with their second goal.

Why is Ladapo so lazy in letting the opposition so easily play out from the back? Someone show him a video of 1980’s Liverpool and watch how Ian Rush, in between scoring 40 goals a season, would constantly chase and harry the opposition back 4 to force errors and win the ball back. Barry Hayles was also very good doing that.

The 2 dropped points mean that we still have to pull off at least one very good result, either an away win or a victory over one of the three promotion candidates we have to play. It won’t be easy and we are still in trouble. A win today would have gone a long way to ease the pressure on us.

We certainly don’t want to have to need to get something from the Scunthorpe game. I don’t think our players have the heart or the bottle for it, as we have seen on far too many occasions this season.
 
I thought we played well overall, but didnt put the game to bed when leading twice. With our opponents throwing more
and more bodies forward in their attempts to equalise, we had ample opportunities to close the game out.
Though the missing GC10 might have made the difference today tbf. Get well soon graham.
So although it was very disappointing to concede the late equaliser, twas not totally surprising. As Cockos well
organised gasheads kept up the pressure on us and in the end deservedly earnt their point.
Argyle kicked off with the 31411 making another appearance, possibly to match gasheads diamond 4132, or maybe to reunify the
previously key CM trio of foxy, nessie and sarce once again. Nessie being GC10s replacement in the line up.
Whatever, it worked as we dominated most of the first period with the CM triplets controlling the game.
Helped also by the team pressing high and wide. Ruben(MOM) was then able to find the space and time to link and
threaten them constantly but unfortunately the goal our approach play deserved never materialised. Mainly due to some
really strong defending from rovers. Cockos influence no doubt.
Rovers main threat was from set pieces and early diagonal crosses. Which we dealt with ok apart from one late effort
which was blocked by keeper matt.

Second half and the game continued in the same manner with ruben soon curling home a wonderful goal cutting in from
the right. A brilliant effort worthy of winning any game. Argyle are now forced back into a more counter attacking style as
rovers respond to the goal.
This was the period when we needed another goal but our counters were not clinical enough despite rubens non stop efforts in
single handedly orchestrating most of them.
Too many bad decisions/errors when in good attacking positions not only limited our efforts on goal but also resulted
in turnovers that rovers countered us with. From one of these a rovers striker fired home, what looked from distance, a
brilliant long range goal. Keeper matt seemingly just watched it go past. Too far away to see if he could have saved it
or if the effort could have been blocked in any way. It all looked far too easy, though still a brilliant strike.
Obviously this gave them bags of confidence and now the game became much more end to end.
Argyle then benefitted from an oggie of epic wierdness as a gashead managed to bonk a cross in from an unbelievable angle.
No threat, no danger, ball going out and then poor old tony craig heads it back sideways, against the bar and then down
over the line. Well spotted by the lino and of course thousands of delighted greenies. Sympathy for poor tony....nah!
And I thought englands fifth against the czech rep friday night was wierd. This was way more wierder than that.
Anyways, with their noses back in front argyle have more opportunities to put the game to bed but fail miserably again
to exploit them. Leaving themselves open to the inevitable late sucker punch which duly arrived when a low driven
cross seemingly went over players and then straight through keeper matt with no noticeable deflection i could see. It looked
like he was beaten more by the pace of it than anything else as he dived all around it. Need to see it again though as a
long way away. So 2-2 it ended and a fair result in the end imho.
I thought second half we defended too narrow at times allowing far too many uncontested crosses. The foxy and joe riley
substitutions also unsettling the team to an extent.
Individually keeper matt was excellent first half especially with his kicking. Second half under more pressure his kicking
started to lapse and 2 softish goals conceded as well. Joe riley and skipper gaz as WBS both had good games as did
eddy, yanner and niall at CB. Foxy had another excellent game. Such a classy consistent player. So gonna miss him when hes gone.
Nessie did well and played the full 90 which should improve his game further. Sarce had another disappointing game. Way off his
best at the mo but still gave everything as always.
Fred was a bit isolated at times but did well when involved.
The 2WB/3CB system worked well at times today especially first half, with the 3 CM ball winners in there, but in the second
45 we also lost our way with it too. So 4231 is still the way to go for me at the mo especially if you gotta fit GC10 in there
somewhere as well.
A disappointing ending to the game today for sure but never mind its still another crucial point.
Hopefully, not too many more required now.
 
Jun 1, 2015
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Well after reading some of the comments on here you'd be mistaken of thinking that we lost and Adams was a pariah. Those who dislike him, and boy don't we know about it, will find any reason whatsoever to deride and criticise.
This was a good LG1 game fought by 2 very similar teams and clubs.
We dominated the first 35 minutes without having any real clear cut chances. We set up with a 3-5-1-1 or a 5-3-2 formation. Rovers had no real answer to it. Both Sawyer and Riley looked very good and most of Argyles best work coming down the left.
Brizzle came back into the game closer to half time with Macey making a superb save on the stroke of half time.
No changes for the 2nd and Argyle started brightly. The excellent Riley making a very good covering block tackle which helped set up Ruben and Fox and for Ruben to score a Carey esq goal. As soon as the goal went in we seemed to sit back 5 yards or so and they started to come on to us. With the 3 man midfield it requires the 2 wider players to close down quickly. Sarc and Ness didn't do this as much in the 2nd which brought them on to us a bit more. Sarc in particular was at fault. I thought he was blowing by about 70 mins along with Ness. One thing Sarc did do was make a few lung bursting runs from deep in our own half to help set up attacks.
They equalised with an absolute belter of a finish. Fair play. Then we got our noses in front with a bizarre own goal. I need to watch it as I didn't get a great view of it.
Riley got injured and Oscar came on. Thought he wasn't quite at the races defensively and didn't close down quickly enough.
By now with 6 mins to go, all 3 of our central boys were blowing. Fox came off for a knock and was replaced by Jones. There was no one else on the bench to play that position. Songo'o should have maybe swapped with Jones, but with only a few minutes left, and we don't know if Jones had been training in that position anyhow, it was the right move to shut the game down. However it was not to be. From where I was sat it looked a fairly soft goal going through everyone. Gutted. Thought we slightly edged the game TBH with Rovers not really having too many clear cut chances.
Enjoyable affair with a good atmosphere and another point towards safety. I predicted a score draw!
Macey - 7 Commanded the area well and a couple of good saves. Kicking still needs working on but oh so better than earlier.
Riley - 8 Thought he was outstanding. Raiding forward and good defensive nous. Pity he got injured.
Edwards - 8 Very assured. Wonderful to see him playing towards his potential.
Songo'o - 8 Just love him. So committed. When he tackles the player stays tackled!
Canavan - 7 Vocal, and assured. Can pass as well.
Sawyer - 7 Very good in the 1st, less so in the 2nd, still Mr consistency though.
Ness - 6 Just doesn't look match fit. However he can pass and we saw glimpses of his capability.
Fox - 8 We are so going to miss him. Does things so simply and yet so effectively.
Sarcevic - 6 The more tired he got the deeper he sat. He gets into great positions and then makes a woeful pass. Not one of his best games.
Lamerias - 9 MoM for me. Worked his socks off. He certainly wasn't doing this earlier in the season, but my goodness he's made up for it since.
Ladapo - 7 Thought he did ok. Had a couple of good opportunities and fashioned a couple of shots out of nothing. Fed on scraps and wayward passes at times. Closed down well on a few occasions.

Threlkeld - 6 Not at the races defensively and failed to close down quickly enough.
Jones - 6

Adams set us up very well to nullify a Rovers team that are generally hard to break down and were in good form. Nearly pulled it off as well. Riley getting injured sort of stopped the raiding down the right although Oscar did make one very good overlapping run. If he stayed on then it might have been a different result.
We have enough about us to stay up but we have a few more nervous moments before we get over the line.
 
Mar 14, 2009
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Pettgreen":oray134i said:
Well after reading some of the comments on here you'd be mistaken of thinking that we lost and Adams was a pariah. Those who dislike him, and boy don't we know about it, will find any reason whatsoever to deride and criticise.
This was a good LG1 game fought by 2 very similar teams and clubs.
We dominated the first 35 minutes without having any real clear cut chances. We set up with a 3-5-1-1 or a 5-3-2 formation. Rovers had no real answer to it. Both Sawyer and Riley looked very good and most of Argyles best work coming down the left.
Brizzle came back into the game closer to half time with Macey making a superb save on the stroke of half time.
No changes for the 2nd and Argyle started brightly. The excellent Riley making a very good covering block tackle which helped set up Ruben and Fox and for Ruben to score a Carey esq goal. As soon as the goal went in we seemed to sit back 5 yards or so and they started to come on to us. With the 3 man midfield it requires the 2 wider players to close down quickly. Sarc and Ness didn't do this as much in the 2nd which brought them on to us a bit more. Sarc in particular was at fault. I thought he was blowing by about 70 mins along with Ness. One thing Sarc did do was make a few lung bursting runs from deep in our own half to help set up attacks.
They equalised with an absolute belter of a finish. Fair play. Then we got our noses in front with a bizarre own goal. I need to watch it as I didn't get a great view of it.
Riley got injured and Oscar came on. Thought he wasn't quite at the races defensively and didn't close down quickly enough.
By now with 6 mins to go, all 3 of our central boys were blowing. Fox came off for a knock and was replaced by Jones. There was no one else on the bench to play that position. Songo'o should have maybe swapped with Jones, but with only a few minutes left, and we don't know if Jones had been training in that position anyhow, it was the right move to shut the game down. However it was not to be. From where I was sat it looked a fairly soft goal going through everyone. Gutted. Thought we slightly edged the game TBH with Rovers not really having too many clear cut chances.
Enjoyable affair with a good atmosphere and another point towards safety. I predicted a score draw!
Macey - 7 Commanded the area well and a couple of good saves. Kicking still needs working on but oh so better than earlier.
Riley - 8 Thought he was outstanding. Raiding forward and good defensive nous. Pity he got injured.
Edwards - 8 Very assured. Wonderful to see him playing towards his potential.
Songo'o - 8 Just love him. So committed. When he tackles the player stays tackled!
Canavan - 7 Vocal, and assured. Can pass as well.
Sawyer - 7 Very good in the 1st, less so in the 2nd, still Mr consistency though.
Ness - 6 Just doesn't look match fit. However he can pass and we saw glimpses of his capability.
Fox - 8 We are so going to miss him. Does things so simply and yet so effectively.
Sarcevic - 6 The more tired he got the deeper he sat. He gets into great positions and then makes a woeful pass. Not one of his best games.
Lamerias - 9 MoM for me. Worked his socks off. He certainly wasn't doing this earlier in the season, but my goodness he's made up for it since.
Ladapo - 7 Thought he did ok. Had a couple of good opportunities and fashioned a couple of shots out of nothing. Fed on scraps and wayward passes at times. Closed down well on a few occasions.

Threlkeld - 6 Not at the races defensively and failed to close down quickly enough.
Jones - 6

Adams set us up very well to nullify a Rovers team that are generally hard to break down and were in good form. Nearly pulled it off as well. Riley getting injured sort of stopped the raiding down the right although Oscar did make one very good overlapping run. If he stayed on then it might have been a different result.
We have enough about us to stay up but we have a few more nervous moments before we get over the line.

I hold my hand up. Yet it’s not a knee jerk thing. It’s the build up of season after season of watching him believe a negative mindset is best to win football matches.

Yet after almost four seasons of watching Adams football at home it’s simply for me pure frustration.

Your right. In context, the result is a good one against one of the form teams away from home. In terms of results it’s hard to argue our results at home park. Away from home in league one results speaks for themselves.

However, the biggest thing is simply knowing our team can play some nice football but then having to watch Adams put the handbrake on from the start of matches from the way he sets the team up or after we go a goal up.

We aren’t a team who goes out to win. We are one who tries not to loose. And that for me is a bad mentality for a football team. That’s why l am vocal on here. It’s the pure frustration of having to watch so it’s a way of getting rid of it. I’d rather be positive about a manager but when he has a bench and choose to sub another CB for a midfielder, when he has 3 centre backs on already, so he can hold onto a game it’s hard to be positive about these incidents.
 
Jun 1, 2015
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It's what we see through our own eyes and how we interpret it isn't it. I didn't think we set up negatively at all. The system was to nullify their in form attack and it required our full backs to raid forward in support of Ruben who was given license to roam. It largely worked. I felt in the 2nd half injuries and the lack of suitable replacements helped.
When we took the lead both times both Ness and Sarc sat back 5-10 yards and didn't press and close down as much. The bench were hopping at that. It's a mental thing which we see even at the top end of the game on TV where players naturally sit deeper. We have LG 1 standard players so one will expect them to be even suseptable to sitting back.
Just out of interest who would have you brought on when Fox was injured? Or just kept it the same but swapped Jones and Song'o?
Football is made up of fine margins and today was a good example.
 
Mar 14, 2009
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I agree today setup was fine.

Yet if you are going to play with wing backs you need to be brave. Push them up the field. Conor Grant would make a good left sided wing back l feel. Unfortunately, for me, Sawyer is too slow to play that postion.

I look at our midfield. Ness, Sarcevic and Fox. All don’t have much pace. All three of them don’t score many goals. That meant today we are relying on Lamerias or Ladapo.

Maybe my standards are too high. However, Sturrocks team won league one by good defensive organisation, good set pieces (both ends of the pitch) and a little flair. I watch Argyle currently and just think some of the basic stuff is shabby considering the standard of the player(s).

I personally would of moved Threlkeld and put on ASB at wing back. Or even put a Taylor up top and tried to push us up the pitch because we just sat so deep inviting pressure and countlessly kept giving them back the ball.
 
Jul 12, 2016
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Spot on again MGM. Adams mindset is to play not to lose rather than win a game.
Why not bring on Taylor to keep the pressure on Rovers?
 
Aug 5, 2015
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Yes there’s no doubt Adams is a terrible manager. Just one promotion, one Wembley appearance, one near play off place and more away wins than you can shake a stick at in the last few years. It’s just not good enough.
 
May 1, 2011
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Kentishgreen":25k0i9b1 said:
Yes there’s no doubt Adams is a terrible manager. Just one promotion, one Wembley appearance, one near play off place and more away wins than you can shake a stick at in the last few years. It’s just not good enough.

Is anyone calling him terrible?

Are we allowed to question him at all?

Are we allowed to ask why we are in a relegation battle?

The Wembley appearance means nothing, I wish it could be erased from history.