East Bank Shot's point was (and I agree) that we'd rather have had the chance of snatching a draw and a home replay than going to penalties where the odds are against us
Yeah, I get why they do it with the current hype around the two of them. The Wrexham game does look a properly lazy pick though. A league fixture as recently as 6mths ago.
Boreham Wood v Orient is on the Sunday now - is that because there will be extended highlights of the game on FA Cup MOTD?
Our draw is great in my opinion. Decent away turn out, good away day for them, reminder of happier times. What’s not to like. only Col U at home or orient/brum away top it really
At least we go into it with a bit more confidence after the last four results. Obviously one of them needed to be Eastleigh away, lol. Hopefully we can put a good performance and get some sort of result. A win would be a real bonus, but the money it would bring would be most welcome.
Micky seems to be turning things round for you after last season's disappointment of missing out on the play-offs. Has the balance shifted in his favour amongst the fans? I was going to try to get to a Boundary Park game, may still do, but this draw came up. Had it been the other way around might have been picked for tv, but the assumption is the L2 team most likely to win, so not good box office. I don't agree with that viewpoint. Aside from the management and backroom staff, there are a few former Rovers at Oldham; Monthe, Norwood, Khan Caprice, Kay and Gardner all having appeared at one stage for Tranmere and the first two being most influential. Is Mellon expected to pick his strongest side for this one, or will there be some protecting of players for the promotion campaign? There are about half a dozen players in our squad from Micky's era. Adkins hasn't a clue what his strongest side is and keeps chopping and changing the side and rather than selecting the strongest line up and best tactic keeps trying to adapt how we play to the opponent. We've lost the last two home games and think that a defeat to Micky Mellon's Latics side with all the back history could see things turning toxic. On current form an away win would be no surprise.
Definitely potential as a banana skin for you guys. They do say the top half of the national and bottom end league 2 are similar. No way mellon plays a weakened team here. Its already been mentioned about that possibility so he would gift you the win given 'his affection for you' and that alone means we play a full strength team. One thing mellon is is professional. That doesn't mean we wont rest players though. there are adequate replacements all over the pitch. And norwood isnt in our strongest team at the moment. Its very mellon to leave him out of this to prove a point. And monthe... what a player he is
MM says the perfect session for us would be promotion and paying a big Prem side in the third round of the FA Cup, so we'll be as strong as we can be. We do have a lot of decent midfielders on the bench at the moment, and a loan midfielder who may or may not be allowed to play, and Josh Lundstram, who has been a revelation this season, seemingly managing a tight hamstring one recent games, so maybe changes there. Monthe has seemingly come on a lot even since playing for you, probably playing in League One has upped his game, cos he often looks like he's a man playing against boys in the National League. Norwood on the other hand, he's just a bit of a weirdo, I thought last season his attitude was because his teammates were so bad, but he seems even worse this season. Maybe he's got in his own head about not being the player he used to be, I think he needs a mental reset. Whether that's the boost he'll get from playing his old club, or he gets left out entirely again and his time in a blue shirt has come to an end, I don't know. Caprice has looked decent in patches, won't get many better crossers at this level, but he has his off days, and has a fight on for the right back spot with the popular Reagan Ogle, but who is currently filling in in the back three. The other ex Tranmere players are all playing more bit part roles. Mellon himself, it feels good to have an extremely competent, experienced manager, who has forged a group who really, really care if we win or lose, which honestly hasn't felt like the case for a long time. There's been frustration here and there when he was clearly struggling to get a tune out of who we had last season, and then when we were drawing a few too many at the start of this season, but mostly online, as the supporters in attendance could see we had a team who was at least putting the effort in. He's our first boss to last twelve months since Lee Johnson in 2014 as well, so I think part of our fan base are just conditioned to be ready to jettison the manager at the cyst sign of any bad form, but I think we're all very pleased we have a calmer boardroom these days who are willing to give their man a bit of time. It'll be a full away end as well, hopefully the appeal of the game and cheaper tickets means the home attendance is decent enough too, really looking forward to it!
Thanks for the replies guys. I never thought Mellon would select a side to just roll over for us, particularly given the manner of his departure, but he is a pragmatist. Sounds like you've got enough strength in depth to be able to rest one or two and still put out a competitive side. There are things doing the rounds regarding Norwood which give rise to concerns about his well-being, plus suggestions of a fallout with Micky. no idea if the latter is true. Monthe was a decent player for us, but prone to the occasional lapse in concentration in his time at Rovers. If he's eradicated that now, then you have a quality player in your side, certainly capable of playing at a higher level. Maybe worth playing Caprice, as we're vulnerable to crosses. Arguably Oldham are the favourites, on a decent run of form, whereas we're all over the place. Think there will be a reasonable home turnout, we've actually had decent crowds despite the high prices and patchy performances.
Im definately going into this seeing it as a winnable game, but we are far from favourites. We are difficult to break down, like the press and always likely to get a ridiculous goal out of nowhere with fondop. But in all honesty if fondop doesnt score we are weak goal wise. Think monthe (or raglan) is our second top goalscorer with 3 goals and they are both centre halves. In all honesty there is definitely something going on with norwood but nobody knows what. I would love nothing more though than for mellon to put him in and norwood score a hatrick as though to say to mellon 'this is what youve been missing'. But i dont see it.
Just sidetracking from the Tranmere Latics chat for a second. But any Rovers fans still reading this thread I've just seen this pop up on Twitter. Looks like Alex Jarvis and his band of sharks who nearly killed us, Charlton, Swindon etc are circling your club. Be vigilant and good luck. x.com
