Mauled! Rovers in disarray after Millwall capitulation
Sunday 4th October, 2009
By Richard Ault

Peter Johnson must now look long and hard at where the season, and more importantly the club, is heading after Rovers were battered 5-0 at Millwall on Saturday.  Another gutless, clueless display left Rovers fans livid, let down and wondering where we are heading.

It's no longer acceptable for John Barnes to point towards the clubs' financial position or the fact there aren't enough options in the squad to change things.  Of the 14 players used at the New Den on Saturday, Barnes has signed eight of them.  Welsh and Mahon came from Premiership clubs, another is on loan from a Premiership club, one on loan from one of the strongest sides in the Championship.  I don't believe our squad is as weak as our performances suggest.

As I wrote last week, the win at Wycombe was a small step in the right direction, but the back four still looked brittle and we must have only managed two shots on goal all game.  The playing style is wrong and, by and large, defeated.  Deep down, the feeling was that it wasn't going to take much for a result like this to happen.

Sitting down to watch the BBC's Football League Show on Saturday night, it was of little surprise when they reported that they had received more emails and texts from irate Tranmere fans than they had of every other club put together.  On the whole, we're usually quite a reserved bunch.  We don't kick up a fuss very often, or not on this scale.

The fact is, in what should be a celebratory year to mark the 125th Anniversary of our great, great club, we find ourselves with one of the worst teams we've had in recent years, or perhaps two decades.  Fans are starting to feel detached from the club a little and certainly the team.  Yet there is no sign of a turnaround, no reassuring sounds coming from the club that they are working to change things.

Rather than mull over Saturday's performance, or lack of a performance, it's time to look at what will be done now?  If Barnes and McAteer stay in a job, as seems to luck likely at this stage (Sunday night), what can be done to help them out, to change our fortunes and salvage League One status (I cannot believe I am sitting here writing such a thing in early October).

We are a quarter of the way into the Football League season, we cannot allow ourselves to continue in this way or the season will be over before we know it.  Trips to the likes of Torquay, Burton and Aldershot will be a weekly occurrence next season, and that's not meant disrespectfully to those clubs.  It's a cold, hard reality check.

With talks of protests and petitions, banners and boycotts, it is to the Super White Army's credit that the support remains loyal.  Even at Millwall, the majority of the travelling fans sat there and endured the misery of seeing their team stuffed again, a day out that probably cost towards £100 when travel, food and match tickets are accounted for.  The support at Wycombe was excellent as well. 

But where now?  The whole country seems to be talking about us, or mostly laughing at us, and it hurts.  Football columnists, TV pundits and opposition supporters are all commenting on how bad things look.  So what of the alternatives?

Time

If the management team is to remain, then we are to believe they have as much time as they need as few Chairman would endure the kind of start Barnes and McAteer have given us.  Will the loan signings from Arsenal and Liverpool that seemed to be a nailed on certainty when they got the job finally materialise? All we heard when they took over was how they could attract players from these clubs, how if John Barnes phoned the likes of Arsene Wenger, he'd pick up the phone and listen. 

If there is ever a time for Mr Barnes to put that to the test, it's now.  If not for players, then maybe some advice on coaching or what the likes of Wenger did in his early years.  And that's not me plucking a glamour name out of thin air, we were told he had access to the likes of these in the summer.  Use them.

Add an experienced head

It appears from every game that there is a lack of direction in the team.  There seems to be no real game plan, other than to pass it slowly side-to-side across the backline.  It's admirable we're trying to play that way, but it's not working. 

Rarely will players in League One be capable of playing this effectively.  They can all pass the ball to each other, but when you see Vidic, Evra, Ferdinand and Neville doing it, they are doing it to work room in front of them, to stretch the opposition anf=d draw them out. 

When Rovers are doing it, it looks like we are doing it simply because they have been told to and there are no better options further forward.  None of us are expecting or believing for one minute we can play like Arsenal or Manchester United, but we cannot adopt such a playing style if we do not have the players capable of doing it, and with the guidance to help them understand it.

So would John Barnes consider, or be allowed to consider, bringing in a more experienced coach to help him out?  Someone like Ray Mathias, for example, knows the league and the club inside out, he's done it as Manager and Assistant Manager.  This kind of advice could be priceless and help steer Barnes in the right direction.

Defensive overhaul

After Tranmere were soundly beaten by Charlton Athletic a few weeks ago, I made reference to the leadership of Addicks defender Christian Dailly.  Now in his mid-30s, Dailly was a rock, orchestrating, leading and guiding the back four and the team as a whole.  We need someone with similar experience to come in and play there who can talk.  Broomes and Goodison theoretically should be able to, but they are rapidly proving to be a poor partnership.

The situations reminds me of the one we were in a few years ago when Ray Mathias brought in Christian Edwards and then Michael Jackson on loan.  Neither were big names, neither got your pulses racing.  But the difference those kind of players can make are massive.  Barnes has signed a lot of players, regardless of contract lengths or salaries he may be able to offer.  His number one priority has to be to get a real authority figure in the backline.

In summary

Of course, we all have opinions on how things could be changed.  I'm always one for giving a manager time, but Saturday was an insult to the club badge and the great players and managers who have served the club before now.  That isn't to say losing at Millwall is unacceptable, it isn't.  It's one of the toughest places to play in this division.  However, the manner in which we lost is wholly unacceptable.

To say the pressure is now on John Barnes, Jason McAteer and Peter Johnson is an understatement.  How many times can we have opposition fans chant songs to mock our management team?  More to the point, how many times can fans take 3, 4 and 5 goal thrashings before they call it a day, or at least start picking and choosing when they go to games.  Most of us would be there without thinking about it usually.

We head to Bury on Tuesday night to start our Johnstones Paint Trophy campaign, and possibly a chance to get away from our league worries and start something positive.  The onus is on Barnes and his players to start to pay the fans back for the support they've been given and prove that they are fit to wear our famous old shirt.

Here's hoping.