Bristol Rovers (A) League One, Tues 13th Sept 7.45pm

[chriss5471]

Is that not double standards? everyone seems to be under the impression that Makris needs to be given time to adapt.. should it not be the other way around Kouhyar is literally 3 games into his professional career.

If anything you should be questioning Makris.

I accept that Makris has done nothing so far to justify his signing, let alone his club record transfer fee. However in his defence he has not yet to start a match in his real position. It seems pretty clear that he is nothing special as a winger, but as of yet we don't know how good he would be if he were given a run in the side as a striker. He has a track record which includes 10 full caps for Cyprus, he has been playing first team competitive football for three years and he is still only 20. I would not say that playing Makris out of position is helping him to adapt.

When a new winger is played I do not expect him to be a consistent performer, but I do want to see some flash of talent now and again. Kouhyar took his goal very well against Grimsby, but apart from that, has he ever shown anything special?

I keep getting confused of this constant talk of Makris being played out of position? Where is it stated that he is an out and out striker who plays up front either on his own or as part of a two? All the articles I read about him seem to suggest he likes to play as an inside forward, starting out wide and cutting in towards goal?

[Mazza01]

His goal scoring record is non existent so claims of him being an out and striker are a little false.

But yes I also agree with the point being raised about Kouhyar.. he certainly isn't ready yet.

[Harry]

I keep getting confused of this constant talk of Makris being played out of position? Where is it stated that he is an out and out striker who plays up front either on his own or as part of a two? All the articles I read about him seem to suggest he likes to play as an inside forward, starting out wide and cutting in towards goal?

I think that this is a really important point.

It is certainly part of the role of every winger to be able to cut inside towards the goal, like an inside forward, but wingers have to do a lot more. They have to be available as an wide option when the ball is being played from midfield or from the defence. They have to be able to interplay with a full back who overlaps them. They have to be able to take the ball forwards along the flank, beat a full back and put over a cross. They have to be able to support the full back in defence when he is under pressure. Last season we had Anthony Forde who was a specialist winger and could do all of those jobs pretty well. We also had Roman Lalkovic who was usually played wide but was only mediocre at most of the winger's jobs, but pretty good at the inside forward part of the job.

Playing strikers or inside forwards as wingers is not an ideal solution. If Makris has been signed on the basis that he is an inside forward who is going to be played on the wing then I think we are going to have an unbalanced team - because it does not look as if he is much good at key elements of that job.

[tinned]

We also had Roman Lalkovic

He's from Milan, not Rome :wink:

[pumajaguar]

It will be interesting to hear from those who went as it again sounded like a one half performance. Decent in the first, battered in the second.

With a physio as a "manager", why do we have such an unfit squad? Injuries aside, we seem to fade so quickly in games, it's ridiculous. At times last season we only really showed up for the second half, but at least that meant we had something left in the tank. This lot can barely last 45. What did they do in pre season so drastically different from previous years?

It is strange, Barnsley were so physically superior to us in the playoffs it felt like they had more men on the pitch. I don't want a team of big bruisers, but having a few more physically gifted players would really help us I think.

[tinned]

what is happening at half time or are these players just not fit?

Is it because the opposition manager is busy tweaking tactics and Whitney think tactics are small, white mints?

[Harry]

We also had Roman Lalkovic

He's from Milan, not Rome :wink:

Geography was always my worst subject at school. :oops:

[Guest]

http://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/10577513/bristol-rovers-1-1-walsall

[Gripper]

He knew what he was doing and chambers didn't have to go for that. Either way it was outside the box, classic league one refs.

I'm still getting over the fact we didn't lose.

Second half spells of corner after corner. We would clear and a wave of blue and white would fly back at us.

[Pedagogue]

A pity that they didn't show our appeal for a penalty in the first half. Their "penalty" was definitely outside the area.

[Harry]

A pity that they didn't show our appeal for a penalty in the first half.

It was outside the area. The replay makes me wonder if Jackson went down a bit too easily after losing the ball, it is hard to see if there really was any contact but we should probably have been awarded a free kick.

Their "penalty" was definitely outside the area.

You are right, it was clearly outside the penalty area, but does look like a regulation free kick.

[Guest]

If you happen to be in the EU...(or elsewhere)

https://youtu.be/l_uS85nChoE

[nottmsaddler]

Their 'penalty' was out of the box, but Etheridge seemed out of this world.

Worrying that he was so busy though. Did we mount an attack second half?

[Gripper]

Their 'penalty' was out of the box, but Etheridge seemed out of this world.

Worrying that he was so busy though. Did we mount an attack second half?

Kieron Morris had a clear chance through on goal with just the keeper to beat really, ballooned it over. Shame really as his form has been great of late in quite a faltering team.

Ozzy was at the centre of everything going forward though, he is so key.

I wouldn't say much bad about Sawyers but would love to know if Ozzy is gonna keep chipping in with goals all season, 4 already?