Moore tries softly-softly approach to Rovers’ woes

Jan 14 2008 by Nick Hilton, Liverpool Daily Post

RONNIE MOORE is a manager trying to keep a cool head while he guides Tranmere through a treacherous phase of the season.

Moore is looking for solutions to increasingly testing problems as Rovers attempt to sustain ambitions for success in the league and cup competitions.

The loss of three more League One points to Bristol Rovers over the weekend did not harm Tranmere’s position in the table as much as it could have done. A third successive league defeat left them six points adrift of the top six – off the pace, but by no means out of the race with 20 games to play.

But the comprehensive nature of the 2-0 defeat to the Pirates demanded some soul-searching from Moore, his staff and players.

Throughout a run of disappointing league results through November, December and January, the argument could often be made that circumstances were tough on Tranmere and many of the performances had some redeeming qualities.

But there were no crumbs of comfort or straws to grasp at on Friday night. Tranmere were out-played, out-fought and out-muscled by a team from the bottom half of the division. Bristol Rovers barged around Prenton Park as if they owned the place.

Moore kept his players in the dressing-room the best part of an hour after the game but those who patrol the corridors outside heard no raised voices or shouts of anger from within.

No-one needed telling Rovers had hit the bottom rung of the performance ladder for this season.

“I could have ranted and raved in the dressing-room but I’m fed up of doing that,” Moore admitted afterwards.

“We opened the floor up for discussion so the players could have a say. Players like to have an excuse for this, that and the other. You can make excuses but I don’t want to use them.

“It is about sticking together. We can’t do anything about what has gone now. We have to try and improve.”

The issue Moore is reluctant to use as an excuse – the long-term loss of wingers Steve Davies and Chris Shuker to cruciate ligament injuries – is nonetheless at the core of Tranmere’s difficulties. The current four-game suspension of centre-back and skipper Ian Goodison is also taking a toll. Moore liked to boast he had the best pair of wingers in the division in the early part of the campaign, when Tranmere topped the table on a couple of occasions thanks to a 10-game unbeaten run.

Davies’s season of rich promise was cut short at the end of September. Shuker, sometimes hampered by a thigh problem, also fell victim to a cruciate ligament injury in December.

Moore’s attempts to replace the pair on a limited budget have met with predictably mixed results.

“Losing Shuker and Davies is a big problem,” Moore admitted. “We need some firepower in the wide areas, people who are going to put balls into the box and create chances.

“I could not really have a go at our strikers on Friday night because there were not enough opportunities for them. They were living on crumbs.

“We should be putting teams on the back foot, making them tired because we are coming at them again and again. But we are not doing that.”

Wingers remain a top target for Moore as he seeks to arrange loan signings before the end of the January transfer window.

He said he was “not a million miles” from recruiting a wide player last week. Rovers are among several clubs linked with Scunthorpe’s Jamaican under-21 international Cleveland Taylor.

Meanwhile teenage prospect Jennison Myrie-Williams is approaching the end of his second month on loan from Bristol City and Tranmere are hoping that Blackburn full-back Andy Taylor will agree a permanent deal at Prenton Park after impressing over the last two months as a loan player.

Moore said: “We will keep putting the phone calls in. It is a problem to get experienced players, less of a problem to get young players – but you are taking a gamble with them.

“We have Jennison, who is learning the game. He has a lot of potential but can be frustrating at times.”

Rovers could usually rely upon a steady defence to keep them competitive. But they have conceded 11 goals in the last four games, starting with the 4-3 defeat at Crewe on New Year’s Day in which Goodison was sent off.

Moore said: “The back four was as bad on Friday as I have seen it since I came here. Bristol Rovers are a big strong side and I think we got bullied by them. That’s where we missed Ian Goodison.”

The Jamaican international completes his ban on Wednesday when Tranmere travel to Hereford for an FA Cup third-round replay. A victory at Edgar Street will be important to Rovers, not least because prize money and the revenue generated from a fourth-round home tie with Cardiff City would give Moore a stronger financial hand as he attempts to strengthen the squad.