Supporters bus to Tallaght

[outspoken]

It's always a great buzz to go and take on the big teams in their big grounds and that's what we are doing Friday night. Rovers are nothing special at all and if we go at them 442 from the off I think we can catch them cold and beat them. We are running a bus as usual so for details on how book your seat see the section O Facebook or Twitter accounts, it really would be great if we could boost the number of supporters traveling on the bus to away games. Thank you.

[outspoken]

Jesus lads it's very quiet on here a day before such an exciting match. How do you think wel line up? I'd love to see TC go 442 and have a go right from the off like we did in Drogheda as I don't think this Rovers team is anything to be feared.

[Martinho II]

yep agree with ya outspoken! rovers form at home is patchy to with dropped points.. I fancy us to get a draw!

[Town Legend]

Great chance to take 3 points tonight. Some awful finishing and even worse refereeing cost us. Time for Davy to sit in the bench for a while until he gets his head out of his arse! He has offered very little in the last number of games. Kaleem took his goal well and was a threat with Mohamed. He deserves a start against Limerick.

[outspoken]

The word I keep using after these games is brave, another brave performance from our lads and we deserved far more than we got. I must be the only one in the entire ground that doesn't think it was a penalty for shaw but the turning point for me was the horrendous offside decision when Sully was 1 V 1. While I agree with Town Legend that Sully has been off colour in recent weeks I was one of many who was stunned to see him go off Kaleem took his goal excellently so there can be no complaints regarding the decision.

Shaw's miss when 1 v 1 will haunt me for a long time it reminds me so much of the 1 v 1 he missed against athlone at home 2 seasons ago as we ultimately went on to lose the league title, he really isn't built for pressure situations like that and I think we really need to have another option off the bench so the July window could be massive for us.

Don out injured again it seems, we need more options in wide areas as TC clearly has no confidence in the likes of Lorcan Shannon if he is playing Salmon out wide and then not evening bring Shannon on in games so if he's not going to play him he may as well replace him in July because bar Ben Mohamed who was brilliant again last night we really are lacking in wide areas.

3 massive games coming up for us now and the least we should be taking from them is 7 points. Fantastic support in tallaght last night be nice if we could carry that sort of atmosphere into these home games.

[L.T.F.C.]

Rice was muck. A player of his quality should have taken at least one touch for the chance that fell to him and put the ****er away! I also thought Shaw dived. Seems he has no confidence at all - rather go down than shoot. I had a nightmare about his miss last night. We can't be missing them. Shocking altogether.

I said it in the other thread, Ben Mohammed is the best player we've had in years - lots of them.

[outspoken]

Rice was muck. A player of his quality should have taken at least one touch for the chance that fell to him and put the ****er away! I also thought Shaw dived. Seems he has no confidence at all - rather go down than shoot. I had a nightmare about his miss last night. We can't be missing them. Shocking altogether.

I said it in the other thread, Ben Mohammed is the best player we've had in years - lots of them.

The chance to rice simply fell to the wrong man, you say a player of his quality should score that but let's remember goal scoring isn't a quality of his, he broke up play excellently all night and used the ball well.

The chance that really annoyed me bar Shaw of course was when the ball broke to Sully inside the area and instead of hitting it first time he tried to go around the rovers players and score a clever goal like he had done against rovers B last season. Sully has to remember this is the prem we are playing in you simply won't get that many touches inside the area, should have thumped it!

[Town Legend]

A striker and winger who are built to start and not be bit part players are what's badly needed in the transfer window. But look, there's two of our toughest games out of the way now. We should be targeting at the very least 6/7 points from those games.

[Martinho II]

based on what happened in Galway last night I dont think it will be easy as it seems. I know that we got seven points from lim,galway,bray. I wouldnt be as confident of getting those sort of points again. I think Limerick we will draw again and Bray we will win but we havent a great record playin Galway at home and will think we will lose.

Very disappointed with those two sitters missed. Mind you Sully should not have got an offside and we should have got a peno. We were unlucky not to get a point. The turning point was those misses as Shams were there for the taking!

[Darklordsbane]

I think it a bit harsh to blame the strikers, they are getting very little quality passes to create chances for them,
at the other end the full backs keep coming at least 10 yards in off the wings this gives the opposition hugh space for attacks,
and whats with the whole team going to one side of the pitch for goal kicks that's school yard stuff
it's has to be Cousins that is making us play the way we do, he seems to think a small lose or a draw is ok against the teams above and around us,
I belive we will be very lucky if we get anything from the next few games with the selections and set up we are using

[Town Legend]

All teams go to one side of the pitch if the keeper is going long for a goal kick. We were crying out for Cousins to go 4-4-2. He's gone that way and still people complaining! We were playing Rovers in Tallaght and gave them a big scare. I can see us getting at least 6 points in our next three games. The opposition are no where near the quality of Dundalk and Rovers and I feel we gave them a good go.

[outspoken]

All teams go to one side of the pitch if the keeper is going long for a goal kick. We were crying out for Cousins to go 4-4-2. He's gone that way and still people complaining! We were playing Rovers in Tallaght and gave them a big scare. I can see us getting at least 6 points in our next three games. The opposition are no where near the quality of Dundalk and Rovers and I feel we gave them a good go.

100% agree, when you look at the rest of the league and the likes of Heary and Hutton, Cousins is doing as good a job as any, he'll never be universally popular but as long as we are getting results who cares.

[Martinho II]

100% agree, when you look at the rest of the league and the likes of Heary and Hutton, Cousins is doing as good a job as any, he'll never be universally popular but as long as we are getting results who cares.

except when he doenst acknowledge the town support after games!

[L.T.F.C.]

Most of the team don't acknowledge the support at all.

[outspoken]

Most of the team don't acknowledge the support at all.

As captain Mark Salmon should lead the team over as one, fair play to Salmo he always acknowledges the fans even if he's not playing but it's something players should do without having to be begged

[Macy]

it's has to be Cousins that is making us play the way we do, he seems to think a small lose or a draw is ok against the teams above and around us,
I belive we will be very lucky if we get anything from the next few games with the selections and set up we are using
Apart from the fact we created enough chances to win it? We didn't set up defensively on Friday, as opposed to up in Dundalkkk, and my only complaint against Cousins on Friday was taking off Sully instead of Shaw (and even then Kalem scoring kinda means it'd be hard argued). And in fairness Davy seemed to take being subbed off ok (he reacted fine to Cousins).

Time will tell on upcoming games, but at the moment having a pop at Cousins is for past issues rather than what's happening now.

Also, I would've said that most, if not all, of the team acknowledged to support on Friday when they were going off. I think he was waiting for the ref, but Cousins shouldn't even have been back out on the pitch at the end of the game after being sent off.

[Darklordsbane]

having a pop at Cousins
I wasn't intentionally having a pop at Cousins, he is on a hugh learning curve, I was trying to say it's not the players fault it's the way they are told/made to play, so I suppose it is kind of a dig at him he will get it wrong an awful lot but will get it right sometime (Drogheda)
most teams seem to know our full backs will be way out of position so they attack down the wings, a lot, with a lot of success, couple that with very little creative play from our midfield, the strikers are living on scraps so I think Davey and Gary aren't to blame for the lack of Goals
Cousins has to be the one telling our players to drop back and let teams have the ball (again not moaning about him) because the experienced midfielders we have playing at the moment wouldn't do that by choice (at least I hope they wouldn't) they haven't got the legs to run around breaking up play for 90 odd mins
I am not bitching and moaning but I think once you set your mind to being defensive it is very hard to switch back to trying to get creative thats why we see so many long balls when we go behind imo
anyway 13 games gone 13 point so thats fine with me roll on Saturday

[Macy]

Still a stonewall penalty on the basis of the TV footage. Disappointed they didn't show the "offside" as well from the second half, where everyone, but especially Davy, looked on to me.

Shaws miss doesn't look any better either.

[outspoken]

Still a stonewall penalty on the basis of the TV footage. Disappointed they didn't show the "offside" as well from the second half, where everyone, but especially Davy, looked on to me.

Shaws miss doesn't look any better either.

Still don't think it was a penalty 🙈 Shaw's miss looked as bad as it did on the night but ricers looked worse I didn't realise how in line with the posts he actually was should have broke the net from there

[Macy]

Going to agree to disagree - he was tripped from behind, doesn't matter if it's accidental/ just a feet getting tangled.

I'm more disappointed with Rice's lack of composure, more than the finish. He had the time to set himself properly.

[Town Legend]

Specsavers for Outspoken! How can you not say that was a pen? As Shaw went to strike it the Rovers defender put his foot in and clipped Shaw's kicking foot. No contact with the ball, pen all day. And considering the Rovers back room staff said so also (I'm sure they would of spoken to the offender) backs that up! It's like you don't like to admit you were wrong!!

[L.T.F.C.]

To be honest I didn't even flinch when Shaw went down. I am still not convinced that it was a penalty and Soccer Republic did not convince me!

[Town Legend]

Two boys for specsavers then! Cousins admitted the Rovers staff told him it was a pen after the game. They would of spoken to the defender in question after the game about it. So why would the staff tell Cousins it was a stonewall pen if their defender said he didn't touch Shaw? But as Macy said, 99.9% of people who thought it was a pen will agree to disagree with the 0.1% who thought it was not :D

[outspoken]

No one loves to shout at referees and appeal for things more than me but I honestly didn't even flinch at the time of shaw going down and last night has only convinced me more. Anyway it's gone now.

[Mister X]

Have to agree with outspoken and ltfc on this one, it was obvious on the night and in the reply Shaw did not want to take the shot on and was waiting for the slightest bit of contact to go down.

[Town Legend]

You just contradicted yourself there! Agreeing that it was no pen and then saying waiting for the slightest bit of contact!! Slight contact or heavy contact, if he didn't play the ball then it's a pen all day long!! Whatever anyone says be it Town fans, Town management or TV pundits on whether it was a pen or not, when Rovers management said it was a stonewall pen then it must of been. Regardless we didn't get it (no surprise) and we move onto Limerick.

[Charlie Darwin]

when Rovers management said it was a stonewall pen then it must of been.
Or they were wrong too.

[outspoken]

Or they were wrong too.

Never actually seen any rovers management or players anywhere saying it was a peno. Just saying.

[Charlie Darwin]

Never actually seen any rovers management or players anywhere saying it was a peno. Just saying.
Well if Cousins said they did I wouldn't doubt him, but from the video I can't see any contact.

[Town Legend]

Cousins confirmed after the game that Rovers management said that. The reason Rovers management said that was surely because they would of spoke to the defender in question. They wouldn't of said it was a stonewall penalty if the player in question told them he didn't touch him. On the TV it's clear as Shaw goes to strike the ball the defender gets his foot in between Shaws kicking leg and the ball. Contact was made however 'slight', pen all day. I'm sure if it happened up the other end it would of been a pen. I suppose Shaws shout for a pen in Bohs was a dive as well Outspoken?

[Charlie Darwin]

You have no reason to think they spoke to Blanchard and he said it was a penalty. Cousins was on the warpath after the match, I'm not sure I'd have got into an argument with him either. I can't see any contact in the video - what I do see is Shaw falling over, and I think it's more likely he just tripped over his own feet.

[Town Legend]

So management don't talk to their players when the game is over. I've managed teams before and whenever there was incidents like that or other similar I would of spoken to my player about it after the game! As I said the 99.9% of people who thought it was a pen will agree to disagree with the 0.1% who thought it wasn't!

[Charlie Darwin]

I'm sure they do talk to players. Maybe they did ask him, maybe they didn't. You're just bungling together a scenario based on what you think would have happened and presenting it almost as fact. It was the first match of the season I haven't been there, but the video evidence is hardly conclusive. If anything, the way Shaw falls it looks like he was pushed in the back, not tripped up.

[outspoken]

I'm sure they do talk to players. Maybe they did ask him, maybe they didn't. You're just bungling together a scenario based on what you think would have happened and presenting it almost as fact. It was the first match of the season I haven't been there, but the video evidence is hardly conclusive. If anything, the way Shaw falls it looks like he was pushed in the back, not tripped up.

He extends his legs straight, not saying he dived but that's usually what referees look for

[Mister X]

You just contradicted yourself there! Agreeing that it was no pen and then saying waiting for the slightest bit of contact!

Its a contact sport. Shaw was waiting for the defender to take him down, and imo the defender barely touches him, if even any contact was made at all and shaw goes down playing for the penalty so for me the ref got it right...

[Charlie Darwin]

Referees look for other things too, like players slowing down and not shaping up to shoot. Looking at the video, the moment Shaw begins to fall Blanchard is a yard away from him. Not that he couldn't have fouled him, but it doesn't look like a foul.

[Macy]

I think ye are nuts or blind or a bit of both!

Disappointed a few other decisions weren't shown for added context. The "offside" against Sully, and the ridiculous attempted tackle by the ref followed by the yellow, in particular.

Just because we're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get us!