How embarrassing. I took my little sister along with me and it was her first football match and I really feel sorry for her (fortunately the tickets were cheap!). This cup tie against League Two side Doncaster Rovers was the most tedious and painful game I have watched since Rosenior took over as manager: there was no threat; energy; determination; hunger or any hint of wanting to win the game. I do not understand what we were doing. When we received the ball, we ran back into our own half, passed the ball to Ingram, who walked slowly up the pitch for a few minutes before passing it to the person who originally gave the ball to him. Guess what he does next? He passes it back to Ingram and the cycle repeats until he boots it out of play or when they intercept the pass. He can see the attackers making runs and he still does not use them. Rosenior said he wanted to play out from the back, but we do not have the right players who fit that style of play and we are very far away from nailing it if he wants to stick to it.
Liam Rosenior stated in his press conference this week ahead of the game: “You want to win in everything you do - that’s one of the messages that we’ve given the players. We want to win the game and will put out a team that gives us the best opportunity to do that.” We could not even get out of our own box for a start, never mind our own half. Rosenior was suspended for this match, but he was able to sit in the Chairman’s box and I kept looking up at him when we conceded or kept doing what I referred to above; he just sat with his hands on his face, not showing any reaction. If that is how he wants us to play, he must change his mind as soon as possible, before we get battered by teams in our own league.
The ‘exciting’ starting eleven consisted of: Matt Ingram, in goal; Ruben Vinagre, Sean McLoughlin; Cyrus Christie and Andy Smith at the back; Jason Lokilo, Adama Traore, Xavier Simons and Brandon Fleming, down the middle and Aaron Connolly and Oscar Estupinan up-front. We were in a 4-4-2 formation and at first glance, this squad looked decent; however, it did not show its true colours on the pitch. On the bench was: Lo-Tutala; Lewie Coyle; Jacob Greaves; Alfie Jones; Ozan Tufan; Liam Delap; Regan Slater; Vaughn Covil and Henry Sandat.
The game opened up with a promising start from us as it took us just three minutes to take the lead. Connolly found Lokilo, who made a run into the box and shot, which was parried by Doncaster’s keeper. But, fortunately, it landed back into Lokio’s feet and he was able to pass it back into the box, which, aided by their defender, Lawlor, dropped to Estupinan, who could not miss and stuck it into the back of the net. Our 6,600 fans went wild, but that was the last time we made a noise.
After we took the lead, the cycle of passing to Ingram began and we did not even push up to their goal. I think we were confused as to which goal we were supposed to score in. Inevitably, we made a stupid error, which led to the visitors equalising. In the 15th minute, Adama Traore gifted the ball to Luke Molyneux on the edge of the box. His shot ricocheted off McLoughlin’s back towards Miller, who curled the ball into the bottom right corner of the net. Doncaster remained the better side throughout the half, mainly due to us doing nothing with the ball. We needed some stronger players to come on in the next half and a change of tactics, but that did not happen. We made one change; Covil replaced Vinagre and the pain continued.
The second period began and when Smith passed to Ingram within the first couple of minutes, I just wanted to cry and it really wound me up. But, everyone else in the stadium felt the same as boos and shouts echoed around the MKM. A negative atmosphere was going around and we were trying to get them to do something, but the players still would not change or even attempt to regain our lead. Eventually, Doncaster punished us and took the lead. In the 61st minute, Miller’s powerful 18-yard effort struck over Ingram to bag his second of the night.
For the remainder of the half, Doncaster kept coming at us and they were an amazing side and you would not think they were in League Two; I was very impressed with how they played down the wing, especially when Sotona kept weaving around our players like the ball was on string, and their defence was quality. It was like the two teams were switched around and they were the Championship side.
We did have a couple of chances towards the end of the game; Slater’s freekick was whipped into the box, where Tufan was one-on-one with the keeper, but he was denied and Estupinan put his header above the bar. Other than the goal and those chances, there was nothing good to say about us and Doncaster deserved the win.
Was it the attendance that put us off? Rosenior not in the manager box? Or do we really not like the EFL Cup? We did this last year; we were knocked out in the first round against Bradford. I really hope we do it on purpose so we can just focus on the League or It could have just been a huge cock up. Whatever the reason, we cannot do this against sides that are in our league. We have Sheffield Wednesday; Blackburn; Bristol; Leicester and Coventry coming up (Leeds is the next game), who are ten times better than Doncaster, and if we play like we did today, we are screwed.
As I have stated, we have The Owls on Saturday in our second Championship fixture of the season, at home. Let’s get the three points, put the past two games in a cupboard and lock it, and get back on track.
Such a shame!