Just how do you summarise Bristol Rovers at the minute? With some shaky showings in cup competitions and a mixed run of results in the league, the typical excitement leading up to the busy festive fixture schedule has been noticeably absent.
We’re only a third of the way into the season and there are surely plenty of twists and turns still to come but I can’t be the only one feeling slightly detached from the club at the moment. This isn’t something I expected to happen following a busy summer transfer window and new look side being assembled. In reality, the usual buzz I would feel prior to a Saturday matchday or Tuesday evening trip to the Mem has been replaced by only a passing interest in how Matt Taylor’s team performs.
That isn’t to say we’ve been dreadful this season by any means. In fact one quick glance at the league shows we’re about as middle of the road as it gets at the moment, trailing just behind strong sides like Peterborough, Bolton and Charlton. Without the immediate jeopardy of a relegation fight or the excitement of vying for a promotion place there are few reasons to watch Rovers at the moment other than the prospect of the team playing to their potential and beginning to click more.
There were encouraging signs from the very start against Crawley Town on Saturday but yet again we struggled to keep it up for the duration of the 90 minutes – a familiar issue. The players Taylor chose from the start were really impressive for periods during the first half, playing with purpose and putting together sustained spells of pressure with smart interplay and direct but effective passing. The frame of the goal denied us more than once during this opening and we were guilty of missing a couple of other chances but the reality is that we need to be more clinical when we’re on top if we want to be anything other than a lower mid-table side this year.
The manager alluded to it during his post-match interview and I would fully agree, it was one of our stronger halves of the season just without that elusive goal to put us ahead. Was it an under-the-radar tactical switch from Crawley? A change of direction from Taylor at half-time? Or a case of our players failing to sustain those same levels of intensity for a second 45-minute spell? I’m not entirely sure but we looked like a completely different side following the break.
It seemed almost inevitable that the visitors would snatch it in the second half considering their dominance and if not for some heroics from Josh Griffiths we could have been on the end of a disappointing defeat.
Goals win games but there haven’t been many to speak of in any of our League One matches as of late. Though we’ve conceded just twice in our last four league games, we’ve also only scored on two occasions. The optimist in me sees this as a positive – we’re limiting the number of chances afforded to the opposition – but then again, we also aren’t taking our own. Matt Taylor has us set up in such a way that we’re steady at the back but unambitious when on the front foot, which is competent for grinding out results but makes for a dull watch in many instances. It’s not the type of football that makes you want to spend an evening on the terraces on a cold Tuesday night.
There are improvements in the way we’re performing for sections of games but without evidence we can really take it to teams for the duration of the match, ‘uninspiring’ is probably the word I would use to describe us at present. With brief glimpses of what this side could be capable of as it stands, a run of games at home should have been the perfect platform to showcase this quality.
Performances certainly haven’t been awful across the board and that makes it all the more frustrating when we fail to beat teams we expect to claim three points against. Even if our attacking quality is only showing for short periods, at the very least we seem to be back on the right track defensively.
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The pairing of Connor Taylor and James Wilson is a standout partnership and switching to a back four seems to have suited them both. Taylor’s aerial dominance complements Wilson’s intelligent reading of the game while both Taylor Moore and Clinton Mola have been two of our most consistent summer arrivals.
Further up the pitch, Luke McCormick has been putting in some better performances since his return to the starting 11 and looks like a capable option full of energy and effort. The liveliness and creativity of Shaq Forde and Isaac Hutchinson have similarly been highlights over the last few games, though I would like to see them afforded a bit more creative freedom on the ball. It would be good to see all three keep their place in the side as others return from injury and the relentless pressing of McCormick especially could make a real difference with some of the tough away trips we have coming up.
Setting up for games against league favorites Birmingham and Wrexham over the next few weeks with visits to play-off chasing Exeter and Mansfield in the near future, a change of approach might well be required to give us a fighting chance. The Reading result last month is evidence enough that sometimes all it takes is a brave performance in testing circumstances to rally the fanbase and this is the sort of character I’m hoping we show looking ahead.
Rovers risk another season of mediocrity if performances don’t pick up before Christmas and, with pressure persisting, the next month could be a defining period for a manager yet to truly endear himself to the fanbase.