Sligo Rovers v Derry City FC Match Thread

[Keyser Soze]

A really poor performance.

[YorbaLinda]

Shocking performance, too many passengers and the decision of the manager to start without a centre forward is baffling. The League is there to be won but we don’t seem to have leaders in the team who want it enough. Sligo had more chances to score when they went down to 10 men.

[Paddydcfc2010]

That was dire against a poor and out of form Sligo. Created absolutely nothing. Knew we'd lose after Higgins going on all week about our great away form.

[fergal]

Can anybody tell me a game were we have played well this year? Brutal to watch

[magspat]

Brutal to watch some rare team selection win no league with this team.

[Paul_C]

Tonight presented an opportunity to move four points away from the current league champions, an opportunity that most managers would love to take advantage of. Not us! That team selection was poor, the performance was poor, subs came too late and there was very little opportunities created. When you've a No.2 that has performed very well as a No.1, wouldn't you be busting your ass to prove your worth?

Higgins is on borrowed time

[rodgers]

Midfielders up front, midfielders at full back.

Sligo defended well but weren't a great team. Created very few chances.

[Keyser Soze]

We are spending a fortune on players, and have 2 highly paid coaches.

Yes people will point to us at the top of the table, but we should be well clear. I think the manager isn't getting the best out of the squad, and dare I say it, I think he is holding the team back.

[dcfc_legend9]

Performance wasn't up to scratch last night however I still feel like Higgins is holding this team back. We play with a slow, laboured style that is everything I would have associated with RH as a player.

First half we didn't capitalise on the right back getting booked early on. First thing most managers would have done was feed Duffy the ball every time to get at him as eventually he would have been sent off.

Tactically absolutely all over the show last night in the second half with the subs he made. Has no plan B at all. Big Shane got hurt after that bizarre Sligo sending off. Never a red. Why would you leave Shane as the last line of defence when he cant move. Why not change things to put him up top and cause a nuisance that end of the field.

Diallo should have received a straight red card as he was late by over a week. Just seen it on highlights there now after seeing it at the game last night and it doesn't look any better.

Can't believe we are top of the league still.

[nial9]

We are top of the league because the standard of football in the LOI is poor and we are competing with poor teams like ourselves. Of course every match Higgins describes our opponents as Man City. Its boring listening to it. Focus on DCFC and leave it to other managers to talk up their teams. Give the fans a break Ruaidhri. I felt sorry for those who travelled to Sligo. They deserved better.

[joe3576]

Sligo were very very ordinary and had no really threat at all, bar the goal and the late chances in injury time, they offered nothing.

We are so dull though it is unreal.

Higgins got carried away with those 'epic' 1-0 wins away to Shels and Bohs - were the performances in both games was very poor after bright starts, in both games we were also playing against 10 men.

We have been very dull all season apart from some small sparks, and if we combine last season also - on the whole, bar say 3-4 exceptions (Pats away 4-0, Rovers home in cup 3-1 and the cup final) - we are generally dull to watch.

We create very little and have zero goal threat up front.

We are how half way through the league season, our two strikers have scored 1 goal each !! That is literally shocking and it will be impossible to win a league if no strikers are scoring.

Our goal threats are only Duffy, McEnuff and Doherty.

Patching one goal all season
Fats one goal
O'Neill one goal
Brandon Kavanagh one goal
O'Reilly, Dummigan, Diallo all zero.

We are so good defensively and very solid in midfield and have got exceptional players in the squad, probably 7 of the best in the entire league (Maher, Connolly, Duffy, McJannett, Dummigan, O'Reilly and Fats) - and yet for all this, I think we are still a long distance from winning a league.

We are dour to watch and I struggle to see how we can suddenly flip to being league champions very quickly, as the style of play never changes under the current manager and hasn't done in a long time.

We have very tough games in June (Shels twice, Pats away, Rovers away, and Bohs again). - I think come the end of June, we will know either way, if we are genuine title contenders or bluffers - but we need to add some excitement to our play.

[Keyser Soze]

Hard to argue with that assessment.

Unfortunately we live in an era when it's all about the results, not the style of play.

I do think our manager is happy to win most games one nil. So often when we get an early lead, we stop playing. Even if it's against 10 men.

Someone said RH manages like he played. Conservatively. And it's true.

With the squad we have, we should be an entertaining team to watch. So why aren't we?

[joe3576]

Shels away a few weeks ago - we were playing well, scored a goal and could have been 2/3 up

Half time I was delighted

Second half it was so obvious they were told to sit back and hold the lead, there was no doubt at all, the instruction was to sit tight

Shels go down to ten men - but nothing changes


Bohs away 2 weeks ago, first half performance exceptional, all over them, camped in their half, they are down to ten men, second half again we clearly sit back and take the 1-0.

I could throw other games into the mix too - Pats away (first game of season), Dundalk away last season (they equalised with last kick), Finn Harps away last season (1 up early, second half rubbish until a late patching free-kick) - one of the worst was UCD away lasts season in June. About one month after we beat them 7-1, we score 5 minutes into second half with Patching penalty, then made no effort to score a second against the worst team in the league.

The problem is we do this too often, then what happens if we go a goal down, the players seem incapable of responding. When Rovers took the lead at Brandywell a few weeks ago, we really seemed clueless. They don't seem able to respond as they are too disciplined to protecting the ball and defending what we have.

Other teams can see this, Sligo fan after the game said, you are still the team with the best players in the league but still the easiest to play against.

We have one win against Sligo in 6 games
We have one win against Drogheda in 5 games
We have one win against Dundalk in 6 games

So there clearly still is a problem opening up against teams

[rodgers]

Agree with both of your posts joe3576.

We also started O'Neill as the lone striker away to Bohs and I think Higgins was intent on a similar result, which clearly backfired.

[kitwe]

I keep repeating - we need a proper striker who can deliver 10/15 goals per season. We already have the supporting players(when fit).
Also I believe the best hope for this season is 2nd as Rovers have stars all over the pitch and the bench too!

[Marty]

When we start the likes of Cian Kavanagh and O'Neill our bench is packed with stars also.