It’s sometimes best to remain silent and let the stunned quiet speak for itself following a loss like Tuesday night’s, that might be the case this time, but my job requires me to analyze what went wrong for Bristol Rovers in their 3-0 loss to Leyton Orient.
There wouldn’t be much analysis at all if we discussed what went well, but if we detailed everything, we’d have a thesis-length paper.
That’s as poor as it’s been from Rovers this season and no doubt is one of their worst performances since the club’s return to League One two-and-a-half years ago. In the end, 3-0 flattered the Gas and, as said in a previous piece, that’s probably the most damning assessment you can make of Tuesday night.
You couldn’t help but feel sorry for Dave Horseman when he emerged from the tunnel to speak to the local press.
The man deserves praise for accepting full responsibility for the performance, even though the Rovers coach was already in a difficult situation due to Matt Taylor’s ongoing family problem. On the night, the Gas lacked all the components a competitive football team requires, regardless of who was at blame.
At least Rovers played with spirit at Barnsley three days ago, where their defensive tenacity and some genius from Josh Griffiths saw them maintain their clean sheet for 120 minutes before winning the FA Cup match on penalties, despite the fact that they were occasionally left holding on with little attacking quality produced. At Brisbane Road, none of that existed.
The ongoing absence of offensive activities is the most worrisome element (more on that later).
Rovers have only scored more than one goal four times in their 18 league games so far this season, despite a few outstanding defensive performances.
Sometimes it’s impossible to maintain a clean sheet, so you’d better be scoring goals frequently to avoid difficulties.
Consequently, there is merit to the argument that that specific loss had been anticipated. Lack of shots and depending on your defense and goalie to perform flawlessly in every game is absolutely unsustainable and, to be honest, a surefire way to fail.
Although the players must examine themselves, it is obvious that the coaching staff needs to adjust the messages they are receiving because there are gifted players on the team who have displayed exceptional potential in spurts this season.
Foundations that have not yet been constructed
Matt Taylor stated at the beginning of the season that the goal was to improve the defense first, then move up. With a new team and a young one, it was always going to be a slow process, and after the previous season, that was undoubtedly the obvious area that needed improvement.
Rovers concluded the season with the second-worst defensive record among the relegation-survivors after developing the bad habit of giving away terribly preventable goals.
Six clean sheets, one every three games, after 18 league games is a respectable record. For comparison, the Gas had only three games remaining in League One after 18 games the previous season, despite having a goalkeeper who was incomparable to Josh Griffiths at the time.
However, Rovers have let up the highest xG in League One thus far (29.0), so things might have been much worse if they hadn’t had their on-loan goalie and some heroic defensive displays from players like Connor Taylor, James Wilson, Taylor Moore, and Clinton Mola.
I appreciate that for many that’ll be gobbledegook – essentially they are giving away a lot of high quality chances. Admittedly, they’re doing well to outperform this, having actually conceded three goals fewer, but it all goes back to that unsustainability point. How much longer can they keep it up?
Meanwhile, in all the attacking statistics they find themselves in the bottom half. For xG (16.6) they’re 19th in League One. Big chances created (29) they’re 14th. Accurate crosses per match (3.6) they’re 18th with a success rate of 25.5 per cent. Even with long balls, which are quite important in this division, they sit 21st with just 21.5 a game at a success rate of 32 per cent. Admittedly, that last statistic doesn’t really translate to the league table at all.
Although Rovers conceded three goals last night and it could have been more, the bigger concern, which has been the case for a while now, was the non-existent attacking play. That foundation set out at the start of the season still hasn’t been built upon.
A binary figure is maintained for shots on target.
1, 0, 1, 0. That’s the number of shots the Gas have had on goal in their last four games, so no, it’s not binary code. Given how seldom they’ve threatened the opposition goal in recent weeks, two losses, a win, and a draw preceded by a penalty success is likely a respectable return.
Rovers had no trouble producing opportunities in the first half and should have been out of sight before the visitors controlled after the half in a true game of two halves, but the problems truly start in the second half against Crawley Town.
Even though Matt Taylor’s team only had one goal-scoring attempt against Lincoln City the week before, they fought so valiantly against a strong team that it was rightfully regarded as an outstanding effort.
With the exception of the Huddersfield loss, the shot totals in October were generally good and averaged 1.6 goals per league game, despite the fact that scoring goals has been a problem throughout the campaign thus far. It’s not amazing, but it’s definitely better than it has been lately. However, the top end of the pitch has been a serious problem since the beginning of November.
How they fix it is something the coaching staff will have to figure out, alongside Taylor once he’s back, but Rovers certainly have an incredibly tough month of fixtures in December and starting it the way they did against Orient was far from ideal.
The miserable Leyton Orient returns.
You couldn’t help but feel terrible for the two former Leyton Orient players who were back wearing Bristol Rovers’ blue-and-white uniforms. Although Ruel Sotiriou has been struggling for minutes and the O’s youth product had a particularly difficult night, Shaq Forde has, of course, been a consistent starter lately.
Orient boss Richie Wellens made a point in pre-season about wages when the East London club lost their forward, who scored 11 goals in League One last term, to the Gas, suggesting that Rovers were paying the Cyprus international 40 per cent more than their highest earner. Based on the crowd reactions, it seemed as though the fans hadn’t forgiven Sotiriou for seeking a new challenge.
“What’s the score, Ruel?” could be heard being sung a lot, particularly during the second half, when Sotiriou was unable to get a good look at the ball and, as was the case with other Gas players, was unable to do anything noteworthy with it once he did acquire possession.
Forde tried dribbles and displayed his individuality after the loss, which gave him a little more credit. But a lot of it was his own fault. Orient supporters appeared happier to see the 20-year-old, who had previously been on loan at Brisbane Road.
Inconsistency is still the most popular term.
Right now, the only thing that is constant about Bristol Rovers is their continued inconsistency. “It’s still clear that intersquad chemistry isn’t at the end level yet,” Dave Horseman said when asked about expectations for players to gel as a team.
Intriguingly, executive vice president Abdullatif Al Saeed brought this up when discussing how he has yet to witness three consecutive victories in an interview with the GasCast podcast. That is still the record that the club is unable to obtain and the magic number.
It’s not limited to Matt Taylor’s era. The last time Rovers won three straight games was in December 2022, when they defeated Port Vale, MK Dons, and Charlton Athletic to win two league games and one EFL Trophy.
They have won back-to-back games nine times since the season began, but they still can’t seem to get that vital third.
Out of those nine instances though, only one has come this season as the Gas started October with important victories over Charlton and Burton which seemingly kept Taylor in a job.
More recently, there was so much to like about the winning Mansfield performance, only to follow it up with a drab display against Blackpool. Against Barnsley, although their bright start offensively didn’t last long, they battled stoically at the back but then produced their worst performance of the campaign at Orient, in the league at least.
Horseman was correct to point out that the main problem is inconsistency because there is ample proof that this team performs effectively as a unit. They will quickly find themselves in a serious situation, though, if they can’t figure out how to consistently deliver strong performances and outcomes.
