Rochdale Match Thread (6 Viewers)

stupot07 said:

It's really difficult. Even with Jackson and nouble I can't see them being as prolific as Clarke and Wilson. Last season we were conceding pretty 1.8 goals per game even with Clarke and Wilson meaning (law of averages) you have to score 2 just to get a point. That was ok when we had 2 prolific strikers.

If we go to a 442, then I don't think our back 4 is any stronger than last season, and we'd go back to a defensively weak central midfield partnership (fleck and Thomas), you'd assume then coubily and one of o'brien/Swanson on either wing. I can't see it working.



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Yep. We just cannot underestimate how much those Clarke/Wilson goals were worth last season.

Early days yet, but I'm not so sure we now have that calibre of goal getter at the club. That is a big blow to our chances. This is maybe why SP has tried to tighten our defence this year.

I can see a few more 1-0's and 2-1's. Not so sure we are going to be bagging a hatful anytime soon. We aren't creating that many chances in games.

Steven Pressley admitted he was “very frustrated” to leave Spotland without at least a point.

"We started very well," said the City boss. "We’d spoken about the areas we needed to utilise to get at them and we did that really effectively for the first 15 minutes or so but after that we didn’t quite play with the same fluency and we weren’t intense enough with our pressing.


"We looked a little bit leggy, perhaps as a result of out endeavours on Tuesday night. In the second half we really applied ourselves and had long periods of pressure but our final pass let us down.


"Can’t fault the players for the way they applied themselves – we really took the game to Rochdale – but the final decisions weren’t quite right.

"We’ve definitely be working on the final passes. If we want to be a team challenging at the top end of the table they must improved because we’ve got to be coming to places like this and winning.


"We got into some terrific positions but our choices weren’t quite right. At times we're looking for the one killer pass rather than being more patient and that’s something we have to work on next week.


"We've had disappointing results on the spin and yet our performances have certainly merited more but that’s football and we have to bounce back."

stupot07 said:

It's really difficult. Even with Jackson and nouble I can't see them being as prolific as Clarke and Wilson. Last season we were conceding pretty 1.8 goals per game even with Clarke and Wilson meaning (law of averages) you have to score 2 just to get a point. That was ok when we had 2 prolific strikers.

If we go to a 442, then I don't think our back 4 is any stronger than last season, and we'd go back to a defensively weak central midfield partnership (fleck and Thomas), you'd assume then coubily and one of o'brien/Swanson on either wing. I can't see it working.



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If we went 442 you'd put in Pugh and maybe Phillips as full backs, pretty much tell them to defend first and then support the winger when possible and not to over commit themselves. With Reda and then Webster/Hines/Willis/Clarke alongside him I reckon that would be a better back 4 than last season, Reda is better than anything we had last season in defence and our full backs wouldn't be as gung ho as they were last season. Whether it would be strong enough is debatable.

With the 5-3-2 you are reliant on the wing backs to provide width, Pugh can't do this. He doesn't have the stamina to get up and down or the pace to go on the outside meaning he inevitably plays the ball inside 9/10 time and makes us narrow, if we're going 5-3-2 Haynes ahead of Pugh everytime, but then then you have the issue is he ready to play every week at 18?

Pressley seemingly went into preseason planning to play 442 and changed mid way to 532, so his early signings were geared towards 442 and his later ones suited for 532 so now we have a squad that can play either but excels in neither.

The quicker we move Haynes into an attacking left winger, with Pugh at left back, the better IMO.

CCFC said:

Looked leggy first half, second half put them under pressure but final pass let us down according to Pressley. Kept referencing playing on Tuesday with 10 men

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Middlesborough won 4-0 today with 10 men

ccfcway said:

Middlesborough won 4-0 today with 10 men

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Middlesbrough were 3-0 up at the time and only had 7 minutes left to play, bit different to ours having to play almost 70 minutes on Tuesday and then play again Saturday

Although I agree, it is a crappy excuse

I thought Coventry were pretty rubbish. Never looked like scoring until the end of the game.
What can you really expect with a new team of loan players?

Finch who came on showed some promise. He replaced Thomas who had a shocker.

A pathetic result, thats 4 defeats out of four games at Rochdale in my lifetime.

ccfc92 said:

The quicker we move Haynes into an attacking left winger, with Pugh at left back, the better IMO.

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We'd need to go 442 first for that to happen which I can't see anytime soon.

How many SBA today?


PUSB

CCFC said:

We'd need to go 442 first for that to happen which I can't see anytime soon.

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And there's no saying that he'd be any good left midfield.....I remember a few keen on moving christie to right wing, and also Hussey left wing. He's got some quality in the final third, but playing in midfield is a completely different ball game - see the cole-wayne bridge experiment.


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We were not poor today. We didn't deserve to lose. The problem is we didn't deserve to win either. We looked decent on the ball most of the game until we reached the final 1/3. We were then clueless. 0-0 would have been a fair result. It is as though defending the ball has become our main priority.

We need inspiration from somewhere in the way Wilson/Clarke provided. That should be Jackson and Nouble. Pressley needs to work on that and if Haynes is good enough he is certainly old enough to play each week.

Just got back from the shit drive home.

Wouldn't of scores of out there all day and night. No spark and no service.

We are losing the midfield a battles atm. We are second to a lot of balls. It also doesn't set up chances for the strikers so we can moan about the strikers not scoring but they are getting naff all service. We could have costa and Rooney up front they wouldnt score in this team.

We are not a bad team but we are not a good team. We are it pains me to say a big standard average league one team and the way it has started is of no shock. We have won a few and lost a few and drawn a few. This team is worth exactly this. It is ok. Average.

Noble looked the best imo. Thomas was the worst player on the park closely followed by Swanson who replaced him. Both are truly awful.

Tudgay did have a good chance at the end and should of scored. It wasn't a good save it was a bad miss imo.

I expect to finish the season give or take 2-3 places from mid table.

Goodnight all

Kingokings204 said:

We are not a bad team but we are not a good team. We are it pains me to say a big standard average league one team and the way it has started is of no shock. We have won a few and lost a few and drawn a few. This team is worth exactly this. It is ok. Average.

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4 points off the autos, 4 points off the drop zone. "0" goal difference.

Your theory is 100% correct !

We couldnt be any more average if we tried

ccfcway said:

4 points off the autos, 4 points off the drop zone. "0" goal difference.

Your theory is 100% correct !

We couldnt be any more average if we tried

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That's the bit that is so galling - we just need a nudge in the right direction to have a real go this season. The timing of the Ricoh move (Wasps issue aside) gave/gives a real opportunity to have a crack at it. I actually think it's the manager's job to sort out the formation / player selection to get us moving now. If he can't get a system sorted to utilise Nouble and Jackson with the players at his disposal (not world beaters, but neither are the rest of our league) then I will ultimately blame him this season if we are not up there. That said I still blame our owners a lot more for our overall position. Not given up on SP by a long way - but he only needs to read our forum to see where most of our team's problems are coming from - certain midfielders who will only score 1-2 goals a season (at best) and a lack of quality balls into the box.

Sky Blue Harry H said:

That's the bit that is so galling - we just need a nudge in the right direction to have a real go this season. The timing of the Ricoh move (Wasps issue aside) gave/gives a real opportunity to have a crack at it. I actually think it's the manager's job to sort out the formation / player selection to get us moving now. If he can't get a system sorted to utilise Nouble and Jackson with the players at his disposal (not world beaters, but neither are the rest of our league) then I will ultimately blame him this season if we are not up there. That said I still blame our owners a lot more for our overall position. Not given up on SP by a long way - but he only needs to read our forum to see where most of our team's problems are coming from - certain midfielders who will only score 1-2 goals a season (at best) and a lack of quality balls into the box.

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Couldn't agree more with this post. With a bit of investment and a real hard nudge in the right direction we would be a banker for top 2. It's a real bad league.

Look at today, rochdale were wank. Some decent moves but essentially just long punts up field and scored a penalty to win it. I don't like alsopp but I don't recall him making many saves. Alright they hit the post but we defended that cross like a pub team.

We have had so much money in over the last year and up front we have a 6 month loan and a 1 year unheard striker for the last 2-3 years. Both don't look too bad don't get me wrong but with keeping Clarke and Wilson we would of ran circles round their imo fat overweight defenders.

It really hurts me to lose to a wank rochdale side who had no real stars and not set possession. Played hoof ball and won by a shitty penalty. But they won and fair play. We should be better than that but we lost.

I will say one thing for the side today they gave absolutely everything they had but it wasn't good enough that's all. It lacked quality especially in the final third. SP seemed to admit this in his interview.

We were 1-0 against scunthorpe and 3rd a few days ago and now we lost both games against 2 poor teams who have both come from league 2 a few games ago. To quote SP "if we ever want to be anything we need to win games like this" well why didn't we? Are rochdale genuinely just better than us? Was their tactics better than ours? Was there players any better than ours? Is their manager better? My answer is always no so why the hell did we lose?

Anyway rant over.

P.S thanks to ccfcway for the stats. I didn't know them but easy enough to check and back up. Always been our problem. We are always on goal difference 0. We always win a few draw a few and lose a few. Mid table is the norm. Sad really.

Look at the first 8 games so far this season. No game has been played with more than 1 goal in it either way. That's tells you everything you need to know about us.

God help us if SPs looking on fans forums for solutions or ideas...he might as well go now.


PUSB

Kingokings204 said:

thanks to ccfcway for the stats..

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no problems

Kingokings204 said:

Just got back from the shit drive home.

Wouldn't of scores of out there all day and night. No spark and no service.

We are losing the midfield a battles atm. We are second to a lot of balls. It also doesn't set up chances for the strikers so we can moan about the strikers not scoring but they are getting naff all service. We could have costa and Rooney up front they wouldnt score in this team.

We are not a bad team but we are not a good team. We are it pains me to say a big standard average league one team and the way it has started is of no shock. We have won a few and lost a few and drawn a few. This team is worth exactly this. It is ok. Average.

Noble looked the best imo. Thomas was the worst player on the park closely followed by Swanson who replaced him. Both are truly awful.

Tudgay did have a good chance at the end and should of scored. It wasn't a good save it was a bad miss imo.

I expect to finish the season give or take 2-3 places from mid table.

Goodnight all

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So frustrating for a guy of Thomas' build to be so soft in the tackle-is he still scared of getting injured? He plays like he's scared of getting crunched all game long.

You can blame Alsop all you want but that was truly awful defending, left their player in acres of space inside the 18 yard box.

Looks like fleck not tracking his man

stupot07 said:

You can blame Alsop all you want but that was truly awful defending, left their player in acres of space inside the 18 yard box.

Looks like fleck not tracking his man

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Allsopp wasn't helped, but it was almost a good job well by him, as he stood up, held his ground, ushered the guy wide of the goal........then decided to drop to ground and take the man clean out. If he'd just stayed on his feet, he probably wouldn't have got past, and ended up with his back to goal to give our defenders time to get back into position!

Not that I've had ever had any goalkeeper training, and claiming to be an expert but still think he could have done better (along with the defenders; a 3 man CB team should not allow an attacker that much space)

sw88 said:

Allsopp wasn't helped, but it was almost a good job well by him, as he stood up, held his ground, ushered the guy wide of the goal........then decided to drop to ground and take the man clean out. If he'd just stayed on his feet, he probably wouldn't have got past, and ended up with his back to goal to give our defenders time to get back into position!

Not that I've had ever had any goalkeeper training, and claiming to be an expert but still think he could have done better (along with the defenders; a 3 man CB team should not allow an attacker that much space)

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Of which I fully agree with. And I am a GK.

The job of a GK is much more than saves and catching. Positioning and organisation come high. He don't seem to be good at either. And our defence don't seem to have any faith in him. Either that or he doesn't seem to call when it is his ball.

Maybe he doesn't have any faith in his own ability.

Remember against Gillingham he had a mixup with Johnson too. Allsop called for it but Johnson put it out, was like he was a bit unsure about it. Lack of trust?