| Crewe Match Thread.. 07:34 - Jul 29 with 22338 views | dale1968 |
Thought I would start this early as we KO tomorrow against Crewe at the COA.
Think that a top 10 finish is achievable this season whith the signings RS has made over the last few weeks, especially that of Hendo's return to the club.
would be great to start the campaign with 3pts and see how we go.
UTDNFS |  |
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| Crewe Match Thread.. on 17:42 - Jul 30 with 3869 views | James1980 |
| Crewe Match Thread.. on 17:36 - Jul 30 by Cedar_Room |
Couldn’t believe he took Rodney off just after he scored. Not that Rodney had had a great game but once you’ve scored haven’t you earned the right to see if you can score another?? Would have thought the better move would have been to save Hendo’s legs and take him off
A pretty poor performance overall. Really lacking creativity in midfield. Odoh had more attacking presence than most but there’s still something frustrating about how he doesn’t capitalise on the positions he finds himself in. Ball missed probably the best 2 chances. I agree about Diagouraga being clumsy - thought he looked solid but also made silly mistakes. Kelly was poor and looks too small and lightweight for this division. Especially against a team like Crewe who seemed to muscle us off the ball fairly easily. Up front I’m not sure anyone worked - Hendo was anonymous for most of the game but so was everyone else.
I would hope that the starting XI from today will not be the starting XI against Gillingham. Perhaps a few tweaks and we can get a team who can perform much better but from this performance it doesn’t look like much has changed at all from last season and this is going to be another long hard slog. Few reasons for optimism today. |
Based on posts like this! One game and the sky is falling on our heads. If our players were mustard they would be playing for a league 2 team |  |
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| Crewe Match Thread.. on 17:42 - Jul 30 with 3847 views | blackdogblue |
Agree with most, Kelly spent a lot of time on his arse… bit too lightweight for central midfield.
Rodney going off was strange, yes he looked lonely for long periods but a strong presence and a good finish & linked with Hendo a few times well. Problem was the service upfront from the midfield.
Thought the 2nd goal was a bit soft & O’Donnell should have done better..
Odoh was MOM for me |  |
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| Crewe Match Thread.. on 17:46 - Jul 30 with 3797 views | TVOS1907 |
| Crewe Match Thread.. on 17:23 - Jul 30 by EllDale |
Two poor goals conceded early on holed us below the waterline.
Shocking marking for the first and could O’Donnell have done better with the second?
I know we’ve been shoddy from set pieces for years but today think that RS, as an acolyte of Big Sam, should be able to Improve marking.
We were really rattled for 15 minutes after that.
People are already on Kelly’s case but to my mind Ball was no better or worse.
Nelson looked an imposing figure when he came on although George had done little wrong.
I don’t think we’ll see much of Taylor on this evidence. |
George? |  |
| When I was your age, I used to enjoy the odd game of tennis. Or was it golf? |
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| Crewe Match Thread.. on 17:53 - Jul 30 with 3733 views | 442Dale |
| Crewe Match Thread.. on 17:42 - Jul 30 by blackdogblue |
Agree with most, Kelly spent a lot of time on his arse… bit too lightweight for central midfield.
Rodney going off was strange, yes he looked lonely for long periods but a strong presence and a good finish & linked with Hendo a few times well. Problem was the service upfront from the midfield.
Thought the 2nd goal was a bit soft & O’Donnell should have done better..
Odoh was MOM for me |
Think there was slight deflection on the second but O’Donnell will probably think he should have stopped it. |  |
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| Crewe Match Thread.. on 17:53 - Jul 30 with 3735 views | Cedar_Room |
| Crewe Match Thread.. on 17:42 - Jul 30 by James1980 |
Based on posts like this! One game and the sky is falling on our heads. If our players were mustard they would be playing for a league 2 team |
At the start of a new season you want to see that the team has learnt from the things it was doing wrong in the previous one. You want reasons for optimism. Neither of those happened today. Furthermore if, despite extensive recruitment, we are still playing the same way and making the same mistakes that saw us win only 12 games last season what does that say about our manager? Who most people had been giving the benefit of the doubt to because he was new to the job? It all gives reasons for great concern. BASED ON TODAY’S PERFORMANCE and remembering EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED LAST SEASON this is going to be a difficult season for us. That doesn’t mean we are definitely getting related but it also means I’m much more worried than I was in pre-season. You can bury your head in the sand and shake your pom poms if you like but I’ll keep living in the real world and tell it like it is. |  | | |
| Crewe Match Thread.. on 18:06 - Jul 30 with 3629 views | D_Alien |
Annoying and frustrating in equal measure
Whilst we deserved something for our second half performance, it's simply not good enough to start the game and the season on the back foot. Thought their second took a slight deflection which made O'Donnell's attempt to save more difficult but then they should've been out of sight after missing a sitter
No linkage between midfield and a very isolated Rodney/Hendo combo that was far too easy to deal with. I'm really not sure what Charman has to do to get into the manager's good books but giving him 10 minutes at the end of games is a waste of his ability, highlighted not least by Sinclair being introduced ahead of him
Now for Kelly. I said last season i didn't want to see him in a Dale shirt and today was a consummate non-performance which simply brings the manager's opinion into serious question. I thought Ball grew into the game (first after a long spell out injured) but unsure what his role is meant to be
Odoh and Sericki were both bright sparks but imo they're being asked to do too much whilst others stroll about barely breaking sweat
Overall, there were some good signs second half (including Brierley) but that wasn't our best starting XI and i wasn't happy to see EEL as captain, not sure what he brings to that role
[Post edited 30 Jul 2022 18:07]
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| Crewe Match Thread.. on 18:18 - Jul 30 with 3492 views | Barrowdale |
The players are easily good enough to stay up, the issue is the system. Way too defensive. No outlet because everyone is too deep and still pissing around atthe back. 442 and attack and we will be fine. Insanity if RS thinks we can keep playing this way.
Bright spots. Nelson, Brierley an Odoh. Seriki will be fine. |  | | |
| Crewe Match Thread.. on 18:29 - Jul 30 with 3389 views | kel |
| Crewe Match Thread.. on 18:18 - Jul 30 by Barrowdale |
The players are easily good enough to stay up, the issue is the system. Way too defensive. No outlet because everyone is too deep and still pissing around atthe back. 442 and attack and we will be fine. Insanity if RS thinks we can keep playing this way.
Bright spots. Nelson, Brierley an Odoh. Seriki will be fine. |
Agree about Nelson being a bright spot. He looked really composed in the little cameo he had and hopefully he’ll turn out to be as good as a lot of quality central defenders we’ve had on loan in the past. |  | | |
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| Crewe Match Thread.. on 18:31 - Jul 30 with 3368 views | 442Dale |
| Crewe Match Thread.. on 18:29 - Jul 30 by kel |
Agree about Nelson being a bright spot. He looked really composed in the little cameo he had and hopefully he’ll turn out to be as good as a lot of quality central defenders we’ve had on loan in the past. |
Had a look of John Stones about him in the way he played. Hopefully won’t fall asleep as much. | |
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| Crewe Match Thread.. on 18:42 - Jul 30 with 3291 views | NorthernDale |
I thought Graham did the basics well, the defence was wide open and I was disappointed with that aspect of the game, why as RS not learned from last season? I still think that we need straight forward fullbacks, Odoh and Seriki played well going forward, but the fact that are not fullbacks was exploited by Crewe.
My biggest concern was the midfield, it was non-existent and seemed overwhelmed by Crewe. I agree that Kelly struggled and this is in my opinion due to his small size, because he has ability. Today convinced me we need at least two more midfield players this week.
I thought Rodney and Henderson linked up well, despite the fact that they had just scraps to feed on and taking Rodney off was baffling to say the least.
Positives: Brierley added something to the midfield, which Kelly failed to do and Nelson looked OK. | | | |
| Crewe Match Thread.. on 18:44 - Jul 30 with 3277 views | TVOS1907 |
| Crewe Match Thread.. on 18:42 - Jul 30 by NorthernDale |
I thought Graham did the basics well, the defence was wide open and I was disappointed with that aspect of the game, why as RS not learned from last season? I still think that we need straight forward fullbacks, Odoh and Seriki played well going forward, but the fact that are not fullbacks was exploited by Crewe.
My biggest concern was the midfield, it was non-existent and seemed overwhelmed by Crewe. I agree that Kelly struggled and this is in my opinion due to his small size, because he has ability. Today convinced me we need at least two more midfield players this week.
I thought Rodney and Henderson linked up well, despite the fact that they had just scraps to feed on and taking Rodney off was baffling to say the least.
Positives: Brierley added something to the midfield, which Kelly failed to do and Nelson looked OK. |
Don't forget one of our full-back positions has been affected over the past week. | |
| When I was your age, I used to enjoy the odd game of tennis. Or was it golf? |
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| Crewe Match Thread.. on 18:54 - Jul 30 with 3226 views | BlueMessiah |
Didn't think any of the 3 starting midfielders came out with much credit. Brierley looked the best of the bunch when he came on. I thought Graham was the better of the centre backs, surprisingly, hope his substitution doesn't knock his confidence although Nelson certainly looked the part. Couldn't figure out why John was taking the corners. Granted his delivery was generally pretty good but wouldn't you want his presence in the box?
Hendo was pretty anonymous and Chairman must be gutted to only be getting a few minutes when he finished last season very well.
Odoh grafted and deserved MOM in my eyes.
Not an unmitigated disaster but much improvement needed. |  |
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| Crewe Match Thread.. on 20:10 - Jul 30 with 2873 views | Sandyman |
| Crewe Match Thread.. on 14:51 - Jul 30 by HullDale |
The Bottomley banner in the Sandy is a work of art. |
Indeed it is - superb work! Hope it is on TV.
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| Crewe Match Thread.. on 20:22 - Jul 30 with 2801 views | EllDale |
A couple of things I forgot to mention before.
Has anyone any thoughts on the referee? Probably no better or worse than usual but he certainly wound up a couple of Dale players in the second half. Was it Ball that he booked for dissent?
They were convinced that a shot was deflected wide but he gave a goal kick.
And the noise from the Sandy sound any better with the Overcoaters in there. From where I was standing the Pearl Street end looked emptier than usual, especially on the part nearest to Willbutts Lane. | | | |
| Crewe Match Thread.. on 20:28 - Jul 30 with 2781 views | BucketBstard |
Sorry its going to be a long hard season . And the bookies wont be far wrong.
We need a decent keeper , 3 decent centre halves and a battling influencial experienced midfielder.....oh sorry hang on , RS has signed all those.
Surely we wont see Graham again. I think a lot of the critisism of Kelly was a bit harsh . The Morecambe reject was absolutely appauling. Non exisitent and clueless. I feel for Charman , having to start behind crud like Rodney and sinclair must be a major knock to confidence.
Sheff Utd can take that guy back right now . MOM what the hell were the sponsors drinking.
I would say Odoh best player today. Not brilliant but better than most . Ball p!!!poor . John got given the boot by Donny because they realised he isnt good enough for League 2. Same with EEL , he wasnt that good first time and was shocking today. Gave away the free kick which allowed then goal because neither him or John picked up the Crewe player.
I thought Crewe were very poor and most of them were blowing out of their A""e by half time . We gifted them the goals .
I will finish with admitting its their first competitive game and there were a lot of debuts but I was worried about the standard of what he signed and today just makes me more fearful.
Oh Hendo was on the pitch apparently . We need to play to our strengths . Rodney put the goal away well but then thats his job with plenty of space. | | | |
| Crewe Match Thread.. on 20:35 - Jul 30 with 2739 views | 442Dale |
| Crewe Match Thread.. on 20:28 - Jul 30 by BucketBstard |
Sorry its going to be a long hard season . And the bookies wont be far wrong.
We need a decent keeper , 3 decent centre halves and a battling influencial experienced midfielder.....oh sorry hang on , RS has signed all those.
Surely we wont see Graham again. I think a lot of the critisism of Kelly was a bit harsh . The Morecambe reject was absolutely appauling. Non exisitent and clueless. I feel for Charman , having to start behind crud like Rodney and sinclair must be a major knock to confidence.
Sheff Utd can take that guy back right now . MOM what the hell were the sponsors drinking.
I would say Odoh best player today. Not brilliant but better than most . Ball p!!!poor . John got given the boot by Donny because they realised he isnt good enough for League 2. Same with EEL , he wasnt that good first time and was shocking today. Gave away the free kick which allowed then goal because neither him or John picked up the Crewe player.
I thought Crewe were very poor and most of them were blowing out of their A""e by half time . We gifted them the goals .
I will finish with admitting its their first competitive game and there were a lot of debuts but I was worried about the standard of what he signed and today just makes me more fearful.
Oh Hendo was on the pitch apparently . We need to play to our strengths . Rodney put the goal away well but then thats his job with plenty of space. |
Ace. | |
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| Crewe Match Thread.. on 20:47 - Jul 30 with 2657 views | IOMDale |
| Crewe Match Thread.. on 20:28 - Jul 30 by BucketBstard |
Sorry its going to be a long hard season . And the bookies wont be far wrong.
We need a decent keeper , 3 decent centre halves and a battling influencial experienced midfielder.....oh sorry hang on , RS has signed all those.
Surely we wont see Graham again. I think a lot of the critisism of Kelly was a bit harsh . The Morecambe reject was absolutely appauling. Non exisitent and clueless. I feel for Charman , having to start behind crud like Rodney and sinclair must be a major knock to confidence.
Sheff Utd can take that guy back right now . MOM what the hell were the sponsors drinking.
I would say Odoh best player today. Not brilliant but better than most . Ball p!!!poor . John got given the boot by Donny because they realised he isnt good enough for League 2. Same with EEL , he wasnt that good first time and was shocking today. Gave away the free kick which allowed then goal because neither him or John picked up the Crewe player.
I thought Crewe were very poor and most of them were blowing out of their A""e by half time . We gifted them the goals .
I will finish with admitting its their first competitive game and there were a lot of debuts but I was worried about the standard of what he signed and today just makes me more fearful.
Oh Hendo was on the pitch apparently . We need to play to our strengths . Rodney put the goal away well but then thats his job with plenty of space. |
A genuine question BB, what do you derive pleasure from? Watching ‘Dale clearly isn’t one of them! |  |
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| Crewe Match Thread.. on 20:56 - Jul 30 with 2603 views | TVOS1907 |
| Crewe Match Thread.. on 20:28 - Jul 30 by BucketBstard |
Sorry its going to be a long hard season . And the bookies wont be far wrong.
We need a decent keeper , 3 decent centre halves and a battling influencial experienced midfielder.....oh sorry hang on , RS has signed all those.
Surely we wont see Graham again. I think a lot of the critisism of Kelly was a bit harsh . The Morecambe reject was absolutely appauling. Non exisitent and clueless. I feel for Charman , having to start behind crud like Rodney and sinclair must be a major knock to confidence.
Sheff Utd can take that guy back right now . MOM what the hell were the sponsors drinking.
I would say Odoh best player today. Not brilliant but better than most . Ball p!!!poor . John got given the boot by Donny because they realised he isnt good enough for League 2. Same with EEL , he wasnt that good first time and was shocking today. Gave away the free kick which allowed then goal because neither him or John picked up the Crewe player.
I thought Crewe were very poor and most of them were blowing out of their A""e by half time . We gifted them the goals .
I will finish with admitting its their first competitive game and there were a lot of debuts but I was worried about the standard of what he signed and today just makes me more fearful.
Oh Hendo was on the pitch apparently . We need to play to our strengths . Rodney put the goal away well but then thats his job with plenty of space. |
You weren't there, were you? | |
| When I was your age, I used to enjoy the odd game of tennis. Or was it golf? |
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| Crewe Match Thread.. on 20:57 - Jul 30 with 2600 views | TVOS1907 |
| Crewe Match Thread.. on 20:22 - Jul 30 by EllDale |
A couple of things I forgot to mention before.
Has anyone any thoughts on the referee? Probably no better or worse than usual but he certainly wound up a couple of Dale players in the second half. Was it Ball that he booked for dissent?
They were convinced that a shot was deflected wide but he gave a goal kick.
And the noise from the Sandy sound any better with the Overcoaters in there. From where I was standing the Pearl Street end looked emptier than usual, especially on the part nearest to Willbutts Lane. |
You mean where The Overcoaters used to sit? | |
| When I was your age, I used to enjoy the odd game of tennis. Or was it golf? |
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| Crewe Match Thread.. on 21:00 - Jul 30 with 2589 views | off2div1 |
Run out off hot drinks in Sandy at half time. Poor planning 1st game of season |  | | |
| Crewe Match Thread.. on 21:10 - Jul 30 with 2541 views | EllDale |
| Crewe Match Thread.. on 20:57 - Jul 30 by TVOS1907 |
You mean where The Overcoaters used to sit? |
Yes, that’s the conclusion I drew. | | | |
| Crewe Match Thread.. on 21:12 - Jul 30 with 2537 views | EllDale |
| Crewe Match Thread.. on 21:00 - Jul 30 by off2div1 |
Run out off hot drinks in Sandy at half time. Poor planning 1st game of season |
There were long queues at the refreshment kiosk in the Sandy both before the game and at halftime.
Longest queue was that into the Dale Bar at halftime though! | | | |
| Crewe Match Thread.. on 21:17 - Jul 30 with 2493 views | kel |
| Crewe Match Thread.. on 20:22 - Jul 30 by EllDale |
A couple of things I forgot to mention before.
Has anyone any thoughts on the referee? Probably no better or worse than usual but he certainly wound up a couple of Dale players in the second half. Was it Ball that he booked for dissent?
They were convinced that a shot was deflected wide but he gave a goal kick.
And the noise from the Sandy sound any better with the Overcoaters in there. From where I was standing the Pearl Street end looked emptier than usual, especially on the part nearest to Willbutts Lane. |
I’ll probably get them organising a Twitter pile on for this but I thought the support from them was quite good up until the goals and then silence afterwards apart from trading insults with the Crewe fans.
I thought the whole point of them was to get behind our players but happy to be corrected. | | | |
| Crewe Match Thread.. on 21:22 - Jul 30 with 2471 views | somdale |
Kelly should be in a free role and his job should be assisting in as many goals as possible, if he isn't doing this then he should be dropped, expecting him to be doing bone crunching tackles or winning headers is crazy.
If Odih had a more regular end product he wouldn't be here.
Didn't get Hendo involved enough at all.
If we concede the goals like we did today, nothing good we do will matter, we won't win many games.
Saw so much of this sort of performance last season, go behind to bad goals and then go all Alamo in the second half, just falling short and come away not quite angry as you should be..
I have a lot of faith in the side though and expect us to be in a good position after 10 or so games. UTD | | | |
| Crewe Match Thread.. on 21:44 - Jul 30 with 2343 views | 49thseason |
Or alternatively, we started with 7 new players and one who hadn't featured most of last season... an entirely new defence bar one (and him, Odoh, not really a defender), a new central midfielder and two new forwards. They took half and hour to settle in and start getting used to the pace and physicality, unfortunately we were two down to a poorly defended near post header and a slightly deflected shot. From that point on they buckled down and started to play some decent football.
For the next 60 minutes we were the dominant team, scored a goal and created a few decent chances and the Referee missed a clear penalty for a push on Sinclair.
I am a little disappointed we lost but opening days are hardly our strong suit, having lost 5 times out of the previous 9 first games of the season. (Now 6 out of 10)
So the question is "should we be worried"? Not yet, O'Donnell is a better keeper than either we had last season, Seriki is as good as O'Keeffe, Diagouraga adds a bit more backbone, Graham and EEL didn't actually do anything wrong. John is clearly a good youngster and competent on the ball and could easily play in midfield. Up front Rodney and Henderson seem to be the preferred choice at the moment but Charman must be bursting to get on the pitch and we still have Campbell to get fit. We won't be short of goals if Seriki and Odoh can continue to run at defenders and Sinclair has decent pace from the bench which will upset defenders.
So not the ideal start, in fact as mentioned earlier a little disappointing but hardly cause for slitting of throats or jumping off tall buildings. I think the manager has done decent business so far and he and his coaching team can now start to finesse the side from the standpoint of actual matches rather than friendlies.
Oh, and the Referee and Liner's were poor but I expected little else from Mr Kitchen, he has been poor on each of the 3 occasions I have seen him at the COA and we have lost 3 times! Many will recall the offside goal that Plymouth scored and some will recall the unpunished foul on Cashman that led to him leaving the field against Bolton and IIRC being injured for several weeks, and their disputed penalty. Somehow I don't think Mr Kitchen likes his trips to Rochdale. |  | | |
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