 | Forum
Reply | Refwatch - Sutton United v Rochdale
at 12:32 9 Apr 2025
Which means the 3 other teams will be desperate to break their run of poor form and we will continue to pass the ball neatly, score 1 or 0 goals and fall to either a late winner or a late equaliser... more points lost, and our place in the playoffs taken up by Alty or Southend... |
| Forum
Reply | Refwatch - Sutton United v Rochdale
at 23:32 8 Apr 2025
All water under the bridge mate, whatever we were doing well then has been pished into the wind by a combination of covid, conmen and comedy managers. McNulty has dealt himself a bad hand, his signings have been too defensive and too brittle. Weak hamstrings weak attitudes and weak leadership. The talent is there but needs someone to lead it and make it play by any means at his disposal but I see no sign of it...His post match interview face on Saturday was a picture of a man in trouble, mentally drained, unsure of what had gone wrong, incapable of explaining what had just happened.
I expected tonight's result. No doubt there has been an inquest, but I very much doubt the team came out of it wanting to tear Sutton apart.. 18 points to play for now, 6 goals would have won us 6 drawn away games.. 12 points more and we would be well in the playoffs that we are hanging on to coat tails is because he didnt have the belief to go out and win....and we are not going to Wembly for the same reason, |
| Forum
Reply | Refwatch - Sutton United v Rochdale
at 22:32 8 Apr 2025
On the bright side, it has brought the run of away draws to a juddering halt...another game ticked off where the inability to complete the basic action of the game .. score a goal , preferably 2, has cost more points... this season is dying on its knees, once again the overwhelming sense is of waste....wasted effort, wasted opportunity, wasted money... the old story of the ages doing another lap around the block. Nothing changes because nothing changes, cheap options, inexplicable decisions..
Turning this club around is a mammoth undertaking... surely we have now reached peak ridiculousness... its time to break all the moulds, shatter the belief structures and build a new club in every sense. History is bunk, and in our case amounts to a century or more of missed chances and opportunities, a winning mentality seems like an unwelcome attitude, this is little Rochdale and everyone thinks they can beat us....including the manager and his players.... |
| Forum
Reply | Big Game on Tuesday
at 14:49 6 Apr 2025
He has few options from me it would be 442 with a midfield diamond
Barrett
Gordon. EEL. Hogan. Beckwith
Kingdon
Barlow. Buyabu
Gilmour
Henderson Mitchell
Subs
Kelly, Rodney, Weston, Ayinde, Armstrong, Edwards. Plus anyone else who is available |
| Forum
Reply | FA Trophy semi
at 12:03 6 Apr 2025
Wind blows, rain falls, its the same for both teams.. The issue is, you either accept it and play on or worry about it and let it affect how you play. I think we have a set-up that worries too much, overthinks situations and fills heads with problems that don't exist. I have no idea how a situation can arise where a fit body, albeit a young player isn't a better bet than a player on one leg who is expected to take a penalty... Or how a player like Kingdon has to sit that game out on the bench rather than changing the system... And if Kelly isnt rated as capable of taking over between the sticks, why is he still here? And why are we so injury prone? Something isnt right and there are too many somethings that point to the management of the squad, or lack thereof....
Go through the squad list, there are at least 10 serious lengthy injuries, its not normal....and so many hamstrings.. why? |
| Forum
Reply | FA Trophy semi
at 21:10 5 Apr 2025
We should have been home and hosed by half time, Allarakhia could have been replaced and a debacle avoided, that we were not is down to Head Coach who once again overthought the problem he faced and instead of going toe to toe, decided to try and be clever and try to wear the part- timers down.. All the time we were passing across the back, they were jogging left and right across midfield. Once again there was no pace or width. Mr professional intellectual football manager got it wrong again and Spennymoor grew in confidence, their goalkeeper completely untroubled for the first 45 minutes. If they were playing for penalties JM was only too happy to help.... what was he thinking, ? Score and early goal and they were there for the taking but no, sideways, back, sideways, back again. Henderson was making run after run, no one cared enough to try to pass to him, Allarakhia was playing on one leg, JM seemed to think that was OK. Rodney decided this was a good day to forget how to trap a ball and Beckwith had possibly his worst half of the season....where was the management? Where was the attitude? This is our house our party!
I think JM has done his best, but we need a Manager, a Leader, not a Head Coach and today was all the evidence needed. The fear was palpable, the cost of the defeat is incalculable. And it simply didnt have to be this way.... This is Professional Sport there are winners and the rest, I am sick of making up numbers....This team should have been comfortable Winners today, the buck stops with the Head Coach. His target outcome is now simple,....get promoted....... |
| Forum
Reply | FA Trophy semi
at 18:41 5 Apr 2025
So depressing, so predictable, so unneccessary. No in- game management, a right winger who was obviously unfit from the kick off to the extent that the team wouldn't pass to him but then allowed him to take a sloppy penalty...2-1 up and still playing with 10 effective men, took Henderson off and gave their entire defence a rest when he could have brought on another defender ( EEL) and put Hendo further out on the right.
This club will go nowhere until we get a manager who actually manages. Today has probably cost dozens of ST renewals, and failed to convert 100s of young kids and their parent into supporters... a probable net reduction in future income.
But hey, they clap the moron who chucked the bottles at their keeper and his moron mates at the end , so thats OK then...
These players needed a professional in charge today not someone who treats them like small children |
| Forum
Reply | Refwatch - Woking v Rochdale
at 11:26 2 Apr 2025
23 games , half the season where we have scored 1 goal or 0...(11 X 0, 12 X 1) 23 more goals would have seen us nearly 30 points better off. This team makes plenty of chances but simply does not convert enough of them. We have only lost 4 games by 2 goals or more....we have averaged 1 goal a game conceded all season, although that has increased to 1.3 over the last 8 games thanks to getting battered twice at home. |
| Forum
Reply | TVOS Preview - Rochdale v York City
at 12:15 27 Mar 2025
I think the 3 and 5 year plans were accepted by the fans because there was no alternative and we trusted the Ogdens to develop a plan that was practical and affordable. Without EFL money, the next 2 seasons will need higher levels of cash than this season and the off pitch plans also need extensive investment. The first indications of the 5 year sustainability plan are starting to be seen, with investment in people and the solar panels and rumours of work to redevelop the main stand facilities.
They have a plan that they are reasonably comfortable with and know that they will need contingency funds, as I have said previously, I think the 3 and 5 year plans may in reality, both be 5 year plans. But, I believe we might be better served with a longer run at the top end of this league with a free scoring team, exciting football a growing crowd and an expanding financial base than a quick return to the EFL without these things securely in place. Much better to arrive back in the EFL in the best shape the club has ever been in than lacking the infrastucture, team and crowds required to make progress there.
I dont know if JM can produce a team that makes going to matches something to look forward to with an expectation of seeing fast, free flowing, attacking football, but I know that despite the reasonable progress made this season, his biggest challenge will be to produce a team capable of scoring 2 goals a game every game and not conceding any more than his current system has. The people are in place within the club, the infrastructure is to be enhanced, the product on the pitch has to deliver the spark, I think JM will get his chance but the scrutiny will increase and the standards will have to improve |
| Forum
Reply | Refwatch - Maidenhead United v Rochdale
at 15:08 24 Mar 2025
We have needed another forward all season but the need for another Bird has never been more evident. Finances allowing, bringing in a bustling centre forward for the rest of the season is a gamble most people would be prepared to take assuming there is one available.. we have already gone through the better part of 40 players, 1 more hardly seems significant on the cost side but highly significant to the benefit column. The need is proven, the prize is huge. Its time to roll the dice... |
| Forum
Reply | Refwatch - Maidenhead United v Rochdale
at 11:24 23 Mar 2025
Thère is really nowhere to hide, JM has had a good budget, has an excellent training facility, and has been bringing in different players to cover injuries and to improve the squad, and yet....the likelihood is we will finish on about 72 points if we can maintain 1.5 points per game, it should have been many more....Essentially we now have a 10 game league season and if he can win 18+ points from 10 games we are in with a good shout in the playoffs. Throw in 2 wins in 2 cup games and he will be invincible in his position, fail on both fronts and it will be inexcusable...
Promotion is the target, the Trophy is a vanity that will paper over the cracks of so many dropped points for lack of a single goal. But supporters need to see a team that is dominant and free-scoring. Tippy tappy will not sell tickets, a free scoring team will... Nobody talks about how wonderfully a team has defended, we pay to see goals and the more the better....goals are the adrenaline rush we queue up for, tippy tappy is the sedative for expectations. |
| Forum
Reply | Refwatch - Maidenhead United v Rochdale
at 21:11 22 Mar 2025
The data suggests there has been no real improvement across 36 games at all.
First 18 games - 30 points, 1.66 PPG
2nd set of 18 games -27 points, 1.5 PPG
This despite an endless procession of players, 3 goal keepers, 3 central defenders 2 right backs, but only 2 consistent midfielders, countless wingbacks / wingers, only 4 strikers before the arrival of Bird, one of whom couldn't get more than an occasional appearance off the bench and one who looks like he has forgotten how to play the game for long stretches of his appearances and Dennis who was far from a menace. Mitchell has been shoehorned into a role he simply isn't equipped to play, paired with Bird the combination could be lethal but my bet is we will never find out as it seem to be a case of either-or rather than both, injuries notwithstanding
Seems like JM has only one tune and one tempo and the orchestra cant understand the conductor or at times even read the dots.
We must be knocking on for 40 players on the books this season and still only a few flashes of a coherent game plan suitable for this division... I used to think the plan was to play the tippy-tappy throughout the club because we were bringing through young players we could sell, because they were the players the market wanted to buy, but those rules don't apply anymore since the academy got canned.
This League is about size, power, pace, athleticism and a modicum of skill, the team that scores the most goals wins... its not complicated and complicated equals confusion, and certainly isn't scoring us enough goals.
We don't look like a team that intends to plant itself firmly in the playoff places, we are consistently inconsistent, If JM wins a trophy, then fair do's, a memorable season. But there is no EFL money at all next season and we will be rebuilding again and probably still pretending that tippy-tappy will be the secret sauce. I just hope the Ogden's are ready to find out the real cost of football, and let's not kid ourselves that this season wasn't our best shot at getting back to the EFL...
This is where the rubber meets the road for JM and to a degree, the fan-base. project 5000 will look a long way away if we do not reach the Cup final AND take a playoff place. the fans need it, the cash balances need it and it will encourage the owners...failure is now not an option. All Hands on deck! |
| Forum
Reply | Negative and personal
at 10:57 19 Mar 2025
EEL was excelent when he came here on loan from Wolves, the years have not been kind to him and his latest injury has clearly taken a lot out of him, he may be physically fit but he has lost some of the speed of thought and sense of urgency required, maybe he is compensating for the infjury or maybe he has simply missed too many games, but to throw him in at the deep end at such a critical point in the season when the team was playing with consistency and getting good results seems irrational.
We conceded 10% of the seasons goals against last night, and the reason was obvious to every home fan in the ground. That the team pulled 2 goals back once the substitutions had happened and they started moving the ball around quickly again speaks volumes.
It makes you wonder how the 1962/ 3 team managed to play 46 games and reach the 2 legged final of the League Cup without any substitutes allowed doesn't it... [Post edited 19 Mar 11:30]
|
| Forum
Reply | Negative and personal
at 22:55 18 Mar 2025
So frustrating... shuffle the team, drop two points at Oldham, shuffle sgain and concede 3 to Boston at home.. Bring Eel in and make 2 defensive changes to accommodate him, hey presto 2 down in half an hour at home...I started counting how long he spent looking for a pass, 4 seconds, 6 seconds, 7 seconds.. so slow, it just wastes all the movement up front because the early ball never arrives.
So 5 points dropped in 2 games just to shoehorn Landell into the side.. so frustrating and probably ultimately very costly. Stop over thinking it Jim, play your best side every game. If Henderson and Kingdon had started we would have 3 more points tonight and a winning team would have kept on winning.... management 101 keep your winners winning...... |
| Forum
Reply | Altrincham FA Trophy Match Thread
at 18:24 1 Mar 2025
Those of us who have criticised the Mitchell and Rodney partnership were totally vindicated this afternoon, Bird hustled defenders showed as a target and scored an excellent goal, Rodney took the hint and played off him looking like he actually might get a decent lay-off.
After the first substitutions it was back to the same old same old , we regressed 15 yards closer to our own box, and gave their defenders an easy time to the extent that one of them played more like a midfielder.
If the substutuions were designed to save legs for Tuesday, they also succeded in showing exactly why we need to be able to hold the ball up at the top... |
| Forum
Reply | Turnstiles
at 18:22 27 Feb 2025
Should be OK then. (Crosses fingers and toes)....thank you... i hate it when they change things without explaining.... |
| | 49thseason
|
Site Scores| Forum Votes: | 1633 | | Comment Votes: | 1 | | Prediction League: | 0 | | TOTAL: | 1634 |
|
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.