Rochdale (H) League Saturday 3/2/07

[Neil Ravenscroft]

Preview

http://upthesaddlers.com/wp/archives/20 ... e-preview/

[Registered Saddler]

Harder than we think.....1-1

Just what I was about to write. Dale have been a revelation under Hill, lets hope its just a honeymoon period which ends tomorrow.

[4143]

Match postponed due to the second coming.

[Magic Man Fan]

Harder than we think.....1-1

Just what I was about to write. Dale have been a revelation under Hill, lets hope its just a honeymoon period which ends tomorrow.

So were Torquay under Lee until they faced the mighty Mansfield.

If we keep a clean sheet we will win. We never look the same confident, organised side when we concede so a clean sheet is paramount.

[tape66]

Match postponed due to the second coming.

Bingo !

[WFC_Rob]

2-1 to us. Butler for us, Le Fondre for them. Enter Cederqvist.........2-1.

[WalsallCasual]

2-0

Butler and Dann

[Geordiesaddler]

Same team as Tuesday with an attack-mided bench, good news. Just a shame Roper isn't fit.

[PerStener]

2-1 victory.

goals from Keates and Sam

[hullsaddler]

3-1
Butler, Wrack, Keates

[the_game]

is there a link to listen to todays match....?

the_game.

[jnks]

Suppose you've got to laugh at the irony of the OS carrying a story about Ince wanting to keep a clean sheet and then him scoring an own goal. Not right now though. Come on lads :(

[the_game]

what a crap start :roll:

[latviancheese]

We've lost this now.

[hullsaddler]

What number is ' no-one in particular' as according to the commentary we seem to be playing a lot of balls to him.

[hullsaddler]

YES SCOTT DANN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[latviancheese]

AVE ITTTTTT

[the_game]

im afraid against a team like Rochdale we should be winning matches not drawing.

[Neuromantic]

Worst performance of the season, truely diabolical.

Ince - I would personally drop him for Bossu next match.

Westwood - crap, but improved marginally when he went to centre back.
Dann - So, so. Looked edgy by the mess that was aroudn him.
Gerrard - Get this USELESS excuse for a football out of club.
Fox - Best of a bad bunch I think, defended well.

Wrack - Ineffective and ended playing the famous right wing come left wong position, which we all know of course :shock:
Dobson - Poor but....Looked like he was on his own in midfield.
Pead - Ineffective again.
Keates - Completed the narrowest midfield ever. Did nothing.

Sam - Ineffective
Butler - Ineffective. (Is there a theme developing here?)

Subs:

Ishmel - few flashes of skill but guess what ? ineffective.
Wright - Mollusc boy did it again with another sh@ performance.
Par - Not up to speed at all, cant cope with thep hysical aspect, but i would like to see
how he plays in a team that played football and not hoof ball.


Overall we were crap, absolutely no width, the most worrying thing is that we didnt imrpove with two attacking wingers, Danns goal was world class, absolutely, imho best goal we have ever seen at Bescot. The substitues were ineffective. And this is the key phrase 'ineffectve'. There was just nothing out there today. We need some experience in the middle and we need a striker. Gerrard is a disgrace, his first half performance was disgusting. Get rid.

However, we have gained a point on a day when other teams have failed, so its not all doom and gloom, but we have to do something in the week.

[Kiansmom]

Ha ha to all those idiots who leave before the end and block my view, You all deserved to miss Zidanns wonder goal!!! :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

[coxy_saddler]

Well we was awful. 2 shots in 45 minutes in the first half! We gave the ball away numerous amount of times, We was just sloppy and never got into gear the first half. (well the whole match)
Second half wasn't much better when isshy come on at half time i thought well done dd but at times he never looked like he could be arsed!? When he got the ball he was really casual on it playing like we was 5-0 up or sommat! He done well a few times but i can't understand why his attitude is like that when his got the chance to impress. I thought dobson had a good game never gave up battling. Scott dann absolutley SUPERB goal..for a centre half that's f!uckin brilliant. I thought it went wide to be honest then just saw the net rumble get in :D We've got out of jail there with swindon loosing too.

UTS

[tape66]

Ha ha to all those idiots who leave before the end and block my view, You all deserved to miss Zidanns wonder goal!!! :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

It must be a bugger being only 4' 3" tall. :D


Zidanns goal was pure clarse !

[philthesaddler]

2 words

ATROCIOUS PERFORMANCE

We are very very lucky not to have lost that. Thanks to Scott Dann we are talking about a draw. Dann should have been man of the match, not Westwood, what a magnificent goal.

For those who didn't see the goal, 92nd minute, he picked it up 10 yards inside his own half, sailed past their striker who wasn't chasing back, jinked past their first midfielder, sprinted past their second midfielder, took a touch, and from 24 yards hit a powerful low shot and hit the bottom corner. Easily the best individual goal I've seen for a long time.

HOWEVER, in terms of the performance, all except Dann should be utterly, utterly ashamed.

From the 3rd minute when Clownton Ince somehow diverted the ball in to the back of the net when he was under no pressure whatsoever, I knew it wasnt going to be our day.

I wouldn't mind if we were outplayed by a better side, if we tried our best. But this performance was worse than many performances under Merson. Under Merson we were shambolic at the back, but after a while we managed to create chances. Today, we couldn't create any chances, and we were shambolic at the back.

Money's just been on the radio thankfully admitting that it was a dire performance, he placed some of the blame on the pitch - I think that is part of it, but Rochdale didn't struggle. And if Rochdale had been any good, they'd have scored 3 or 4.

From the back...

Clayton in goal had a mare... From his flappy conceded goal, his confidence went and he couldn't kick, didn't sort the defence, and his kicks out of his hands were going far too far up the pitch.

In defence...

Danny Fox... If he was a horse, he'd have been shot. He was woeful, utterly woeful, utterly woeful - I can't say that enough times. He was utterly woeful. For 30 minutes of the second half he gave the ball away every single time it came to him, then he sithed down their right winger, and complained to the ref :shock: . He couldn't head, he couldn't tackle, he was slow. Utterly woeful.

Chris Westwood... Had a terrible first half, and a poor second, was weak and isolated

Scott Dann... Struggled like every one else, things were skimming off his shins, headers were being missed, and he was being turned and outpaced. A poor performance by his standards

Ant Gerrard... Only played 45 mins and that was enough, he was woeful

In Midfield...

Darren Wrack... largely anonymous. Play passed him by a lot, when he did get on the ball, he looked ok.

Michael Dobson... worst performance for us yet, totally woeful. How many touches does this fella need to bring a ball under control, why cant he put his foot on it and pass it on the floor?

Craig Pead... see Dobson

Dean Keates... He may have scored two goals the other night, but he was once again woeful today. The main reason he became so successful at walsall was his terrier nature, his ability to break up play, but he just doesnt do that any more, opposition players just sail past him and shrug him off, and on the wing he offers little. When the ball gets hoofed forward by them, he comes and stands 5 yards from the defender under the ball, when Dann or Gerrard or Westy got their head on it, the ball flys past keates, and straight to the opposition player.

Mark Wright... a decent 30 min cameo

Ish Demontagnac ... decent on the ball, but didn't track back at all, looked like his confidence was shot when he'd lost the ball once, and looked lazy thereafter.

Martin Butler... I'm really pissed off with Butler today. I know he's frustrated with service to him, but he was lucky not to get sent off today, there were 3 or 4 occassions when he had a little kick out at opposition players that if the ref had seen, would have got him a booking.

Sam and Cederqvist... see below...

People around me in the stand get very annoyed with Cederqvist, and Sam to a certain extent, and there were shouts for Constable not to have been sold. Firstly, I don't think JC was good enough, it is important to remember he got his chances earlier in the season when we were playing much much better, and he still didnt look very good then. So lets forget about JC, he wasn't good enough. Just because Cederqvist looks very lightweight doesn't mean JC shouldn't have been sold, I think it's got a hell of a lot to do with the way we play, which is what ill come to next.

Don't get on the strikers backs. All they get all day is balls coming at them from 50ft off the ground, with a 6ft 3 neanderthol jumping on their back. We really must stop trying to hoof it up, we just as bad most teams in this division. Strikers are STRIKERS! Put the ball at their FEET with space to run in to, or in shooting chances - NOT with their back to goal. OR put crosses on THEIR heads. It's really simple. DON'T sky the ball [which gives the opposition time to have a quick drink, and position themselves appropriately] and expect them to bring it down under immense pressure, turn, and shoot, its not fair to expect that - all they can do is try and win it and knock it down for someone, and when theyve got a neanderthol climbing on their back, thats very hard to do. Even if they do win it, our midfield are ALWAYS 2nd to the ball - making the forwards look bad, but it aint their fault, so lets not get at Cederqvist and claim Constable [who was pants] should still be here.

Tactics, Tactics, Tactics. Richard Money you should be ashamed to call yourself manager of that pile of steaming cack today. They had no drive, no determination, no movement, no ideas, they looked comatosed, slow, sleepy - and another 1001 adjectives.

We were truly awful. Both for little reasons and big reasons...

BIG REASONS

GET THE BALL ON THE F*CKING FLOOR
We have been found out. All we did today was boot the ball up in the air - even when we didnt need to. When pead or Dobson could have brought it down and passed it sensibly, instead they booted it up with eyes closed. It plays right in to the hands of the opposition, they can reorganise and track back when the ball is skied so high.

HAVE A DIFFERENT IDEA FROM BOOTING IT UP THE CHANNELS
Fair enough, run the channels when we are under pressure and we are looking to push up out of our own half. BUT NOT as our only attacking idea. Why can't we pass and move, pass and move? It's everso simple.

SMALL REASONS

- passing, the amount of balls we gave away today was atrocious

- control, our players are technically poor they can't bring the ball down, it sometimes takes 3 or four touches.

- strength, there were times when Dobson and Keates [the two supposed battlers in our side] were on the same man, yet he still came away with the ball

- movement, none whatsoever.

- ideas, only one, "whack it up towards Butler" THATS IT

Sort it out money, we need better players in midfield, and we need to start passing on the floor and lets see some movement.

All in all we need to sort it out and be thankful that results have once again gone our way, we've been very lucky. Had we not dropped needless points to Bristol Rovers, Boston and Rochdale we would be 6 points further clear tonight - not to mention Mansfield - and what a big difference that would make.

SORT IT OUT MONEY

[Neuromantic]

Phil your comments about Sam and Cederqvist are absolutely spot on mate, great post.

[Who moved the goalposts?]

Phil is spot on. Totally atrocious performance devoid of any football, any movement, any pace, any creativity or any chances. Playing four central midfielders in midfield isn't going to help matters either.

Just because Swindon lose, everyone thinks that "the other results have gone well for us". Well they haven't. It's not Swindon we should be watching but the likes of MK Dons and Hartelpool. 4th place is the key one and there are only 6 points between us and 4th. The way we are playing and with Hartlepool, Lincoln and Stockport on the horizon, I can see no reason why we won't be 4th come the end of the month.

Dire. Absolutely dire.

[Fray Bentos is God!]

Skimming across your essay Phil id agree with a lot of that especially re: strikers but I thought Dobson did OK today, our big problem was that it was a narrow paceless midfield for 45 minutes

[Who moved the goalposts?]

Also the excuses are coming from Money now...."pitch too dry", "pitch too sandy", "pitch too small".... :roll:

[Fray Bentos is God!]

Also the excuses are coming from Money now...."pitch too dry", "pitch too sandy", "pitch too small".... :roll:

hows it excuses when hes said "noone can be pleased with their performance" :?:

[Whitti Steve]

Very poor today - not even "wonder-kid answer to all our problems Ishmel" could impress. I think on matches like that they should ban Man of the Match, although of the bunch, Westwood probably was marginally less bad than the others. I still can't quite beleive 2 things. A) Booing a substitution that was crying out to be made - I'm sure Mark Wright gained lots from being booed onto the pitch. B) Booing the team during the match.

I know it was pants - but anyone who thinks that booing a team will make them play better is kidding themselves. If you really feel the need to boo - do it at the end! TBH I was surprised they still didn't get booed off. That goal probably saved them from a right old earbashing from the terraces at full time.

[latviancheese]

I would understand us playin a direct style, but our strikers arent strong in the air really, dunno about cederqvist havent seen enough of him.