Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread 14:35 - Dec 11 with 30126 views | HullDale | [Post edited 11 Dec 2021 14:35]
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Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 17:57 - Dec 11 with 3382 views | dillydaley |
Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 17:55 - Dec 11 by DaleiLama | And didn't we give Plymouth a really good test and nearly came out on top too? Sometimes the big picture goes completely out of focus |
Aye but nearly doth butter no parsnips | | | |
Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 17:58 - Dec 11 with 3372 views | 442Dale |
Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 17:35 - Dec 11 by beat_the_bishop | A the beginning of the season I said to my old man I was looking forward to season where we could just play some football, under very little pressure and enjoy the ride of a mid table season while we stabilise off the field and nurture some of youth on it. A positive start, some tidy football played and some entertaining games. Some went our way others didn’t. Pretty much as expected and felt like being back in the Rochdale decision after so many years ‘punching above our weight’ was the relief we struggled to accept but probably needed. Now, ultimately I feel like I did at this stage for the last two seasons under BBM. Constantly frustrated, watching us causes me stress due to the fact that half the things we do in matches really doesn’t seem to make much sense or is completely avoidable and most importantly and the most worrying is I am turning up expecting as much. I don’t embark on watching a game thinking we could win, I am watching through habit and clinging on the fact a clean sheet would be an enjoyable afternoon/evening. Our fan base is thread bare, and those 500 - 800 that sit on the fence and take our gates from 2,200 to nearer 3,000 I have never quite understood. I thought being a ‘true fan’ was all about giving it your commitment and what will be will be. But after years now of utter crap to put it bluntly, I feel myself sort of understand those ‘fencers’. If you have something more productive to be doing or something clashes with a Dale match and you would typically make an excuse or try and rearrange so you can do both… all of a sudden you put up less fight. Simply because I don’t feel that fight in return on the pitch. I can accept not being good enough or being beaten by a quality team but this league is god awful and so are we. We have no grit or fight. If you can’t match quality you can match work ethic and more often than not work ethic is enough in this league. But we have neither, we have team of wimps with no under belly and I really find that hard to watch. Stockdales harshest lesson is how he hasn’t prioritised a battling midfielder. It’s a is a catastrophic failure. Liam Kelly for his technical ability will actually struggle in this league, the lower down the ranks he does the less effective he is/will get. I would take an Ethan Hamilton, Cavanagh, S Dawson over him every single day of the week. We have a threadbare squad and we have too many lightweight players who would be squad players anywhere other than Rochdale. O’Keefe is another example. Gets lots of hype but again for me a Wiseman/Rafferty type player pops him all day long. I want my wing backs to be able to defend as part of the defensive unit as the priority as opposed to clipping his own ankles in the opponents box in the hunt for penalty. People won’t agree but I’m at a point where I just want to see defenders defend, central midfielders win personal battles, wingers focus on hugging the touch line, being an outlet and swinging a ball in at every chance. And two strikers who can read one and other and be in that box and every single opportunity. Currently we have defenders who not doing the basics. Wing backs who offer little going forwards and even less defensively, a midfield who all seem to be jockeying for the same ‘I just spray the ball but don’t tackle role’ and strikers who actually rarely strike and come to deep due to lack of service. Regarding the goalkeeping situation, it’s been a problem for years. But at this level, I feel like most of them aren’t very good no matter what team. Sanchez coming for a corner no matter where it was flighted was more important than a goal at times. That was a skill you don’t see very often anymore, hence he’s now number one for Brighton. I’m not Stockdale out because I know it’s more deep routed than that. But I am worried. I feel like January is still an age away but even when it comes will much change? Have we got any money to makes changes? I still want that mid table finish but on recent showings, I feel very miserable supporting Rochdale. I need more from them, I’m not feeling the love. |
Most of your points, some valid, revolve around the squad construction of which everyone admits was done in a short period and probably not to the manager’s total satisfaction. It’s hard to say he hasn’t prioritised a battling midfielder, he lost Rathbone and was able to pick up Broadbent on loan who hasn’t worked out and Kelly who was available without a club. A mish-mash of players for sure, but Stockdale will almost certainly share the same frustrations. I get the impression, especially after the interview on Wednesday, that he wants his teams to be more battle hardened and that’s not happening right now. Let’s see how things are at Easter in terms of how we look in general, league position is almost irrelevant. | |
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Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 17:58 - Dec 11 with 3369 views | DaleiLama |
Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 17:06 - Dec 11 by kel | Apparently there’s a bit of ‘Stockdale out’ stuff knocking around on Twitter. As I tend not to follow absolute halwits though I can neither confirm nor deny. [Post edited 11 Dec 2021 17:23]
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21 league games in charge ....... not even half a season. Sure - we have all the evidence we need to move on from Stockdale already. Way to put the jerk in knee-jerk. | |
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Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 18:03 - Dec 11 with 3332 views | DaleiLama |
Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 17:57 - Dec 11 by dillydaley | Aye but nearly doth butter no parsnips |
I've said it b4 and will say it again - we are a nearly team this campaign so far. Nearly good. Nearly winning games. Nearly a contender. But we can also be bullied easily, we nearly have a defence and nearly convert enough chances. The challenge RS faces is to get us over those humps. Give him a chance I say. | |
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Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 18:08 - Dec 11 with 3286 views | 442Dale | A fully aware, realistic manager. Surely this is the sort of person we need right now? | |
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Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 18:17 - Dec 11 with 3214 views | beat_the_bishop |
Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 17:58 - Dec 11 by 442Dale | Most of your points, some valid, revolve around the squad construction of which everyone admits was done in a short period and probably not to the manager’s total satisfaction. It’s hard to say he hasn’t prioritised a battling midfielder, he lost Rathbone and was able to pick up Broadbent on loan who hasn’t worked out and Kelly who was available without a club. A mish-mash of players for sure, but Stockdale will almost certainly share the same frustrations. I get the impression, especially after the interview on Wednesday, that he wants his teams to be more battle hardened and that’s not happening right now. Let’s see how things are at Easter in terms of how we look in general, league position is almost irrelevant. |
Rathbone in this team and we are in the top 10. I think that’s why frustrations boil over because over recent years it’s always been nearly but not quite. And, your point regarding Stockdale stating he wants us to be more battle hardened. He has just said similar post game. The ‘if you aren’t playing well make sure they don’t play well too’ jumps out. 1 to 11 I think aside from Dorsett and O’Connell (the latters performances from 4 games ago as recently he is also part of the problem) just don’t win physical battles. We are very nice to play against, I don’t know how he fixes that I’m to be fair. Some of these players need go to same preseason camp as Luke Matheson. A high protein diet and plenty of squats and work on their core. All of a sudden the second balls that we rarely win seem to start landing at your feet. Pitches are deteriorating too and I think our form will continue to follow that trend when possession based football becomes harder to maintain. Hartlepools pitch on Wednesday helped them to victory in my opinion. The bobbles and lack of speed in the pass just doesn’t work for arty farty players like Morley, Newby, Dooley, Odoh and Kelly. They looked terrified. The pitch was fine today but they didn’t cover the hard yards needed, and to be fair after a long week I’m not surprised but from my basic logic, £3k I expect them to run through brick walls for the cause and fall asleep on the coach having left it all on the pitch. I don’t get those vibes from this team. [Post edited 11 Dec 2021 18:20]
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Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 18:22 - Dec 11 with 3171 views | D_Alien |
Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 18:17 - Dec 11 by beat_the_bishop | Rathbone in this team and we are in the top 10. I think that’s why frustrations boil over because over recent years it’s always been nearly but not quite. And, your point regarding Stockdale stating he wants us to be more battle hardened. He has just said similar post game. The ‘if you aren’t playing well make sure they don’t play well too’ jumps out. 1 to 11 I think aside from Dorsett and O’Connell (the latters performances from 4 games ago as recently he is also part of the problem) just don’t win physical battles. We are very nice to play against, I don’t know how he fixes that I’m to be fair. Some of these players need go to same preseason camp as Luke Matheson. A high protein diet and plenty of squats and work on their core. All of a sudden the second balls that we rarely win seem to start landing at your feet. Pitches are deteriorating too and I think our form will continue to follow that trend when possession based football becomes harder to maintain. Hartlepools pitch on Wednesday helped them to victory in my opinion. The bobbles and lack of speed in the pass just doesn’t work for arty farty players like Morley, Newby, Dooley, Odoh and Kelly. They looked terrified. The pitch was fine today but they didn’t cover the hard yards needed, and to be fair after a long week I’m not surprised but from my basic logic, £3k I expect them to run through brick walls for the cause and fall asleep on the coach having left it all on the pitch. I don’t get those vibes from this team. [Post edited 11 Dec 2021 18:20]
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We got that "from this team" when they came from 2-0 down to draw level, and (apparently) should've taken the lead The hard week we've had eventually took it's toll Not sure what you want, really, as someone else posted earlier | |
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Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 18:24 - Dec 11 with 3127 views | kel |
Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 18:17 - Dec 11 by beat_the_bishop | Rathbone in this team and we are in the top 10. I think that’s why frustrations boil over because over recent years it’s always been nearly but not quite. And, your point regarding Stockdale stating he wants us to be more battle hardened. He has just said similar post game. The ‘if you aren’t playing well make sure they don’t play well too’ jumps out. 1 to 11 I think aside from Dorsett and O’Connell (the latters performances from 4 games ago as recently he is also part of the problem) just don’t win physical battles. We are very nice to play against, I don’t know how he fixes that I’m to be fair. Some of these players need go to same preseason camp as Luke Matheson. A high protein diet and plenty of squats and work on their core. All of a sudden the second balls that we rarely win seem to start landing at your feet. Pitches are deteriorating too and I think our form will continue to follow that trend when possession based football becomes harder to maintain. Hartlepools pitch on Wednesday helped them to victory in my opinion. The bobbles and lack of speed in the pass just doesn’t work for arty farty players like Morley, Newby, Dooley, Odoh and Kelly. They looked terrified. The pitch was fine today but they didn’t cover the hard yards needed, and to be fair after a long week I’m not surprised but from my basic logic, £3k I expect them to run through brick walls for the cause and fall asleep on the coach having left it all on the pitch. I don’t get those vibes from this team. [Post edited 11 Dec 2021 18:20]
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Not sure any of the players you mentioned in your last paragraph will be on £3k a week. Where’ve you plucked that from out of interest? | | | | Login to get fewer ads
Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 18:39 - Dec 11 with 3053 views | beat_the_bishop |
Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 18:24 - Dec 11 by kel | Not sure any of the players you mentioned in your last paragraph will be on £3k a week. Where’ve you plucked that from out of interest? |
I assume Kelly isn’t miles away from that number. Having played championship, Feyonoord and Oxford he won’t be on peanuts I am sure. Whether it’s £2k or £3k the points the same. Did they leave it all on the pitch? Rochdale fanbase and the towns attitude in general will always be a blend of ‘it will do’ and ‘what do you expect’. I just got told from a young age that nothing worth having comes easy and hard work is the only route to the top. As a unit, we don’t work hard enough. We wouldn’t be shipping goals for fun if that was the case. And if four and a half hours of football in 6 days is a step too far for them then strength and conditioning should be a priority for our sports science team. Draft Kevin Sinfield in… he can talk about hard yards I’m sure. [Post edited 11 Dec 2021 18:46]
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Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 18:41 - Dec 11 with 3038 views | NorthernDale | I believe that we should give RS time, but in January we need to sign players with experience, in that we need a CD, a Lund type midfielder and a decent striker. At the same, I would criticise RS for being too rigid in the system he prefers, his subs seem to be like for like, and he to go back to a 442 system to hopefully ensure the midfield is not overwhelmed by the opposition. | | | |
Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 18:54 - Dec 11 with 2958 views | D_Alien |
Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 18:39 - Dec 11 by beat_the_bishop | I assume Kelly isn’t miles away from that number. Having played championship, Feyonoord and Oxford he won’t be on peanuts I am sure. Whether it’s £2k or £3k the points the same. Did they leave it all on the pitch? Rochdale fanbase and the towns attitude in general will always be a blend of ‘it will do’ and ‘what do you expect’. I just got told from a young age that nothing worth having comes easy and hard work is the only route to the top. As a unit, we don’t work hard enough. We wouldn’t be shipping goals for fun if that was the case. And if four and a half hours of football in 6 days is a step too far for them then strength and conditioning should be a priority for our sports science team. Draft Kevin Sinfield in… he can talk about hard yards I’m sure. [Post edited 11 Dec 2021 18:46]
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Quoting "what you got told from a young age" and referring to the attitude of the Rochdale fanbase is both contradictory and condescending Kevin Sinfield?? I kind of get where some of your points are coming from, but to suggest there's a lack of effort in the squad is way off the mark, and pretty unhelpful in truth | |
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Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 18:59 - Dec 11 with 2923 views | kel |
Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 18:39 - Dec 11 by beat_the_bishop | I assume Kelly isn’t miles away from that number. Having played championship, Feyonoord and Oxford he won’t be on peanuts I am sure. Whether it’s £2k or £3k the points the same. Did they leave it all on the pitch? Rochdale fanbase and the towns attitude in general will always be a blend of ‘it will do’ and ‘what do you expect’. I just got told from a young age that nothing worth having comes easy and hard work is the only route to the top. As a unit, we don’t work hard enough. We wouldn’t be shipping goals for fun if that was the case. And if four and a half hours of football in 6 days is a step too far for them then strength and conditioning should be a priority for our sports science team. Draft Kevin Sinfield in… he can talk about hard yards I’m sure. [Post edited 11 Dec 2021 18:46]
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“Assumed” Cheers. | | | |
Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 19:15 - Dec 11 with 2855 views | beat_the_bishop |
Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 18:54 - Dec 11 by D_Alien | Quoting "what you got told from a young age" and referring to the attitude of the Rochdale fanbase is both contradictory and condescending Kevin Sinfield?? I kind of get where some of your points are coming from, but to suggest there's a lack of effort in the squad is way off the mark, and pretty unhelpful in truth |
Google him. Effort and fight are two different things. My point was regarding fighting spirit and ensuring your opponent has a miserable game. Anyway… I shall eagerly await Jan like the rest of us. Hopefully some of the deadwood moves on, the unsuccessful loanees get returned and as others have stated, we bring in some experience. God only knows from where?! | | | |
Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 19:20 - Dec 11 with 2820 views | D_Alien |
Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 19:15 - Dec 11 by beat_the_bishop | Google him. Effort and fight are two different things. My point was regarding fighting spirit and ensuring your opponent has a miserable game. Anyway… I shall eagerly await Jan like the rest of us. Hopefully some of the deadwood moves on, the unsuccessful loanees get returned and as others have stated, we bring in some experience. God only knows from where?! |
I know who Kevin Sinfield is without resorting to Google, thanks Are you even vaguely aware of the difficulties RS has faced since he took over? If so, your criticism would be far more muted and less reliant on what you were told from a young age and more on your own good life experience | |
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Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 19:42 - Dec 11 with 2722 views | beat_the_bishop |
Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 19:20 - Dec 11 by D_Alien | I know who Kevin Sinfield is without resorting to Google, thanks Are you even vaguely aware of the difficulties RS has faced since he took over? If so, your criticism would be far more muted and less reliant on what you were told from a young age and more on your own good life experience |
My critsm on the lack of battle hardened performances and not wining individual duals was echoed by the man himself in the post match interview after I had already made my observations on the game and recent games. So, back to the point. I think Stockdale can do more to combat that and he will. More importantly so can the players. My frustration is a lack of fight and battle. Which I don’t think requires skill and technical ability just hard work, determination and grit. If you think differently, I accept that. Opinions are what makes sport wonderful. I like Robbie, he says all the right things. But currently some of the players are probably letting him down in my opinion. | | | |
Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 19:43 - Dec 11 with 2714 views | dingdangblue |
Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 17:06 - Dec 11 by diver | Accrington beat Bolton today comfortable position in div 1 smaller club than us.Why are they doing so well? Discuss |
We did well for 4 seasons in lge 1. | |
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Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 20:23 - Dec 11 with 2537 views | scarrow |
Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 19:43 - Dec 11 by dingdangblue | We did well for 4 seasons in lge 1. |
Give them BBM and see what happens | |
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Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 20:24 - Dec 11 with 2533 views | D_Alien |
Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 19:42 - Dec 11 by beat_the_bishop | My critsm on the lack of battle hardened performances and not wining individual duals was echoed by the man himself in the post match interview after I had already made my observations on the game and recent games. So, back to the point. I think Stockdale can do more to combat that and he will. More importantly so can the players. My frustration is a lack of fight and battle. Which I don’t think requires skill and technical ability just hard work, determination and grit. If you think differently, I accept that. Opinions are what makes sport wonderful. I like Robbie, he says all the right things. But currently some of the players are probably letting him down in my opinion. |
They've all got careers to nurture, and are playing under considerable pressure which leads me to think a ridiculous notion of pushing them too far wouldn't help in the slightest. That's my experience, and i dare say RS will be well aware of that I just find it surprising that you think they aren't all too aware of their vulnerabilities and think bringing in a top class winning coach from a different code would do anything but push them over the edge | |
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Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 20:40 - Dec 11 with 2481 views | RippDale |
Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 20:24 - Dec 11 by D_Alien | They've all got careers to nurture, and are playing under considerable pressure which leads me to think a ridiculous notion of pushing them too far wouldn't help in the slightest. That's my experience, and i dare say RS will be well aware of that I just find it surprising that you think they aren't all too aware of their vulnerabilities and think bringing in a top class winning coach from a different code would do anything but push them over the edge |
We need to be patient here and not go down the Oldham route of changing managers every 6 months. We have been severely mis-managed both on and off the pitch for the last 4 years and we now have stability off the pitch, we need to support RS the best we can to get some stability on the pitch. I feared for us this season and worried we would do a Southend but I think Robbie has done a decent job under the extreme circumstances. There are many mistakes but also some very good glimpses. He has been left with some dross but by the end of the season most of that will be gone and we can judge him on the players he brings in for next season. We are not a sacking club but modern day football has created this monster and some of our fans embrace that | | | |
Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 21:31 - Dec 11 with 2311 views | 49thseason | A disappointing end to a dismal week. There have been some good points made already about the squad and its lack of 2 or 3 battle hardened professionals. We have to accept that Stockdale did his best to put an effective squad together, I have never been an advocate of "bounce straight back up" it was always unrealistic. If we had kept Rathbone and Humphrys it was an outside "maybe", but the financial situation was always going to be the arbiter of success on the pitch this season. As an aside we are currently runaway leaders of the L2 fair play league with an average of just 1 yellow per game and no reds which is probably indicative of the need for a destroyer in midfield and more "professionalism " as some might call it. So a bit of shape shifting in January and any finish above the bottom two is now the requirement. And then onto a proper summer window, a proper pre-season and a 95 minutes competitive side for 22/23. none of which does anything for crowds and resultant finances right how but I would think the Board has already taken this scenario into account. We are where we are, but still alive and still viable. I think the on-pitch requirements are becoming more obvious as the games roll on. I fully expect the Manager to bring in 2 or 3 players in January , I think we need to fix the defence and put a fighter in midfield. Pace, size and athleticism Mr Stockdale... pace, size and athleticism we can play pretty football back in L1 , but we do need to get out of this forlorn Division sooner than later. [Post edited 11 Dec 2021 21:35]
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Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 21:43 - Dec 11 with 2252 views | TVOS1907 |
Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 18:17 - Dec 11 by beat_the_bishop | Rathbone in this team and we are in the top 10. I think that’s why frustrations boil over because over recent years it’s always been nearly but not quite. And, your point regarding Stockdale stating he wants us to be more battle hardened. He has just said similar post game. The ‘if you aren’t playing well make sure they don’t play well too’ jumps out. 1 to 11 I think aside from Dorsett and O’Connell (the latters performances from 4 games ago as recently he is also part of the problem) just don’t win physical battles. We are very nice to play against, I don’t know how he fixes that I’m to be fair. Some of these players need go to same preseason camp as Luke Matheson. A high protein diet and plenty of squats and work on their core. All of a sudden the second balls that we rarely win seem to start landing at your feet. Pitches are deteriorating too and I think our form will continue to follow that trend when possession based football becomes harder to maintain. Hartlepools pitch on Wednesday helped them to victory in my opinion. The bobbles and lack of speed in the pass just doesn’t work for arty farty players like Morley, Newby, Dooley, Odoh and Kelly. They looked terrified. The pitch was fine today but they didn’t cover the hard yards needed, and to be fair after a long week I’m not surprised but from my basic logic, £3k I expect them to run through brick walls for the cause and fall asleep on the coach having left it all on the pitch. I don’t get those vibes from this team. [Post edited 11 Dec 2021 18:20]
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What was wrong with Hartlepool's pitch on Wednesday? It was absolutely fine for both teams. | |
| When I was your age, I used to enjoy the odd game of tennis. Or was it golf? |
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Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 21:47 - Dec 11 with 2218 views | TVOS1907 |
Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 18:41 - Dec 11 by NorthernDale | I believe that we should give RS time, but in January we need to sign players with experience, in that we need a CD, a Lund type midfielder and a decent striker. At the same, I would criticise RS for being too rigid in the system he prefers, his subs seem to be like for like, and he to go back to a 442 system to hopefully ensure the midfield is not overwhelmed by the opposition. |
His subs today completely changed the momentum of the game in our favour. It's not his fault nor the fault of the system that we didn't take one of the many chances we had in that 15 minute spell when Rovers were on the ropes. | |
| When I was your age, I used to enjoy the odd game of tennis. Or was it golf? |
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Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 21:49 - Dec 11 with 2210 views | TVOS1907 |
Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 19:43 - Dec 11 by dingdangblue | We did well for 4 seasons in lge 1. |
And played there for seven, Iike I said. | |
| When I was your age, I used to enjoy the odd game of tennis. Or was it golf? |
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Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 22:08 - Dec 11 with 2144 views | beat_the_bishop |
Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 21:43 - Dec 11 by TVOS1907 | What was wrong with Hartlepool's pitch on Wednesday? It was absolutely fine for both teams. |
I thought it was very bobbly. On quite a few occasions the ball skipped over players feet. It wasn’t bad, but wasn’t a bowling green like some. It just means players think about their first touch that little bit longer which can lead to being caught in position due to the second or so hesitation. Morley doesn’t need a bobble in the pitch for that though… just part of his game. I thought it impacted Kellys performance though. | | | |
Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 22:24 - Dec 11 with 2077 views | TVOS1907 |
Bristol Rovers (a) Match Thread on 22:08 - Dec 11 by beat_the_bishop | I thought it was very bobbly. On quite a few occasions the ball skipped over players feet. It wasn’t bad, but wasn’t a bowling green like some. It just means players think about their first touch that little bit longer which can lead to being caught in position due to the second or so hesitation. Morley doesn’t need a bobble in the pitch for that though… just part of his game. I thought it impacted Kellys performance though. |
Not sure I agree. At no point in the game or afterwards did anyone comment on it until now. It was perfectly fine and didn't impact the game in any way whatsoever. | |
| When I was your age, I used to enjoy the odd game of tennis. Or was it golf? |
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