| Match thread: Bristol Rovers 14:11 - Feb 4 with 10284 views | 442Dale |
Team: Williams, Rafferty, McGahey,McNulty, Kitching, Keane, Camps, Rathbone, Taylor, RNL, Henderson.
God knows who is playing where!
Subs. Logan, NML, Allen, McDermott, Redshaw, Cannon, Vincenti [Post edited 4 Feb 2017 14:16]
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| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 19:40 - Feb 4 with 3362 views | DaleiLama |
Less said about that game the better. Think it would be 0-0 if they were still playing now.
All the new recruits showed something but Rome wasn't built in a day.
The good news is we stopped shipping goals. The bad is we've scored 1 in 4 games.
Donal (minus the do these days) did little to suggest he deserves more playing time. Raff MOM for me. Agree he's best at RB but he did very well covering the back 4 and it wouldn't surprise me if it's not his last game there.
Let's hope a bit of sea air revives our scoring form next Saturday. |  |
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| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 19:47 - Feb 4 with 3337 views | DaleiLama |
| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 19:32 - Feb 4 by Laveritty |
Not a match that will live long in the memory - thought they probably shaded it but a 0 - 0 draw was all that game deserved.
Agree with what has been said already - thought Taylor looked promising in a more advanced role at the start of the second half and just as it looked as if he was about to exert some influence on the game he got subbed for Vincenti. Unless there was an issue with regards to match fitness that was a very peculiar decision by KH. Have we ever had two subs come on and have as little involvement in proceedings as Vincenti and McDermott did today?
Overall a strange non event of a game and the only real positive is that we got a point and managed to keep a clean sheet. Hopefully another week's worth of training and allowing the players to get used to their new teammates and tactics will come to fruition next Saturday. And hopefully Fleetwood's pitch is better than ours? Surely it must be? |
I think PV came on as a target man as Hendo was struggling to find space whilst carrying a defender on his back all afternoon. I thought he made us a bit more multi-dimensional. But not a lot. | |
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| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 19:52 - Feb 4 with 3289 views | rochedale |
| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 18:53 - Feb 4 by D_Alien |
I won't be slating you for saying that - I agree
Whilst it's not always possible to judge how much leadership is being provided, he's getting knocked off the ball far too easily which then puts pressure on his team-mates. With Lund there, it didn't show so much. The one thing I would say is that at least he doesn't go hiding in a game, and always makes himself available for the ball, but with little product recently
[Post edited 4 Feb 2017 18:56]
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Camps has little to aim for tbf. |  |
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| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 19:57 - Feb 4 with 3251 views | ChaffRAFC |
Not the greatest of games but a point is a point against a decent enough side and we defended well and kept a clean sheet. Thought Keane was excellent at the back after two pretty poor games recently. Rafferty did really well in defensive midfield as well and I thought the workrate and endeavor from Henderson were fantastic. Genuinely felt sorry for him playing up on his own today. Also thought RNL had one of his better games for the club today. Joel Taylor did ok first half and started the second half really well before being sacrificed, and Rathbone showed why we've missed him in recent weeks.
Now onto the negatives and firstly the pitch. What the hell has happened to turn our pitch into a pitch that is now very much on a par with Bradford City's of previous years. It's an absolute disgrace. Not just the goalmouths but all over it. First thing that springs to mind is the rugby, and I can't stand Hornets and wish we'd get rid of them BUT, I refuse to believe that it's down to the rugby. The pitch is at it's worst in areas that wouldn't be down to the rugby. Our goalmouths and the area in front of the Sandy where we warm up for about 15 minutes. They're awful and it's not down to the rugby. We had awful weather last year and the pitch looked miles better than now. We've had rugby on the pitch the whole time when our pitch was getting rave reviews and Oli Makin was here so why is it so bad all of a sudden? It's like Firgrove playing fields, if not worse. I think serious questions need asking about this, whether it's to the groundstaff or the company used in the summer (same company as last year?).
Onto the football, we couldn't play football on that surface and had to go direct which is why we missed Calvin and Davies so much today. Kitching was poor, McNulty looked a little indecisive at times and Vincenti just isn't offering us enough with his cameos and hasn't done since way before his injury, probably stretching back to last season even. Nowhere near the player he was. Thought Camps was poor as well even though he was at least trying to create and bring the ball forward and it has to be said, he was very lucky to get away with a booking for that tackle. Looked a definite red card to me.
Poor game, average performance in difficult conditions.
Two very tough games coming up and I'd take a point in each without question. |  |
| If I hadn't seen such riches, I could live with being poor |
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| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 20:03 - Feb 4 with 3206 views | sykeboy |
Have to agree on the pitch there is something not right even with a weeks break there appears to be no improvement or remedial work undertaken in fact it looks worse |  | | |
| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 20:04 - Feb 4 with 3200 views | 442Dale |
Even the BBC/press association report mentions the pitch and Hill's interview on YouTube sees it come up too.
Something has gone wrong, the question is can it be put right? | |
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| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 20:29 - Feb 4 with 3077 views | rochedale |
| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 20:04 - Feb 4 by 442Dale |
Even the BBC/press association report mentions the pitch and Hill's interview on YouTube sees it come up too.
Something has gone wrong, the question is can it be put right? |
Yes, the pitch look poor. Even at kick off, we commented how dire it looked. There hasn't even been much rainfall this week. It can't be draining too well. It doesn't seem to recover as it should as it looked really wet. | |
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| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 20:29 - Feb 4 with 3077 views | Daley_Lama |
| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 17:54 - Feb 4 by richfoad32 |
It's also his second ever game of league football and he started in a position he's probably unfamiliar with............I think he should be given every chance to settle before people start writing him off. |
Totally agree. |  |
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| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 20:33 - Feb 4 with 3054 views | rochedale |
It was good to see Conrad had a few fans in the Sandy, hopefully they are also encouraging him to do a bit of cardio as he seemed to be chafing when he was warming up. Was that also a Hibs flag? | |
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| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 20:57 - Feb 4 with 2960 views | D_Alien |
| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 20:29 - Feb 4 by rochedale |
Yes, the pitch look poor. Even at kick off, we commented how dire it looked. There hasn't even been much rainfall this week. It can't be draining too well. It doesn't seem to recover as it should as it looked really wet. |
That was entirely due to the pre-match sprinklers, which soak some areas whilst leaving others bone dry |  |
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| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 21:05 - Feb 4 with 2922 views | rochedale |
| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 20:57 - Feb 4 by D_Alien |
That was entirely due to the pre-match sprinklers, which soak some areas whilst leaving others bone dry |
ah, ok, so they put the sprinklers on the pitch prior to the game?
You wouldn't think the pitch needed watering this time of year. [Post edited 4 Feb 2017 21:12]
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| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 21:14 - Feb 4 with 2871 views | D_Alien |
| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 21:05 - Feb 4 by rochedale |
ah, ok, so they put the sprinklers on the pitch prior to the game?
You wouldn't think the pitch needed watering this time of year. [Post edited 4 Feb 2017 21:12]
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Yes, and then have 3 or 4 of the groundstaff trying to fork the excess water away from the surface
It's difficult to understand what's going on there, to say the least. I can understand the principle if there hadn't been any rain for a week, or the water was spread evenly
From the TDS and with the sun glinting on the surface, it's clear the ground staff aren't even able to see the most sodden patches and just try to fork through wherever they're nearest to | |
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| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 22:21 - Feb 4 with 2631 views | tony_roch975 |
| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 17:40 - Feb 4 by D_Alien |
It was clear from the kickoff that we were set up not to lose, and the clean sheet was a blessing after recent games. I enjoyed the game, even though it was far from being the Dale we saw just a month ago but a lot's happened since then. For me, a solid performance on which to start building again.
We had several players out there who were either new to league football or not yet match fit, and it showed. Raff had an excellent game in front of the back four but I'd still rather see him at RB; between him and Keane for MoM
Everything to play for and it's just a matter of building confidence again whilst players return from injury and regain full match fitness. |
Agree - and a special word for Hendo's work rate and hold-up play against a rugby tackling CB; pity he didn't quite have the confidence/pace to finish the one-on-one chance . As Hill said post match, it's a necessary re-building. Not sure what supporters expected with a squad decimated with injuries - we create miracles with so little money but it does mean we can't cope with 6 first teamers injured at the same time. It'll take half a dozen games to bed the new players in and for Keith to work out the best team/formations.
Keep the faith. | |
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| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 22:24 - Feb 4 with 2621 views | boromat |
A poor pitch and a ref who loved to stop the game meant it's was never going to be a great game of football. Bristol were the better team for me overall purely because they had the odd half chance. We however were obviously set up to keep a clean sheet and we did that. I think today was a great starting block with all the new players that need to be integrated isn't gonna happen overnight. Without our injuries I would have expected us to win that game but considering the circumstances a great point and something to build on and find the next winning formula.
Kitching looks a little lost in midfield and I think Keith was hoping Taylor would be more of an attacking threat from left back but it didn't quite work today. Camps struggled to adapt to being moved into the more advanced role but is more than capable of playing there again takes time to change. Rathbone didn't cause as many problems out wide either unfortunately and maybe he's back in the team a week too early. I though Reuben probably had his best performance for us he looked unplayable at times, I really hope its a sign of things to come. New keeper looked assured on the ball and made that one good save but he wasn't really tested. Felt for Hendo a bit today isolated up front with little help. | |
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| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 22:51 - Feb 4 with 2536 views | rochedale |
| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 22:24 - Feb 4 by boromat |
A poor pitch and a ref who loved to stop the game meant it's was never going to be a great game of football. Bristol were the better team for me overall purely because they had the odd half chance. We however were obviously set up to keep a clean sheet and we did that. I think today was a great starting block with all the new players that need to be integrated isn't gonna happen overnight. Without our injuries I would have expected us to win that game but considering the circumstances a great point and something to build on and find the next winning formula.
Kitching looks a little lost in midfield and I think Keith was hoping Taylor would be more of an attacking threat from left back but it didn't quite work today. Camps struggled to adapt to being moved into the more advanced role but is more than capable of playing there again takes time to change. Rathbone didn't cause as many problems out wide either unfortunately and maybe he's back in the team a week too early. I though Reuben probably had his best performance for us he looked unplayable at times, I really hope its a sign of things to come. New keeper looked assured on the ball and made that one good save but he wasn't really tested. Felt for Hendo a bit today isolated up front with little help. |
And your post really does put in to perspective how fans view a game differently. 50% of your comments I completely agree with, however, the remaining I disagree with. But great to judge my own perspective with others who were there also. | |
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| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 23:56 - Feb 4 with 2363 views | rochdaleriddler |
Poor game, away to settled for draw, 20 mins to go. Dale just kept lumping it forward. Crap to watch. Pitch dreadful |  |
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| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 07:50 - Feb 5 with 2139 views | frenzied |
with the players we have available ,anything at all over the next 2 games would be a bonus | | | |
| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 08:05 - Feb 5 with 2120 views | 1907 |
| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 22:21 - Feb 4 by tony_roch975 |
Agree - and a special word for Hendo's work rate and hold-up play against a rugby tackling CB; pity he didn't quite have the confidence/pace to finish the one-on-one chance . As Hill said post match, it's a necessary re-building. Not sure what supporters expected with a squad decimated with injuries - we create miracles with so little money but it does mean we can't cope with 6 first teamers injured at the same time. It'll take half a dozen games to bed the new players in and for Keith to work out the best team/formations.
Keep the faith. |
I think the issue is the number of players being played out of position, baffling team selections, poor substitutions and a disgraceful pitch.
I don't think we've had a shot on target now for three weeks. That is absolutely appalling.
That game yesterday was as poor as anything we ever witnessed in league two. | | | |
| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 08:10 - Feb 5 with 2117 views | rochedale |
| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 08:05 - Feb 5 by 1907 |
I think the issue is the number of players being played out of position, baffling team selections, poor substitutions and a disgraceful pitch.
I don't think we've had a shot on target now for three weeks. That is absolutely appalling.
That game yesterday was as poor as anything we ever witnessed in league two. |
I think you're being very harsh. If we made constant mistakes and allowed their team to score a few goals, you could possibly have reason to declare it was as poor as anything witnessed in league 2. I thought we played ok, apart from creating decent goal scoring opportunities, which when you consider the loss of SD and CA, is understandable. | |
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| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 09:10 - Feb 5 with 2034 views | SaxonDale |
Just seen the highlights and the pitch looks absolutely awful- forget the rugby, there should be no reason why our pitch has regressed so much in the last 24 months. Hill must be furious about it and rightly so. If it means spending quarter of a million on improving the pitch in the summer so that we're guaranteed a good playing surface for the next 10 years and beyond then the board should pay it. It's hard enough getting promoted from this league with the budget we have and playing the style we do without a crap pitch to handicap us too. Our home record up till now is the reason we have a chance of the play offs this season, I hope that our home record till the end of the season is not the reason we don't make the play offs. Russ Green, Frances and co are doing all they can and more to sell Rochdale to the town, how on earth are people coming to watch this club going to watch an exciting match on that horse field? Are potential fans who come for 1 game going to get a true idea of how Rochdale play football now? Embarrassing. |  | | |
| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 09:18 - Feb 5 with 2019 views | dingdangblue |
| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 09:10 - Feb 5 by SaxonDale |
Just seen the highlights and the pitch looks absolutely awful- forget the rugby, there should be no reason why our pitch has regressed so much in the last 24 months. Hill must be furious about it and rightly so. If it means spending quarter of a million on improving the pitch in the summer so that we're guaranteed a good playing surface for the next 10 years and beyond then the board should pay it. It's hard enough getting promoted from this league with the budget we have and playing the style we do without a crap pitch to handicap us too. Our home record up till now is the reason we have a chance of the play offs this season, I hope that our home record till the end of the season is not the reason we don't make the play offs. Russ Green, Frances and co are doing all they can and more to sell Rochdale to the town, how on earth are people coming to watch this club going to watch an exciting match on that horse field? Are potential fans who come for 1 game going to get a true idea of how Rochdale play football now? Embarrassing. |
We had a great run in last season playing on an even worse pitch? The pitch is a poor excuse. We are suffering with a lot of players out all at once - and players coming in who haven't played many games together. Hopefully we can hang in there over the next month and we haven't lost too much ground on the top 6 by the time Calvin, Davies, Bunney and Lund return. Fleetwood is a massive game now - a draw minimum. Southend are flying at the moment and that last minute defeat there now looks like it could be huge. |  |
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| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 10:21 - Feb 5 with 1892 views | 1907 |
| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 08:10 - Feb 5 by rochedale |
I think you're being very harsh. If we made constant mistakes and allowed their team to score a few goals, you could possibly have reason to declare it was as poor as anything witnessed in league 2. I thought we played ok, apart from creating decent goal scoring opportunities, which when you consider the loss of SD and CA, is understandable. |
It wasn't at all mate. The standard of football on show from both teams yesterday was really poor. The pitch was a big factor but we've got to be able to manage it and have alternative game plans to accommodate such factors. | | | |
| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 10:32 - Feb 5 with 1867 views | BartRowou |
The cannabis lights were out yesterday (corner of Sandy/Wilbutts) so maybe we're going to try and grow some grass before Charlton?
I'd go for the sand again like last year. It doesn't look good on TV but it's more reliable than the current pitch and, with us now landlords, I presume we could train on it and get used to it before games. |  |
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| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 10:55 - Feb 5 with 1795 views | dawlishdale |
| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 10:21 - Feb 5 by 1907 |
It wasn't at all mate. The standard of football on show from both teams yesterday was really poor. The pitch was a big factor but we've got to be able to manage it and have alternative game plans to accommodate such factors. |
Not a good advert for the top end of League 1, but nowhere near as bad as you make out.
I feel that we would have gone on to win the game had Hilly not made the substitutes he did. Sadly, each one (ok...Allen wasn't on long enough to tell) made us worse.
I understand why Hill chose to bring on Peter Vincenti, but he is hopelessly weak at the moment, and apart from a couple of poorly directed headers shortly after coming on, he did nothing. He looks so weak physically at the moment as well. Needs to work on his leg strength.
Likewise Donal: If ever there was a reason why players should listen to their Manager before their Agent, he is it. A shadow of the player he was when he first came here. On his way back into obscurity based on current form.
I was quite amazed to see Bristol Rovers settling for a point in the last 15 minutes with some outrageous time wasting. Jim Mc Nulty was having a mare (again) towards the end, and was there to be run at.
Sad to see that there was no room for NML as an impact sub, but on the positive side, RNL had by far his best game for us, and was in the running for my MOM before being subbed. | | | |
| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 11:17 - Feb 5 with 1737 views | nordenblue |
| Match thread: Bristol Rovers on 10:32 - Feb 5 by BartRowou |
The cannabis lights were out yesterday (corner of Sandy/Wilbutts) so maybe we're going to try and grow some grass before Charlton?
I'd go for the sand again like last year. It doesn't look good on TV but it's more reliable than the current pitch and, with us now landlords, I presume we could train on it and get used to it before games. |
With the pitch in its current state Id stay well clear of training on it too,it will just cut up even more....
Doesn't the drop in standard of the pitch coincide with Oli leaving? | | | |
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