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Northampton Town (a) Match Thread on 17:12 - Sep 17 by BlueMessiah
David Buchanan was doing the punditry for Radio Northants which was the commentary on my dodgy firestick. He's obviously from Rochdale and has seen a lot of our matches recently. Around the hour mark he made a very poignant comment when he said it looks as though the Rochdale players are just waiting to get beaten. A sad reflection on our current dilemma.
That has to be Bentley’s biggest concern. There needs to be a total shift in attitude to get results because otherwise we could be talking about further pressures on a manager in a couple of months which is almost ridiculous to think after a few weeks.
Nobody is claiming this is a great team, but we’ve gone from the positivity of Carlisle to this in very short order and that indicates there’s far more issues around the mindset of the players than their individual attributes.
Got a sneaking suspicion where this may be heading.
The only positive I can take from today is that the others around us did not win and despite not winning in nine games, we are still only 4 points from safety, which is bloody amazing.
Bentley needs to get tough and start kicking some backsides and let players know how bad they are, in a sensitive way of course. I would drop Diagouraga for a start, the man is hopeless, he seems unable to do the basics rights and has the pace of a 95 old. Why is people like Malley get picked? But Bentley must address the lack of fight in the team.
It as been said before, in previous games, but Colchester next Saturday is a most win game, a win and a win and we are in the fight still, anything else would be a serious setback.
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Northampton Town (a) Match Thread on 17:34 - Sep 17 with 3561 views
It’s depressing when the only slight positive I can take from today is that only O’Donnell seemed arsed when we conceded. The outfield players just shrug their shoulders and it clearly doesn’t affect them.
We all know it’s never easy being a Dale fan but I’ve never seen a team of ours lack so much effort and fight as I did today. These guys really don’t give a shit.
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Northampton Town (a) Match Thread on 17:36 - Sep 17 with 3539 views
Northampton Town (a) Match Thread on 17:34 - Sep 17 by kel
It’s depressing when the only slight positive I can take from today is that only O’Donnell seemed arsed when we conceded. The outfield players just shrug their shoulders and it clearly doesn’t affect them.
We all know it’s never easy being a Dale fan but I’ve never seen a team of ours lack so much effort and fight as I did today. These guys really don’t give a shit.
I've said it before, but I'll be a boring so and so and say it again...if I turned up to work and put absolutely no effort in, shrugged my shoulders and generally, didn't give a sh*t then I'd be out! Football operates in such a bad way that year in, year out, clubs suffer from having a changing room full of lazy gets who will happily earn their salary regardless of effort. There's no way out for a club once that mentality sets in. Perhaps I was naive, but I really believed that Jim Bentley would talk some sense into some of these players...but evidently not. My Hartlepool supporting work colleague is ever-so thankful for Dale this season :(
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Northampton Town (a) Match Thread on 17:53 - Sep 17 with 3366 views
Northampton Town (a) Match Thread on 17:39 - Sep 17 by Zac_B
I've said it before, but I'll be a boring so and so and say it again...if I turned up to work and put absolutely no effort in, shrugged my shoulders and generally, didn't give a sh*t then I'd be out! Football operates in such a bad way that year in, year out, clubs suffer from having a changing room full of lazy gets who will happily earn their salary regardless of effort. There's no way out for a club once that mentality sets in. Perhaps I was naive, but I really believed that Jim Bentley would talk some sense into some of these players...but evidently not. My Hartlepool supporting work colleague is ever-so thankful for Dale this season :(
Oh dear oh dear.
Another performance lacking in the basics,. Little skill, little pace and little effort and little desire from Dale. Calvin summed it up (and you can tell it hurts him) when he said it looks like the players think they're already down. He wasn't the best, but he always tried his absolute best.
Time for the Board to have a serious word with some players and put it on the line to them how poor they are. Wouldn't normally advocate this, but something drastic needs doing.
Hugely important game next week. Lose that and we can get ready for relegation, which would be hugely disappointing given what everyone off field has done to keep us alive as a club.
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Northampton Town (a) Match Thread on 17:58 - Sep 17 with 3320 views
We're playing in the Pizza cup on Tuesday, against U21's who'll no doubt be looking to make waves in their career
Bentley could do worse than start with a team of players either on the fringe or coming back from injury to see what they're about. If he hasn't tried the hairdryer approach yet, it's time to plug it in. He doesn't look like the sort who'll put up with what's happening - i really hope not, because it's not acceptable by any standards
His job is to keep us in with a shout until January, how he does it i don't care
Having said that, it's too soon for fans to start talking about the Conference. If that gets talked about it starts becoming accepted and there's no way any of us should accept that - not for now. In fact, not unless it becomes impossible to escape. It's fight we need, from all quarters
Northampton Town (a) Match Thread on 17:53 - Sep 17 by dawlishdale
Oh dear oh dear.
Another performance lacking in the basics,. Little skill, little pace and little effort and little desire from Dale. Calvin summed it up (and you can tell it hurts him) when he said it looks like the players think they're already down. He wasn't the best, but he always tried his absolute best.
Time for the Board to have a serious word with some players and put it on the line to them how poor they are. Wouldn't normally advocate this, but something drastic needs doing.
Hugely important game next week. Lose that and we can get ready for relegation, which would be hugely disappointing given what everyone off field has done to keep us alive as a club.
The board need to let the manager do his job - interfering in the way you suggest will only undermine him
And we won't be looking at relegation if we lose next week, either
Let's stop this talk. We all know what the prospects look like, but giving in to it is no way to go about things - never has been
Northampton Town (a) Match Thread on 17:53 - Sep 17 by dawlishdale
Oh dear oh dear.
Another performance lacking in the basics,. Little skill, little pace and little effort and little desire from Dale. Calvin summed it up (and you can tell it hurts him) when he said it looks like the players think they're already down. He wasn't the best, but he always tried his absolute best.
Time for the Board to have a serious word with some players and put it on the line to them how poor they are. Wouldn't normally advocate this, but something drastic needs doing.
Hugely important game next week. Lose that and we can get ready for relegation, which would be hugely disappointing given what everyone off field has done to keep us alive as a club.
Great point about Calvin. The sort of player who some would abuse on here for perceived lack of ability, but his commitment is why he remained vital within our most successful squad. That’s why repeating the same old stuff as some will do is spectacularly missing the point; this is not about having a bang average squad, it’s about the players fight and attitude.
I have just heard JB post match comments and he seemed to be scathing in criticisms of the Dale in the second half, and justly so. He needs to give a right good bollocking and let them know what the fans feel, but it would seem that he is running out of patience with some of them, in that he as given them games to see what they are made from and some have come up short.
A win next week at Colchester, could transform our season, but Bentley must decide if some of them are not up to the task.
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Northampton Town (a) Match Thread on 18:53 - Sep 17 with 2855 views
The 17th September is surely too early to be concerned about where the team is going to be come the end of April but this is definitely a worrying time.
As others have stated over previous weeks, I think there is enough talent in this squad to put a team on the pitch that matches most league 2 opponents. The problem seems to be that mentally these players are gone and that takes a fair bit of time and good management to pull it round.
Where is the Rochdale spirit of a couple of years (and a couple of managers) ago? Even if we didn't turn up in a game against a lower league team we always did seem to have a scrap with the those in the top 6. Rewind to March 2020 and the 3-1 win against promotion chasing Rotherham. The last match before lockdown. Great result and not totally unexpected because we still had that about us back then even though we were relegation potential. Fast forward to the past week and two matches against two top teams and you see nothing like it. Very little effort or fight and no expectation to do any better than the final results show. Worrying times.
If we can't muster a fight against the top teams then it's definitely time we turned up when we play those in the lower half of the league, something we haven't really done for years. This has to start next Saturday at Colchester otherwise we'll be up a pretty crappy creek with no obvious method of propulsion.
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Northampton Town (a) Match Thread on 18:54 - Sep 17 with 2833 views
Northampton Town (a) Match Thread on 18:45 - Sep 17 by NorthernDale
I have just heard JB post match comments and he seemed to be scathing in criticisms of the Dale in the second half, and justly so. He needs to give a right good bollocking and let them know what the fans feel, but it would seem that he is running out of patience with some of them, in that he as given them games to see what they are made from and some have come up short.
A win next week at Colchester, could transform our season, but Bentley must decide if some of them are not up to the task.
Hartlepool, Gillingham( only scored 2 goals all season) & Colchester all look like they could struggle this season & we need to stay in touch. Next week is a real six pointer even this early in the season
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Northampton Town (a) Match Thread on 19:02 - Sep 17 with 2765 views
Northampton Town (a) Match Thread on 18:54 - Sep 17 by Nigeriamark
Hartlepool, Gillingham( only scored 2 goals all season) & Colchester all look like they could struggle this season & we need to stay in touch. Next week is a real six pointer even this early in the season
Trying to find positives, it’s noticeable how many teams are currently running at less than a point a game, ie. ‘relegation form’.
In the Chanpionship only the bottom two have less points than games played, in L1 it’s the bottom five. In L2 every club from 16th downwards haven’t managed to reach nine points from the same amount of games - nine teams.
Even a win makes things look so much better as there are enough sides in view. For now.
- Substitutions (or lack of them) were as bad as we had under Stockdale. Was clear we needed to change things up from about 50 minutes and Bentley didn’t do so. Malley must be wondering what he has to do to get a game- particularly when Ball was looking absolutely knackered.
- Quigley was very poor today. Ill-disciplined at times and looked off the pace. No idea why Campbell didn’t come on for more fitness.
- There was such a lack of effort today at times- which is a huge worry so early into Bentley’s reign.
- Keohane is a cut above the rest of the team. White was ok today too in fairness.
- If it carries on like this I reckon we’ll have turned to Hill by January.
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Northampton Town (a) Match Thread on 19:45 - Sep 17 with 2516 views
Northampton Town (a) Match Thread on 19:12 - Sep 17 by SaxonDale
Few points:
- Substitutions (or lack of them) were as bad as we had under Stockdale. Was clear we needed to change things up from about 50 minutes and Bentley didn’t do so. Malley must be wondering what he has to do to get a game- particularly when Ball was looking absolutely knackered.
- Quigley was very poor today. Ill-disciplined at times and looked off the pace. No idea why Campbell didn’t come on for more fitness.
- There was such a lack of effort today at times- which is a huge worry so early into Bentley’s reign.
- Keohane is a cut above the rest of the team. White was ok today too in fairness.
- If it carries on like this I reckon we’ll have turned to Hill by January.
Agree with most of your points SD, but I'm sure JB said in his post match that he could have easily made changes but instead wanted to see what "minerals" the players on the pitch had, im pretty sure he got his answer anyway.
I'm never ceased to be amazed how guys with such a privileged career and in the real world an absolute piece of piss still have to be reminded about effort and grit, it's absolutely staggering.
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Northampton Town (a) Match Thread on 19:54 - Sep 17 with 2442 views
Northampton Town (a) Match Thread on 17:12 - Sep 17 by foreverhopefulDale
You liked him? Why? His recruitment was shite, and so was his tactical awareness. I would rather have an horrible bastard who knows how to recruit good players and knows how to get them how to play than a nice manager. Stockdale did leave us in the shit, hopefully EBJ can sort out the mess.
[Post edited 17 Sep 2022 17:16]
I can't speak for any one else but I was thinking about Stockdale along similar lines earlier today, he was/is a likeable guy (in my opinion ) a good person, I also liked him and I can't take that away from him however, you are absolutely correct in what you've posted particularly regarding his poor judgement in his recruitment, which is the main reason we are currently in the shite! Of course I don't like him now as much as I did before.......
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Northampton Town (a) Match Thread on 20:04 - Sep 17 with 2378 views
Northampton Town (a) Match Thread on 19:48 - Sep 17 by nordenblue
Agree with most of your points SD, but I'm sure JB said in his post match that he could have easily made changes but instead wanted to see what "minerals" the players on the pitch had, im pretty sure he got his answer anyway.
I'm never ceased to be amazed how guys with such a privileged career and in the real world an absolute piece of piss still have to be reminded about effort and grit, it's absolutely staggering.
The highlights are a very hard watch. There’s no point in naming names, it’s all too obvious on there who isn’t putting in the shift required whilst we are in our current position.
Northampton Town (a) Match Thread on 20:04 - Sep 17 by 442Dale
The highlights are a very hard watch. There’s no point in naming names, it’s all too obvious on there who isn’t putting in the shift required whilst we are in our current position.
It's going to get to the point where we need to be calling players who can't be arsed out. As others have said, you can forgive players who don't have the ability but try their hardest but you can't forgive the lack of effort from some of the players in our squad on a consistent basis.
Their saved penalty looped miles into the air and there wasn't a Dale player in sight when it dropped back to their striker.
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Northampton Town (a) Match Thread on 20:19 - Sep 17 with 2311 views
Unfortunately, it now seems that our recent recruitment has left us with a bunch of players who simply dont know what is required to win a professional football match. They have been coached in all the skills required but have little concept of the application required . The graft, the determination and the desire to do better are all missing. The older players remind me of those that we used to bring to the club years ago, simply going through the motions to pay the mortgage for another year. Too many seem to think it doesnt really matter, they dont have the cynicism that a professional needs, the ability to stop an opponent by any means and the willingness to put their bodies on the line. They are simply not hungry enough. There are too few consequences for failure. The management must recognise all this but there is little to do about it other than send some loanees back and cancel a couple of contracts, better to play our own kids if the ones from other clubs cant or wont run their tripes off. Its a gigantic mess created by Bottom and friends, aided and abetted by Murphy I fear the worst and hope for the best but I dont think we can afford to just wait for a miracle in January, if anything the darker nights and heavier pitches will just help to make things worse, we have a record of being poor from November to March at the best of times. But something has to change and quickly.
[Post edited 17 Sep 2022 20:25]
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Northampton Town (a) Match Thread on 20:24 - Sep 17 with 2269 views
Northampton Town (a) Match Thread on 20:19 - Sep 17 by 49thseason
Unfortunately, it now seems that our recent recruitment has left us with a bunch of players who simply dont know what is required to win a professional football match. They have been coached in all the skills required but have little concept of the application required . The graft, the determination and the desire to do better are all missing. The older players remind me of those that we used to bring to the club years ago, simply going through the motions to pay the mortgage for another year. Too many seem to think it doesnt really matter, they dont have the cynicism that a professional needs, the ability to stop an opponent by any means and the willingness to put their bodies on the line. They are simply not hungry enough. There are too few consequences for failure. The management must recognise all this but there is little to do about it other than send some loanees back and cancel a couple of contracts, better to play our own kids if the ones from other clubs cant or wont run their tripes off. Its a gigantic mess created by Bottom and friends, aided and abetted by Murphy I fear the worst and hope for the best but I dont think we can afford to just wait for a miracle in January, if anything the darker nights and heavier pitches will just help to make things worse, we have a record of being poor from November to March at the best of times. But something has to change and quickly.
[Post edited 17 Sep 2022 20:25]
We are a long way past blaming the previous regime. For all the failings of BBM as a manager, his sides consistently put a shift in and were often let down by his selections and tactical inefficiencies.
Northampton Town (a) Match Thread on 20:24 - Sep 17 by 442Dale
We are a long way past blaming the previous regime. For all the failings of BBM as a manager, his sides consistently put a shift in and were often let down by his selections and tactical inefficiencies.
I will never get past what Bottom and the rest have done to this club. Everything about our current position was initiated by Bottom, from the sacking of Hill to the decision that we would somehow be better in L2 or lower and BBMs secret contract extension. It was probably the message he was getting from his jaunts to the EFL but he preferred to agree than stand and fight. That lack of fight permeated the whole club up until the fans said no. So now we dont have a pot to persist in and a team that can't kick the skin off a rice pudding. Dont get me wrong, its great that we own the ground and the new board is clearly doing its best, but its a scandal that we are reliant on old men, kids and never-will-be's to get us out of the mire. Our best assets have gone, replaced by nonentities who care nothing for the club. So if not Bottomley who else should get the blame?
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Northampton Town (a) Match Thread on 20:58 - Sep 17 with 2098 views
I don’t know what it is but i’ve had a feeling that for the last few years we have had players at the club who are going through the motions, picking up their wages and not really bothered whether they win or lose. There have been too many games that have thrown up questions regarding the intensity of performance for me, at a time when players should be busting a gut to take a throw in or launch the ball up field in the 95th minute the lack of urgency and desire has been really noticeable. I don’t know whether it’s a fall out from lockdown or a feeling that winning games isn’t the number one priority. If we can’t win games then the club will implode, it’s as simple as that, nobody wants to be associated with a team that is losing nearly every week. You keep backing them and willing them to come up trumps, thinking the next game will be the turning point but it never is, on the pitch the players never progress and the results back that up. It can’t always be the managers fault.
How many winners do we have in that squad? How many players do we have who show that desire and are really hurting at the moment? It looks like a squad of players who don’t really give a shit, a group of players who accept defeat with ease and that reputation is now one that’s been identified by every team that we play. They lose the ball and can’t even be arsed running back, they pass the ball and stand still, some even think they can take the piss out of their own fans. Some are struggling to even last for sixty minutes of a game and don’t have the fitness levels to compete with their opponent and close them down, they aren’t fit. It’s not just the fans who see this, Calvin Andrew was on commentary today and to say he was unimpressed would be a understatement.
It’s like a lot of these players are somehow on the side of Bottomley and those that tried to kill our club, they’ll kill Bentley and his assistant too if he’s not careful because they can’t be trusted, they display no backbone whatsoever and it’s terrible to see. Who are the leaders in the team who grab hold of their teammates and pin them up in the changing room at half time and demand more effort? ...i bet we don’t have one of those, they’re all best mates together.
The only fighters we have in this club are those in the Boardroom, the fans and the staff, if the players showed the same sort of desire we would be up near the top of the league but instead they roll up to have their bellies tickled every week by the opposition, the complete opposite of the fans who have just fought tooth and nail to save the club. They’ll get Jim the sack this lot and then they’ll take us out of the EFL in the process, most of them are in their comfort zone and are experts at talking a good job and delivering next to nothing, results tell you that. I don’t believe that they are lacking in talent, just passion, fight and a winning mentality. They could prove everybody wrong and decide to go to war for the club and Jim Bentley but i bet they don’t.
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