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Sat on a train from London to Manchester thought I would start a match Thread. I notice there hasn't been any pre match interview with any players or members of the coaching staff. Hopefully that isn't due to a lack of confidence within the squad about getting anything from this game.
'Only happy when you've got it often makes you miss the journey'
Match Thread, Dale v In form top of the table Barnet on 17:34 - Feb 22 by judd
My mate.summed up.the substitutions as an attempt to defend our defeat.
Spot on.
The system.is not delivering results.
Change it.
Give the opposition something to worry about.
I did wonder if McNulty brought Henderson on today far earlier than usual as a way to say to the fans ‘here, you’re getting what you want and now you’ll see why he isn’t playing.’ I really hope not, as Henderson deserves better than his only real appearance of late being when the game’s already lost.
Although Henderson’s appearance was pretty poor today, he at least showed more desire than Mitchell and Rodney have done in weeks. The crowd reaction when he was brought on was also notable. A blatant show of contempt towards McNulty and his tactics. Why wasn’t Jim questioned about that in his post-match interview?
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Match Thread, Dale v In form top of the table Barnet on 20:29 - Feb 22 with 2828 views
Match Thread, Dale v In form top of the table Barnet on 19:59 - Feb 22 by dingdangblue
In his interview Jim says Barnet are the best side to come to Spotland in his time in charge - including league 2. They looked functional to me - but nothing special. Quite direct, pressed our defenders, good set pieces, took their chances. We basically made them look like world beaters.
The best team he should be seeing at Spotland is his.
Match Thread, Dale v In form top of the table Barnet on 20:00 - Feb 22 by Shun
I did wonder if McNulty brought Henderson on today far earlier than usual as a way to say to the fans ‘here, you’re getting what you want and now you’ll see why he isn’t playing.’ I really hope not, as Henderson deserves better than his only real appearance of late being when the game’s already lost.
Although Henderson’s appearance was pretty poor today, he at least showed more desire than Mitchell and Rodney have done in weeks. The crowd reaction when he was brought on was also notable. A blatant show of contempt towards McNulty and his tactics. Why wasn’t Jim questioned about that in his post-match interview?
Team orders don't ask Jim any taxing questions.
'Only happy when you've got it often makes you miss the journey'
To be honest I’ve seen some abject performances over the years. Nightmares in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s but that display that afternoon is up there with the best (or worst) of them. Anyone else remember 6-0 drubbing by Plymouth around 1973? And I recall Lincoln turning up around 2005 and paralysing us. The difference is that the expectations are much higher these days, fuelled by a spell in League 1 and by the acquisition of the club by the Ogden family. Today has been coming for months though. My wife, who has no interest in football decided to come to the Braintree game at the end of September. Her immediate reaction was, “is it always this boring?”. The writing was on the wall then and we are also suffering from a chronic lack of activity in the transfer market. I can only presume that BJ was told that the budget didn’t allow any recruitment in January because money had to be spent on urgent work to the pitch. There are plenty of bodies in the current squad but they’re all clones. The only selection issue is seemingly which two players can be permed from around six to play on either side of Mitchell. Barnet were impressive but nothing like as good as the likes of Wrexham, Notts County and Stockport have been at this level in the recent past. They were helped by the gift of an early goal of course. Beckwith is a shadow of the player he was in the autumn. The second came when Tarryn lost possession but I’m still not sure why he was where he was to receive the ball in the first place. The game had gone then. And we effectively surrendered by bringing off East and Gordon in the closing stages. The footballing equivalent of throwing in the towel. Will BJ fall on his sword? Highly unlikely, he’s a year into a three year contract with a wife and young family to support. Will he be pushed? Not in the foreseeable future in my opinion. The board may well be influenced by his seemingly continued love in with the Sandy and the chairman on the ground hasn’t a good record in sacking managers at the right time. There is a shortage of prospective caretakers in the building as well, no equivalent of Tony Ellis. Would Hendo relish the task? The worry is that BJ is allowed to oversee recruitment in the summer which could subject us to another season of boredom.
1
Match Thread, Dale v In form top of the table Barnet on 20:57 - Feb 22 with 2611 views
That was a watershed game for me. We did not have a clue. Tactics? What tactics? Ok we gifted them an early goal - we still had 90mins to give them a game. But we didnt have a plan. Ironic, that in a game where tippy happy possession may have been a good option, we chose to launch the ball. To whom? To nobody who could profit from them.. Surely, after a dozen of these ineffective launches we might have tried something else? Nope! The last straw for me was taking Allarakia off. But worse still was bringing Hendo on early. I know that's what we all wanted to see but, to me, this showed that Jim, by pandering to the crowd, had run out of his own ideas.
Forget this season. It's gone. We can't get a new manager now because it would not be fair to the guy. We have to let the season run it's course with Jim at the helm and decide what to do near the end of the season. Pains me to say it.but today was utter shite and it has been coming for a while
[Post edited 22 Feb 22:18]
The worm of time turns not for the cuckoo of circumstance.
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Match Thread, Dale v In form top of the table Barnet on 21:07 - Feb 22 with 2534 views
Match Thread, Dale v In form top of the table Barnet on 17:34 - Feb 22 by judd
My mate.summed up.the substitutions as an attempt to defend our defeat.
Spot on.
The system.is not delivering results.
Change it.
Give the opposition something to worry about.
Unfortunately, we have no forwards that would worry Sudden Social Club. I think my thoughts on Mitchell have been widely,resd and largely agreed with, Rodney isnt at the races and then the tactical genius brought Ayinde on as a wing back .. At least Hendo got a decent run out, and showed more nous than Mitchell and Rodney have shown all season, sadly too little too late. Clearly we do not have the players to change the system radically, no tricky winger, no scorching pace, nobody leading the line, noone working off the centre forward, its one dimensional powder-puff, easy to defend against and uninspiring to watch. The team that Jim built is going nowhere at a gentle pace , no aggression, no Hero for the kids, nothing to get the fans jumping up and down. Its predictable, anodyne and hapless. Its not the fact of losing to a team at the top of the table , its more that they really are not that great, but they were organised, strong and were prepared to get stuck in... we were not... This Division is about horses for courses, the ability to win ugly, to chase lost causes and to be physically strong and mentally capable of finding an extra yard. Above all that its about scoring lots of goals. McNulty has backed the wrong horses in the wrong race , the big question is this.. is he big enough to admit he has got it wrong and change.. or not? He has to bring in a centre forward and a goal poacher of the game is up and the season over.....even if we were to win the trophy its a booby prize compared to entertaining the crowds, getting to the play offs and once there, who knows what might happen......But I fear we are living up to my prediction of mid- table obscurity.
3
Match Thread, Dale v In form top of the table Barnet on 21:49 - Feb 22 with 2340 views
For the third home league game in a row, Dale have been outplayed and embarrassed. We have scored ONCE in the past 5 league games. Dale are mostly bloody boring to watch, whoever they play. Entertainment? Where? No mention of the above in a post-match manager interview which screams weakness. Apparently we, exclusively, struggle to play twice a week. Not that anyone else has to. No apology to fans for how awful we have been or how to remedy the crisis. He's even apologising in advance for next Tuesday when we play a part-time team with limited resources, but they have bags of team spirit, effective tactics and effort. Things McNulty's Dale don't. They have also drawn three and lost two of their last five games, just like Jim's full time Dale have, so why the high praise? Tippy tappy tripe has been a theme throughout McNulty's management here. It's ineffectual, and he can't learn that little lads playing like that in this league does not work unless you catch Yeovil or AFC Fylde on a bad day. Plan B is to launch it to a forward that very very rarely wins the ball in the air. Seemingly, that's all we can do. Post-match conversations with fellow supporters have been depressing to listen to, but make sense. Being realistic, we are going nowhere at all repeating this managers same old same old philosophy of failure, and that disrespects the owners and fans of RAFC. What McNulty puts on the pitch isn't acceptable at any level. It is wet lettuce football. The boos he got when applauding The Sandy were well deserved. Folk have had enough. Bye bye Jim, all the best.
As others have said, they were everything we weren't.
Organised, physical, clinical, up for it.
There was a stark difference between their manager who was barking instructions and encouragement to his players even to the point you could hear him telling his defenders they could afford to relax when they had a corner. To ours who stands there, hands in pockets looking clueless once the players cross the line.
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Match Thread, Dale v In form top of the table Barnet on 23:13 - Feb 22 with 1955 views
It was my first visit to Spotland in a while. I'm an exile and the drive up isn't too bad but the costs are not brilliant.
To sum up today's performance... shocking.
Over the season I have been able to watch Dale on DAZN or listen to the games. At one point this season I started to have hope. Dale appeared to mixing up their game plan. Passing slowly, rapid attacks and long ball when appropriate. However, the formation always stays the same and isn't working.
Mitchell is not an individual front man. He is great running onto balls over the top. He is not a player who holds the ball up well. He also struggles on his own, because any problems he causes are fruitless as the other farwards are too far away to profit from his work.
Rodney is not a wide man and is wasted playing out of position. He'd be better playing as two up front with Mitchell, profiting from any work done by the later.
The two forward wide players are wasted when playing wing backs as they all get in each other's way. Wing backs should have targets in the center to aim for not players being employed directly in their path.
The midfield two doesn't work. Fine if bypassing the midfield. But as we try to play through the midfield they are out numbered. Neither East or Gimour are ball winners. We need a ratter, a terrier. Neither East or Gilmour are able to be a box to box player. Therefore isolating Mitchell and the forwards even more.
Defensively we've not been too bad. But at what cost. The 5-2-3 formation doesn't work. If Jim wants to employ wingback the revert to 5-3-2. If we play with a lone front man and 2 wide men then get someone who can hold the ball up.
After today's performance, which was one of the worst I've seen from Dale, and I'm in my late 50s,something needs to be done.
Plan B and plan C need to be employed pretty quickly
Would love to see a heat map of East/Gilmour today. Deeper than Barry White for 95% of the match.
Tactic was to go long from the back, but we did so retaining our play it out from the back formation.
Consequently when Waller kicked it forward, Hogan was on the 6 yard line, East and Gilmour were 5 yards from our box and Mitchell was as isolated as a transgender individual at a Trump rally.
Mitchell got hardly anything out of the excellent Tavares (25) but on the odd chance he did win, or at least inconvenience Tavares, there was nobody near. Second ball = Barnet ball.
It had obviously been decided to abandon our play it out style today, maybe because Barnet are fast, strong, powerful pressing team, maybe due to crowd pressure (TDS nearly asphyxiates each time we don’t hoof it) but it failed miserably today.
Looked collectively a bit lost today - here’s hoping they can find their mojo soon.
Match Thread, Dale v In form top of the table Barnet on 23:28 - Feb 22 by Daley_Lama
Would love to see a heat map of East/Gilmour today. Deeper than Barry White for 95% of the match.
Tactic was to go long from the back, but we did so retaining our play it out from the back formation.
Consequently when Waller kicked it forward, Hogan was on the 6 yard line, East and Gilmour were 5 yards from our box and Mitchell was as isolated as a transgender individual at a Trump rally.
Mitchell got hardly anything out of the excellent Tavares (25) but on the odd chance he did win, or at least inconvenience Tavares, there was nobody near. Second ball = Barnet ball.
It had obviously been decided to abandon our play it out style today, maybe because Barnet are fast, strong, powerful pressing team, maybe due to crowd pressure (TDS nearly asphyxiates each time we don’t hoof it) but it failed miserably today.
Looked collectively a bit lost today - here’s hoping they can find their mojo soon.
Need to find that Mojo on Saturday in the cup otherwise it will feel like season over.
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Match Thread, Dale v In form top of the table Barnet on 00:50 - Feb 23 with 1636 views
Match Thread, Dale v In form top of the table Barnet on 23:13 - Feb 22 by pnc4eva1
It was my first visit to Spotland in a while. I'm an exile and the drive up isn't too bad but the costs are not brilliant.
To sum up today's performance... shocking.
Over the season I have been able to watch Dale on DAZN or listen to the games. At one point this season I started to have hope. Dale appeared to mixing up their game plan. Passing slowly, rapid attacks and long ball when appropriate. However, the formation always stays the same and isn't working.
Mitchell is not an individual front man. He is great running onto balls over the top. He is not a player who holds the ball up well. He also struggles on his own, because any problems he causes are fruitless as the other farwards are too far away to profit from his work.
Rodney is not a wide man and is wasted playing out of position. He'd be better playing as two up front with Mitchell, profiting from any work done by the later.
The two forward wide players are wasted when playing wing backs as they all get in each other's way. Wing backs should have targets in the center to aim for not players being employed directly in their path.
The midfield two doesn't work. Fine if bypassing the midfield. But as we try to play through the midfield they are out numbered. Neither East or Gimour are ball winners. We need a ratter, a terrier. Neither East or Gilmour are able to be a box to box player. Therefore isolating Mitchell and the forwards even more.
Defensively we've not been too bad. But at what cost. The 5-2-3 formation doesn't work. If Jim wants to employ wingback the revert to 5-3-2. If we play with a lone front man and 2 wide men then get someone who can hold the ball up.
After today's performance, which was one of the worst I've seen from Dale, and I'm in my late 50s,something needs to be done.
Plan B and plan C need to be employed pretty quickly
Seriously when Rodney was subbed off today my mate sat next to me said he hadn't realised he was pkaying.
Its a BRILLIANT goal to cap a BRILLIANT start by Rochdale - Don Goodman 26/08/10
Not sure where you start with that debacle, but for me defeat was a foregone conclusion upon listening to McNultys post match Halifax interview. To bull up Barnet as he did in that interview was just getting the excuses in early for what followed. By all means acknowledge the gap if it is a cup game against a team in a much higher league but for me its very poor managership when you make out a team in your own division are some sort of superteam. However the really shocking aspect of yesterdays performance, was our workrate. Its been said many times in the past that most reasonable fans will accept a players limitations in skill but never a lack of effort. The memory that will long live with me from yesterday is that at 0-4 Barnets approach of closing down, driving forward, never a thought to pass back and fighting to win the ball was greater than our workrate at any point in the game. The contrast in the winning mentality approach was even more stark when you observed the respective managers From the off, Barnets manager was directing his team, balling individuals out, directing players positions and then after rollicking his players all game, and as they were substituted, clipping them up and no doubt telling them they were brilliant as he did so. The Barnet players motivation and desire to never release the stranglehold they had on the game was truly impressive. Contrast that with McNultys flat approach. Very little direction, no animation. Someone observed , near to me that you might as well have had a cardboard cut out placed there for all the passion that Jim displays. He was a languid player, he,s a languid manager and inevitablly we now have a languid team where passion and entertainment are secondary to some immovable cerebral football vision deepseated in Jims head. I fully accept that you don,t have to be a Steve Evans impressionist to achieve success but this team is a reflection of its manager and I percieve signs that he is now losing the dressing room. Player body language was not as it should be (regardless of the reality check they were getting) yesterday and I suspect there are a number who do not believe in the managers soulless brand of one dimensional football. As each game comes along it looks like going through the motions with the added bonus that under McNultys ethos, you do not have to bust a gut to do so. For me, next Saturday will either prove me right or wrong. If the players are not "up for it" with a home draw against a local team and two games away from a Wembley visit, then McNulty has failed miserably. All teams go through bad form spells but I feel the problem the club have with Jim goes deeper than just formations and results. I have never met the chap, but I constantly read on here that he is a "nice chap". It might sound harsh but "so what". When I make a 200 mile round trip to watch the Dale, I don,t come for a woke love in , I want to see passion and a ruthless streak and occaisonally even some excitement.. But what does the club do? I have no idea what the decision making process would be at the club regarding Jims future. However I am pretty confident that under Jim, "Project 5000"(whatever that actually means in practice) is dead in the water. Of course football being football, if two walking football 1-0 wins get us to Wembley, Jim will be walking on water again but I for one won,t be purchasing a season ticket. It may be that the club do not even perceive they have a problem, with play offs and a Wembley trip still a possibility! Sadly I think they are wrong.
[Post edited 23 Feb 11:07]
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Match Thread, Dale v In form top of the table Barnet on 11:04 - Feb 23 with 1051 views
People continue to reference us playing “McNulty's preferred style”, but in reality, that approach would’ve probably been more effective yesterday.
McNulty tends to use a 3-4-2-1 formation. In this system, the team either plays out from the back and works the ball into the box or goes long (like we did yesterday). However, going long in that formation doesn’t work because it’s not designed for it.
What McNulty needed to do was switch up the formation, as Barnet had figured us out after just five minutes. Instead, he simply slotted subs into a system that was already failing, and that’s where the criticism is warranted.
On top of that, the body language of certain players and the lack of energy were also concerning, as it added to the overall feeling of stagnation.
I maintain that the squad still lacks players in two key areas to alter the flow of a game and pressure those who have maybe grown comfortable in starting berths.
The QF against Altrincham is key now, as, if we lose that, all eyes focus dejectedly on our continued drifting from the play-offs - games in hand or not.
Another factor re Jim`s tenure is that he has now been with the club as player and manager exactly 10 years. You would think this would have given him a great advantage over most new managers coming into a new club usually in difficult circumstances. But I wonder if that is such a good thing. Is he too comfortable- 3 year contract as well. There are so many references to him being a nice guy-he is certainly loyal to his players- except for Hendo I think they are all his signings (April 23 onwards). This is a very unique situation for an unproven manager. Forget last season- he probably did well to keep the results coming with all the background problems, but he doesn`t seem to have any attack-minded flair.
If he is losing the dressing room, and it certainly looks that way on the pitch, then he is in great danger of losing the crowd support as well.
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Match Thread, Dale v In form top of the table Barnet on 12:16 - Feb 23 with 814 views
I fear you may be right about BJ beginning to lose the crowd. I spoke to a family member yesterday who has been a seasonticket holder for years and has only missed a handful away games in a decade. He has deep reservations about renewing next year and even about going next Saturday. “I simply don’t enjoy it anymore,” he said. The acid test for Jim is if he loses goodwill from the young lads in the Sandy. Should that happen he’s toast.
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Match Thread, Dale v In form top of the table Barnet on 12:20 - Feb 23 with 780 views
Match Thread, Dale v In form top of the table Barnet on 12:16 - Feb 23 by EllDale
I fear you may be right about BJ beginning to lose the crowd. I spoke to a family member yesterday who has been a seasonticket holder for years and has only missed a handful away games in a decade. He has deep reservations about renewing next year and even about going next Saturday. “I simply don’t enjoy it anymore,” he said. The acid test for Jim is if he loses goodwill from the young lads in the Sandy. Should that happen he’s toast.
The booing from the Sandy was described as brutal by one fan after the game.
I think that word summed it up.
A seismic shift in the usual response to applauding the Sandy.
Match Thread, Dale v In form top of the table Barnet on 20:57 - Feb 22 by mikehunt
That was a watershed game for me. We did not have a clue. Tactics? What tactics? Ok we gifted them an early goal - we still had 90mins to give them a game. But we didnt have a plan. Ironic, that in a game where tippy happy possession may have been a good option, we chose to launch the ball. To whom? To nobody who could profit from them.. Surely, after a dozen of these ineffective launches we might have tried something else? Nope! The last straw for me was taking Allarakia off. But worse still was bringing Hendo on early. I know that's what we all wanted to see but, to me, this showed that Jim, by pandering to the crowd, had run out of his own ideas.
Forget this season. It's gone. We can't get a new manager now because it would not be fair to the guy. We have to let the season run it's course with Jim at the helm and decide what to do near the end of the season. Pains me to say it.but today was utter shite and it has been coming for a while
[Post edited 22 Feb 22:18]
I think Jim's plan *was* still to try and play his way yesterday, but Barnet pressed us well, we lost confidence and the players took matters into their own hands.
That performance yesterday screamed a team that wasn't playing for it's manager and once that happens there's only one outcome.
Tangled up in blue.
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Match Thread, Dale v In form top of the table Barnet on 14:06 - Feb 23 with 437 views
Match Thread, Dale v In form top of the table Barnet on 11:01 - Feb 23 by BillyRudd
Not sure where you start with that debacle, but for me defeat was a foregone conclusion upon listening to McNultys post match Halifax interview. To bull up Barnet as he did in that interview was just getting the excuses in early for what followed. By all means acknowledge the gap if it is a cup game against a team in a much higher league but for me its very poor managership when you make out a team in your own division are some sort of superteam. However the really shocking aspect of yesterdays performance, was our workrate. Its been said many times in the past that most reasonable fans will accept a players limitations in skill but never a lack of effort. The memory that will long live with me from yesterday is that at 0-4 Barnets approach of closing down, driving forward, never a thought to pass back and fighting to win the ball was greater than our workrate at any point in the game. The contrast in the winning mentality approach was even more stark when you observed the respective managers From the off, Barnets manager was directing his team, balling individuals out, directing players positions and then after rollicking his players all game, and as they were substituted, clipping them up and no doubt telling them they were brilliant as he did so. The Barnet players motivation and desire to never release the stranglehold they had on the game was truly impressive. Contrast that with McNultys flat approach. Very little direction, no animation. Someone observed , near to me that you might as well have had a cardboard cut out placed there for all the passion that Jim displays. He was a languid player, he,s a languid manager and inevitablly we now have a languid team where passion and entertainment are secondary to some immovable cerebral football vision deepseated in Jims head. I fully accept that you don,t have to be a Steve Evans impressionist to achieve success but this team is a reflection of its manager and I percieve signs that he is now losing the dressing room. Player body language was not as it should be (regardless of the reality check they were getting) yesterday and I suspect there are a number who do not believe in the managers soulless brand of one dimensional football. As each game comes along it looks like going through the motions with the added bonus that under McNultys ethos, you do not have to bust a gut to do so. For me, next Saturday will either prove me right or wrong. If the players are not "up for it" with a home draw against a local team and two games away from a Wembley visit, then McNulty has failed miserably. All teams go through bad form spells but I feel the problem the club have with Jim goes deeper than just formations and results. I have never met the chap, but I constantly read on here that he is a "nice chap". It might sound harsh but "so what". When I make a 200 mile round trip to watch the Dale, I don,t come for a woke love in , I want to see passion and a ruthless streak and occaisonally even some excitement.. But what does the club do? I have no idea what the decision making process would be at the club regarding Jims future. However I am pretty confident that under Jim, "Project 5000"(whatever that actually means in practice) is dead in the water. Of course football being football, if two walking football 1-0 wins get us to Wembley, Jim will be walking on water again but I for one won,t be purchasing a season ticket. It may be that the club do not even perceive they have a problem, with play offs and a Wembley trip still a possibility! Sadly I think they are wrong.
[Post edited 23 Feb 11:07]
Decent post but please elaborate on what you mean by “woke”. I’ve asked loads of people who use that phrase but they never answer. Perhaps you will.
“He was deliberately misleading the EFL”
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Match Thread, Dale v In form top of the table Barnet on 14:34 - Feb 23 with 318 views
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