By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions. We in turn value your personal details in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
Please log in or register. Registered visitors get fewer ads.
None whatsoever? What about the bloke with 17 goals to his name?
However, while you make a good point about the chances we're missing, saying "sign up a young striker from the EFL on a short contract loan" is easier said than done, otherwise we would have probably done it by now. I imagine it's nothing to do with finances, but more to do with availability.
You were there at Yeovil; our main failing was not creating enough chances. As I posted over the weekend, two players with 16 assists between them this term repeatedly failed to pick out a man. It's something that has thankfully been rare this season.
This isn't a question for you, dawlish, but why would the assessor, there to do a professional job, be telling random people that sort of information before his post-match debrief?
We've made changes to every team since the turn of the year. We've won 7, drawn 1 and lost 0.
The reason we didn't win yesterday had nothing to do with the changes, but was mainly because two players with 16 assists between them this season couldn't pick out any men in the middle when we were dominating the game, despite probably having around 16 chances to do so.
Also, when the ball did get into the middle or into the penalty area in general, it either just didn't fall right for the players in there, or their shots were all wayward and off target. In other recent fixtures, it's been the complete opposite for us - see the late winners v Solihull and Southend, for example.
It's football, sometimes these things happen.
It really was that simple; mentioning team changes at a time when we have so many fixtures, which means the full squad has to be utilised, just because we didn't win for the first time in 8 games, is jumping on a bandwagon.
I didn’t disagree with what you were saying about the team selection; I was just giving some factual context.
The Football League hasn’t had August Bank Holiday Monday fixtures since 2005 and McNulty made his league debut 12 months later, so that sort of scheduling is something he won’t have experienced as a player.
As you say, though, Christmas and New Year was fine, with the longer gaps between games. If we get back into the EFL, that’s likely to not be the case so he will have to adjust.
Anyway, I’m off to Somerset (I’ll get your pint off samueloneills); you get back to your island. There must be more pictures to be taken…
The manager mentioned in a post-match interview that Whatmuff was going to play at Brackley, but reported ill on the morning of the game. If some choose not to believe that, that's on them.
It was clearly implied by McNulty, and documented in print, that he wasn't happy at having to play three games between Wednesday evening and Monday afternoon (Gateshead, Brackley and Sutton). His team selection was trying to make a point to the National League.
He also referenced last season when Dale played at York (Tuesday) and at home to Forest Green (Saturday) before having to make the long trip to Yeovil on Bank Holiday Monday, when EEL picked-up an injury early in the game.
Was that injury a result of three matches in such a short time? Only the manager and his staff know, but no doubt that formed part of his thinking this time around, especially with the Gateshead game being 24 hours later than the York game a year earlier.
In 2023/24, Dale played at York on August Bank Holiday Monday, but had moved their previous game (Bromley at home) to the Friday night in order to give more time before the Monday. There wasn't a midweek game before the Bromley match on that occasion.
I know that Dale asked the National League to move the Gateshead game back 24 hours, but they were told it wasn't possible because of the DAZN agreement.
And before anyone says it, I also know there were 23 other clubs affected by this schedule, but we should only be concerned for ourselves.
I thought it was poor of the National League to schedule that midweek of the Gateshead match how they did. They should have put a full midweek programme after the opening day (w/c 11th Aug) and moved the National League Cup games to the following midweek (w/c 18th Aug) before Bank Holiday weekend, as clubs wouldn't be fielding full strength teams in those matches.
Or, at least allowed all 24 teams to play on the same night (Tuesday), with two games in three days to follow.
Regardless of all this, the team we put out at Brackley should still have been good enough to avoid defeat, but if you mess with the Footballing Gods, you're on thin ice. However, there is no guarantee the team that beat Gateshead so convincingly would have a won at Brackley. If football was so linear, we'd all be millionaires (Rodney).
Do I agree with what McNulty did? No, not one bit, but if he's being accused of disrespect to Brackley by thinking we 'could just rock up expecting to win', then isn't it also disrespectful to Brackley assuming the Dale team which beat Gateshead would themselves 'just rock up' and win?
I am also guessing that he realises it backfired on him and he won't do anything like that ever again. His intentions were honourable, but perhaps the process was way too radical.
Despite that defeat, we have since picked up 64 points out of 75 available, which nobody would have expected. And in the bigger picture, the loss at York is arguably the most important of the season to date, given they are our nearest challengers.
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.
