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Reply | Refwatch - Rochdale v Truro City
at 16:32 25 Jan 2026
No I’ve no idea either because in that first half our good build up play led to eight efforts on goal:
Smith goal.
Henderson header.
Gilmour shot wide.
Barlow shot that hit the post.
Smith effort over the bar.
To win the penalty Henderson missed.
Henderson goal.
Gilmour shot against the bar.
Those were spread across the entire half. From the goal within three minutes to the shot that hit the bar a minute before half time. |
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Reply | Increased attendance.
at 15:20 25 Jan 2026
Yeah, I’d agree with that and would hope we’ll see more crosses with Dieseruvwe back. |
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Reply | Refwatch - Rochdale v Truro City
at 15:05 25 Jan 2026
Looking at the highlights, I’d say it’s working. But yes, there are times he could have passed it quicker.
That’s true of any player in any team, sometimes they’ll make the wrong choices. Being fair to Hogan, he’s hardly played so it must be a bit more difficult to come in and be immediately on top form and used to others around him. Being involved in both goals will hopefully give him the confidence when he steps in again. |
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Reply | Refwatch - Rochdale v Truro City
at 14:52 25 Jan 2026
The discussion the other day about how football is played now covered why we are seeing this type of games there are across all leagues now.
We play a form of it that is effective and, at times, entertaining. There were some cracking moves yesterday, and not just the goals. The Gilmour effort and one Henderson couldn’t get on the end of just before half time were excellent pieces of play too.
To get to those areas it requires patience at times, the lead up to both goals illustrate that when the opportunity is right, we exploit it. The opposition won’t always allow us to play as quickly as we want, so trying to drag them away from their set-up leads to slower play. Then we do find that gap (Gordon into Henderson, Hogan into Gilmour) we are into areas that lead to goals.
I appreciate the frustration when we slow everything down and sometimes the wrong choices are made. I totally understand why we do it though. Especially now results are backing it up. The last half hour added the Dieseruvwe string to our bow and we went into him as well.
[Post edited 25 Jan 14:55]
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Reply | Refwatch - Rochdale v Truro City
at 14:36 25 Jan 2026
09/10 was our best chance to win a title.
We were well clear before that awful run at the end of the season. |
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Reply | Increased attendance.
at 13:20 25 Jan 2026
But we didn’t miscue any crosses yesterday that flew into the top corner.
Maybe the really big crowds will turn up when it’s windy so we can try that more often. |
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Reply | Increased attendance.
at 13:08 25 Jan 2026
We played far better yesterday than against Solihull and scored two better goals. |
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Reply | Refwatch - Rochdale v Truro City
at 13:07 25 Jan 2026
It was explained by the manager why we play the way we do. It’s designed to make us as effective S possible at both ends of the pitch. There was a general acknowledgment that it could have led to a 6-0 win.
Watch both goals, they came as a result of how we are set up to play: waiting for the right opportunity to arise to create chances to score. Change that and we will be impacted at either end of the pitch. Do we want to risk that 80% win record?
Again, having Dieseruvwe back increases the options when it comes to having the right opportunities to cause issues for the opposition. |
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Reply | Refwatch - Rochdale v Truro City
at 09:37 25 Jan 2026
Not a clue how Southend will play on Tuesday, but going off fan reaction they appear to have been poor yesterday. Maher attracts a fair bit of criticism. Can’t be certain, but I’d guess they’d be happy with a point so it’ll be interesting to see how they approach it.
Would have expected Truro to have had more of a go yesterday too, as they had nothing to lose either. Maybe they sat back after conceding early because they were afraid of how we’d pick them off. Either way, as many have noted, it was a 5/6-0 game yesterday had we been more clinical.
We can though trust the team to play how they feel within any given game to get a result, whilst acknowledging there will be the odd game when the opposition might influence that enough to prevent us winning. So far that’s happened five times all season. |
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Reply | Refwatch - Rochdale v Truro City
at 22:44 24 Jan 2026
20 wins from 25 games playing the same way indicates we’ll probably not change much. Both goals today came from times when we found that right opportunity playing out from the back. With Dieseruvwe back there’s the option to go longer when teams try and do what Hartlepool did, something we saw after he came on today.
Still think if we’d started Henderson instead of Smith that night at Accrington, it might have helped too. Selection error. |
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Reply | Refwatch - Rochdale v Truro City
at 21:17 24 Jan 2026
McNulty mentions how the way we build attacks, waiting for the right opportunities is one of the reasons we aren’t conceding many chances or goals. |
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Reply | Refwatch - Rochdale v Truro City
at 17:59 24 Jan 2026
Hogan deserves so much credit. He was very good today, calm on the ball and fitted in to how we play at the back without disrupting the others around. Defensively really solid too with a great block in the first half.
Pettit came in and was solid, always looking forward for a pass. Barlow looked sharp in the first half as well, so that’s another plus.
The big thing from another professional win where we played some great stuff at times was the second half appearance from Dieseruvwe. He won every duel and held up every ball played into him. He was immaculate.
Henderson cemented his place as his stand-in though. A classic example of how to play the centre forward role.
Whatever changes are planned for Tuesday and going forward, today has shown everyone is fully inclusive and they all understand why they’re happening. We might disagree with some, but it’s hard to have doubts. |
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Reply | Refwatch - Rochdale v Truro City
at 15:48 24 Jan 2026
Excellent first half. Changes have worked and we could and maybe should be 4 up.
Gilmour imperious. |
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Reply | Refwatch - Rochdale v Truro City
at 10:13 24 Jan 2026
The justified frustration around that game was responded to with the 16 wins since. That positive focus has been the most impressive part of this season for me - the recognition that any sign of a negative outlook will affect us.
It’s played out too, as every time we have a setback, negativity doesn’t linger and impact the overall goal to succeed. It can’t be allowed to. |
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Reply | Refwatch - Rochdale v Truro City
at 09:27 24 Jan 2026
Alongside the two promotion winning teams, this is the most ruthlessly win-obsessed squad I’ve seen at Dale. The mentality is relentless, as discussed on the podcast.
What impresses the most is their commitment to calmness across the pitch. They play their game at all times.
Would hope Henderson starts today ahead of Duku if Dieseruvwe isn’t fit. Sure there’s a planned structure for the upcoming games though, so there might be others. Some of it may depend on how other teams play, I don’t know enough about Truro so not sure. |
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Reply | The RochdaleAFC.com Podcast Episode 92
at 09:10 24 Jan 2026
Pettit came in at Tamworth and played excellently, probably man of the match, then was left out again. With the sheer volume of games we’ll have to make changes to ensure we don’t lose people to injury.
I trust the management team and other staff to make those decisions based on the info they have available through all the sports science stuff they use these days. There may be the odd game Hogan plays at CH too, and while I’d prefer to have recruited there, he’s done ok when he’s come in previously. Of course, it’s a shift from the end of last season when there was an argument it was wrong EEL took his place!
Not sure about playing East as one of the 10s, have long wanted us to try him, Gilmour and Pettit in a midfield three with two up front. But can see the merits of his consistency in the current formation. In fact he’s often utilised wider anyway mid-game, as he shifts to the right. He did that at Solihull too. It was a good discussion on the podcast around that, the points about all the 10s being on a similar level without standing out is valid. Would hope Barlow can reproduce his form at the back end of last season to solve the problem.
Suppose it’s just about having that total trust the whole squad and staff look to have in each other, fans will always rightly debate what could be better and sometimes we’ll probably be right! In the main though, those who are making the choices are getting it right.
In fact, 19 wins in 25 games is getting it spectacularly right! [Post edited 24 Jan 9:34]
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Reply | Solihull Wednesday
at 18:22 23 Jan 2026
Don’t think there’s anyone on here who would argue they enjoyed football more in the past. It’s a totally different game now. Fans have changed too, there’s a different market now who look at the game on an ‘xG’ level as that’s what they’ve been brought up knowing.
The articles on the game, the insights tactically contain so much detail and analysis has moved towards something that’s alien to the ‘traditional fan’.
It’s interesting how the game works in cycles though. Much has been made this season about things like the importance of set pieces and the return of long throws. To the point that now it’s being seen as making the game about percentages and spoiling the chances of winning in open play. The irony of Arsenal becoming the modern day equivalent of the George Graham ‘1-0 to the Arsenal’ is quite amusing.
On Dale, it’s been a good time to be a fan over the last couple of years, if only to see the ongoing improvement and how we’ve evolved as a side. There’s been a lot of tough watches, some times when it’s been hard to see whether we’d become a real success, but that’s never been any different as a fan of this club. It’s been about sticking with them and hoping our day will come. That loyalty has been rewarded as it was in the past.
Whilst not disagreeing in missing aspects of the game, the bit about a marauding fullback is one which we can actually top now with respect to how attacking our defenders are. Where we had Wiseman on the right, we now have a right wingback who plays so high up the pitch that they’re often in the same position a winger would be. Whilst on the right of the back three Kyron Gordon not only gets forward, he’s a vital part of how we attack and assists many goals.
We have less ‘proper defenders’ than in all my time watching the club. Yet have conceded less goals than ever in that time too! I don’t necessarily like the way football has changed, but as it stands we are one of the more attacking sides that you’ll see in how we set up. |
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