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Reply | Refwatch - Rochdale v Truro City
at 20:01 24 Jan 2026
A very comfortable win today against a limited Truro team, did Watmuff have a save to make? The only disappointment was that we didn't put the game to bed and get the third goal. Another penalty miss also, Henderson has never been great from the spot. Smiths injury was also a worry.
We've always said that tempo is important and every time we upped it we looked a different team, i thought we were too slow moving it into our opponents half today and the main culprit was Hogan. The walking football, side to side passing and standing with your foot on the ball kills momentum not only in the performance but also in the crowd. Against really poor opponents i thought there was too much of that today which was a shame when you think we had a crowd of over 3000 home fans. Still a very good win though. Finally the pitch, i don't think we can complain with how it played, it was never going to be perfect but it played alright. [Post edited 24 Jan 20:11]
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Reply | Refwatch - Rochdale v Truro City
at 11:42 24 Jan 2026
I'm not expecting to see a Brackley away scenario to ever happen again. It backfired spectaculary...we've already won eleven away games this season, the facts speak for themselves. As you rightly point out, players don't need resting, there's a full week without a game after Tuesdays fixture. Injuries can happen at any time and so can suspensions and illness. The team will rotate naturally as games progress withoit giving your opponents a leg up by changing for the sake of it.
We've been discussing East this morning, he's in great form at the moment and needs to be left alone, rather than playing him in a position that is foreign to him in order to accomodate Petit. There's a reason McNulty plays East in preference to Petit in midfield and that should be respected because he works with both players day in day out and it works. [Post edited 24 Jan 11:44]
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Reply | The RochdaleAFC.com Podcast Episode 92
at 10:04 24 Jan 2026
Yes, we're doing great and EEL has been a model of consistency since his return from his injury, he looks fitter and more mobile. [Post edited 24 Jan 10:54]
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Reply | Refwatch - Rochdale v Truro City
at 10:01 24 Jan 2026
The Brackley game was a example of when we weren't ruthless against a perceived weaker team though, we didn't play our strongest team. That's what i mean about the manager being ruthless. |
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Reply | The RochdaleAFC.com Podcast Episode 92
at 07:56 24 Jan 2026
Another excellent listen again fellas, thanks for your efforts. Regarding the discussion in respect of Ryan East, i disagree with the idea of breaking up a tried and trusted partnership in midfield to try to fix a problem in the number 10 position. To my mind you are weakening a vital component of your team by doing that, your midfield. If Petit was a better option than East in that midfield position then by now he would have shown enough in training and Trophy/ National Cup games to have forced his way into the starting eleven. That's not a slur on Petit because he looks neat and tidy when i've watched him. I'm not a big fan of changing something that works well to accomodate a problem elsewhere on the pitch.
There seems to be a clamour from some to shoehorn Petit into the team, East and Gilmour have been excellent this season in their preferred positions, it's the wrong time of the season to be experimenting i think.I do agree though, the number 10 position is a issue. The centre of defence is also a position that i'm worried about over the next five weeks, i don't think the cover for EEL is of the required standard, especially against the better teams in the league. I see a squad that is a bit unbalanced, we saw the same last season when McNulty over recruited in certain areas of the pitch, utility players down the left hand side, none of them of the required standard really. [Post edited 24 Jan 8:25]
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Reply | Refwatch - Rochdale v Truro City
at 06:47 24 Jan 2026
We also need to start with our strongest team and get the game won. The players can't be tired compared to the rest of the teams in the league, we've played less games. Only two league games played in the last three and a half weeks, they've had a good rest. There's been plenty of rotation during games anyway with full use of the substitutes and that can happen again today. We've seen what happens when we make wholesale changes to a winning team.
The Brackley game isn't going to go away and that debacle is becoming even more significant as this season progresses..and it was a debacle no matter how some try to play the insignificance of what happened on that day down. We've been brilliant away from home but that day still lingers in the background like a bad smell and it's something McNulty needs to remember when he's making wholesale changes for the sake of it. The players had just put in their best performance of the season against Gateshead and all of them were replaced for the next game. A ridiculous piece of management that has cost us big time.
We have a tough five weeks, just start your strongest starting eleven, the Truro fixture is just as important as the rest and we aren't good enough to rest our best players and still expect to win games, we saw that against Tamworth last week in the FA Trophy. If we dont win today the psychological damage going into the tough run of fixtures will be massive, that's why we need to start strong and secure the points. To win this league we're going to have to be ruthless and that has to start with the manager. These are grown men, professional footballers, if they're winning they wont feel tired. [Post edited 24 Jan 7:01]
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Reply | Rochdale v Carlisle
at 11:34 23 Jan 2026
Carlisle have been treating away fans abysmally this season. They only bolted 66 seats onto the open away terrarce after being threatened with legal action. If you have a disability or are elderley and struggle to stand up they basically put two fingers up to you. It's first come first served with those seats and you can't reserve which seat you want. Treating fans like cattle. It's a long trek up to Carlisle in winter and to deliberately move away fans into a open air terrace with no shelter from the elements and very few facilities is callous on their behalf. If other Clubs are responding accordingly to their fans being treated like that then you can't blame them.
If Carlisle fans have a beef about away allocations they should take it up with the clowns who run their club and ask them to explain the reason behind it. Your point about giving the home psychological advantage away is a good one. We should limit the York tickets also because they've been arsey with visiting fans over the last couple of seasons. Give them a 1000 tickets and we'll sell the rest if it's a title decider. [Post edited 23 Jan 11:43]
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Reply | Solihull Wednesday
at 09:30 23 Jan 2026
Good post. We do mix our play up more now. To be fair, if you watched the game against Solihull as a neutral you would have fallen asleep before half time. It was a terrible game of football to watch, one of the worst i've ever seen when it comes to a lack of enteetainment. Let's hope that doesn't become a blueprint for future away performances, we're a lot better than that and the paying public deserve better. [Post edited 23 Jan 9:30]
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Reply | Solihull Wednesday
at 08:25 23 Jan 2026
Total football is great, weaving wonderful patterns and stringing twenty passes together in order to invade the oppositions penalty box sounds fantastic. It all falls down though when you have professional footballers who can't hit a cows arse with a banjo. I'm getting fed up of watching gilt edged chances being wasted by our forward players...McBride is the biggest culprit. He doesn't even hit the targer with the goal in front of him. Carlisle away was ridiculous, he should have had a hat trick and his effort at Solihull on Wednesday was embarrassing. It's something McNulty and his coaches need to sort out because our lack of a killer instinct in the final third wastes all the good work in the build up. Most of the time we aren't even working the goalkeeper. I still think we are lacking quality in the final third, i've thought that since the start of the seaaon. Billy Waters has returned to Oldham and would be available on loan, i think he's do a good job for us, playing in a decent team he'll score goals and he's quick. [Post edited 23 Jan 8:31]
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Reply | Rochdale v Carlisle
at 20:19 22 Jan 2026
Agree it's a strange one, akin to cutting your nose to spite your face by the sounds of it. Maybe there's more to it which isnt for public consumption. It might be something to do with the Stadium safety certificate, Somethings are probably best kept in house at times, we have to respect that as fans. [Post edited 22 Jan 20:21]
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Reply | Rochdale v Carlisle
at 20:03 22 Jan 2026
I'd be very surprised if there are incurred costs that support reducing the away capacity. It makes no sense when you think about it and would mean that going forward the same criteria would apply everytime we played a club with a good following. Another 1500 fans paying a average of £20 a ticket is a lot of income. I can't think of any other club in the country that would do that as a cost saving measure. The club have explained the reason for their decision to Judd and they didn't mention cost saving measures. |
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Reply | Solihull Wednesday
at 12:32 22 Jan 2026
It's not only Mani Ds goals but his hold up play that we miss, the sooner he's back the better. One thing that has been noticeable recently with our forward players is the way they implement the press and pressurise the defenders, making it very difficult for them to play out from the back. I think that's been very instrumental in our improvement this season. Then when they tire the subs are brought on and the press is applied again. It's hard work and they all have to buy into it but defending from the front allows us to take control of the game and indirectly contributes to our great defensive record. It's definitely a squad game now, the matchday substitutes are just as important as the starting eleven. |
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Reply | Solihull Wednesday
at 09:54 22 Jan 2026
Spennymoor, Barnet, York, Southend, FGR etc. I'm refering to Jims time as manager and i don't think i'm being unfair. When it comes to the crunch home games against those around us in the league, games against Oldham, important cup games..we invariably pull up short. Hopefully this season will be different and we can pick up plenty of points over the next five weeks. Statement home wins i'm talking about against one of the percieved big hitters. A win in front of a decent home crowd. [Post edited 22 Jan 9:57]
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Reply | Solihull Wednesday
at 06:30 22 Jan 2026
Four league wins out of five since the work on the new pitch started. I think we would have taken that, we've come out of a very difficult situation relatively unscathed. Now the dynamics change and the onus is on us as the home team to set the tempo and take the game to our opponents. When the big games come around at home we invariably don't win them and last season we were tactically out manouvered, that needs to change now and it's all about winning, not drawing if we are to finish top of the pile. Bravery is called for from the first minute of the game, it's down to us to impose our game on the opposition, Hartlepool did a job on us and caught us cold, we can't let that happen again. .Let's not die wondering and play every game with tempo and passion. Let's simplify our game and not try to turn it into a tactical masterpiece, worrying more about our opponents rather than concentrating on our strengths.
When was the last time we won a big game at home against rival clubs? I can't remember. I think McNulty is a defensive coach and he's good at it, playing away from home suits his style of play. I now want to see if he can switch and come up with a plan to win these upcoming home games, we've already beat FGR/ BW/ Carlisle so there's no reason why we shouldn't feel confident of doing it again. It's not just down to McNulty though, Done and Taylor's input is also important. If we have a good February we will be well placed to win the league and we've been excellent at home this season so it's in our own hands now. [Post edited 22 Jan 7:16]
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Reply | Solihull Wednesday
at 22:12 21 Jan 2026
It's about time we scored some late goals, we did it a lot during our successful period under Keith Hill. That goal might have been a cross but East was unlucky to score just before that and Bilongo headed a corner just wide. We kept pressing right up to the end in terrible conditions and when you're flying high and confident you get the rub of the green. We limited a free scoring Solihull team to very few chancrs and deserved the win in the end. I thought McNulty's substitutions were spot on tonight also. |
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Reply | Solihull Wednesday
at 21:51 21 Jan 2026
That's what winners do, find a way to win on a wet Wednesday night in Solihull. |
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Reply | Solihull Wednesday
at 20:39 21 Jan 2026
Agree with that. McBrides effort was ridiculously poor, ballooned the ball over the goal from six yards out, criminal that he didnt even get it on target. Duku needs to be doing more as you say, his first touch hasn't been great. These are there for the taking if we show a bit more urgency. |
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Reply | Rochdale v Carlisle
at 19:23 21 Jan 2026
There was no restrictions for the Southend play off game though and if i’m not mistaken Southend brought more fans than Spennymoor. As you say, the reason for the restrictions needs explaining, especially if project 5000 is still a serious target. Scunthorpe will bring a good following and obviously York will. Maybe this is the first step with a view to eventually moving away fans into the Sandy Lane. [Post edited 21 Jan 19:27]
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