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Reply | Th'Ashes Down Under
at 03:32 4 Jan 2026
A good batting surface, Root looking at his best and hopefully booked in for another century down under. Brook still trying to play some ridiculous shots, hopefully he gets away with it. He can't help himself i don't think. [Post edited 4 Jan 3:33]
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Reply | Matheus Mane
at 18:19 3 Jan 2026
He'll be a multi milionaire probably kicking back and enjoying the fruits of his labour, he deserves it. Tamworth away in the middle of winter probably holds very little appeal to him. |
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Reply | The Fitzture List - Rochdale Rising: Inside McNulty’s push for sustainable suc
at 17:31 3 Jan 2026
We can't be sure what's going on behind the scenes at our club and what conversations are taking place between the owners and the manager. At the halfway point we are in a really good position to make a real challenge on the two available promotion spots. To not make the Play Offs would mean us hitting relegation form from now until the end of the season...that's not going to happen. The worse case scenario is a play off place and that gives us a real chance of getting back to the EFL. I would like to see us make a bid for Danny Ormerod from Fylde but that would mean spending money. I think he would be a good investment but obviously none of us know if the budget has been exceeded, or if there is a appetite from the owners to spend more, bearing in mind they've had the pitch to pay for. I'm assuming all our rivals will be looking to strengthen again this month. |
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Reply | The Fitzture List - Rochdale Rising: Inside McNulty’s push for sustainable suc
at 15:38 3 Jan 2026
I'm not just talking about playing the number nine role though when i mention the make up of our forward line. My main point is that most of them aren't fit enough to complete a full ninety minutes, some struggle to string a handful of games together before picking up a injury, one can only play on grass, one hasn't started a game since we signed him and another ( Smith) still doesn't look fit to me going off his performance on Tuesday. I accept picking up a forward who ticks the boxes isn't easy but if McNulty is so selective and likes to wait for the right person then why did he sign Amantchi? A player we were lumbered with for 5 months. When i look at the choices we have up front it reminds me of last seaaon when McNulty collected left sided players, all of them of similar ilk and none of them quite good enough for a variety of reasons. [Post edited 3 Jan 15:46]
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Reply | The Fitzture List - Rochdale Rising: Inside McNulty’s push for sustainable suc
at 14:35 3 Jan 2026
I'm also starting to lose a bit of faith in Rodney to be honest, it's a shame because on his day he's very good. Unfortunately he is missing too many games and when it comes to reliability we don't seem to have anybody who we can call on week in and week out. It disrupts the whole team and even how we set up for games.Hendo is 41 years old and we are now looking on him as our main forward again, a player who has only started a handful of games over the laat eighteen months and hasn't even been on the subs bench when other options are available.
If we are serious about promotion this season McNulty needs to have a real think about the makeup of the forward players we have in the club because i think even at 41 yrs old and not able to complete a full game Henderson is only second to Mani in the pecking order and that shouldn't really be the case if we want to challenge the likes of York and FGR. It's a predicament that should have been addressed when it became apparent Amantchi wasn't fit for purpose and the fact that we still can't keep Rodney on the pitch for any length of time. [Post edited 3 Jan 14:52]
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Reply | The Fitzture List - Rochdale Rising: Inside McNulty’s push for sustainable suc
at 12:10 3 Jan 2026
I'm not sure Mancini will be risked to start a game on a plastic pitch though, his appearance from the subs a few days ago was his first in a long time. Rodney wasn't risked when we played Tamworth and i'm not sure Mancini will be. I'm hoping we will have a new signing up front next week or maybe even two. Fingers crossed we get some good news in respect of Mani and Rodney's injuries. [Post edited 3 Jan 12:11]
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Reply | The Fitzture List - Rochdale Rising: Inside McNulty’s push for sustainable suc
at 11:12 3 Jan 2026
Front two is too lightweight and i'd have real concerns that both are fit enough to last longer than 60 minutes, there's no physical presence up front at all with those two. Mancini is obviously a talented player but he can break down at any minite, i thought he was more of a winger. We also can't lose sight of the fact that East and Gilmore have been very instrumental in our fantastic form this season and one defeat against Hartlepool doesn't change that. I'd like to see Petit accomodated in the team if needed but not at the expense of dropping East or Gimore because they don't deserve that. Gilmore is first name on the teamsheet for me. Let's not fall into the trap of changing a winning formula just for the sake of it. If the Tamworth game is being viewed as a time for experimenting then the line up being suggested is fair enough but i'm not sold on Smith from what i've seen and would a plastic pitch not hinder Mancini rather than help him? [Post edited 3 Jan 11:21]
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Reply | TVOS Preview - Rochdale v Hartlepool United
at 09:27 31 Dec 2025
Forget the rest, just concentrate on our own results. A win on Saturday and we are in a great position. Sometimes you run into a team who are better than you on the day, that was the case last night. |
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Reply | TVOS Preview - Rochdale v Hartlepool United
at 08:09 31 Dec 2025
There would have been a way to combat Hartlepool during that first thirty minute onslaught and that would have been to utilise Mani and turn them, bypass midfield and go long to him. His hold up play would have allowed us to move further up the pitch and give us another option. His absence resulted in the ball constantly being mopped up by their defenders and ending up back in our half, it was like a hot potato and we can't control the game. Reid gave EEL a torrid time and they overloaded at the back post everytime they got the opporrunity. The drop in performance and scrambling for results shouldn't come as a surprise though, any team with the quality of Watmuf, Beckwith, Barlow, Allarakhia, Mani missing would struggle. Rodney isn't properly fit neither and Smith certainly isn't match fit. As you rightly point out, Hartlepool were excellent last night. [Post edited 31 Dec 2025 8:11]
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Reply | TVOS Preview - Rochdale v Hartlepool United
at 07:46 31 Dec 2025
Selection was wrong last night and that's not with hindsight. Hendo should have played the first hour, Smith playing central was a poor choice. Pritchard has been substituted at half time in the last two games and Petit should have been introduced at the start of the second half also. I would be looking at starting with Petit, Barlow and Henderson on Saturday and maybe Berger. |
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Reply | TVOS Preview - Rochdale v Hartlepool United
at 07:18 31 Dec 2025
It seemed like Hartlepool had a plan to turn the opportunity to play us at a neutral venue into a positive. They wanted to impose their game plan from the first whistle and simply swarmed all over us, as though they were the home team. If teams sit back and let us play then we will, Hartlepool did the opposite of that with a high energy forward pass and put us on the back foot. The game was won in the first thirty minutes.
Too many players had a off night and up front was similar to the Morecambe game, no physical presence and the ball didn't stick. Gilmore was desperately trying to fight fires but it was noticeable how just twenty minutes into the game the players seemed devoid of energy and where blowing, struggling to keep up with Hartlepools high energy start.
I called the forwards a mish mash of players on here before Mani picked up his injuries and i stick to that, it needed looking at six weeks ago. Rodney picked up his injury and he'll probably be missing again now. Amantchi was never good enough and Smith was injured at the time and still doesn't look fit to me. Hendo understandably can no longer do a full game. So although we had the numbers in terms of players up front, if Mani picked up a injury a problem was going to present itself. There's a reason why York score last minute winners and a shed full of goals, they have physically aggressive forwards who bully defences, we don't have that unfrtunately. It looked like men against boys last night.
We have also yet again collected players who can play on the wide left hand side but don't even get into the matchday squad, we did that last season and the squad was unbalanced. Shape shifting is required, especially in the forward line. On a positive note, beat Brackley and that's six wins out of seven and three out of four over the festive period. [Post edited 31 Dec 2025 7:26]
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Reply | TVOS Preview - Rochdale v Hartlepool United
at 23:18 30 Dec 2025
We shouldn't really be relying on a 41 year old forward who can probably only play about 60 minutes at the most. He's a icon and can still do a job but its a sad indictment on the likes of Rodney and Smith. Rodney is made of glass, a robust challenge and he picks up a injury, he limped off tonight. Smith looks to lack stamina and physicality. We've been short of another forward for quite a while because Amantchi proved to be a poor signing. We have a collection of forwards but only Mani is reliable when it comes to competing physically for the duration of a game and now he's injured.
Hartlepool did a job on us tonight, they pressed us from the front, didn't give us time to play out and physically bullied us for long periods of the game. Once Hendo came on the pitch he managed to hold the ball up and get us further up the pitch. Petit also made a difference. Too many good players missing at the moment and in the last two games its been very apparent. We wont get out of the league by trying to play total football, we need a target man up front to be at our best and we need to switch it up and go long at times to keep our opponents guessing. |
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Reply | TVOS Preview - Rochdale v Hartlepool United
at 06:30 30 Dec 2025
I imagine it came down to money, Accrington are no different to our club they always need extra revenue. They also have a lovely playing surface, a plastic pitch at bury would mean we couldn't field our strongest team, Rodmey can't play on a plastic pitch for example, as we saw at Tamworth recently. I hope everybody treats Accringtins stadium with the respect it deserves, no defacing anything or stupid acts of vandalism. The Ogdens are paying out enough money as it is and don't want to be landed with a bill because of childish behaviour. Let's all represent the club well and leave a good impression on everybody connected with Accrington Stanley FC. Personally, i think it's a great venue and see these two games as a bonus to the season rather than a disadvantage. |
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Reply | Refwatch - Rochdale v Southend United
at 07:28 29 Dec 2025
There does need to be some sort of official ruling put in place regarding this because points automatically being awarded to the winning team could prove crucial in a league when only one team is automatically promoted. [Post edited 29 Dec 2025 13:41]
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Reply | TVOS Preview - Rochdale v Hartlepool United
at 01:14 29 Dec 2025
It's a good choice of venue playing at Accrington and i'm sure plenty of Dale fans will turn up and bring the noise behind the goal. The management teams approach to these two games will be crucial i think. There has to be a realisation that we are the home team and it's up to us to take the game to our opponents, my fear is that we might lose sight of that and the game becomes a bit of a tactical borefest like one of the National Cup games and we end up making it easy for our oppenents to sit back and come away with something. A neutral venue might lead to neutral displays by both teams, i hope that's not the case and we don't play with the handbrake on. Let's start the game as we mean to go on, the playing surface at Accrington is fabulous. [Post edited 29 Dec 2025 1:16]
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Reply | Refwatch - Morecambe v Rochdale
at 04:35 27 Dec 2025
Disagree with that, i thought Morecambe put a very good shift in
It also needs to be remembered that we are currently well below strength, no Watmuf, Beckwith, Barlow, Allarahia, Mani and Rodney still feeling his way back. The levels of our performances aren't going to be the same with the quality of those players missing from the starting eleven. We lost control of the game at times yesterday and moved away from our passing game but Morecambe deserve credit for that. These players are doing brilliant, the squad players are now doing the business but as fans i think expecting performance levels to not drop a little is expecting too much. We were lightweight up front yesterday and Waller had his hands full all afternoon with their tricky winger. I also thought we missed Barlows quality buzzing around behind the forwards. Under the circumstances yesterday was one of our best wins of the season. [Post edited 27 Dec 2025 4:39]
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