 | Forum
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. |
| Forum
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]
|
| Forum
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. |
| Forum
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]
|
| Forum
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. |
| Forum
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. |
| Forum
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]
|
| Forum
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]
|
| Forum
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]
|
| Forum
Reply | Th'Ashes Down Under
at 04:18 27 Dec 2025
Daring to dream....bonkers Test Match. Surely England will win this now, 96 required with 8 wickets left |
| Forum
Reply | Refwatch - Morecambe v Rochdale
at 20:30 26 Dec 2025
Todays game threw up some real challenges for the players, missing two penalties and then conceding a soft goal at the start of the second half. I couldn't have been the only Dale fan thinking that this wasn't going to be our day. In seasons gone we wouldn't have won that game but things are different now and the players found a way to win against a very useful Morecambe team. They are in a false position. Two goals of real quality and that's the reason we deserved to win th game.
We missed Mani massively today i thought, nobody to hold up the ball and keep us in their half, occupy two of their defenders. Nobody to physically challenge their centre halves, Broome punting too many aimless balls forward to nobody. The ball kept coming back. We also missed Beckwiths defending today and hiis physical.presence and at times Broome in the goal put us under real pressure by passing the ball to players tightly marked on the edge of our area, we gained no advantage from him doing that. None of that is a surprise though, these are players of real quality, they can't just be replaced.
So i thougt today was a great effort and credit to the players for picking up the win but we are in the same scenario as last season now when we were crying out for a target man, somebody who can win the ball, hold it up and bring others into play. I'm hoping that's something that will be addressed maybe next week . [Post edited 26 Dec 2025 20:38]
|
| Forum
Reply | Allarakhia at the AFCON
at 18:56 23 Dec 2025
He's been neat and tidy Tarryn and Tanzania are giving a good account of themselves. [Post edited 23 Dec 2025 18:57]
|
| Forum
Reply | Refwatch - Altrincham v Rochdale
at 08:32 22 Dec 2025
Thats the correct attitude and it's one that everybody needs to adopt. We're nearly halfway through the season, it can no longer be termed a good start, it's Xmas and we're top of the league on merit. Thoroughly deserved. We will probably win, lose and draw during that February run of fixtures but so will the other clubs. We have a very good squad of players and a managerial team that has instilled clarity into what the players need to do to win games. It's repetitive drills on the training ground that have now become ingrained into the squad and we are now seeing it replicated on the pitch. There is no luck or good fortune involved, only hard work and technical skill. I can only see us improving as the season progresses but there will be set backs along the journey, that's football. Let the opposition worry about us, we're a different animsl to last season with a different mindset. [Post edited 22 Dec 2025 8:33]
|
| Forum
Reply | Refwatch - Altrincham v Rochdale
at 20:38 21 Dec 2025
They're near the top of EFL2, it sounds feasable to me. With Peterborough's owner anything could happen. I thought CCC would have signed for Carlisle to be honest. |
| Forum
Reply | Refwatch - Altrincham v Rochdale
at 19:34 21 Dec 2025
I also have it on good authority that CCC is signing for Swindon in January. This in turn has unsettled his mate Linney and there have been massive fall outs in the changing room due to the tactics employed by the manager and coaching team. It's a very unhappy ship. |
| Forum
Reply | Refwatch - Altrincham v Rochdale
at 16:27 21 Dec 2025
Can't disagree and the make up of our forward players has been something i've highlighted over the last five or six weeks. It's a bit of a mish mash and we shouldn't really be relying on Henderson to start games at his age. How many league games has he started in the last eighteen month? It could be envisaged that Mani would pick up a injury which would possibly coincide with Rodney not being available. Smith has been injured and Amantchi hasn't impressed. Then we have Hendo who is 41yrs old and McNulty has been very reluctant to play him for a long time. Even appearances from the subs bench haven't been frequent. I'm sure McNulty will be on top of this and will look to recruit if possible. |
| Forum
Reply | Refwatch - Altrincham v Rochdale
at 10:51 21 Dec 2025
As somebody on here pointed out to me last year, his priority will be his family and his career and that should be respected. He shouldn't be criticised for speaking to other clubs. I think Burton were sniffing around at the time. He's a improving young manager and if he carries on as he is then it stands to reason other clubs will be sniffing around. I'm assuming the Ogdens and those at the club will be fully aware of that because in football it's normal. He's got something special going on with these players, hopefully they can all achieve and celebrate together at the end of this seaaon. |
| | TalkingSutty
|
Site Scores| Prediction League: | 0 | | TOTAL: | 0 |
|
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.