Pluses an minuses

[Rodley]

I can't believe people have a pop at Baxter, he is the only player we have in midfield that can pass with purpose. created 2 goals today, that pass at Bradford for Sharps goal should have been enough to shut everyone up. Maybe we need to give Monty a call and see if he fancies coming back so he can run about like a dog and then give it away when he wins it.

Maybe I was being a bit myopic about Baxter given the general feedback on here. But felt our centre mid three left their midfield with so much space it was untrue. Only in he second half did we get anywhere near them.

 

[Caseh]

Maybe I was being a bit myopic about Baxter given the general feedback on here. But felt our centre mid three left their midfield with so much space it was untrue. Only in he second half did we get anywhere near them.

So you decided the one creative in that 3 is the reason their midfield had too much space? I'd have said the likes of Coutts, Basham and Scougall is to blame for that one...

 

[Deadbat]

I thought Baxter Coutts and Scougall played well ,I would go with the formation and personel for the time being ,I did suggest this the other day. Basham is much better at centre half .Midfield was strong until scougall went off and Coutts ran out of gas. Baxter was MOM for me just ahead of Sharp, Done (second half) and Freeman. Would like to see the goal again but it looked initially a good save from Howard and apart from a few throws to the invisible man (see McEverley and Wallace too) he had a good game with a lot more to do than usual. They are a decent side and it was an excellent game ,cant see what some are going on about.

I agree we had control of midfield for spells first half with Baxter excellent and Coutts ok too. I felt Scougall was anonymous. He runs around a lot but does not really contribute. I was disappointed with Basham when he went into midfield and felt we lost this area until Reed came on.

As for the goal, I am surprised anyone would say it was a good save. It was another basic mistake. For the second home game running. He came and then stopped and then shovelled a straight shot over his head and almost into his own net.

I felt Rochdale were ok but they were shocking at the back; worse than us.. Still seeing a lot of goals at the moment. I think our defence is so bad we would be better just attacking teams. Games might finish 6-4 but I would back Sharp, Done and Adams over most other attacks at this level.

 

[longinthe toothblade]

Pluses...

Billy Sharp looking a level above this league again

Matty Done getting 90 minutes

Che's finishing and flashes of real real potential.

We won.


Minuses...

Weak one paced midfield.

Maceverly.

Giving the ball away and conceding far too much possession and territory.

It's all maths!

 

[Silent Blade]

I can't believe people have a pop at Baxter,.

I cannot believe you having a pop at Coutts. He was our best midfielder until he got injured in that tackle late in the 1st half. Strong on the ball and has an eye for a pass

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

Positive: 3 points

Negative: Unprofessional to put us in a situation where we need to score three goals every game to have any chance of winning.

 

[zablade]

I thought Baxter Coutts and Scougall played well ,I would go with the formation and personel for the time being ,I did suggest this the other day. Basham is much better at centre half .Midfield was strong until scougall went off and Coutts ran out of gas. Baxter was MOM for me just ahead of Sharp, Done (second half) and Freeman. Would like to see the goal again but it looked initially a good save from Howard and apart from a few throws to the invisible man (see McEverley and Wallace too) he had a good game with a lot more to do than usual. They are a decent side and it was an excellent game ,cant see what some are going on about.

I thought Baxter produced those moments of quality which means in the current squad he has to play. Scougall is averagely average, What on earth did Coutts do to make you think he played well? I counted about five occasions when Rochdale Midfielders Ran away from him without breaking sweat.

 

[Deadbat]

I cannot believe you having a pop at Coutts. He was our best midfielder until he got injured in that tackle late in the 1st half. Strong on the ball and has an eye for a pass

Baxter was our best midfielder I felt. Set up 2 goals and nearly made 2 more. Coutts was neat and tidy which is fine but he cannot play for longer than 45 mins. As for being injured; he seems to limp after every tackle made. Every time he plays he looks like he is done after the first half. I watched him second half and as others have said players were just running past him. He could not even barely jog. Whether that is due to being injured or just unfit we cant half players that cant play more than say 30-35 minutes before they knackered. Baxter has rightly been slammed for laziness in the past but Coutts was a passenger in terms of covering/tracking runners after the break.

 

[Silent Blade]

Baxter was our best midfielder I felt. Set up 2 goals and nearly made 2 more. Coutts was neat and tidy which is fine but he cannot play for longer than 45 mins. As for being injured; he seems to limp after every tackle made. Every time he plays he looks like he is done after the first half. I watched him second half and as others have said players were just running past him. He could not even barely jog. Whether that is due to being injured or just unfit we cant half players that cant play more than say 30-35 minutes before they knackered. Baxter has rightly been slammed for laziness in the past but Coutts was a passenger in terms of covering/tracking runners after the break.

That was because he got injured in the tackle late in the 1st half. I thought he was going to need treatment but he got up and was limping quite badly. I think he would have been subbed at half time if Scougall or McEveley wasnt injured. Baxter makes one class pass (very good for 1st goal) in 3 or 4 attempted passes, one or two sloppy passes. He blows hot and cold

 

[Bartleby]

was on the kop quite near the front near the corner flag by the south stand, and in earshot, and that linesman was absolutely shocking. Backs up my theory that maybe these officials in the lower leagues get fazed in front of a big crowd like ours. Loads of decisions wrong and then that incident when he seemed to stray on the pitch and get in Billy's way was farcical, but I enjoyed seeing him biting the desso.

 

[Slug]

I thought we did ok today but second half we let them into the game and it was only a matter of time before they equalized, maybe the forced substitutions disrupted midfield and defence, Collins got us out of jail and steadied the nerves but overall I think we deserved it. I was disappointed in Rochdale who are supposedly a footballing side but today seemed more interested in wrestling our forwards to the floor they really should have had more bookings for persistent fouling. Worrying that again we do seem to overplay it across the back four not helped by Howard rolling the ball out when it is not on, sometimes the right thing to do is put your foot through it.

Rochdale play the long diagonal ball for Vincinti to knock down and then play from there

 

[Slug]

I can't believe people have a pop at Baxter, he is the only player we have in midfield that can pass with purpose. created 2 goals today, that pass at Bradford for Sharps goal should have been enough to shut everyone up. Maybe we need to give Monty a call and see if he fancies coming back so he can run about like a dog and then give it away when he wins it.

We could do with giving Monty a call to see if he could come and do Coutts and Baxters running

 

[Ginger Gnome]

I agree we had control of midfield for spells first half with Baxter excellent and Coutts ok too. I felt Scougall was anonymous.

First half Scougall was the only one of the midfielders trying to drive forwards instead of standing still facing their own goal waiting for the ball to roll to their feet instead. Baxter was excellent when he put the effort in, but too often was stood still waiting for the ball to arrive and letting a Rochdale player nick in first, a problem that seemed to apply to most of the team in the first half.

 

[Flatulent_Bob]

Debatable, but at least the others didn't look colour blind when taking throw ins.

No they were all stood with their thumbs up their arses. Watched him in particular today and he did OK but Collins left him exposed on a couple of occasions where he had two men to pick up.

 

[Flatulent_Bob]

Positives: Sharp, Adams, McGahey,

Negatives: Collins, Baxter, Done (first half), Coutts (in pieces), seriousl lack of movement throughout the team with only Billy and Che making the runs needed.

 

[jt64]

Adkins admitted he had to patch holes in in midfield and brought reed on although jam was ready stripped off

Yeah, would have liked to see JCR get minutes but when you have two go off at half time it limits the options somewhat

 

[jt64]

was on the kop quite near the front near the corner flag by the south stand, and in earshot, and that linesman was absolutely shocking. Backs up my theory that maybe these officials in the lower leagues get fazed in front of a big crowd like ours. Loads of decisions wrong and then that incident when he seemed to stray on the pitch and get in Billy's way was farcical, but I enjoyed seeing him biting the desso.

Oh god that's just reminded me, he was awful, on at least two occasions he was looking straight down the line of the last defender, oblivious to the ball being out of play ten yards down the field from him

 

[Yewsman]

Thought the referee was appalling as seems to be usual at this level. The challenge on Scougs when he was laid out was really dangerous and clearly designed just to take the man out. Even on the rugby field it would have been a penalty and yellow card (as there no attempt to use the arms in the tackle) and in my view should have been a red card on the football field. I felt Scougs was having a good game up to that point but afterwards became anonymous and clearly was unable to continue as he was substituted at half time. I thought our defending and closing down was poor all game and there were numerous occasions when several players were all chasing the ball and so leaving their players completely unmarked - school boy stuff and lack of organisation. Defence and midfield clearly not right yet. Worrying to see that we never seem to be able to control a game so are never comfortable. Great to see Done back and Adams showing what a good finisher he is and Billy running his heart out. This is not a promotion team at the moment though.

 

[spongebobblade]

Wallace has to start at left back. Coutts was poor and I think he's had his chance now, hopefully the lad from Leicester will come in. Thought Scougall did well for me breaking forward in spells and put himself about. Baxter just doesn't do enough for me.

Front three were superb; fantastic to see Sharpey and Done chasing down lost causes and performing well. Che was bouncing through defenders at will. Freeman was class.

If Rochdale are top 6, with a couple of players in - CD and CM, top 2 is achievable with the firepower we have.

Baxter doesn't do enough? Really?
Just wondered what more you would have liked him to do today. Closed down and tackled when we didn't have possession, probed and tried creative through balls where possible ( not going to work everytime but resulted in a goal for Che). Whipped the corner over that brought our winner.
MOM for me. Apologies that he didn't score

 

[alcoblade]

I cannot believe you having a pop at Coutts. He was our best midfielder until he got injured in that tackle late in the 1st half. Strong on the ball and has an eye for a pass

Wow. It's all about opinions isn't it?

Coutts was woeful again for me. He can't run, so whatever's technical ability I'm told he has seems irrelevant.

I find the support he gets, from a strong minitory, truly mystifying. I'm sure some feel the same about my opinion.

UTB

 

[BeatleBlade]

Did well against the tall Peter Vincenti who was playing in right wing during the 1st half and Rochdale were aiming their long kicks towards the right. Adkins and his staff know more about our opposition than anyone in here which is why I dont make posts in "My starting eleven" threads

Yeah, from where I was sitting he did fine. He didn't cause a goal and there was no error that I remember from him which created a chance for Rochdale. The only thing I remember going wrong for him was the throw in and that wasn't his fault in my view. I really hate that he gets singled out by people every week when he is certainly not our worst player but some people seem to like having one individual to pass all the blame onto. It's lazy in my view.
You can see it is affecting his confidence too. Leading the team out today he had his head down, looking at the floor. Not going to make him play any better.

 

[Jehovah]

Wow. It's all about opinions isn't it?

Coutts was woeful again for me. He can't run, so whatever's technical ability I'm told he has seems irrelevant.

I find the support he gets, from a strong minitory, truly mystifying. I'm sure some feel the same about my opinion.

UTB

I'm starting to think its a private joke between members of this forum, designed to piss off other forum members in possession of operational eyeballs.

 

[biggey blade]

Thought we played well at times as well as playing bad at times, we deserved the win and managed to get it.

Liked the formation today and thought it worked well. I think basham played better at CB than he did when he got moved into the middle.

I can't understand how people can slag coutts and baxter off? I thought both had really good games. Baxter was deffo the MOM in my eyes and played some brilliant through balls and put a lot of effort In all around the pitch.

I do think some times we started doing what we all know we did very well last season and sat back far to deep and just let Rochdale have a lot of time on the ball and sat back to much.

All in all it was a well deserved 3 points today and was glad to see che on the score sheet with 2 brilliantly taken goals. Sharps ball to che for the second goal was amazing and he was a close contender for MOM but thought baxter just nipped it.

Freeman and sharp are the most consistent people on the pitch for us so far this season but think we are starting to look good as a team with a lot of players still to come back from injurys it is only going to get better.

 

[PokerBlade]

Considering our first choice defence is probably Freeman Edgar Collins Brayford, how low down the pecking order are we to start the second half with McGahey and Wallace? It's almost a big positive in itself that we got through that second half as well as we did. Credit it where it's due, Wallace looks to have some talent on the ball. I'm not convinced he's a full back though. I thought Collins was outstanding and can't make my mind up as to whether he's my MOTM or Sharp.

Unlucky to lose McEveley (much as he's poor) at half time as with the almost mandatory tactical decision to move Basham forward, we ended up with yet another new back four. The middle of the park being the huge negative for us again. There's no strength there off the ball. Basham does well but even he doesn't break up play as well as Doyle did. It's unbelievable how many midfielders we have to not be able to come up with a second defensive option there. Basham is it. The back four might not struggle so much if teams weren't able to waltz to the 18 yard line with ease.

A big problem was that all of our substitutions were more or less forced. An injury, Basham needed in the middle, and Reed being the only player left that we could bring on to get stuck in and keep possession a bit. We won't have wanted to have to put Done through a full match (and one with ten minutes added on), Baxter is always knackered after 70 minutes, and Coutts having not had much football, the last thing we needed was to have to use up our subs elsewhere. It would've been good to bring JCR and Sammon on for two different outlets and for the tired legs.

Alright, grumbles done. The big positive, and it is a big positive, is the quality of an attacking line up of Done, Sharp, and Adams. It's piss the league kind of quality. We can argue about the other eight today but those lads are all goal scorers and more.

Freeman Edgar Collins Brayford
Basham Baxter X
Done Sharp Adams

Enough variety in that to switch around from 4-5-1 to 4-4-2 to 4-3-3 as the game flow requires. Just need to replace that X with a quality player. Then we could look at another centre back and a keeper. Unfortunately, we've already wasted time and points and we're still waiting on Brayford's return. If we're waiting on him plus a midfielder, plus Edgar, till Christmas or beyond, even if we get the necessary players in we'll still have gone half the season before we put out a side good enough to go for automatic.

 

[Silent Blade]

Rochdale play the long diagonal ball for Vincinti to knock down and then play from there

But for the 2nd half Vincenti was switched to a more central position. I think Rochdale expected McEveley to carry on after half time.

 

[Bartleby]

Oh god that's just reminded me, he was awful, on at least two occasions he was looking straight down the line of the last defender, oblivious to the ball being out of play ten yards down the field from him

I was facing looking right along the touchline and, if I'm thinking of the same ones as you, both of them were a good yard out of play, one off one of our players and another off theirs. There was another where one of their players clearly headed it out and he gave it the other way, could hear Matty Done complaining to him about that one.