United 1 Rochdale 1 - report

[bladesman3]

One of few who actually won his battle. Won a lot of headers/knock downs. Nobody withing 10-15 yards of him. He was given an impossible job with long punts/balls up to him but did his best. Other than last 10 today he has been better than Billy first 3 games but neither been great.

The issue is the service with no width or midfield forward through passes for them to thrive off.

Thought Clarke worked really hard ,won a lot of flick ons and Will get better....fair mark I think

 

[bladesman3]

Brilliant report as ever DB, my ratings for what they are worth;

Long 1 completely useless...bin him off
Brayford 3 poor at defending and poor going forward...bin him off
Hussey 5 so so
Wilson 7 ok
O'connell 7 ok
Duffy 5 starts well but fades
Bash 3 as ever plenty of effort but zero quality....bin him off
Fleck 5 in and out of game again
Done 2 play him CF or not at all
Sharp 3 other than goal fucking awful
Clarke 6 anonymous in 1st half but thought he did lot better in 2nd

Chapman 4 hard for a 18 year old in thatsituation
Scoogal 5 i am not a fan but did bring a bit of energy at least.

Wilder 4 who knows if he has been trying but not to bringa keeper in is criminal

Crowd 10 we want fucking medals watching this shit

Tend to agree with you on all of that....it was just shocking, boring......

 

[HighfieldBlade]

Long 2/10 – ...Even after the error he was so slow to get up. Awful goalkeeping.

If he were a boxer, he'd have been counted out.

 

[Grecian2000]

First sighting of the team this season and the first word that sprung to mind was abject.

As bad a game as you could wish to see at any level. Like watching a gay version of Wimbledon v Watford circa 1986. All the hoof you could wish for (if anyone still wishes for it), but by players too nice and dainty to do it properly or effectively. Blackwell would have spunked his pants after half an hour of that tedium.
To be fair, my mates lad was telling us in the pub prior to the game that he thought, after Bolton and Crewe, that there were signs of it coming together. Well I hope Saturday was an aberration because there were no signs of anything good at all on show.

Just as a matter of interest, how many "launch, flick on, score" goals has anyone seen this century? Not enough to get us promoted which is a shame because, along with set pieces, it seemed to be the focus of so much of our effort. Luckily, for the sake of us not getting beaten (not for the spectacle), Rochdale seemed to want to try the same as well.

Surely we've seen the worst performance of the season and everything from here won't be as bad . . . . .

 

[1danewhitehouse]

Can we dock the CBs a point for shit pointless launched balls please?

It’s also surprised me that Wilson has escaped criticism for his awful part in Rochdale’s goal. Bouncing ball on half way that he was favourite for. He just stepped aside and let Andrew have it for them to get their attack going. A few seconds later and the ball is in the back of the net.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

I'm sorry but our 21 goal striker who should have got more than double that as he needs a minimum of 5 chances to put one away !

But he’s only had 1 chance this season and put it away?

 

[1danewhitehouse]

Erm, what you on about mate? The man has practically played above this level his whole career. He's also been Donny's POTY (in the championship) and been in the championship team of the month. If there's one thing you can't accuse him of, it's being successful at a higher level than this.

Pretty sure I also saw in that Birmingham article that he was something like the 5th highest goalscorer in the championship over the last 8 years.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

I really hope you're right but very worrying yesterday....

You hope he’s right and that Clarke will be wank? Why?

 

[Sean Thornton]

But he’s only had 1 chance this season and put it away?

True but then you have to take into account he never got near anything for an hour at least in both league games.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

True but then you have to take into account he never got near anything for an hour at least in both league games.

I'm not disagreeing. He struggled at Bolton and was poor in the first half Saturday. I've been saying since we sacked Adkins that I fear for Sharp's performance levels. Just pointing out the inaccuracy of the post quoted. I think the imbalance in the team is a constant feature over the last few years and is a consequence of the managerial revolving door policy and the chalk and cheese styles of the managers appointed.

 

[Revolution]

True but then you have to take into account he never got near anything for an hour at least in both league games.

He's hardly letting a team of World Beaters down, is he?

Sharp will be fine. We have a lot bigger problems than him.

 

[Sean Thornton]

He's hardly letting a team of World Beaters down, is he?

Sharp will be fine. We have a lot bigger problems than him.

Not saying he's a problem. Or mentioned him letting anyone down. By his standards he's been generally poor. And for some this is Clarkes fault, presumably because he's an ex Pig and now seemingly a donkey to boot.

 

[Revolution]

Not saying he's a problem. Or mentioned him letting anyone down. By his standards he's been generally poor. And for some this is Clarkes fault, presumably because he's an ex Pig and now seemingly a donkey to boot.

It's all small sample size at this point, by and large.