Post-Match Thread and Ratings Rochdale AFC 3-0 Southend United

[AndyT]

Great report '***'. Had some nice visions there of Rochdale. Remember them from the time I went. Especially the two carriage trains!

Ps, Are '808 State' really still going strong? :omg:

 

[rlb999]

Everyone keeps going on about 4 at the back, but that will only work without Barrett, he's not good enough it there as a pair; maybe with Ranger back he'll revert back to a 4-4-2, but please don't let it be Anton and Barrett as the 2 center backs

I don't understand everyone banging on about 442 but I guess that the way we're bred in England. What people are forgetting is the reason we stopped playing 442 was because we were getting ripped to pieces. Whilst it would give us something going forwards, to play it effectively we need two good and two strong centre midfielders. We don't have this currently which is why we've been playing three at the back. If Timlin was fit I'd give it another go with him and Leonard in the middle. That would mean Barrett and one other at centre half (Take your pick from 4) and probably John White in at full-back for solidity. At right midfield you could have O'Neill, Demitriou, or McGlashan. And it would mean no place for Wordsworth, King, Mooney, Fortune, Atkinson. When you list it out like this, we are carrying a LOT of players.

 

[Sherif H]

Organise somthing then, instead of moaning on the internet about knowing doing anything

I did, about 5 years ago. It resulted in a paltry attendance, and a minority of idiots who did choose to attend shouting over Ron Martin, undermining the whole point of a peaceful protest.
Furthermore, I have personally extended an invitation to Ron and the club to help them deliver FF in any way I can (I work in the industry) which has been met with an insulting silence. I think I've done my fair share.
The reality is the Trust should really be picking up on the severity of our off-the-pitch situation, and should have probed the board for more answers at these regular forums.

 

[OldBlueLady]

The reality is the Trust should really be picking up on the severity of our off-the-pitch situation, and should have probed the board for more answers at these regular forums.

And we do, however, Ron is his own man and only shares what he wants.

 

[rigsby]

Agree with all of your comments about the players, I thought Leonard did as much as he could do and Ferdinand was effective when clearly out of position.

Regarding the formations, I thought it was 343 for most of the first half (or 523!), McGlashan and McLaughlin were clearly high up alongside Mooney. When Ferdinand stepped up into DCM at about 40mins it looked like we switched to 433, and then at the end when Ranger came on we were playing 4312

I could be wrong because 5 mins after Ranger came on they were still debating with Brown what the formation was supposed to be. Maybe Brown didn't even know - it felt like a case of chuck the kitchen sink (3 strikers) onto the pitch and see what happens.

It was Coughlan on the side of the pitch today as Brown was in the stand, serving his ban

 

[RHB]

Organise somthing then, instead of moaning on the internet about knowing doing anything

Pot, kettle, black.

 

[Ex-Member1]

Deja vu for me today......horrible day many years ago at Spotland in the mud and a similar 0-3 scoreline. Always regarded Rochdale as a bit of a nemesis. Move on, keep the faith, things WILL improve. COYBB

 

[Another Surrey Shrimper]

Great report '***'. Had some nice visions there of Rochdale. Remember them from the time I went. Especially the two carriage trains!

Ps, Are '808 State' really still going strong? :omg:

Thanks. It's all about the journey for me. The football is often forgettable. 808 State - they are still going but I think these type of 'legends of acid house' bills are the biggest things they do now. Chelmsford boy Ceephax is on the bill too (brother of Squarepusher).


I have just realised that the person next to me on the train is Tory leadership contender Stephen Crabb and as we have both had a snooze on the train I guess that technically I HAVE SLEPT WITH A TORY MP!

 

[Sherif H]

And we do, however, Ron is his own man and only shares what he wants.

Does the Trust hold a sinking fund in the (very real) scenario where the Club goes bust?

 

[Floval Flyer]

Great report '***'. Had some nice visions there of Rochdale. Remember them from the time I went. Especially the two carriage trains!

Ps, Are '808 State' really still going strong? :omg:

Yeah, apparently so... :cool:

http://www.808state.com/live/index.htm

and DJ Pierre :dim:

Back to the Old school !

 

[OldBlueLady]

Does the Trust hold a sinking fund in the (very real) scenario where the Club goes bust?

Not anywhere near enough.

 

[Sherif H]

Not anywhere near enough.

Appreciate that Kay....more along the lines of an amount to lay the foundations for a phoenix team...

 

[southendkid]

4-0,4-0 & 3-0 in the last 3 away league matches tells it's own story. Adding insult to injury is the fact that 3 average teams with a plan, and ideas and probably a much smaller budget put us away with ease. That's down to the manager yet again................nuff said !!! RM has to sort this out.

Agree with what you're saying but think that's a bit harsh on Scunthorpe, they're a great team for this level and I'll be amazed if they don't go up.

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

Things were wrong from the very start playing Mooney up front basically on his own. As Paul Clark said, it just allowed them to pile forward. Their 2 centre backs were left with Mooney to deal with and could have got the deckchairs out. We are getting thrashed away from home starting with one up front.

 

[Lord Football]

Jeeeezuz, where do you start?? That was grim. Proper grim (as they say up north). It was also soulless. Horrible to watch. Just a dreadful, dreadful day. Rochdale were no great shakes, but I reckon Bowers & Pitsea would have beaten us today.

The roll of shame....

Oxley. 5 Doesn't command his box. At all. Any League One manager watching this now knows what to do. Stick crosses in somewhere between the penalty spot and six yard box. The keeper aint coming. And that was their first goal.

Coker. 5 Nowhere near the player he was last year. I don't know why. I wish he'd just get the ball in the box rather than fanny around with it. Extra touch here, extra touch there, pass square.

Barrett. 7 You know, it says something that week in, week out your best player is a 37 year old centre back who should have retired two years ago. Threw himself in front of everything.

Ferdinand. 6 Seemed to be playing midfield in the second half. I wonder what Adam Thompson thinks at sitting on the bench watching him defend.

Innis. 6 Jury still out here. Good in the air, but not so smart on the deck. I wonder what Adam Thompson thinks.......

O'Neill. 5 Did ok for the first 15 minutes when he found a bit of space. Then we stopped pinging the ball to him and he faded into obscurity. Ended up playing right back in a confused set up in the second half.

Wordsworth. 3 Utter gash today. Couldn't pass to a blue shirt in the first half at all. Dreadful.

Leonard. 4 Really just needs to be given a free role. Seems to be tied into some sort of defensive midfield job that he doesn't like and can't do.

McLaughlin. 4 Anonymous

McGlashan. 5 Mainly anonymous

Mooney. 5 So we play him up front on his own and don't ever actually pass the ball to him. He runs around, tries and then gets dragged off within 30 minutes. That will kill his confidence. And then we bring on

Fortune. 6 He runs around, tries, doesn't really get a sniff. One of the most brainless subs I've seen. The change didn't change anything. We just kept doing the same thing with slightly different personnel. So it was no surprise nothing positive happened.

Ranger. 6 First game back and thrust into action sooner than we expected. You can see he has something, but not a sniff today.

Cox. 7 Played the last 15 mins in the whole and was, Barrett aside, probably our best player. Can pass. Will shoot. Did look lively. Also looked a bit portly too.

And the thing is. Each and everyone of these players (bar the keeper) would get a game in any team in this division. But as a team. It doesn't work. It seems to have no plan other than playing the ball across the back four with little or no purpose. At 0-2 down we looked calm, relaxed, not a care in the world. We never threatened. We didn't create anything. I don't recall any attempts on target.

This can't continue. We have "going down" written all over us. Something has to change. It wont be the manager because he wont resign and RM wont (and can't afford to) sack him.

 

[Supernaut]

Manchester dance act 808 State and acid house legend DJ Pierre/Phuture

RIP Spank Spank :-(

 

[rayleigh dan]

Ok, first of all I wasn't there. For those who were, how did Wordsworth play? I get the impression that he goes completely missing defensively, especially away from home. In the last two home games our central midfield was walked through at times. Today starting with a Leonard/Wordsworth central duo away from home looked like suicide, to me at least.

Edit - I see the latest match report gave Wordy a 3, he's one of our most talented players, yet the lack of effort off the ball is unforegivable. :angry:

 

[Another Surrey Shrimper]

Ok, first of all I wasn't there. For those who were, how did Wordsworth play? I get the impression that he goes completely missing defensively, especially away from home. In the last two home games our central midfield was walked through at times. Today starting with a Leonard/Wordsworth central duo away from home looked like suicide, to me at least.

Edit - I see the latest match report gave Wordy a 3, he's one of our most talented players, yet the lack of effort off the ball is unforegivable. :angry:

He had a poor game, gave the ball away enough times for it to be noticeable

 

[Danshrimper]

Ok, first of all I wasn't there. For those who were, how did Wordsworth play? I get the impression that he goes completely missing defensively, especially away from home. In the last two home games our central midfield was walked through at times. Today starting with a Leonard/Wordsworth central duo away from home looked like suicide, to me at least.

Edit - I see the latest match report gave Wordy a 3, he's one of our most talented players, yet the lack of effort off the ball is unforegivable. :angry:

He was very poor. I'd actually say that was because he was trying too hard at times rather than because of a lack of effort, his passes was either overhit or went to an opponent and his set piece delivery was inconsistent. Defending certainly isn't his strongpoint and that was no different today, they found their way through the middle far too easily.

 

[Danshrimper]

Can't be bothered to give any ratings, they were all around 4-6 and just as bad as each other really. It was the same old story with us playing a 'small' team away from home and being taken apart with ease. It's really dissapointing that we can only be bothered to turn up at the 'big' away games. Of course the players must take some blame for these away results but i think Brown is the main reason.

Brown got so much wrong today. Playing Mooney up front by himself works at home when we're pressuring the opposition and have bodies getting forward to support him but when we're being dominated and can only serve him with aimless hoofs, overhit through balls and crosses that either don't beat the the first man or go straight into the keeper's hands it's not suprising that he struggles to make an impact. Brown then has the audacity to blame Mooney for not being able to work magic with the **** service he was recieving. I don't understand why our fans were abusing mooney and cheering when he was subbed, anyone with half a brain could clearly see it was the systems fault and not Mooney's. The decision to swap Fortune for Mooney 30 minutes in was ridiculous. The same problems continued but it was now Fortune who was suffering because of it and not Mooney, well done Brown you tactical genius.

Bringing on Ranger was at least one good move (although I'm not sure it was worth risking him in a game we were never going to get back into) although he should have brought off McLaughlin who had his worst game of the season. McGlashan wasn't great either but he was more likely to do something than McLaughlin. Ranger was a threat and looked to have real quality on the ball, he looked decent in the air and was pacey which bodes well for the future. Cox looked good when he came on, would like to see him and Ranger up top next week.

Our defending was woeful. The fact that Phil 'cleen sheet mentality' Brown still can't get his team to defend a set piece after 9 months of constantly conceding from them is a joke. The players were all over the place, there was no structure and we allowed them far too much space.

Watching us play away from home is becoming increasingly painful, the sooner Brown goes the better.