Lies, damned lies and statistics...... I would say Rochdale had about three or four very good chances in the game, with the rest being half chances or speculative efforts.
Four shots on target is actually a very low total considering how much of the ball they had in our half of the pitch, particularly in the first half, which suggests the box was defended well.
I have acknowledged that the midfield was poor today, largely down to Watson going missing again. My point was that the back five, aside from Morris, defended well.
Only Sutton with 18, had more goal attempts than Rochdale yesterday in L2. I agree that the hosts only had a handful of decent chances, but the fact that they're getting so many opportunities to have a go for goal is a concern. To reiterate my earlier observation defending is a whole team responsibility. I'm not disputing that the genuine defenders in the back five did a good job, rather highlighting the lack of protection from those in front of them. Agreed Watson was anonymous yesterday, don't know if the harsh yellow card was a factor, but Spearing was below par too, while aside from Nevitt none of the forwards got stuck in, hence Rochdale were able to move from defence to attack fairly swiftly.
I'm surprised that with MM after deciding that wing-backs are the way forward and knowing of Macdonald's fitness issue didn't try and arrange the loan of a left-sided defender capable of playing that role. What troubles is that he persists in using Morris in that position, despite Kieron struggling with the defensive aspect of the role. It would be interesting to know why Merrie wasn't given an opportunity, played at left-back pre-season and did ok and showed his attacking capability in setting up the Walsall goal.
On the forward issue, Nevitt is getting more time than anyone expected, which highlights the issues with our initial recruiting and waiting for McNulty. He's learning very quickly and wouldn't say out of his depth, though at this stage of his development it's looking unlikely he'll be prolific this season. Maynard played well when he came on and I like the way he moves off the ball, drawing defenders and creating space for team-mates. It's a moot point whether he should be starting games when not fully match-fit, the idea of Calum Macdonald playing his way back to full fitness doesn't seem to have gone that well. Glatzel has looked a bit lightweight so far though being played out of position.
I recognise Micky has only had a short time and a considerable number of players to bed in but perhaps more options should have been explored in pre-season. To put it into context when Rovers were beating Rangers in their first pre-season friendly, Robbie Stockdale had just been appointed Rochdale's manager. While Dale had a bigger nucleus of players under contract, there was still significant recruitment required and don't think Robbie had worked with any of their players before.