Rovers v Rochdale

[aldoes mustache]

agree if i was Mullin i would be pissed he has had a good pre season . and we start with some one who has not scored much madness . the change at ht said it all i am happy im doing a wedding seeing the score. see radio m crap are not covering it again joke

 

[aldoes mustache]

oh fkn dear this is gonna be a long season

 

[aldoes mustache]

with the pre season games we are conceding around 2.5 goals a game is it pompey we play next

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I think today's game confirmed what most of us suspected: this season will be a challenge.

Although we scored two scruffy goals towards the end, in truth we were well beaten by a Rochdale side that moved the ball well from back to front and were far more clinical than us. I thought we were unlucky to go in behind at half time, as we had the lion's share of possession in the first half and more half-chances than the opposition. However, we could not finish and were made to pay for our wastefulness; Rochdale cut us open with their one real attack of note, resulting in the penalty.

The second goal right after half time effectively killed us off, and again it was a clinical finish. After that, we huffed and puffed with Ferrier looking the most lively of the attacking players, before another good Rochdale move put the game beyond doubt. There was no lack of effort from Rovers, but questions about the quality in certain areas.

Individually, I thought Morris, Perkins and Banks had decent games, and Payne and Ferrier looked the better of the forwards. Ponticelli seemed out of his depth and could not get into the game, and Hepburn-Murphy seemed very raw and gave the ball away a lot. Sid Nelson was caught of position at right back for two of the goals, and I really don't think we will get away with square pegs in round holes at this level. I thought Connor also struggled on the left hand side and needs to be played centrally. Manny had a pretty erratic game and George Ray was the better of the two centre backs.

I appreciate that will take us time to adapt to a higher level, but on today's evidence the gap between Leagues One and Two is huge and we have to learn quickly.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Not sure what Mullin has to do to get a game. Few sniffs that half but we need to do more second half to take anything from the game.

I think Payne and Ferrier have both got better pedigrees than Mullin, with more experience at this level, and did ok today. They are the two strikers I would stick with for the moment.

However, I agree that Ponticelli was anonymous.

 

[Ooh Johnny Johnny]

I think today's game confirmed what most of us suspected: this season will be challenge.

Although we scored two scruffy goals towards the end, in truth we were well beaten by a Rochdale side that moved the ball well from back to front and were far more clinical than us. I thought we were unlucky to go in behind at half time, as we had the lion's share of possession in the first half and more half-chances than the opposition. However, we could not finish and were made to pay for our wastefulness; Rochdale cut us open with their one real attack of note, resulting in the penalty.

The second goal right after half time effectively killed us off, and again it was a clinical finish. After that, we huffed and puffed with Ferrier looking the most lively of the attacking players, before another good Rochdale move put the game beyond doubt. There was no lack of effort from Rovers, but questions about the quality in certain areas.

Individually, I thought Morris, Perkins and Banks had decent games, and Payne and Ferrier looked the better of the forwards. Ponticelli seemed out of his depth and could not get into the game, and Hepburn-Murphy seemed very raw and gave the ball away a lot. Sid Nelson was caught of position at right back for two of the goals, and I really don't think we will get away with square pegs in round holes at this level. I thought Connor also struggled on the left hand side and needs to be played centrally. Manny had a pretty erratic game and George Ray was the better of the two centre backs.

I appreciate that will take us time to adapt to a higher level, but on today's evidence the gap between Leagues One and Two is huge and we have to learn quickly.

Spot on in your summary RLC. We were outclassed today by a good footballing side (pity about the unnecessary histrionics from some of their players). As I said in the pre-season games, I really feel that we are weak in the full-back positions. I appreciate Sid was playing out of position but all three goals were conceded on the righthand side of our defence. We also need to find more creativity in the centre of the park. I'm not yet convinced by Banks at this level. Sometimes he's plays a brilliant pass and scores a sensational goal but does not graft enough for me. But I don't want to single him out at this stage. We started well enough but collectively, we were poor, particularly in the second half when we were overrun in midfield. Some really comic goals as well. And Mullin? Why oh why was he overlooked again? Really feel sorry for the lad. Pleasing attendance at 8,000+. But it's going to be a long hard season ahead....

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I am not sure why people are obsessed with Mullin. He has never played at this level and his goalscoring record in the division below was average. The one sensible thing Micky Adams said was that average players can become world beaters when they are sat in the stands.

Personally, I think Ferrier is clearly the best of our current strikers and Payne looked decent. They are the two I would go with for the time being.

 

[Ooh Johnny Johnny]

On today's performance, I would agree that Ferrier and Payne did just enough to start next game. But Mullin's goal-to-minutes-on-pitch ratio was more than decent last season. He has pace and has a good eye for goal. But he hardly got a look-in in the pre-season games for him to stake a claim. For Micky to start with Ponticelli ahead of Mullin today was simply a mistake.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I would say that starting Ponticelli ahead of Ferrier was a mistake, but whether Mullin should have featured is debatable. Payne scored more goals in a season at Shrewsbury than Mullin has at any level in his career and Ferrier offers more with his all round game.

 

[Boz]

Mullin played in L1 with Swindon, though was mainly deployed out wide. I would agree that Payne and Ferrier are better forward options, though Ferrier’s late arrival meant he hadn’t had the chance to integrate fully. Why Ponticelli was preferred to Mullin is harder to understand, given the Coventry player’s more limited experience and by all accounts he was ineffectual.

 

[keep the faith]

I wasn,t too despondent going in 1 down ponticelli reminded me of McDonough rubbish but hope micky will learn, we have to realise Rochdale have been in this league quite a while with a makeshift back 4 and no threat up front I felt it could be a struggle, couldn,t see the sending off clearly so don,t know what happened, nelson may have struggled but he is a CB whereas rides who is a FB was dire him & morris were shocking, clearly micky has some work to do

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I wasn,t too despondent going in 1 down ponticelli reminded me of McDonough rubbish but hope micky will learn, we have to realise Rochdale have been in this league quite a while with a makeshift back 4 and no threat up front I felt it could be a struggle, couldn,t see the sending off clearly so don,t know what happened, nelson may have struggled but he is a CB whereas rides who is a FB was dire him & morris were shocking, clearly micky has some work to do

Morris had a very good game. He was always available for the ball and protected it well, despite having two or three men on him the majority of the game.

 

[Sparky]

Can only assume Micky was going on performances in training and maybe ponticelli has impressed.

Right back is a problem. Woods was on the bench so must have been a bit fit. But his injury record in recent seasons isn’t great and it was a risk signing him.

I wasn’t at the game as at the beach - what was the sending off for?

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Hepburn-Murphy pushed a Rochdale player after a melee. The Rochdale defender then completely lost his head but was only yellow carded, whereas RHM received a straight red. It seemed a bit harsh to me.

I would guess Woods will be available at Portsmouth next week and he looked ok in pre-season. Thinking about it, all three of Rochdale's goals came down our right hand side today, where we really struggled defensively.

 

[ADD]

The comments from RLC and OJJ were pretty much spot on. This was the reality check that I feared... pre-season had not suggested we would hit the ground running and this was sadly confirmed. Yes we were unlucky to go 1-0 down at half time as it was their first attack but the worry was how easy it was from them - yes Sid was out of position and did not have a good game as a result but the rest of the defending was rubbish as well.
Davies - should perhaps not have been beaten by the second goal as he was poorly positioned? Difficult to tell from what i could see.
Manny - I would not expect to say this as I felt he would step up to L1 no problem but today he was terrible - worst game I have seen him play - was he fully fit I wonder?
Ray - thought he did pretty well considering.
Rides - sadly looked out of his depth although I understand he may have been nursing a slight groin strain.
Banks - for me not as positive as others - I thought he flattered to deceive and was looking like Harris at times rushing in for tackles...
Perkins - very solid - the way he ran back and beat their midfielder for pace was amazing at his age.
Morris - played well I thought - one of his better games
Jennings - pretty average by his high standards
Ponticelli - like others I have no idea why we started with him - do we have to play him or else pay more of his wages? if so better send him back instead in my view.
Payne - I thought he did pretty well, did not seem lazy and was surprised he was substituted at half time. Created chances for himself.
Ferrier - good performance - strong and will grow into it I feel.
RHM - thought he was not that great - seemed pretty lightweight although fast and absolutely stupid getting sent off - yes their player was stopping him taking the ball back to half way and seemed to be suggesting an elbow but that is no excuse - he grabbed the guy round the neck and wrestled him to the floor. He is not playing U21 no tackles League now - should be fined heavily.

 

[ADD]

Two other things:-
As MM is clearly not keen on Mullin he should be loaned out before the end of the loan window with a view to a permanent move in the window. He never seemed to have any issues last season with him being benched but having him as effectively 5th choice this to me is not fair on the guy - bringing him on with 30 seconds remaining is adding insult to injury IMO. that may free some funds.
Captain - I said when first announced that I felt having a keeper as Captain was not the right decision - nothing against Davies at all. Today it was noticeable how their Captain was in the ref's ear after every challenge (both ways) giving his tuppence ha'penny whilst Davies did not even come to speak to the referee when Banks made that very bad challenge. May be a small thing but I feel that an outfielder should be Captain as who knows how the refs may be influenced ...

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

If one of the rumoured signings next week is a striker, I am sure Mullin will be sent out on loan. However, I don't think his absence had any significant bearing on the result today. It is about a whole squad of players adapting to a much higher standard of football.

Perkins is a de facto captain among the outfield players anyway, constantly talking and encouraging, so I am not sure Davies wearing the armband makes much difference.

 

[ADD]

If one of the rumoured signings next week is a striker, I am sure Mullin will be sent out on loan. However, I don't think his absence had any significant bearing on the result today. It is about a whole squad of players adapting to a much higher standard of football.

Totally agree RLC - I was not suggesting Mullin not starting was in any way related to our defeat.

 

[Boz]

Would we have done any better with Mullin? Probably not, but his treatment by the manager is hard to fathom.

Not sure about getting another striker in, unless of undisputed character and ability. Sounds like full-back options and maybe a tackling midfielder of more value.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Would we have done any better with Mullin? Probably not, but his treatment by the manager is hard to fathom.

I don't think it is really. He does not rate him but he is under contract so we can't just get rid of him. Plus, until the strikers arrived this week we had to hold on to him just so we had sufficient bodies up front.

I think this is all classic displacement. We face a massive challenge this season, and we are not sure we have the resources or the players to compete at this level, so people are dealing with that anxiety by obsessing about a fringe player who is pretty much irrelevant in the bigger picture.