Lucky as f**k

[daznathe]

i wouldnt agree with lucky as feck but i wouldnt be too downhearted if i was a dale fan, they seem a decent side. ive been saying for 18 months that greegs at his best is like a striker who scores at one end then scores an own goal whilst at his worst is a complete liability and the stuff about anyone would have him cracks me up BUT stam is far from infallible and ruuuuuubes has started the season poorly so whats the options? teams also know that to score past us they need to aim at the six yard line from the by-line, corners, free kicks etcetera as crossleys shot stopping ability is second to none. the whole division probably knows this after the ruuuuuubes crossley mix up on sat, which is caused by intermittent cross/ long ball collection NOT 100% collection as was stupidly argued on here in the past, so its up to the players to stop this happening before it does and the forwards to outscore early and demorolise the oppo. a word on davies, hes still my fave player i can see what he can do and now hes tied down its up to the management to get his attitude sorted, even i can not defend that last night and nothing less than the maximum fine is acceptable. like rocky says, if he isnt banned next match he must be dropped.

[BigfinLatic]

Simple as.

 

Eardley got ragged all game off Rundle, constantly balls outwide and still Eard's couldnt figure it out he needed to close him down - for f**k sake, he's only got a left peg, I could of told him that before the game. Allott got raped by Jonesy in centre mid. Davies.......where to begin??

 

First half we played well. Looked comfortable up until Davies decides he wants to headbutt Stanton infront of the ref. No need for it whatsoever and hope he's dropped next game before his suspension. 2nd half and extra time, dale bossed and looked the only side like scoring. The hoof football is not on. Ten men or not, whats the point? It didnt work 2nd half - why try it all extra time?? aimless long balls up to no one. You may as well of just got Crossley to kick it to Russell in the dale goal as it was coming straight back every time.

 

Painful. Really painful to watch. Especially the penalties. We got out of jail saturday. We got out of jail tonight. Play like that at Leeds and we'll get battered.

 

Luckily I can hold my head up high and have bragging rights over the result - though dale fans will say we didnt deserve it and i'd be a liar if I disagreed. Cracking following from Latics. Davies. Sort yourself out!!!!

 

Thought i'd add my twopenneth - and as usual Rocky, you probably wont agree with me!

 

Couldnt disagree more - especially with the painful to watch, thought it was an absolutely enthralling game, dont know what latics fans are expecting from 10 men, but playing against any team such as rochdale who do such a good job at hanging on to the ball is going to be tricky, and I thought as a unit, we were awesome...

 

Lets start in the first half, for me, latics ripped dale to pieces, Taylor and Smalley showed the difference between league 1 future stars, and league 2 future stars, every time they got the ball they were past 3 men before they could blink - great to watch, and to be honest we should have been out of sight after 30 minutes - felt we were taking the mick a little... and if Hughesy scores the penalty - i think it would have been 4 or 5 nil.....

 

BUT... he didnt, and rochdale came back into the game, starting winding up our players and it got a reaction from davies... all that needs to be said about that has been, and then, all credit to the dale, they kept the ball well, and used the full-backs brilliantly - used the space and kept us moving.... However, they could have played for another 90 minutes and they wouldnt have scored against us... great movement, no end result - which is ultimately the reason they are still in league 2, stockport had end result....

 

I thought it was exactly the game our lads needed, for me there wasnt a moment where we didnt look comfortable, and to get 120 mins in the locker can only stand us in great stead.. sure there was a couple of shaky performances, but against 10 men you cant really complain, and for me, we always loooked the better side - I just felt if we really, really needed to, we could have upped through the gears, but served as a great practice match for this stage of the season...

 

massive positives for me were Smalley and Taylor - brilliant, and showing the talent we always hoped they had, but against defenders who to be honest didnt really know where they were, again, I think if we had 11 men and 'dale tired like thy did at the end, it could have been a cricket score. Hughesy playing 120 mins is also massive, admittedly his touch was shaky at the start - but he has hardly played any football, that will do him the world of good. And crossley and the defence were magnificent - greegs was shocking in the first 20 mins, but then oozed class when he had to, marshalled the defence, and even if it was only him on the pitch rochdale still wouldnt have scored all night....

 

... and my assesment of dale, enjoyed watching them. For me it wasnt jones but Keltie that pulled all the strings, can see why we were linked to him, dropped deep and passed comfortably... other than that, a decent team, pretty lightweight, no real cutting edge, but sure they will do ok in the pub team league.... I just thought if davies had stayed on we would have swatted them 3 or 4 nil....

 

... a good workout at this stage of the season, bring on saturday.... with 11 players.... of coursed if we play like that we will get battered, but we were playing Rochdale, not the league 1 champs elect... you do what you need to...

[slystallone]

I sort of agree with you Al; i think to get 125mins in the tanks will be ultimately a good thing, fitness wise; though we'll see on sat if anyone suffers any ill effects.

 

Positives i take from last night were the kids performances AGAIN!

Smalley was outstanding in the first half - he showed why he is heir apparent to the RW spot, full of pace, skill & desire. He constantyl beat 2-3 men, delivered end product and was a constant thorn in the Dale team's side.

 

Taylor had a cracking game, and has started the season so well. He is by no means a left back, but what a job he did last night; and was still a major threat attacking wise even from the LB position. His right footed shot cutting in from the left is going to be a real weapon if he continues to play on that side, really great performance from him last night - well done Chris (sits back and waits for Derek tool to post saying he was caught out of position etc!)

 

Lewis had another useful appearance from the bench; though he ended up on the deck a fair few times; new studs lewi??

 

 

Not a kid, but Danny Whittaker had a solid game too - impressed me again after sat's cameo-game turning showing.

 

 

Now the glass i half empty stuff:

 

Hazell has had a shocking start to the new season; and on the showings so far looks a shadow of his former self, even the switch to right back exposed him too - think Stam has earned a starting place on sat.

 

Allott had a stinker - the worst i've seen him have, but i wont dwell on that too much.

 

Hughesy getting involved in needless spats erked me, but his workrate was immense considering his relative lack of fitness.

 

Shez taking Smalley off - couldn't see it myself and thought it wasn't the sub to make - but at the end of the day we got the result so it payed off i suppose.

[Rocky_Latic]

Thought i'd add my twopenneth - and as usual Rocky, you probably wont agree with me!

 

Couldnt disagree more - especially with the painful to watch, thought it was an absolutely enthralling game, dont know what latics fans are expecting from 10 men, but playing against any team such as rochdale who do such a good job at hanging on to the ball is going to be tricky, and I thought as a unit, we were awesome...

It was painful to watch. Just ask chickers, beardy and others what I was like everytime Dale went forward. Especially when time and again Rundle was allowed space on the left because Eard's was constantly narrow and playing pretty much as a centre back. I could of told you before the game that Rundle is the danger man from the flanks and they constantly look to get the ball wide to him.

 

I also said that Dale's weak point is right back with Ramsden and the key to hitting them where it hurts is a pacy left winger who gets given the ball and told to run at him. Which is why I was shocked to see Taylor at left back - especially given he performed that very attacking role against Millwall's right back superbly on saturday - Particularly 2nd half. Even more shocked given Shez watched Dale numerous time's last season and the only real difference in their back line is still the same. Taylor had a superb game there dont get me wrong, but he'd have pissed all over Ramsden if he'd of been put to left mid and been told to bomb down the wing as much as possible and he'd probably be getting more praise than he has.

 

I mentioned to Leeslover in the Litten Tree before the game when he said we've got a good league 1 midfield. I agreed with him about that but told him that no matter how good you are, Gary Jones will run more than you in the dale centre mid. The bloke is like Ernie. Gives 100% every week, runs himself into the ground and Allott was very much beaten to everything. Can also see why we were linked with Keltie, very good player.

 

10 men did well, but out of those ten not everyone comes out with credit. Crossley after saturday was far more improved.

 

I thought it was exactly the game our lads needed, for me there wasnt a moment where we didnt look comfortable, and to get 120 mins in the locker can only stand us in great stead.. sure there was a couple of shaky performances, but against 10 men you cant really complain, and for me, we always loooked the better side - I just felt if we really, really needed to, we could have upped through the gears, but served as a great practice match for this stage of the season...

You sure about that. There was only one team who looked like winning after the sending off and it wasnt the one's in yellow. Agree if Davies had stayed on, we'd of probably won within the 90.

Edited August 13, 2008 by Rocky_Latic

[BigfinLatic]

You sure about that. There was only one team who looked like winning after the sending off and it wasnt the one's in yellow. Agree if Davies had stayed on, we'd of probably won within the 90.

 

I think I am mate... as I said, i enjoyed watching 'dale play, created space well, and you could see them constantly trying to play into space..... but as soon as it went centrally it became too easy.... being the beter side isnt just about possession, its about loooking in control, I just didnt think we wlooked in danger...

 

You may say we didnt create much, but I think people are being a little too scornful on our passing, I think the longer balls were a lot more measured than we think, a sharper hughesy would have made a lot more of them... and i think the few times we did go forward, we looked a lot more threatening than dale.... that moment of hughesy class when he battered the full back and put it on a plate for Lewis was an example of the cutting edge 'dale just never showed....

 

I think your probably got frustrated as you probably know 'dales weaknesses better than Oldham did... its frustrating, but I though even with 10 men, we still looked like the side from the higher division, and looked like if we wanted to up it, we could have done.... I just really enjoyed the whole game, perhaps I have a higher boredom threshold??? (or perhaps it was just as it was a rare game where I was sober and could actually understand what was going on??? )

 

Smalley was outstanding in the first half - he showed why he is heir apparent to the RW spot, full of pace, skill & desire. He constantyl beat 2-3 men, delivered end product and was a constant thorn in the Dale team's side.

 

He was awesome.... brilliant stuff... and he is not heir apparant, he is the rightful owner.... a thread I will probably start later in the week, but he HAS to play on saturday. leeds have robinson on the left, so we absolutely have to have Smalley there - firstly to push him back and defend, and secondly to track back with him. Lids will get murdered if he plays against him....