Richard O'Donnell

Stone?

 

He “run” like those blokes who do the long walking races.
It’s almost like a ducks waddle.

 

Who needs to run when you can pick your spot with a header. The running was done by 37 year old Glenn Whelan, who wasn’t blowing out his arse at the end of the game, unlike our midfield who are 15 years younger and looked knackered!

 

Yes he looked like a Sunday pub footballer struggling to keep up with play but I said when he came on that he looked well past it but also with his experience he would only need to pull away from his marker once.

I hate being right sometimes.

 

He only came on because their player got injured, it reminds me of Cheltenham away last season when they were bigging us up because we could bring Donaldson off the bench. Their fans think he’s well past it and taking up a wage which could be better invested elsewhere, sounds familiar to us in recent years…

 

I'm far from R O'D's biggest fan, he's a decent shot stopper, but in this league where set pieces and crosses that come into the box in the air are one of the major ways to convert, he's never filled me with any confidence whatsoever. Commanding he most certainly isn't.

I can't hold him responsible for either of the goals conceded yesterday though, both were the result of pitiful defending. And if they keep letting in such soft goals, then they're going to struggle to threaten the play-off places, regardless of what's happening at the other end of the pitch. Here's hoping that Canavan's return solidifies that leaky defense and they start putting some of the chances away.

 

We were letting soft goals when Canavan was playing too. Admittedly Canavan is much more commanding in the air than Songo'o is, however Canavan was guilty of hesitancy on the deck that led to soft goals earlier in the season.

Ideally we will get to see Canavan back in with Songo'o sat just in front of him and Paudie to tighten us up more

 

Need to move Songo'o up and Canavan back in. Canavans missed 12 league games since making his debut, we've won just one of those twelve. His steadiness speaks volumes.

I wouldn't be surprised if Watt is the player he benches to move Songo'o into midfield, Watt has been subbed off a few times this season, Adams isn't afraid to pull him out the side.

 

Seen a couple of the recent posts partly pinning blame on Songo'o, saying canavan is more commanding in the air.

From memory that was just about the only header pitman won, songo'o pretty much won every competitive header against him all afternoon. It was more about attacking nous that pitman showed pulling off a little rather than beating him straight up in a challenge

 

I cant believe you are all giving ROD a free pass for the first goal on Sat.
The header was less than 6 yards out and between the two posts.
What is a goalkeeper for if he cannot at least show an attempt at catching or punching a well directed but ordinary run of the mill corner.
I ask again where was he?

 

That wasn't the problem.

When their lad picked up the ball in his own half and 4 City players looked at him and none of them closed him down - that was the problem. The ball should never have got over the half way line!

 

Songo's fault all day long

 

The bullet header that would have broken his wrists if he got both hands behind it ?

 

I did post this, https://bantamtalk.com/index.php?threads/home-v-bristol-rovers-saturday-16th-october-3-00pm.5543/page-15#post-560316

 

Yes we didn't do our job and stop the cross although there were plenty of City players to do just that, but once the ball came in Songo was no where near Pitman, as anyone who has played at any level your told to challenge and even if you don't win the challenge you do enough to put the opposition player off getting a free header, unfortunately Songo got that one wrong, but our defending late in the game was poor.
If you look at where the move started in their own half we had 4 players around the Bristol player with the ball the lad out wide was screaming for the ball not one City played read the pass.
And the situation got even worse when no body challenged the lad who crossed the ball

 

Watt came off because he was injured on Saturday so it wouldn't be a surprise if the team is as you say.