Most liked posts in thread: Rochdale (H) in the Leasing.com Trophy

When Devine made his debut he was very much an "up and at 'em" midfielder, getting stuck in and getting up and down the pitch. He looked as if he could develop into a useful asset to the squad. Then he got his injuries and in between seemed to become the back up right back meaning he concentrated on defence. When he got on the field as a sub in midfield he did not seem to know whether to go forward or stay back and often was in no mans land. Recently I feel he has had a more free role in midfield and is getting his attacking brain back together a bit. Long may it continue as every little helps the team.

 

Totally agree Birky. We don't play Saturday so a full week before the Cup replay and with a few hours on a coach and a game today you would not expect any youth team players to figure. On top of that and contrary to some on here we need to get into the bigger money of this competition in my view.
I posted before that at the start of the season Stefan said it was essential we got promotion, McBurnie was sold and we had a cup run. Despite Shrews possibly missing four on international duty for the replay, progress is not a certainty and we were down to the bones on the bench Saturday so GB was spot on with the comments he made. Add to this the fact that Rochdale need to win by four (they may feel unlikely) and they played Sunday so might have a weaker team and away we go!

 

Lets hope with the start we've made under Bowyer it gives us a head start on the 5 year comnent.
When you think where we were as a club, no debt, a good squad that were promotion play off contenders I can't see us as a club being near that situation by 2021/22 season.
Even promotion this season and consolidation the following season 2020/21 then a promotion push 2021/22 season may be asking to much, but as we know winning games can become a good habit, just as we saw last season losing games can become a bad habit.

 

Joke competition, quicker we are out of it the better. I can see it from some peoples point of view when they say it will give our first-teamers a run out in the absence of the colchester game, but it's a total one-off. Any other time we'd have plenty of games. Get through to the next stage and suddenly we are having to fit fixtures into an already-hectic December schedule. Our injury record is appalling recently so playing so many sat-tues-sat games will likely result in more injuries to key players

Concentrate on the league, that is the only priority for us, with the FA Cup being an added bonus should we go on a bit of a run

 

Dont know if the cup run was detrimental or not. It brought in much needed finances to the club, our experience of being at Wembley was fundamental to being better prepared for the playoff final too.

 

That was a good effort by Patrick, and a good save.

 

Taken by someone who looked like they didn’t care if it went in, I’d be fuming if that was a league game. Reminded me of a little kid taking a penalty at Billy Bantam.

 

No one, including the manager, will give a shit. No injuries and 45 mins into Reeves is all he’ll be bothered about

 

GSK looks gash

 

First half summary for a truly nothing game:

GSK looks a bit dodgy, lucky not to concede 3 in the first half!

Longridge looks ok to be fair, allegedly not fit up to press, might have something about him

French scored a good goal but has done some serious dicking about with the ball on the edge of his own area.

Paudie n Mellor steady ish

Ismail looking tricky and a threat but could have done better with the 2nd goal

Reeves looking good considering, good in possession, retains the ball well, picks a pass

Cooke is steady as always

Anderson ok but hes still shat overall. Please move him on in January

Patrick... oh dear. Cheers Edin you prick.

Oteh looks like hes gonna because player. Shit penalty but looks a threat

Overall look fairly good going forward. Guilty of messing about with the ball in front of our own keeper. At 2-0 had we put the penalty away then we stood a chance. Now weve no chance. Think Reeves might offer something in the important fixtures

 

I thought it was some Devine intervention.

 

Said that at the start of the season. If you need four centre backs you also need four strikers. We've got 2 and a half and two are injured. Very short sighted in my opinion and could prove very costly.

 

I was being generous. Meanwhile, we've got about ten midfielders, excluding wingers, most of whom are decidedly average. A bizarre imbalance in the squad which we urgently need to address in January.

 

My biggest recollection is not individual players but the playing style. Whilst Dale played the ball on the ground, working from the back, finding pockets of space pulling our players out of shape on a consistent basis, City the old hung ho style of play with long ball, aimless at times, giving up possession. The differing styles so noticeable.

 

That decision still baffles me. He's probably not on much, but we have 4-5 players who're all of limited quality, all likely on low deals. Our squad is too big - but we lack depth in quality. I'd rather bin off Gibson, Devine and Anderson and just have a Cooke level player.

 

I think this maybe something Bowyer alluded to a few weeks back when he stated he saw something from a player that he hadnt noticed before and that it opened his eyes a little.

Since then devine has , definately the games ive seen anyway, has been given what appears to be a more forward brief.

I actually think he has improved a bit, he can go at a man, was it Crawley or port vale when he beat the full back a few times, he is playing the ball forwards more and is obviously now getting a few shots off. He seems to have grown in confidence a little with game time.

He has his limitations like most, and probably he understands he is back to 4/5 choice when players are back, but for me he offers so much more than patrick and Anderson and its a bit unfair when he lumbered in comparisons with them

 

He’d be better off finding a new career because he’s not got a long career as a professional footballer ahead of him.

 

Had a good chat with him. He was a very humble bloke who seemingly enjoyed his time at the club and was hugely appreciative of the chance he'd been given.

 

If you were a true fan you would be there tomorrow night getting behind the lads FFS.

 

Think it's one step at a time.. main aim is too go up.

What you don't want is Bowyer and the players taking their eye off the ball.

It's ok @wetherbywhaler saying play a strong team in this mickey mouse game but football is a squad game and we need the likes of Anderson, Devine, Mellor etc all getting match fit just in case they're called upon in the league.

We'd the rainbow in our hands but Edin messed it up after the Millwall defeat but let's not risk messing up the league for a few grand here and there. Our squad isn't strong enough to be messing about wanting Cup runs etc.