Rochdale away - Page 6

depechemode · 17-03-2008, 16:21

Is Craney just in the side because we've paid money for him and hence hes auto in team be him unmatch fit or match fit, mite be written in contract. He wasnt fit enough , the albino bow legged flat footed child they had in midfield run him ragged .

maccawozzagod · 17-03-2008, 17:09

Aswad came to us as a centre half and should be played at centre half. Mark King (remember him?) came to us as a left back and should be played at left back. Leam has played fantastically at right back and had won a number of MOM's and should play at right back. Craney is, according to Coley, the best midfielder in the league and should be played in midfield.

Yesterday we had issues with people playing passes to 'positions' rather than people, but the person that should have been there was themself! When players play out of position they lose the or have not got the sense of correct positioning at all times, it's fine going forwards but not when tracking back or trying to retrieve the ball.

The other thing yesterday was the amount of times we gave the ball away when clearing, particularly from headed clearances. They always went to a 'dale player rather than a red shirt. It may be better to hoof clear than play your way out but this, IMHO, is a byproduct of players playing out of position. Aswad was playing left back but kept finding himself scrapping away (unncessarily sometimes) 30 yards back, when th eball was cleared to the left side of the pitch there would be nobody other than the 'dale right back to collect it and play it straight through the hole created by Aswad (for example) clearing out to where he should be. The players are having to think far more than they should do about who is where and nobody is making the runs or tracking like is expected of that position.

First half I thought we were doing very well at containing a good Rochdale side and we made them look worse than are. Mullin in particular was pulling their centre halves all over the place and leaving holes for Whalley to exploit. The contentious penalty decision gave Rochdale an impetus and our heads dropped. Second half should have been a damage limitation exercise but haven't yet realised that we can only play for 45 minutes. When that 45 is in the first half we need to learn to close the game down.

caretaker · 17-03-2008, 17:59

I thought Thomas was too lightweight on the few times he played in the middle,he seemed to play better on the left at first but his form has dipped recently.