[Archived] Rochdale Away

[scotchrover]

A cracking win made up by the fact we had nearly half the attendance at an away game. If Carlsbury away days....

Happy Saturday folks! 

[JAL]

19 minutes ago, Phil T said:

Good grief, you really are one big smear of misery. Did you watch the match at all? Or do you genuinely see no positivity in positivity?

A depressing mark on a good day...

 

If it's depressing do you not think they shouldnt have left themselves open to such remarks ?

[matt83]

7 hours ago, bboy said:

Sorry if already mentioned?

when did we last win an away league game by 3 goals.

 

i remember beating spurs 4-0 many years to get into Europe. Has there been one since?

Leeds away April 2015

[lraC]

The game yesterday was my first for a long time. I am back from Spain for 11 days and I have never been to a game at Rochdale before, so was persuaded to attend by a mate, who also paid for my ticket. Met up around 12.30pm and popped over to Owd Betts for a pint of Guinness first and met up with another couple of mates, I haven't seen for a while. Arrived at the stadium just before two and felt the atmosphere building in the concourse, as it gradually filled up. Also saw a few people in there, who I have seen for a while, so even before kick off I was buzzing.

Once in my seat, it was great to hear the singing and see the away end packed, in  anticipation of a good day for the Rovers. On to the game itself, I thought the early goal was crucial, as it settled the nerves and meant the optimism of the fans, never waivered. I thought the first half was pretty even, but thought Evans stood out and Smallwood, cemented what appears to be his new found cult status, with the fans, meeting the volley for his goal, sweetly. The songs about him, reminded my of the Noel Brotherston, King of Ewood Park one. At half time, I was happy to be one up. The second half was more Rovers and again Evans stood out for me. He seemed to have a bit more time and his decision making was quicker than anyone else. The chances were beginning to come and sure enough, when the second did arrive, it was game over. Rochdale, probably had their best spell after that, but only for around ten minutes. Apart from the drive that Raya tipped on to the bar and a couple of low crosses that zipped across our six yard box, I don't think they really troubled us. The third was the icing on the cake and was a terrible mistake by their keeper, but was the tonic that Graham, may well have needed.

The drive back to Blackburn was a pleasant one and it was good to catch up with the family later, with the three points safely tucked away. I don't go back home to Spain until Friday morning, so my son, who couldn't attend yesterday, is now trying to persuade me to go to Scunthorpe on Tuesday night. It is another ground I have never visited, so I am sorely tempted.

[Gav]

11 hours ago, bazza said:

I think our main rivals are going to be Charlton Athletic. Now that will bring back many memories of 1957/58 season when we had to win at The Valley on the last day to secure promotion to the top flight at their expense.

Bloke I used to work with, now sadly passed away, used to wax lyrical about that game. Special trains from Blackburn, massive crowd at the old Valley and promotion secured, one of his best days supporting the club and he had many.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

7 hours ago, scotchrover said:

A cracking win made up by the fact we had nearly half the attendance at an away game. If Carlsbury away days....

Happy Saturday folks! 

One complaint I have about was the bloody DJ. The music was deafening. What the Rochdale club management are thinking of employing such an idiot I just don't know. 

Regarding the game in the cold light of day. I'm as delighted as anyone with the win and the second half performance was excellent. At the risk of being called a misery guts Rochdale are one of the few footballing teams in this league. They try to play football and they let you play football. Not every team in this league plays like that. Some will try and " ale house " us with the usual barrage of long high balls. When we can deal with this style of football as well we'll be on our way.

The Scunthorpe game will tell us more than yesterday's game.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

7 hours ago, Wing Wizard Windy Miller said:

What I really liked about today was that the players want to fight for it a lot more.  Just like against Bradford, we competed for everything.  

Loved it when Dack lost the ball, won it back, lost it again - then won it back again (ref gave it as a foul which seemed harsh). I was impressed by that.  I like to see a bit of devilment in players.  We've missed that for a few years.

I saw it again last night on youtube. He tries to regain possession a couple of times then loses the plot and dives in. It was a yellow card all day long and I've seen red cards given in more feisty games for similar tackles.

i agree with you we've been soft touches for too long and it's good to see we've got players who'll put a foot in. However we were winning 2-0 and we had the armchairs out, we were winning in a canter. Go down to 10 men and it would have been game on again. You've  got to use your loaf in situations like this. I thought he was petulant acting like he did and I got the impression he's the sort of player that plays for himself and not the team. I hope he proves me wrong.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Given the number of games we'll be playing and they way they come thick and fast I expect our better young players will get their chances soon enough. Some of older our guys aren't good for 90 minutes and 3 games in 8 days.

From what I read on here the U 23's are playing really well so maybe they would have given Rochdale a game. That's great news because we'll need plenty of players and we need competition for places.

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

12 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I saw it again last night on youtube. He tries to regain possession a couple of times then loses the plot and dives in. It was a yellow card all day long and I've seen red cards given in more feisty games for similar tackles.

i agree with you we've been soft touches for too long and it's good to see we've got players who'll put a foot in. However we were winning 2-0 and we had the armchairs out, we were winning in a canter. Go down to 10 men and it would have been game on again. You've  got to use your loaf in situations like this. I thought he was petulant acting like he did and I got the impression he's the sort of player that plays for himself and not the team. I hope he proves me wrong.

He got in players faces at Bradford. Fine line between  petulance or just playing with fire in his belly and letting people know he won't be bullied?  I remember Bellamy being described as petulant, hot headed etc in his younger days but what a player he was.  Not saying Dack is anywhere near Bellamy's standard but IMO teams are a lot better for having a player like that even if at times they are rash.  

[blueboy3333]

Looks like a good do.

[Tormund]

36 minutes ago, blueboy3333 said:

Looks like a good do.

Wow.

Made my hair stand up.

[RevidgeBlue]

9 hours ago, Neal said:

Aye mate, because HOPEFULLY we'll end up in a league just below the one we should be in. 

Some of those fans (like me) will only go to away games and just take in a game of football... People LIKE YOU have the nerve to call supporters like myself devisive and then spout this bullshit. 

 

Just enjoy the win you souerkraut.

First of all, we've no divine right to be in the Premiership. Secondly, although you scoffed a while ago about the possibility of promotion saying 'who cares we should be in the Premier League anyway" the last time I looked you can't get promoted two divisions at once so its one step at a time and this season is obviously vitally important to that end.

Thirdly many people including yourself are quick enough to complain about misplaced premature or excessive optimism, I'm complaining about the constant premature misplaced or excessive pessimism and allowing myself a note of cautious optimism. Sorry if thats offends you.

Finally whilst im sorry to say it you are extremely divisive imo. It does not seem as though you will ever be happy whilst Venky's are at the Club even if we start to enjoy a limited measure of success and are only really happy venting your spleen on here whenever we lose a game. For my own part if the Rao's start or continue to act in a sensible and consistent manner which brings us some improvement on the pitch then I can cope with that and can embrace any small successes that come our way rather than be fixated and obssessed by what has happened in the past. 

[GreenRover]

Bennett looked instrumental in the highlights. Was stuck in everything. Can't get anything about Richie Smallwood's song. Can anyone share the lyrics so I can prepare for my trip to Ewood in November. ???

[RevidgeBlue]

12 minutes ago, blueboy3333 said:

Looks like a good do.

Thanks for posting. Great vid. Whilst the ground has completely been modernised it retains its non Lreague sort of feel  and is a bit of a culture shock after years of Premiership and Championship grounds. The thing that struck me about Spotland as a young kid in the 70's was or were the pathetic tiny subbuteo like floodlights and yesterday it didnt look like so much as a bulb had been changed since 45 years ago. Lol.

[Stuart]

1 hour ago, blueboy3333 said:

Looks like a good do.

Brilliant that. Must have been galling for a Rochdale fan to see that at a home match.

Good. We've had to put up with it for long enough.

[scotchrover]

2 minutes ago, Stuart said:

Brilliant that. Must have been galling for a Rochdale fan to see that at a home match.

Good. We've had to put up with it for long enough.

My hope is that they limit tickets for a few clubs when they play us, such as Bradford. I always find it an unfair advantage when there's 7000 away fans, inside Ewood. 

[RevidgeBlue]

Just now, scotchrover said:

My hope is that they limit tickets for a few clubs when they play us, such as Bradford. I always find it an unfair advantage when there's 7000 away fans, inside Ewood. 

When I was on the Fans Forum and we were in the Prem I used to complain vehemently to John Williams about the practice of giving the whole Darwen End to Liverpool/ Man Ure etc when at the time  we could probably have filled some of it with home fans.

John used to just shrug it off saying the manager (Souness) didnt mind at all but like you I think it gives the away side a massive psychological advantage.

Not sure we can turn the income down at the moment though.

[Tom]

Remember last season, night match, Leeds at home, the darwen end was packed and a wall of noise compared to more scattered rovers fans around the rest of the ground.

You just felt that before a ball was kicked they had a big advantage, nice to see we can replicate that this season and intimidate teams even off the pitch/

[blueboy3333]

54 minutes ago, GreenRover said:

Bennett looked instrumental in the highlights. Was stuck in everything. Can't get anything about Richie Smallwood's song. Can anyone share the lyrics so I can prepare for my trip to Ewood in November. ???

page 9 of this thread

[jim mk2]

On 9/9/2017 at 10:31, RevidgeBlue said:

I've been told (and this may not be strictly accurate) Ross has to move to Monaco for tax reasons but has managed to negotiate a deal with the taxman giving him a bit of leeway before he has to do so.

Richard and Linda Matthewman have also recently sold up and moved to Monaco I understand.

I think its highly doubtful that given the family apart from the Matthewman's have little or no interest in Rovers, that much of the increased revenue would have found it's way into Rovers' coffers but we'll never know.

Apologies for diverting the thread off topic.

 

Jack Walker lived on Jersey to avoid tax and his extremely wealthy family seem to be following the same path of trying to avoid paying taxes. 

I'm glad this family is no longer connected to Blackburn Rovers

 

[Pedro]

1 hour ago, Tormund said:

Wow.

Made my hair stand up.

It is exactly what the players and fans need to hear. I can't think of a single team who ever achieved anything off the back of negativity and frustration.  There's a real togetherness and belief on the pitch developing and we are developing that cycle between fans inspiring players into positive performances, performances influencing positive fans - at what point that cycle starts (nor does it matter) I have no idea, either way, we needed it to happen.  It's great to see us connecting with the players and them connecting with us, rather than us turning up to watch journeymen steal a living off us.  Those players really are playing for the shirt and fans. Maybe it took us to drop so low for us to be able to attract driven players who actually respect the club for what is stood for, rather than as a boost for their retirement fund?  We can't change where we are playing our next game, but we can certainly keep spurring the players onwards and upwards.

 

[RevidgeBlue]

Just now, jim mk2 said:

 

Jack Walker lived on Jersey to avoid tax and his extremely wealthy family seem to be following the same path of trying to avoid paying taxes. 

I'm glad this family is no longer connected to Blackburn Rovers

 

Can't agree with you at all about Jack Walker jim, every bit of success we've had over the last 25 years or so is down to him as well as the fabulous facilities at Brockhall and the new Ewood.

Cant even blame the family for legally trying to minimise their tax liabilities. Id probably do the same if I was that rich. The only point I was trying to make is that Im not sure they'd be wanting to throw much of the increased revenues our way if they were still in charge as it was a situation foisted upon them and they've no real interest in football.

[the original david brent]

49 minutes ago, scotchrover said:

My hope is that they limit tickets for a few clubs when they play us, such as Bradford. I always find it an unfair advantage when there's 7000 away fans, inside Ewood. 

I may be wrong but I can't see Bradford bringing 7,000. Having looked at their numbers thus far their away support isn't spectacular. They have ridiculously cheap season tickets and so get good home crowds. 

As for yesterday it was a great day out. Had a couple of pints in Ramsbottom on the way from Darwen; a good number of us went to Scutdogs craft ale pop up bar on the east lancs railway platform which was very good. Then had a couple of pints at the turf tavern in Rochdale near the ground which was a very good traditional and hospitable pub.

i enjoyed Spotland. Give me a trip to Spotland over the Ethiad or Old Trafford any day of the week! 

[RevidgeBlue]

Just now, Pedro said:

It is exactly what the players and fans need to hear. I can't think of a single team who ever achieved anything off the back of negativity and frustration.  There's a real togetherness and belief on the pitch developing and we are developing that cycle between fans inspiring players into positive performances, performances influencing positive fans - at what point that cycle starts (nor does it matter) I have no idea, either way, we needed it to happen.  It's great to see us connecting with the players and them connecting with us, rather than us turning up to watch journeymen steal a living off us.  Those players really are playing for the shirt and fans. Maybe it took us to drop so low for us to be able to attract driven players who actually respect the club for what is stood for, rather than as a boost for their retirement fund?  We can't change where we are playing our next game, but we can certainly keep spurring the players onwards and upwards.

 

Great post. Until we scored the first goal and in the second half I detected a distinct improvement in the motivation, urgency levels and performance of players about whom I've been fairly scathing this season - Williams, Bennett, Antonsson, Graham. I'd put it primarily down to them being buoyed by the size of the away support but it could be that confidence levels are slowly starting to rise as well. 

Hope it continues.

[4000Holes]

16 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

At half time I was thinking " Where abouts did I leave my boots in the loft, maybe I should get them out and get down to Ewood for a trial " .  Every third pass was a miss pass. We weren't moving the ball from back to front with any cohesion at all. It was hit and hope most of the time, the only time Rochdale looked dangerous was when we gifted them the ball in our half. Smallwood's goal was a shining gem in a sea of dross. A good ball out to Bennett on the right, a good cross in that Smallwood met on  the end of a good run into the box. A crisp left foot volley put us 1-0 up. Easy Peasy when you know how.

Second half was a different story. We started on the front foot and had Rochdale rocking. We started to move the ball around more and crucially got Evans into the game more. Most of the game was spent in their half with Rochdale being reduced to the odd breakaway. Eventually the pressure told and Antonson managed to put away a tap in.  Near the end Graham got on the end of a fumble by the  Dale goalie and slotted away another tap in, game over.

l was more impressed with a second half performance. We started to look like a team and we discovered how to get the ball from A to B with a bit of flair . We're nothing like the finished article in my eyes , we're  quite a long way off to be  honest. That was a very poor Rochdale team we were playing , but you can't argue with 3-0 away from home.

Scores 

Raya 6 - nothing to do really, his kicking was OK.

Caddis 6- didn't do a lot wrong but he looked a very limited player to me, must do better.

Ward 6- again didn't do much wrong .

Downing 6- steady performance, got a head or a foot to most things.

Williams 7 - did his best to provide a threat down his flank, no complaints really.

Bennett 7 - busy out on the wing, good cross for the first goal.

Evans 7 - grew in influence as the game went on.

Smallwood 7 - I like this lad , he can be the heartbeat of the team, great run and volley for the first goal.

Conway 6 - worked hard without actually creating anything.

Antonsson 5 - apart from the goal he achieved the square root of nothing, not quick, not strong. We've dropped a bollock here. Not good enough. Remember who told you first. Tony you need to get another option here quickly.

Samuel 8 - grafted for 70 minutes, worked the Dale back four all the time. He's a good spearhead but he's not a natural finisher. He needs somebody sharper than Antonsson along side him.

Subs

Chapman 6 - looks dangerous, when he learns that there are 10 more players out there on his side he could be more dangerous.

Dack 6 - got the makings of a show pony. Managed to get himself booked within 5 minutes of coming on for no good reason at all. Not really impressed so far.

Graham 6- looked OK when he came on. Got the tap in that wrapped the game up.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for that Tyrone.  The only thing I would say is that at last we have the nucleus of a promising team bearing in mind that they are still all relative strangers.  From your posts, I think you probably played at a reasonable level and if you think back to that time, it was always difficult at the start of new seasons when a couple of new lads came into the team as it took time to understand their strengths and weaknesses?  At Rovers we are starting with a virtual new team and it will take time to gell (13 new players ?).  

For that reason, don't be too harsh on Antonsonn.  The jury is still out but once everything settles, it may end up ok?

We will have big disappointments this season for reasons above but I would expect them to become fewer as time goes on and as players begin to understand their colleagues.