[Archived] Rochdale v Rovers Tuesday 7th Nov.

[Bigdoggsteel]

1 minute ago, Oldgregg86 said:

If stoke draw and win on penalties we could go through on goal difference if anyone still cares 

I don't think anyone does. Literally ,anyone. 

[Bigdoggsteel]

7 minutes ago, Vinjay17 said:

Pretty sure it was in this competition last season wasn't it? 

We weren't in this last year 

[bazza]

Bloody annoyed we are out of another competition with a whimper. Mowbray and his team are useless.

[davulsukur]

Just now, Bigdoggsteel said:

We weren't in this last year 

Didn’t we actually enter our under 23’s?

[Oldgregg86]

You could argue the people wanting all the kids thrown in . The stoke , bury and tonight games have been as poor if not poorer against poorer opposition than any of the first team games. Wonder if it has given a little perspective perhaps. I think more kids should be in the first team squad by the way but when I read my own post it makes me question myself. Thoughts ?

[West Yorks Rover]

I must admit I was only interested in this game because Joe Nuttall was playing.

And he scored again.

[blueboy3333]

Just now, Bigdoggsteel said:

We weren't in this last year 

Stick to mother jokes, you know feck all about Rovers.

[Stuart]

2 minutes ago, Tom said:

Really poor showing in this tournament overall, disappointing

It’s been neither one thing not the other in this competition. Not a strong side to make a play for Wembley but not a development side to give them some competitive experience. Not even a strong team with some young blood. Instead the B-list (League One) players from the first team squad with a couple of youngsters.

The only plus has been Nuttall taking his opportunities. Over to the manager now to play down the young lads’ capabilities. I actually think Melton will be delighted that we are out and he can say that the youngsters aren’t ready.

[blueboy3333]

Re the sending off from the LT:-

Very unfortunate the Rovers defender there, only had eyes for the ball, but did catch Bunney around the throat area.

 

[roversfan99]

1 hour ago, Mercer said:

Nuttall is a goal machine.

There is more more about him than Rhodes.  The lad will go far.

Come back when he scores 20+ goals in successive seasons.

[Vinjay]

Just now, blueboy3333 said:

Re the sending off from the LT:-

Very unfortunate the Rovers defender there, only had eyes for the ball, but did catch Bunney around the throat area.

 

Tremendous journalism as usual.

[tomphil]

6 minutes ago, Oldgregg86 said:

You could argue the people wanting all the kids thrown in . The stoke , bury and tonight games have been as poor if not poorer against poorer opposition than any of the first team games. Wonder if it has given a little perspective perhaps. I think more kids should be in the first team squad by the way but when I read my own post it makes me question myself. Thoughts ?

I think if they were able to just field the entire U23s side in this tourno we'd still be in it. Mix and match has led to some crap performances from ones just going through the motions.

[G Somerset Rover]

21 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Come back when he scores 20+ goals in successive seasons.

Edit: ignore me.

[Mercer]

14 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Come back when he scores 20+ goals in successive seasons.

Pretty impressive start - 3 goals in about 150 minutes of 1st team football.

I'll have a little flutter with you - Nuttall will notch at least 17 more 1st team goals this season if Mowbray gives him 25 starts in our remaining games. 

[Skiptonrover]

22 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Come back when he scores 20+ goals in successive seasons.

I'd take him up on that wager he's just offered. If you don't I will.

[booth]

11 minutes ago, Mercer said:

Pretty impressive start - 3 goals in about 150 minutes of 1st team football.

I'll have a little flutter with you - Nuttall will notch at least 17 more 1st team goals this season if Mowbray gives him 25 starts in our remaining games. 

A jar of Nutella has more chance of making 25 starts.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Awful, dire game tonight. It wasn't looking like being a feast of flowing football before the sending off but after it the game died on it's arse.  It was like " The Dog And Duck " versus " The Brown Cow ".  Lots of huff and puff from both teams but skills ? Not much. It was that good a game that I needed a can of " Stella " as an anti depressant as soon as I walked through the door when I got home.

I was worried before the game that with two defensive midfielders and two out and out strikers playing up front there would be a massive gap between the two lines and so there was. We'd nobody to join up the dots in midfield. Poor setting up of the team in my book.

The sending off was a bit unfortunate , Wharton went in with a foot chest high after a bouncing ball and caught the man. Unfortunately right in front of the dug out and the main stand. Just like that incident in the Holland v Spain World Cup Final that was deemed a yellow card. The ref couldn't get the red card out quick enough. Red card in front of the home stand, yellow card in front of the away end sort of decision. Anyway it killed the game as a spectacle. Same a bit later on when he booked Hart for what seemed to me to be  a 50-50 challenge.

After the sending off we managed to score a good goal , Bennett with an nice cross from the right wing over to Nuttall who had taken up a good position out of the pack beyond the far post and he volleyed in a good shot. 

The longer the game went on we were hanging on but without really looking like conceding. Rochdale looking neat on the ball but toothless in front of goal. Then out of the blue they managed to get a tap in from Slew who looked suspiciously offside from where I was sat. I was surprised we didn't make any further subs than Platt coming on for Samuel when Wharton got sent off.

I would have thought fresh legs would have been handy given we were down to ten for 60 minutes.

The game petered out after that with both teams waiting to take the game to penalties. In the shoot out we had a youth team lad in goal and they had their first team goalkeeper. There were good pens from both sides , Ward , Bennett , Hart ,  and another Rover scored well but Smallwood put one firmly but at an eminently savable height and their goalkeeper got a good right hand on it and tipped it over the angle.

Maybe subbing Raya and Antonnson on for  the last 10 minutes before the shoot out may have made a difference. Was Whittingham also on the bench ? I don't know.

All in all a disappointing end to a disappointing game.

Scores 

Fisher 6  - did nothing wrong in the 90 minutes. Didn't shine in the shoot out.

Nyambe 6 - did OK in defence, not much in attack.

Ward 6 - got his head to most things, took a good pen.

Wharton 6 - was looking good until the red card. Comfortable on the ball and a neat passer of the ball from the back.

Hart 6 - did OK, harshly booked.

 

Bennett 6 - busy, squandered a rare running chance in the second half.

Harper 5 - just a tall lad who runs around  a bit. Didn't contribute much in attack.

Smallwood 5 - a quiet game for him.

Gladwin 6 - showed some neat touches of the ball and a couple of clever through balls. He lacks pace but he was played out of position  on the wing. I got the feeling he can play when he wants to.

Samuel 6 - was looking really sharp when taken off. I'd have kept him on and subbed either Nuttall or Gladwin,

Nuttall 6 - did well with the one chance he got. Struggled after with next to no service but never gave up.

Sub.

Platt 6 - again did nothing wrong.

[jim mk2]

Cold November night at Spotland, nothing game. Dedication to duty that, Tyrone. Thanks

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Just now, jim mk2 said:

Cold November night at Spotland, nothing game. Dedication to duty that, Tyrone. Thanks

You're right about the cold Jim, my blood must be getting thin.  I paid a £10er to watch that. If you offered me a £10er to sit through it again I'd have to decline your kind offer.

[Parsonblue]

Must admit that I enjoyed this game far more than the win against Barnet.  Slew looked yards offside when he scored but the linesman struggled to keep up with play all night.  Without the sending off I think we would have won comfortably.  The defence was rarely troubled and Nuttall and Samuel had looked lively before the sending off led to Samuel being withdrawn.  Harper had his best game thus far and Ward was pretty solid at the back.  Bennett, as usual, worked his socks off in midfield.  I'm sure Mowbray will be much happier with this performance than the dreadful ones against Bury and the first half against Barnet.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Just now, Parsonblue said:

Must admit that I enjoyed this game far more than the win against Barnet.  Slew looked yards offside when he scored but the linesman struggled to keep up with play all night.  Without the sending off I think we would have won comfortably.  The defence was rarely troubled and Nuttall and Samuel had looked lively before the sending off led to Samuel being withdrawn.  Harper had his best game thus far and Ward was pretty solid at the back.  Bennett, as usual, worked his socks off in midfield.  I'm sure Mowbray will be much happier with this performance than the dreadful ones against Bury and the first half against Barnet.

Parson - if you enjoyed that you've been watching us at this level for too long. 

[JHRover]

Disappointed with our efforts in this competition. I felt at the start of the season that this tournament, despite the negative publicity and bizarre rules, was a golden opportunity for Rovers to progress to Wembley and inject some pride back into the club by lifting a trophy.

It's clear from the manager's comments and team selections in the games that he isn't interested in the competition. He seemed to put more into it tonight, probably because of there being no game on Saturday, but really the damage had been done vs Bury.

Mowbray can use the mitigating factors excuse but the be all and end all is that we've scraped past Stoke U23s, suffered embarrassment against Bury on Ewood and then couldn't beat Rochdale with a strong team by recent standards.

The sending off to me looked very harsh and 9/10 times it would have been a yellow for a high foot. But with the Rochdale bench going beserk and the 4th official wittering down the radio he had no hesitation in whipping out the red card and so continues what seems to be a very damaging period of sustaining yellow/red cards. Something that simply has to change as we can't afford to lose people to suspensions.

Now we're heading into make or break territory for this season. No more excuses left. Bury away, Oxford away, Bristol Rovers home, Blackpool away and Peterborough away in the next few weeks. 4 out of the next 5 league games away. I'm reaching the stage now where if we don't get a very healthy return from those games or at least don't see marked improvements in team performances and establish ourselves in the top 6 then its time to find a new manager.  Limping through to Xmas struggling to hold on to 6th whilst the gap to the top 3-4 widens is unacceptable.

[RevidgeBlue]

1 hour ago, Oldgregg86 said:

If stoke draw and win on penalties we could go through on goal difference if anyone still cares 

I don't particularly care we're out of this competition per se but I do care about the fact its now one win in god knows how many games against very poor opposirion. Whatever the opposire of a winning mentality is we're developing it quite nicely.

The team selection was strange to me. Was Tomlinson available for selection? If so why wasnt he playing? What havw we learnt about Bennett and Smallwood from playing them that we didnt already know prior to tonight?

And we srill didnt get the desired result. Far from gelling we seem to be regressing at a rate of knots at the moment and that is being rrflected in the lack of discipline which is seeing us oick up so many red cards.

The one silver lining would appear to be Nuttall. If Samuel can get his head and attitude together those two could possibly forge an interesting partnership up front.

[Tugay's Right Foot]

4 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

I don't particularly care we're out of this competition per se but I do care about the fact its now one win in god knows how many games against very poor opposirion. Whatever the opposire of a winning mentality is we're developing it quite nicely.

The team selection was strange to me. Was Tomlinson available for selection? If so why wasnt he playing? What havw we learnt about Bennett and Smallwood from playing them that we didnt already know prior to tonight?

And we srill didnt get the desired result. Far from gelling we seem to be regressing at a rate of knots at the moment and that is being rrflected in the lack of discipline which is seeing us oick up so many red cards.

The one silver lining would appear to be Nuttall. If Samuel can get his head and attitude together those two could possibly forge an interesting partnership up front.

I confess some of the rules have flown right by me but if I recall, might be for this cup, there rules regarding the make up for the team that gets put out. 

coming back to the match, not a good result but with the number of kids including Fisher in goal, it probably was a fair result (1-1 at full time) for 10 men. Not to forget, another "first teamer" Samuel was taken off for Matty Platt.

 

it's the league that's more worrying.

 

edit: https://www.efl.com/clubs-and-competitions/checkatrade-trophy/about-checkatrade/rules--regulations/

[RV Blue]

One positive is that Wharton won't be suspended for a league game... the sending off looked harsh to me, there is no way Wharton could have hurt the other player due to the (lack of) speed of the incident, Hill & Co. on the Rochdale bench should hang their heads in shame after their pathetic reaction to it ruined a decent game.

Mowbray said that he was going to give some of the u23s a chance because of how well they were doing, yet only played 2 outfield players that have been playing regularly for the u23s, what was that about?