Rochdale v Torquay United - 14/9/13

[Wisconsin_gull]

hmmmmmmmmm,,,, I'd like to hear AK explanation of that one the subs I mean.

I'd also like to know his/there plan, I'm struggling with this 10 game plan

Any changes will of course require a further 10 games to bed down and then it will be Christmas :~D

[AustrianAndyGull]

Massive thumbs up for the sub 100 travelling Gulls there today and hope you all have a safe journey back home. Our form reads WON 1 DRAWN 3 LOST 3 - SCORED 6 AND CONCEDED 11 GD OF MINUS 5, WE HAVE FAILED TO SCORE IN BOTH THE JPT GAME AND THE SWINDON DEFEAT ALSO and we are a point above Hartlepool, a side that up until the other week had not scored a league goal. I think fans have every right if they so wish to point the finger at Knill, he's at the helm and he is responsible for team selection. It is his team now and it looks pretty poor in all honesty and the above record isn't great.

We have a big problem not scoring enough goals but when you combine that with not being able to keep a clean sheet then it becomes apparent that we have huge problems. In addition, 9 games in all comps and we have yet to take a lead in any game. That is just not acceptable i'm afraid and somebody needs to explain this instead of using the old bedding in boll*cks.

Dutchgull, I really appreciated that reply a few posts up. Thankyou.

Let's not argue and just agree that we're all frustrated and some of us should calm down a bit more than others like myself.

The Bodin thing is a bit of a sticking point with me I completely agree. I sound obsessive about him I know, totally disagree with Nick about me shouting stuff from the stands today if I was at Rochdale. Bodin won't get much better encouragement from anyone on the terraces than what he does from me I can guarantee. That annoyed me a lot. I'm not a moaner at games. I'm very vocal. Bodin probably is a very talented footballer but he doesn't give us any goals and his link up play and other things aren't consistent enough or effective enough to negate this therefore I don't believe he deserves a place in the side. On the flipside to that we have signed Courtney who looks atrocious. Next time i'm going on about Billy just say "Billy again Andy - stop it" and add a smiley and my world will be a much better place!

Anyway, thanks Dutchgull and as for the car. It doesn't look good at all and it has scuppered my first visit to Plainmoor I had planned next Saturday.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Just to re-iterate though, although I said Knill should go I didn't actually mean it. I was immensely peed off and all the frustration about what happened today just had me having a rant. He sure has massive questions to answer and changes HAVE to be made to see if we can do any better but I am happy for him to stay. I trust it won't be long before he makes changes and if he doesn't then he can go then as my 4 year old can do something as simple as change things around and see if it works.

[Dutchgull]

Good, friends again !

[Robiberto22]

Refusing to panic just yet ... oh sod it we could be in REAL trouble again at this rate looking lightweight!

Time to sort it out Knilly

[ROADRUNNER]

im sorry but we are 7 games in and yes things are not looking good at the moment but for f--k sake lets look back at last season, a lot on here were glad to see the back of lingys football and glad to see knill come in and save us from a sure drop in to the conference, if we are still in the same boat in half a dozen games then i will start to worry, but at the moment give the guy a chance, i still think he will sort it .

[Scott Brehaut]

All those that hark on about the ten game bedding in period should probably bear in mind that, including cup competitions (Harding played in both) the next game will be our tenth....

[brucie]

What difference does half a dozen games make though? we were shit against Wimbledon and we are shit now.
Can someone give me a quick resume of what team we played (I guess Bodin came in for Cameron and that was it) and what the subs were - cannot be bothered to read back through the thread. I thought we would be better than last season but I can't tell you how disappointed I am that we are actually worse.

[The Farmers Friend]

I suspect he is holding on to his plan A. Something has to change soon, either it'll work or changes will be made.

I quite agree. It's quite possible that Knill is testing all manner of positions, players, players' attiude and tactics at the start of the season where it will all be forgotten in a few months time, assuming all goes well . Who knows what brief he's been given - plenty of managers have done it before, although none of the knee-jerk halfwits on this forum or its previous incarnations seem to learn that lesson.

If we're near the bottom of the table at Christmas, then clearly it's gone wrong and questions need to be asked. Right now, painful and irritating as it may be, let's see how things pan out.

[coley in stripes]

Quite right Scott, but most people were talking about being happy with a mid table finish this season before the start, and the talk of 10 league games to 'settle in' BUT as usual people can't wait to condem....Give it time. So many unjust comments on here !

[SBP]

Firstly i hope all the travelling Gulls have a safe journey home this evening.

I am just starting to get a little concerned with AK's unwillingness to change tactics. Seven games in and we appear to be no further forward than game one.
The next game is at home to Cheltenham who themselves have started poorly. Both teams are lacking confidence, however it will probably favour Cheltenham more playing away from home.

We know that Cheltenham's wide players have caused us no end of problems over the last couple of seasons.

[ROADRUNNER]

yes we have to give it some more time yet, the only thing i dont understand is why harding is still playing, he is a pig in a poke, cant tackle and cant do much else, but we have to stand by knilly, and we have to support the team, lets give our all next week against cheltenham.

[SBP]

Could nt agree more. We have to give the team every bit of support and encouragement as possible. A great performance next week and it could be all the difference required to get that 3 points.

[lucy6lucy]

Having watched last weeks shambles, I was happy in principle to see a better performance today, stats show we did much better but the main stat is another defeat, we didnt deserve to lose but neither did we deserve to win, Rochdale were not inspiring, but at least they where not afraid to shoot.
Not sure when losing why you sub a defender for a defender. Have a keeper who enjoys kicking ball out of play from goal kicks ( I mean how many times did he do it, No wind today for excuse). Rice on occasions needs to throw ball out rather than kick it upfield/out of play. Corners need to be whipped in, they seemed to be taken with the ball in the air for an internity. Dont start ball, Benyon needs to partner hawkley. Positives today was we played better than last week. Not very often I dont clap the lads at the end but I couldnt be arsed as they couldnt last week.

[ferrarilover]

What's doing for me is that the overall performance (of either side) doesn't seem to bear any relation to the number of goals we score. Last week, against Fleetwood, we were (by all accounts) hopeless, yet we got a goal. Today, we were much better and failed to score.r dominated completely against a hopeless Hartlepool and didn't score, and we we're average against an average Wimbledon and managed to find the net.

We MUST lose Harding (can't he miss the bus or something?) and play a creative midfielder (no names). Hawley is a decent striker, but so is RVP and he wouldn't score with our current midfield either.

If Nico plays against McGlashan on Saturday, we will lose heavily. Even at his best, Nico got skinned regularly by JM, so it will be a massacre with Kev in his current 'form'. We all saw at Northampton (who are proper bobbins) what happens when a pacy right winger gets at Nico, so there is precedent here.

Cruise must play, Craig must play and Dan Sullivan might as well play, since Ball brings startlingly little to the party, we're no worse off with the ginger midget up front.

I know it's a change of heart on my part, but sadly, I have lost an element of faith in Ball. He looked promising early on, tall and strong. He's no Usain Bolt, Christ, he's not even Rene Howe in terms of pace, but he might have been a useful addition. No, in fact, he's not. Derby won 5-1 today and they have the likes of Jamie Ward available to them. Ball will be working in B&Q before the year is out because he doesn't have a hope in hell of getting a game in the Championship and, from what he's shown here, he's miles out of his depth in L2 as well.

Come on Knilly, you've had your arbitrary (but understandable) 10 or so games to assess the team and, if I can see, so can you, your preferred XI simply aren't up to the job of performing in L2.

Matt.