Simply Ned wrote:I thought I would cheer people up by reminding everyone how important it is to win tonight.
Failure to win will ensure next Friday's fixture between Accy and Darlington will be bad news for us as one or both are guarranteed points. Add to this our run of extremely difficult fixtures, a number of established players on the slide, lack of pace, low on confidence and a long time since a competitive win then our league position could quickly become precarious. On the positive side if we are good enough we will we stay up but the last thing the team and supporters need is to be playing catch up.
If anyone hates Neds drivel it's me. However, on this occasion, I think Ned is more realistic and pragmatic than usual. If you allow yourselves to see through whatever the opposite of rose tinted glasses is, in terms of Ned's posts, then you'll realise that he raises valid points. I think from today's results, we should really hope that Accy do the business, as they seem to have pulled away for the moment. Unless, of course, their current problems see a points deduction.
You can't get away from the fact that we do indeed have a tough September, and finishing the month out of the bottom two, given the start we've had, will be a bonus. And Ned is right when he mentions players on the slide. For me Drummond and (whisper it) Bentley, have been off the pace this season and it will be interesting to see who makes way for Haining. Rochdale's second half performance outlined, if it needed it, that defensively we lack pace, and when attacked, as Dale did, we look like we're going to concede each time. This is what happened at Burton too and I think teams have sussed this. The addition of Panther has shored us up to a certain extent, but an opposition team with a few quick players rip us to shreds so we can't always rely on him. That's not being negative, that's fact.
I'm not so sure we're that low on confidence though. We're unbeaten in 4 (not counting penalty shoot outs), albeit 4 draws, and some of the football first half on Friday was great. Craney, Mullin and Jevons linked up well, and with Wilson on the left flank putting the crosses over and Moss improving game on game, I do think there's plenty to be optimistic about.
I'm not sure what happened at half time last night, but this is when a manager earns his money. At 3-0 up the message should have been keep tight. And knowing that Rochdale made 2 subs at half time, this should have been countered in some way, but it wasn't.
I am starting to ask the question, we have some good players at the club, but are the team orders and team selections good enough? Or would someone else use the players we've got more effectively?
Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 11:11 am
