Rochdale v Torquay United - 14/9/13

[Gullscorer]

Three more league games to go! Alan Knill said it would take ten games to be able to properly judge how things are going and what needs to be done. But in all honesty he should be able, as the rest of us are, to see this already. As others have also said, there are some players in the team who are out of form, not pulling their weight, not good enough, have the wrong attitude, lack confidence, or are even over the hill. And there are good players on the sidelines who are not getting their chances. Substantial changes need to be made. The manager needs to make these changes soon. We should give him those three more games, then see what changes he is making. And it's not all about budgets or new signings; it's also about tactics, formation, teamwork, confidence and morale boosting, as well as coaching and training. The buck stops with the manager. Three more games to go, maximum..

[AustrianAndyGull]

Agree GS but these next three games are all potential banana skins, Cheltenham (who I tipped to struggle before the season kicked off) are capable of doing us at home, Newport are an unknown and have had some great results so far and I don't reckon the players OR fans will relish going there, also there is the Zebroski factor. York , who I tipped to do well this season doh! If we do crap against Chelts and Newport without changing it then the York game becomes massive even at this early stage. Three more games to go maximum i'd go along with , I hope he knows what the hell he's doing because I don't.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Why do managers not make it easy on themselves though? All it would take is for Knill to acknowledge the problems, state that he intends to give the players a fair crack of the whip and they have to take some responsibility too and if results don't improve then he'll look at other options in order to try and change things around a bit. If he came out and said that then it stops all the bickering and judging in one fell swoop. Wwe would know HE KNOWS there are problems and he is aware of them, we would know his plans for giving them a bit of time and we would know he wouldn't hesitate to make changes wherever if things carry on as they are.

Honesty and transparency goes a long way in appeasing fans as often fans stir up things out of a lack of information.

[AustrianAndyGull]

I'm not the Messiah but if he doesn't think the above then i'm scared.

[Matt85]

I think I'm going to be the first (and possibly the only) person to say I honestly didn't think Nico had a terrible performance yesterday. Why you would substitute your left back in the 86th minute at 1-0 down is beyond me? I don't think it was reflection of Nico's performance, in as far as, he had played that bad he had to come off, to me it just a baffling tactical decision given the situation?

For me the problem was further up the field, in particular Ball, Hawley, Chapell at times. Harding was again not up to scratch he was slow and was caught out of possession a few times. We lacked any sense of anticipation, positioning was out of sync, we didn't gamble on any balls going forward and never once did you sense any real threat when we got the ball into the final third. Billy was one of the few positives yesterday in was a very mediocre game of football.

The cohesion just wasn't there, play was very staggered at times, different hymn sheets. I'm still not convinced that with the current set up time is the answer. It hasn't gelled and doesn't look like it will any time soon. Interesting to see Ling's name thrown up again whether it be negative or positive.... I've said it before, for me there where too many people that jumped on the Knill bandwagon too quickly! We are fast approaching a quarter of the way through the season and I am feeling left more than short changed by Alan Knill regime.

Come on Knilly get a grip, free up our front men and wingers with some creative play from the middle of the park!!

[AustrianAndyGull]

Agree Matt.

Fans generally would be happy with having just the 6 points if we were playing really well and creating chances week in week out (which I what I expected Knill to bring to the table anyway) but we aren't and we have rarely looked like it. This is a shock to myself who maybe had high and unrealistic expectations but what has been on offer this season has shocked me. This is also not progression.

[Kernowgull]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not delighted by the situation, and have only been to one game, but to me it sounds like, Fleetwood and Wimbledon apart, we have created plenty of chances, just not taken them. Obviously thats a major problem in accumilating points, but surely its a big improvement on last season.

I am, however, very disappointed tha Yeoman, Benyon, Cruise, Craig and to a lesser extent, Sullivan haven't had a run in the first team. I don't think anythinf will change against Cheltenham selection wise, which means that unless it all suddenly clicks in to place, a defeat could be a better result than a draw or lucky win, as that will only mask the oroblems and keep the same team for another week. 3 defeats on the bounce would surely brinf about change.

[AustrianAndyGull]

We created nothing at Morecambe, nothing in an hour of play at Northampton and less than nothing at Fleetwood. I can only comment on those games.

[Bomber]

Having not been at yesterday's game, I can't comment on the performance shown- but there is one thing I would like to mention to those commenting about Knill's performance as manager.

In the 2000-01 campaign-the Barnet season- we were a season's high of 15th place after six games with four points to our name.

Those four points came from a 1-1 draw against Southend United, in which Stuart Jones saved a penalty, and a 3-2 win over Blackpool, which, of course, came about because a streaker ran on the pitch and, in the extra time added on, Eifion Williams scored two late goals.

That should have sounded the alarm bells about Wes Saunders' performance as manager and shows he was possibly lucky not to be dismissed sooner than he actually was.

I would say that we are in a more stable position under Knill at the moment, and also feel that there could be some more player moment in January or possibly even before that.

[Burnhamgull]

According to the official figures, there were 45 hardy souls who went to Spotland yesterday.

I take my hat off to the poor buggers.

http://fbl72.lockerdome.com/members/the ... t=articles

[AustrianAndyGull]

According to the official figures, there were 45 hardy souls who went to Spotland yesterday.

I take my hat off to the poor buggers.

http://fbl72.lockerdome.com/members/the ... t=articles

[taxilady]

That's terrible; even Morecombe had 74 away at Newport............

[AlexGulls]

That's terrible; even Morecombe had 74 away at Newport............

I'm pretty sure that site said we had 50 at Morecambe and I'm sure we had more than that there.

[lucy6lucy]

Official, BBC? I was their yesterday, and NO way was it 45. I would easily add a 1 in front of that, and that would be a lower estimate. I will admit the usual singers where not present yesterday as we where pretty quiet, but I saw plenty of new faces in the crowd. 45 my arse. There was 5 from Wigan for starters. I was just below a group of 3 gents who had a Yorkshire accent, 1 of them lost there shades in the Rochdale sunshine of which I picked up for him, was that anyone on this forum, if so hello.

[supergulls]

I agree more like 145