Tyrone Shoelaces

I’d be one of the angry ones Arbi and you could bet your house somebody would know I was playing.

We’d lots of chances to clear the ball before it got to Rathbone, nobody went for the ball with any conviction. They just walked through us.

I’d have had one of them off and Travis on at half time. Plus Vale off, Gally up the middle and Dolan on the wing, also at half time. The subs were left till the game had gone again.

As I said earlier I’ve come to the conclusion he has NFI. It’s hard to believe given the career he’s had in football but what can’t speak can’t lie. Lots of good players have been crap managers.

And all the time Rotherham were dropping back and getting into defensive shape.

He was poor but obviously so was everybody else. He looked like he didn’t want to put a foot in. Maybe he wasn’t 100%.

We can’t even do the basics right. That’s what’s really worrying. As I said earlier we look like 11 guys who just met up on the car park before the game. Playing away from home it’s essential you quieten the crowd in the first 15 minutes or so. What do we do - our left back elects to go right across field with his weaker foot in the first 30 seconds of the game. A fucking gift. That tells me all I need to know about the mentality of the players. As he was shaping to pass the ball I was shouting “ No, No, No” at the TV. Why weren’t alarm bells going off in his head like they were in mine ? So after 30 seconds their tails were up and we had a mountain to climb There was that much wrong with that performance it’s hard to know where to start. The walking pace football, the passing to feet all the time and rarely into space, the total lack of physicality, the complete absence of leadership all over the pitch and on the bench. I’m still shaking my head now, I felt sick walking into town after the game. It was that bad. I can still see the midfield players dropping back to receive the ball square on facing our goal and getting robbed every time in the second half - it was truly shocking. It was bad enough at 1-0 but once that second goal went in we just downed tools as a team and started playing for ourselves. We became a disjointed shambles. This idea of playing left footers on the right and vice versa has had it’s day. We had Markanday and Dolan coming inside into heavy traffic all the time they were on. They were beating players but Rotherham were content to funnel them towards the midfield tacklers. We played in front of them all afternoon, we hardly ever got down the sides and turned them around. As I said in another post - if JDT walked tomorrow I wouldn’t be bothered in the slightest. He’s made a very average team a lot worse in my eyes.

I was chatting to my son at half time when the possession stats came up. We’d had about 70 % of the ball. I said “ the thing is they look much more like scoring a second goal than we look like equalising even with that possession.”

Anybody who thinks you can tip tap your way out of this league is deluded. Rotherham showed what’s required. Lots of hard running, pressing like you actually mean it, getting the ball out of your half and into your opponents half asap, shooting on sight etc. This lot are slow learners. Giving them money to sign players - I have my reservations there also. I’ve got to be honest - if I opened this morning paper and read that JDT had resigned I wouldn’t be bothered in the slightest.

Anybody watching Ayala yesterday would have left before then end.

I thought we looked like a team that had just met on the car park an hour before the game. We didn’t look a team that had been coached.

We definitely need a striker. We wouldn’t have scored today if we’d have played whilst now.

Just reflecting on it today - they were running, we were walking.

Neither of those played today.

Neither were easy chances but with both of them he should have at least hit the target.

Going off todays performance he belongs in the “ NFI “ bracket for me.

Gally looked like he’d been chosen to play in one of those ganes were a well meaning amateur gets to play in a charity match. That trap from the Dack pass - bloody hell, it was a back pass to the keeper. What do they do in training all week ?

There’s no fight in them. Not one player won the individual battle against his direct opponent today. Not one !

Who, watching that today, would give you more than a handful of magic beans for Gallagher ?

Midfield was where it was won and lost today, as it is in most games.

The white flag was well and truly run up to the top of the mast when the second goal went in. There isn’t a real leader at the club, never mind in the team.

Well I’ve held back until now to calm down but here goes. Abysmal, shocking, dreadful, pathetic, gutless - roll out the adjectives. The first half was pretty poor but the second half was totally unacceptable, abject. It was a performance so bad that plenty of managers have been sacked for similar performances. In my time following Rovers ( since 1961 ) and given the quality of the opposition, I honestly can’t recall a worse second half. Rotherham completely put us to sleep. Since the Venkies rolled up If I had a pound for every game were we’ve been out enthused I’d be rich. And we were completely out enthused from the first whistle to the last today. Out enthused by a lad from Rochdale ! He’s not on bloody Dortmunds wish list ! Only one team had some skin in that game and it wasn’t the wasters representing my club. In rugby league if you drop a bollock you get subbed off right away. I’d have subbed Pickering off after 45 seconds. How else is he going to learn ? What the fuck was that “ pass “ all about ? Brain dead. I sometimes gives scores for players. This week it’s easy - everybody gets a 3 apart from Dack for his first half performance and Markanday for his second half efforts. They get a 5. Hyam - if you can’t get a really good contact on the ball - leave it . I learnt that when I was 15 at school. Kaminski - get nearer to your near post if it’s an in swinger and don’t have a dwarf on the post. Gallager - learn to trap the bloody ball. That was a backpass. Clubs must love playing against us. We just play in front of teams all the time - easy peasy. If we’re going to carry on playing walking football, give Dougie a ring he can still walk and shock horror - he could actually beat a man at walking pace. I lost count today of our midfield players dropping back to pick up the ball facing our goals and having their pockets picked. Every pass is to feet and not into space.

We only lost 1-0 at the death and Bennett missed a chance my mum could have scored ( she’s 92 ).

I was at the Oldham game, this was much worse.

Yep, we got hammered all right.