I'm in total agreement Redstar,the teams who've come down from the premier league...the Boltons Wigans..Blackburns etc are just a lot more cynical,or professional, however you look at it..I noticed in the Wigan game earlier this season every free kick and throw in always seems to get taken ten or more yards forward of where it was awarded..get past a defender and the pulling and tugging seems mandatory,the skill seems to be in doing just enough to do the job without being booked.
We have Dawson in the squad. People undervalue what he brought to the side last season. He was pretty key until his injury, the club turned money down for him apparently. He had the bit between his teeth and crunched into challenges which made the opposition take note. I'm not sure he's the answer in a footballing sense, although he's probably a bigger forward threat than Etuhu, Fox or Perkins. But he certainly adds bite to the midfield. Be interested to see how he'd have figured with regular games under his belt. Only the Rochdale cliqué have been regulars this season - Perkins, Wiseman, COG and Kennedy. . I think that experience is key in a battle, and other than perhaps Ramage, we don't have much of it. The performances of Steele, Harewood, Foster and Hassell were key in last seasons battle. Their experience was huge. We are pretty reliant on a lot of players with scant experience at this level. It shows, badly. And I don't think we stay up if we take Foster and Hassell out of last years run in. Experience mixed with youth. I'm rambling.
