Minority Report - Rochdale

Today my report comes in two sections. The first covers the first 68 minutes and the second covers the last 22 minutes.

The first 68 minutes
We scored first, a glancing header by Mawson from a superb Hammill free kick. Nothing else much happened in the first half. We kicked off the line when our right side had gone missing from a throw-in, the Rochdale keeper robbed Watkins with a brilliantly timed siding tackle when he was clean through and Hammill kicked weakly wide from the wing with the ‘dale keeper on the deck, and the rest of the ‘dale defence AWOL. Although we had less of the possession, I thought that our shape was good and defensively, we were in control. But the game lacked interest and drama, the highlight of the final 15 minutes of the first half being an argument about cricket behind me in the East Stand.

The second half began as the first. The ball was cleared to Watkins who flicked on to Hammill who took it to the line before finding Winnall at the near post for his first. Keith Hill decided he had seen enough and made 3 changes. Whether so many changes at once caused confusion in our defensive organisation, I do not know, but one of the new players was left unmarked at a corner, and his header fluked in off the far post. For the next 5 minutes, ‘dale were back in the game and it looked like it could go either way.

Thus far, the teams had been evenly matched, but Barnsley had the edge because of their superior forwards. But like all Keith Hill teams, ‘dale played good football and for a team assembled for pennies, they posed a real threat. For us, George Williams is not quite a left back, but he did a decent impression of one and Brownhill is not quite the defensive midfield player that we have searched for long and hard. Long is starting to look the part at the back and he and Mawson were dominant. Bree has already made me forget about the loss of Wabara. Hammill was good and bad in almost equal measures. He made our first two goals, but he frustrates and inspires in almost equal proportions. Winnall is a goal scorer, but if he is to progress to the next level, he will have to improve his touch, his passing and his play outside the box. Many will say this is harsh, but he must become more of a rounded player.

The last 22 minutes
The game ceased to be a contest in the 68th minute. Keith Hill says he does not know what happened. I can tell him. Fletcher happened. Fletcher has instant control, he has touch, he has pace and he wins the ball in the air. In that 22 minutes, he did everything. He broke through the ‘dale defence on the right using his pace, looked up to see Winnall free in the centre, and his pass left a finisher like Winnall with the simplest of tasks. The game was over, and all that was left was to decide how many we would win by. Watkins was put through with a lovely ball inside the full back, and he finished easily. Fletcher beat the ‘dale keeper to a cross leaving Winnall with the simplest tap in, and Long scored when a cleared corner was returned to the box by Winnall. Make no mistake, Ashley Fletcher is going to be one hell of a player and I wish he was ours.

 

More like a majority report this red rain

 

Fletcher is absolute class! One point though: wasn't it Hourihane who returned the ball back into the box for Long's goal?

 

Good notes.

Fletcher. Wow. Hope we can at least have him until the end of the season.

Put Watkins back to the wing. Hammill on the other with winnall and fletcher up front. Not many teams will outscore us with that.

 

Yes it was. Oops, brain elsewhere.

 

My only wish is that you could just sit back and enjoy it a bit more while it lasts. We'll be crap again soon enough, it might be later this season, or next, or even the one after, but it's definitely coming. So why worry about when that will be, just enjoy what we've got while it's happening. Occasionally a game doesn't need analysing and I reckon a 6-1 victory is one of those times. They're so infrequent you don't even need a full compliment of digits on one hand to keep tally.

 

Top post!

 

Good report, Red Rain and I agree with it (shock!). As I said earlier in the week, I think our future is going to be played out with a frequently changing cast of characters, and I think we're going to have to get used to that. As Farnham and Jay say above, let's enjoy Fletcher while we can. I was worried about losing Pearson and having Scowen injured, but the other midfielders have stepped up to the plate and I like the quiet, efficient way Josh Brownhill goes about his business. Let's hope that as loanees move on we can identify replacements who can step into the same system now we seen to have found what may be our optimum playing style. I'd really like to be able to keep Long though - he's the sort of player you could build a team around.

 

Agree with all that.

Just wish Fletcher would've started against Fleetwood as I think we'd be at Wembley already.

My concern now is we've got to go there without Hammill & it's a tough game for us

 

If Watkins had been fit it would have made a big difference too.

 

"and Brownhill is not quite the defensive midfield player that we have searched for long and hard".

Sorry, but no one as ever said he is..

 

This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ all day

 

True. Brownhill's a naturally attack minded centre mid doing a cracking job for us whilst Scowen gets fit. Happy days

 

I was surprised that he took up the more defensive role yesterday. Looked up to it too.

 

Two more thoughts about your Minority Report, Red Rain.

First, I don't think there's a great deal between any of the teams in this league. Rochdale weren't all bad by any means. It's true to say they lacked convincing firepower, and their defence did unravel as the game went on. But up to 68 minutes they did at times play some neat football - which King Keith prides himself on of course. I think that sometimes teams have to "see off" what the opposition has to offer. Some people say that you have to "earn the right to play". I give credit to our team for doing that, even if as you say there wasn't a lot of excitement.

The second thing is: while I agree with you about Fletcher's impact, if he had been on from the start would his impact have been the same, or would he have been caught up in the "seeing off" phase? I don't know the answer to that - all I do know is that his impact was huge playing him in the way Lee Johnson did.

 

The main reason that I was so impressed by Fletcher was that his control was instant. This is the trade mark of the really good player. Instant control gives him the time to decide what he is going to do next. He has options, and he mainly took the right ones. He was a shining light in the chaos that at times surrounded him. However, he is young, and in spite of his undoubted ability, this is the first time that he has played men's football. He is not yet ready for Manchester United first team, in spite of their scoring problems, but I wonder whether Manchester United has asked that he be introduced gradually, and this could mean that we are currently limited to the last 25 minutes of games. I do not know, but there is a danger of injury if he plays beyond his limitations of strength for too long. As I have said in other threads, the fans are not privy to all the information that the manager knows. We make our comments from what we see, but we do not see training. Fletcher's talent was obvious to all on Saturday and I hope that he is allowed to stay until the end of the season, because his influence, even in the final 25 minutes of a game, is a telling one. I just wish that we could watch him develop for longer, because Saturday was a real pleasure.

 

Fletcher looked an absolute beast. Granted, it was a short cameo against a ***** defence who were all at sea but on that small piece of evidence, I'm looking forward to seeing more of him tomorrow night.