BAFC V Rochdale.

[russell_anderson]

Negative negative shit, we actually caused them a lot of problems yesterday and just needed that lucky break in the box. They were a good side as ive stated before, but not that good.The atmosphere was pretty good as well,ive just watched plymouth defend out a draw at livpool,if it wasnt for the plymouth fans in a 50,000 crowd it would have been like a library.

We had 2 shots. Every long ball was swallowed by the two centre backs.

That was the most comfortable win they will have for years

Yes. That's about it. One really good chance where a better player than Bennett would have just chipped it over the keeper and one sidefoot wide from Harrison which was no more than a half chance.

[Uphillandale]

Just get behind yr team and back to believing!!! For what it's worth we came to do a job yesterday,had a plan saw it through and were in the hat again, it was not anywhere near our best performances of the season,not the most entertaining but about doing what's required,I said before match fitness would be our advantage and I stick by that,my honest opinion was yr team didn't appear to gel that well,you were predictable most of the game(hoofball) and seemed void of ideas,I'm pretty sure you have performed better during this season,maybe it was just the occasion of it all,get back to to what you do best,consistency is key ,a belief in your self,yr team mates the team as a hole,I saw glimpses of good football and determination but it's down to whole team and not individuals,I sincerely hope you do well for rest of season,enjoyed my visit to holker st,good luck for the future UP THE DALE

[Wintergreen]

Cheers bud, it was good to rub shoulders with you guys again; your team and supporters have acquitted themselves very well up here in dare I say it – Cumbria! We were outclassed on the day pure and simple and were playing a chasing game; we couldn’t impose ourselves like we normally do in our league.

Don’t know if anyone would be interested in this RC commentary from the game. I sometimes have them spinning away in the background if I am on the PC for a while. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04ltkj1

Semper sursum!

[tictactoe]

I personally was disappointed with our performance yesterday - we can and have played better. I think we looked tired and the biggest thing I have against cox is his substitutions think he should have made them earlier yesterday. That said Rochdale were good and the better team won.

[EHB]

Thought Rochdale were a bloody good team. Very confident on the ball and broke quickly. That said we gave them too much time on the ball in the middle. We really missed Yates yesterday.

Our midfield just didn't get close enough to theirs or our forwards but that's down to hoofball. Nothing against direct football but we need to get a bit higher up the pitch first.

Harrison had a good game without much impact, thought everything he did he did well.

Jordan Williams disappointed. Is the hype getting to him?

Moussa had a good game for the first hour but felt he was at fault for the 2nd. Didn't react quick enough. He has all the physical attributes to be a top defender but no sure he reads the game well enough to play at the very top.

Impressed with the two Rs for Dale, rathbone and rafferty I think they were called. Good players. On a whole they're a good team but wish we drew a league 1 team not in as good form might have been different. They oozed confidence.

Anyway good occasion and thought the club put on a good show.

[Chris Benoit]

Rochdale didn't need to get out of second gear. A decent side who clearly are on the up. Their number 9 (Andrew) covered every blade of grass which was surprising for a forward. Number 14 (Rathbone?) caused us all sorts of problems too.

Still think that the last few results has been a result of Ryan Yates absence and I'd hope that we can unearth a similar type of player to him asap.

[olbarrafancumbak]

I was more concerned about having a new keeper but that went out of the window when our midfield didn't seem to turn up? The keeper did look OK. . Was pretty disappointed tbh..we are and have been better but rochdale and their support deserve alot of credit. Spoke to mane before and after the game, great bunch and credit to their club! We need a midfield general who can shout, shape and organise as well as play a ball or hold it up.. Maybe it is the departure of Yates ?? I did say before the hype that football league is my preference and although I've enjoyed the ride in the cup, I dI'd think it was too much on a limited squad! I just hope the boys can pick them selves up and push now toward the promised land!

[The Real Slim Azza]

We need a midfield general who can shout, shape and organise as well as play a ball or hold it up..

Where does this type of player fit into a squad that bypasses its midfield for 90 minutes?

[DaveP]

maybe it wouldn't if it had one

[ttnmus]

Good side rochdale and barrow played ok , but if we constantly bypass the midfield and keep humping the ball up expecting the forwards to make something happen out of nothing it's not good viewing and rochdale easily handled this.there number 9 won almost everything in the air but we carried on playing the same way when surely we needed to change tactics and use the subs

[Steeley]

Rochdale turned up and did what they needed to do, neutralised our long ball game. Found ourselves crying out for someone like Haworth to run at players.
No complaints though, beaten by a much better side.

Excellent day in corporate credit to Emma and the guys working in the rooms, was top notch.

[PRR]

We have successfully used those tactics all season and our squad is geared up for it. It would have been madness to try out a completely different game style and may have meant a much heavier defeat. We don't have the players for it. We are in the highest league position I can remember with a real shout if the playoffs. We're doing something right. We now compete with every team in our league on a regular basis. No point in panicking and changing everything due to a FA cup defeat against a quality side in which we in no way disgraced ourselves.

[Suffolk Blue]

Might as well have my sixpenneth.

Rochdale were excellent. They disposed of us very professionally. Being beaten professionally means that you don't really get much of a look in up front and your limitations at the back and midfield are exposed. Their club set up is not that different to our own. They have a fantastic manager and have brought players through their academy. Henderson (10) is a cracking player and Andrew (9) was immense. They are not fashionable (just like us). If that was Sheffield Utd that had done the job on us their history might somehow make it feel a little better and Rochdale are as good as United at this moment. Expectations might have been raised by the Bristol Rovers result but Rovers under-achieved on that day and that created a level playing field. Rochdale played to their potential and there was always only going to be one result. Watching it happen might have been a little disappointing but I'll get over it.

Paul Cox was not surprisingly a little disappointed. My take on that was that the disappointment was more to do with aspects of our play than it was with the result. Defensively I thought we actually didn't do that badly apart from the first goal which was the result of a failure to pick up Henderson in the box and he's not a tall guy. More worrying was the vacuum in midfield at times which both limited any creativity going forward and was repeatedly exploited by the Rochdale forwards. Too often we found ourselves 3 versus 2 or 4 versus 3 on the counter. Elsewhere Paul Cox might be wondering why Jordan Williams looks like he's lost a yard of pace in the last month and also perhaps why Byron Harrison seems for the moment at least to be failing to find those positions up front from which he's proven so lethal a striker. These are nothing to do with Rochdale but are longer standing problems to do with squad size and sharpness.

Lastly, a word for Flatt who I thought looked a decent replacement for Dixon/Erlandsson. A good signing PC. The fact that Rowe was brought in a put straight into the starting 11 though exemplifies the problems we have in midfield. There's been quite a bit of criticism of PC for doing this and that's because its not usual for him to be so "reckless". Rowe did not look a 100% - though I'm not sure he did that much wrong. Wright could have played in that position and looked sharp when he came on. However he is a wide man and not really a centre midfield player and we know PC likes to players in their true positions.

All this shows is that PCs options are being exhausted with the squad he's got and needs freshening up and building. For all the points that have been made about Saturday, the fact that I find most disappointing is that we effectively took the field in the biggest game at HS in decades with two players who had not even met the squad until the middle of last week. That is more like the BAFC of old than it represents what we are trying to build for the future.

[mikemarshhewasgood]

We need a midfield general who can shout, shape and organise as well as play a ball or hold it up..

Where does this type of player fit into a squad that bypasses its midfield for 90 minutes?

We need a leader full stop! Livesy does ok but we need better then ok. Felt for the lads a bit on Saturday because they stuck to plan A when this was the only plan available. Lot of compliments about dale but then again they should be that much better then us! The only thing I would have liked to see was us getting in their faces a lot more and trying to wind them up

[Steelworks End]

Since the superb away victories at Dagenham and Bristol Rovers the team haven't really hit the heights that they are capable of. We squeezed past Harrogate at the second attempt in the Trophy, drew at Boreham Wood thanks to a penalty that many referees wouldn't have given, and only took one point out of six in the Gateshead seasonal double. Unfortunately, this out of sorts form continued into the Rochdale game.

Had Barrow been at their best and Rochdale slightly off their game we might have won - just as we did at Bristol.
But that didn't happen.

Rochdale would have seen our match against their League One rivals and learned from this. They did their homework, nullified Barrow's strong points, and played to their own strengths. And they had some more than decent players.

At the end of the day, Barrow were beaten by a better side and the scoreline was a fair reflection of the game. We had a couple of half chances, but never looked like pulling off a victory against a side from two levels above us. The gulf was just too great.

Rochdale will learn their fourth round opponents later today, and I hope their supporters - who seemed to be a decent, friendly bunch - get a tie to look forward to.

Barrow must put the cup behind them and build on their league form, starting against Southport tomorrow. Our long unbeaten run has left us well placed, just outside the playoffs, and our immediate aim must be to get back into contention.

Our season hasn't suddenly fallen apart just because of two consecutive defeats; the team (strengthened as necessary in both quality and quantity) can still do us proud.