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The Donny game was inexcusable, and for me KH was to blame for that one game more than he has been for any game in either spell in charge. It was up there with the hammering we had at home to Stevenage during Chris Beech's time as caretaker, and we were sitting ducks from the first minute. Had it been 7 or 8, I doubt we could really have offered any complaints.
We are in a horrible position. Forget the league position and points tally for now, it's been a long while since we've had back to back hammerings like this, and you can easily see why so many fans are feeling the way they are doing. It's out of order to question loyalty or sanity of those offering criticism.
But I'm still firmly in the belief that there is no better manager out there than Keith Hill to transform the future of this football team.
I've alluded to a few times that I see the transfer window as one our biggest problems. Things which were an issue in September are still an issue last week in December, and thats a long time to deal with those same problems. We're brittle and lack leadership on the pitch and throughout the season, one goal becomes two becomes three becomes four so easily.
It's been clear we are very brittle. You hit us once, and we become so vulnerable to can kill a game off there and then. That's why in my opinion, we keep conceding four goals. And opposition teams who scout will pick up on this and will report back to managers that we are a fragile team that if you come at us hard and fast and keep plugging away, you can win the game in the first half hour of a game.
And then problems exacerbate. Our youth policy is brilliant and rightly the envy of the lower leagues. But the team at Donny was packed out with kids, and they're the wrong players to be in there at this moment. We looked a bunch of frightened rabbits yesterday, devoid of any confidence whatsoever, and its been a long time since I've seen a Dale side play in way which looks like they didn't want to be there. As a fan, I don't recall back to back games where I've been desperate for the final whistle as much I have in the last two games.
Where was the leadership? With the honourable exception of Henderson who leads by example rather than as your traditional captain, it's nowhere to be seen. You could argue that our only other senior pro out there yesterday in the starting line up was Matty Done. Him and Hendo aside, you're looking at a set of players between 17 and 23. Many are experienced in terms of appearances but that's not to say that they are capable in terms of responsibility.
So why stick with Hilly if many of the problems are of his own making?
Well, historically, he has got a proven track record of assembling sides that are good enough to compete at every level. We know this side needs sorting out, and I'm confident that Hilly can do this. Bringing in a new manager would bring a financial strain that would diminish any ability to make necessary changes. I don't look at our current squad as one who are being mismanaged that just need a new boss to bring out the best in them. We need changes and new recruits to bring the best out of them.We need big characters of the likes of Stephen Dawson or Peter Clarke (not suggesting either as possible signings) who will help to bring out the best in the younger players who are finding things tough. The likes of Camps, Inman, Adshead will only benefit from someone else alongside taking on board that responsibility.
Well for me it's clear that there is a real intention to sort things out. Yesterday was a case of short term pain for long term gain, and the seemingly imminent departure of Perkins is an admittance of getting things wrong and doing something about it. We're not a club who bathes in gold so if the plan is to change things up, we have to start that process by freeing up wages where we can. If Perkins goes, it's not to save a few bob, but to use those wages elsewhere and the speed with which this is happening in this transfer window suggests that wheels are in motion.
Same with Lillis. We all know Lillis is better than Norman and Moore, but yesterday's team selection suggested to me that he wants a new keeper, and perhaps the only way that can happen is with the departure of Lillis. Will he play again for us? Possibly not (but nothing will surprise me with the keepers this season), but it strikes me that its an attempt to offload Lillis to free up wages to bring in a replacement. Lillis deserves better than this but changes are needed.
Hilly deserves the right to try and sort out the problems even if that is at the expense of relegation. We are not one of those clubs who sacks managers at a whim. Bury have had 8 managers and Oldham have had 12 managers during Hill's time in charge. Meaningless to our situation to an extent but it shows as we all know that the constant turnaround of managers is not a route to success. The football world has this culture of sacking when things go wrong, but we're different, and we need to give Keith Hill the opportunity to make things right. Whether thats down to previous successes by him earning that right, whether its from a belief in Hill's abilities or whether its just because its the better way to run a football club, we have to stick by KH and allow him to put things right.
That honesty needs to include more honesty about the squad. I've been convinced for a long while that the lack of info about injuries is KH following the Dave Brailsford marginal gains approach. That being if you can improve everything by 1%, the overall gain will be significant. Not informing fans that (for example) Joe Rafferty is injured and can't play at Donny might have little impact in that fixture but over the course of a season, withholding that information might just lead to us getting an extra point somewhere along the line. And how many points did we stay up by last season?
But the downside is a growing disconnect which creates its own problems. It fuels the rumour mill, leading to false stories, and more sticks to beat the management with. I don't want to be talking out of turn, but you take a player like Zac Clough who's never been fit during his time with the club through no fault of anyone. But the lack of info has lead to suggestions of fallings out, favouritism of other players etc none of which are true.
This openness is not the KH way of doing things for that Brailsford philosophy I alluded to, but he's in new territory at the moment in terms of losing the support of the fanbase which brings its own problems in itself. The reaction to Norman's blunder yesterday wasn't a reaction to the blunder itself but more to the ongoing goalkeeping changes. An identical error by Lillis would not have seen the same reaction but fans are fed up with seeing change after change after change. He needs to on rebuilding that faith in supporters. Traditionally, winning matches is all that it would take but there's more needed.
He's capable of doing it. He's more than capable of doing so. it might be outside his comfort zone and not the way he wants to do things,but it would reckless to just go on doing what he is doing and expecting things to be different.
I do think there's an element of realism that's needed amongst the supporters that can help. The top ten finishes mean little to our current squad. We went into this season as a 20th placed team capable of 51 points, and on the basis of this season, we've shown signs of improvement on last season. The aim as of now is safety and we need 21 points from 20 games to do so, a not unreasonable task. Last year was not a blip so we should not look upon things as being a return to the top ten, but rather looking towards progress more towards half way. That's not a lack of ambition, it the reality of the now.
We are a side that are capable of winning matches. The wins against Southend and Blackpool weren't undeserved. As is stands, we are a side that can grind out wins and then take a battering the week later as demonstrated between Xmas and New Year. With the right changes, we should be capable of getting the five or six wins we need from the twenty games to stay up. I'd like to think with the right changes, we can get things back on track to get those points to stay up. The upheaval of a change at this stage and recruitment of someone unaware of our strengths and weaknesses could put all of that in jeopardy. Sacking KH now could take 3 or 4 matches to recruit a replacement leaving a limited amount of time for a new fella to analyse and recruit. At least with sticking by KH, that process is already up and running.
I don't blame any supporter for feeling the way they do, especially those who've endured both the Bradford and Doncaster games, and no one could deny that changes are needed but I don't believe that change is the manager. Give the man who has brought us more success than every other manager in our history put together the opportunity to make the changes he's not had chance to do over the past four months.
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In defence of Keith Hill on 16:33 - Jan 3 with 1228 views
In defence of Keith Hill on 16:29 - Jan 3 by RooleyMoorBlue
Badly worded, awful considering they were down to 10 men. Yes we were camped in their half and yes their keeper made 3 good saves, but we were fannying around the penalty area for long periods creating absolutely nothing. You say Blackpool wasn`t a bad performance, are you saying it was a good one? Genuine question.
It was better than the result suggests. I think we would have won by a bigger margin, if it had stayed 11 v 11.
“It is easier to fool people, than to convince them that they have been fooledâ€
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In defence of Keith Hill on 16:36 - Jan 3 with 1205 views
In defence of Keith Hill on 16:29 - Jan 3 by RooleyMoorBlue
Badly worded, awful considering they were down to 10 men. Yes we were camped in their half and yes their keeper made 3 good saves, but we were fannying around the penalty area for long periods creating absolutely nothing. You say Blackpool wasn`t a bad performance, are you saying it was a good one? Genuine question.
I was more than happy with how we played as most of the fans on here were as well after the game.. you want to be negative i get it, so you’re going to say everything is awful, but we won that game on merit.
I just checked the game, we had 39 shots in the game and 66% possession, forced their keeper in to 3 top class saves and if i remember rightly hit the woodwork twice. What more do you want from the team ffs.
Leader of the little gang of immature cretins.
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In defence of Keith Hill on 16:40 - Jan 3 with 1182 views
In defence of Keith Hill on 16:33 - Jan 3 by SuddenLad
It was better than the result suggests. I think we would have won by a bigger margin, if it had stayed 11 v 11.
I'm not sure about that, but it was a performance good enough to win the game.
I remember games where Dale have gone down to ten men and made it very difficult for the opposition; we've famously done it with nine men, of course.
Yet when we're facing ten men, a lot of people seem to forget that the opposition are more likely to double their efforts (and change their tactics) to protect what they have, which in Blackpool's case was almost a point.
I always reckon it's easier against ten men when you're already in front, as they will have to come out of their defensive shells at some point to get something from the game.
If you're drawing or trailing against ten men, the opposition are much harder to break down and patience is required.
[Post edited 3 Jan 2019 16:41]
When I was your age, I used to enjoy the odd game of tennis. Or was it golf?
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In defence of Keith Hill on 16:40 - Jan 3 with 1182 views
In defence of Keith Hill on 16:36 - Jan 3 by sweetcorn
I was more than happy with how we played as most of the fans on here were as well after the game.. you want to be negative i get it, so you’re going to say everything is awful, but we won that game on merit.
I just checked the game, we had 39 shots in the game and 66% possession, forced their keeper in to 3 top class saves and if i remember rightly hit the woodwork twice. What more do you want from the team ffs.
I want the same effort every week, not just once in a blue moon. I`m not being negative, I am saying it as I see it. I`ll admit I`m a glass half empty fan, but I thought against 10 men we were poor and should have won by a mile not a last minute goal.
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In defence of Keith Hill on 16:46 - Jan 3 with 1147 views
In defence of Keith Hill on 16:40 - Jan 3 by RooleyMoorBlue
I want the same effort every week, not just once in a blue moon. I`m not being negative, I am saying it as I see it. I`ll admit I`m a glass half empty fan, but I thought against 10 men we were poor and should have won by a mile not a last minute goal.
Blackpool - and you can't blame them - packed their defence throughout the second half.
Every time we went forward we were faced by NINE tangerine shirts and a goalkeeper.
It needed patience and intricacy to get through them. Long-range shooting and high balls would have just been cleared by the massed defence.
Eventually, Inman found the right pass for Henderson to score.
In the absence of Messi from our team, I think we did everything we could to win the game, which we ultimately did.
When I was your age, I used to enjoy the odd game of tennis. Or was it golf?
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In defence of Keith Hill on 16:49 - Jan 3 with 1128 views
In defence of Keith Hill on 16:40 - Jan 3 by RooleyMoorBlue
I want the same effort every week, not just once in a blue moon. I`m not being negative, I am saying it as I see it. I`ll admit I`m a glass half empty fan, but I thought against 10 men we were poor and should have won by a mile not a last minute goal.
That rarely happens, though, when a side goes down to 10 men
Take the Huddersfield v Burnley match last night
Huddersfield lost a man about the same time as Blackpool did against us, yet it took Burnley most of the game to grab a lead and might easily not have done; and Blackpool are in a relatively better position in our league than Huddersfield are in theirs
In defence of Keith Hill on 16:40 - Jan 3 by RooleyMoorBlue
I want the same effort every week, not just once in a blue moon. I`m not being negative, I am saying it as I see it. I`ll admit I`m a glass half empty fan, but I thought against 10 men we were poor and should have won by a mile not a last minute goal.
The Blackpool result and performance was a damn good one, it's never easy against ten men and we did exactly what we needed to do to win that game. I agree though that a few days later and we look a completely different outfit....That's down to Hill..
As bad as the last two results have been (I was at Bradford but not Doncaster) is it possible we’ve had a couple of off days that unfortunately coincided with opposition that were having a good day. Bradford had been on a good run and were very unlucky to get nothing from the Sunderland game by all accounts and from what I saw played very very well against us. A friend is a long time season ticket holder at Donny and tells me it’s the best he’s seen them play for a couple of years.
I’m not saying I’m happy with the results but if we played thinking we’ve just won 2 games we’re probably going to do ok but came up against two teams that were on fire on the day I can understand how results like that can happen.
Quite a few posters seemed relatively happy with the line up before the Bradford game and it wasn’t changed too much for Donny so maybe, just maybe we got unlucky with the timing of playing these two.
In defence of Keith Hill on 23:16 - Jan 3 by NorthYorksDale
As bad as the last two results have been (I was at Bradford but not Doncaster) is it possible we’ve had a couple of off days that unfortunately coincided with opposition that were having a good day. Bradford had been on a good run and were very unlucky to get nothing from the Sunderland game by all accounts and from what I saw played very very well against us. A friend is a long time season ticket holder at Donny and tells me it’s the best he’s seen them play for a couple of years.
I’m not saying I’m happy with the results but if we played thinking we’ve just won 2 games we’re probably going to do ok but came up against two teams that were on fire on the day I can understand how results like that can happen.
Quite a few posters seemed relatively happy with the line up before the Bradford game and it wasn’t changed too much for Donny so maybe, just maybe we got unlucky with the timing of playing these two.
Gary Jones was raving about the new Bradford number 2, Anton McElhone and the work he does on fitness.
Bradford were in a false position and won't struggle if they continue that run of form.
Their last eight fixtures has seen then score 22 goals. They put four past Peterborough and Walsall and three past Plymouth and Accy.
No slouches.
George Bernard Shaw had it right:
"He who can does; he who cannot, teaches."
https://www.visittheusa.co.uk/
Concerned at the way things are going and the general loss of morale at the Club, Keith calls Beech, Collis and BBM to an urgent meeting to clear the air ....
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In defence of Keith Hill on 11:16 - Jan 4 with 607 views
In defence of Keith Hill on 09:44 - Jan 4 by smaclad1
Concerned at the way things are going and the general loss of morale at the Club, Keith calls Beech, Collis and BBM to an urgent meeting to clear the air ....
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