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Reply | Is Corey Edwards taking part in training?
at 12:42 20 Sep 2026
Can only really assume that we expected that he would be going to Everton (or whichever club he was linked with) and consequently don't really have the budget/ space in the squad for him now. It's a shame as he looked a real talent 2 years ago, but I'm sure he'll do well at Barrow. |
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Reply | Refwatch - Rochdale v Oldham Athletic
at 12:39 20 Sep 2026
Without getting into the merits of EEL, Flint reminds me of an outfield version of Lonergan. Through vocality and leadership, he actually doesn't have to do much defending (can't remember him making a tackle in the last 2 games and his headed clearances were hit-and-miss yesterday.) Would love to see him and Maguire start together by the end of the month. |
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Reply | Refwatch - Walsall v Rochdale
at 11:30 13 Sep 2026
I actually left the ground yesterday more confident that we can retain our League status than I have been previously.
Defensively, I thought we were fairly solid. Flint is clearly a very good player at this level and will only improve with more game time. We’re still prone to moments of madness - the two-minute spell where we gave the ball away three times in our own third being the most obvious example- but individually I thought all of our defenders looked decent. Hopefully, it’s simply a case of replacing one of the more inexperienced players with someone with a bit more experience to tighten things up further. I’d presume Maguire comes in for Wilson.
For all of Walsall’s possession, I can’t remember them really playing through us, and I thought our defensive structure was generally much more solid. Considering they’re a team expected to be around the play-offs, I didn’t think we were caused too many problems by them. It’s also two clean sheets from six games, and we were only a few minutes away from making it three from six had we held out against Colchester. Whether that says more about the quality of opposition, or our defensive shape is up for debate.
There are still plenty of things that need to improve, though. Their number 8 was dictating a lot of the play in the first half because he was drifting between defence and midfield with nobody picking him up. Our midfield looks overstretched at times, and the opposition seem to be running past them too easily for my liking. I think we need Adeeko playing as the DM, but hopefully that starts to improve once we have more CMs available.
We could also address that by having one of the full-backs move inside to support the midfield, but that can probably only happen once the defence is more settled and everyone understands their roles better.
I also thought Taylor’s substitution should have happened about five minutes earlier, as he was clearly flat on his feet and was becoming a liability defensively. Again, though, I’ll give the benefit of the doubt and assume it was partly down to managing Smith’s minutes.
There are still too many aimless clearances up front, but hopefully that’s just about ensuring the team has enough time to get back into its defensive structure, and something that will develop as confidence improves. I’d also like to see the players force the forward pass less often. There are times when it works, and I think it could become an exciting part of our game, but too often we’re just throwing away possession, and our players must be running an incredible amount because of it.
I don’t think we should have been in this position in the first place, but ultimately I can see a few green shoots of improvement. The next few games are key to building on that. |
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Reply | Refwatch - Walsall v Rochdale
at 17:33 12 Sep 2026
First half I thought Mani did a really good job at linking the play up and most of our openings came through him and was also really supporting the players in organising the press around him. He would’ve had a great chance too but Brown wrongly chose to shoot rather than slip in Mani. |
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Reply | Refwatch - Rochdale v Gillingham
at 18:11 5 Sep 2026
Including friendlies we’ve seen 3 players sent off now which (TVOS may correct me on) could be more than we had in the entire time we had Jim as manager. That in itself is a worry. |
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Reply | Refwatch - Rochdale v Shrewsbury Town
at 17:40 1 Sep 2026
Glenn Middleton signs from Doncaster for an undisclosed fee. Could be a wild punt here but with this signing and the rumoured Brighton lad could we potentially be looking at shifting more permanently to a back 5?
Middleton Beckwith EEL Tasker TAR
If not I presume a few options further forward are either on there way out or injured for slightly longer. |
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Reply | Refwatch - Rochdale v Shrewsbury Town
at 12:59 1 Sep 2026
Beckwith (Plays better as a CB than a LB)
EEL (Plays better in a 3 than a 2)
TAR (Plays better as a WB than as a FB)
East
Gilmour
Mani (Better when not asked to press)
Rodney (Better behind the striker than a winger)
I see that as at least 5 of our most influential players from last season have been made less effective due to the system that has been implemented. Of course there's the debate whether some are good enough to step up or permanently out of form (Rodney) but there's no chance that Watson could've told the board that there would need to be this much of a transition in personnel. I doubt there's been a team in history that have ripped us as much as we have after getting 100+ points the season before.
As good a player as Bird is, we need a striker who can play 40+ games this season. |
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Reply | Refwatch - Colchester United v Rochdale
at 10:09 30 Aug 2026
I actually thought we were better yesterday than what I’d seen previously. It was the sort of performance and result that probably wouldn’t have caused too much panic if we hadn’t lost the previous two in the style we did, and I felt that a clean sheet would’ve been a huge positive for the team to build on.
The caveat to this is that the way we set up yesterday- fairly passively and defensively, with only Brown up top feeding off scraps for a large chunk of the game- isn’t really a sustainable way of playing. I still think we’re a good few weeks off producing a team in the style that he mentioned in pre-season.
Whether he’ll get that time is another question. As many have said, we can’t risk relegation under any circumstances. I’m convinced this squad is good enough, under the right manager, to be comfortably mid-table, but it’s a tough balancing act between giving Watson time and not giving a new manager too much of an uphill battle. [Post edited 30 Aug 10:11]
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Reply | Refwatch - Newport County v Rochdale
at 18:20 15 Aug 2026
I think one of the things that concerned the most is despite our possession, I can’t remember any real decent passages of play and I’ve yet to see a performance under IW where we seem to have any reasonable control of the game. The first half really was absolutely awful- as bad as we were in the season we went down. Newport completely dominated and the few breaks we had we seemed outnumbered and I couldn’t really see what the plan was. For all the criticisms Jim got for style at times, I always felt we tried to control games and there was a clear plan in place- I couldn’t see either today. I’ve said before about the formation- and I know some disagree, but I think IW will have the decision taken out of his hands 10 games in if performances and results don’t improve. |
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Reply | I know things take time....
at 17:14 6 Aug 2026
I make that as our first team squad roughly being:
Gk
Ramming
Waller
Lb
Beckwith
Bilongo
Cb
EEL
Maguire
Cb
Wilson
Sherring
Rb
TAR
Moss
CM
Gilmour
Petit
CM
East
Francis
LW
Hayes
Smith
RW
Hannant
Silcott-Duberry
10 role
Rodney
CF
Mani D
Brown
For me that is a very decent squad and credit to the board and Watson for coming up with a squad which certainly looks much more balanced than the last time we were in L2. The only question marks for me is whether we recruit another 10 to cover for Jenkins (or move Gilmour further forward and sign another cm) and whether we sign someone to give further cover to the full back areas- which I suppose will be dictated by the current injury situation. |
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Reply | New signing
at 07:34 5 Aug 2026
Ian Henderson was 28 when we signed him! |
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Reply | New signing
at 07:30 5 Aug 2026
He’s competing for his spot with a 23 year old. On the other side we’re likely to have a 32 year old competing with a 21 year old. A really good blend of experience and youth IMO. |
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Reply | New signing
at 12:44 4 Aug 2026
If he stay fit, it seems a really strong signing on paper. A passing glance online suggests he’s been highly thought of everywhere he’s gone, with injuries being the sole frustration during his time ar Gillingham. Very impressive highlight reel posted too.
I’m not sure what the plan is because as others have said, we now have 5 players who can occupy the wide roles (Hannant, Rodney, Hayes, Silcott-Duberry and Smith). If we go off last season’s general rule of 2 players per position I assume Rodney will be the one moving more central. Either way our winger options seem incredibly strong compared to last season- huge credit to the board and Watson for this. |
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Reply | Is Corey Edwards taking part in training?
at 15:32 31 Jul 2026
Could be a case of negotiating with a club (presume Stockport) around a fee without the need for it to go to a tribunal. Only thing that I think could slightly change this is if the injury to Jenkins means Edwards could be offered more first team football here as opposed to what we originally could promise. [Post edited 31 Aug 9:06]
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Reply | 28 injury
at 16:00 29 Jul 2026
The concern I have is whether we are trying to force a switch in formation/ style too early. I think before Jim left, assuming we were sticking with the formation from the previous season, there was only a few signings to the first team that really needed making (gk,rcb, lwb, 2 number 10s) and most fans could probably have named them. Unfortunately as 442 highlighted with Beckwith, we’ve got some great players now who don’t seem to have a role in this team. I worry we are asking the players to do too much in moving up a league, learning a new system and (for some) play in a new position.
I’m not against a change in system and style, I just wonder whether this was a change that Watson felt was best to do now rather than over a more prolonged period of time.
*The silverlining is if it doesn’t work, I think recruitment has been strong and consistent enough to ensure we could switch back to last season’s system fairly easily. |
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Reply | FC United 2-0 Dale
at 22:41 14 Jul 2026
Interested to know your reasoning behind East and Gilmour. Not a critism, as I didn't see any of the game, but a huge call considering the success they had as a 2 last season. |
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Reply | I know things take time....
at 22:37 14 Jul 2026
Could be wrong but I don't even think we'll be playing the same formation come the start of the season- I would be very surpised if players such as Rodney and Bilongo played in the roles they apparently played tonight. I agree we want players on the plane who are ours and I'd be frustrated if we took a handful of trialists or youth players but I think we'll have a much clearer picture of everything in a fortnight or so. |
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Reply | I play with wingers, not wing backs (n/t)
at 22:21 10 Jul 2026
As others have said, I think we currently would line up with:
GK
TAR (Moss) Maguire EEL Beckwith (Bilongo)
Petit
Gilmour (Jenkins) East (Francis)
Rodney(Henderson) Hayes (Hannant)
Mani
Which, obviously goalkeeping issues aside, only really leave us short depth-wise in a few places. I think there will be an expectation within the squad for players such as Francis, Bilongo and to some extent Hannant, to really step up this season and offer meaningful competition for places. A strong Francis could enable East to play in the 'Barlow' role or Bilongo performing could free Beckwith to play more centrally, suppose we'll get far more clarity over the next few weeks.
I suspect he'll try and tie up at least one keeper before we fly off, whilst also presume a centre back and centre forward will be the other two he tries to bring in before we go. Other than that, wouldn't be surpised to see the management team hold out until later in the window in the hope an NML/ Dawson style player becomes availbable. [Post edited 10 Jul 22:36]
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