Swindon Town v Rochdale AFC Official Matchday Thread

[Honkytonk]

It was so bad last night even the scoreboard lost the will to live.

It did that first game of the season too. I think there's a direct correlation between fans moaning and the scoreboard going 'Ah, fuck it'

[Bob's Orange]

So having had time to digest last night, a few points I thought of.

It was refreshing to see Rochdale setup so attack minded away from home. Certainly helped produce an entertaining match.

Rochdale's tactics of allowing Wes to have the ball for as long as possible was interesting. However they nearly paid for this when Williams made some great runs, 1 where Wes picked him out and nearly put him through on goal. Wes's passing was inch perfect last night.

Nathan Byrne is fast becoming my favourite player, putting in consistent performances game after game. If only he had a left foot!!

Kasim's corners with his left foot were pretty good. He also had some immense pieces of skill last night. Him and Luongo work so well together, this showed in the second half with Kasim stepped forward more.

I really want Gladwin to come good. His touch is absolutely sublime but his passing and decision making were off last night.

I like the look of Reeeeeeeeeves, Rodgers less so, but he took his goal well.

We can't seem to defend crosses. Rochdale's first goal was pathetically easy.

[kerry red]

Which is our weakness and they exploited it all match, good tactics id say. They always looked a threat

All true, but how much of this was due to so many square pegs in round holes.

Hope Coops will dwell on the set up last night with Saturday in mind

[The Grim Reaper]

Some good news. My man on the inside informs me repair work to the scoreboard will commence this afternoon. Although why they just don't confine it to the scrapheap and invest in a more modern one is beyond me. Surely if done correctly a large screen can generate an income via match day advertising?  And I don't mean by Jeds half arsed attempt last season.

[@mwooly63]

For those that can bear it again

[pauld]

I blame Andrew Hawes - we were running late getting to the game and had the radio on in the car, in time to hear Mr Hawes inform the listening public at large that Rochdale had never beaten Swindon. We looked at each other, my lad said "Oh, no, curse of the commentator" and we briefly discussed whether we should bother finding a parking space, or just head straight home as we were clearly going to lose. Nothing to do with dodgy selections, piss-poor defending, the ref's inability to differentiate between a corner and a goal kick or their Matt Lucas-alike keeper having a blinder, it's all down to the curse of Wiltshire Sound!

[TheMajorSTFC]

Poor performance last night from us - defence was poor, Kasim isn't a sweeper and pinging balls to Nathan Byrne every time doesn't work. We looked more threatening when Obika came on and changed formation to 3-4-3. Logan made some good saves to prevent us getting the lead back at 2-2 but to be considered top 6 challengers I personally think we have to beat teams like Rochdale, who I take nothing away from, at home. I said on many occasions last season we lacked urgency in homes games, and I thought that had changed, but it seems we slipped back into an old habit last night. On to Saturday...

[nigel grays a postie]

from the highlights jordan Turnbull might have some questions to answer when it comes from marking up at corners. Whereas Amari Bell never looked like having the ball fully uner ghis control for our opener and never seemed to have a clue where man he was marking was for theirs

[REDBUCK]

All true, but how much of this was due to so many square pegs in round holes.

Hope Coops will dwell on the set up last night with Saturday in mind

Out of interest how many of these do you think there were lsst night.

[kerry red]

Well, Kasim was a double whammy - a loss to our midfield and no great shakes as a sweeper.

Then Rodgers gets the nod to replace Kasim. Gladwin comes in for Louis and we end up with the worst of both worlds - a suspect defence and a diluted midfield upon which our offensive play is so dependent.

Reeves should have started if Louis wasn't fit for 90 minutes.

The fact of the matter is we have insufficient defensive cover

[REDBUCK]

But none of those, apart from Kasim,  are Square pegs in round holes. They all played in their normal positions but just aren't very good replacements as not one of them can match what is provided normally.

I agree Reeves should have started but I'd have had him in place of Bell after last Saturday. Rogers just doesn't provide what Kasim does as he doesn't have that innate ability to find space and provide the angles. Kasim needed a Kasim to pass the ball to last night.

As you say, we just ran out of defenders.

[Bob's Orange]

Surely the Norwich loan defender could have got us out of a sticky situation?

[herthab]

Surely the Norwich loan defender could have got us out of a sticky situation?

I'll chew that one over and get back to you.

[kerry red]

I know commentators are saying we have been found out, but the fact is that we lost last night not because of our style of play but because we defended very poorly.

The style still produced goals and excellent chances and we can only hope the defending will improve.

A good win Saturday and last night will soon be forgotten.

[Bewster]

Is Thompson (N) back on Saturday ?