Good result and great performance today, but I'm not getting too carried away, because Rochdale were very poor, but I think that shows that this is a poor division there for the taking - things didn't work out last week at Wimbledon and maybe they're better than we were expecting and may do well, but Rochdale were lightyears from 90% of the teams we played in League One last year - a very different level of football.
It was nice to see us get it down more today and play some lovely struff. Probably the best football we've played - actually, since god knows how long as under Evans and to be honest, Lovell and Pennock too, the brand of football was always direct. That's not saying that we played tika-taka as NH himself has rightly noted that some more direct teams got out of the division and more attractive teams stayed down. Today, we got the balance right - mainly kept it down, but when needed we played it longer, but it was more an educated and directed long ball, direct to Mandron's head or in space for Green or Kashket to chase (obviously a few Max punts aside).
For 60 minutes, we completely controlled the game. Kept the ball down, created lots of chances and only the excellent Dale keeper kept us out behind their shambolic defence. In the last 20-30 mins, we sat back a bit and Dale, with a few changes, finally had more of a go, but to be honest created absolutely nothing with Morris really not having anything to do, bar dealing nicely with a couple of crosses - however, it didn't seem like that at the time as at 1-0, I always feared we could slip up.
As for performances, the defence were sound without being threatened. There was concern about Max last season, but I think he's more than good enough at this level - wins most things in the air, physically strong, even if he does still love a hump up-field - silly booking for smashing the ball into the Rainham End for no reason after conceding a corner, but I though it was a bit harsh as it didn't waste any time and Rochdale players did similar things at least twice without the same punishment. The Lad, Bagot, looks a talent. Sublime in the first half, winning lots of headers. Good on the ball, but for me did look a little rattled in the last 20 when Dale finally got their act together and had a go at him. I was impressed with the two full backs Low and Wright - especially Wright. They played proper full back roles and understood their defensive duties which was key with the attacking Kashket and Green in front of them. Our midfield looked a class above Dale - to be fair apart from their keeper as did the rest of our team. For all the doom merchants, our League One failures from last season and some of our new players - especially our midfield three and wingers in Lee, Reeves, Williams, Kashket and Green were miles better than Rochdale's midfielders. Williams added the composure and ability to keep the ball and play the simple ball that we've been lacking for years; Lee playing deeper than last week, likewise did the same and showed some class touches. The pick of the midfielders was Reeves, who I thought was excellent - great touches and passes and excellent crosses, free kicks and corners. Man of the match, Green, was fantastic. Chased everything down, created chances from nothing and was an absolute menace to the Rochdale defence. Kashket similarly was a menace and caused all problems with his pace and ability to keep going.
And now for the slight negatives. Mandron was a big disappointment for me. He won little in the air, but didn't do a lot when the ball was played in to him and didn't make a nuisance of himself as I would like to have seen him do. We desperately need a second forward to give him some challenge. The other negative is that our first XI was lightyears ahead of Rochdale, but our bench clearly isn't. Our first subs were Macdonald and Walker. Macdonald looks way off of fitness and his slowness got him booked and gave away a free kick in a dangerous area. Walker - the jury is out on him - does not look like the sort of quality we need to replace Mandron, albeit that the big man did not play well. Rochdale brought on a black guy with dreads who looks very dangerous - better than out subs and TBH probably better than most of their starters! Scally needs to pull his finger out and back our excellent manager and give him backing and squad he deserves. The other negative was a poor refereeing performance that we'll have to deal with this season - Max was silly, but harshly booked as I say whilst Dale players were let off for similar indiscretions. Wright and Macdonald were probably rightly booked, but Reeves and Green must have been fouled persistently at least 10 times without the ref taking any further action.
All in a good job done - we're off the mark and I'm convinced will only get better if we can bolster the squad a bit.
