Stockport post match comments.

[Pocket rocket]

Fill your boots

[Tigerish]

Yes, the ref was beyond contempt. Yes, some of our players are injured. But with the exception of Dan Gore, who was tremendous, not one of our players matched the opposition's. They are not being motivated properly by the dumplings in our dugout. The "tactics" are far worse than last year. Should read tactic: Dodgy keeper lumps it long to Hugill who barges into the man rather trying to head the ball. Richard Wood needs to replay Stockports goal over and over and over again and ask himself what am I doing to earn my wages as defensive coach? Terrible performance, and the emptying stands are beginning to realise this shower of ..... are likely to take us down in our centenary year.
I notice Stevenage did ok...........

[GlennMiller]

Enjoyed the first 35 minutes. We looked energetic and knocked the ball around well. But for an abysmal ref, we could have been one up when Matha was clean through only to be called back for a free kick to us! Unbelievable!

Yet again, the second half saw us struggle to get a foot on the ball which was largely due to the Stockport manager's ability to change the game with good substitutions. MH does not have the same luxury.

Three notable mentions. Gore had a fabulous game. Dawson is woefully short of what we need from our keeper. His ineffectual slap at a ball,that was easier to catch gifted them their goal. Between Dawson and Warrington, there must be at least one brain cell that tells them that the ball comes back everytime it's hoofed long. And finally Hughill - possibly his worst performance for us and unworthy of my time in descrbing why!

It's going to be a struggle until our injuries clear up.

[Tigerish]

Then there'll be more.
And more excuses.
We've heard enough.
We need someone who can motivate these players.

[Jocksgloves1]

It's all about opinions. I didn't think we were too bad. We matched them all first-half, but they stepped it up after the break and were by far the better team. Dawson kept the score respectable.
Injuries have killed us, and we'll struggle till we get our big players back.

[Shark27]

Let’s be brutally honest about this. Tony Stewart will leave us in the same place as when he took us over. League 2 in rented accommodation.

[SdnMiller]

It's nice to see gore getting his flowers, but I think baptiste had a pretty solid game at the back as well which is good to see.

Despite us playing our 4th and 5th choice strikers the lack of ideas in the final third is Evans-esque embarrassment. The wide players are always sat deep defensively so barely get involved up the pitch, the two strikers do nothing but stand on top of each other and there's no midfielder every playing between the lines. The way the team is set up at the moment is not working, and Hamshaws unwillingness to see this is worrying.

Also I hope Dawson never wears a Rotherham shirt again, genuinely the worst #1 we've had at the NYS

[Derbymiller]

One manager got his changes right and one got them wrong, very wrong. I like McWilliams but he had a poor game, taking Rafferty and Powell off is unbelievable, Powell work rate is outstanding, he tracked back and stopped at least one certain goal, him and Gore look wonderful together. Dawson again cost us the goal, a simple catch he punches straight to their player and then sits on his line. He must be rested to give the other lad a go. I know JJ fluffed his lines but at least he battled and created his own opportunities, how taking him off and leaving that fake footballer on the pitch was criminal by MH. Should never have started two strikers as it left no change up front, should never have started Martha on the right and stop playing 3 CBs, how can you not see this is hurting us week in and week out. Baptiste did well again, and in fact the four of Rafferty, James, Jules and Baptiste would have worked better as a four, James is a decent L1 full-back he is no wing back. Set pieces still crap at both ends, and they could have played without a keeper. Some nice passing in the first half, but when they scored it was game over as those players have no belief and no confidence, it is plain for anyone to see. All we get is the injuries excuse, and the promise of jam tomorrow, we are 21st, we don’t score, or keep clean sheets and lose every away game. Where are the leaders on and off the pitch, why are we letting the most talented footballer at the club leave on a free in the summer again.

[Derbymiller]

One manager got his changes right and one got them wrong, very wrong. I like McWilliams but he had a poor game, taking Rafferty and Powell off is unbelievable, Powell work rate is outstanding, he tracked back and stopped at least one certain goal, him and Gore look wonderful together. Dawson again cost us the goal, a simple catch he punches straight to their player and then sits on his line. He must be rested to give the other lad a go. I know JJ fluffed his lines but at least he battled and created his own opportunities, how taking him off and leaving that fake footballer on the pitch was criminal by MH. Should never have started two strikers as it left no change up front, should never have started Martha on the right and stop playing 3 CBs, how can you not see this is hurting us week in and week out. Baptiste did well again, and in fact the four of Rafferty, James, Jules and Baptiste would have worked better as a four, James is a decent L1 full-back he is no wing back. Set pieces still crap at both ends, and they could have played without a keeper. Some nice passing in the first half, but when they scored it was game over as those players have no belief and no confidence, it is plain for anyone to see. All we get is the injuries excuse, and the promise of jam tomorrow, we are 21st, we don?t score, or keep clean sheets and lose every away game. Where are the leaders on and off the pitch, why are we letting the most talented footballer at the club leave on a free in the summer again.

[MILLERSTALE]

One manager got his changes right and one got them wrong, very wrong. I like McWilliams but he had a poor game, taking Rafferty and Powell off is unbelievable, Powell work rate is outstanding, he tracked back and stopped at least one certain goal, him and Gore look wonderful together. Dawson again cost us the goal, a simple catch he punches straight to their player and then sits on his line. He must be rested to give the other lad a go. I know JJ fluffed his lines but at least he battled and created his own opportunities, how taking him off and leaving that fake footballer on the pitch was criminal by MH. Should never have started two strikers as it left no change up front, should never have started Martha on the right and stop playing 3 CBs, how can you not see this is hurting us week in and week out. Baptiste did well again, and in fact the four of Rafferty, James, Jules and Baptiste would have worked better as a four, James is a decent L1 full-back he is no wing back. Set pieces still crap at both ends, and they could have played without a keeper. Some nice passing in the first half, but when they scored it was game over as those players have no belief and no confidence, it is plain for anyone to see. All we get is the injuries excuse, and the promise of jam tomorrow, we are 21st, we don?t score, or keep clean sheets and lose every away game. Where are the leaders on and off the pitch, why are we letting the most talented footballer at the club leave on a free in the summer again.

If you are referring to to Powel by any chance ? He won?t be a big miss ? His big strength is is 100% availability, rest of his game is poor, no goals / goal attempts, every cross, corner or free kick hits the front man or flies into the crowd ?
He should be a great player for us but apart from his work rate he offers nothing !

[Derbymiller]

If you are referring to to Powel by any chance ? He won?t be a big miss ? His big strength is is 100% availability, rest of his game is poor, no goals / goal attempts, every cross, corner or free kick hits the front man or flies into the crowd ?
He should be a great player for us but apart from his work rate he offers nothing !

Really, wow what an insane assessment of him, you clearly miss a lot when watching a game. The close control, the ability to retain the ball, join up play, bring others into the game, the pass he played yesterday down the line to find James was top draw and there isn’t another Rotherham United player that could see that pass never mind make it (gore is a Man Utd player). His stats last season on chances created and assists show the lad is quality. Yet you focus on his one area he hasn’t excelled his set pieces which I admit are not good enough. However when he gets blamed for a poor corner that was actually taken by another player like some idiot did sat behind me yesterday, what chance does anyone have, he wasn’t even on the pitch at the time!! When he went off yesterday we struggled to get the ball and looked completely disjointed, it removed our engine room from the centre of the park and affected Gore as he had nobody to win the ball for him, MH decisions yesterday were awful, those decisions were not made because of injuries or bad luck, they were made by a bloke that is struggling. Please defend the club potentially letting another asset walk away for free in the summer, remember we were promised it wouldn’t happen again. Outside of the tight finances this club is badly managed at all levels, we have people that are just happy we have a club and that is fine if that is the way someone measures levels of success, but we should be able to compete around the top of L1 with the occasional promotion, that was achieved but we have regressed as a club and that should worry people. Mansfield game will be a very important game, let us hope MH can get the team morale up and get a result because that is how he will be judged.

[Derbymiller]

To add to that his name is spelt with two l's not one. This is a summary from the Footystats site from last season, a league with Birmingham and Wrexham in it.

"Joe Powell has assisted 8 goals in 46 matches so far in the EFL League One 2024/2025 season. Looking into his passing aspect of the game, Powell passes the ball roughly 37.72 times during a game with a pass completion rate of 73.55%. He also plays 2.11 key passes each game which leads to significant scoring chances. Overall, Powell's xA (Expected Assists) output is 0.24 per 90 minutes. This stat puts him above 94 percent of the players in the EFL League One."

[RU66]

Martha Kaleta never wide players give McGuckin a go on the right. Forget wing backs go 4-5-1. There's only Sherif to return up front who could make a difference until then I'd play Martha lone forward. Baptist Gore standout players yesterday. Would never have taken Rafferty Powell off yesterday they always put a shift in. Need a consistent midfielder hoping Spence at last getting match sharp can be that.

[MILLERSTALE]

To add to that his name is spelt with two l's not one. This is a summary from the Footystats site from last season, a league with Birmingham and Wrexham in it.

"Joe Powell has assisted 8 goals in 46 matches so far in the EFL League One 2024/2025 season. Looking into his passing aspect of the game, Powell passes the ball roughly 37.72 times during a game with a pass completion rate of 73.55%. He also plays 2.11 key passes each game which leads to significant scoring chances. Overall, Powell's xA (Expected Assists) output is 0.24 per 90 minutes. This stat puts him above 94 percent of the players in the EFL League One."

He has absolutely no end product ! I enjoyed his game when he first came but it slowly dawned that he contributes nothing going forward ! watch the game a bit closer and you will find he either runs into blind alleys or gives the ball away with a loose pass. Just to concentrate on his set piece is a bit mean you say ? but he takes all our set pieces and that?s where teams like Rotherham expect to get 50% of their goals. He is massively underachieving ! can you tell me when he had a decent effort on goal ?

[Townerslovechild]

First the positives,this won't take long,Dan Gore was outstanding, a mixture of Wiles and Rathbone, but better than of them.
Baptiste looks a decent player,Agbaire back in the squad.
That's it really, the first half we did ok,matched a top 6 team, but i said at half time, I hope that wasn't our best 45 minutes.
It was.
Martha should have gone off at half time, little going forward, and can't defend.
McWilliams did his Mr Invisible routine again, should have been replaced on 60 minutes, not like we're short of midfielders.
The lack of forwards is killing us,Hugill is .....well we know what, and Kayode is either not very good, or just not fit...er and that's it.
However we ended the game with no strikers on pitch and about 20 midfielders, when we were chasing the game !
Surely you keep the limited Hugill on,and stick someone fresh along side him Kaleta, Benson, anybody really, maybe even push Gore further forward at least he would give them something to think about.
Finally, Dawson....as a member of the goalkeepers union, I always have a compassionate opinion on the keeper, but he simply isn't good enough.
When I was 12 or 13 I was taught that up to the penalty spot is your domain as a goalie, go and dominate that area the best you can.
That meant coming for the ball and catching it,and ONLY punching when you couldn't catch it.
This meant sometimes you didn't get the ball cleanly,but my defence knew I would try and get it,I did this all the time I played, even though most of opposition were taller than me.
Cam Dawson is 6 foot 3,and nearly 30 years younger than me,but i reckon i could have done a better job yesterday !
Time to give Cann a go,by the way,saving shots us the easy bit.