Their first goal was just rank bad defending. For their second goal we had five defenders to deal with the man on the ball and one player in support. It should never have resulted in a goal, but we back pedalled and Mattock got himself into a horrible position. For all that it was a friendly, anyone who saw us struggle to cope with S****horpes forwards wouldn't have been 100% surprised. Match fitness we can sort out easily if it is an issue. Having defenders making terrible decisions and a back four so alarmingly slow as a unit will get ruthlessly exploited. Not wishing to be negative after an encouraging performance in so many ways but we have to work quite hard to score two goals, so to give two away in such soft fashion is the disappointment for me. I am sure Stubbs will address it quickly.
As many have said, I'd have taken a draw before the game.
Perhaps throwing away a two goal advantage may well be a blessing in disguise, in so much as it exposed the squad frailties that many of us were aware of from last season, but which may not have been manifest to Stubbs during friendlies. I'm not suggesting that he would't have been aware of them before hand, but I would venture to suggest that players perform differently when in a friendly and be more at ease. A league game is a totally different prospect and how differently players perform under pressure.
I think yesterdays game would have shown him the real mettle of the squad and I believe he will act accordingly.
No complaints from me. Rotherham started really well. Jon Taylor was running their number 18, Dominic Iorfa, ragged.
Iorfa eventually got the red card when he tugged Taylor back when they were both vying for the ball well inside the Wolves' half.
And so, we need another striker? Oh, wait a minute! Danny Ward's got the number 9 shirt. I reckon he's earned that shirt. More to the
point he scored the first goal for the Millers.
Wolves' had their tails between their legs when Vaulks cannoned a blistering shot past Ikeme for the Millers' second goal.
As for Vaulks. He is a midfield general in the making. He's got a major part to play in the next few months.
There was some quite audible booing from some of the Wolves' supporters as their team were square passing the ball across the
back line.
Of course Wolves' tails were wagging when they scored their second goal.
Late in the game Wolves then began to play more direct football by playing the ball over the top to try and upset the Millers' defence.
I think that Stubbs brought on Tom Thorpe more for his height advantage rather than his pace.
In short, an encouraging start to the season for the Millers.
I agree with your summary Andy, dunno what some others were watching, assuming they actually were there?
In contrast with last season I thought all the new signings looked to add to our quality.
Vaulks was the best player on the pitch by a mile for me... we only need some of his sweeping passes to come off to create goals. For me the turning point was the sloppy goal we gave them at 2-0. Up to then we were totally in control, that goal gave them hope and flustered us.
We still need to replace Mattock in my opinion. He is made of china and in my opinion not good enough.
I though Broadfoot played really well, so don't know what some on this thread were watching?
early days, but I thought we looked as good as our opposition on the day, would have won if we had kept it to 2-0 ‘til half time, and just need another striker and one or two full backs to have a shout at staying up... that plus our team tired – so either we need to sort that or were just short of match fitness…
would take a point from next two games then crack on against Brentford.
Very promising taking into account that more signings are on the way.
Best football that Ive seen for years from a Rotherham side in the first 30 minutes.
Fitness was a disappointment and Warney needs some help from someone with a bit more expertise to get to the level of conditioning required.
I would agree that with our expenditure and facilities matching teams for fitness is difficult but its the one thing that we should be able to match or better teams to gain an edge.
No problems with the effort we put in and very encouraging performance.
Draw was a fair result although both of their goals should have been defended much better but don't want to be too harsh as we have a point on the board which is great.
Surprised and pleased to see us in eighth position!
Agree with everything you say Kempo. Fitness was a disappointment but I suppose it was quite warm. Save your energy might have been good advice.
My main complaint is putting Smallwood on instead of Halford.
My main comment is that the team I saw on Saturday would easily beat the team I saw last season - which is encouraging.
