Everybody did what everybody does. Rodak looked wobbly coming off his line. Emmanuel still improving but caught in possession a couple of times. Mattock ok but likes to dive in. Ajayi and Wood pretty solid but Davies was a handful with his strength. Forde didn't do a lot. Williams started well and scored a belter but faded. Vaulks and Towell gradually lost the midfield battle as the game went on. Yates and Ball struggled to get involved but neither are ever going to win headers against giants which is almost all they had to work with. Difficult to judge Smith on a twenty minute cameo. He did ok but was only ever really battling for 50/50s and got pinged a lot for backing in.
The pitch was poor and conditions weren't ideal, and both sides struggled to string any quality together or create much. Overall a draw was about right.
For our goal 'David Ball chased down his own pass and fed Anthony Forde whose cross fell to Ryan Williams. The winger made no mistake with a crisp finish'. Forde can be credited with the assist for our one and only goal.
For our goal 'David Ball chased down his own pass and fed Anthony Forde whose cross fell to Ryan Williams. The winger made no mistake with a crisp finish'. Forde can be credited with the assist for our one and only goal.
I don't know what you have to do to get an assist Wots (personally I hate the idea of an assist - its an Americanisation) but in between Forde's weak cross and Williams smashing the ball home there was a really crap defensive header. If that still counts, then yes Forde got an assist. I think anyone who saw the rest of the game though would confirm that he didn't do a lot more than that today. He has been better recently though.
I agree with New Yorkshire that Yates didn't really contribute. I feel for him a bit because he is being asked to lead the line and he just isn't that sort of player. He would do best playing off a target man, not trying to be one. It won't be doing his confidence any good and there were a few ironic cheers when his number went up to be subbed. He isn't going to get in ahead of Ball and we aren't going to find out whether he is good enough or not by asking him to do stuff that doesn't play to his strengths. I really think a spell out on loan in league two or even the top conference league where he can get regular games playing his natural game and scoring a few goals might benefit him.
There was hardly any quality on view today. We need to get some in pronto in the key areas if we have any ambition of staying in touch with the playoffs.
Credit to the players for sticking in and getting a point out of a scrappy game.
For our goal 'David Ball chased down his own pass and fed Anthony Forde whose cross fell to Ryan Williams. The winger made no mistake with a crisp finish'.
Forde can be credited with the assist for our one and only goal.
Yes, it was a scrappy game but credit where credit is due. A goal is a goal and in whatever ways it's scored. It's even sweeter when we score the goal.
Someone needs to keep up with the programme. An assist is an assist and is recognised globally by soccer players.
Yes, I thought that we would struggle to claim all three points. See my OP on the Oldham v Rotherham - Match Predictions thread.
-- Edited by wotsisname on Saturday 13th of January 2018 11:11:49 PM
Whether someone has assisted or not is subjective. Does a player get an assist for making a good run off the ball? How many bits of poor defending does there have to be in between a poor cross and a finish before its not an assist any more? Globally recognised or not I don't like it. Put them in the same bin as manager win percentages for me. Meaningless garbage.
It's great to see teamwork in action. There are many aspects of soccer that I like especially when one of my favourite players helps us to gain a valuable point. Forde will get better and better. He should be the first name on the team sheet if he continues to play like he did today.
We need a replacement for Potter then play 3 in midfield, that's how we were playing our best football this season. Get Williams back on the Right wing, no threat on the left. Wood needs replacing. JCH needs to start up front with ball. I'd sell Taylor to get some quality in.
We need a couple of midfielders. Towell is best when he has licence to get forwards. We played our best football with a midfield three of Potter, Frecks and Towell. No place for Vaulks in our best midfield.
I agree we need a replacement for Wood. He won't be here past May. He might not be here past January. He was solid yesterday though in fairness.
JCH has done this throughout his career. After a few anonymous displays he puts in a barnstorming twenty minutes, and on the back of that people want him to start thinking he will do it again. But he rarely does. No offence to the lad and I hope he can carve out a good career for himself, but he has had no shortage of opportunities at RUFC and there comes a time where you have to say that it is time to move on.
Not sure who would pay money for Taylor, and in fact if you look we actually played our best football and scoring goals for fun when he was in the side (and I am not his biggest fan). He is the only genuinely quick player at the club.
We need a couple of midfielders. Towell is best when he has licence to get forwards. We played our best football with a midfield three of Potter, Frecks and Towell. No place for Vaulks in our best midfield.
I agree we need a replacement for Wood. He won't be here past May. He might not be here past January. He was solid yesterday though in fairness.
JCH has done this throughout his career. After a few anonymous displays he puts in a barnstorming twenty minutes, and on the back of that people want him to start thinking he will do it again. But he rarely does. No offence to the lad and I hope he can carve out a good career for himself, but he has had no shortage of opportunities at RUFC and there comes a time where you have to say that it is time to move on.
Not sure who would pay money for Taylor, and in fact if you look we actually played our best football and scoring goals for fun when he was in the side (and I am not his biggest fan). He is the only genuinely quick player at the club.
"No place for Vaulks in our best midfield."
I wasn't at the Oldham game but went to Blackpool where Vaulks was the best player on the pitch by a street (apart from Ball's goals) and for me has looked one of the best players in our squad all season apart from the game Warney played him totally out of position on the wing. He was great at centre back when Woods was out, and can put his head up and see a pass.... A few seem to have it in for him, but I don't know why.
I don't think anyone has it in for Vaulks. I certainly don't. I do think he divides opinion though more than any other player at the club. I think broadly people fall into one of two camps with him. To some people he is a real asset and Rotherham-type player who should be a fixture in the first eleven and someone we can build a team around. To others he is a wholehearted competitor who is good to have around as a utility man, but who doesn't have the quality to be a first team regular if we have real ambition to be a top half league one team or better. Everything I see means that I am in the latter of those two groups. That doesn't mean that I have anything against him - its just an honest opinion. I still value him for what I perceive him to be. At a time when Potter is struggling to contribute and Frecks has left the building, my fear is that we might be tempted to make Vaulks a permanent fixture in midfield and add around him. That to me would be a mistake.
I don't think Vaulks is a creative midfielder but he will put himself about and work hard. We need to have a real playmaker and he isn't that. Let's use Forde for that ;)
I thought it was an awful game,totally devoid of any quality and an indication of the level we have sunk to. If Tony Stewart was happy with that he really must have thrown in the towel and not be prepared to make the investment to take us straight back up with Blackburn and Wigan. It really is a garbage league which might be harder to get out of next season.
Have I missed anything today? Thought not. Just read some of the posts.
To quote just two of them 'stop all of these Americanisations' and 'the use of 'soccer' was subtle, but claiming Forde as a favourite player was just too obvious'.
What's the name of our stadium again?
As I have said before some must keep up with the programme.
Might be wrong but NYS is not an Americanisation. Its because the area of the town the stadium is built in was once called New York,(a look at old town maps will confirm this) not New York USA but after the City of York. Theres also a New York near to where I live in Lincolnshire and that has nothing to do with America either
