Fan's View Fan's View 21/22 - No.23 - Rotherham at home

Really good summary Paul, totally agree about Dan. We all want him to be "a player" but so far not for me.
 
Really good summary Paul, totally agree about Dan. We all want him to be "a player" but so far not for me.
Largely agree Paul - considering Henry and McGuane (after a promising start) were disappointing, you realise how well we actually did. I thought McNally, Long and Seddon were terrific and Hanson didn't let anybody down. Through no fault of the others, McNally was often fighting a one man battle in the air and one particular header from a corner near the end was an outstanding piece of work.

Brannagan didn't have his best game but his effort never dropped and as I've written elsewhere, Whyte covered some ground, including defensively, without ever looking like an attacking threat. Holland, as usual, offered the occasional real threat but I'd like to see him have a go on the outside occasionally, perhaps the fact he's entirely one footed and not genuinely rapid dictates he will always come inside,

You can see why Rotherham are where they are and possibly why they yo-yo, they have a ton of pace and move the ball quickly to the flanks but probably lack a real quality play maker. I noted some of their fans bemoaning the bookings but whilst not a dirty team, they use the 'tactical' foul well and I thought the ref could have clamped down after the first pull-back on McGuane and not the third or fourth niggly foul.
 
Just been looking back over the last ten seasons for Rotherham
12/13 L2
13/14 L1
14/15 CH
15/16 CH
16/17 CH
17/18 L1
18/19 CH
19/20 L1
20/21 CH
21/22 L1
I hadn't realised quite how hard it has been to stay in the Championship (and how they bounce back up each season).
 
There was a foul by Rotherham within the first couple of minutes that the ref probably should have booked the player for - another of the 'professional' trips they ended up using all game. It was exactly the same as the ones he did produce his card for - and maybe we wouldn't have had some of the later ones if he'd done go. I though the ref was OK in general though - lino in front of the north stand was a bit rubbish though. At least a couple of times he missed the ball going out, and what about that long throw by their chap where his foot was completely over the line and on the pitch? The lino had one job to do at that point and missed it completely.
 
Largely agree Paul - considering Henry and McGuane (after a promising start) were disappointing, you realise how well we actually did. I thought McNally, Long and Seddon were terrific and Hanson didn't let anybody down. Through no fault of the others, McNally was often fighting a one man battle in the air and one particular header from a corner near the end was an outstanding piece of work.

Brannagan didn't have his best game but his effort never dropped and as I've written elsewhere, Whyte covered some ground, including defensively, without ever looking like an attacking threat. Holland, as usual, offered the occasional real threat but I'd like to see him have a go on the outside occasionally, perhaps the fact he's entirely one footed and not genuinely rapid dictates he will always come inside,

You can see why Rotherham are where they are and possibly why they yo-yo, they have a ton of pace and move the ball quickly to the flanks but probably lack a real quality play maker. I noted some of their fans bemoaning the bookings but whilst not a dirty team, they use the 'tactical' foul well and I thought the ref could have clamped down after the first pull-back on McGuane and not the third or fourth niggly foul.
I'm not sure I'd quite call it pace, they're incredibly quick from a standing start rather than at sprinting down the wing. Time and again I thought we'd won the ball only for a Rotherham player to recover and take it back from us.
 
Just been looking back over the last ten seasons for Rotherham
12/13 L2
13/14 L1
14/15 CH
15/16 CH
16/17 CH
17/18 L1
18/19 CH
19/20 L1
20/21 CH
21/22 L1
I hadn't realised quite how hard it has been to stay in the Championship (and how they bounce back up each season).
They are happy to do this. They aren't willing to risk the future of their club by throwing money at staying in the Championship / gambling on having a better chance of making it to the Premier League. I think their fans have accepted this. Promotion every other season, can't be bad. Maybe they'll tire of it one day.
 
They are happy to do this. They aren't willing to risk the future of their club by throwing money at staying in the Championship / gambling on having a better chance of making it to the Premier League. I think their fans have accepted this. Promotion every other season, can't be bad. Maybe they'll tire of it one day.

Would we accept it I wonder.
 
They are happy to do this. They aren't willing to risk the future of their club by throwing money at staying in the Championship / gambling on having a better chance of making it to the Premier League. I think their fans have accepted this. Promotion every other season, can't be bad. Maybe they'll tire of it one day.
It's not all about budget though.
Clubs that had done well since going up from L1 in the past few years include Blackpool, Millwall, Luton, Coventry.
I am not suggesting that it is easy but its achievable. I think that Rotherham were close to survival last season. On the last day weren't they out of the bottom 3 a number of times in the afternoon. So they were effectively 2 to 3 points from safety?
 
It's not all about budget though.
Clubs that had done well since going up from L1 in the past few years include Blackpool, Millwall, Luton, Coventry.
I am not suggesting that it is easy but its achievable. I think that Rotherham were close to survival last season. On the last day weren't they out of the bottom 3 a number of times in the afternoon. So they were effectively 2 to 3 points from safety?
Yes, it is achievable. But there's an acceptance that it is less likely than if they go into splash the cash mode. Burton on their tiny budget proved that survival in the Championship is possible, even if only for one season. (Or did they avoid relegation twice?)
 
That stat, Shots on target - Oxford 5 Rotherham 1.
Perhaps we should have won then?
I think it shows what an excellent job our defence did in reducing the Rotherham attack to only one shot on target (with a bit of lady luck thrown in!) A defence well marshalled by Sam Long, he has the attributes of a future club captain.
 
Gavin Whyte
I was getting frustrated with getting all players back to defend a corner (perhaps Karl knows better than me, though!) I would have put GW 40 yards upfield when defending a corner and as soon as goalie collects the ball a quick punt upfield for GW to sprint. He could outpace any defender and with the wind a good chance the defender makes a mistake and then GW is through on goal.
 
That stat, Shots on target - Oxford 5 Rotherham 1.
Perhaps we should have won then?
I think it shows what an excellent job our defence did in reducing the Rotherham attack to only one shot on target (with a bit of lady luck thrown in!) A defence well marshalled by Sam Long, he has the attributes of a future club captain.
Hmm the two that whacked the woodwork and the header just past the post count as off target!
 
I'm not sure I'd quite call it pace, they're incredibly quick from a standing start rather than at sprinting down the wing. Time and again I thought we'd won the ball only for a Rotherham player to recover and take it back from us.
Ummm….isn’t that pace?
 
Ummm….isn’t that pace?
I think of pace more as running fast over a longer stretch, dunno if that’s the usual definition. Their midfielders didn’t really do long runs but were very fast over the first couple of yards.
 
I think of pace more as running fast over a longer stretch, dunno if that’s the usual definition. Their midfielders didn’t really do long runs but were very fast over the first couple of yards.
I think pace means whatever we want it to mean in terms of speed. Pace can be slow, steady, fast. But tbh I also have considered pace in football to be going very quickly over quite some distance not quick thinking (pace of thought) and moving quickly over a couple of steps or so.
 
Thanks for another great report Paul. Sorry to hear you won’t be covering the Sunderland game as I always look forward to Fans View. Let’s hope that there will be lots of entertaining post match reading on the Sunderland forum to fill the gap!
 
That stat, Shots on target - Oxford 5 Rotherham 1.
Perhaps we should have won then?
I think it shows what an excellent job our defence did in reducing the Rotherham attack to only one shot on target (with a bit of lady luck thrown in!) A defence well marshalled by Sam Long, he has the attributes of a future club captain.
I agree that Sam Long is the obvious Captain and seems to be getting better all of the time.
 
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