Concrete jungle where dreams are made of

[Enoch]

The game changed when he went off and trotter came on.

For the worse, obviously.

I'm for blaming the thread title.

[jaffka]

Disappointing then. One game to many probably. Small squad and needs strengthening.

Bring on Saturday after they have been bollocked all over everywhere.

[officer_dibble]

Bogdan back in? Lonergan to blame for a goal or two?

Thought kellett might make the grade as well - early days i guess.

[officer_dibble]

Ps connor fecking samon - he's another we should sign and stick in the lloyd dyer side to stop them scoring against us!

[jaffka]

Bogdan back in? Lonergan to blame for a goal or two?

Thought kellett might make the grade as well - early days i guess.

I don't know if he is to blame or not but I think we might just be seeing Bogdan starting on Saturday.

[jetsetwilly]

Very harsh. Didn't do anything wrong for me (missed 2nd goal as I was getting a pie). The fourth goal summed us up. Nobody prepared to put in a tackle or close down. Don't blame the keeper

[TANGODANCER]

Look forward to the highlights surfacing somewhere, although I doubt they'll focus on the ref's bad calls. According to the commentary he was a real candidate for Specsavers? Won't change a thing, we know, but if the calls were that bad it's annoying they were missed.

[LeverEnd]

Much respect to mills, went up front looked like he meant it then gave his short to a fan and mouthed his apologies

shorts???

now that'd be a gesture!!

LeverEnd are you by chance on your phone? Mine changes shirt to short all the time, fecking annoying.

Yes, iphone 4, very annoying.

[Vertigo]

How did Kellett perform? Not very well if he was subbed at 51 minutes? Still have high hopes for him.

[LeverEnd]

Oh and seat 123 ish. Row maybe t. Stunning brunette. Mid to late 30's. Stopped me from walking out at half time!!!!

sounds like LeverEnd...

You two can kiss my a-hole, JSW I think I know the one you mean! I have my spotter's badge.

[LeverEnd]

One highlight of a dreadful first half was a pissed up Dan wandering in after a few minutes and refusing to believe that we losing 1 nil. When the 2nd went in he realised I was telling the truth and buggered off!
Hope you took LLS's advice Dan and stayed on the decent ale.

[Hoboh]

Wilkinson, is this the same little whinging shit that run off crying into his twitter/Facebook account about the crowd having a dig at his last lack lustre performance?

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Oh and seat 123 ish. Row maybe t. Stunning brunette. Mid to late 30's. Stopped me from walking out at half time!!!!

Sorry, did I get in your way?

If that was you. Far from it. Far more pleasing on the eye than that drivel on the pitch

The very definition of "damning with faint praise"...

Said it'd be interesting to see how they reacted at 4-0 and I'll take it as a boon that we got two back (albeit by sticking a centre-back up top). Yes, the squad is thin, especially up front, but from the reports it sounds like we were unable to play our usual pressing game further back, and that's hardly surprising.

If tiredness is a problem, we need to rotate, whether Lennon likes it or not. Easy with hindsight to say that a game at Rotherham might have been a wise time to give Spearing or Trotter a chance to prove their worth - and equally important, a chance for Vela or Pratley to recharge.

Rotherham was Lennon’s 18th game in charge, and the number of starts per player tells an interesting tale.

In defence, Dervite has started all 18, Mills 17 (he was injured for the Wigan cup game), Ream 16 (he was on the bench for Lenny’s first two). Wheater, Moxey and McNaughton have made three starts each, Kellett and Threlkeld one apiece.

In midfield, Danns has started 18, Pratley 17 (suspended for the Wigan home league game), Feeney 16 (dropped for Lennon’s third and fourth games, he’s started every one since). Vela has started 13 of the last 14 (including the last 8 ), while Chungy started all of Lennon’s first 13 games. After that, the next most regular starter is Spearing with 4 (none since Hallowe’en), with Trotter and Mavies on 3 each.

Danns has played every minute of all 18 games; Ream every minute of the last 16; Vela every minute of the last 8. No wonder they might look tired.

So what? So a few things. One, these players might need better season management, or they will inevitably tire and be more prone to injuries. Two, it makes us easier to play against if opponents can predict with utter certainty seven of our eight or nine defenders and midfielders. Three, it can’t be good to have such clear lines between the chosen few and the outcasts - even if we’re trying to get rid of them ASAP. Oh and most obviously we need new players - and when we get them, let’s hope it doesn’t mean we cast someone else aside and work the new guy to death.

[Dr Hotdog]

Wilkinson, is this the same little whinging shit that run off crying into his twitter/Facebook account about the crowd having a dig at his last lack lustre performance?

Yes. He didn't look up for it. No-one did really, apart from Vela. We huffed and puffed but were pretty awful on the night.
I think Lonergan's stint as first-choice must now come to an end. He has no command of the box. The second goal, he should be collecting at the edge of his box. Instead he hung on his line, 'saved' a shot that was sweeping wide, allowing for a tap-in. Absolute garbage.

[adamworthy2002]

Bloody hell that ref was awful. We were bad but it looked like every decision he gave went Rotherhams way. He didn't even hurry the players off when strolling across the pitch for a substitution with 5 minutes left.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

[Hoboh]

I was going to say poor, I won't instead I'll say, what fcuking defending??

Cold day I hope the defence is all sat on top of winter hill right now chilling out!

[boltonboris]

That were shit

[Vertigo]

I was going to say poor, I won't instead I'll say, what fcuking defending??

Cold day I hope the defence is all sat on top of winter hill right now chilling out!

Our 3 at the back looked very exposed.

[Cocopopper]

Wholly agree with the observations on Wilkinson. Did very little all game. There was perhaps one glimpse in the second half where he showed a nice touch and something could have come from it, but otherwise he wasn't quick enough to run past people, good enough to run at people, or strong enough when people ran at him.

Eidur, to me, looked like he was capable of creating something, but the movement off him was really poor, particularly in the first half. The uphot was repeated loss of the ball in midfield, and a break for them. And they really did that with purpose, looking like they could score each time it happened (and they more or less did).

Lonergan will be really disappointed with the second goal, and may have done better with the first, but doesn't carry a huge proportion of the blame, for me.

The bench said it all really. It was fairly clear from the start that there was unlikely to be much in the way of a personnel change that could really have an impact on the game (but then again, I hadn't counted on Wheater for Eidur, and throw Matt Mills up top).

Top marks to the crowd though. Rotherham were silent, and our end never stopped.