Papering over the cracks

[Jonathan]

Fortunate to get a point there. It’s a good job that in Sadlier we have a player that just naturally knows where the net is even when played out of position. Aside from that, for a club talking of wanting to get to the championship, it’s quite unbelievable that we still don’t have a striker at the club. You cannot talk of promotion when agreeing to sell your top scorer on the eve of the season and still lining up with nobody upfront.

[Chris Black come back]

Great result today. Draw away from home is absolutely fine. We may have found through misfortune an even better Sadlier.

[Filo]

Fortunate to get a point there. It’s a good job that in Sadlier we have a player that just naturally knows where the net is even when played out of position. Aside from that, for a club talking of wanting to get to the championship, it’s quite unbelievable that we still don’t have a striker at the club. You cannot talk of promotion when agreeing to sell your top scorer on the eve of the season and still lining up with nobody upfront.

I agree with that, Moore seems too laid back  in the transfer market, if you can’t get them over the line move on to the next target, don’t be pissed about

[Upton Rover]

Got 2 agree with you we need 2 good strikers and quick

[Donny Exile in York]

Fortunate to get a point there. It’s a good job that in Sadlier we have a player that just naturally knows where the net is even when played out of position. Aside from that, for a club talking of wanting to get to the championship, it’s quite unbelievable that we still don’t have a striker at the club. You cannot talk of promotion when agreeing to sell your top scorer on the eve of the season and still lining up with nobody upfront.

Spot on Jonathan.. my thoughts entirely.. Sadlier will get better and better but we need some out and out strikers, options with pace and height of quality at this level to make a difference and add to what we have...

[steve@dcfd]

Totally agree Jon we need a striker but not an old one please. Then get the right players we have in the front four and get Wright or Jon in defence and let’s start winning games.

[adsrover]

  Good job we didn't get promoted

[DonnyBazR0ver]

I'm sure DM will address the obvious. A point away at Rochdale is a decent result and considering the reshuffle due to injury.

Taylor and Ennis both got more game time whilst Sadlier once again delivers when being asked to do a tough job.

[Herbert Anchovy]

We do need a striker, no doubt about it. However, we weren’t fortunate today, a draw was the very minimum we deserved.

[Alan Southstand]

We simply have to stop messing about now. It’s looking like we may even have to bring in yet another cb, if Baptiste’s injury is long term.

That’s 4 points thrown away, but on the bright side we’re unbeaten.

[IDM]

I find it very hard to believe that the club isn’t looking for at least one new striker.

What’s best, to have a player in place in time to make up the numbers, or risk a few early results to get the right players.?

[andyst79]

Situations not ideal but Mcann left us in the lurch. Would rather wait and get the right player in, people on here were desperate for us to sign Baptiste and looks like he's had a bad injury today, just one of those things but personally not a player I'd have signed. Best bit of business all summers keeping Whiteman, just got to be patient.

[IDM]

  Good job we didn't get promoted

What the f**k do you mean by that.?

If we had been promoted we would have had a totally different team, and possibly GM as a manager.

[john_donc857]

We do lack that cutting edge it’s obvious! The rest of our game looks good though especially defensively. Happy with what I’ve seen so far

[Rovers91]

Fortunate to get a point there. It’s a good job that in Sadlier we have a player that just naturally knows where the net is even when played out of position. Aside from that, for a club talking of wanting to get to the championship, it’s quite unbelievable that we still don’t have a striker at the club. You cannot talk of promotion when agreeing to sell your top scorer on the eve of the season and still lining up with nobody upfront.

I agree with that, Moore seems too laid back  in the transfer market, if you can’t get them over the line move on to the next target, don’t be pissed about

How do you know Moore is been pissed about? We don't know what is going on behind scenes so you cant say Moore is too laid back in the transfer market.

[BigH]

Situations not ideal but Mcann left us in the lurch. Would rather wait and get the right player in, people on here were desperate for us to sign Baptiste and looks like he's had a bad injury today, just one of those things but personally not a player I'd have signed. Best bit of business all summers keeping Whiteman, just got to be patient.

Totally agree with this and the OP. But to be fair to DM, he's only been in the job a month, his main striker pi**ed off at short notice - that's football - and we've been beaten to it by others for the couple of strikers he had in mind. DM will know the weakness and will share our frustration that we've not got people in and effectively played a man short in our first two games. We just have to be patient I suppose. In the meantime, good to see Sadlier and May stepping up.

[dknward2]

Alex gone to hospital think it's his ankle hope Wright is back or Cameron John can come in

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Fortunate to get a point there. It’s a good job that in Sadlier we have a player that just naturally knows where the net is even when played out of position. Aside from that, for a club talking of wanting to get to the championship, it’s quite unbelievable that we still don’t have a striker at the club. You cannot talk of promotion when agreeing to sell your top scorer on the eve of the season and still lining up with nobody upfront.

I agree with that, Moore seems too laid back  in the transfer market, if you can’t get them over the line move on to the next target, don’t be pissed about

How the hell can you possibly have any idea how he conducts himself in transfer dealings??

[Shawndrfc]

We get a striker in on Monday and hopefully wright is back fully fit then them team improves dramatically. Moore did say he wants another midfielder and defender. The young lad from wolves might get some game time next to Anderson. McCann leaving meant we started 3 steps behind the rest, get the squad assembled through August and keep showing enough grit to grind out results like today, with an out and out striker be more wins as we do have a strong squad.

[Filo]

Fortunate to get a point there. It’s a good job that in Sadlier we have a player that just naturally knows where the net is even when played out of position. Aside from that, for a club talking of wanting to get to the championship, it’s quite unbelievable that we still don’t have a striker at the club. You cannot talk of promotion when agreeing to sell your top scorer on the eve of the season and still lining up with nobody upfront.

I agree with that, Moore seems too laid back  in the transfer market, if you can’t get them over the line move on to the next target, don’t be pissed about

How the hell can you possibly have any idea how he conducts himself in transfer dealings??

To be honest I don’t, I make my judgement on what he says and how he says it

[BillyStubbsTears]

Don't agree that we were lucky at all. We certainly deserved a point. I can see how the side will look with Taylor in and a big lump up front.

[i_ateallthepies]

Perhaps the signing of Jon Taylor gives a clue to what was DM's approach to signings.  Wants Championship quality but they weren't going to drop down to L1 whilst there was a chance of signing for a Champ' club.

[andyst79]

Situations not ideal but Mcann left us in the lurch. Would rather wait and get the right player in, people on here were desperate for us to sign Baptiste and looks like he's had a bad injury today, just one of those things but personally not a player I'd have signed. Best bit of business all summers keeping Whiteman, just got to be patient.

Totally agree with this and the OP. But to be fair to DM, he's only been in the job a month, his main striker pi**ed off at short notice - that's football - and we've been beaten to it by others for the couple of strikers he had in mind. DM will know the weakness and will share our frustration that we've not got people in and effectively played a man short in our first two games. We just have to be patient I suppose. In the meantime, good to see Sadlier and May stepping up.

Portsmouth fans must have been buzzing signing Marquis, but he's not scored yet and didn't even start today. No disrespect to other L1 clubs but we must be high up the pecking order for players wanting to come now the Championship Windows closed especially as alot of other clubs have done their business early and probably spunked their budget.

[sedwardsdrfc]

Wasn't there today can someone give us a bit of context when talking about what we did that was so wrong?

Not really papering over cracks if the main issue is needing a centre forward because DM states we need one and he's looking to sign two so it's not like we're hiding anything.

[graingrover]

Sheaf adapted to Centre back very well Alfie hustled and bustled and twice broke well,right through the middle into the box.Sadlier cut a lonely figure for much of the game .Andrew and Whiteman performed well.
The point buys time and prevents what would have been a deluge of criticism about DM and the Board .
Taylor will soon be a favourite and has that crowd pleasing enthusiasm.
We lost some momentum when we had  to reshuffle when Baptiste went off.We did build well through midfield but Matty does not ping  the ball around quite like Sheaf had started to do when in  in midfield .That was the change we took time to adapt to.
Rochdale spent ages passing the ball around at the back and I was screaming at someone to chase em down Marquis style ..there was no one and Rochdale were allowed to build quietly from the back
We will be OK when we get at least one natural centre forward even if. he not a prolific scorer since we need the ball to be held up for midfield strikers to profit ..

[no eyed deer]

Sheaf adapted to Centre back very well Alfie hustled and bustled and twice broke well,right through the middle into the box.Sadlier cut a lonely figure for much of the game .Andrew and Whiteman performed well.
The point buys time and prevents what would have been a deluge of criticism about DM and the Board .
Taylor will soon be a favourite and has that crowd pleasing enthusiasm.

No one it their right mind are going to criticise DM !

[DonnyBazR0ver]

The following gives a fair summary of the game.

https://www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/sport/football/doncaster-rovers/rochdale-1-doncaster-rovers-1-as-it-happened-489443

[Metalmicky]

Well done Rovers - good point....

[BillyStubbsTears]

Positives for me from first match I've seen this year.

Lawlor was excellent for the most part.

Sheaf was very impressive.

Anderson as solid as ever.

James did a decent job at both ends.

May has stepped up considerably.

Whiteman is Whiteman.

Taylor's cameo showed what we can expect from him.

Sadlier has produced two superb finishes in two weeks.

Concerns.

Halliday got forward a lot but not much came of it.

Gomes looked like a player two levels above where he should be.

Baptiste looked rickety even before he had a fall.

Coppinger didn't look remotely up to his standard.

Sadlier isn't a line leader, which we all knew anyway.

6/10.

We've been through a traumatic close season and at the moment, I'll take that sort of performance and the grit to bring out a point.

[steve@dcfd]

  Good job we didn't get promoted

Would have been a different story and preseason had we got promoted