April-May Update
I cannot quite believe it myself...
SCREW THE EUROPA LEAGUE, WHY NOT GO FOR THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE INSTEAD?! Lol:
This month was very unexpected, but each and every point mattered until the end of our first season in the Premier League:
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Rochdale AFC 1-1 Cardiff (H)
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Barclays Premier League
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Ezequiel Lavezzi (12')
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Will Keane (pen 86')
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Sean Morrison (Cardiff) --
7.6
Match Review
Possibly one of the easiest fixtures we were going to play in the final run-up to the closing stages of the Premier League season and we fail to grab all three points. Ultimately this could have affected our Europe chances drastically but we were very fortunate.
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Wigan Athletic 3-5 Rochdale AFC (A)
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Barclays Premier League
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Will Keane (26', 54')
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Brian Graham (35')
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Ben Mee (43')
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Fernando Forestieri (45')
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Winston Reid (59')
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Scott Hogan (60')
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Mehdi Yildirim (64')
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Will Keane (Rochdale) --
9.2
Match Review
Wigan never really looked like contenders for this match so I rested a number of key players on the bench. However, we were in for a total surprise as they caught up to our two-goal lead, but we managed to pull off a great victory, which was expected of us.
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Southampton 1-3 Rochdale AFC (A)
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Barclays Premier League
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Reece Brown (85')
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Jack Cork (87')
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Will Keane (88', 90+1')
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Will Keane (Rochdale) --
8.8
Match Review
All the goals scored in this match were late goals, which shows that both teams received a last minute push from their managers... however, we thought we'd got the victory when Brown scored but they equalised soon afterwards. In the dying moments of the match, Will Keane shut them up by a last minute brace, taking the three points for Rochdale.
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Rochdale AFC 3-1 Sunderland (H)
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Barclays Premier League
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Mehdi Yildirim (51', 62')
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Scott Hogan (56')
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Charlie Austin (77')
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Mehdi Yildirim (Rochdale) --
8.8
Match Review
Yildirim stole the spotlight today in an Adnan Januzaj-esque style after his brace was all that was needed to secure a memorable victory at Spotland.
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Rochdale AFC 3-2 Arsenal (H)
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Barclays Premier League
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Mesut Özil (1')
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Rodrigo Costa (8')
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Will Keane (19', 26')
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Scott Hogan (54')
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Will Keane (Rochdale) --
8.8
Match Review
Well... what can I say? We were 2-0 down in the 8th minute but I wasn't having any of it, not at all, especially not at this stage of the game. Finally, after 26 minutes of play we equalised due to playing Will Keane as a lone striker up front and playing an ultra-attacking formation which ripped apart Arsenal's defence. Fortunately, an error by former Man Utd man Chris Smalling meant Scott Hogan only had to tap it in from 3 yards and he did, providing us with a memorable victory over the team that beat us 4-1 at their ground.
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Fulham 2-2 Rochdale AFC (A)
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Barclays Premier League
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Felipe Caicedo (16', 65')
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Birkir Bjarnason (o.g. 35')
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Scott Hogan (83')
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Felipe Caicedo (Fulham) --
8.5
Match Review
This must have been the 10th time Caicedo has scored against us this season, what a lethal finisher. Fulham caught us off guard and managed to prevent us from getting all three points and I was surprised they managed to do that.
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Manchester City 2-1 Rochdale AFC (A)
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Barclays Premier League
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Clément Grenier (21'')
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Clément Grenier (o.g. 37')
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Samir Nasri (78')
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Clément Grenier (Manchester City) --
7.8
Match Review
How on Earth does a player score for both teams in the same match and win the PoTM award too? Grenier did it in this match. Anyway, this match was a hit or miss for us (a hit, or a draw would have got us into Europe) and sadly we missed our chance this season... but... LIVERPOOL LOST THEIR GAME to Nottingham Forest!! That ensured we're in next season's Champions League totally unexpectedly, I'm elated to lose to Manchester City if we're promised Champions League football next season. Awesome stuff.
Player of the Month
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The PoTM award goes to Mehdi Yildirim due to his superb run of form this month. Likewise, the award could have also gone to Will Keane, but it was Yildirim who was chosen in the end.
The Awards
Golden Boot Award
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The Golden Boot award goes to
Will Keane for his outstanding
23 goals in all competitions and
19 goals in the league. He would have been the Premier League's top scorer as he'd tied with
Olivier Giroud of Arsenal and
Danny Welbeck of Manchester United, but Welbeck won due to the least amount of playing time of the three contestants. Very, very
unlucky for Will Keane.
Most Assists Award
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Scott Hogan finally steps down from his crown of being the club's top goal-scorer and has picked up the
most assists this season. He
created 12 goals and scored 11 himself.
Best Signing Award
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Mehdi Yildrim joined in
January, but despite that he's
scored 5 and
created 3 goals in
13 appearances for the club. He is a future star and we are very fortunate his release clause was
only £240k at Toulouse.
Player of the Season
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Our captain who has been with the club since my first season in charge has once again wowed the fans of Rochdale, and the Premier League with his superb rating throughout the year. He has recently been linked with a
move to Arsenal but if he's loyal to Rochdale he will stay. A truly
maginificent and
inspirational footballer.
Winners of Other Competitions
END OF SEASON 4 -- THANKS FOR READING!
Rochdale AFC 1-1 Cardiff (H)
Ezequiel Lavezzi (12')
Sean Morrison (Cardiff) -- 7.6
Wigan Athletic 3-5 Rochdale AFC (A)
Birkir Bjarnason (o.g. 35')
Manchester City 2-1 Rochdale AFC (A)
