An away trip to one of the leading lights in League Two may not be the ideal scenario for a team struggling for form, but in the case of Exeter City, it may not be a bad thing.
The Grecians are at Rochdale this afternoon where they are looking to arrest a poor run of form which has seen them fail to win any of their last five league and cup encounters.
Rochdale have won ten of their last 14 matches and that run of form has propelled Keith Hill's side up to third in the table and they booked their place in the second round of the FA Cup with a comfortable 2-0 win at Torquay United.
However, City have traditionally fared well at Dale's homely Spotland stadium.
"They are a good football side with a very good manager," Tisdale said. "It is a good place to play football and you always get a good game of football there – it's entertaining.
"They are fluid with their systems and often play with three in midfield, like one or two other sides, and they are good at it. We are expecting a good football match.
"We have an opportunity to be ourselves because of the way they play and we can play and we like playing there. We haven't always won, but it is a familiar route for us with our familiar hotel that we stay in, but we need a galvanised, together-type of performance."
City's performance last weekend was far from together and galvanised and it led to Tisdale holding an inquest immediately after full-time.
When he emerged to speak to the gathered press, he said he would be taking stock of the situation and going away to think about a few things and the results of that will show in today's team selection.
"I think the players have needed reminding of one or two things," he said. "One or two have dropped their performance levels and I have made that known to them. We'll be on it on Saturday, but that doesn't guarantee a win.
"When you assess a game of football, you have to look at how the players play and work back with what you've coached and ask if you have helped the players play better.
"There are so many factors involved and I just had a day or two in my study looking at all the factors, what we've been coaching because there is often a correlation between what you coach and how a performance manifests itself, players in form, players out of form, combinations of players, systems, opposition, league statistics and evidence – I have been swamped!
"My job is to pick through it all and pick out one or two things that we need to concentrate on. I'm not going to divulge that, but that is my job and I pride myself on really digging deep."
Exeter City @(from): Krysiak, Pym; Butterfield, Woodman, Bennett, Baldwin, Coles, Sercombe, Oakley, Gow, Davies, Parkin, Doherty, Moore-Taylor, Dawson, Gill, O'Flynn, Reid, Nichols, Gosling, Keohane, Wannell, Jagger-Cane, Parkin, Tillson, Chamberlain, Grimes, Jay, Wheeler.
Unavailable:@ Oakley (injured), Bergqvist (on loan to Welling United).
