[Archived] Rovers V Birmingham 3-3 (phew)

[1864roverite]

No Rovermatt, its good business to sell a player for 5.5million when he cost nothing, its called making a profit !

[thenodrog]

1. Dickov - Enigma - hardworking pest who gives 100% and has probably been our player of the season so far- question is is it enough? - too many parallels for me wiith Ward - tries hard but the end result is not enough - we need goals - Can we afford to leave him out?

No way. That really would be shooting ourselves in the foot.

========================================

Mceveley - Slow or just sluggish on the turn - passed far too easily for my liking - similar too Gresko and Johansson in that matter but a better player. Is he good enough - not sure but I doubt Gray would have been passed so easily yesterday - certainly at fault for the first.

Gallagher - Great to see him back and showed those little touches and knock throughs that opens up defences - needs to start the next game - his coming on was to me the one that got us going rather than Thompson.

Thompson - good game when he came on and has the confidence too shoot ( at last somebody) will get better and another who should certainly start next game - appears to let Ferguson do what he is good at.

Jansen - plays again and scores again - back up front where he should be playing - wins headers as well - just a shame we don't have anybody to react to them - injured? interesting to hear the outcome - need him fit as although not back to the Jansen of old still certainly has something to give.

Reid - best game so far and looks like he has got over his injury problems - covered every blade of grass and deserved his MOM award - determination and grit was there - can he be dropped - not on yesterday's performance - questionable about the goal but where was the rest of the defence.

Now for the rest

Friedal - spotted by many and looks adrift of confidence and to the goalkeeping eye is making alot of errors and is not commanding of his area. Maybe a continuation of the Nissa/Todd partnership may just help him rediscover the 'Superman' tag.

Neill - Liability (say no more) - as Bryan has said looks like he isn't bothered and is too casual for my liking.

Todd/Johansson - As many have said needs to be perseveered with but can one of them please take control at the back and organise and both of them learn to attack the ball

Ferguson - would we miss him if he is sold? mmm... appears to be getting the hang of it now - look to have acres of space once Thompson came on.

Good too come back from the position we where in (again) but couldn't say whether it was a decent game as it wasn't for me and I just feel we are a 'dead man walking' and yesterday did nothing to change my opinion.

Negative maybe but I'm only going from my own feelings - Hughes is doing the best he can out of a not very good bunch I just hope January is not too late. The fight is there but not much else at the moment.

Good post but imo for what its worth........

1. Dickov - Enigma - hardworking pest who gives 100% and has probably been our player of the season so far- question is is it enough? - too many parallels for me wiith Ward - tries hard but the end result is not enough - we need goals - Can we afford to leave him out?

No way. That really would be shooting ourselves in the foot.

========================================

Mceveley - Slow or just sluggish on the turn - passed far too easily for my liking - similar too Gresko and Johansson in that matter but a better player. Is he good enough - not sure but I doubt Gray would have been passed so easily yesterday - certainly at fault for the first.

Yet he suprised me by comfortably matching Cisse and Baros stride for stride.... and they are no slouches

=====================================================

Reid - best game so far and looks like he has got over his injury problems - covered every blade of grass and deserved his MOM award - determination and grit was there - can he be dropped - not on yesterday's performance - questionable about the goal but where was the rest of the defence.

A big ? over that 3rd goal I'm afraid.

=====================================================

[Paul Mellelieu]

Scotty is on the money as ususal. The main problem, which we've had for three years, is that we play Tugay in front of the defence and he can't defend. (When we used the diamond at the end of last season with Tugay the most forward midfielder we looked harder to beat)

Add to that Emerton's slowness at getting back and Ferguson's lack of physical presnece, it doesn't matter how good or bad the back four is, we're going to concede goals.

I don't know if Thompson and Ferguson si the answer either. Maybe Reid could fill in centrally, but I think his passing probably isn't good enough. One thing is for sure is that the whole team has to work harder defending, especially Emerton and Ferguson.

[roversWASmylife]

Don’t really know what to say about the performance.

Started off really well and after the early goal, I think we all thought that three points was there for the taking.

It’s been a while where we have gone a goal up and really we should have been in control of the game from then on.

People may blame Jay for the goals, I do admit that he was at fault for them, but not entirely. The left winger, Emerton needs to give Jay more cover. For the rest of the season I don’t think Emerton can carry on as a left winger, just because there is a un-balance to the team on the left as he keeps coming inside and leave Jay exposed.

Even so Birmingham’s goals I still feel could have been prevented if we had better defenders. I say this because we need new, improved defenders. I’m sure Hughes has his eye on defenders that he would like to bring, but we need them. The defence still is conceding far too many goals.

The midfield had a good game, the fitness regime has paid dividend and the midfield is operating a lot better than it used to. Ferguson had a decent game along with Emerton, Reid I thought had another solid game, yet I’m still unsure on Tugay.

Seeing Thompson back was good, he brings a lot more options to our game. And was the reason in us getting back into the game.

Jansen scored a great goal with a great move prior to it, unfortunate to get a dead leg from Melchiot. Gallagher made an impression and has to be considered for a starting place in the next few games, Dickov yet again worked his socks off.

Overall, I game we played ok, but should have done a lot better.

[tchocky]

McEvely made a couple of mistakes but it's obvious to me the boy has it in him. He had some excellent touches and control. Can pass well and gets to the byline (unfortunately hardly ever utilised by his teammates).

Emerton tired towards the end and should have been replaced by MGP with 5-10 mins to go. Emo had run himself into the ground by then and was largely ineffective. A hungry and healthy MGP could have made the difference in the dying minutes.

[92er]

Good post Paul McGarry.

Late in the 2nd half when we were attacking/taking a corner, didn't Reid do a pass to someone 25 yards away that went to a Birmingham player and they went down our end and nearly scored?

I thought Reid improved dramatically after his goal- a confidence player.

I thought Emerton had a poor game yesterday.

[Brownie]

Good post Paul McGarry.

Late in the 2nd half when we were attacking/taking a corner, didn't Reid do a pass to someone 25 yards away that went to a Birmingham player and they went down our end and nearly scored?

I thought Reid improved dramatically after his goal- a confidence player.

I thought Emerton had a poor game yesterday.

Eh ??

Reid had a storming game before AND after his goal.

Emerton poor ?, can't agree with that, he wasn't as superb as he has been lately but still had a very good game.

[92er]

We'll have to agree to disagree.

Given Reid's role in the goals we conceded,his elbow incident and almost setting them up late on,I still have to disagree.

I wasn't aware of much end product from Emerton.

[John]

Reid made the first goal and gave Gray a hard time. Julian Gray is quick but Reid got past him a few times.

Remember he has been out for a while and has not actually played that much Premiership football- he will get better and better with each match and will chip in with goals as he has a ferocious shot.

[tashor]

Some folk didn't go to the game....

Some folk don't rate Emerton......

[roversmum]

I was disappointed with Emerton yesterday. He seemed to keep getting himself into positions where he simply didn't know what to do with himself or the ball, and frequently lost the ball. However, he was obviously tired towards the end of the match and I would have liked to see MGP given 10-15 minutes at the end.

[American]

With you on that Mum. I think he took the criticisms of last season a bit too much to heart. There were times where Jay was making a run that Emo just kept taking the defenders on himself and not passing when the pass was the better option.

[thenodrog]

Scotty is on the money as ususal. The main problem, which we've had for three years, is that we play Tugay in front of the defence and he can't defend. (When we used the diamond at the end of last season with Tugay the most forward midfielder we looked harder to beat)

Add to that Emerton's slowness at getting back and Ferguson's lack of physical presnece, it doesn't matter how good or bad the back four is, we're going to concede goals.

I don't know if Thompson and Ferguson si the answer either. Maybe Reid could fill in centrally, but I think his passing probably isn't good enough. One thing is for sure is that the whole team has to work harder defending, especially Emerton and Ferguson.

Good observations Paul Mac. And points that I've made myself in the past. Whilst Ferguson has undoubted ability he is something of a square peg in a round hole given the players available to partner him. Maybe a young flitcroft would have been good but we'll never know.

[philipl]

For all our reservations about the accuracy of Tugay's passing, Opta stats are still showing that Rovers out pass most of the Prem and with better than average pass completion rates.

I am pinnning my hopes this season on Reid or Tommo emerging as capable of being the central midfield partner for Ferguson and for MGP to be strong enough on the left allowing Emo to return to the right. In any game, at least one of those five will be unavailable through injury/suspension and there is enough proven flexibility to shuffle all of them except MGP with Tugay and Douglas also capable deputies when required. No doubt de Pedro, Danns and Flitcroft will be pressing for a place at some point.

Brum's decently organised defence rumbled Emo's weakness on the left on Sunday and went a long way to neutralising him. That will have been noted by the rest of the Premiership.

A big worry now is that after Sunday, opposition managers will be targeting isolating McEveley and getting people to run at him. Fortunately, not all will be as strong and fast as Melchiot who had been looking relatively ordinary for Brum before they came to Ewood.

Everyone who is disappointed that MGP did not come on is forgetting that Andy Todd went down with cramp after 75 minutes. Sparky had to be ready to bring Matteo on and had him warming up- that scuppered any chance of MGP appearing.

[CAPT KAYOS]

Good post but imo for what its worth........

1. Dickov - Enigma - hardworking pest who gives 100% and has probably been our player of the season so far- question is is it enough? - too many parallels for me wiith Ward - tries hard but the end result is not enough - we need goals - Can we afford to leave him out?

No way. That really would be shooting ourselves in the foot.

========================================

Mceveley - Slow or just sluggish on the turn - passed far too easily for my liking - similar too Gresko and Johansson in that matter but a better player. Is he good enough - not sure but I doubt Gray would have been passed so easily yesterday - certainly at fault for the first.

Yet he suprised me by comfortably matching Cisse and Baros stride for stride.... and they are no slouches

=====================================================

Reid - best game so far and looks like he has got over his injury problems - covered every blade of grass and deserved his MOM award - determination and grit was there - can he be dropped - not on yesterday's performance - questionable about the goal but where was the rest of the defence.

A big ? over that 3rd goal I'm afraid.

=====================================================

Dickov - can't see how TND - at the moment maybe but not when everybody is fit. We are fighting for our Premiership survival and to me we should be using everybody as effectively as possible. Bringing on Dickov from the bench mayber for the last 30/35 mins would get at the defenders more and he would be more fresh - he is not exactly a goalscoring threat which is what we need and he has this annoying habit of going for a foul rather than the ball - As good as he has been with his workrate (one of the best I have ever seen in my time of watching Football) its not producing enough positive end results look at how many tyime his pass or attepted cross is blocked.

Mceveley - Not saying he is slow pace wise just slow in the turn - showed he has a turn of pace when attacking but also has the annoying habot of letting th player run and get past him before making a challenge.

Reid - agree but feel he made up for it wiith want else he contributed and hopefully as he get more match errors/cock ups like this will be minimal if made at all.

As for the rest I just find it highly annoying that Enerton who I have slagged all last season was just beginning to show what he is apparently capable of on the right and he gets switched to the left - people are saying he had a good game Sunday but got tired towards the end - too me he did a lot of running with no end result - shame really as I feel he could probably be the major cog for us this season if we sort the unbalance of the team out and cut out the mistakes.

Don't know what it is about managers - especially nowadays re playing players out of position - too me surely its better to play them in their own positions where they are strongest at .

[Alan75]

Don't know what it is about managers - especially nowadays re playing players out of position - too me surely its better to play them in their own positions where they are strongest at .

Could it be that Emerton is the better of the 2 options that Hughes has.

Reid of Emerton on the left ?

Alan75 leaves door open for the MPG fan club

[American]

Wow, Capt, I agree with all you said there. Twice in 2 days!

[CAPT KAYOS]

[

Could it be that Emerton is the better of the 2 options that Hughes has.

Reid of Emerton on the left ?

Alan75 leaves door open for the MPG fan club

That's the question though Alan - is it?

I could have sworn we had x2 left sided players both naturally left footed in the squad.

No point in weakening two postions to accommodate 1 position in my book - play your strongest in their best positions - and only as a last resort use players to cover other positions.

[Radagast]

The way Brett is playing just now, he is by all accounts the best player we've had on the left since Duff left. And Reid is getting better with every game on the right. I see no need to change it.

[92er]

I'm not sure this is the place to post it.......but we have a pretty poor team and squad.Certainly there have been some improvements since Hughes has arrived but there are still enormous problems.

The only time recently that Neill has been effective as a defender is when Flitcroft played in front of him .JM is not a left backor at least not a very good one.The best centre back we have is Short but Nils has played quite well since he came back so that the best combination would be those two.

Ferguson has many admirers on this website. I'm not a great fan-he does not dominate matches for 90 minutes.Thompson will probably not have the self-control to protect the back four if he plays in the middle.Reid-some people nominate him for man of the match on Sunday but he has admitted in the LET he was poor in the first half and there is a question about how many of their goals he was responsible for.Emerton has really improved a lot recently but he was poor on Sunday.Has he now been sussed as some people suggest?

We don't have a decent striker.Period. End of discussion.

So we need a right back, a left back, a centre back for cover for Sort/Nils, a centre midfield player to cover for Thompson's suspensions/Ferguson's

ineffective half(I forgot to add that Tugay is only effective when played in an advanced role and could be an alternative to Ferguson for 30 minutes in a match)as well as a reliable goal scorer.

[Radagast]

We don't have a decent striker.Period. End of discussion.

No, we actually have quite a few decent strikers - just no world beaters, which is a shame.

[92er]

None of them are really premiership standard. None can be guaranteed to score a worthwhile number of goals.

[teapreacher]

i don't rate Emerton.

Andy Gray summed him up on Sunday when he said he doesn't get his head up early enough to see his options.

every time he gets possession he does the same thing - the head goes down and he runs straight at the opponent in front of him at full speed......almost every time he loses possession or at best gets a throw-in.

can someone on the training ground not point out to him that he shouldn't decide what he is going to do before he gets the ball but rather decide when he's actually in possession. this would put a few question marks in the opposition's mind at least.

he has no tricks either - not one.

a carthorse.

[Radagast]

What nonsense.

[pg]

Oh well, you can't please everyone.

Emerton used to cop loads of flack for not taking defenders on and running to the bye-line.

And now that he does.... the criticism is that he's doing it too often!