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

[herbergeehh]

It's actually quite hard to get in the five-man-bench at Blackburn, coz we have got too many mediocre players.. I mean, Enckelman takes one of the spots, and some defender (Matteo?) takes another... that leaves us with three free seats, and one of them will probably go to a central midfielder like Flitty or Tugay / Thommo. Then there's the strikers, without Bothroyd we have got either Stead or Jansen, plus Djorkaeff or Gally.

I guess Gamst's best shot is to nick the Djorkaeff/Gally seat, and secure it while Bothroyd's suspended!

[LeChuck]

Pedersen must be doing something wrong in training, I think Hughes has changed things and gets a good look at players in a competitive situation(games), he's not even getting on the bench

I don't disagree with what you say, I just think we need a left footed midfielder on the left after seeing how toothless we were down there on Saturday. If De Pedro is fit then maybe he could do it...

[John]

I fell into the propaganda about De Pedro when he first joined. However from what I have heard he will never make an impression in this league. He is acutally enjoying the English way of life but he is unlikely to fit in our team especially in our present situation. He is a decent passer, crosser of the ball but that is all he offers.

I dont see why not for now put Reid on the left as he played well there in his days at Millwall.

[LeChuck]

I fell into the propaganda about De Pedro when he first joined. However from what I have heard he will never make an impression in this league. He is acutally enjoying the English way of life but he is unlikely to fit in our team especially in our present situation. He is a decent passer, crosser of the ball but that is all he offers.

I dont see why not for now put Reid on the left as he played well there in his days at Millwall.

Reid can't cross with his left foot, he looks a little bit lost when he's out there.

About De Pedro...that may be all he offers but that was enough to make him a starter in the Spain team at the last World Cup and consistently one of the best left midfielders in Spain in recent years. He may not reach those levels again but we won't know just how good he can be until he's given a chance...may not be impressing for the reserves, but niether was McEveley...he may just be a big game player. I'd hardly call his hype propaganda, they were hard facts.

[USRoverME]

Anyways, back to the match discussion...

I read a report on soccernet that Ferguson is going to miss the Scotland Friendly due to injury, which is probably a good thing for Rovers, but any word if this is going to rule him out for any Rovers games, or is it just a nagging injury he's been dealing with?

[John]

Le Chuck- I posed the question to the Sky Sports's Gulilem Balague recently. It seems you like others on here have this false impression of De Pedro.

He said that De Pedro has always been an over-rated player who looked good in flashes in the World Cup. To suggest he has been good or a star for Spain was incorrect. He also stated that the only offer he had since January was our one in the summer and the wages he is getting always ensured he would come to us. He summed up by saying he thought De Pedro was too slow to make a meaningful contribution in the Premiership.

[luxor]

Another astute GS buy then.

On paper dullsville.

So that's 3-1 to someone then.

[blue phil]

For the first time in many months I'm actually quite confident that we'll win this one

Rovers 3 , Brummies 0

Stead to get off the mark .

[McClarky]

I thought Stead was injured. If he's fit I'd have him in with the rest of the team that finished on Saturday. I think Thompson in central midfield could make a real difference to us going forward.

We really need these 3 points and I can see us winning 2-0. If we don't win at least 2 or 3 games between now and Christmas we are really struggling but at least we have been showing some fight of late. We need to go at them and not wait for them to go ahead before we start playing.

Are any of our old boys going to be playing for Brum does anyone know?

[cn174]

Out of the three I'd guess that only Johnson would play. Dunn is injured and Taylor probably wont be in the team.

[herbergeehh]

He summed up by saying he thought De Pedro was too slow to make a meaningful contribution in the Premiership.

Without knowing who this guy is at all, my first thought is that he's the kind of old-fashioned guy who hates un-british style of play, and certainly a winger without the classic pace and dribling skills.

Am I close?

Won't give up De Pedro before I've seen him play a match or two without making anything happen..

He said that De Pedro has always been an over-rated player who looked good in flashes in the World Cup. To suggest he has been good or a star for Spain was incorrect.

That's just bull, I've seen De Pedro play in the Primera and also for Spain, and he was definitely a fantastic winger two-three years ago.

(not shooting the messenger:))

Edited November 16, 2004 by herbergeehh

[Brownie]

What are we going to do with DePedro ?

He's behind Reid Thompson MGP and any potential new signings.

I don't think we'll ever see him start another Premiership game

[John]

He will be on nice, high wages as well. Clearly a Souness panic buy when he thought the MGP deal was off.

Going back to our wingers- I am wondering if the thinking behind having Reid on the right is to protect Lucas Neil better. On the left Jay doesnt seem to push forward that much, probably due to Emerton's constant forward runs.

Edited November 16, 2004 by John

[modes98]

I can't believe what i am hearing, I was happily speaking to my birmingham supporting mate who after trying to get me down teh pub to watch the game then admitted he would not be at all surprised to see us win this. This has to be a first!

I am not going down the pub as i tend to like to sit on the floor near the tv and tell the players what to do. Hiwever assuming we win i will be off to the pub to gloat! (driving test tomorrow 3:27 )

Edited November 17, 2004 by modes98

[tchocky]

Are any of our old boys going to be playing for Brum does anyone know?

Out of the three I'd guess that only Johnson would play. Dunn is injured and Taylor probably wont be in the team.

3? Surely there's 4. Don't forget Yorke, who will probably play.

Since I don't tend to get the results right, I'll go for a 3-2 win for them.

[cn174]

Are any of our old boys going to be playing for Brum does anyone know?

Out of the three I'd guess that only Johnson would play. Dunn is injured and Taylor probably wont be in the team.

3? Surely there's 4. Don't forget Yorke, who will probably play.

Since I don't tend to get the results right, I'll go for a 3-2 win for them.

Haha!!! I totally forgot about Yorke in my preview! Oh well

[Drakefyre]

I think Emerton's been doing a great job on the left - I don't see the need to bring in De Pedo/MGP. Just because they're natural left-wingers doesn't mean that they'd do better than a right-footer.

[Jordan]

3-1 Rovers

Super Dickov after scoring our first Penalty in 2 years to scoring the first hat-rick since............Jansen against Arsenal?

[trueblue]

Haha!!! I totally forgot about Yorke

Easily done !

[Blue blood]

I fell into the propaganda about De Pedro when he first joined. However from what I have heard he will never make an impression in this league. He is acutally enjoying the English way of life but he is unlikely to fit in our team especially in our present situation. He is a decent passer, crosser of the ball but that is all he offers.

I dont see why not for now put Reid on the left as he played well there in his days at Millwall.

Reid can't cross with his left foot, he looks a little bit lost when he's out there.

About De Pedro...that may be all he offers but that was enough to make him a starter in the Spain team at the last World Cup and consistently one of the best left midfielders in Spain in recent years. He may not reach those levels again but we won't know just how good he can be until he's given a chance...may not be impressing for the reserves, but niether was McEveley...he may just be a big game player. I'd hardly call his hype propaganda, they were hard facts.

There is the minor detail that he can't run. I don't think Reid's cut out to be a winger let alone a left winger but he does offer other things to the team. Going on the McEveley argument I'd rather see MGP get a chance then de Pedro who's younger has been perfroming well pre Rovers and internationally and is young enough to improve with Rovers reaping the benefits of the improvement.

My team would be:

Friedel

Neill, Todd, Nissa, McEveley,

Thompson, Ferguson, Reid, Emerton

Jansen, Dickov

subs MGP, Encks, Short (if fit) Tugay, Stead.

We really need to win this one. Draws aren't enough to get us out of the problem. Three points vs Brum would be very nice and certainly more than possible. I'd class this as a must win game as they don't come much easier then this. Brum are struggling to score so maybe our improved defence will keep a clean sheet and we'll sneak the game 1-0, Ferguson to score.

[Robertson]

I expect Birmingham to score as i am just not convinced about our defence, however........erm.......2-1 to us!!!!!!!!!

Stern John, what a pest

[Flopsy]

shame hes not a birmingham anymore

[Robertson]

I know, possibly a good thing, 1 of his 2.7777666578999 average goals a season always seems to be against us.

beware the POWERFUL Heskey ha ha ha!!!!

[Flopsy]

you mean the Heskey who only looks like a good footballer when he plays Rovers?

[Hughesy]

Its a game we should win, however it all depends on who we play up front.

Dickov and jansen will both try hard, but so far this season they havent got too many goals.

I would prefer to see Dickov and Gally.

With Thommo starting in midfield with Ferguson.

That way i would be confident and il go for 2-0