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

[Alex Rover]

Come on Hughes, fortune favours the brave, bring on MGP.

In favour of who? As Emerton and Reid are both having great games.

[Ewood Dream]

Come on Hughes, fortune favours the brave, bring on MGP.

It just aint gonna happen is it...

[tcj_jones]

Dickov missed a brilliant opportunity...

Great match, what a comeback

[B.R.F.C]

Well Toogs off and Thompson on made a huge difference to the team. Shame Dickov missed that chance at the end though. But a very very well done to Steven Reid, absolutely superb on the right today, well done sah

[Tim Southampton Rover]

We should excellent 'Bounce-back-ability' in that game.

So unlucky not to win it at the end, but Birmingham had their chances as well.

Excellent game!

[mode_m]

The bottom of the table is so close, a couple of wins and rovers could be right up there with fulham and completely out of trouble. If they keep up performances like this from their offense and improve their defense there is hope. Great come back today, pleased with the result. COME ON ROVERS!

[vyeo]

what a cracking 2nd half. thommo MUST start against fulham next week, he really turned the game around for us. dickov well... think that miss sums it up really. he does really well running and chasing things, getting into positions but lacks that little bit of quality. but take nothing away from him, he did well today except that miss.

the performance again was good given the circumstances, but we really must start turning draws into wins. when we went to 3-3 i thought we'll go on and win it but it wasnt to be. now, we need to find that little bit extra and QUICK!

but i have to say it again, if this was souness' team at the start of the season, there'd have been no way we'd have battled back to 3-3.

[rover6]

Dickov missed a brilliant opportunity...

Great match, what a comeback

Would normally be well pleased but the league table still doesn't read pretty. Steven Reid played very which is encouraging and this game should emphasise that Tugay is now officially past-it and Tommo must start.

No appearance for MGP - fresh legs in the dying minutes when Birmingham are going defensive and when the player has a good goalscoring record and likes getting into the box and scored a last minute equaliser in his last appearance for the first team?..... Didn't expect to happen.

And there was I think Yorke might nick a winner - the guy put in a cameo performance that all Rovers fans have grown accustomed to. Cheers for the money Bruce.

Edited November 21, 2004 by rover6

[USABlue]

This is horrible, I hate when we score early, we always seem to take our foot of the pedal when we do.

We are in serious trouble, chance of turning this game are very very slim, our chances of going down are almost certain.

Hey! What the hell do I know.

Good, no great comeback. One thing I don't understand is how Cunningham was allowed to hold Dickov all afternoon. Thought the ref let the game go quite well. It was one of the more physical games I have seen for a while, he let a lot of contact go. Good game. The only time I think I have seen Dickov NOT follow the shot in was the one time the keeper spilled it.

Very happy for Reid, he's taken a lot of stick from this board but he left it all out on the pitch today.

Edited November 21, 2004 by USABlue

[Rovermatt]

I lied, I watched most of the second half following my brother's roar from the living room when Reid stuck it home.

We were much improved, Reid especially. The defence though is still abysmal.

[Radagast]

Bloody hell rover6, give it a rest. Emerton had an excellent game and Reid had a hand in two of the goals (tearing your man Julian Gray a new arsehole in the process). There was no need to involve Pedersen.

We did really well to come back from this after looking dead and buried at half time. That creaky defence really needs sorting, though, this is a game we should have won. For all the plaudits we'll get, Rovers are still bottom of the table with only one win on the board. Hopefully Short will be fit by next week.

[chris]

some good stuff, some bad,

Reid, Thompson, Emo, Gally, Nissa, Todd all looked good

Negatives, thought dickov did OK and worked hard, but he has to pass to his strike partner more, too selffish today, and what was that at the end????

Tugay, finally hopefully It becoming evident that Tugay's inconsistent performances is too damaging to the side

Jay at left back look a little bad in first half, whats Gray done wrong?, probably paying for the crimes of Amoruso and Matteo

Edited November 21, 2004 by chris

[Eddie]

Going forward we were excellent. Great passing, movement and created oppurtunities. The defence, I think they'll get more stick than they deserve, should have done better, but for the majority of the match I don't think they were all that bad, especially Neill and Todd, Nissa and Jay on the left had a few problems.

I think we should all take this chance to applaud Reid. He has taken a lot of stick on this board, with a lot of people saying he isn't premiership quality, today he was the best player on that pitch, and there are a few people on here who I think should hold their hands up. True it was only one game, but the boy has shown us he has it.

Great fighting spirit to come back, shame Dickov couldn't take the chance at the very end because that would have made it the perfect game (other than conceding four goals).

The fitness was great, and Hughes had his finger on the button when it came to who to take off and when. Obviously what he said at half time was right too, and on top of that, even if we had lost that game, the style of football that we played was the sort that I think we all want to see, entertainment without a doubt.

[Lathund]

Positives:

4th straight game without losing.

A GREAT second half, we were all over them.

We came back from a two-goal lead against one of the better defenses in the league.

Reid was brilliant, MoM for me.

Thompson created our two second half goals and almost scored one himself, he has been sorely missed.

Ferguson had another pretty good game.

Gallagher and Jansen got to score, we need that to improve our strikers confidence

Negatives:

We didn't win.

McEveley was again easily beaten a couple of times.

Our defending was horrendous, we gifted them three cheap goals.

If only we had a RvN type of striker who could play alone upfront in a 4-5-1 formation, then Tugay would be great to have, as he can still play some great balls (Like his ball to Reid for the first goal, came out of nowhere really). But unfortunately, that's all he's good for. He doesn't make forward runs and he doesn't contribute much defensively, and I'm afraid that's not enough.

Thompson must start against Fulham, we look so much more dangerous going forward with him in the team. And surely Reid must have proved all his doubters wrong with this display, he was a constant threat. He's in the Emerton mould, a very strong runner who, with any decent through balls, will score quite a bit of goals (Like Ljungberg, can't strike a ball to save his life but still scores plenty) but isn't a typical winger.

The defense, plus Friedel, would get sixes from me.

Emerton 8 - Could've been a seven too. Had a good game, but was unproductive.

Ferguson 8 - Played well, especially in the second half. Good passing and a gritty display.

Tugay 6 - Good passing, not much else.

Reid 9+ - My MoM. Ran tirelessly, created one goal and scored another. Won a lot of duels and was a constant threat. Came pretty close to scoring a second with a good shot.

Dickov 8 - Even though Gallagher finished it off, the equalizer was his goal. An eight is a bit generous, but he put in a good display as usual. Certainly shouldn't be dropped.

Jansen 7 - Scored a well taken goal, showed some good technique on a couple of occasions but wasn't involved too much.

Gallagher 7 - Scored a goal, showed good intentions. Looked like he could use a few more games to get back to match fitness, didn't look as sharp as we're used to seeing.

Thompson 8 - The creator of two goals, very lively and looks like he's back to his best.

[Flopsy]

Centre backs were great today - let down by the full backs.

not to bad a birthday present, coz at half time i was ready to hang myself.

Negatives

1) Jay McEveley - I thought was very poor today and shown up time and time again.

2) We are averaging 3 goals conceeded a game at the moment.

3) Tugay - is not fit for a starting place at the moment

4) still bottom of the table

Positives

1) We came back from 3-1 down to get a draw and should have won it at the end

2)Steven Reid - Wow set up one goal, scored a corker, was good all game.

3) Thompson and Ferguson - worked very well

4) Gallagher - did well for his goal

5)Todd and Johansson - let down by full backs first half, great second half

6)Substitutions - both worked

7) we should be able to start getting some wins now

[Blue and White]

Very entertaining game overall, Rovers played some great football in the 2nd half, for most of it we didn't let Brum pass the half-way line, we tried very hard and deserved the point at the end. We could have even won it, and I thought we could have had a penalty at the end, but then I remembered we had one last week, maybe in 2 years time we'll get another one.

Dickov fought for every ball as usual, Reid was brilliant at times, Ferguson and Thommo were good too. I honestly think we have players good enough for the top half of the table, unorftunately all the positives do not compensate for the massive disappointment that is our defence. In the 1st half especially it was evident how bad it was. Bad marking, all 3 goals happened a few feet from Friedel, he had no chance with any of them. Even in the 2nd in the one or two Brum attacks we still looked like we couldn't deal with the situations. I heard Hughes was looking at bringing in a quality center back in January, which is great, because we desperately need it.

It was great to see Rovers fight back, unfotunately we're still dead last after failing to beat teams like Man City, Norwich, Brum.

Edited November 21, 2004 by Blue and White

[broadsword]

We desperately need a new pair of full-backs, any winger watching that game would've been rubbing his hands. Lucas Neill doesn't seem to give a toss, what a liability.

We've got 5 weeks to get off the bottom or we are screwed. Seems a long-time since the last win, and the last clean-sheet!

if only we can get the defence sorted we are laughing. Inconsistent though our attacking play is, we did show class at times. Reid's goal had a big deflection, but he played really well, bit tasty in the tackle.

It's just the poxy defence. Don't know why, but Brad doesn't seem so secure these days, maybe picking the ball out of the net is getting to him?

[John]

Thought Todd had an excellent game today. He seems our most reliable defender currently. Neill was sloppy and Jay got caught out a number of times. It will be interesting to see if a return for Gray is on the cards.

Reid is getting better and better and will contribute goals as he has a decent shot on him.

Ferguson controls the game for us, no need for Tugay as they are too similar.

Thompson showed us what we have been missing.

Gallacher is a clever player.

It is a case of getting a more solid defensive unit as I think we can score goals- easier said than done.

[chris]

We desperately need a new pair of full-backs, any winger watching that game would've been rubbing his hands. Lucas Neill doesn't seem to give a toss, what a liability.

Gray was my player of the Season last year, now this year he's played with Amo and Matteo, what left back would not struggle, but Jay has made far more mistakes in his 4/5 games then Gray in 25 games.

Edited November 21, 2004 by chris

[Lathund]

Todd and Johansson weren't blameless for their goals though. The Brum players had waay to much space. But I agree, Neill/Jay were more at fault and the CBs were solid in the second half

[skip24]

listen instead of being negative to the boys give them bloody support. i know they performed terrible in the first half the crowd needs to get behind the lads to lift them. it was dyer sitting in the terraces with no commitment from the crowd. the lads to be fair gave it all they had and i'm not doubting their efforts, they played class in the 2nd half and we were unlucky with the last effort from dickov whom i thought had a class game. reid is developing into a top midfielder in my estimation, he has progressed massively compared to last season and so has emerton, give him a break he played 70 odd mins for australia during the week so hes gonna have tired legs. top credit goes to the young lad up front, he made a huge contribution, feeding quality balls for reid, emerton and dickov to run onto. gally played his heart out and deserves a place in the starting line up for next weeks game.

if the crowd sticks by the lads, something will happen, weve got to believe it.

[soupdragon]

Not good for those with rising blood pressure. Very pleasing to see Rovers putting together a second half of real commitment and some decent moves where the players actually seemed to have an idea what their roles where. Having said that, there was a lot to make up after an appalling performance in the first half.

Positives:

Excellent half an hour from David Thompson who made a real difference when he came on - injected some enthusiasm and variation that was sadly lacking with Tugay;

Reid - I've not been a big fan of him to date but I'll put my hands up and say that I thought he was man of the match today - linked up particularly well when Thompson came on, but was also instrumental in keeping Julian Gray pegged back and exposing his deficiencies as a left back;

The crowd - decent atmosphere at last, and pleasing to see Dunnie get a good reception when he went off.

Downsides:

Emerton - he's had a good few weeks but today was very much off the pace. Created nothing going forward and gave next to no support for McEverely at full back - Melchiott went past Brett with depressing frequency;

Tugay - the man who has been a creative touchstone for the team many times in the past is no more. Needs too much time and still finds the opposition easier to pass to than a blue and white shirt. Hopefully (assuming that Tommo is approaching full fitness), this will see the end of the Ferguson/Tugay combination.

As always with games where the second half performance is so much better than the first, I've come away feeling pretty pleased at the determination to fight back - there have been other times when 3-1 at half time would have signalled a guaranteed heavy defeat. If only Dickov could have slotted away the chance in the last minute.......... Having said that, we really need to start winning games - three games that could, realistically have generated nine points have produced three, and we remain bottom. Thank goodness that there is plenty of mediocrity around us.

[Eddie]

Todd and Nissa didn't have perfect games, but if they play like that week-in-week-out, I'll have no complaints. Jay is young, learning the trade, and made errors, but I think Neill offered an attacking threat, and didn't make any serious mistakes at the back.

[skip24]

how can you have a go at jay? hes a young lad still learning and gainin new experience. he had an off day today and your having a go at him! in the second half jay got stuck in and won some vital headers and he made a couple of overlaps with emerton down the left. hes got a bag of talent in his locker and all it needs is nuturing.

[Bobby G]

1 point when 0 looked more likely,but then again before the game we wanted 3.The trend continues.We played brilliantly in the second half and also for the first 11 minutes of the match,why the halt in between?

We deserved the victory.Reid man of the match,Ferguson a different player in the second half,Emerton on the left keeps on checking back so he gets his right foot on the ball,wouldnt a left footed player be worth a try?

Tugay was disappointing.Dickovs lack of quality told with his misses,especially the last one.Oh well.He works hard.

I cant see where we will get wins from,we need about 10 from our 24 remaining games to stay up.Im not too sure.

We need a quality striker,a good ball winner in midfield and a center back in January.But Ill settle for the first and the last of those three as those are priorities.