[Archived] Crystal Palace 0 Blackburn Rovers 0

[oblivion]

sorry was this the same Cole that was slated from here to austrailia for being useles, slow and disinterested?

I said at the end of last season he was important to us but buggerall of you listened.

Its amazing how quickly peoples tunes change.

I myself have now come to the conclusion that possibly maybe Hughes might, one day, actually work out okay. Possibly

excuse me but how do you know if i slated andy cole during his time here? i've only just found this website/forum.

[greggyk]

I hear there are likely to be a couple of additions to the squad very early in the transfer window.

We want names? (praying its more exciting than Nelsen and that S.A bloke)

[rover6]

I'm right behind the manager even if the unthinkable does happen but 2 wins in 12 league games under Hughes has hardly been the best of starts and does not enpower confidence in our long term ability to pull ourselves out of the brown smelly stuff whichever way we try and dress this dire situation up.

I hope you weren't one of those who had the temerity to mock Paul Sturrock's Premiership record because he managed 5 wins in 13.

We can avoid the drop. Imo the quality of players is there - even more so if we bring in a few good additions in January.

0-0 with Palace isn't a clever result but at least it isn't the complete confidence drain that a defeat would have been.

[frosty]

Can someone please name the date when we last played a goaless draw???!!!!

[key76]

it was about 50-odd games ago so I seem to remember....the News of the World publish the figures every Sunday check tomorrow if you can bear to buy a paper so lambasted by so many anal people on this MB.

[natbags]

57 games without a goaless draw.

[waggy]

i cannot believe rovers fans are being so negative,we have lost one game in 7,conceded one goal in 270 minutes yet most poster's are looking on the down side,we have hit rock bottom and now are making progress,sure there will be set backs but i am sure we will survive this season,something i could not see last season under souness.

when hughes took this job,he must have thought it was going to be tough,a month later he must have thought he was mad to accept it.our manager has one thing in common with souness he was a winner as a player and i am sure as a manager he will have the same sucsess,keep the faith

[mhead]

Almost happy with the result.Hasta's contribution was spot on.....this season is going to be a struggle.Any team needs quality up front and in midfield to get the wins.We aint really got it.

Need to play 4 : 5 :1 like Spurs did and make sure midfield wins its battle.

And we need players to make lung-busting runs to get from box to box.So Reid is needed,Ferguson playing more forward and we probably need to buy a hold-up centre forward and Jason Koumas(3 years late).Also a £million for Robbie Blake(3years late) would also sabotage the enemy!

KEEP THE FAITH.

[Uddersfelt Blue]

One defeat in 7 and that to scabby tottenham. hardly disastrous form.

Neverthless, now that we seem to have sorted the defence out we need to start turning some of the chances into goals.

God knows how we do it but thats what Hughes is paid for.

Surely we can't be that much worse than Everton, oh of course they've got Lee Carsley.

[Paul]

i've only just found this website/forum.

[Paul]

sorry was this the same Cole that was slated from here to austrailia for being useles, slow and disinterested?

I said at the end of last season he was important to us but buggerall of you listened.

Well I was raging from the rooftops Flopsy. You're right Stead needs help and there ain't anyone to give it to him

[oblivion]

i've only just found this website/forum.

hmmm...?

[stuwilky]

Just watched Footy First and I am furious. Cheating bloody londoners.

[B.R.F.C]

Hmm what exactly was Thommo given the 2nd yellow for? Although to be fair he could have got a straight red.Lucas Neil did what? Now Ferguson will get banned for his kick and violent behaviour, superb Pity Dickov didnt stick that one in at the end.

Edited December 11, 2004 by B.R.F.C

[Blue and White]

we've droped in the zone with this result so this can hardly bring a smile to my face. Sounds like we're pushing, but still not getting good enough results. I'm afraid there isn't much Hughes can do with the current team, but our recent form has not been disastrous so it's a start. Just a few more weeks till January, and we'll be fine.

[G Somerset Rover]

Not the worst result, but boy do we desperately need a few wins over the Christmas period. A few observations from watching the highlights on Sky: Dickov must be the worst finisher in the premiership. Penalties aside the lad has no composure in front of goal whatsoever. A striker is now desperately required, but as others have said, who is there available who can guarentee you goals? Also, although Thommo's second yellow card was debatable, he could quite easily have been sent off for the first kick. After what Jay Bothroyd did a few weeks ago, what the hell was David "can't wait to be back in the first team" Thompson doing?! It is good however that our defensive unit looks more solid, but we shouldn't get too carried away because we've only played Fulham, Spurs and Palace in our last three games. Investment is needed in January, and we must pick up at least 1 win out of our two next home games. Weather we will do, with our awful home record remains to be seen.

[AndyT]

Rovers didnt play bad should ov bagged a few like , But Its a Joke sending thomo off the where loads at it. Fight for it rovers.

Edited December 11, 2004 by AndyT

[Uxbridge rover]

I've been a Rovers fan for at least 10 years now, and I have to admit I've never lost my faith in a new manager in Rover's history this fast..!

The Gaffer doesent use his best player's at all .. 

Pedersen, Douglas and McEveley should have been playing tonight .. 

That has to be the laugh of the season..........

well done , nice one

[Maverick]

Looking back on the results of the last 7 or so games, I think Hughes has found the right starting line up.

[tashor]

.

we can close the gap on the next 6 teams above us and put a bit of distance between those lesser teams IF we pull our tripe out and that means

beating everton, newcastle,drawing at bolton and villa, beating charlton and then beating bolton at home.

14 points out of 18....

That is easily premiership winning form.

If we do that then we will qualify for Europe never mind stay up.

We have 14 points with 21 games left.

37 points will probably be enough to stay up this season.

We therefore need another 23 points ( 5 more wins, 8 draws and 8 losses )

That means that if we get the 14 points from 6 games that you say we must get then we will only need another 9 points from the remaining 15 games.

Things are indeed bad, but nothing like as bad as you assume...

[tcj_jones]

Really, really poor result and performance today. First half we atleast played some decent football and created a few clearcut opportunities, but in the second we were just useless. I've never left a match more disillusioned in my life. These are the games we need to win and the players just did not seem to want it or even know it - I was about to leave the stadium without acknowledging the players after their second half performance but my consciense got the better of me. Shorter than usual, will post more when I'm a little less under the influence.

Friedel - 7 - did everything asked of him and pulled off one great save in the second half from Johnson

Neill - 6 - pretty solid, fell over once at a vital moment but otherwise pretty good.

Short - 7 - solid performance with some strong heading and a cracking volley in the first half

Todd - 9 - superb performance from the man. He had Johnson, second highest premiership scorer, in his pocket from the very start. Strong in the tackle and with his head, no nonsense and worked well with Short. The one saving grace from this match.

Matteo - 6 - A solid performance today but some absolutely woeful distribution in the first half. However, one long ball was an absolute gem. Must say it was very hard going on Johansson to be dropped but I am sure that was tactically and for this game only.

Reid - 6 - dirfted in and out of this game. Broke up possession well, but played narrowly and offered little going forward or on the wing. Disapointing.

Ferguson - 6 - good first half but didn't get a strangle hold of the second. Let things pass him by somewhat.

Flitcroft - 7 - didn't do much, but what he did do, he did very well. So9me crunching tackles and hounding down and the only player to show ay kind of fight in the second half and, in particular, the second half.

Emerton - 7 - good first half, starting every move we had. However, switched with Reid and drifted out of the game. Showed little in the second half.

Dickov - 5 - superb tackle in the first half and had the centre back absolutely ###### scared, forcing him into losing possession on several occasions. However, missed a great opportunity and added nothing offensively. Didn't link with Bothroyd at all and he just is not the man to get us out of this relegation zone.

Bothroyd - 4 - Awful. So disapointing after showing some real promise earlier in the season. For a tall guy he won nothing in the air today. He was clumsy on the ball, he and Dickov had a lack of awareness and did not link well and he barely got a shot in all day.

Hughes - 5 - Needed to change things up front far sooner than he did and even then he was forced into it due to injury. Did not have the players fired up and lakced incention.

Referee - 3 - thought he had a fairly good first half but blatantly should have booked a palace player and didn't. Got almost everything he could wrong from what I saw, though the brawl at the end wasn't at all clear in my eyes. If anyone should have been booked, I think it should have been Flitcroft. I didn't see Thompson do anything. Perhaps somebody could clear that up?

I want to see something new - upfront and in midfield. It sounds crazy but in defense we look solid. I want to see MGP given a go in midfield. I have been the first person to defend Hughes in not playing him but we lacked creativity all over today as with Spurs last week and I do not care if he lacks strength, I want him to be given a go.

Upfront we have real problems. I would love to see Stead and Gallagher given a go and I think they are the best pairing we have at the moment, both clinical finishers - either would have burried Dickovs opportunities in recent matches.

Edited December 12, 2004 by tcj_jones

[USABlue]

We will go down if Dickov remains an automatic first choice for the rest of the season.

Stead and Jansen should play together in my opinion once they are fit, .

Oh yes right oh, I'll have some of what you are smoking.

[USABlue]

Hahhahahahahahahahahahaha deep breath.... hahahahahahahahahaah. Officiating is a pure joke, it's an absolutely summation of incompetence and inconsitancy. If you look up inconsistant in the Dictionaty there is a picture of a football ref there. Yeah, the FA will do something about it. They will back the idiots 100%. It's the FA got them as stupid as they are. They are killing the game man just killing it.

The usual tripe from afar.

And with your ninth post would you like to actually offer something other than an insult to a poster, go on you know you can do it.

Would you perhaps like to offer a rebuttal that effectively negates my complaint that the standard of refereeing has gone down the toilet over the last several years. Mmmm? I am waiting, yes there are a few that know how footy is supposed to be played but, my insolent comrade, there are many more dancing to the tune of Soho Square and FIFa than not.

Usual tripe from the locals.

BTW. there is a handy little feature in the top right hand corner, its a little box with the word "Quote" in it. Might help you for future empty meanigless posts

Edited December 12, 2004 by USABlue

[LeChuck]

Dickov - 5

Bothroyd - 4

I don't know why...but it's just hit me how poor our strike force is and how much people are deluding themselves about these two.

Bothroyd couldn't even make an impact at Coventry, the excuse so far is 'fallings out with the management' but if he was good enough he wouldn't have been offloaded from there on a free. I think he scored 6 goals for Perugia...that's nothing really, he is undoubtedly a good athlete, but a Premiership footballer? Never.

Dickov has spent his entire career in teams either in Division One or not good enough for the Premiership, why at 32 should we assume that he has suddenly become better than that? His workrate is a useful asset to us but should never in a million years be the focal point of our attack.

If that is our first choice partnership then we do have the worst strikeforce in the league...couple that with our erratic defence then we really are in trouble.

Edit: Didn't actually get as far as USABlue's post before I wrote this...any reason why those two shouldn't be first choice? Jansen has more goals from open play than Dickov since he came back into first team contention (I think) and Stead is still a quality player.

Edited December 12, 2004 by LeChuck

[Scotty]

Good grief. It's depressing reading the total bollux spoken by the many numpty's on here who haven't been to the game.

We were the better team today. We were solid at the back, controlled midfield for large periods, and attacked well down the flanks. We weren't brilliant, our current squad is long way from being brilliant, but we were better than Palace which is encouraging.

Our finishing let us down though. Dickov, Neill, Short and Ferguson all had good chances to score and none of them did. If one of them had we'd have got the win we deserved as Palace hardly offered a threat.

Matteo, despite what chief numpty Ewood Dream says, was solid at left back and snuffed out any threat from Palace's winger. Short and Todd coped admirably with Johnson. Neill actually looked like a player again.

And my man of the match was Flitcroft, who I thought screened the defence superbly throughout. He didn't offer much going forward but that wasn't his job today, his job was to stop Palace creating and he performed it excellently.

Thompson, like many a player before him this eason, needs severe punishment for his petulance that could have cost us late in the game. That aside though it was a decent performance and a hard-fought point.

We're certainly more solid now and we don't look like a soft touch anymore. However we're still lacking a cutting edge, something that I hope Hughes can sort during the transfer window.