[Archived] Rovers 0 Chelsea 1

[tcj_jones]

I thought Todd and Nelsen were very good for us tonight and the back four, as a unit, worked well together. However, Matteo has to be the worst long range passer I have ever seen and Neill was very much to blame for the goal as was Freidel who let it right under his arms.

I have changed my mind on Thompson - he is not a central midfielder; he vanished for long periods tonight, wasted possession several times and did not have the defensive discipline to play the role. Otherwise, I thought Savage was good and Mokoena really helped us keep prolonged periods of possession but offered very little creativity. It really showed again that we missed Ferguson. Pedersen and Emerton didn't have particularly bad perfomances tonight but Emerton, in particular, did not run the line nearly enough and we didn't use the width available.

I was very surprised tonight that the long balls played upfront actually caused Chelsea a bit of pressure, but Dickov on his own just does not work. He is not a goal scorer, constantly gives away fouls from backing in and does not have the presense to trouble defenses.

I was also pretty annoyed that Hughes did not seek to change the team, even though we never looked like scoring in the first half.

Pedersen was within his right to go for the ball as it was in only one hand and therefore Makele should have been sent off and a penalty awarded, but I do not blame the ref for not giving it.

All in all I thought this was a boring, gritty match and we did very well in containing Chelsea and keeping possession but there was no edge, no creativity and no final product. We will not survive if we cannot get the ball in the net and playing 4-5-1 gives us nowhere near enough bodies in the box for crosses, which were infrequent tonight.

Edited February 3, 2005 by tcj_jones

[HugeChin]

Uriah Rennie has got to be the fussiest ref ever.

He is such a drama queen

[modes98]

Just read hughes article on jose on teh bbc and say the 606 comment so i decided to go and look at what had been said about us by people.

My god we are getting a blasting! Dirty this, ban dickov that!

What is wrong with us putting in tackles and winding up the opposition when they are as good as chelski! We can't outplay tehm on football skills we aren't kidding ourselves so to bring it to a level we can beat them is fair enough. Its changing the thinking of football, and it didn't half shake up chelsea! 110% from everybody good to see, as for being dirty, we need to do what it takes to stay in this league and pick up points from the big boys!

[USABlue]

Just watched the game, skipped through most of the posts on here. Disagree with the naysayers, don't think MGP was that good, isn't a winger supposed to take people on. Didn't think Neill was that bad, thought Thompson stunk, for the most part. Emerton? see MGP.

Thought we played very well first half and quite well second, lacking the quality up front that is for sure. Also saddened by not going for it all out attack, nothing to lose there was there? Think Freidal has seen better days (still)

The thing that put the biggest smile on my face, Nelsen and Mokoena, if those two can perform like that week in week out we should be OK very very impressed with the both of them.

Will Savage be taking our penalties now? I just knew Paul would miss he tried to place it but he telegraphed it too. Oh well. We need to find a way to score, all the fantastic work at the back will all be for nought if we don't.

[Scotty]

I'm not sure I ever gone into a game before feeling so defeatist. I really couldn't see how we were going to beat Chelsea, and I guess I was right to think that in the end, but boy we ran them close. If they have a harder 90 minutes than that between now and the end of the season I'll be surprised.

We lined up in a 4-1-4-1 formation - Nelsen and Todd at centre-half, Neill & Matteo at full-back, Mokoena sat in front of the defence, MGP and Emerton out wide, Thompson and Savage in the middle, with Dickov up front on his own. The idea was obviously to pack midfield and stop Chelsea having the time to create. It worked well apart from one moment just after the start of the game.

We'd looked quite good before they scored. However, Robben was then fed on the left and he ran at Neill, turned him inside out, and hit a low, hard shot across Friedel into the net. Friedel should have saved it.

And that was as good as it got for Chelsea from an attacking point of view. For the rest of the first half we murdered them. Savage had a curling shot from 20 yards that just shaved the outside of the post with Cech beaten, Todd had a free header from a corner that he put wide when he really should have hit the target, Savage again had a snap shot from about 8 yards out that he skied into the stand with his left foot, and Savage (that man again) won a penalty that Dickov missed. Or rather Cech saved it but it wasn't the greatest penalty ever.

These were all clear-cut chances and we should have scored at least one or two of them, just a lack of composure at the vital second let us down. In addition to the above, we created a number of half chances, got behind Chelsea on a couple of occasions, and won a number of free-kicks and corners that were mainly squandered.

This was all achieved thanks to a level of commitment and work-rate I don't think I've seen in a Rovers side since the Championship team. Roared on by one of the best Ewood atmospheres I've heard for a while, we snapped into our tackles, closed Chelsea down all over the park, and geniunely got them rattled. They lost their composure and started to give the ball away at regular intervals.

Unfortunately, we kept giving it them back. We effectively played Chelsea with 9 men in the first half as both Neill and Thompson put in possibly the most inept halves of football I've ever seen from them (a bold claim I know in Neill's case). Both were guilty of constantly misplacing passes and putting our team under pressure when it seemed there was no danger.

Still, we were far and away the better team in the first half and were unlucky not to be at least level at half-time.

You thought Chelsea would have to improve in the second half and, sure enough, they did. They worked harder to close us down and started to compete better. They also used the ball well and often kept possession for large periods of time, something that managed to kill the atmosphere and some of the Rovers' spirit. Without ever looking too dangerous they took control of the game and we never really got it back.

After saying that though we still looked the more likely to score. MGP had a half chance that he blazed over and Nelsen met another corner with a free header but placed it well wide. In the main though Chelsea were happy to cling on to what they had and they looked comfortable. A late flurry at the death produced a couple of scrambles and handbags erupted in the Chelsea area but nothing came of it.

I defended Friedel a month or two ago when people were giving him stick and I genuinely believe that the criticism was unwarrented back then. I can't defend him anymore though. He's been poor in the last few games and today he made two or three mistakes that could have led to more Chelsea goals. Hughes has to start thinking about dropping him.

Our defence was solid again, with Todd and Nelsen looking outstanding. Nelsen in particular really caught the eye with his commitment and the way he commanded his areas - my man of the match. Matteo defended well in the main and wasn't too bad going forward either. But what about Lucas Neill? I'm getting bored of saying it now but what more does he have to do to get dropped? He lost Robben for the goal and then failed to pass to a fellow teammate for almost the entire match. He played like a clown.

Mokoena looked really useful sat in front of the back four. He can pass well, he gets stuck in (a tad illegally at times!), and he wins more in the air than you'd think for someone of his height.

Savage was fantastic. He worked his arse off as always and was involved in most of our more threatening moves. His run for the penalty in particular was superb. Quite how he wasn't booked I'm not sure, but frankly I don't care either. Thompson was awful. He gave the ball away constantly and always failed to play the simple pass. He was just a liability today and should have been subbed long before he was. MGP played well in the first half. He hugged the touchline and offered the team real width. He also outjumped his full-back throughout to set up some dangerous moves. He still doesn't get the ball into the box often enough, and he faded in the second half, but he continues to improve. Emerton had good moments but probably had more bad ones. Not one of his best games.

Dickov was a constant pest in the first half and he really rattled Terry. However, I thought he was poor in the second 45 and didn't hold the ball up well enough, something that a lone striker must do.

Overall I thought it was a terrific performance and I find it hard to understand some of the negativity on this thread. The only chance we had of beating Chelsea was to get in their faces, knock them out of their stride, and put pressure on them all over the pitch. We did it superbly in the first half and we were very unlucky not to be at least level at half time. Chelsea showed a touch of class in the second half to kill the game but their celebrations at the end showed how hard they had to fight for the three points.

Their performance reminded me of the Rovers at Everton during our Championship run-in. We scored (twice) early on and then got battered, but held out through sheer determination and spirit to get the 3 points. Chelsea did the same tonight and I'm certain they'll go on now to win the league.

As for us, anything we got tonight would have been a huge bonus, but we take real encouragement from the performance and the commitment we showed. The next two games are very winnable and, if we perform like we did tonight, then we should get at least 4 points. If.

[USABlue]

I thought Todd and Nelsen were very good for us tonight and the back four, as a unit, worked well together. However, Matteo has to be the worst long range passer I have ever seen and Neill was very much to blame for the goal as was Freidel who let it right under his arms.

I have changed my mind on Thompson - he is not a central midfielder; he vanished for long periods tonight, wasted possession several times and did not have the defensive discipline to play the role. Otherwise, I thought Savage was good and Mokoena really helped us keep prolonged periods of possession but offered very little creativity. It really showed again that we missed Ferguson. Pedersen and Emerton didn't have particularly bad perfomances tonight but Emerton, in particular, did not run the line nearly enough and we didn't use the width available.

I was very surprised tonight that the long balls played upfront actually caused Chelsea a bit of pressure, but Dickov on his own just does not work. He is not a goal scorer, constantly gives away fouls from backing in and does not have the presense to trouble defenses.

I was also pretty annoyed that Hughes did not seek to change the team, even though we never looked like scoring in the first half.

Pedersen was within his right to go for the ball as it was in only one hand and therefore Makele should have been sent off and a penalty awarded, but I do not blame the ref for not giving it.

All in all I thought this was a boring, gritty match and we did very well in containing Chelsea and keeping possession but there was no edge, no creativity and no final product. We will not survive if we cannot get the ball in the net and playing 4-5-1 gives us nowhere near enough bodies in the box for crosses, which were infrequent tonight.

Bit contradictory isn't it, the Chelsea player should have gone for such retaliation, no doubt in my mind. But find a ref who has the balls to send off a "big three" player in the last minute and give a penalty that might change the outcome of the game, you won't

[USABlue]

I defended Friedel a month or two ago when people were giving him stick and I genuinely believe that the criticism was unwarrented back then.  I can't defend him anymore though.  He's been poor in the last few games and today he made two or three mistakes that could have led to more Chelsea goals.  Hughes has to start thinking about dropping him.

Rubbish, what you mean is you can not admit you were wrong. Great players don't suddenly become crap over a couple of months (Injuries excepted). He's been lacking fundamentals forever, getting by with spectacular reflex saves. Now those are going, and have been for some time, he does not have much left to offer since his basics are dodgy.

I mentioned this over and over starting early last season but you would not have it would you, well if it makes you feel better we can all pretend it's only been recent, after all "what can a yank know about footy" (even though I am not) Enjoy your pie, you know, the humble one.

Edited February 3, 2005 by USABlue

[Scotty]

Rubbish, what you mean is you can not admit you were wrong. Great players don't suddenly become crap over a couple of months (Injuries excepted). He's been lacking fundamentals forever, getting by with spectacular reflex saves. Now those are going, and have been for some time, he does not have much left to offer since his basics are dodgy.

I mentioned this over and over starting early last season but you would not have it would you, well if it makes you feel better we can all pretend it's only been recent, after all "what can a yank know about footy" (even though I am not) Enjoy your pie, you know, the humble one.

Good grief - what a pathetic post. Still, no surprise.

Friedel's fundamentals (whatever they are) have been fine throughout his time at the club. He's had bad patches of form over the last two years, but he's also had many more games when he's been outstanding.

He's currently in another bad patch. If that means he's been crap for ages in your opinion then that's up to you. I don't agree.

Oh, and what does being a "Yank" have to do with it? You've got more chips on your shoulders than McCain's.

[RevidgeBlue]

A very good performance in the main tonight but hardly the unmitigated triumph that tash is hailing it as.

The bottom line is that Chelsea played particularly poorly yet we came away empty handed from a game we should have picked up at least a point from. How crucial will that be at the end of the season?

As already mentioned by most, Savage Mokoena and Nelsen were excellent. Also thought Todd and MGP played very well.

On the downside the majority were let down by three shocking indidual performances.

Neill probably surpassed Bothroyd's Bolton display to earn the "worst ever premiership performance from a Rovers player" award. If you're picked at right back is it really too much to ask that as a bare minimum you'll at least station yourself in that position requiring the opposition to get round you to cause any damage?

Emerton was his usual completely anonymous self. I am starting to get ticked off with these two ripping off the fans and the club with their substandard performances week after week, month after month. Why on earth aren't they dropped in an attempt to give them a much needed kick up the jacksi?

Thompson was similarly awful and to me hasn't performed to anything like an acceptable standard since returning from injury. On recent evidence he can no longer cut it at this level.

Up front I can not understand the adulation for Dickov. I thought he was quite poor tonight. No end of niggling, plenty of giving away unnecessary fouls, plenty of playing for fouls, plenty of getting caught needlessly offside, and an unnecessary yellow card. No sign of him scoring, making the keeper work, or bringing his teammates into play. Not good enough at this level yet apparently still our main hope.

So whilst we seem to have potentially struck gold with Nelsen in defence and Mokoena in front of the back that's now 180 minutes of Ewood Premiership action without a goal.

Can we score enough to keep us up? Only time will tell.

Edited February 3, 2005 by RevidgeBlue

[dillo_dillo]

Chelsea showed a touch of class in the second half to kill the game but their celebrations at the end showed how hard they had to fight for the three points.

Yes.

That is the point.

the only difference is....Heaven and Hell.

today, We can see the Heaven.

I believe We have an ability to grasp that point.

[jkritchey]

Despite my earlier slag on Nelsen's speed, I can now safely take it back. He has at least as much pace as any of his team mates, and could easily run past Matteo, Todd, and Neill using crutches.

This is certainly a squad with grit, but not a clue how it's going to score. And it's not just the forward(s). The advancing MF's could create nothing. Granted Chelsea is stout at the back...

[mattyc2422]

Was very impressed with Nelsen. The most level headed defender we've had since Henning Berg (Shorty excepted). Showed experience and maturity when defending and instructing.

Also, Mokoena continues to impress me. Athleticism is something we've sorely lacked in defence for a handful of years.

Todd was Todd. Superb.

Now, the negatives of our defence. Neill and Matteo.

As much as I like Lucas, being an Aussie - he is a liability. Loses concentration and is wasteful with the ball.

That said, he is class compared to Matteo. Terrible. Terrible. I'd almost rather try Reid at LB.

Savage is a top signing. Gives his all and is a fair kick of the ball.

Shattered Dickov missed the penalty. Plainly shattered. Was a HUGE chance for us to scare Chelski.

Some say you build a team from the back, and I think Friedel, Todd, Nelsen and Mokoena is forming to be a good start. Perhaps it's time to give McEveley another shot (is he fit?).

Good performance. We deserved a draw, but that's the difference between us and them.

[American]

My quick 2 cents, as I watched the replay (not knowing the result):

Todd was made to look a fool by Robben on the goal, but that's not the first and won't be the last he made a defender look bad. Brad still should have saved it.

Outside of that, the TEAM (including fullbacks) defense was great, I wasn't even sure who their striker was for certain stretches. Matteo is terrible going forward, but that's not why Hughes has been playing him, and we've been much better defensively with him in the lineup.

Thompson was terrible. He should have been substituted much earlier, but then the substitution pattern (or lack thereof) was awful tonight, and not for the first time. I think someone should be reminding Sparky that he can use 3 subs, and doesn't have to wait until the last 10 minutes. The other midfielders: MGP provided a good spark, Emerton had one of the worst matches I've seen from him this season, Savage did a good job getting into people and pushing the ball up to other players and I thought that Mokoena did a good job protecting the back, and he had some nifty short passes.

The ending reminded me of Bolton, just hoofing the ball up and hoping that a Rover gets it, which did not fill me with confidence.

Rennie was TERRIBLE. After the Petrchech (the way the commentators were talking, you'd think that was his name, all one name) and Dickov collision, it took Rennie a while to even blow the whistle when the players were going at each other. Also, was I the only one who noticed that Petrchech got the ball, Dickov knocked into him, went up on his knee like everything was fine, then all of the sudden was falling over like Fred Sanford clutching his chest when the whistle wasn't blown right away? It was as if he was playacting to get Dickov carded.

[Bobby G]

Its really hard to play that well and yet get nothing from the game.Luckily all our rivals on the night also lost.Effectively we played with 10 men,cause Thommo didnt do anything right.

Other than poor performances from Thommo and Emo,I have to say that our strikeforce (one man albeit) is not sharp enough to win us games.We need goals and where will we get them?

Dickovs workrate deserved an 11,he held off JT the whole game very very well.Unfortunately you cant miss a penalty against Chelsea and expect to also take something from the game.I dont think any team really took the game to Chelsea all season as we did.We really didnt let them play and also posed a big big threat all through the match.

Unfortunately our attack was toothless.

It will be a problem against other teams.

Im still positive that 4 more wins should gain safety,5 would GUARANTEE IT.

Also I can sympathize with JOSE about our tactics in terms of aggresiveness,but if he was fair he would also COMMEND us taking the whole game to Chelsea from start to finish.Unfair criticism that we didnt come to play football but just wanted to rough them up.We were the only side playing football.

Also,I think Arjen Robben is far more important to Chelsea than one may realize!

Edited February 3, 2005 by Bobby G

[LA Rover]

I just wonder if perhaps we've provided something of a 'blueprint' for the other clubs on how to beat Chelsea, and that perhaps the title race is not quite as wrapepd up as everyone thinks.

Anybody with a half-decent striker or creativity from midfield would have finished the job tonight. That being said, it remains to be seen if other clubs can/will play with the kind of brass we showed tonight. At any rate, it's clear that you can't just play Chelsea at "their" game, and let them knock it around at will.

Have to agree that Brad may be heading towards the downside of his career, he's going on two seasons of mediocrity now.

All in all, quite a few positives, but my big worry is that we were well and truly up for the 'top dog' tonight, and we may not be able to produce that intensity for Boro and beyond.

[clitheroe_claret]

Very disappointed with hughes `style` of play, ie kick chelsea out of the game.

Paid £6 ppv to watch chelsea and what was seen.

Apparently John Terry was almost nobbled in first few minutes, Robben scores a great goal then is put out of the game. Further assaults on Dufff (twice) and the goalkeeper (twice) went virtually unpunished by useless referee.

blackburn are already EASILY the dirtiest team in that division - last night another 5 or 6 should have been booked possibly leading to sendings off.

Hope to have a strong ref at the Hallowed Turf on the 20th not the spineless rennie

[Guest Kamy100]

Very encouraged by last night's performance. Like many fans went to the game without much hope but the lads really did the club proud.

As someone said earlier I don't think Chelsea will face a tougher 90 minutes this season. We battled for every ball and never let Chelsea settle into their fast flowing game. I thought that the new boys were excellent, especially Nelsen he read the game so well and looked very compoused at the back.

The one thing that really worried me was the performance of Thompson, been monitoring him for the last couple of weeks and each week he seems to be getting worse. In the first half especially his first touch was atrocious and I lost count of the amount of times that he gave the ball away. I still have faith in him because have seen how good he can be so hopefully with a bit of work he can start to improve his performances.

The fans last night were superb, the backing that we gave the team seem to inspire them and it was great to see, especially considering how quiet the Chelsea fans were.

So no points but there are so many positives to take from the match. Looking forward to the next 2 games and if we can sustain that level of performance then we won't go far wrong.

[RoverinBath]

Not really sure why MGP's challenge on Cech was deemed a foul. Cech was holding the ball in one hand and Pedersen used his head to knock it out of the 'keeper's hold. Ball still in play.

Que Makelele raising hands to MGP (in the area) quickly followed by Terry and Lampard. I think that incident showed more than most that the referee was weak. Imagine Mourinho's reaction had Makelele been given his marching orders!!

[cravenblue]

just been on bbc website to look at their report, and what a surprise its all about how well chleski played and even more of a surprise (!!!!) no mention of us playing well and for being the better team for long periods

[Pål Pot]

Not really sure why MGP's challenge on Cech was deemed a foul. Cech was holding the ball in one hand and Pedersen used his head to knock it out of the 'keeper's hold. Ball still in play.

Nope. Once the goalie has taken hold of the ball it's deemed to be in his possession until he has either kicked or thrown it. And before that you can't take the ball from him.

[Tris]

However, Robben was then fed on the left and he ran at Neill, turned him inside out, and hit a low, hard shot across Friedel into the net.

It was Todd he turned inside out, not Neill.

[philipl]

Glad you cleared that up Tris- I was wondering about my eye sight!

Did anyone else find the pattern on the Chelsea shirts a bit too similar to our's when looked at from three quarter angle? With the bright lights dimming the intensity of our blue, I confused the shirts on occaisions whilst watching on TV. Don't know what it looked like at Ewood.

[Texan Rover]

I didn't have any problems with the strip on TV -- looked black to me.

[rover6]

I think that bringing on a striker at 60 and goingto 442 would have been better and having a go. not faffing with 451 at 1-0 down

My only complaint would be precisely that. Was Hughes happy with a respectable 0-1 defeat to the mighty Chelsea? Having been managed by Alex Ferguson, I would have thought he would have picked up some of the Scot's desperation to win/draw.

Jemal Johnson was on the bench - heck, Amoruso was on the bench - he could have come on and tried to win some headers up front. But Hughes left things as they were and things sort of petered out.

Unfortunately, one of Hughes traits is his conservative nature in team selection and substitutions which is why Welsh fans were endlessly querying why Robbie Earnshaw was used so sparingly when Hughes was Wales boss.

On a positive note, I think Hughes got the 4-5-1 formation right, I wasn't keen, but it did seem to stifle Chelsea.

[Tris]

On a positive note, I think Hughes got the 4-5-1 formation right, I wasn't keen, but it did seem to stifle Chelsea.

How would you know? At half time you didn't even realise what formation Rovers were playing

Are we playing with five in midfield or is Pedersen playing as a striker?