[Archived] Everton 0 V Rovers 1

[LeChuck]

You can see in the post match interview just how much this means to Stead. This is exactly the kind of player we need at this club.

Exactly...but he's crap don't forget.

I now officially love Jon Stead, he won me £100 today...I didn't lose faith in him scoring the first goal.

I knew he'd come good, hopefully this is the turning point for him now.

[HugeChin]

Stead took that goal brilliantly

It reminded me of Alan Shearer

[LeChuck]

For me, Reid was Rovers best player on the pitch, determined and energetic. putting in tackle, spraying passes well.

thumbs up! give this man an extended run in the team. forget emerton.

Reid was excellent today because he was in the centre (where a lot of people want him to play). He can't cross to save his life so makes a pretty useless winger, but in the centre he can use his strength, power and combatitive style to great effect.

Thommo Reid Savage Pedersen

That's how we should be lining up against Leicester (injuries permitting).

[Eddie]

Have to agree, great performance, and once that goal went in, which was very well taken, stead looked a different player. I thought this change was typified by when he had the ball in the corner of the area and turned his marker to shoot, instead of simply laying it back to the man which was the easy option. Confidence is so important, especially to strikers, and hopefully this will have given him his back, especially as it was a good one, and now he can hit some form in the final run in, which could make a huge difference to our season.

Reid was excellent, as were the entire back four. Pedersen played well, got himself about, though his final delivery could have been better. Thompson did well, creative, fast, could be that spark that we need.

Really just a great performance to see, I'm very pleased.

[RoyRover]

What a result! I'm delighted for Jon Stead, who has had a difficult season. It was an excellent finish, which reminded me of some the goals he scored last season. Our defence was awesome again today. But the MOTM for me, was Steven Reid. That along with his performance against Birmingham, was probably his best game for Rovers. He was everywhere today, tackling, passing, breaking forward and his pass for Stead was brilliant. Emerton may well find himself on the bench for awhile, with the way that both Reid and Thompson played.

That 3 points gives us some much need breathing room, with Southampton and WBA both winning and Crystal Palace drawing. We were by far the better side and deserved to win. When you look at our next 3 fixtures, it shows what a big result this was.

[blaat]

just played my first competition match with FM with Blackburn against Everton

won 1-0

[Shevchenko]

Very impressed with the lads today, didn't look good with the injuries I thought but the replacements really stepped up and did their bit.

Really, really impressed with Reid. Top game from him and he should definitely stay in the team now. Very good, organized preformance defensivly although we still don't really look like scoring much. But I guess it works out as long as we can steal a goal from somewhere.

Great goal it was too and I'm very happy for Stead, you could see how much it meant to get the goal finally, hopefully this is the turning point for him.

3 much needed points I didn't really expect to get so very happy. Hopefully we can grind out results against Arsenal and Manure too.

[Blue and White]

Great result, made my week ! I'm so happy for Stead, that was truly a great goal and it seemed to bring him so much joy and confidence. Hopefully he'll start scoring more now.

Overall we were pretty good, Thommo showed some neat tricks, MGP was always dangerous, at the back we held our own. As usual we battled very hard and deserved the three points. Everton were organized very well as usual but it wasn't enough for them this time.

Well done, Rovers !

[chris]

christ many good points, Reid in the Centre, thankyou

Stead used the quality we need upfront and have missed.

and Mokoena not sure about centre back, but he a real Makelele in that position tonight, outstanding

really pleased, take that Andy Gray

[1864roverite]

a fantastic result for Rovers.

its really funny, I simply do not get the fluttering negative vibes pre match like earlier on in the season.

stead played remarkably well considering he was alone up front, took his goal magnificently and contributed well when holding the ball up.

Midfielders of Thommo and Reid were immense whilst the destroying tactics of Flitcroft worked wonders. mGP played well but went quiet towards the end.

The defence can be proud, how solid we look with NEJ at left back, Todd and Nelson were immense and Niell played very well against two difficult opponents. Mokoena was the only obvious weaklink and even he had a solid match.

Cant find any negatives on todays viewing only positives, win the game in hand and we are 2 clear of BRUM, now wouldnt that be good.

For the 5-600 Rovers fans travelling, you lucky so and so's. Yes after all the money we have spent recently its a really good time to take a long hard look at ourselves and to check the moths in the wallets !

Dont be so bloody narrowminded and stupid, we only took that many cause they were the only ones who could afford it

[Eddie]

Also important to mention we are now up to 14th, and only 1 point behind Birmingham who are on the decline, with us also having a game in hand on them and a couple of teams just below us.

[RoyRover]

Reid was excellent today because he was in the centre (where a lot of people want him to play). He can't cross to save his life so makes a pretty useless winger, but in the centre he can use his strength, power and combatitive style to great effect.

Thommo Reid Savage Pedersen

I've always said that he should play in the centre of the midfield and when he does, we can see what a good player he is. I don't think that his crossing is that bad. He some good balls into the box today. I hope that Hughes plays the midfield you have pointed out against Leicester as well. If Savage is injured we have Mokoena who can come in and who I think is very good defensive midfielder.

[Eddie]

Interesting that Joey big nose hasn't come back since his comment about stead

[philipl]

Best away performance I've seen in years, fantastic! We looked very solid at the back, and if any of the teams deserved to win, it was us.

Dead right Krislu!

Hyperbolae unlimited- fantastic entertaining game on Everton's pristine new pitch and an absolutely magnificent Rovers performance.

Hughes produced the best tactically prepared Rovers side since King Kenny's days. But what a performance the lads produced...

Friedel- lost that Carsley free kick which thankfully whistled wide but total domination otherwise- he's playing behind a defence he can TRUST!

Neill OK defending, all their chances came from his "passes".

Johansson very effective, his height was extremely useful against the Everton big boys and he put in a lot of good passes.

Nelsen, yes he is the new Colin Hendry. THEY SHALL NOT PASS!

Todd, I take it all back- he is a footballer as well as an effective defender.

Mokoena- WHAT A SIGNING! Superb in the role playing just ahead of the defence. Did he make any dud passes? His distribution looked inspired to me and boy can he defend- that header clearing the cross at the end of the first half was a match winner on its own.

Flitty- great performance; high energy, got stuck in and he kept possession when passing!

Thomo- what a bonus! I was fearing his career was over but he was getting back to the standard which took him into the England squad. Great persistence, fantastic running and dribbling and for once the passing was great after a dodgy first 15 minutes.

Reid MAN OF THE MATCH. He had everything and completely overshadowed arguably the best organised midfield in England. He showed all the promise he has been showing in flashes. Great performance.

MGP- quiet by his high standards but he was not overwhelmed in a full on blood and thunder English Prem game and he showed some wonderful touches, and some cracking tackles.

Dickov- that injury looked awful. Doub t we will see him for a while.

Stead- Drog where are you? "Bambi on Ice" ? Not only took his goal well but he completely rattled the Everton back line by getting heads and body on all sorts of balls played up to him so Everton could never settle and build any sort of momentum and pressure.

Woohoo!!!

Never mind the bottom half teams we've got to play, Liverpool, Arsenal and Man U will have seen that and not fancied playing the Rovers one bit.

[Rovermatt]

What brilliant result and performance. We totally disrupted the highly effective tactics that Everton have employed all year.

I was leaping around the room when Stead stuck it away, well done my friend.

[joey_big_nose]

"What is a real problem is that Stead looks awful. I mean really awful. Looks like a rabbit in the headlights and hasnt managed to trap a ball and make a sucessful pass in four attempts. He ducked out of a header too."

joey_big_nose about 40 mins ago

Right, I am going to defend myself. In the first half Stead genuinely looked like a third division player. All his basics were wrong- not retaining the ball, not winning itin the air, poor movement etc.

After the break he looked much better, well before the goal, winning flick ons and so on and managing to beat a few players with his feet. He looked like a good premiershp forward. The goal was an excellent finish and he ran around the pitch non stop- something noticably absent in the first 45.

I am delighted, I have always wanted Stead to do well (hence the avater) but frankly he put in (along with Gallagher at Burnley) one of the worst performances I have seen in a Rovers shirt in the first half.

This is excellent stuff, if he keeps up what he was achieving in the second half I think we might start to hope to hurt teams. It is a massive boost for the side if there is someone who can hold up the ball and finish- especially as it looks like Dickov could have a long lay off.

My assessment is that Reid especially, Thompson and Moko have played themselves into serious contention- Stead obviously too. Nelsen, Todd, Niell, Brad and Pedersen all looked extremely good. Johansson was appalling going forward but reasonably (remember the flick on....) decent at the back.

The formation for Leicester seems pretty straight forward now if Dickov is ruled out and Savage back in.:

                              Stead

    Pedersen                            Thompson

                    Savage      Reid

                                Moko

      Nissa The admiral    Todd    Niell

                              Friedel

Subs: Flitcroft, Short, Emerton, Gallagher/Johnson, Enckleman

That team looked solid and if Stead can maintain a cutting edge we should have no problem staying up, and even might be able to give the cup a run for its money.

pps. how much better di our wideplay look without Emerton.....

Edited March 6, 2005 by joey_big_nose

[adopted scouser]

More progress under Hughes and a more determined Rovers side the like of which we haven't seen for a while.

We wanted it more today and it showed. Well done lads, I'll have a right laugh in the pub tonight !

[Eddie]

Interesting to drag up that 4-5-1 thread and see what people say now

[Bobby G]

Great performance.

We started to look better as the second half went on,cause in the early 10 minutes they had us under immense pressure.

Cant say we deserved anything less!

Reid was great in the middle.But a big shout to Flitcroft who has been great under Sparky.

I was just telling myself come on Stead,what has happened to you,when he scored that beauty!haha

He looked 1000 times more confident after the goal.Now another goal in his next game and he will be on his way.

A big bonus win today,should allow us to "lose" to Arsenal,Liverpool,United and Chelsea,probably!

[rover6]

Sparky got the tactics perfect today and boy did we spoil Everton's party.

[sany]

Graeme Souness can kiss my ass!!

Sparky is our hero!!!!

[ally]

isn't it funny how many people slated steven reid in the 3 worst players topic and now he's played a blinder, he's come on a lot since sparky has taken over. should easily keep his place for next sunday

[1864roverite]

we've played chelsea twice already and lost

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Lets hope we're all saving our pennies for the Leicester game then eh Roverite!

Edited March 6, 2005 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[joey_big_nose]

Interesting to drag up that 4-5-1 thread and see what people say now

The difference today was made by Reid and Thompson.

Previously we have failed to turn posession into teritorial advantage due to two factors in a 451 formation. Firstly Ferguson liked to slow the game down and ping passes through which our strikers could not take advantage of. Reid played the opposite side of the game driving forward at every oppertunity running with the ball at feet. That created the goal and seriously worried the defence.

Secondly Thompson did the same wide on the right, not cutting back and playing it square like Emerton which allowed Reid to break through. If I was the Australian winger I would suddenly become very worried about my place in the team....

Having an excellent defensive set up helped to instill confidnce too, but by way of warning it is worth remembering that Everton looked to attack at home. Against more conservative side at Ewood it might be harder to make an impression using the 451 formation, but I do not see why we should not try. We can always count on Pedersen to link up upfront and help out.

Edited March 6, 2005 by joey_big_nose