[Archived] The FA Cup.Quarter Final Match Reaction

[Flopsy]

smug git

[Billy Castell]

Things got going in the second half, when we put Stead on and played 4-4-2, and the game opened up. It is a dilemma as our attack is pretty duff whoever plays, and whichever formation is used. I think we should start the semi with the 4-5-1, with Savage and Mokoena kicking the ____ out of Ljungberg, Reyes and co. when the ref's not looking. That will get them all angry, which will make them far less effective, and more likely to get sent off. Cynical, unpleasant, but effective.

P.S. Please delete this, as I'm going to put the same message on another thread. I can't find the tick box that allows me to do it.

Edited March 14, 2005 by Billy Castell

[thenodrog]

Things got going in the second half, when we put Stead on and played 4-4-2, and the game opened up. It is a dilemma as our attack is pretty duff whoever plays, and whichever formation is used. I think we should start the semi with the 4-5-1, with Savage and Mokoena kicking the ____ out of Ljungberg, Reyes and co. when the ref's not looking. That will get them all angry, which will make them far less effective, and more likely to get sent off. Cynical, unpleasant, but effective.

Agreed but as Notlob showed keeping 11 on the pitch is a necessity.

[Flopsy]

coz sure as hell Freddie wont miss a sitter like that twice

[tashor]

Revidge - you seem to be losing the plot here.......

......If you indulge yourself in a homo-erotic flagellation session with the fleurkler-wits hereabouts then you will end up with shhmmeggggg on your face....

Very few actually care about the bosom fondling clittlerlickinchickinflickin' technical niceties about the game......

WE WON ' COS WE WON 'COS WE WON 'COS WE WON.........

............WE WON 'COS WE WON 'COS WE WON 'COS WE WON........

TAKTIKS IS FER WANKLERS YER FLEURLERERINGLLERTOFFLERNOSERLER.................

GORRITT

[Al]

Revidge - you seem to be losing the plot here.......

      ......If you indulge yourself in a homo-erotic flagellation session with the fleurkler-wits hereabouts then you will end up with shhmmeggggg on your face....

Very few actually care about the bosom fondling clittlerlickinchickinflickin' technical niceties about the game......

WE WON ' COS WE WON 'COS WE WON 'COS WE WON.........

            ............WE WON 'COS WE WON 'COS WE WON 'COS WE WON........

TAKTIKS IS FER WANKLERS YER FLEURLERERINGLLERTOFFLERNOSERLER.................

GORRITT 

                 

Is there a nomination for the most pointless and unintelligable posts of the year?

Edited March 15, 2005 by Al

[Blackburn Ender]

I'm with Rev on this one.

No need to add to his summation of Thomson and Flitcroft. Ditto Dickov.

The game was so mind-numbingly awful, it took me a long time after the final whistle to even begin to get excited about reaching the semi final of the FA Cup.

Although, like Rev, I take heart in Paul's search for a hero. I think we might have a couple in Pederson and Nelson. I'm also warming to Mokoena.

I accept the argument that we're hard to beat and grinding out results has its own end, but it still don't make it pretty to watch.

At least a part of me is paying for entertainment and there was precious little on show on Sunday.

[thenodrog]

At least a part of me is paying for entertainment and there was precious little on show on Sunday.

Fine but who do you suggest playing that will provide some entertainment? And please think about it a little longer than a millisecond. All the Ferraris have gone remember and Hughes has been left with nothing but 4x4's.

I predicted the nature of that game on this thread days ago, it should have been obvious to a blind man on a galloping horse, so why should it come as a suprise to anyone is beyond me. We knew that Leicester only have the personel available to do a Burnley by playing for a replay and penalties. We know that we do not have the talent or the pace in the squad to easily break down massed ranks of 6ft+ players ( we have 1 prem quality striker ONLY in the squad so why play with 2 up front? Dont forget Hughes has tried em all since he came only to be forced tro admit that they are simply not good enough). Hughes may have been on safety first policy but so what? If Leics had nicked a goal they would have been even more obtuse and difficult to break down. Would you rather we went out of the cup turned over and humiliated like Charlton Athletic?

Maybe we should order that Chinese keepy-uppy chappy for ht entertainment in Cardiff? He's certainly entertaining but to date I haven't seen any club rushing to sign him up, have you? Save your criticism for when Hughes has had more time to sign up his own players.

Anyway you speak of 'pretty to watch' and 'entertainment', but imo if you wanted to really watch a game of football 'proper' rather then enjoying the event as a spectacle you would sit near the half way line and not on the Blackburn End.

I dont want to be grumpy but if you rem the 94/95 season you will rem that we played some @#/? then. History proves that we ground out results as necessary but in actuallity we played some pretty desperate and ugly football at times. In hindsight would you rather we had done a Newcastle Utd and ended up as glorious failures? Rem the French commander's comments whilst witnessing the folly of The Charge of the Light Brigade "C'est magnifique mais ce n'est pas la guerre"? There's nowt for glorious failure.

[Paul]

I posted a while back asking if anyone believes in all that "Our name is on the Cup this year " stuff.

The heart says I do, and I could give a whole list of indicators, every where I look there are those silly little superstitions that football fans grab at. The head says to beat 2 out of 3 in Arsenal, Man Utd and Newcastle would be an astonishing and fabulous achievement for our club.

[Scotty]

we have 1 prem quality striker ONLY in the squad so why play with 2 up front?

No, we have at least 2 and it was only when they both came on that we looked like we could win.

However, I agree with the rest of your post. Hughes, in the main, is simply getting the best out of what he's got.

[Paul]

Am I the only person who enjoyed Sunday? It wasn't great football but it can only have been what we all expected.

[bazza]

The game was dire but you couldn't wipe the smiles off our faces in the pub afterwards.

I watched the video recording of the whole thing again last night. It was worse than the live match at Ewood.

Full marks to Gary Lineker who wished us well at the end of the programme with a smile on his face. Extremely professional.

[jim mk2]

.

Full marks to Gary Lineker who wished us well at the end of the programme with a smile on his face. Extremely professional.

You didn't hear what he said off camera.

[Blue blood]

That wasn't a classic game and if anything really shows how we are the underdogs in these semis. Apart from MGP we lack players who can create that bit of magic. In tight games - and if we're to win the cup we have to make sure that they're tight games - that litle bit of magic is absolutely VITAL. However we're through and that is the most important thing.

Having said that at least we can be confident that the right work ethic is in place to make sure these games are tight. We seem to have the best centre back pairing I've seen for a long time, and we've got the whole team working hard and closing the opposition down. Under Souness this current squad would have been murdered by the teams in the semis - and probably slipped up against either Leicester or Burnley. We've progressed a long way but Hughes is still undoing much of the bad work of the past season. I've a feeling that our formation and work ethic is the right way to go about the semis being the underdogs. It's just that bit of magic we need that will cause me to loose a bit of sleep.

Against City who would obviously sit back and defend I felt Hughes should have gone for a more attacking formation as 4-5-1 isn't the best way to break a team down. In fairness all of the midfield or defence deserved their place following the everton game, but Stead should have started up front, and Hughes is paid to make harsh decisions.

The positives from the game to me were that the whole defence was excellent. Granted they didn't have too much to do but they did it well and professionally. Emerton being on the bench seemed to have galvanized him and he showed he can cross and looked a threat the entire time he was on. With MGP we look a danger from set pieces again and the guy is the start of getting some flair back into the team.

the negatives - Dickov the constant moaning instead of getting on with the game really annoys me. And his finishing is diabolical. Twice he got into good positions only to have a terrible finish. I'm not sure where these two premiership class strikers are - Stead will become one - but Dickov certainly isn't one. Today showed again how poor his finishing is. Flitty showed signs of age, to put it politly whilst Tommo again went missing. I still think Tommos better out wide but Hughes needs to get some consistency into the lad. As for Flitty he's sadly not got it any more. Im not too upset about that as the Axeman seems a more than adequate replacement.

Rovers should be somewhat worried about the performance but not too downhearted. Despite a poor performance they still deserved to win and still should have won by another goal. Hopefully Stead will continue to improve before the semis. Mokeana might manage to injure the entire Arsenal team next week and besides WE'RE GOING TO CARDIFF!

[trueblue]

.

Full marks to Gary Lineker who wished us well at the end of the programme with a smile on his face. Extremely professional.

You didn't hear what he said off camera.

Implying you did Jim... so go on then, enlighten us !

[Blackburn Ender]

Yup, Thenodrog, I've thought about it for more than a nanosecond.

Not saying Hughes is hiding a bunch of superstars in the cupboard just to be perverse and annoy us fans.

He hasn't got anybody better, I think we all recognise that. Knowing Hughes is doing the best with the resources available doesn't make it any prettier to watch (whether you're sat behind the goal or in the Jack Walker. A dead straight view down the half-way line gives you a proper view, does it? Hmmm).

You obviously have a greater capacity to be content with crap football than I do - and happily a damn good view of it too!

[Blue blood]

Another thought. Against Burbley we knew they'd defend and want a physical game hence the 4-5-1 for that game too. However we knew we needed to breakt them down hence Tugay played. Perhaps Hughes should have adopted a similar tactic and played Tugs instead of Flitty as Mokeana and Reid seemed to be able to handle the hard man role.

[joey_big_nose]

Perhaps Hughes should have adopted a similar tactic and played Tugs instead of Flitty as Mokeana and Reid seemed to be able to handle the hard man role.

I would go for that, its a good point. The only problem is he likes to play balls through but would not have too much to aim at. To be tight we need to not give the ball away which is something, unfortunately, that comes with Tugay's game.

In retrospect against Leicester it may of been a good idea but against the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool we have to wonder what they would achieve from the extra posession that would definately result.... it's a tricky one.

[Nayef]

.

Full marks to Gary Lineker who wished us well at the end of the programme with a smile on his face. Extremely professional.

You didn't hear what he said off camera.

Implying you did Jim... so go on then, enlighten us !

well they showed him wearing LCFC glasses on and smiling like a geek.

go figure.

[roversmum]

Didn't anyone see the start of the televised match? (we recorded it) Lineker had Leicester City flag, scarf etc draped all over the table. The other two pointed out the error of his ways.

[trueblue]

Didn't anyone see the start of the televised match? (we recorded it) Lineker had Leicester City flag, scarf etc draped all over the table. The other two pointed out the error of his ways.

I didn't Roversmum... hence why I didn't know what Jim was on about

[92er]

Am I the only person who enjoyed Sunday?

Yes.

[92er]

You didn't hear what he said off camera.

Tell us more.