[Archived] Rovers 0 - 1 Arsenal

[1864roverite]

those price estimates are their potential sales figures.

I dont think anyone of you who watches football daily and the Premiership can argue that Arsenal have the finest set of youngsters ever seen on English shores.

They will not have to pay out big fees for players with those players in their ranks and many many more.

[Blackpool_Rover]

im calming down now..

Ten minutes of this does the trick..

De-Stresser

[cn_barlow]

I don't think Dickov deserves this much critisism. I saw the game today from start to finish and whilst I agree he definately lacks the quality that a lone striker needs, he wasn't that bad today. He whines and moans a lot, yes, but today was probably justified, the referee was a disgrace. Dickov did do some things right though, his holding up play(when he received the ball at his feet) was superb, as was his closing down, at one point in the game it was his closing down that directly led to a Rovers chance from nowhere. Like it or not he is our top scorer and works damn hard for this club. I do however think Stead should begin starting, whether in a 4-4-2 or 4-1-4-1 formation. We already know Dickov's (by his own admission) playing at 70%, and that's just not good enough. He needs to rest and get at least to 80/85% before he is starting for us again.

he may well be our top scorer but he is definately NOT our best striker. If Stead had played the amount of games the Dickov has, and taken all the penalties, then he would've scored just as many. Take for example the goal Stead scored against Everton, if it was Dickov he wouldn't have scored it...he wouldn't have even had a shot....he would probably have tried to win a freekick instead of doing what he is paid to do and SCORE GOALS!!

The fact is that Dickov is not fit, (and generally cr@p!) so why play him? For someone of his level of ability to have any impact in the game he has to be 100%.

For all that Hughes has got right so far, his persistence in playing an unfit first division striker is, in my opinion, costing us. I only pray that he is not in our first choice eleven come next season!!

Edited March 19, 2005 by cn_barlow

[frosty]

Dickov

STOP MOANING!!!!!!

Have you heard of play to the whistle????!!!!!

Where's Stead

[roversWASmylife]

I think some are un-fair on Dickov with all this criticism.

Dickov works his socks off every game, gives 100% every game.

When things don't go for Dickov, like any other striker he gets frustrated.

Dickov does moan to the officials but he's no worse than any other player.

He scores the winner at Bolton in December and most were praising him, now some are having a go at him.

Dickov will never score and get regular chances whilst we continue to play this formation.

[American]

We'd have had a lot less penalties without Dickov. Yes, he had a pretty poor game, yes, his whining is getting annoying as heck, but he is playing a role he shouldn't have to play had we gotten a decent striker in the window.

[DE.]

If Stead had played the amount of games the Dickov has, and taken all the penalties, then he would've scored just as many. Take for example the goal Stead scored against Everton, if it was Dickov he wouldn't have scored it...he wouldn't have even had a shot....he would probably have tried to win a freekick instead of doing what he is paid to do and SCORE GOALS!!

That has to be a wind up..?

[chris]

the fact that a 70% fit Dickov is our best striker kind of sums up our season, if we did not have such a good defence under Hughes we would have been down by Christmas.

I think the league is safe, but nobody wants to see Blackburn on MOTD at the moment, well even less then normal.

strikers in the summer please Hughes, but building from the back is the right way.

[emglch]

end of the day, the same players played 3 'massive' games in 7 days.

to lose 0-1 to arsenal is not too bad.

Edited March 19, 2005 by emglch

[colin]

Our problems lie with the attack. For all his running and pestering, Paul Dickov is useless at playing alone up front and his continual whimpering is getting on everyones' nerves.

MH should stop playing him alone up front and sacrifice someone from midfield so that he has a striking partner.

Just out of interest, all those who are having a go at NEJ & Neill...these are the two who have contributed (since 27th November (I know, I know!)) to letting in just 12 goals in 22 games.

We need a striker and we need one baaaaaad. Can one of our London posters go round to Thierry's house and tell him about the advantages of living in Blackburn?

[blue phil]

MH should stop playing him alone up front and sacrifice someone from midfield so that he has a striking partner.

Against the Arse , a top team , today the formation was probably right - as the first half performance indicated . What I would have preferred was Stead to play the front man role . 4-4-2 is ok against lesser sides .

Hughes was a bit limited today in his options in that he had to use all his subs early . Otherwise Stead would surely had replaced Dickov about 20-30 minutes from the end .

[Manchester Blue]

Before we get all carried away with the Dickov bashing, lets just remember who has most likely kept us up this season. Hughes has worked wonders but without the wee man's goals we would be struggling to say the least. Like I have fond memories of Speedie I will also hold the same fondness for Dickov for what he has done this season.

Let's not also forget it is the Manager who chooses to play him up front on his own. Personally at the moment i'd play Stead but I don't see the need for the abuse he's recieving, in an ideal world we'd be playing 2 up front but hey ho. We'll still do the Arse in Cardiff on that showing.

[rover6]

Powder-puff in attack.

Lacking any artistry in midfield.

Solid at the back. (Usually)

I don't want to criticize Dickov because playing a lone role is not his forte. The goals he scored for Leicester last season were as a result of playing alongside another striker and getting onto nod ons and ricochets.

[Martin]

Having had several hours to think about today I like the rest of you have realised a couple of things.

Poll had a poor game, big team bias he loves it. Ponce!

The Dickov reaction is over the top. It was his worst game today, but he has bloody earned the right to have an off day. I would rest him untill he's 100%. Stead must be confident, stick him up top at Old Trafford.

Mokoena will be brilliant (patience required!).

Reid is on fire.

We looked tired today, but Everton, Liverpool and Arsenal only manged one goal against us so something is working. Similarly we have only managed one goal against them.

Now the Arsenal........

What a bunch of moaning, cheating idiots. Their football is brilliant and still they roll around like babies. I thought it was disgusting. I wouldn't have had a problem if Mokoena chinned Reyes. Wenger should be ashamed. I wouldn't have shaken any of their hands afterwards. Arsenal represent everthing I despise about football at the moment.

P.S Wasn't it great to see the sun shining and a decent home atmosphere today?

[thenodrog]

Continually playing as a lone (and small), back to goal striker against 2 giant centre halves is an absolutely thankless task and I do not know anybody else other (than maybe Shearer at his 10 year back best) who could do it. Somebody who is at best half-decent but appears to be turning troublesome is Beattie and he cost 6million. Dickov aint brilliant but he's the best we have by some distance and he never shirks a challenge. imo far more deserving of criticism are the underachieving likes of Emerton, Gallagher, Stead and Neil.

Criticise all you lot want but there appears few viable alternative suggestions coming from the 'iknoweverythingbuthaveneverkickedapigginballinmechuff' ranks of Dickov haters.

[stuwilky]

Powder-puff in attack.

Lacking any artistry in midfield.

Solid at the back. (Usually)

I don't want to criticize Dickov because playing a lone role is not his forte. The goals he scored for Leicester last season were as a result of playing alongside another striker and getting onto nod ons and ricochets.

Good view from your armchair?

[Scotty]

Some odd team changes today. Thompson came in for Emerton, Dickov came in for Stead, and Matteo came in for Nissa. I'm not sure I agreed with any of them. Anyway, we lined up in our now customary 4-1-4-1 formation that's served us well over the last week or two.

As has become the norm now, the first half was a bit dull. It was competitive, there were the odd moments of genuine spark and excitement, but mostly it was just another dour half of football. We were marginally the better team and pressed Arsenal into mistakes all over the pitch. However, when they did get it down and start to put their passes together they looked very dangerous. Our defence held firm though until stoppage time.

A through ball to Van Persie found him in a huge gap, on the edge of area, right inbetween our centre-halves. Both of them watched him turn superbly and take the ball past Friedel with consumate ease. A great, great finish that was totally out of place in the half of football that had gone before it - but where oh where was our defence.

One lapse in concentration cost us dear and we went in at half-time a goal behind. We'd had one decent effort on goal during that first half - a fairly tame Pedersen header that Lehman saved easily.

Just before the goal the injured Matteo was replaced by Nissa, and at the start of the second half Todd was replaced by Tugay, forcing Mokoena back into central defence. I hope Todd was injured (well I don't but you know what I mean) because if it was tactical it was a poor substitution.

We were, in the main, rubbish in the second half. Our central defensive partnership of Nelsen and Mokoena didn't look anything like as composed as Todd and Nelsen did, and losing Mokoena from midfield meant that Arsenal started to get on top of us in that area for the first time in the game. Consequently, Arsenal started to create chances and only some superb saves by Friedel, and a bit of luck, kept the scoreline the same.

Emerton came on for Flitcroft halfway through the second half and, bizarrely, played behind Dickov up front rather than on the right. It didn't make any difference though and we didn't really threaten the Arsenal goal at all until the last couple of minutes when Reid was put through, but he dragged his shot a couple of yards wide. To be honest we didn't really deserve to equalise.

Friedel made some good saves again, had no chance at all with the goal, and showed, yet again, what a top keeper he is. Our defence was fine until the goal in the first half, and was dodgy throughout the second half. Nissa wasn't as good as Matteo, Todd and Nelsen were solid but went missing for Van Persie's goal, Neill was ok but still wasted possession as only he can. Mokoena's a better defensive midfielder than centre half.

Our midfield competed well in the first half but got slightly overrun in the second when Mokoena was switched to defence and Flitcroft was substituted. Flitcroft did his spoiling job well. Reid competed for everything, looked a (minor) threat going forward, and was my man of the match. Thompson was poor and wasted numerous opportunities to put telling crosses over. Tugay was awful when he came on. He offered us nothing going forward and didn't defend. Pedersen didn't do enough. It's harsh to criticise him after what he's done recently but this lad is now a potential match winner for us. He needs to get involved more and he needs more confidence in possession. He can beat a man when he wants to, he did it a couple of times at the start of the match, but all too often he either loses the ball or turns and passes the ball back. He wasn't our worst player today but he can do better.

I'm starting to get really annoyed with Dickov. Actually, that's not fair, I'm starting to get really annoyed that Hughes keeps playing Dickov. He's clearly not fit. Dickov's whole game is based on his work-rate and competitiveness and now he just can't perform to the levels he did at the start of the season. Without those qualities he's just very, very ordinary. He's also clearly getting frustrated himself and, consequently, he's becoming even more of a ball-ache for referees than he was. I actually found myself hoping he'd get sent off today because that would mean he'd miss a game or two. Emerton looked totally out of place as a supporting striker and I don't know what Hughes was thinking of.

I don't normally have a go at the ref when I write these reports, and I think we'd have probably lost today no matter who the ref was, but I've got to mention how bad Graham Poll was. I've not seen the game on TV but Poll apparently awarded Arsenal 9 free-kicks in the first 20 minutes without awarding us a single one. I just wonder if our perceived "hard" reputation is starting to precede us now. Throughout the game Poll seemed to favour Arsenal whenever a challenge was made. The most annoying thing though was the man's pettiness. He constantly disrupted the flow of the game by insisting on free-kicks being taken a yard further back or by speaking needlessly to players.

Blaming the referee though avoids the issue. We were poor today and I thought Hughes got his tactics wrong. For all Emerton's faults he's better than Thompson at the moment. Stead did nothing at Everton or Liverpool to deserve being dropped for a half-fit Dickov. Once we went a goal behind we had to change our system, but we didn't. And putting Emerton on as a striker when Stead was on the bench was just unbelievably stupid in my book.

This report probably seems very harsh considering we were playing Arsenal and we only lost by the odd goal, but we had a real chance today. They were missing half their team, we were confident after recent results, and I really thought we'd win before the game. We didn't imo because of a defensive lapse and poor tactics by Hughes. The game was there for the taking, or at least saving, but we blew it.

This was a dress-rehearsal for the FA cup semi. It's hard to be optimistic going into that game now. We failed to beat a hugely under-strength Arsenal today. How are we going to beat them when they have Henry, Bergkamp, Lungberg, Pires and Campbell back?

[Blue and White]

Our lack of attacking options is getting more and more frustrating. We simply did nothing upfront today. I don't know why Stead wasn't given a chance. Our best (and only real) chance was at the very end, I really thought Reid should have scored from there.

Van Persie was class for Arsenal though, but overall they weren't that impressive either. The reff was poor as well, and Reyes really deserved to be sent-off for pretending he was hit in the face. Even if it was a small thing, I'm sick of players diving or just blatantly cheating.

[bazza]

Dickov must be doing something bad to have me screaming obcenities at him for 90 minutes; not just this game but others this year (2005). I'd like to see Stead and Johnson in a 4-4-2 formation.

Matteo is a central defender as is Johannson. Both were not fully fit.

We have three left backs one of whom is out injured for the season and the other two are on loan at Gillingham and Leeds United.

Lucas Neill is pretty poor.

We need two good full-backs in the summer as well as two good strikers.

The Arsenal players were far better quality than the Rovers players except for Nelsen and Pedersen. They are our only class players; a sad fact

[Rovermatt]

Dickov was rubbish today. Saying that, we shouldn't be relying on an unfit, semi-decent, thirty three year old lone striker to lead our line effectively. We defended well again today. Arsenal looked relatively ordinary, yet we had nothing going forward. After a bright start, every player bar Dickov and Reid retreated into our own half.

[chris]

Dickov aint brilliant but he's the best we have by some distance and he never shirks a challenge.

thats a very concerning comment when you think about it, a 70% fit nearly 33yrs old, 10 goal a season striker is our best option by "some distance", that why we need to sign striker badly in the summer. Dickov should at least be competing for his place, but he has no competition

and probably why we seem to have become the "dull" team of the season.

[waggy]

come on folks i told you all when we signed dikov he was poor,sourpuss signed him and come the summer he will be gone,hughes does his best with a poor squad,if someone had told me 15 yrs ago mark hughes would play unattractive football,i would have laughed.

reminds me off the kendall era,poor togger 1-0 wins and sucsess

[Eddie]

1-0 win or 4-0 loss

You take your pick. Rovers have been treated to an array of footballing talent and skill over the last 10 years, now we are where we probably should be, I wish some of you could just get a reality check here. The football we play isn't that bad, we simply lack a good attacking threat that would turn some decent build up into anything. There were times today when three of four nice passes were put together but they can come to nothing because there was nowhere to go with them. It really annoys me to see some of you blabbing on about how boring we are, I wouldn't mind if we put every man within our own penalty area and never ventured forward, Rovers are never boring for me.

[tashor]

Criticise all you lot want but there appears few viable alternative suggestions coming from the 'iknoweverythingbuthaveneverkickedapigginballinmechuff' ranks of Dickov haters.

Not too bad but you missed a " fleurklin' " or two there mate.........

[tashor]

A through ball to Van Persie found him in a huge gap, on the edge of area, right inbetween our centre-halves.  Both of them watched him turn superbly and take the ball past Friedel with consumate ease.

  I hope Todd was injured (well I don't but you know what I mean) because if it was tactical it was a poor substitution.

For what it is worth my wife, who is a nurse, talked to Todd before the game and told me that he looked pale and unwell.

She may well know fleurk about football but after hearing that Todd didn't return after half-time due to a viral infection I think the club's explanation was a fair one.