[Archived] Rovers 0 Newcastle 3

[grizfoot]

I really do feel once we get Kuqi and Bellamy upfront together they could become a great partnership.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

A little bit of over-reaction on here if you ask me - Newcastle had three shots on target - for me that says it all. For the vast majority of the match we were the better team

The initial goal - somebody says it was defo a free kick - then why 10 minutes later when Boumsong did exactly the same to Bellamy didn't we get a free kick ?

4-5-1 for me the jury is out - if we had taken our chances, and had a little more luck we would have won with something to spare - and the discussion wouldn't even be raised.

However - Bellamy and Kuqi (for me) would be an ideal front two. Yes Kuqi will never be a true premiership finisher - but he is quick for a big man and will deflect a lot of attention away from Bellamy to gain him additional space.

Unlike a lot of people on here - and I am still fairly optimistic. Bellamy isn't fully fit - but still showed flashes of the pace that will make a huge difference to the team. Nelsen looked unbeatable for large parts of the match, Friedal has signed a new contract.

Yes, we got beat - but by the better team - hardly. Results like this can sap moral - it is down to Hughes to raise moral again. It is imperative that we put Huddersfield to the sword - as United away doesn't hold much hope beyond a battling draw.

[philipl]

The advantage of playing Mokoena just in front of defence is the way he picks up the second ball so well.

I'd have gone 4-4-2 today despite the very good points by 'all you need is duff' for the simple reason Newcastle were playing 4-4-2 and we should have been able to match then beat the players they had on the park. I'd have gone with the Axe, Sav, Reid and one of MGP or Bentley swapping wings where necessary.

What happened in the end was we gave too much fear/respect to Shearer and Owen by playing 4-5-1 and they repaid us handsomely.

We should have been giving their defence far more headaches by having a second striker pulling them apart. This game was set up perfectly for the Jansen/Bellamy partnership to start to blossom but Hughes bottled it (then got bottled for his troubles).

[John]

It is not just United away though, we some horrible away fixtures coming up and the emphasis now will be to WIN home games or we really will be in trouble.

Thought Zurab played well today and being a defender you would think he will only get better.

Considering Bellamy has played hardly any football I thought he was looking sharper than he did at West Ham. I fear he could get soon pi*sed off as we don't have anyone who can complement him. Tugay thrives when he is around good attacking players - Tugay is a must starter, certainly for home matches. He has been there and done it, Bentley seems to think he is better than he is.

Hughes said it afterwards, there was no tempo to our passing and it was far too sluggish.

I have cooled down a bit, but still on reflection this defeat hurts because I just felt Newcastle were there for the taking.

Edited September 18, 2005 by John

[Ozz]

We bashed them until Shearer scored. Fantastic free kick that was, ######.

Then it all went tits up. woe is me. Toon army ! kiss my arse you bunch of soft sad gimps.

[1864roverite]

well now the beer is wearing off, the sourness is going whilst the reality is setting in.

Today Rovers shot themselves in the foot and they certainly showed that they are NOT capable of playing 4-5-1 against lesser teams, coz beleive me NUFC were a very poor team to play and lose against today

Hughes must shoulder the blame.

Rovers have to reert to 4-4-2

Rovers have to ditch Kuqi now, he simply is never going to be a Premiership player

Rovers must play Emerton from the off - how we missed him today

Rovers must now play

Friedel

neill nelsen zurab/todd gresko

emerton reid/savage bentley pederson

bellamy dickov/jansen

4-4-2 is the only way ahead for Rovers

now we have the following situation

we must not lose the following

wba h

sunderland h and a

wigan h and a

pompy h and a

wham h

bolton h

city h and a

it is fast becoming a fight for survival especially with manure away next week

any takers on a draw ??? thought not

[Ozz]

Newcastle=worst defence ever

Bellamy=quiet good at football

Mike Riley=bizarre guess work expert

Souness=jammy sack dodging tash denial sweaty sock

Rovers=poor do.

£30+£10 ale money+lift money+£2.00 Balti pie+ten pints consolation beer money after paggering off shittest team in division=

£100 for a 3-0 dicking!

I love footy!

[Nayef]

Hi folks.

Well today, I had breakfast in Carcassonne, lunch in Toulouse and dinner here in Biarritz and have just found out the score today.

Je veux vomir.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Newcastles first league win at Ewood for 44 years I am led to believe.

[Beckenham Blue]

The initial goal - somebody says it was defo a free kick - then why 10 minutes later when Boumsong did exactly the same to Bellamy didn't we get a free kick ?

Exactly what I thought, Owen took two glances at Neill while the ball was in the air whereas Neill had his eyes on the ball, we should have had the free kick for backing in!

[stuwilky]

Newcastles first league win at Ewood for 44 years I am led to believe.

347813[/snapback]

15 years.

First top flight win for 44.

[DamienTC]

Exactly what I thought, Owen took two glances at Neill while the ball was in the air whereas Neill had his eyes on the ball, we should have had the free kick for backing in!

347815[/snapback]

Freekick or no freekick. We should've won even though the mighty Shearer hammered it in for Newcastle. Let's beat Man U. and be the happiest footballfans on earth instead

[Scotty]

Hughes picked the wrong team and the worrying thing is that I'm not sure he knows what his best team is. There's nothing wrong with 4-5-1 providing we play the right players in the right positions - it can be an extremely attacking formation when played right. However, we played it all wrong today.

For an hour not much happened. Two bad teams scrapped about in midfield, mis-placing passes all over the place, and creating little or nothing in front of goal. We had a couple of free-kicks that went close-ish, they didn't even have that. Then Newcastle scored.

I haven't seen the incident on TV yet, but it looked a harsh call to give Newcastle a free-kick on the edge of the area. Once it was given though the whole ground knew what was coming - a Shearer piledriver. No-one blocked it and in it went. One-nil to Newcastle with what was probably their first shot on goal.

Five minutes later they scored again. A cross from their left was met by a totally unmarked Owen who doesn't miss those. Terrible defending by us - Christmas Day for the Toon Army.

To be fair to us we showed a bit of character and tried to get back in the game, but it wasn't to be. Kuqi and Tuigay, shortly followed by Jansen, came off the bench and we created a couple of chances, notably one awful miss by Kuqi, but we didn't do enough. Even after Newcastle had a man sent off they managed to extend their lead on the break when N'Zogbia beat Friedel cleverly.

A thoroughly miserable afternoon all round really.

It's a daft thing to say when we've been beaten 3-0 but we defended quite well really. Shearer and Owen hardly had a kick all game but, like the quality strikers they are, they took their one chance expertly. I think it was Zurab who lost Owen for his goal, and Neill managed to get booked within two minutes for a daft challenge but, other than that, they didn't do badly at all.

All our problems were at the other end. Reid isn't a right winger. Emerton is better. Yes, I said Emerton is better. Emerton is far from great, but he offers a much bigger threat than Reid will ever do. Pedersen didn't do enough and we really need him to step up to the plate this season. He's got the talent but he fails to show it too often for me.

Savage played well in midfield, as did Mokoena, but neither contributed much going forward. Bentley was disappointing. He impressed me with his cameo at Bolton and I was expecting more today, but he didn't seem to have the confidence on the ball today that he showed at Bolton. I think he can play that position he played today (attacking midfielder playing off the front man), but it might also be worth trying him wide-right.

The biggest problem the team had today though was Bellamy. He's just not a lone striker. He can't hold the ball well enough and he doesn't battle with defenders. Obviously he's not going to win things in the air either, all of which meant that any ball played forward just came straight back. He's a willing runner and will run the channels all day, but he needs someone to play off.

It was a poor home performance today and I believe Hughes got his team wrong. We're in trouble now. Hughes needs to sort out his best team soon and hope that it performs, otherwise it's going to be a long hard season again.

[USABlue]

I'm not even going to read the posts on here cos I think I pretty much know how they are going to go. I have a few words, gutted, sadenned, disappointed, hurt, not surprised. It beggars belief, sounds like we have not yets fixed our inability to make the most of our chances.

Man U up next L'pool not far behind that it looks like we are back to square one when Hughesy came.

Sidenote, I watched the Fulham and W. Ham game this weekend and I noticed Mr Poll let go way more than he did in the Rovers Bolton game. Further proof that it is in fact the media (or the FA) that is influencing the outcome of some games. Another reason the bums aren't going in the seats.

Really, looking at the way things have been for us, we have a knack of ending teams negative stats. It was almost written in the stars, Shearer to score (again from a disputed free kick) Owen would grab his FIRST for Newcastle. Newcastle would record their FIRST win and their goal drought would end. It is just all too much to bear, I've had enough of footy for a bit. Well till about Tuesday.

[92er]

Some of us would disagree that Savage played well, despite our respect for a number of contributors who felt he did. He runs around quite a lot and his deadball free kicks to the left of the penalty area can be very good but for the rest he appears to have poor ball control, he's a poor passer and he finds it very easy to get out of position.

Indeed, a valid question about him is how do you play him in midfield? I think Leicester,under O'Neill, played with 5 in the middle. I don't think you can play him with just one other central midfielder. Which suggests Hughes has to stick with 4-5-1 to accomodate him.

How many goals were scored after Mokoena went off? We certainly thought there were increasing gaps after he was taken off.

If Bellamy is our main striker, what is his best position? Can he play in a 4-5-1 system?

Our impression is that Hughes has brought in new players without taking on board where he is going to play them.

In addition, Kuqi is (currently!) some way short of Premiership quality. Reid still lacks confidence and the jury is out on whether he will ever make it. Emerton is a poor, overpaid player.

As Scotty quite rightly says, we're in a mess.

[USABlue]

Hi folks.

Well today, I had breakfast in Carcassonne, lunch in Toulouse and dinner here in Biarritz and have just found out the score today.

Je veux vomir.

347812[/snapback]

And I rode my Harley through the Salt River Canyon with an extremely fit young lady on the back but I still don't feel too much better. ( Well, OK the extremely fit bird was my wifes neice but that's besides the point)

[USABlue]

I need to know, how are we going to blame Emerton, he did not play.

[92er]

On the presumtion that things could have been even worse.

[Jan]

Sorry, today reminded me of the game against Sunderland at home a couple of seasons ago. They didn't get any points from anyone else all season apart from us (well nearly) and were quite the worst team I've ever seen in the Premiership.

[Tris]

I need to know, how are we going to blame Emerton, he did not play.

347843[/snapback]

Probably one of the reasons why this messageboard is so quiet tonight.

The popular scapegoats (Emerton and Matteo) were not to blame.

The players who are meant to be our new heroes (Bellamy and Savage) failed to perform.

Our former employees - two of whom have been the subject of constant ridiculous, pathetic and idiotic abuse - got their own back on the pitch where it matters. Shearer for the final time, Souness for the first time. I guess Given doesn't really count.

Our incumbent manager doesn't appear to know how to play expansive or attacking football. He has more central midfielders on the books than Souness ever had, and plays more of them than Souness ever did.

Rovers have never been this crap to watch. What sort of lies was Hughes coming out with when he said we'd be more attacking this season and going for a top 6 finish?? What a load of absolute bollucks.

Those two goal of the month contenders v Fulham have papered over the cracks in spectacular fashion - the plain facts are that this team will only score from a set piece or via outrageous individual skill. But for those two special goals, we'd be losing touch with the rest of the strugglers already.

[Scotty]

Rovers have never been this crap to watch. 

347849[/snapback]

We were regularly this crap to watch during Souness's last full season. In fact we were probably worse at times.

We definately have problems but it's far too early to get as worked up as you seem to be doing. I suspect most of your posts tonight have been an attempt to justify your support for Souness in his latter months rather than anything else.

That said, Hughes has yet to prove than he can play attacking football. Last season I thought Hughes did briliiantly to keep us up given the squad and general lack of professionalism he was left with. This season he's got to improve the team and he's not done it so far.

However, he's only had his star striker available for two of the six games so far - and I don't think he was fully fit in either of them. I'm still optimistic that Hughes will eventually work out his best team and that, once he does, we'll see an improvement in the team.

[den]

I'm a bit uneasy when Bellamy is referred to as a striker. [or any of the others to be honest].

He isn't an out and out striker, that's why, wherever he's played before, he's nearly always been pushed out wide.

Excellent footballer, but not the direct answer to our goals problem.

[USABlue]

It's allmy fault. I was laughing at the dingles losing yesterday and told the wife I'd better stop it will come back to haunt me well it bloody well did.

It will come good...... won't it?

[broadsword]

Yeah, maybe we'll scrape 14th or 15th.

[Tris]

We were regularly this crap to watch during Souness's last full season.  In fact we were probably worse at times.

We definately have problems but it's far too early to get as worked up as you seem to be doing.  I suspect most of your posts tonight have been an attempt to justify your support for Souness in his latter months rather than anything else.

347851[/snapback]

Suspect what you want.

It's unfortunate that after a whole year people like you are still referring back to Souness. If anything it only highlights how bad Hughes has been, and how bad his team is to watch.

As for being "worked up" ... this is even more unfortunate. I made the trip up for the Spurs game, which was quite an effort and an expense - for a pile of crap 0-0. Since then I've watched the results without emotion.

Maybe it's the Ashes, maybe it's summat else, but Rovers have become a waste of my time and money. I couldn't be less worked up about anything.

Edited September 18, 2005 by Tris