[Archived] Blackburn Vs Birmingham

[joey_big_nose]

Eh?  Forget passing the ball Gally's not got a flippin tackle in him!  It's tough at the top and he's not Prem quality in any position imo.

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My point being that neither do Tugay, Pedersen or Bentley. I think Gallagher could offer something going forward, especially in a 451 where Axe and Savage would take most of the defensive duties. Discouragingly I have been reading on the Stoke board that he has been a bit on the lazy side down there, something which he showed up here last season.

The best option would be to get someone in, but gallagher has played some defence splitting balls. Just a thought

[Exiled_Rover]

Also what about 13 year old Jordan at half time? Sensational performance, hope the academy saw it.

I'm going to suggest he's already part of the academy

I was glad we didn't miss a beat when Todd replaced the injured Nelsen - I was worried the reason Zura has been looking so good recently is because he's playing next to t'Admiral. Obviously this is not the case and we should sign him up sharpish!

For all those complaining about Kuqi, as stated he was free and I'm led to believe he's on club friendly wages. Admittedly he can't hit a barn door with a banjo (not sure why he'd be trying to mind, or what it has to do with his shooting ability ), but he closes down their back four, wins most flick ons, holds up the ball and generally lets their defence know they've been in a game. Dickov never did this, he just fell over and protested when the ref told him to get up for the umpteenth time. Bellamy will thrive on those Kuqi flick ons, assuming he can stay healthy enough . I wonder how much a version of Kuqi who could shoot would be worth?

[Ozz]

Every seat in the ground on Saturday had Kick Racism Out of Football posters taped to it before kick off. There where badges worn by the players and officals, and shed loads of other material promoting the cause.

On several occasions when Pennant got the ball on Saturday, some guy several rows back from me shouted "F~~~ Off Pennant you Black Jailbird @#/?".

Now I couldn`t work out who it was, but I reckon the stewards/Evidence Gatherers with cameras who picked on two young girls for giving the Vees to Brum fans could possibly have done so. This was in the Darwen End which had in my opinion the largest Asian contingent in it I`ve seen at Rovers.

[thenodrog]

Every seat in the ground on Saturday had Kick Racism Out of Football posters taped to it before kick off.

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Not on t'riverside they didn't.

[thenodrog]

Steve Bruce's job under threat

What about Kuqi's horrendous miss during the middle of the second half ?  I think my 18-month old niece could have kicked the ball with greater accuracy and conviction. It was a bloody awful shot.

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Worryingly everytime he shoots from that angle he takes the wrong option and goes for the near post. Any goalkeeper will tell you that they are the easiest ones to save. (yes I know Ped got one at OT). He needs to concentrate on hitting the side netting on the opp side of the goal. Also he frequently snatches at chances too quickly when he actually has time to deal with them with more composure. poor and widev shot v Spurs and a daft header at Liverpool both when in a position and with time to take another touch have possibly cost 3 points. In his defence he is still new to the prem and Hughes needs to work hard with him down at Brockhall. Many Billy big time foreigners have taken a season to get used to the Prem so overall he's doing oK. His scoring rate is already better that Grabbi and Davies, and he's 1 in front of Stead on last season.

He is worth his place because of his work rate and his defensive abilities, rem it was Kuqi who played Dickov through for his 1st half miss.

Edited October 24, 2005 by thenodrog

[cn174]

Not on t'riverside they didn't.

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Nor the family stand!

[philipl]

Gold's comments don't tally with the way he looked when the Sky cameras focussed on him on Saturday. That said, there is an element of "beat Everton on Saturday or else" about the quote. Having seen Everton's performance against Chelsea, Brum are going to have to raise their game a lot to get anything from that game. Sunderland play Pompey so the bottom four are all playing each other on Saturday.

Shame, such a nice BIG CLUB.

[chris]

Well, that is definetly one of our biggest problems.

And our squad is old, I think.

Today, we had (all ages by the end of this season):

Friedel ( 35 years old )

Neill ( 28)

Zurab (24)

Nelsen (28)

Gray (31)

Tugay (35)

Savage (31)

MGP (24)

Bentley (21)

Kuqi(29)

Dickov (33)

can someone tell me how can I find when the contract of each player ends?

We have 4 more players over 30 (Matteo, Amoruso, Flitcroft and Todd).

Quite an old team.

I really hope we can get Zurab in the end of the season.

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the average age of the defenders you list is about 27-28 that more then perfect, defenders are normally at their peak until 33 yrs old

tugays always been slow, and bently and Pedersen are very young, plus we have Reid, Emerton, Thompson all in mid 20's to come in

Kuqi is 28 or 29, thats should be his peak, Dickov has never been a great player and when he was 27 yrs old was playing in the div 2 anyway, he probably better now then before, is good to have around the place if not a regular.

Then Jansen probably 27 and Bellamy is 26, should be best years ahead in theory

so its not too bad

[Blue blood]

I was glad we didn't miss a beat when Todd replaced the injured Nelsen - I was worried the reason Zura has been looking so good recently is because he's playing next to t'Admiral. Obviously this is not the case and we should sign him up sharpish!

Agreed.

For all those complaining about Kuqi, as stated he was free and I'm led to believe he's on club friendly wages. Admittedly he can't hit a barn door with a banjo (not sure why he'd be trying to mind, or what it has to do with his shooting ability ), but he closes down their back four, wins most flick ons, holds up the ball and generally lets their defence know they've been in a game. Dickov never did this, he just fell over and protested when the ref told him to get up for the umpteenth time. Bellamy will thrive on those Kuqi flick ons, assuming he can stay healthy enough . I wonder how much a version of Kuqi who could shoot would be worth?

Agree again. As strikers go Kuqi's not been a bad piece of business. Admittedly not great but our strike force as a whole looks so much better with the additions of both Bellamy and Kuqi. The other version of Kuqi costs around £5 million, or at least that's what Celtic will be asking for Heartson.

Great win. Brum in real trouble. What more could we want?

[bellamy11]

Worryingly everytime he shoots from that angle he takes the wrong option and goes for the near post.  Any goalkeeper will tell you that they are the easiest ones to save.  (yes I know Ped got one at OT).  He needs to concentrate on hitting the side netting on the opp side of the goal.  Also he frequently snatches at chances too quickly when he actually has time to deal with them with more composure.  poor and widev shot v Spurs and a daft header at Liverpool both when in a position and with time to take another touch have possibly cost 3 points.  In his defence he is still new to the prem and Hughes needs to work hard with him down at Brockhall.  Many Billy big time foreigners have taken a season to get used to the Prem so overall he's doing oK.  His scoring rate is already better that Grabbi and Davies, and he's 1 in front of Stead on last season. 

He is worth his place because of his work rate and his defensive abilities, rem it was Kuqi who played Dickov through for his 1st half miss.

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Sorry to be a pedant, but Stead scored twice last season as well. Everton and Brum away. The rest of your point was fair enough though. I remember at Villa this season he beat his man and had a clear shot with his stronger foot in the middle of the penalty area and he dragged it limply wide.

[philipl]

The last two paragraphs of this Birmingham report will make salutary reading to bluenoses.

[Ozz]

The boy`s a prick, but at least he`s our prick.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

''Putting to one side all the bravado and self-justification, Savage privately misses the status and platform he had at St Andrew's.

And to play in front of a comparatively passionless crowd every other week - on Saturday just 18,341 turned up - cannot provide the sort of adrenaline buzz he thrives on''

The original 'BIG CLUB' strikes back!!!...just who the ###### do they think they are

[Flopsy]

Toooooo sensitive

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See what happens when computers get cheap enough for the common people to own.

bloody capitalism

I quite expect Dell to be changing their terms of buying to include "Are you a Chav?" (tick yes or no) on top of "I promise not to use it for terrorism or Weapons of mass destruction"

[stuwilky]

Nor the family stand!

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Nor the BBE Lower.

[RovertheHill]

''Putting to one side all the bravado and self-justification, Savage privately misses the status and platform he had at St Andrew's.

And to play in front of a comparatively passionless crowd every other week - on Saturday just 18,341 turned up - cannot provide the sort of adrenaline buzz he thrives on''

The original 'BIG CLUB' strikes back!!!...just who the ###### do they think they are

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Wonder how big the adrenaline buzz will be in the championship...?

[Ozz]

Right! It must have just been the Darwen end then, OK? Happy now?

[Neil Weaver]

Nor the BBE Lower.

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JW Lower neither. Looks like it was only 'Lets kick racism out of half of the Darwen End' then. Should keep Drog and BP happy ..... Mr Tin Opener, I'd like you to meet this can of worms...............

[RevidgeBlue]

The game was scarily similar to the West Brom one - great result - let's gloss over the performance.

Not so sure that everyone would have been as happy though if Mr Knight hadn'rt awarded us an extremely soft penalty just after half time. It was one of those where the defender (or Bruce) are hardly in a position to complain but by the same token those sort of incidents go unpunished maybe eight times out of ten.

We seemed to gain confidence from the penalty and turned our game up a notch. Prior to that as with the West Brom game the first half was extremely poor, neither keeper having a hint of a save to make until Dickov contrived to spurn a gilt edged opportunity from a defensive mistake when it seemed far easier to score.

Bellamy clinched it by providing a welcome glimpse of class with the second. How anyone can compare his chance with Dickov's or the two as players is unbelievable. Dickov was gifted a one on one not by his own efforts but by a defensive howler and predictably failed miserably with his effort on goal. Bellamy showed his quality to find an acre of space, look along the line and time his run perfectly before finishing with aplomb.

Rovers at the moment boil down to one thing only. You look at the team sheet at five to three and if Bellamy isn't on it you know we're going to pose next to no attacking threat to the opposition. Neither are we good to watch in terms of persuading the crowds back to Ewood. However I think if we can possibly keep him fit for a decent period we'd be a different proposition entirely.

Surprised to see the amount of praise Kuqi and Dickov have been getting, both were poor to say the least on Saturday IMO. Yes they run around a lot but then so did Ashley Ward. Yes they only cost 150,000 between them but frankly you can tell and we're playing in the Premiership not the Conference. A quality striker on loan or permanently alongside Bellamy come the transfer window would make a huge difference to our finishing position IMO.

Bentley and MGP (one superb pass apart) were disappointing. Two very talented but inconsistent and frustrating players because you sense they have it in them to contribute so much more over the 90 minutes.

Other than the result the major pluses from Saturday were Savage steadily achieving peak fitness and form, Gray, whose form has been a revelation since return and Todd looking very impressive when coming on. With Zurab also doing well we should be able to ride out Nelsen's absence which along with Bellamy's wellbeing were the two major concerns at the start of the season.

[ABBEY]

.

Not so sure that everyone would have been as happy though if Mr Knight hadn'rt awarded us an extremely soft penalty just after half time. It was one of those where the defender (or Bruce) are hardly in a position to complain but by the same token those sort of incidents go unpunished maybe eight times out of ten.

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and with our record over the past 4 years of pens i dont give a monkeys if it was a foul on the halfway line or a handball by there goalie

[thenodrog]

Bellamy clinched it by providing a welcome glimpse of class with the second. How anyone can compare his chance with Dickov's or the two as players is unbelievable. Dickov was gifted a one on one not by his own efforts but by a defensive howler and predictably failed miserably with his effort on goal. Bellamy showed his quality to find an acre of space, look along the line and time his run perfectly before finishing with aplomb.

Rovers at the moment boil down to one thing only. You look at the team sheet at five to three and if Bellamy isn't on it you know we're going to pose next to no attacking threat to the opposition. Neither are we good to watch in terms of persuading the crowds back to Ewood. However I think if we can possibly keep him fit for a decent period we'd be a different proposition entirely.

Surprised to see the amount of praise Kuqi and Dickov have been getting, both were poor to say the least on Saturday IMO. Yes they run around a lot but then so did Ashley Ward. Yes they only cost 150,000 between them but frankly you can tell and we're playing in the Premiership not the Conference. A quality striker on loan or permanently alongside Bellamy come the transfer window would make a huge difference to our finishing position IMO.

Bentley and MGP (one superb pass apart) were  disappointing. Two very talented but inconsistent and frustrating players because you sense they have it in them to  contribute so much more over the 90 minutes.

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Please don't continually slaughter Kuqi and Dickov Rev, they may not be the best but are probably the best we can afford with our measly crowds of less than Wigan! Sure Bellamy's got class thats why we paid big bucks for him! I wonder if the decision was made today given our alarming slump in attendances whether or not the powers that be would still sanction that sort of money for him?

Your remarks do not really reflect the facts either, we are in the top half of the Prem with 14 points yet Bellamy has just made a sub appearence in only his 3rd game and scored his first goal! His class is unmistakeable but rem he similarly skied one high and wide near the end. I think that those 3 complement each others ability quite well and can each bring sufficient differences to the overall style of play. We def need to keep Bellamy fit by using him sparingly and those two allow for that tactic just fine.

Save your ire for Bentley because he appears to be most unwilling to put the necessary graft in and that is totally unforgivable in my book.

[RevidgeBlue]

   Sure Bellamy's got class thats why we paid big bucks for him!  I wonder if the decision was made today given our alarming slump in attendances whether or not the powers that be would still sanction that sort of money for him?  

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Hopefully, given the fact that it represented only part of the proceeds received for another player Ferguson.

Edited October 25, 2005 by RevidgeBlue

[mjs]

Rovers at the moment boil down to one thing only. You look at the team sheet at five to three and if Bellamy isn't on it you know we're going to pose next to no attacking threat to the opposition. Neither are we good to watch in terms of persuading the crowds back to Ewood. However I think if we can possibly keep him fit for a decent period we'd be a different proposition entirely.

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We were never going to turn into Brazil overnight after the shambles that we were just over a year ago.

The last bit of that comment is the most relevant. I am sure Mark Hughes' plan is to keep players like Bellamy and add more quality as we progress.

I think it is important that Rovers fans realise that we have a very good management team and that in time we will see better football.

Keep the faith!!

Edited October 25, 2005 by mjs

[philipl]

Great article LD Rover!

[thenodrog]

Hopefully, given the fact that it represented only part of the proceeds received for another player Ferguson. 

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But wasn't the proceeds for Ferguson related directly to the amount that we paid for him?

Whatever........ results suggest that we are better off as a squad nowadays that we were at any time of the past 2 - 3 years.