[Archived] Rovers 2-1 Portsmouth

[RevidgeBlue]

Garbage, absolute garbage.

Savage's miss, Emerton's miss, Dickov's miss, almost constant pressure first half and yet we deserved to lose?

370912[/snapback]

Disagree with LD.

It's maybe a bit strong to say that Portsmouth should have won but I don't think it's stretching it to say it could easily have been a draw.

We weren't particularly good in the first half, but having got to 2-1 it seemed to me as if we were guilty of gross complacency in the second half, we seemed to think as if we only had to come out and tip tap around to ensure the 3 points.

Only Savage showed any drive in the second period apart from Bellamy who set up two practically open goals.

Reid was outstanding first half. Kuqi was awful throughout ohat basis Dickov can consider himself very unlucky to be taken off.

Matteo's statesque performance was a reminder of why we used to have problems in that position prior to Gray's resurgence.

Neill and Zurab deteriorated as the second half went on. Still prefer Nelsen and Todd in the centre.

Poor performance on the night, nevertheless three points, nine out of nine.

Onwards and upwards.

[Jan]

I think that Savage's 87 mile run at Wigan meant that he was incapable of running much tonight. (This isn't a criticism- I thought Wigan would be a more difficult game too). He needed to come off at about 65 minutes and Tugay to come on. After that he looked exhausted.

Kuqi didn't know where he (or anybody else) was tonight. His radar was down and he just looked shattered.

Reid was amazing in the first half, but along with Savage disappeared in the second half.

Nelsen is GOD.

Bentley was being clattered into so much in the first half that as it went on he got more and more worried, and thus less and less effective. (although strangely still looked better than a very out of sorts Emerton.)

Matteo wasn't very good, but then again he hadn't played for months. We should all send Michael Gray "get well VERY soon" cards. My nerves certainly won't stand Matteo on the pitch against Manure (although we might get away with it against QPR)

Edited January 3, 2006 by Jan

[colin]

Thats my first markings rant EVER - @#/? I know 

370927[/snapback]

Good assessment & I agree with you. A game of two halves (groan) and we were rubbish in the second. Still, as has been pointed out...3 games & 9 points over the festive period, and we've played better than that & lost.

Chins up each & all, we're in eighth place now.

[modes98]

I am looking at the ratings that people are giving but I do think that its all a little strange concidering that we sent out a different team in the second half so:-

370927[/snapback]

That line just about sums it up!

First half we won easily and were very unlucky to give away that free kick.

The change at half time in some players input to the game was amazing, similar to past weeks where we have done nothing first half and then suddenly played well and scored 2 or 3 second half.

Reid was probally our best player first half and then equal worst second.

Matteo looked lost and isn't a patch on gray on current form.

Bentley, while i was shouting my head off at him and getting so annoyed, he did do an ok job when it was needed. (prefer Emmo in that role).

There is no way brad should have saved the free kick, if you watch the wall bentley decided it would be a good idea to go for a walk as taylor kicked it, hense creating a nice gap for him to put the ball on the "guarded" side of the goal.

8th place on 2nd Jan, extremely happy with that! Onwards and upwards and Rev i just think it's different marking systems, I look on the more positive (football manager) ratings, whereas tyrone goes for the Lawro school of ratings!

[cletus]

Anybody know what happend outside of McDonalds after the match?.... loads of police and ambulance.

I saw some lad getting a good hiding from a larger group of lads. No-one seemed to have colours on, except for one lad in a rovers hat. Don`t know what it was about though?

[cletus]

An excellent Christmas period for BRFC.

9pts out of 9 (with one game postponed)

Just been looking at the table & realised if we had not`ve had such a good xmas, Rovers could`ve been down in 16th place!

Q...When is the African nations cup? & will Bolton lose their 5 first team african players before they play us? Could be good news for Rovers?

[philipl]

The stats actually show a very even second half- the fact we feel we almost lost it just shows what a come down from an excellent first half it was!

...and yes I believe we play Bolton when they will be five players light for the African Nations Cup. I'd still expect a typically Big Sam inspired performance though.

[Bobby G]

Arry said he was pleased with their lads and told them at halftime to work as Dickov was doing.

Also said that we are one of the best sides in the league and outside the top four we can hold our own against anyone.

Pleasing.

Now we got two cup games and the derby with Notlob all at home.

[Scotty]

The other thing we should remember is that I don't think that was anything like our best team out there last night. For me, our best team would see Gray in for Matteo, Todd in for Zurab, Tugay in for Reid, Emerton for Bentley, and Bellamy for either Dickov or Kuqi.

While we rode our luck in the second half we're showing that we're capable of beating the lesser teams at home even if we don't have our best 11 on the park. We've got a squad of 17 or 18 players who can all come into the first team and do a decent job.

Good win and there's no reason to think that our current good form can't continue for the rest of the season.

[Bobby G]

I disagree about Zura and Todd.

Zura is the better player, he goes for the extra bit in defending and saves some chances which a less athletic player wouldnt.

But he takes some risks when hitting the ball out would be wiser, but that shows his confidence and calmness.

I think he and Nelsen are our best partnership.

Maybe someone could show figures about how the various center back partnerships have fared this season.

[krislu]

Seen the highlights, Bellamy looked class and set up what should have been two more goals, from Savage and Emerton. If we can get Bellamy to play a part in most of the remaining games, then who knows, we might push on for a 6th spot in the league.

Its a good feeling having such a talented player in our squad, been a while since Duff left.

[Paul Mellelieu]

We had as many clear cut chances second half as Pompey. We have to expect periods of being on the back foot. You'd think we'd lost listening to RevBlue and some of the other professional pessimists.

[Flopsy]

Well I enjoyed the first half and not so much the 2nd, although looking back it wasnt all that bad.

The Guardian has Savage as Man of the Match (i think) as he and Reid managed to knock their midfield out of the game (which to be fair Diao and Cisse werent in it from about 30minutes)

[LDRover]

We had as many clear cut chances second half as Pompey.  We have to expect periods of being on the back foot.  You'd think we'd lost listening to RevBlue and some of the other professional pessimists.

370984[/snapback]

Amen to that.

One thing about Portsmouth though, I believe, in Gary O'Neil they have one of the brightest midfield talents in the country at the moment.

Successor to Tugay???

[stuwilky]

Also fair play to the pompey fans after travelling all that way on a Monday night they didn't shut up all the way through the game even being 2-1 down. Put our fans to shame and thats why we need the drummer.

370879[/snapback]

We need the drummer to kill off any noise we make?

[Wolverine]

I often wish Ewood hadn't been redeveloped to such a capacity, as currently the atmosphere at Rovers is nowhere near the level it should be.

Superb win though and a fantastic run. Now we are earning the praise for playing football at last!

Well done lads

[S15]

What rubbish ratings, you obviously didn't watch the same game! 

Brad: 7 no fault for the goal, did nothing wrong at all

370917[/snapback]

What game were you at?

I saw a flapping bald idiot with superglue on his boots, not a goalkeeper.

And how many freekicks is Brad going to concede. All his Rovers career he's looked dodgy at them, and his positioning is always awful for them.

[SuperStella]

GET WELL SOON MICKEY GRAY!!!!

Matteo = Shocking!

[WaffleWag]

I don't see why you blame Friedel for the goal. If you take a look at the wall you will se both Savage and Bentley moving away from the ball, letting it through the wall. That's bad.

[ABBEY]

and the reason pompey needed two, and a nob with that cowbell

370892[/snapback]

it was great !our drummer was outcassed and hardly drummed ...result...

but has for the nob with the bell it was like listening to ski sunday and is more annoying than the drummer.

[SAS]

on friedels game

i believe he was wrongly positioned for the free kick, he was to the right hand side of his goal, leaving heaps of space.

the goal went in a good yard or two from the post, i think he could have got to that had he been better positioned.

and in the 2nd half he just lost his head a little

[nonaynevernomore]

My ratings

Freidel-7- Good save of taylor, bad positioning at times.

Neill-7-Some good tackles but at times out of position.

Matteo-5-Not enough match practise.

Zurab-6-Looked vulnerable at times.

Nelson-8-Cleared up a lot of messes caused by Zurab and Matteo.

Bentley-6-Does have a natural disease that forces him to g back on himself??

Pedersen-8-Ace 1st half, no service 2nd.

Reid-6-Great 1st half, abysmal second.

Savage-6Wasteful and should have scored/left it to Emerton.

Dickov-7-Played quite well, should have stayed on.

Kuqi-3-Looked tired and his worst game for us. V.Poor.

Bellamy-7- No service but when he did he ripped Pompey to pieces.

Emerton-7-Determind and good defending at times. Lacked good service from the wasteful centre midfielders.

Tugay-n/a- Sould have come on earlier.

My prediction-3-1

Real score-2-1

My att prediction-18500

Real attendance-19 000+

A lot of fans were late in, looked like it would be very low for a bit. Probs down to kick off time.

Pompey fans werent that good, just rang a bell for 90 minutes. Un motivating and a compilaion of them being annoying and our woeful 2nd half contributed to a quite 2nd half.

[grizfoot]

My Match Rating

Friedel - 7 - One good save, looked a bit vunerable at times

Neill - 6 - Steady performance

Nelsen - 8 - Another good perfromance

Zura - 7 - Did okay

Matteo - 5 - Some of his passing was dreadful

Bentley - 5 - Never really got into the game

Savage - 7 - One of his better games in a Rovers shirt shoud of capped it off with a goal

Reid - 8 - Great first half performance, seemed to disappear second half though.

Pedersen - 7 - But in some good crosses, great free-kick

Kuqi - 6 - Not one of his better games

Dickov - 7 - Got the all important goal

----------

Bellamy - 7 - Set up two great chances when he came

Emerton - 6 - Nearly scored but for a good block, never really got the ball though.

Overall - Rovers have probably played better than that and lost. But the main thing is we won and got all three points.

[thenodrog]

What game were you at?

I saw a flapping bald idiot with superglue on his boots, not a goalkeeper.

371007[/snapback]

What game have you been at numpty? Swap him for Westerweld would you? Their free kick was far better struck than ours yet Westerveld was nowhere near saving it and our second goal was down to another simple error by Westerveld. Brad also saved a cracking snap-shot from Pompey and performed a few superb stops at Wigan. He may have declined from the superman that he was 3 years ago, but he hasn't declined as much as your intellect........ or your manners.

[LDRover]

What game have you been at numpty?  Swap him for Westerweld would you?  Their free kick was far better struck than ours yet Westerveld was nowhere near saving it and our second goal was down to another simple error by Westerveld.  Brad also saved a cracking snap-shot from Pompey and performed a few superb stops at Wigan.  He may have declined from the superman that he was 3 years ago, but he hasn't declined as much as your intellect........ or your manners.

371057[/snapback]

Blimey, that's cutting.