Episode Iii: Revenge Of The Rovers

[rog of the rovers]

WHAT AN AWESOME GAME!! THE BEST MATCH I HAVE EVER BEEN TO IN THE 14 YEARS I HAVE HAD A SEASON TICKET!

My Ratings

FREIDEL- 8 (Two top saves, couldn't do anything about any of the goals)

NEILL- 7 (Cracking penalty, coped well with Ronaldo in the 2nd half, however played Rooney and Ruud onside)

TODD- 6 (At fault for United's 2nd goal)

NELSEN- 6 (Pretty redundant as Rooney dropped deep)

GRAY- 6 (Solid)

REID- 7 (A player who is getting better every week! Played a lot better in the second half in the centre!)

TUGAY- 6 (Did a job in the first half, caught in possession a few times, but solid)

SAVAGE- 8 (Another good game from Sav, who I personally think is playing the best football of his career, plus an assist for the Bentley's 3rd goal)

PEDERSEN- 7 (Battled hard in midfield, he can really dig in when the game gets scrappy)

KUQI- 7 (Love him or hate him, he must be a real pain to play against, I thought he worked hard again tonight)

BENTLEY- 9 (Fox in the box, 3 very different goals, the first was great athleticism, second couldn't really miss and third a fantastic half volley! HATRICK HERO)

EMERTON- 7 (Emo did well when he came on, worked hard)

JOHNSON- 5 (Ran about late on)

MOKOENA- 5 (As above)

HUGHES- 10 (I FRICKIN LOVE THIS GUY)

Edited February 2, 2006 by rog of the rovers

[thenodrog]

1992 / 93 when they had their Premier League party at OT and we needed to win to try to get into Europe.

Rovers leading 1-0 and Paul Parker blatantly trips Wilcox. No penalty. Ref states years later it would have 'felt inappropriate' to spoint the party.

380663[/snapback]

Inapropriate!!! A win would have seen us get into Europe ffs!. How much did that cheating b tawt cost our club?

[LA Rover]

For those of you who decided to stay at home, listen to the radio or whatever let me just say this

you missed the best game at Ewood for many a year.

380833[/snapback]

I watched it on TV and the crowd sounded absolutely brilliant....when we were 4-1 up, i really thought we might stuff the 5 or 6-1. The way the were coming unglued at the back. Great sub at half-time to bring Emerton on...really caused them problems.

Hope the lads enjoy tomorrow and then get onpreparing for West Brom. It would undo all the sweetness of this win if the dropped points to the Baggies.

YEEEEESSSSSS!!!!

[Eddie]

A nice little report

[dillo_dillo]

Yes, we are the top !!

My Webpage

by http://www.soccer-stats.com/

[Florida Rover]

Some random observations as I watch the replay here in the States:

*In the 2nd minute,Ronaldo fell over like a stack of bricks and no one touched him on the replays(MGP came in behind him but did not touch him) and he whiffed at the ball.

*The first Rovers freekick from MGP clearly hit rio's right hand in the box and went unpunished.

*Kuqi was not offsides on replay (grudgingly admitted by what I felt like was pro-mufc announcers/commentators.)

*Kuqi gives effort but 'tis true his first touch is lacking at times.

*Tugay made ahorrible backpass that thankfully came to nowt

*Reid made a very sloppy backpass in the 20th minute that Todd save for a mufc corner

*Vidic resembles ole gunnar solskjaer in appearance

*Keiran richardson is a bad actor going down with minimal contact by Todd in the 25th minute.which leads to:

*What a ridiculous booking for Kuqi on the yellow card for encroachment from the wall.He broke like,maybe, a yard off the wall before the kick

*cristina is obviously offside on saha's miss to the far post in the 29th min.how 'bout a little help linesman?

*MGP is doing agood job helping Mickey shut down cristina on the flank

*The drums really come across as a buzzkill on the singing by our lads in the BBE

*first goal by Bentley is a skillful tap and what great reaction/reflexes to get that shot off!!

*Pitiful how long we hold the lead.Brad made a fine save from rooney's cannonshot and saha is a MILE offside along with cristina as the shot is taken.Should not have counted really

*rio is a joke.ha ha ha what a stupid header.Bentley is again at the right place at the right time.nice goal

*in the 1st min of stoppage time of the first half ,critina slips and falls of his own accord and then appeals to the lineman?!! ridiculous

*There is no doubt AT ALL that the ref was content not to call wes browns handball in the box but he couldn't ignore his linesmans flag which went up instantly!

*Neill is a cool customer with that short run up!

Halftime

My only question for the second half that I have not seen brought up:

WHY WASN"T VDS BOOKED FOR LEAVING THE PITCH TO GO INTO THE STAND TO RETRIEVE THE BALL FROM A FAN!!??

Florida Rover

[West Aussie]

Superb result, watched the full match replay by video and it's the first time I have ever had to stop the tape after 70 odd minutes and find out the score on the Internet before I could continue watching.

My nerves are shattered.

A good positive performance we continued to press forward even when in front always looking for more goals which is the best form of defense!

With a more potent attack United would have been looking at a cricket score based on that performance.

Well done Rovers & Hughesy Mark that is.

[philipl]

Big smile still!

Florida is right about the penalty- the ref wasn't going to give it but to be fair from the Walker Stand camera angle it looked deeply suspicious but not conclusive. Well done linesman for having the balls to give a blatant handball which he easily saw from his angle.

Kuqi was agricultural to say the least but he reduced Wes Brown to a physical wreck by the end and not many forwards will do that to one of the hardest defenders in the Prem.

Emerton was just magnificent. I'd expected Rovers to be under the cosh at the start of the second half but instead we came out and totally bossed it. Reid's physical presence gave us control in the centre and Emerton showed Cristina what effective wing play is all about.

One moment when he came away with the ball despite being cornered by three Mancs was fantastic.

Huge grin!!!

[Nate]

Edit -- No need to quote the whole lot is there -- Edit

Agree with you. Did they show the game after the Arsenal one on Fox Sports? If so I missed it

[Nate]

Also, can this go in to Messageboard Gold?

[nonaynevernomore]

My ratings:

Freidel-7- Not too much to do thanks to Admiral Nelson.

Neill7.5- Calm Penalty, some good attacking runs

Gray-7- More disciplined with his forward runs this time

Nelson- 9- A brick

Todd-6- At fault for 2 United goals

Reid-7- Much better in the centre

Savage-8- Good performance, great engine

Tugay-7-Did Ok in the time he got

(Emerton)8.5- Why can't be do that against teams like Pompey? Put it on a plate for Kuqi.

MGP-7.5-Worked harder than normal, and he looked for tyhe ball instead of waiting for it.

Bentley-10- ONE DAVID BENTLEY

Kuqi-5- Not good enough. Missed an sitter when Emo put it on a plate.

Other late subs got 6 as they had little time to shine

Overall, a great night. Oh yeh, and Saha's goal was offside. Watched MOTD last night, Lawro seemed crestfallen

Oh, soz, Rio's ratings...

Rio 10- Set up Bentleys goal superbly before getting himself sent off.

Edited February 2, 2006 by nonaynevernomore

[BrianPotter]

Fantastic result, had to settle for Match of The Days coverage (too far for me to travel midweek and I've got problems with my Sky!).

It looked like a great game, from what they showed it seemed Bentley (amongst others) was outstanding, Kuqi was AWFUL and Todd was at fault for two of the goals.

MGP's free kick which resulted in Bentley's goal was a genius strike.

Certain penalty, although exactly what he was doing with his hands god only knows.

Hopefully we can go on from this now and push for a euro place.

Slightly bemused by the gate tonight - I nearly fell off my chair when I saw the gate at under 26K !! Unless someone at the game can say otherwise I am 100% certain there were not 5000 empty seats - it looked full on TV.

I would need some convincing that there were only 26K at Ewood tonight - so watch out rovers the taxman will be knocking on your door !

For those of you that saw MOTD - THERE'S ONLY ONE DAVID BELLAMY !!

Edited February 2, 2006 by BrianPotter

[Rovermatt]

Brilliant result. I really doesn't get sweeter than this.

Bentley will never score two easier goals. His third however was an absolute peach.

Fergie's post match comments were indicative of the delusion that is so prevalent at United. He totally refused to credit us, instead blaming our 'constant fouling'. He also wasn't happy with a frankly disgraceful amount of injury time (6 mins) 'it should have been 26' and stated he was unable to disagree with our negative reputation.

Anyway, LANGUAGE!! him. 3 points.

[sleepyjack]

nm

Edited February 2, 2006 by sleepyjack

[Bobby G]

What a match. Rollercoaster.

I just wanna make some quick observations.

Kuqi worked his socks off, but too bad he has no technique whatsoever. I wont slam him for todays performance cause he kept the ball up well. Can do a good job with his back to goal.

MGP worked so hard to help Gray out. He was virtually a second left back and I have to commend him and our coaches for making him a complete TEAM player, unlike when he first arrived.

Bentley looked brilliant all day and could have used a better partner. He is looking better every game, especially playing up front as a second striker.

I thought our defence was good in general, except for a few lapses we looked in control. Cant remember how many times Nelsen cleared the ball, he was great. Shame about 2 errors by Todd.

Ferguson can talk crap as much as he wants, but we were brilliant, and I dont know about the fouls, I thought it was pretty even and United players will appreciate that, at least the real players like Rooney wont complain.

The 5th - 10th positions are getting tighter and tighter. For the first time, I feel that Arsenal may not recover to finish 4th. But West Ham will be really pushing hard for a UEFA Cup spot now and with Man City and us in good form, and throw Bolton and Wigan into the mix, you have got yourself a good battle on hand. Spurs arent even out of reach yet!

[Presty On Tour]

hello? hello?

can you hear united sing? no! no!

can we hear united sing? no! no!

we can't hear a EDITED thing

sssssssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!

@4-1 we were cruising, there is only one david bentley!!!

rio EDITED ferdinand was a joke, looked like a school boy in a mans game, was pure rubbish. his face for our 2nd was a fine picture!!!

@4-3 we dug in, nelson ws immense and savage played rio and wound him up, was outstanding

hughsey once again, your interview was amazing, champs league if we can carry on with this form.

as for cry baby fergy, fouls and more fouls, 24-20 the stats showed. u can take about 10 off us as ronaldo is so #### he just falls over. give us some credit for once we shashed your manks up and gave you a pasting!!!

easy easy easy easy easy easy

PLEASE READ THE POSTING GUIDELINES REGARDING BAD LANGUAGE

Ricky

[philipl]

This press review on a Manc site makes wonderful reading!

[tonygreenbank]

2 classic shouts from the riverside: On Kuqi "Stop giving him the ball" and on Van Nistelrooy`s constant diving in the box "He`s tripping over his own teeth".

A game to tell the grandchildren about. I`ve had so many disappointments in games with Utd that we were owed some . Thank goodness for a brave linesman who saw the handball and then having to run the line past fergie! Dowd was waving playon. Ronaldo`s airshot and the Saha goal were poor decisions.

Kuqi can at least challenge for headers but is hopeless on the ground. Emerton had a great secondhalf and with Bellamy and Pongolle up front we will have pace to burn throughout the side.

My only concern long term is that the powers that be at OT will no doubt be monitoring Hughesy`s progress.

[Ricky]

Can I just remind people of the following, which is number one of the posting guidelines.

I know we are all excited but please remember that children do visit the site

1. No bad language

This board attracts a wide range of visitors, including the young and easily offended. We therefore ask that you refrain from using bad language in your posts. Admin consider efforts to "get around" the "bad word filters" by the use of deliberate mis-spelling or */~@# etc. in the same light as the use of the actual word. In some respects attempting to manipulate language in this way is more offensive then it's actual use. This will be enforced in all sections of the message board.

[Ozz]

For every 100 Bolton matches, you get one like last night. Just when you think football is no longer worth the time and effort, this happens. I can honestly say that was in the top five all time best nights watching Rovers .

Highlights.

Rio and Van Der Saar having a debate about the second goal.

"F@@@in' Clawn" quoth the Cockney

Every Rovers fan in the ground singing

"Are you Burnley in disguise?" at 4-1, after there lot had lowered there usually high standards and sung "Small Town In Burnley"

The sight of the the forth hitting the back of the net and thinking I was dreaming.

Savage getting hacked down, Rio sending himself off and Sav then lying down for seven minutes to tun the clock down. Fergie was right, added time really should have been at least 10 minutes, if not more. Classic!

West Brom here I come.

Edited February 2, 2006 by ozziejones

[philipl]

My only concern long term is that the powers that be at OT will no doubt be monitoring Hughesy`s progress.

380956[/snapback]

The question will have to be asked at some point, is joining the Mancs a sensible career move?

If you read that financial analysis of the Mancs, the answer might well be no. Sparky is married to a very successful businesswoman and he will know that:

- RFW has blown his entire transfer budget on two numpty nobodies,

- In the sort term, the Mancs have to sell to buy to keep within the terms of the hedge funds' covenant.

I still think the Mancs will look abroad for RFW's successor- there are signs that RFW's reign is imploding towards its end and there will be a bunch of big mouthed/egos players who would presumably find it difficult to play under one of their own. G Neville springs to mind.

If we make it into Europe, I am sure Sparky will prefer to build his reputation in the relative peace and quiet of rural Lancashire so that he really will be in line for a massive job from anywhere in Europe. I have enough faith in the set up at the Rovers to believe that managing Rovers really is just about the best job in football outside the G14 or a big national side.

[Bobby G]

No matter the logic we try to make of it. When the club that you spent most of your career at calls, its difficult to say no.

Clubs like Milan, Barcelona, Juve, Man Utd, etc... dont come calling too often and if/when they do, I think ex-players whoever they are will find it difficult to say no.

Lets hope its not too soon though.

[Presty On Tour]

Can I just remind people of the following, which is number one of the posting guidelines.

I know we are all excited but please remember that children do visit the site

380957[/snapback]

sorry mate

[ihtd]

I'm so glad my predictions are so wrong these days, i predicted a 4-0 win to Manure. Good prediction, lol.

[happygilmore]

Bentley is the first player to score a hattrick against them in the Premier league.

Dennis Bailey was the last player to score a hattrick in the league vs Man Utd in 1992 for QPR

380798[/snapback]

And Bentley is the first Rovers player to score a league hattrick since Chris Sutton almost 8 years ago.