[Archived] Spurs 3 - 2 Rovers

[Quack]

All I will say is bring on the Villa - play like that and Rovers will win at a canter. 3 outstanding players for me - Bentley, Bellamy and Lucas " I'm a football genius" Neil, for me Lucas has been one of the players of the season - ok he did go awol for the third goal but apart from that I thought he was superb. Keane's handball is payback for MGP at Newcastle.

Great game, great energy - bring on the brummy Clarets.

Edited March 5, 2006 by Quack

[Fife Rover]

Completely and utterly robbed. Keane's first was our throw, how can the linesman not see that? It was right under his face. The second was blatant handball. Accidental or not.

We were fantastic today. No way did we deserve to get beat, absolutely pulled them apart all over the pitch. Gutted.

388531[/snapback]

Pederson's "Goal" at Newcastle was handball too. It gave us 3 points. Are you complaining about that too?

[Nayef]

We live to fight another day.

Or at least I have having had to flee the pub in tottenham after stating some uncomfortable truths about Spurs fans after the match.

But what a performance!! Rovers - you did me proud. Some practice needed in playing the final ball but otherwise a consistent team performance. Reid's booking was une blague.

[tonygreenbank]

I do think the talk of Champions League is a bit OTT but today thought the lads were magnificent. I try to be more dispassionate when Rovers are on TV away because I never think we will win and so I dont get too upset when it happens but if any away side next week in the Champions Cup plays as well as we did today then good luck to them. The inter passing of Savage(my MOM), Reid and Neill(the best right back in the Prem by a mile) was of the highest order and poor Spurs were outplayed and outfought by a class act.

Gray used the word "staggering" to describe the improvement since Bolton and the club have done a great PR job with this performance. Perhaps a trickle of fans can be enticed back for the Villa game.

[tchocky]

It was indeed a pleasure to watch Bentley in central midfield - have we found Tugays replacement within our own ranks?

As for the last goal we conceded I agree that you cannot really blame Gray - who the hell was marking Fido at the far post? It does show our need for a new left back though. Our whole backline is a bit lacking when it comes to pace really.

As for our performance being the best "in recent years", I don't quite agree with that. We didn't create enough chances for that. We did keep possession well and win the ball back often. I think we only tested Robinson on about 2 occasions besides the goals.

[Eddie]

Reid's booking was une blague.

388588[/snapback]

Une blague? Tu jeste, non?

It was a professional foul that deserved a booking.

I agree with you TND, that is exactly how I feel at the moment, the next game can't come soon enough.

[Manchester Blue]

WHAT WOULD YOU RATHER HAVE ?? a point away at bolton playing bad or nothing ,zilch but playing well at spuds.

i know whic i would rather have .

points make prizes  not performances

388544[/snapback]

Honestly, i'd rather have what I watched today. It's perfomances like today which has really made me enjoy most of this season and start to enjoy the football again after the last few years. I understand there are times when the result is important but if you would accept crap football every week then you might as well go down Bolton.

I think it is amazing what Hughes has done with the team. Some of the moves in the 2nd half especially were tremendous. The most impressive thing is that it is the players like Todd, Reid, Neill etc who have come on loads and are obviously having it drilled into them about kepping it on the ground and playing quick simple balls.

The defending was once again a week point and as poor as Gray was for the third, Neill was equally to blame.

[Hullrover]

Great attempt to win the game today. But give Spurs some credit; they defended extremely well for 75% of the game and took their(dubious) chances when they came. They have had a dodgy run of late, but have performed well all season. They are a good side with promising young talent who are maybe a year or so ahead of us. Both sides have excellent managers and should be looking to the future with hope. Let's face it; would we fancy King, Carrick, Jenas, Defoe, Robinson, Lennon, Dawson in our squad? Of course we would. The task for the board is to make sure Hughes signs the contract and hope that we can clinch 6th spot to get into Europe and generate a little extra cah to bring a bit more quality into the squad.

Next week's game against Villa now becomes the biggest game of the season. On Sky again(Nice to have a bit of support in the Queens!?) and a real chance to show the Nation that this weeks performance was no flook. I'll be steaming into the 'any other score' on Betfair. Who will give me 16/1?

[Fife Rover]

How anyone in our team could be given a 5 I don't know.

I really enjoyed that and I'm really devastated that we didn't come away with a point, or even the win. We missed a real opportunity given how well we played to pull it off and it was criminal to let them score so quickly after we had fought and played so well to come back into it.

Gray and Neill were a major reason for our ability to keep up the pressure and flow forward as we did, he was caught out by the raw pace of Lennon and there isn't too much you could do about that. Maybe his positioning could have been better but other than that he either had to take his man down or the play had to be stopped earlier. Where I thought that goal could have been stopped was when the ball was played in I think Todd and Neill just stood back when they should have seen it coming (I'm sure we all did) and got across to at least be able to challenge but really could have got in front of Mido and got rid of the danger.

I can't fault the team really. I'm damn proud of them and that was one of the finest performances I've seen from us or anyone this season. We didn't get the rub of the green but we made Spurs look like a second division side in the way they had to chase the ball. We created opportunities and we also took chances. Pongolle and Bellamy seemed to link up beautifully and I think we know who our first choice pairing up front is now.

Savage and Reid, and later Bentley when he moved inside, dominated the midfield and made Carrick and Davids look like out of place and off of the pace. Emerton and Bentley were decent and it was a shame that Bentley produced a wonderful shot from miles out when he couldn't do the same when Emerton put it on a plate for him just before half-time.

Neill and Todd were good and so was Friedel. He possibly should have done better when saving the free-kick though certainly made up for it with his save from Mido at the end. The only player in that Spurs team who looked like he could touch our boys was Keane. If we play like that for the rest of the season then I don't doubt we can make Europe. As for today, it happens in football and it's cruel because we certainly didn't deserve it.

388547[/snapback]

Isn't it strange Eddie how some people see things as they really are and dont expect miracles every single week, and others see things through the eyes of spoilt children. They wont give credit where it is due simply because things have not gone their way

[Kei]

Pederson's "Goal" at Newcastle was handball too. It gave us 3 points. Are you complaining about that too?

388586[/snapback]

What are you saying? That I shouldn't be complaining about the fact Spurs were gifted two goals by the officials because we got one lucky break two months ago up at Newcastle?

[stuwilky]

Une blague? Tu jeste, non?

It was a professional foul that deserved a booking.

I agree with you TND, that is exactly how I feel at the moment, the next game can't come soon enough.

388593[/snapback]

isnt a professional foul a red card?

[sulli9]

I do think the talk of Champions League is a bit OTT  but today  thought the lads were magnificent. I try to be more dispassionate when Rovers are on TV away because I never think we will win and so I dont get too upset when it happens but if any away side next week in the Champions Cup plays as well as we did today then good luck to them. The inter passing of Savage(my MOM), Reid and Neill(the best right back in the Prem by a mile) was of the highest order and poor Spurs were outplayed and outfought by a class act.

Gray used the word "staggering" to describe the improvement since Bolton and the club have done a great PR job with this performance. Perhaps a trickle of fans can be enticed back for the Villa game.

388589[/snapback]

i watched the game in poland on our c+ and commentators were at least excited about how did rovers perform today only thing they made me laugh was when they said that Davids were by far more effective than savage i think savage played great game as he fought all over the pitch for 90 minutes pretty nice shoot by bentley which almost lead to a spectacular 30 yard goal but what a miss by pongy in the first half when i started to watch the game i told my neighbour that i feel like a huge club supporter as it was third in a row they showed in polish telly

[Fife Rover]

I thought Emerton was one of our best players today actually. Set up a couple of chances and was very lively i thought.

But (and this is not only directed at you Exiled)  people seem way more interested in picking holes in his game than actually look at some of the positive things he does.

388567[/snapback]

Absolutely right Arcturus. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but some of them show a pitifull level of understanding of the beautiful game. Still, it's a free country as they say.

Edited March 5, 2006 by Fife Rover

[rog of the rovers]

My dad made an interesting point today as he feels Spurs are just like us but a year on and that if everything goes to plan we could be a serious threat next year.

Back to today proud of the boys, one of the few times I'm not overly disappointed with the score as we played well and it was just one of those days.

Champions League or UEFA Cup or No European football still represents an amazing season for the boys and again you have to tip your hat to Hughes/Bowen/Eddie N for the job that they have done.

My Ratings:

FRIEDEL- 6

NEILL - 7

TODD - 7

NELSEN - 7

GRAY - 6

BENTLEY - 7

SAVAGE - 8

REID - 7

EMERTON - 7

BELLAMY - 9

SINAMA - 7

[bazza]

Two quick points:-

1)Very very proud of the lads today. No-one played badly. Excellent team effort.

2) Re the spuds' third goal if anyone is to blame it must be Brad.

OK, Gray was beaten for pace. But a square ball across a virtually empty 6 yard box to a forward on the far side would have been cut out by most other premier league keepers. I'm not having a pop at Brad but, if blame is to be laid, it's him more than Micky.

[Exiled_Rover]

My dad made an interesting point today as he feels Spurs are just like us but a year on

If we had £50m to spend maybe. I'm taking nothing away from the performance, it was magnificent, but two or three injuries (or even one - Bellamy) and we're scuppered. They can afford to lose a few players and still put out a decent side, we can't

[Ozz]

So sad we did not get anything, esp when their first two could easily been ruled out.

Our two goals were superb , and hope they bring a few more fans to Ewood next week.

[jim mk2]

Our two goals were superb , and hope they bring a few more fans to Ewood next week.

388610[/snapback]

A scruffy 1-0 victory might have done, but why should a defeat boost attendances ?

Rovers had a chance to day to set up a crack at a Champions League place. A draw would have been perfectly acceptable.

They blew it.

[bazza]

Our two goals were superb , and hope they bring a few more fans to Ewood next week.

388610[/snapback]

Not if it's on TV. Oh dear; 5:15 KO. Must be on TV. Cheaper to go to the pub to watch it.

[Eddie]

isnt a professional foul a red card?

388602[/snapback]

Under the old definition of the word in the rules, yes. However, that was when a professional foul was "denying a clear goalscoring opportunity", but it is now a term more generally used for a foul committed intentionally and is punishable with a yellow or red card depending on the severity.

If we had £50m to spend maybe. I'm taking nothing away from the performance, it was magnificent, but two or three injuries (or even one - Bellamy) and we're scuppered. They can afford to lose a few players and still put out a decent side, we can't 

388609[/snapback]

True, but in a year if you throw in an extra striker (or two), another midfielder (or two) and then perhaps a better left back and I think you could say the same. When you then think we were missing our top league goalscorer then it isn't too bad.

[Fife Rover]

What are you saying? That I shouldn't be complaining about the fact Spurs were gifted two goals by the officials because we got one lucky break two months ago up at Newcastle?

388601[/snapback]

No, I am asking you to apply simple basic logic and to be consistent in your reasoning. If you are complaining about the legality of either of Spuds goals, then you must also cocede the illegality of the Rovers "goal" at Newcastle.

[Eddie]

One of the major differences between the two is that we absolutely dominated this game whereas Newcastle can at best say they deserved a scrappy draw. We were the better side at Newcastle as well and "earned" our luck. Having said that, I think over the course of the season these things will hopefully balance themselves out, but today we can feel hard done by, it is what football fan's do. We aren't supposed to remember when things went our way.

[greggyk]

A scruffy 1-0 victory might have done, but why should a defeat boost attendances ?

Rovers had a chance to day to set up a crack at a Champions League place. A draw would have been perfectly acceptable.

They blew it.

388612[/snapback]

Well Rovers shouldn't even be having a chance of a champions League place so we blew nothing as we had nothing to lose

Grow up Jim.

(someone had to say it, glad it was me!)

Just got back and was certainly worth the £15 i snuck in as a Junior.

Thought the lads played really well and out played a good side on their own pitch. No way did we deserve to lose but ###### happens. Remember the MGP handball against the Toon. In a funny way, that match could really boost the lads as it proves that we are not playing above ourselves(as i wrote on here a couple of weeks ago that we probably were). Spurs have Chelsea away next week while we play Villa, so the gap will PROBABLY be down to 3pts again. Spurs also still have the likes of West Ham and Arsenal to come.

Btw- what happened to Tugay, whats his injury?

[sleepyjack]

Btw- what happened to Tugay, whats his injury?

388621[/snapback]

Apparently took a knock in training on Thursday and couldn't train on Friday. Hughes didn't seem too concerned when he mentioned it on Sky so hopefully he'll be back for Villa.

Don't think today's game was suited to him anyway, it was played at such an immense pace throughout, and there wasn't much space that he could have taken advantage of.

[pleasure]

the result hurts but............

i'm really proud to be a rover today. the effort every rover put in today was emense. i didnt go (weather, travelling, £31.00 when it's on sky, put me off) the performance was very similar to the game at celtic in the uefa.

i dont want to sound like a broken record, but sav. was awful today. his desire cant be questioned, but his ability can.

emo is the exact opposite. all the ability in the world but no conf. or heart.

bentley was superb i thought and really put down a marker today. he's shown he is capable of playing in the middle.

bellers, what can i say. the guy has yet to have a bad game for us. he's a fabulous footballer, team player and a much better finisher than i thought he was.

he is the dif. between rovers being an average, hardworking team or a top 6 side.

if he can stay fit for the rest of the season, with the run in we have,rovers will easily make europe.

it's been a pleasure (no pun) following rovers (h and a) and

i'd like to thank hughesy and all his staff (some of whom i knw) for a wonderful season (much better than i'd hoped for).

keep believing!