[Archived] Spurs 3 - 2 Rovers

[AlanK]

Apologies if this has already been posted but I don`t have time to read the entire thread. I`m at work you know.

Nice article on the Sky website...click here

[waggy]

i think i preferred it when no one likes us we don't care

[roversmum]

Me too, Waggy

[Rover4ever]

Bellamy's finish was excellent yesterday

I shudder to think what would have happened if Kuqi was in his place.

On his recent performances, Bellamy should be among the top 3 British strikers out there. Is there a better striker out there apart from Rooney and maybe Owen?

[SAS]

OR

he made a mistake?

388742[/snapback]

and a massive one like that

i hope he doesnt do that too often

i wonder if he makes the same mistake when he thinks he chatting a bird up

[G Somerset Rover]

I know its a small media minority who aren't giving Rovers credit after a tremendous performance yesterday, but it blimmin winds me up. Take MOTD2 (Or London clubs 2+United). "The game hinged on 3 big hand ball decisions said the presenter", the two Nelsen hand balls and the Keane hand ball (which im shocked they showed)....guys aren't you missing one? THE HAND BALL BY STALTERI THAT COULD HAVE GOT US BACK TO 3-3!!! All the boys in the sky studio said it was a blatant penalty and that Nelsen's wasn't, so why couldn't they at least show it. Then onto the sun newspaper today: "Rovers' long punts up field looked to be winding Martin Jol up". The same Jol who called us a 'marvellous team' live on sky? It also said that our robust performance had Jol shaking his head. Where do these guys get off? Not one of our players in that paper had an 8, where as Dawson did?! For the neutral who only reads and listens to this garbage it looks as if we were lucky to get away with only a 1 goal difference. As I said I know it's only a small minority of the media, but still an absoloute joke after yesterday's game where we controlled the media darling's and England's elect 11 for 80 minutes.

[Ozz]

The majority of the match yesterday reminded me of the performance at Parkhead a few years ago.

[LDRover]

Regarding the third goal, I thought Gray made a huge mistake in not bringing Lennon down. It's an automatic yellow card, but it prevents a dangerous cross on the counter attack. I'd take my chances at a free kick.

388737[/snapback]

Bang on fella, they had no problems bringing Reid down when he had half of White Hart Lane to run into.

[Exiled_Rover]

I know its a small media minority who aren't giving Rovers credit after a tremendous performance yesterday, but it blimmin winds me up. Take MOTD2 (Or London clubs 2+United). "The game hinged on 3 big hand ball decisions said the presenter", the two Nelsen hand balls and the Keane hand ball (which im shocked they showed)....guys aren't you missing one? THE HAND BALL BY STALTERI THAT COULD HAVE GOT US BACK TO 3-3!!! All the boys in the sky studio said it was a blatant penalty and that Nelsen's wasn't, so why couldn't they at least show it. Then onto the sun newspaper today: "Rovers' long punts up field looked to be winding Martin Jol up". The same Jol who called us a 'marvellous team' live on sky? It also said that our robust performance had Jol shaking his head. Where do these guys get off? Not one of our players in that paper had an 8, where as Dawson did?! For the neutral who only reads and listens to this garbage it looks as if we were lucky to get away with only a 1 goal difference. As I said I know it's only a small minority of the media, but still an absoloute joke after yesterday's game where we controlled the media darling's and England's elect 11 for 80 minutes.

388756[/snapback]

They seem to do it a hell of a lot, unfortunately most of the country saw the absolute domination of Spurs, so they look very foolish.

[Exiled_Rover]

Apologies if this has already been posted but I don`t have time to read the entire thread. I`m at work you know.

Nice article on the Sky website...click here

388751[/snapback]

That picture is brilliant, I can only imagine he's saying: "Fffffffantastic ball Tugay"

[RoyRover]

I was gutted by yesterday's result, because that was a game that we should have won. We dominated for nearly the whole match and got done over by three refereeing decisions. The first goal must have hit Mido's shin two or three times before it went out, but yet Spurs got the throw in and Keane went on to score a wonder goal. The second goal was clearly handball, but yet the decision wasn't given and then in the last minute Stalteri handles the ball bang in front of the ref and we don't get a penalty.

Our two goals were excellent, there was great passing and movement in the lead up and the finishes were lethal. I was delighted for Pongolle because I've always rated him and I think he could score a few goals for us. However, for all our position and dominance, Robinson only made one save from Bentley's 30 yard screamer. The only other chances we had were the ones where Pongolle missed the ball from a yard out and then Todd headed one wide.

I think that our Champions League chances are gone now, but we still have the chance to qualify for the Uefa Cup and we must do it, so the likes of Bellamy stay and so we can attract better players to the club.

[USABlue]

I watched the game over here nad after the usual crap they like to talk about Rovers the commentators were actually very complimentary indeed about us.

It was a heart wrenching loss but I thought a cracker of a game well worth the money. Proud of the lads, a bit more"lady luck" and we would have had it.

I think a few more games together and the Pongolle and Bellers partnership could reap some reward, there was several times yesterday where little flicks and dummies almost came off. If they manage to click it could be good stuff.

[USABlue]

Despie the defeat I am a proud Rover after the performance. I am angry with the ref and also with the fact Kuqi was brough on for the impressive Emerton. It killed our attacking fluency.

388639[/snapback]

I was thinking Kuqi should have been brought on immediately after spurs scored. We sorely lacked the ability to put any pressure on the spurs defence from an airiel standpoint.

[Blue blood]

I'm still not sure how happy to be after yesterdays performance. Yes for the most part we played some neat football. The fact we clawed our way back from 2-0 down shows great mental strength and determination. The loss is somewhat soothed by some appaling officiating. IMO Nelsen's hand ball was a penalty but so was Salteri's. Keane's handball however and the throw in decision were farcial, and rovers can't be blamed for that.

We lost it in the first fifteen in my oppinion. The start was poor, too many long hoofs up the pitch, which for Bellamy and Pongolle wasn't the brightest idea. This meant we had little possession, which in turn allowed Spurs to get their slick passing act together and kept the pressure on rovers. The fact there was some controversy about their goal is to an extent immaterial, it looked as though Spurs would score.

After that Rovers matched and for many parts bettered Spurs in terms of play and possession. The goal we conceeded was unlucky. The free kick was dubious imo, and Keanes hand ball blatant. Having said that brad wasn't having one of his better days, the save should have been pushed away from goal; free kicks really seem to be his archilles heel. Also the defence should have been more alert and rushed back. Poor defending from rovers, although a great assist from the ref.

Despite this I thought we would get a goal back. The inconsistent Pongolle missed a sitter, the worst miss I've seen for a while, before scoring a cracking goal at a vital time. Great assist by Bellamy.

On the subject of our on-loan forward I'm still not sure what to make of him. A good goal and assist were countered by some poor moves, misplaced passes and general inconsistencies. He showed some good running off the ball but this was countered by some poor control at times. As a spurs mate I was watching it with commented 'for everything he gets right he does two things wrong' and I agree with the sentiment. He's young and will gain consistency to be a very good player eventually, but that's no consolation for us in the here and now.

After that the second half we deserved to get one back. We battered them, and whilst the magical spark was missing from Tugs and Pedersen, we still created a few good chances. It was interesting to note that the Sav-Reid in the middle of the park partnership didn't have enough creativity, which is rather worrying considering that's likely to be our starting centre two next year. Moving Bentley inside encouragingly solved this but created a whole host of other problems; Reid is much less effective on the right - he can't cross, and Emerton is worse on the left. Rovers were damned either way and I suggest a right midfielder rockets up the priority list. On that note the corners were disgraceful until Savage started taking them. Reid's in particular was shocking and demonstrated why he isn't a winger. At this level we can't afford for them to be that poor, and had we done better at our corners we should have sealed the win.

What really hacked me off though was the manner of the third goal. The next five minutes after we equalised were crucial. Granted Spurs seemed to buck up their ideas but we totally let our foot off the gas. Had we played marginally as well as we had the rest of the half Spurs would not have gotten back into it. As it was Gray showed why he isn't quite good enough being easily beaten and Friedel again was floundering in the goal. And who was marking Mido. Even so we had chances to get back into it, and really should have equalised.

As it was we didn't. Fifteen minutes cost us the game - the first ten and right after our equaliser. For the rest we battered them, but the premiership and the race for europe is not forgiving. The good news is that there isn't much we need to do to be as good as anyone all the time. With a bit more creativity coming back from injury, a higher tempo start, more concentration when we score, and better corners and we'll be pretty much unbeatable. These are things which can be rectified, it's not like we need a whole new team or the fitness levels aren't there, and I'm sure Hughes will be working on them in training in the coming week.

Which is why I'm confident that we'll sneak into Europe.

[cn174]

I shudder to think what would have happened if Kuqi was in his place.

388754[/snapback]

Kuqi would have scored Pongolle's chance earlier in the first half - not quite sure how he didn't manage to score from 2 yards out!!!

[thenodrog]

I`m going to focus on the decisions that affected the game :

the first goal : the lino needs to be investigated, that was blatent cheating, there is no other reason why he would have given the throw in to spurs

388734[/snapback]

When I were a lad any dubious decisions were always given in favour of the defending side. Nowadays it appears the rules have been altered to give any dodgy decisions to the big club.

[Billy Castell]

At least we looked good, which bodes well for the future. We almost beat a team that cost 5 times more than ours.

P.S. Which big club did Blackburn play yesterday ?, I thought we played against Spurs.

[benhben]

There is a good article on skysports. Surprisingly kind to Rovers and will bring a smile to all us Rovers fans.

http://home.skysports.com/list.asp?hlid=36...audits+at+Spurs

[MIROVER]

I watched the game over here nad after the usual crap they like to talk about Rovers the commentators were actually very complimentary indeed about us.

It was a heart wrenching loss but I thought a cracker of a game well worth the money.  Proud of the lads, a bit more"lady luck" and we would have had it.

I think a few more games together and the Pongolle and Bellers partnership could reap some reward, there was several times yesterday where little flicks and dummies almost came off.  If they manage to click it could be good stuff.

388800[/snapback]

Agree with your comments USABlue it was a crackerjack of a game. Rovers mauled them for the majority of the game. How refreshing this type of football must surely bring the punters back. On another day rovers could have had at least 4 the pongolle miss and the stunning robinson save from the bentley long range effort. Not to mention the 2 dubois keane strikes !! A stunning first goal free flowing football great cross and a superb flying header from pongolle redeeming himself. This partnership could be a real threat. Lets hope Rafa gets the cash he wants and we can do a cut price deal thats of course if the lad wants to stay and play. I see no reason why we can't get an automatic UEFA spot with the fixtures remaining.

[Napoleon]

Having not been at the game, and not watched it on Sky the highlights on MOTD2 were the only thing I have seen. I was still left under the impression that we were well worth a draw so the highlights cannot have been as biased as suggested. Unfortunately it is very difficult to represent the action exactly in such a topsy-turvy match with a short highlights slot. That said it is strange that the handball at 3-2 wasn't shown if all of the Sky commentators felt it was a good shout.

[Presty On Tour]

on the highlights did they show lucas neill's run where he danced round 3 or 4 spuds after a brilliant tackle!!

he should of gone all the way, for some reason he passed?

[jim mk2]

The majority of the match yesterday reminded me of the performance at Parkhead a few years ago.

388765[/snapback]

My thoughts too.

But the history books show only that we lost, not how well we played.

[cletus]

A wonderful display yesterday. Shame about the final result tho

At one point during the 2nd half, SKY stated that Rovers had over 80% of the possession, just before Bellamy levelled.

Chins up guys!

[Oklahoma]

It's a shame we didn't win this game...

We deserved it and they played with 12 players (11+referee)...

[dillo_dillo]

Apologies if this has already been posted but I don`t have time to read the entire thread. I`m at work you know.

Nice article on the Sky website...click here

388751[/snapback]

Good story!

writing by him?

http://www.brfcs.co.uk/mb/index.php?showto...ndpost&p=386907