[Archived] Rovers 2 - 0 Villa

[blinddevotion]

ahhhhhhh GOALLLLL!!!!!!

[theresonly1alj]

Have we played as bad as it sounds??

[blinddevotion]

Who cares! we play great last week and lost "Kamra" If we win were up to 5th

[Gareth]

Have we played as bad as it sounds??

389943[/snapback]

In the 1st half we should have been 3-0 down!

[theresonly1alj]

It has been what we've lacked over past seasons. The ability to play badly and still come away with the win.

Edited March 11, 2006 by theresonly1alj

[asianRover]

Who cares! we play great last week and lost "Kamra"  If we win were up to 5th

389944[/snapback]

we didnt play well but at the end of the day, the scoreline is the most important thing. 5th place here we come again!

[blinddevotion]

Dickvo on for Sinama -

[HertsRover]

Play fantastic....lose 3-2

Play Pants...win 2-0

WEYRE FIFTH....AGAIN!!!!!

[krislu]

We did not deserve to lose against tottenham, but damn we did not deserve to win today. You see, it all even itself out during a season..

Brilliant to win on such a poor day...

[Lathund]

We did not deserve to lose against tottenham, but damn we did not deserve to win today. You see, it all even itself out during a season..

Brilliant to win on such a poor day...

389950[/snapback]

Pretty much sums up my thoughts. Really felt to me like we missed Tugay a lot today. Friedel was solid as always, GREAT block by Nelsen in the first half, and I thought Emerton did well when he came on, at least in reducing some of the pressure Villa had.

[joey_big_nose]

We were very average today, we looked like we desperately missed Tugay to settle us down on the ball. Villa played the much better football and, although it would be a stretch to say they should of won, perhaps a draw would of been a fairer result. Still, I'm not complaining!

Just a couple of points:

1. Why didn't Bentley get more of a shot in the middle with Reid out wide? He looked composed on the ball and able to spread it around. I know Villa were pressing hard but he could have tidied things up for us.

edit- I realise now after reading other peoples posts that Bentley started in the middle and was pretty awful there, hence the move out wide. I missed the first half hour as I overslept.

2. Pongolle still seems to just let the ball bounce of him. I was actually very impressed with Dickov's technique.

We need to play better next game all round.

Savage was excellent!

Edited March 11, 2006 by joey_big_nose

[krislu]

Why didn't Bentley get more of a shot in the middle with Reid out wide? He looked  composed on the ball and able to spread it around.

389952[/snapback]

Are you kidding me big nose? If there is one thing we should not try again its Bentley in the centre. His passing was awful today, and he lacks both determintation, presense and physique to play in the centre..

[Rovermatt]

No idea how we escaped from that with three points. Villa should have had three goals in the first 10 minutes. Our defence was all over the place-very disappointing.

[tonyoz]

Watched the game live and am very disappointed. It just didn't look like the same team as last week. The "highlights" shown at the end replayed EIGHT decent chances for Villa.......half of them very decent!

If O'Leary was serious when he said that he was glad that he got Baros rather than Bellamy, he must be choking on his words now!

The defence was very shaky (except for Brad) and i thought Pedersen was very disappointing. They seemed to open us up at will in the first half whilst we struggled to find any openings.

It's a funny old game!

[joey_big_nose]

Are you kidding me big nose? If there is one thing we should not try again its Bentley in the centre. His passing was awful today, and he lacks both determintation, presense and physique to play in the centre..

389953[/snapback]

I missed the first half hour but from then until when he came off he looked like the one player who could put his foot on the ball.

His passing was okay if not spectacular, and I was particularly impressed with how comfortable he was when using his left. I had more a problem with him cutting inside (a la EMerton) from the right when he was playing wide.

Without Tugay we really struggle if we get closed down quickly.

Edited March 11, 2006 by joey_big_nose

[Bobby G]

We were average at best.

Thankfully bad luck evens itself out over a season, and today we won a game which we should have lost.

[greggyk]

he he he he.

We mugged em! oh well.

YESSSSSS

[RoverJoexx]

Nothing separate both team honestly.. only difference is we finished our chance while they don't.

Fifth position and 3 points off spurs! Europe.. Here we come!!!

[RovertheHill]

Just got back. Must be karma for last week. Villa should have been 3 up in 10 minutes. Villa pressed us like we press other teams. I noticed that they also pushed up very quickly on Gray and Neill, which is the way we start most of our play. Switching Reid back into the middle shored it up a bit and gave us the platform to get back into it in the second half. I said we should have tried to sign Phillips - he's a very clever player. Thankfully, O' Leary thinks Baros is better than Angel which, combined with Brad, is probably why we didn't lose! And our goals looked suspect - can't wait to see it on replay

[frosty]

Who cares if we didnt play the best today, we still came away with the 3 vital points and to me thats all that matters

[waggy]

well what a difference a week makes

[philipl]

Sky gave both goals to Bellamy- I thought he got the first.

Anyway whilst not playing that well we got the points thanks to Villa's powderpuff frontmen. If we could cross, we would have slaughtered them.

Nelsen was magnificent. He not only produced a match saving tackle, that was probably a season saving tackle. Had we gone one down we weren't going to come back the way we were playing today.

I was extremely excited after last week's performance. Tonight I just feel a comfortable sense of that's routine three points in the bag, onto the next one.

One thing is for sure, that fantastic performance at Spurs was greeted by at least 2,000 more on the gate than has been usual for a dislocated fixture this season.

Oh and well done Pompey for tripping up City.

[1864roverite]

Just back from a very cold Ewood Park - yes its bloody freezing.

A few pointers from my view from the Blackburn End

Rovers were very fortunate winners

Villa were simply mugged

The ref Gallagher proved yet again he is a muppet

Rovers midfield were a non entity first half

Brad played superbly

The defence of both teams were as wide as he Thames estuary

Thank god for Lady Luck

2-0 really is a p*££ take on Villa, but then again last weeks result on Rovers left us feeling pretty much the same as our Villa counerparts are feeling right now.

Having Tugay on today would NOT have improved the first half, indeed, such was Villa's dominance with David and McCann, I cant see for the life of me how he would have coped.

Bentley should not have been put in the middle, that position should be occupied by Reid.

Emerton should have been on from the off.

If Gray was feeling ill he should not have started.

Todays result made one thing perfectly clear, we are riding the crest of a big wave. The players faces said it all, the way they celebrated the goals, the way they congratulated each other and the SMILES are there that show a truly happy dressing room.

Thanks Rovers, 5th place for now, another home game on the horizon and another 3 points beckon.

BTW anyine know when Boros second leg is in Europe ?

[greggyk]

Im sure they play IN Rome on Wednesday. They also play tomorrow so could be a good time to play them.Hopefully

Edited March 11, 2006 by greggyk

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Won 2-0 and played average at best.

5th in the Prem and I cant stop smiling.......this has been a very good season so far!