[Archived] Rovers 2 - 0 Villa

[rover6]

Just a couple of points that I don't think anyone has mentioned.

I hope Hughes gives Bentley another chance in central midfield. We really need someone with his skill, technique, passing and shooting ability to orchestrate the midfield. Obviously, to play in the position, you need positional awareness and a physical presence to provide a defensive shield to the defence.

Bentley may not have displayed the latter but when the whole side played poorly, I don't think people can justifiably write off his future in central midfield. At least not until he has a few more chances.

Secondly, I'm slightly disappointed that Sergio Peter has been dropped from the bench. Hughes was obviously unimpressed with his Arsenal performance but I think it slightly harsh to drop him after numerous impressive performances previously. Notably, when almost everyone (including Emerton) was crap against West Brom, he came on and did well.

I just think he offers a different threat than our other midfielders, summed up by his cross for Bellamy versus Sunderland. I would have thought that him coming off the bench late in games could provide the same threat that Aaron Lennon poses to flagging full backs for Tottenham.

But we won so that's all good.

[den]

Just a couple of points that I don't think anyone has mentioned.

I hope Hughes gives Bentley another chance in central midfield. We really need someone with his skill, technique, passing and shooting ability to orchestrate the midfield. Obviously, to play in the position, you need positional awareness and a physical presence to provide a defensive shield to the defence.

Bentley may not have displayed the latter but when the whole side played poorly, I don't think people can justifiably write off his future in central midfield. At least not until he has a few more chances.

390078[/snapback]

He would have had more of a chance of playing Centre mid again, if he had showed even the slightest idea of what playing that position involves.

I'll stick my neck out here - He'll NEVER make a central midfield player.

[waggy]

i honestly think with the peter situation,sparky has give him a taste,he has done very well and a spell and the sidelines will give him time to reflect on his progress,all kidolgy

[James No. 7]

I watched the game live on television and was very happy with the three points. I didn't feel like we were going to lose after the first five to ten minutes. Aston Villa were having horrid luck and I felt confident that we only had to turn it up a notch or two for a few seconds to get that win. It was "one of those days" where nothing went right for them, but everything went right for us.

Those @#/?s had us worked out though, didn't they? In that link above the writer blames O'Leary for the defeat, but it's obvious that the man has some tactical nous and had a clear game plan that was working. The players should be to blame. They were either not good enough on the day or just aren't good enough, full stop.

And we are the bigger club with the better squad.

[Bing]

He would have had more of a chance of playing Centre mid again, if he had showed even the slightest idea of what playing that position involves.

I'll stick my neck out here - He'll NEVER make a central midfield player.

390080[/snapback]

He's 21 years old and is obviously going to need time to learn the role. He has all the technical attributes to make a central midfielder.

Lucas Neill's coversion to right-back certainly wasn't seamless. And 5 years ago people used to say that Ashley Cole would never make a top left-back because he had no positional sense.

[thenodrog]

And 5 years ago people used to say that Ashley Cole would never make a top left-back because he had no positional sense.

390097[/snapback]

He does like to get forward frequently and is exceptional at thrusting forward from deep positions behind other players.

[Ozz]

OPTA stats show both sides had 5 efforts on target and both sides had 7 off target.

It's just ours were not as obviously bad misses as theirs.

And no Rovers player booked.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

What can you say about a performance like that , I think we managed to string more than two passes together about three times in the whole game , our ball retention and our ability to win the ball back was shocking, we lost about 80% of the 50/50 balls, consequently we made Villa look like they were playing with a man more than us.

Brad Freidel showed his worth last night by staying on his feet and out facing Baros.

The midfield was lightweight, only Savage really got to grips with their midfield ( well done for keeping his cool when that sly Villa player did him with a spiteful tackle down the back of his calf), Pedersen and Bentley tackle like sugar stealers ( if you had a team full of these two you'd never win anything ,you'd never have the ball !) not only that but they persisted in giving the ball away. Reid stiffened things up a bit when he moved inside but is obviously not a ball player. Nobody picked Phillips up when he dropped deep and he was always the out ball for them. Nobody took on that Billy Bunter look a like Wilfrid Bouma until Emmo came on.

Our back four had a collective nightmare, hopefully they can't play that bad again.

I thought Pongo had his best game for us and looked sharp, Bellamy is obviously top class but we have got to get him on the ball more. Dickov was up to his usual tricks when he came on , giving away soft free kicks when it was vital to retain possession. They guy who said " Villa never really caused us any problems ", I can't believe you were at the same game as me , we were second best for 80 minutes last night and we could have got a real caning.

Plus points ? just three of them.

[thenodrog]

He would have had more of a chance of playing Centre mid again, if he had showed even the slightest idea of what playing that position involves.

I'll stick my neck out here - He'll NEVER make a central midfield player.

390080[/snapback]

He might (just) but in a 5 man midfield. Personally I would be struggling to find a place for Bentley in my strongest team. He is not a striker, not a winger and not a midfielder as such. He is useful on the bench though as he can make a passable attempt at any of them.

Emerton deserves to be selected next week imo. But he still does my head in! On one occasion when he won the ball and we were pouring forward with Villa in disarray he chose to play a ball deep to Pederson and by doing so gave Villa the necessary few seconds to organise. He has certain attributes but killer instinct is not one of them.

Pongole looked a threat yesterday and is mighty quick.... he's growing on me.

Dickov was up for it when he came on and is damned good at defending from the front should we be ahead in the closing stages.

Nelsen was good.

Neil had his worst game of the season by far. That said I do think Gareth Barry is a damned good player.

says it all that Brad was deemed MoM.

[tchocky]

Only half the team performed, that is why we struggled a bit.

I thought Friedel, Nelsen, Savage, Pedersen and Bellamy were excellent. Pongolle was quite good as well. The rest have to do better next time.

[krislu]

I thought Friedel, Nelsen, Savage, Pedersen and Bellamy were excellent. Pongolle was quite good as well. The rest have to do better next time.

390111[/snapback]

A little biased there perhaps?

In my opinion Friedel was the only player who had an excellent game yesterday.

[tchocky]

No. He was involved in both goals and passed the ball well with some nice touches. Worked hard too.

[Al]

Not much to add except that Villa's dominance was all in the air. They have a big team and we never won the high balls until Brett and Axe came on. After that we coped much better and looked a lot less likely to concede. Brett looked a lot stronger than the rest of the midfield.

[greggyk]

No. He was involved in both goals and passed the ball well with some nice touches. Worked hard too.

390117[/snapback]

He was shocking in the first half and I only saw him after we went 2-0 up and Villa gave up.

Hopefully Tugay will be back next week and play Emerton in left midfield with Reid on the right

[philipl]

kenny's magic hat makes a very good post.

Those who say Villa were unlucky not to win should consider the following:

Rovers had more than 50% possession overall and chances were exactly even in numbers.

McCann was fortunate to be playing in such a clean match- he was guilty of three very bookable offences, not just the one which got him the only yellow of the game.

OK in a just world, we would have beaten Spuds and drawn with the Villa.

Having watched the midfield very carefully when we were being over-run there by Villa, I concluded:

- Savage did a brilliant job to stop Villa from turning their upper hand in midfield into a platform to batter us the way we totally overwhelmed the Spuds midfield last week. That said, some of Savage's passing was none too clever but I suspect some of that was because other Rovers players (notably MGP) had not run into the position they were supposed to for the out ball. Sav's complaints to his colleagues looked to be of the "we practise it in training every **** day" variety.

- Reid was OKish but his passing and positioning were iffy and his tackling at times non-existant

- when on the ball, Bentley was every bit as brilliant as at Spuds but yesterday he had no answer to the physical pressure of the Villa big men. He is not a total flake but he can be got at.

- MGP for all his cleverness (apart from crossing) when on the ball was just as weak as Bentley.

The fundamental problem in midfield was that we had two players- MGP and Bentley who could not handle the physical pressure.

As a result far more attacks came through at the defence which in my view played no worse or better than it has done for most of this season. Only yesterday it had to be involved a lot more than it usually does at Ewood so it showed more very good moments and also by the law of averages, more nightmare moments as well.

I think it was significant that with no MGP and even with the problematic Emerton on from the start we crushed one of the best midfields in the Prem at Spurs last week. Yesterday, when Emo replaced Bentley, midfield got more of a grip although the scoreline might have helped.

It must be a headache for Sparky realising he cannot safely play both MGP and Bentley in the same midfield and for sure he cannot go with an MGP, Sav, Tugay, Bentley line-up which in terms of the best individual players would probably be the preferred midfield option when all are fit.

Edited March 12, 2006 by philipl

[tonygreenbank]

Rovers won because we had a better goalkeeper and better forwards. They had the more physical midfield. They were more dominant than we were at Spurs but if you dont take your chances then you will not win.

[ihtd]

Over the summer, somebody buy Bentley a gym membership so he put on some muscle mass.

[Presty On Tour]

Over the summer, somebody buy Bentley a gym membership so he put on some muscle mass.

390173[/snapback]

some cell tech should do the job

[herbergeehh]

Wouldn't say that MGP was excellent against Villa, but he was decent imo- his workrate is very underrated, and makes Mickey Gray look like a decent defender. He didn't create all that much, even though the freekick was a clever one. Could've been some goal, anyway.

As for McC*nt, the "tackle" on Sav first half was disgraceful. Stamp on the back side of his leg, could easily have ended his season! I have no problem with scrapping and rough tackling, to be fair we have our share of these players, but I can't remember a single tackle like that from a Blackburn player this season. We get stuck in, but we don't go out trying to injure players. Or does anyone have examples? Lucas' tackle on Carragher two seasons ago obviously, but at least the ball was within sight.

[Presty On Tour]

keeping to the tackling subject, ryan nelson...what a tackle on baros!!!

thats a proper goal saving tackle

i also thought brad friedel was on his game, he stood up big between the sticks and villa had no answer.

Edited March 13, 2006 by jansenpresty10@wales

[ihateburnley]

I missed the start of the game but I have to say I am with Exiled Rover on this. DIckov looked a much better option when he came on. The wee man holds up the ball and passed it well. Pongolle seemed to be hell bent on giving it away. Apart from the flick on that led to the second goal, which was more down to Ped's persistence than Pongo's contribution, our Dreadlocked striker offered little.

Dickov in next week.

390004[/snapback]

I disagree. I was impressed with Pongolle - he's improving with every game and showed some lovely touches and passes. I agree that Dickov did do well when he came on, but then again any player that harrasses the opposition and has a bit of pace about them will do well when coming on against tired legs.

I thought Bellamy showed that he is almost at full sharpness - that twenty yard run and one-two late on in the game showed his desire and confidence.

If we are to push on next season and (hopefully) do well in Europe, then we desperately need to sign a 'penalty box' striker. Although I rate Bellamy, Dickov and Pongolle highly, none of them would be classed as poachers - I think we need someone in the same physical mould as Kuqi - but a bit of skill please.

[philipl]

Although Pongo became less effective as the game wore on, I was amazed at how lacking in class Dickov looked when he came onto the pitch in comparisson with Pongo.

Had Dickov been playing all game, there would have been a lot more fouls and yellow cards and tempers would have become frayed and perhaps he would have worried a goal out of them.

But the skill level of Pongo (even if it is a new signing other than Pongo) is the way forwards for Rovers.

[Blueboy Downunder]

keeping to the tackling subject, ryan nelson...what a tackle on baros!!!

thats a proper goal saving tackle

i also thought brad friedel was on his game, he stood up big between the sticks and villa had no answer.

390282[/snapback]

ryan nelson was fantastic again yesterday (for me ). the tackle was not only a goal saving tackle but quite possibly saved the game for us when villa started getting on top.

[AggyBlue]

But the skill level of Pongo (even if it is a new signing other than Pongo) is the way forwards for Rovers.

390299[/snapback]

Pongo's still to convince me. There's something not quite right with him. His first touch seems fine, his second is somewhat hit and miss, he spends too much time on the ball with his head down and more often than not tries to do too much.

Saying that, it's only an opinion after seeing him a couple of times.

[vyeo]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/tm_objectid=...-name_page.html

very complimentary about us. thought you guys might like a read.