[Archived] Rovers 1 Wigan 1

[Fife Rover]

What annoyed me more than anything was the fact that despite having two small attackers against their towering central defenders... we insisted on lumping the ball in the air.... school-boy stuff!!! we were never going to win any of that and what happens? yep, it comes straight back at us!!! 

When are we ever going to learn!!!

396176[/snapback]

Have to disagree with you there> The reason why we failed to get the front men on the ball often enough was because we were constantly trying to thread long passes through into the centre for Dickov or Bellamy to run onto instead of using the wings or building up with short inter-passing movement. These long ground passes were meat and drink to their defence who had plenty of time to read the move and intercept easily before the ball could reach it's intended target. Also a lot of the "air balls" you refer to especially in the first 15 mins or so were due to headers pinging back and forth between both sides.

The truth is, as has already been stated earlier, Wigan had done their homework on us and gave us a dose of our own medicine. They harried and chased and closed us down so quickly that we could not get into our usual rythm of passing at all. I think a lot of credit is due to the Wigan coaching staff and to their players for carrying out the game plan so well.

And as for Rovers; the message well and truly is: Must do better next time out; another failure is NOT an option. Yes I do consider it a failure in spite of the late point saver, for the simple reason that I do consider Rovers players and coaching staff to be superior to Wigan's and that match should have been won.

Edited April 4, 2006 by Fife Rover

[USABlue]

I am just a bit more than a little confused, first half De Zeuw obstructs Bellers, free kick and a stern talking to from the ref.

Second half almost identical incident in the area...nothing. Clearly obstructed.

Decent match to watch I though, wish we could have scored when we had all the game in the first half.

Question for the American viewers, did any of you get as sick as I did hearing about Wigan.

[T4E]

For all the moaners out there - lets put this in perspective

Everton (A)        1-0

WBA (A)            2-1

Aston Villa (A)    2-0

Portsmouth (A)  2-0

West Ham (A)    2-0

Middlesborugh(A) 3-2

Bolton (A)          1-1

Spuds (A)            2-2

Sunderland (A)    1-0

Man City (A)        1-0

Before last night - this was Wigan's away record (excluding defeats).

Yeah, its amazing how good a teams record can look if you take the defeats out...

Disappointing last night, we started very well and if Pedersen's goal had stood I'm positive we'd have won.

[Eddie]

I agree T4E. That's why I think even though the decisions probably evened themselves out we can feel really hard done by. I don't think we would have given up the lead and would probably have gone on to score more.

[Florida Rover]

Question for the American viewers, did any of you get as sick as I did hearing about Wigan.

396395[/snapback]

Absolutely as one sided in the commentary as we can see although to give a small credit Tony Gale did defend Kuqi's goal straight away.Perhaps this will be a wakeup call to the team that every game we must give 100% effort from here on out.I still have faith we can make UEFA cup and with a bit of breaks our way,it is still possible to be CL.

Florida Rover

[Bing]

Yeah, its amazing how good a teams record can look if you take the defeats out...

396404[/snapback]

Granted, but you still can't argue with 27 points from 16 away games. A record bettered only by the top two.

[Rover4ever]

When Kuqi started his run down the left I could imagine Bellamy thinking in Homer's style, "please dont let him miskick it, please dont let him miskick it, please dont let him miskick it, .....D'OHHHHH'

[Ozz]

Homer would have made a better job of the cross, even after an 8 hour bender in Moe's with Barney Gumble.

[Nayef]

That was a cross?!

I thought he was returning the ball out of play because there were too balls on the pitch!

Can't slag him off too much though for obvious reasons!

[Exiled in Toronto]

Can't believe that a player who gives 100%, has scored 6 and assisted on 4 (nearly 5 last night) gets such a lambasting. Sure Kuqi is not the best with ball to feet, but his laid off headers are the best I've seen from a Rover for a long time. He's not first choice and he gives us an effective Plan B, which is fine by me after several seasons of not even having a Plan A. Without the big guy our season would already be over and we'd have had no cup run.

Bellamy is as bad with his head as Kuqi is with his feet, but I never hear a word about that, which is fine because it doesn't matter as long as their team mates play to their respective strengths.

[T4E]

Bellamy is as bad with his head as Kuqi is with his feet, but I never hear a word about that, which is fine because it doesn't matter as long as their team mates play to their respective strengths.

396452[/snapback]

If we were called Blackburn Rovers Headball Club that would be a relevant comment.

[S15]

Kuqi is useless in the air too.

And don't anybody throw ''What about that flick against .......''

He's useless. Rubbish. A waste of everything.

Bellamy is probably the only man alive who despises the sight of Kuqi more than I.

[Exiled_Rover]

Kuqi is useless in the air too.

And don't anybody throw ''What about that flick against .......''

He's useless. Rubbish. A waste of everything.

Bellamy is probably the only man alive who despises the sight of Kuqi more than I.

396462[/snapback]

Let's put it this way, if Bellamy could finish Kuqi would have had a goal and an assist in about half an hour last night - can't ask for much more than that.

[T4E]

Kuqi when he came on was embarrassing. If he hadn't scored we'd all be united in that view.

The first 7 or 8 headers he went up for he missed them all. He screwed that "cross" wide - there was even one situation halfway inside the Wigan half when the ball came towards him and it looked as though he deliberately moved in the opposite direction.

The guy was awful, a tap in and a flick on can't hide that.

Edited April 4, 2006 by Tugay4England

[greggyk]

lol. He actually did more than Dickov and Bellamy put together last night

[T4E]

Did more than Bellamy? You must be kidding me?

[greggyk]

Remind me, what exactly did Bellamy do last night, apart from miss a one on one and fluff 2 headers

[T4E]

A one on one? You call that a one on one?

How about early in the first half when he turned Chimbonda wide on the left and made him look a charlie? When he danced past De Zeeuw and drew the free kick that Pedersen nearly scored from? He gave Scharner such a torrid time that Wigan had to take him off at half time to stop him getting sent off!

Bellamy was a constant threat - Kuqi was constantly pathetic.

[greggyk]

yup, a one on one. There were no defenders infront of him, just the keeper after a perfect set-up by Kuqi

[T4E]

That was never a one on one.

Fair play for ignoring the rest of what I said though!

[greggyk]

well considering you could only name 2 things that he actually did, i didn't feel i needed to

[Exiled_Rover]

Remind me, what exactly did Bellamy do last night, apart from miss a one on one and fluff 2 headers

396470[/snapback]

And pass the ball straight into Filan's hands from close range. Bellamy was rubbish last night, Wigan did their homework on him.

[Neil Weaver]

To all you Sky viewers......

Did Sky commentators / pundits not mention the linesman / ass ref standing with his flag up for ages before Neil gave away the corner from which they scored?  I certainly never saw or heard it mentioned after the game.

How many times to piggin refs overule offside decisions ffs?  Never!  And why should they thats what the linesme / ass refs are for!

396264[/snapback]

And I've been wondering all day if I was seeing things last night. I sit near the BE of the JW Lower but that linesman (JW side, Darwen End half) must have had his flag up for at least 10 seconds before the corner. What was going on? I don't think it's unfair to say it must have put off our lads at the back at the least. Read quite a few reports today and no mention.

Meanwhile, Kuqi, for all his faults, pops up with another point-earning goal. It's a good habit to have.

[roverich]

That result was not good enough and nor was the performance. Not upto the recent high standards we have set ourselves and unfortunately its a massive blow to our Champions League hopes but as I said before, the UEFA Cup would still be a major achievement for us and we should not be disappointed if we do fail to finish in the top four.

Oh yeah, and as for Kuqi, I know non-league players who could make him look like a little boy. He is still way out of his league!

Edited April 4, 2006 by roverich

[tonygreenbank]

Calm down, calm down! I thought Bellamy was not 100% fit last night but still his mere presence has an effect on the opposition. I would not pick him out as having a poor game as he had some great touches and runs. I cant believe some of the comments from posters. Rovers dominated the first half and only in the second half did Wigan defend like they normally do after they had taken off the Austrian before he was sent off. Only a few people have referred to the linesman who clearly flagged for offside just before their goal; he was not strong enough to influence Dowd. It was a gritty point earned. Maybe Hughesey this morning might reflect that he got his selection wrong; I would play Emerton and Pongolle against Pompey.

PS As I write this Brum 1-0 up against Bolton. There will be more twists and turns yet. Keep the faith.