[Archived] Rovers 1 Wigan 1

[Hasta]

1. Why no Emerton ? Despite it being a derby match the right wing was where everything was coming from.

2. Why bother with Dickov ? A totally inept performance.

3. Despite his goal, Kuqio will never be a premiership player so again why bother ?

4. How bad did the midfield get in the first 20 minutes on the second half ?

5. Why cant Emerton take a leaf out of Reidy's book and learn just how to cross a ball ?

6. How can a donkey such as Kavanagh, outrun and out muscle the midfield of Tugay and Savage ?

7. Just how poor a support do wigon have ? Easily the worst set of supporters I have ever seen at Ewood Park.

8. When will Rovers learn that an easy ball is a far better option than fannying around with poncy flicks ?

The ones I disagree with are:-

6) Because kavanah for all his advancing years and lack of pace has more pure footballing ability that Reid and Savage. I'm not saying he's better, but his touch and passing is superior and today it showed. I thought that when Tugay eventually got on he started to get more control in midfield.

7) In their position (beginning to fade) I doubt we would have took that many to Wigan on a Monday night Sky game.

All the rest I agree with either partly or fully.

I'm disappointed but I've said for the last 4 weeks that Arsenal will finish 4th. We really need to buckle down and get top 6 if we want Europe. Even though everyone felt flat, keeping a 3 point cushion between us and Wigan may well be a lifesaver come the end of the season. That rather under-celebrated goal could prove to be more valuable than we think.

[joey_big_nose]

Well for all of those who are giving Kuqi stick, in the portion of the match I saw he was the only one giving their defence problems. If he hadn't been there for the highball we had no other alternative.

If a team is prepared to sit very deep and work extraordinarily hard in midfield we have no other way of hurting them, even with a strker of Bellamy's quality.

Sure Kuqi is not good enough and we should be looking for an alternative in the summer, but he has his uses and is certainly not "disgustingly awful' or whatever else is being bandied around.

[frosty]

where was Todd tonight? i was surprised he wasn't on the bench........was he suspended / injured?

[bellamy11]

He didn't play that well, but Kuqi changed the game. Suddenly Wigan had problems with long balls. Bellamy may as well have been on his own when Dickov was playing. People mock Kuqi (and it is true that technically he is awful) but the finish was a lot better than I've seen people give him credit for. He did not have a lot of space to squeeze the ball in.

[Jan]

where was Todd tonight? i was surprised he wasn't on the bench........was he suspended / injured?

396186[/snapback]

I had to watch this in a pub with music drowning out the commentary so I take it they didn't talk about it on Sky!

Am I alone in hoping it's because he gravely insulted Condolences Rice (or even better nutted her once the cameras had gone)??

Edited April 3, 2006 by Jan

[jonman105]

Have to say that the drummers are very annoying

[stuwilky]

Have to say that the drummers are very annoying

396189[/snapback]

No they arent.

They are possibly the most pointless people in the entire ground.

Just a shame no one will remove their sticks from them. Arent they offensive weapons?

[tcj_jones]

Thank god we got the draw. However, I think the damage has been done; we won't get 6th now.

[jonman105]

there were some songs coming from back right of bburn end then the drummer would just come in over the top. im almost deaf in my left ear after sitting near them tonight.

[AggyBlue]

Have to say that the drummers are very annoying

396189[/snapback]

They did manage to change every chant into ' Mark Hughes Blue'n'White army'

How do they do that?

We huffed and puffed all night with very little quality and a goal never looked likely even if we had played until tomorrow night. Too many players didn't perform to their potential, which happens now and again.

Very relieved when the goal did come, although fortunate, it makes up for my sore throat, caused by screaming at that inept ref.

How long were some of his advantages?

Edited April 3, 2006 by AggyBlue

[RevidgeBlue]

Thank god we got the draw.  However, I think the damage has been done; we won't get 6th now.

396191[/snapback]

Yes we will, that was almost a given anyway.

The damage that has been done is we won't finish 4th.

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

Overall, Rovers were poor, an opportunity missed. Jewell got his tactics right, defended deep and denying bellamy space. We were very one-dimesional in attack and were lucky to get a point.

I have to agree with those points. We were very disappointing for large periods of the match.

When a team plays poorly, I always look at the midfield first - as it's the engine room and heartbeat of the side. We were sloppy with our passing in midfield and didn't create enough quality crosses from wide positions. Bentley and Pedersen were disappointing. Steven Reid was average - not hitting the heights of some of his previous performances.

Wigan were defending deep and we needed to stretch them from wide positions and play some incisive passes from midfield. But unfortunately that didn't happen.

Shefki Kuqi, despite his goal, is technically dire. His first touch and control is woeful for a player at the highest level.

Edited April 4, 2006 by Anti Euro Smiths Fan

[AggyBlue]

The damage that has been done is we won't finish 4th.

396194[/snapback]

You know as well as I do, there'll be quite a few twists before the end of the season.

It ain't over 'till the fat lady sings ( so I've been told )

[tcj_jones]

Yes we will, that was almost a given anyway.

The damage that has been done is we won't finish 4th.

396194[/snapback]

If I had the money, I would bet a fair bit of that we won't get 6th.

Edited April 3, 2006 by tcj_jones

[Ste B]

where was Todd tonight? i was surprised he wasn't on the bench........was he suspended / injured?

396186[/snapback]

Seems to be a hughes tactic in putting Mokoena on the bench instead to allow him to have more attacking options, as he could potentially play in Midfield to tighten things up, or accross the defence. He did the same with Zurab not being on the bench whilst Todd was back in the side.

[juggalo_rover]

Not a bad result considering how we played.

The ref made a good decision with MGP's disallowed goal. Dickov was just jumping to intervene with Filan, wasn't even attempting to head the ball. It was a clear free kick. I cannot believe how bad Kuqi is. I don't know how he finished off the goal, about 5 minutes prior he had a left foot cross which went straight into the crowd. We didn't capitalise on the possession we had in the first half, let them come back into the game and luckily the linesman put his flag up for an incorrect offside call.

I think the backline played quite well tonight. Keep them 4 for next year and get some depth for the positions.

Bring on Pompey.

[Hasta]

If I had the money, I would bet a fair bit of that we won't get 6th.

396198[/snapback]

You can get 11/10 that we DONT finish in the top 6 on Betfair , if you had the money.

[modes98]

Not quite as frustrating as the spuds game but very close!

The ref had no idea, constantly stopping the game and not letting either team flow.

Rovers had 1 fair goal ruled out and 1 very debatable one given, wigan had 1 fair one ruled out.

Happy with a point even though we should not have been.

Kuqi came up trumps, dickov had no influence in the game and we need a better version of kuqi up front to feed bellers.

It says it all to say that MGP was our threat all match and that nobody else attacking wise was even in the game.

Brad, Zurab and Nelsen all had amazing games, hardly putting a foot wrong. Lucas played well but almost made some unforgiveable errors and gray just looked rushed in every pass forward from a defensive position.

Alot of work to be done if we are to get anything from pompey at the weekend, the rest of season and any european place depends on getting back on track ASAP!

[RevidgeBlue]

Desperately, desperately disappointing performance. By the end we were exceedingly fortunate to get a point.

We started off well for 10 -15 minutes but when we didn't get the goal up we seemed to become edgy and nervous.

Despite playing poorly in the first half it seemed to me from 60 yards away we were then undone by two shocking refereeing decisions. Firstly Bellamy was fouled from what seemed to be at least three yards inside the box. There was probably a valid case for it being only obstruction (Ie indirect free kick) but amazingly the officials bottled out and gave a free kick on the edge of the area.

Next Filan went up for the ball, dropped it, and the resulting "goal" was chalked off.

To balance things up Wigan scored a perfectly legitimate goal but the flag went up for a non existent offside.

If we were poor first half the second half was abysmal. We conceded a soft goal and went from bad to worse. Wigan were far hungrier and were first to the ball every time.

We got very lucky with the goal. Unlike the first half one, looked like a foul on Filan. After that, frustratingly, we played with real purpose for the eight or nine remaining minutes.

Typical Rovers as those of us who have been following the team for any length of time will testify.

Edited April 3, 2006 by RevidgeBlue

[RevidgeBlue]

6. How can a donkey such as Kavanagh, outrun and out muscle the midfield of Tugay and Savage ?

396164[/snapback]

Savage was never involved in the game tonight, I suspect this was because he has to go another few days without a yellow to avoid a further 2 match ban.

Unfair to single him out though. I didn't think anyone came out of tonight with credit.

[colin]

He didn't play that well, but Kuqi changed the game. Suddenly Wigan had problems with long balls. Bellamy may as well have been on his own when Dickov was playing.

396187[/snapback]

Ha! Dickov might as well have been playing on his own when Bellamy was playing too. Not that I blame either of them. Kuqi changed the game in that he was a threat to the Wigan back four who were comfortable with the inexplicable and constant stream of high balls before he came on.

His height and presence gave a bit more punch to the Rovers' attack, we certainly posed more of a threat after he came on.

Overall, only the back four seemed to have come out of this with any credit, the midfield & strikers all had an off-day.

But look at our recent record. 17 games since 10th December we've won 11, drawn 2 & lost 4. This time last year we were 16th with 33 points. We finished the season with 42 points. Tonight we have 53 points.

Cheer up. It just didn't happen tonight. We were rubbish.

[thenodrog]

Champions League.... we're having a larf.

396145[/snapback]

"Fillin the ground ....we're having a larf"

Have you given up going Jim? Or can your bladder not stand 45 mins in the cold these days?

[jim mk2]

. I didn't think anyone came out of tonight with credit.

396206[/snapback]

Ehhh ??? Come off it Simon. Even a one-eyed Tory such as yourself must have noticed the immense contribution of Nelsen. He made at least three goal-saving tackles that I can remember.

[RevidgeBlue]

Hee Hee, punch up between two of my favourite contributors!

Let battle commence!!!!!

[RevidgeBlue]

Ehhh ??? Come off it Simon. Even a one-eyed Tory such as yourself must have noticed the immense contribution of Nelsen. He made at least three goal-saving tackles that I can remember.

396214[/snapback]

Whoops, you've read the other thread then.

Nelsen was ok from what I saw live but then I didn't have the benefit of umpteen action replays on Sky like you so I'll bow to your superior judgement.