[Archived] Chelsea (carling Cup)

[thenodrog]

I tohught it was a good game last night, enjoyed it even though I was sat in row 4 of the Blackburn end in the pouring rain (but what other weather would you expect in Blackburn on an October Night ).

Eh? Then why on earth did you not move nearer to the back? Loads of dry seats with better views of the match!

Heaven helps them that help themselves eddie.

[OhmiBRFC]

I sit row 3 normally (due to the fact my brothers really small and cant see when people stand, and not as many people stand further forward), but asked them to move me due to the rain and my brother wasnt about

[Blue blood]

To me the game answered quite a few questions about our squad.

On the McEveley debate - I don't really think he's up to it. Promising but I'm beginning to think he'll still be promising when he's 31 and will never make the step up. First half Robben was all over him and beat him every time. Second half he did improve defensively (although it'd have been hard not to) but going forward his distribution was poor. Also he was caught out for the first goal. Would much rather Rovers concentrated their efforts on Taylor, and I personally think Gray, errors included, is better both going forward and back.

Peter on the other hand was immense. He looked like a proper old fashioned winger who wasn't afraid to run at his opponent and get to the byline and showed a lot of attacking flair. I certainly wouldn't have any qualms with him entering the team.

Mokoena - didn't seem to cut the mustard for me. He didn't really get stuck in the way Savage or Flitcroft does, nor does he offer much going forward. Was excellent two seasons ago and looks a pale immitation of the Axe we got when he first came into the team.

Henchoz did surprisingly well considering I didn't have high expectations. Ok he's not the fastest player but he seemed quietly efficent for the most part. Discouragingly it means Todd's rovers career is certainly over which is very disappointing.

Overall I felt we were missing too many players, and had several others not in their best positions and it cost us against an uninspiring Chelsea side. I feel if we'd have attacked and got stuck into them more in the first half it'd have been a different game. We showed them far too much respect. Having said that Cole should have walked - which would have made it a different game, but I'm not going to start on the Chelsea bias refs show as I could rant for a long time on it. Needless to say it didn't help our cause.

[krislu]

Nice to see Henchoz get a game, although clearly short of match practice, his inclusion shows its the end for Todd in his Blackburn career.

I don't agree that it was nice to see a rubbish player in the blue and white, but you are spot on regarding Todd. This surely is the end for him at Blackburn Rovers. When the manager decides to start with a player of such low standard insted of yourself, well then you know its time to leave.

[rover6]

Mokoena - didn't seem to cut the mustard for me. He didn't really get stuck in the way Savage or Flitcroft does, nor does he offer much going forward. Was excellent two seasons ago and looks a pale immitation of the Axe we got when he first came into the team.

The Axe was playing in a five man midfield in a very defensively minded side back then. Playing as an orthodox central midfielder in a 4-4-2 is a completely different story. I must say, Mokoena is making a better fist of the role than I thought he would but still not ever gonna be first team material imo.

[92er]

The Axe was playing in a five man midfield in a very defensively minded side back then. Playing as an orthodox central midfielder in a 4-4-2 is a completely different story. I must say, Mokoena is making a better fist of the role than I thought he would but still not ever gonna be first team material imo.

I wonder if he would improve with a number of consecutive matches under his belt-he has done quite well at times although he was disappointing on Wednesday.

[thenodrog]

Todd's agent revealed that he was getting stale at Blackburn of that bung show, Hughes obviously wants him to know what getting stale really means.