[Archived] Aston Villa V Rovers

[modes98]

I saw the penalty decision, terrible, terrible decision. OOyah tried his best to pull his arm AWAY, loooked to me like th eball hit him on the front of his shoulder/chest.

Oojer's one is pathetic, all the rovers fans saw it clearly enough and the ref appeared to at first. Not to mention the fact that not 1 player appealed or looked at the ref.

As for Petrov the ref has got the perfect angle to see that and not giving it only compounds an already awful performance. Just as we were getting into the game we had the wind taken out of our sails by an assistant who didn't go to specsavers and a ref who really should stick with his decision.

[des]

it was never a pen, however rovers to me did lack a bit of bite in the middle of the park, and while I do unsderstand that if MH could find the right player at the right price, then he was right in not buying yet. However the key word is yet.

Come Jan we will need another midfield player and cover for both full backs. mean while we can but keep on going and just battle through this. Look at West Ham and how in two games there whole season now looks different, and with two wins in a row the same can happen to us.

[stuwilky]

Interesting how you have complete morons

I thought you disapproved of insulting posts?

hypocrit?

Come Jan we will need another midfield player and cover for both full backs. mean while we can but keep on going and just battle through this. Look at West Ham and how in two games there whole season now looks different, and with two wins in a row the same can happen to us.

I think that is quite true, but do we have the necessary funds in place, and the players on the shortlist?

Im afraid with the list of injuries I just cannot see where a win is going to come from at the moment, I usually relish the United match at Ewood, this season I just dont fancy it. Especially given that they are on fire at the moment and we are playing like a bunch of WAGS.

[colin]

Bear with me while I have a ranty-muse.

After losing to Villa, West Ham and Bolton (in no particular order) I have this sense of deja vu. We lost all three games having without having a decent shout of winning any of them.

We've been playing in a sort of dull matt-gray, really uninteresting miasma fashion.

It hasn't been seen since six months after Hughes arrived, but people who can remember the bad bits of the Hartson/Hodgson/Souness years will probably know what I mean.

There is just no zip or zest about the team at the moment. They are playing like they know they are going to lose. The team is lacking zip, it's like chilli con carne without chilli. It's like cold salted porridge for breakfast.

I don't know if it'll take a decent win against The Red Scum to kickstart it all again - possibly it will - but I don't think that will happen.

I reckon that it will take a bit of attitude on the part of the players to get themselves back on track. The sort of attitide that Jeffers made when he grabbed the ball for that penalty against Basle. The attitude that, in the same game, MGP told Grey to take the throw-in against his back. He did it.

Chutzpah!

[Tris]

There's nothing to worry about Colin.

We have a team full of individuals who are motivated by the one off shop window occasion - it's been the same for many seasons irrespective of manager or home attendance.

Man Utd at Ewood is the pinnacle of the season for some of the no-hopers who will wear the shirt on Saturday evening. Uncle Barry and Aunty Mavis will be watching on TV so the useless numpties who disgraced our club at Villa Park will waltz out and put on half a show for TV.

In preparation for the time which will soon be upon us, when viewers tune in to watch the lovely stands rather than the football. It's all here.

Very seriously - we have a problem. The players make their own motivation when it comes to big games against big teams with the shop window provided by TV. The players have performed admirably in the European games - and why not. So have the fans.

The run of the mill stuff is an inconvenience for everyone. Villa was the quietest game I've ever been to as a Rovers fan. We have been few in number for ages, but never quiet. The players clearly didn't want to be there, and neither did the few fans who bothered.

The management cannot motivate the players for the run of the mill stuff like Villa. Simple as. Nothing to do with fitness or 2 games a week, it's about focus and priorities. The players don't care about the league, because Europe is the priority this season.

[Scotty]

Bear with me while I have a ranty-muse.

After losing to Villa, West Ham and Bolton (in no particular order) I have this sense of deja vu. We lost all three games having without having a decent shout of winning any of them.

We've been playing in a sort of dull matt-gray, really uninteresting miasma fashion.

It hasn't been seen since six months after Hughes arrived, but people who can remember the bad bits of the Hartson/Hodgson/Souness years will probably know what I mean.

There is just no zip or zest about the team at the moment. They are playing like they know they are going to lose. The team is lacking zip, it's like chilli con carne without chilli. It's like cold salted porridge for breakfast.

Eh? We should have won the Bolton game and, despite playing badly, probably deserved a point against West Ham. I haven't seen anything of the Villa game other than the brief MotD highlights, we obviously played badly again, but there are reasons why this happened. We have 6 first team players out injured, some of our best players as well, and have been playing twice a week for most of the season. We just don't have a big enough squad to cope at the moment, we simply can't afford one, so we're in a bit of a slump.

The management cannot motivate the players for the run of the mill stuff like Villa. Simple as. Nothing to do with fitness or 2 games a week, it's about focus and priorities. The players don't care about the league, because Europe is the priority this season.

I love the way you say this like it's a fact. Personally, I don't agree at all.

As I said above, it's clear to me that we're struggling with injuries and the amount of games we've had to play is catching up with us. We're a team that relies on hard work and effort and we just don't seem to have the energy at the moment that we usually have.

And it may get worse before it gets better as we've got Man U next - a team that are in good enough form to beat us at our best, let alone when we're weakened by injuries. However, if you look at our next few games, we're up against teams that are either near us or below us in the league. We also don't have the same sort of busy schedule that we have had recently - we've only got 4 more games this month and there are some gaps in between where Hughes and his staff can get some meaningful work done on the training ground and some our players can get fit again.

We're in a poor run but I've not got any worries at all yet. We're a good team with a great management team, and I fully expect us to be in the top half of the table by Xmas.

[daren]

Well said, Scotty. I can see why some people get down, personally I was after West Ham. At times Rovers are really frustrating. By at times, I think sometimes it's every second game

But you're right. We're struggling with a small squad, a _very_ busy schedule (if teams like Man U, Chelsea and Arsenal can suffer from "the Euro hangover" with their giant squads, then we're allowed to with our small one) and a very bad injury list. I think just about any team in the Prem would be missing Nelsen, never mind five other first team players on top of that.

People saying that "Hughes should be blamed because he didn't strengthen " clearly missed the part where we're still hearing about players he tried to get, and we'll never know the half of it. He likes his quiet transfer dealings, remember? I'm certain it was the same last summer, too. And as a mid-level premiership club with limited resources, we just cannot get anyone we want.

Now, for my opinions on players. I'm feeling sorry for Gamst. He's clearly lacking confidence in a big way. After the Basel game he was interviewed and he just looked lost. This needs to be fixed as apparently he's not getting dropped. For me, a lot of our problems are coming from the left. Mickey isn't the fastest, and Gamst isn't covering him. Morten also has a horrible habit of diving in towards a challenge and getting skinned for his troubles. Gray can't manage on his own and the end result is disaster after disaster coming from the left. If either of them were on top form, we might get away with it, but frankly, they aren't.

Centre midfield is a problem, we're getting consistently overrun there. Someone needs to explain to the Axe the concepts of "the simple pass" and "not losing the ball just in front of your defence". The funny thing is, I've seen him play well. Maybe he just needs a run of games....and it looks like he'll get one. You CANNOT play Bentley and Tugs together in the middle of the park on their own. I'd like to see the 4-5-1 with Bentley, Tugs, and the Axe in the centre, with Bentley as the attacking midfielder, and Gallager on the right. Nonda, for me, still doesn't look fully fit. He's shown enough to suggest that if and when he does get fully fit, he'll be a good signing.

I noticed against Basel that Ooijer has an immense range of accurate passing. Maybe he could work as a holding midfielder and Todd could come back beside Zurab? Unless he's still ooking for the toys he threw out of the pram earlier in the season. And Hughes lets him.

Benni, oh Benni. i have a problem with him. He looks a real class act, but I wish he'd stop sulking when things don't go his way. He has a tendancy to switch off at that point. Again, still not settled for me. He's also finding it very frustrating, like the rest of us, at how very static we go at times. The boys have got to be more pro-active looking for space.

The irritating thing is, we all know that we can play better than we're showing. It seems to almost be a confidence issue (which is mad, because we got into the UEFA cup last year) but it's all very tentative out there at the moment. It's just not positive enough. If they'd just relax and bloody well play football like we know they can they'd be fine.

And lastly, is there an ignore function?

[Walls]

Two of the most sensible posts I've read on here in donkey's from Scotty and daren. Aggree whole heartidly with the points raised especially relating to the fact that Todd should come in. However I think it should be in partnership with Oojer - and it should be Zurub who is dropped. Personally I think that a lot of the goals we have leaked this season have been down to him. During the first few matches we conceded goals as a result of opposition players finding acres between Neill and Zurab. More recently he seems to have become error prone as well. The 1st against WH started with a weak header by him and also the 2nd Villa goal was his fault as well. I've read many people blame Gray for this but Gray was played into trouble by whoever knocked it back to him and had to get rid quick. He played it to Zurab who should have just booted it up the pitch. He is a defender 1st and foremost. No fannying around - just get rid. He tried to have a touch and got tackled.

We need to be tougher at the back and Todd is just the man for that. I don't know if he's been ommited as a result of a fall out or an injury but if fit he should come back in for the Man Utd match.

[Jan]

I've read many people blame Gray for this but Gray was played into trouble by whoever knocked it back to him and had to get rid quick.

Fairly sure that was Gamst

[USABlue]

Good sensible posts Scotty and daren, echoes much of what I feel. We will come out of this, pretty confident.

[colin]

Eh? We should have won the Bolton game and, despite playing badly, probably deserved a point against West Ham.

Walls, Daren , USA Blue, Scotty.

I'm not really an optimist or a pessimist, but I think you are all looking at a half-full glass here.

We are currently being being beaten by sides that we should either be winning against or getting a point if we are going to progress.

Simple as.

No excuses, the results are lining up against us. If Rovers was a decent team then we would have beaten West Ham,(who were there for the taking. Fragile, completely lacking in confidence) Bolton ( local derby full house at Ewood), and got a draw against Villa.

There is something a bit wrong in the BRFC camp at the moment and I trust MH to get it right. If we beat The Ref Scum on Saturday I'll be as happy as Larry (as my Mum used to say.)

Thing is I don't think we wil beat them, not with what we are dishing up at the moment.

[Jan]

Walls, Daren , USA Blue, Scotty.

I'm not really an optimist or a pessimist, but I think you are all looking at a half-full glass here.

We are currently being being beaten by sides that we should either be winning against or getting a point if we are going to progress.

Simple as.

No excuses, the results are lining up against us. If Rovers was a decent team then we would have beaten West Ham,(who were there for the taking. Fragile, completely lacking in confidence) Bolton ( local derby full house at Ewood), and got a draw against Villa.

There is something a bit wrong in the BRFC camp at the moment and I trust MH to get it right. If we beat The Ref Scum on Saturday I'll be as happy as Larry (as my Mum used to say.)

Thing is I don't think we wil beat them, not with what we are dishing up at the moment.

We should be winning IF our first team was playing. Our first team is nearly all in the sick room and we're playing on scraps. Bolton we should have won, West Ham we didn't have a hope in hell after all the publicity about their manager. Oh and Villa are 4th and have (arguably) the best manager in the league.

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

Please forgive me for a typically verbose introduction. I'll then go on to discuss the aftermath of the Villa Park shambles.

On Monday, Mark Hughes joined his former Man United team-mates Bryan Robson, Steve Bruce and Peter Schmeichel together with a number of well-known Premiership bosses such as David Moyes, Martin O’Neill and Sam Allardyce, for a lunch at Manchester's Hilton Hotel to mark Alex Ferguson's 20th anniversary at Old Trafford.

Perhaps Mark Hughes, as much as anyone else, was partly responsible (or should I say partly to blame) for keeping the Scottish ogre in a job for so long at United, because in the 1989/90 season, after some disastrous results in the League, such as losing 5-1 to Man City, Ferguson was under huge pressure from the Old Trafford crowd, many of whom were calling for him to be sacked on a regular basis.

I don't know for certain if Ferguson would have been sacked if United hadn't gone on to win the FA Cup in 1990, but I do know that with just six minutes left of extra-time in the Cup final with Palace that year, Man United were trailing 3-2, until Hughes scored a dramatic equaliser (his second goal of the match) to level the score at 3-3.

Had Sparky not scored that late equaliser, then the pressure on Ferguson may well have reached breaking point after a season in which United finished just five points above the relegation zone. The cantankerous Scotsman unfortunately survived though. United won the Cup final replay 1-0 and the rest, as they say, is history.

It was apparently Mark Hughes who first coined the nickname "The Hairdryer" for Fergie. As a player for United, Sparky's wavy shoulder length hair often got blown into place in the dressing room after a match when Fergie let rip with a ferocious rant standing a couple of inches in front of the players faces. Perhaps one or two of the Rovers players who disgraced themselves at Villa Park on Sunday, may well have benefited from a short sharp dose of the hairdryer from Mr Hughes.

I don't know if Hughes had a pop at them after the match. But in my opinion, he bloody well ought to have done. Because the performance, just like the shambles at Upton Park a week earlier, was completely unacceptable in my view.

Managers can hide behind excuses such as tiredness and injuries, but nothing excuses the woeful lack of effort - indeed the downright contempt that the Rovers players displayed for the fans who had travelled to Villa Park. A team, which as Tris rightly says, couldn't be arsed to perform on Sunday. They lack the individual motivation and the sense of responsibility to put in the required 100% effort in run of the mill Premiership matches.

Our defence, previously a strong point of Mark Hughes's management, is now letting us down on a regular basis. After the three previous Premiership matches in a row where Rovers conceded soft goals at corners through dreadful marking, we also now have individual players (namely Zurab) guilty of ridiculous schoolboy errors when in possession of the ball in the penalty box, gifting Villa a goal on Sunday.

In midfield our problems are evident for all to see. None of the present team can tackle properly. Mokoena is useless in a midfield four. If I had my way he'd be booted back off to South Africa in January. We're relying on a 36-year-old to provide any semblance of creativity. When Tugay is shackled, as he was on Sunday, then the midfield has bugger all creativity. There's nobody else with the vision and ingenuity to create enough quality clear-cut chances.

Finally, the two up front:

The starting front two were hopeless - Jeffers was a slight improvement but for me this is a big problem area.

I'm pleased that Tris and Bing have both recognised how ineffective and idle this pair were on Sunday. It was like a return to the bad old days of Dwight Yorke. I haven't been convinced so far by Mr Nonda and although Benni McCarthy has scored some important goals for us, he can and SHOULD be doing more for us in certain games.

At the very highest level, strikers need to do more than just score every couple of games. They need to work their balls off, link up the play and create space and chances for others. I'm afraid I'm not one of those who feels that the sun shines out of Benni's black backside. The top managers in the world will tell you that it's not enough just to score every so often, if you don't also put in the required effort at all times for the overall good of the team.

We've had much debate in recent months about attendances, culminating in a very disappointing crowd at home to Basle last week. While not defending the stay-aways, perhaps it's to a certain extent understandable if some fans can't be bothered to attend, when they see players (earning lucrative seven-figure salaries) who can't be arsed to put in the effort on the pitch.

In the match prior to Basle, the Rovers players put in a disgraceful first-half display against West Ham. Perhaps some fans who saw that horrendous performance at Upton Park thought to themselves: "Why should I pay money to watch this type of rubbish."

After three successive Premiership defeats, Mark Hughes needs to get back to basics and spell out in no uncertain terms to the players that they have a duty to wear the blue and white shirt with pride - and a lack of effort from anybody is completely unacceptable.

[modes98]

Went down to Chelsea v Villa, very amusing to see chelsea ease 4 past Villa without even getting into 2nd gear.

God knows why we didn't turn up on sunday but a team that played as badly as villa did yesterday we should have beaten!

Bring em on at ewood!

[philipl]

"At the very highest level, strikers need to do more than just score every couple of games."