[Archived] Rovers 1 Arsenil

[1864roverite]

replay now confirmed wed 28th Feb ko 8pm, reduced ticket prices applied.

15 quid for ST holders

20 quid for non ST holders

reduced prices for kids and oaps.

Looks like a tv appointment as well

[RoversFanUSA]

I must say for not having a huge strike force we did amazing in defence. I feel that there were a lot of easily givin but lost passes and passes that were in essence passed to no one at all. Over VERY happy with the results. We'll get'um at home. I know it!!! By the way Brad is the F'in man! Go USA!!

[bluebruce]

I feel that there were a lot of easily givin but lost passes and passes that were in essence passed to no one at all.

That's my gripe with today. I understand perfectly well why we opted for those tactics, and defensively we were top notch for most of the game. But tactics are no excuse for the terrible passing that occurred when we had possession. I haven't seen us pass it around that badly for many moons.

[Tris]

Am I one of the only people who might have rather had extra-time and penalties today? Just seems like we had the game under control and it will be difficult to do that in the replay.

What a ridiculous comment. Get yourself to some games and you might start to understand the basics. 7 out of 11 Rovers players were dead on their feet when the board went up showing 3 extra minutes - another 30 mins would have been a disaster.

[ultrablue]

Of course we'd rather have a replay. That's what the FA cup's about. We'll probably get beat but who carres - it's another match at Ewood and there aren't many of them left this season. Apparently Hughes was complaining to Henry about Fabregas's comments - according to Sky - and Fabregas did come straight across to the Rovers dressing room to apologise. Guess M. Henry knows who Mark Hughes is even if the arrogant little Spaniard doesn't.

[Rovermatt]

Also, heard this on the radio: Fabregas went up to Hughes and asked "Did you used to play for Barcelona?". Hughes obviously replied "Yes" but Fabregas then said "Well your team don't play like them do they?".

What a fool, I would have smacked him if I were Hughesy

This perfectly sums up Arsenal's petulant attitude regarding opposition tactics. They simply cannot deal with rigid, determined gameplans and unadventurous play. Arsenal insist that teams naively 'play football' against them so that they, as the vastly superior side, can pick off the opponents at will. They then complain and whine should their expected massacre not materialise. The frequency of the snide rhetoric springing from the club has increased in recent years and they won't win another championship until they learn to play around determined opposition.

[herbergeehh]

In fairness to Wenger though, he said something along the lines of; "the problem isn't Blackburn's tactics" and instead blaming his own team for not managing to break down defences who lie low.

[RevidgeBlue]

Aren't the "big clubs" babies on the rare occasions when things don't go exactly their way?

Wenger apparently wants to do away with FA Cup replays altogether and RFW thinks that Cup replays should not apply to Clubs playing in Europe.

Hell, why stop there, why don't we let "the big 4" enter the Cup competitions at the semi final stages and reduce the Premier League to 4 teams so they can play even more meaningless Champions League games and go on various promotional trips around the world?

[Tris]

This perfectly sums up Arsenal's petulant attitude regarding opposition tactics. They simply cannot deal with rigid, determined gameplans and unadventurous play. Arsenal insist that teams naively 'play football' against them so that they, as the vastly superior side, can pick off the opponents at will. They then complain and whine should their expected massacre not materialise. The frequency of the snide rhetoric springing from the club has increased in recent years and they won't win another championship until they learn to play around determined opposition.

It's more than that.

Arsenal - and for that matter Chelsea - seem to thrive on the rapt attention which the stupid media in this country choose to grace them with. They then use this to destroy any match official who dares to make a wrong call against them.

So for us lot - and other small town fans up and down the country - all we see is injustice. Made 10 times worse by skewed coverage and reporting.

[1864roverite]

Dont forget the FA Cup is also rigged this year ! Expect Manure to draw Plymouth at home having despatched Reading in the replay.

Rovers will get hammered by Arsenal in the replay having been given a home draw incentive of Watford at home.

Chelsea will almost certainly get the winners of the City/Preston fixture at home.

You can see it written before the draw takes place on Monday

[rover6]

That's my gripe with today. I understand perfectly well why we opted for those tactics, and defensively we were top notch for most of the game. But tactics are no excuse for the terrible passing that occurred when we had possession. I haven't seen us pass it around that badly for many moons.

I have to say, I'm a little surprised that Mark Hughes and a lot of the fans seem overjoyed with the performance. Yes, we defended well but we were non-existent as an attacking force. Guys like Dunn and Bentley were really off-form when it came to possession football.

Our defence was awesome (Khiz, Nelsen, Samba, Warnock - take a bow) but the midfield and forward were pretty awful. Sure, they ran their hearts out but aren't we paying Arsenal a massive and undeserved compliment by being so chuffed with a 0-0?

I have to admit, I fully expected a defeat, especially with guys injured - so from that point of view, being still in the cup is excellent news. However, I think that our passing game was really dire and we could have offered more of an attacking threat - and maybe we'd have sneaked it bearing in mind Arsenal weren't on top form and some players, Walcott and Ljungberg looked way off their best.

I reckon our best chance is gone but we live to fight another day. And the replay should swell the coffers a bit.

BTW Bruno Berner - what an exciting talent we have there....!.... (To be fair he was playing out of position but he was doing a very good impersonation of Tugay's invisible friend whilst 'on').

[Hasta]

Superb.

Really P!$$$*D . Tactics spot on. Samba and Nelson superb. Read posts tommorow. Bring on th draw.

Edit - not bad for a drunken post. Better than Jordan's.

[Hasta]

I reckon our best chance is gone

[Scotty]

Terrific battling performance that's kept us in the cup against all odds. With the players we had out we really didn't have much option other than to set up the way we did and we executed our tactics superbly. The fact that Arsenal only really had any clear-cut chances at the end when we were out on our feet says it all.

Yet some people still aren't happy! Let's look at the players we had missing: Tugay, Savage, Reid, McCarthy, Pedersen, and Ooijer - at least 5 of which would get into our first 11 I reckon. Add to that players like Dunn, Nelsen, Samba, and Roberts who are all lacking match fitness and it was a performance to be proud of.

And yes, Mokoena is playing pretty well at the moment and showing that he's an important addition to the squad - not that some people will ever admit it.

[emglch]

Great result even though luck was on our side. A home re-play against Arse means more income from gate receipts.

Opportunity for the lads to prove that their 0-2 loss to 10-men arse was an isolated incident.

[philipl]

Terrific battling performance that's kept us in the cup against all odds. With the players we had out we really didn't have much option other than to set up the way we did and we executed our tactics superbly. The fact that Arsenal only really had any clear-cut chances at the end when we were out on our feet says it all.

Yet some people still aren't happy! Let's look at the players we had missing: Tugay, Savage, Reid, McCarthy, Pedersen, and Ooijer - at least 5 of which would get into our first 11 I reckon. Add to that players like Dunn, Nelsen, Samba, and Roberts who are all lacking match fitness and it was a performance to be proud of.

And yes, Mokoena is playing pretty well at the moment and showing that he's an important addition to the squad - not that some people will ever admit it.

Totally agree with you Scotty.

Rover6 and a few others have out done themselves with comments which in my opinion show how utterly bereft of football knowledge they are.

What was fantastic about yesterday's showing (which in my opinion was one of the best results and performances of the season) were:

- the defensive organisation; the Admiral is BACK.

- Samba could be one of the finds of the season. Love the way how he shows he is so emotionally involved as well.

- "Neil" Warnock (anyone else spot that one on Sky) made another bad mistake but lived to tell the tale (again- Nonda rescued him on Wednesday). Hopefully the coaching staff replay the penalty incident repeatedly as it was utterly stupid going in like that on a player going away from goal at the far edge of the box. Let's hope Stepen is learning fast.

- Dunny was beginning to show his true class as well as having a decent all round game.

- strength in the tackle; no more losing all the 50/50s which is what happened in the previous two Arsenal encounters. I've criticised the Axe before but both in Leverkusen and at the Emirates he was winning first and second balls he had no right to.

- when Arsenal went to virtually their first XI with their substitutions, Rovers still held firm albeit with some great action from super Brad. We still have one of the very best between the sticks.

Scotty's point about how limited our squad was yesterday by injuries and less than 100% fit players shows just what a magnificent coaching and motivational set-up we have in Mark Hughes and the team. Lets face it, most of us supporters were viewing this visit to the Emirates with all the anticipation of a trip to the dentists. Sparky clearly learnt from the 6-2 mauling and Fabregas' comments just show him up to be as much a simpleton as some of the posters on here.

Rather like us supporters quaking in our shoes before the trip to the Emirates, this is the nightmare replay for Arsenal when you think about it. Arsene will be in a genuine quandary about playing the kids or a full strength team. His after match comments show how little he is relishing the trip to Ewood on 28 February. Should be a nice TV pay day depending on whether it clashes with the Mancs replay.

I just know we are going to be paired with Chelsea or the Mancs in Monday's draw.

We have winnable home games and must not lose away games between now and the end of the season. This game might well point to more 4-5-1 away days as we have shown we haven't forgotten how to scrap in the way we did at the end of 2004/5.

Off topic but I was really impressed by Reading at OT yesterday.

[Blueboy Downunder]

i agree scotty, i thought we defended superbly throughout and really deserved the chance to go through via replay in 10 days time. i will admit that i am not a big fan of aaron mokoena, and he did play well yesterday because we where there to defend. if we go 1-0 down and are in need to chase the game, then there is no point in having the guy on the pitch, because he gives us absolutely nothing in that sense.

chris samba was outstanding yesterday, his best performance for us since he joined, without doubt. what will be interesting now is to see how sparky approaches the next 10 days. by the time the leverkusen game arrive, it will be 3 games in the space of 7 days, and the master will be an important part of what we want to do in those 3 games, considering he was left out of the game yesterday because he was tired....

[John]

Prior to the match I was fearing the worst. However, I came away from the ground really satisifed.

Few comments:

Nelsen looked sharp and led by example - he is nearly back.

Samba wins everything in the air, very commanding. Doing well for such a young defender.

Thought Dunn looked quite fit, probably 3-4 games (at least) from getting match fit.

The axe played really well and spoiled a lot of their attacks. We were really tight and compact down the middle. It appeared he was under strick instructions to keep his positioning as the deep midfield player.

All in all, a good, resolute peformance. Consdering we had 6-7 first teamers out, some may say that it was a remarkable performance.

[rover6]

Rover6 and a few others have out done themselves with comments which in my opinion show how utterly bereft of football knowledge they are.

What was fantastic about yesterday's showing (which in my opinion was one of the best results and performances of the season)

I will stand by my claims about Mokoena's inadequacies and if he does prove himself to be a decent midfield player I will be man enough to admit I was wrong. However, I don't see what he can do that say Andy Todd in central midfield could not. He is just a big lump who runs around and has Nils Eric Johansson's grace on the ball.

I'm just genuinely surprised by how happy people are with the performance. It's as if we're a lower league team who have defied our vast inferiority and scraped a draw. But we're not - we're a UEFA cup team who are suffering from severe injury problems.

I am in danger of exposing the bereft nature of my footy knowledge here, but I personally am not overjoyed with a wholly negative approach against an Arsenal team that were weakened themselves. I'm all for playing on the counter-attack, keeping things tight but I would expect from any Premiership team, the capacity to mount occasional attacks. We were just embarrassing going forward.

Hughes got it right formation-wise, imo, but I just think that he should have put more emphasis on counter-attacks. You can't play a wholly defensive game with no attacking threat and expect to get anywhere (99 times out of 100). Had Brad not performed his heroics at the end - what would be the mood of people on here? We would have exited the cup barely mustering a shot.

[Fife Rover]

Dont forget the FA Cup is also rigged this year ! Expect Manure to draw Plymouth at home having despatched Reading in the replay.

Rovers will get hammered by Arsenal in the replay having been given a home draw incentive of Watford at home.

Chelsea will almost certainly get the winners of the City/Preston fixture at home.

You can see it written before the draw takes place on Monday

Hmmmm........ Looks like the FA have been having lessons from the SFA on how to do the old warm balls in the pot routine.

[Fife Rover]

I will stand by my claims about Mokoena's inadequacies and if he does prove himself to be a decent midfield player I will be man enough to admit I was wrong. However, I don't see what he can do that say Andy Todd in central midfield could not. He is just a big lump who runs around and has Nils Eric Johansson's grace on the ball.

I'm just genuinely surprised by how happy people are with the performance. It's as if we're a lower league team who have defied our vast inferiority and scraped a draw. But we're not - we're a UEFA cup team who are suffering from severe injury problems.

I am in danger of exposing the bereft nature of my footy knowledge here, but I personally am not overjoyed with a wholly negative approach against an Arsenal team that were weakened themselves. I'm all for playing on the counter-attack, keeping things tight but I would expect from any Premiership team, the capacity to mount occasional attacks. We were just embarrassing going forward.

Hughes got it right formation-wise, imo, but I just think that he should have put more emphasis on counter-attacks. You can't play a wholly defensive game with no attacking threat and expect to get anywhere (99 times out of 100). Had Brad not performed his heroics at the end - what would be the mood of people on here? We would have exited the cup barely mustering a shot.

Rover6: Did you not watch the match on BBC1? On there the pundits explained at half-time with clear diagrams just how the Rovers tactics were intended to work and how by keeping two lines of four right across the park but never allowing the gap between them to grow beyond about 10 yards, we were very effectively denying Arse any space for their strikers or midfield to work into. Hence they could not keep the ball or build up attacking moves against us. Why do you think Brad was virtually redundant until the last few minutes when we relaxed the pincer grip and looked to get a breakaway goal ourselves? These tactics were very well designed and worked perfectly. you complain that we never looked to hit them with a counter attack. That too was explained by Lee Dixon; if we had we would have broken up our two lines of four spaced close together, which would immediately have allowed Arse to attack us and get in behind. Which is exactly what happened in the last few mins when we did go for it and hence Brad had to earn his corn at last.

[USABlue]

Nobody has yet commented on Derbyshires cheeky lofted shot that nearly won us the game..well done lad for having pop and good to have you back......Leverkusen wont know what's hit 'em!

Brilliant that Simon, if Aluminium had been a little closer it would have been in. What's the issue with Rovers tactics? If Benitez or Fergie et al had gone there and done the same no doubt it would be touted as a "Masterful game plan, brilliantly executed" Jeez we just can't buy positive press.

[den]

Our defence was awesome (Khiz, Nelsen, Samba, Warnock - take a bow) but the midfield and forward were pretty awful.

Impossible rover6. No team will get a draw at Arsenal with only the four defenders and a goalkeeper playing well and the rest being awful.

Something must have been going on that you didn't see.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I'm delighted with the result and the level of determination and organisation we showed given the team we were forced to put out. It was great to wipe the smiles off their faces, I'll bet there wasn't much shouting going on in their dressing room after the game this time. However I've got to agree with one or two other posters about the quality of our passing- it was terrible, I lost count of the times we passed the ball directly into touch especially in the first half and the pass Dunny delivered when Nonda made his one intelligent run of the game was a shocker, all it needed was to get the ball behind Arsenal's back four but he hammered it downfield like he had divers boots on.

The goalie, back four and mokoena played like trojans, Emo, Bentley and Berner were quiet, Dunny tried hard and seemed to get better the longer he played, good to see him get a full game .Nonda was just Nonda- why he has to keep running offside on the half way line when he's up front on his own is beyond me, we needed him to hold the ball up not go sprinting downfield. Derbyshire made a difference as soon as he came on, good to have his pace up front.

All in all a good day for the Rovers, if we can get a few back and fully fit for the replay we should be in with a shout.

[Jordan]

Are we the first opposition team to keep a clean sheet at the Emitates Stadium?