[Archived] Blackburn Rovers 0 Bayer Leverkusen 0

[Flopsy]

Theno - they were spanish, and the standard of the officiating in Spain is at its best, worse than D'urso, Dowd and Rennie at their worse combined.

missed a midfielder to kick lumps out of the opposition and give the ball to the creative one.

[Fife Rover]

A couple of things we will probably all agree on, the referee, and to an extent the linesmen, were the worst ever seen at Ewood. The referee lost control of the game and had no idea how to regain it. A couple of early bookings were needed to draw a line and stick to it. There were many offences, of all types, that would have earned a booking in the PL. Secondly Bayer came for a draw, knew what to do and achieved their objective.

We lost the tie through sloppy defending in Germany and failing to take chances in both legs. I've been worried about McCarthy for sometime and last night proved the point again, and again. He seems to be disconnected from the play, often so far from his strike partner there is no chance of any inter-play. It looks as though we are palying with one striker, not two. I'm not looking for a scapegoat, just my current feelings on Benni. Overall the team played OK but we didn't see a single outstanding performance, you couldn't walk away saying so-and-so played well. It was very average with no player providing the spark needed on the night.

In midfield and defence Bayer played well for long periods. They truely defended from the front with their strikers harassing our defence throughout the game, chasing every ball and giving no time to play out of defence. Any Rovers player in attacking poessession immediately found himself opposed by two Bayer players, they closed us down time after time forcing errors and misplaced passes. On top of this there were several periods in the game when Bayer kept the ball with plenty of simple, going nowhere passes. We did nothing to challenge this with our defence and midfield sitting very deep and allowing them to play with the ball in their own half or even 10-15 yards into ours. Clearly we didn't want to concede but letting Bayer play keep ball was daft and only boosted their confidence.

Another very noticeable problem, and this has been happening for a while, is the lack of support for our strikers from midfield. The physical gap is often 20, 25, 30 yards or so leaving two against four on many occassions. We don't have midfielders arriving near the opposition box to create extra pressure on the opposition. Last night this was a real problem until the last ten minutes, when we did push forward Bayer began to panic.

Rovers did OK but not enough. We could and should have won this tie as we were clearly the better team overall, but we didn't do enough. Hughes will know this and I hope he's making the point to the team. We need players to stand up and be counted, last night they didn't. For the rest of the season the emphasis needs to be on getting the midfield and strikers to work more as a unit, especially getting the midfield to arrive int he last 25 yards or closer and create a bit of panic.

Arsenal next and I'll take a beating on Sunday if we can get past the gunners. This team was good enough to get to Glasgow and should be able to get us to Wembley. Whether or not any of us will be able to afford the tickets remains to be seen?

I agree with virtually all you say above Paul; but wrt to the highlighted bit: I thought Gamst was oustanding. He was our best player by a distance and might have scored from one his free kicks early on. Having said that, SOME (not all) of his corners were poor. Some of them were perfect; it was the response from the recipients that was poor.

For me the biggest miss for Rovers was not having Reid and Savage playing. Those two would have made the difference.

However, not to be. The team we had did their best. Now it's time to get behind them again as we concentrate on the FA Cup and getting a EUFA place for next season.

[roversmum]

Not feeling much better this morning

[stuwilky]

I was a reasonably pleased with the performance to be honest. We lacked a cutting edge ...

Sorry joey, but how does that make sense?

[Paul]

Sorry if this has been mentioned earlier but I haven't had time to read through all of the comments, but does anyone else feel like we fell at the first hurdle? I know that some will say that it was a great achievement for a club of our "size" to make it to the last 32 of the UEFA Cup, but I have to disagree. The achievement was in qualifying for the tournament through the league, once we had done that we have flattered to decieve. Although our record up until this round was impressive it really should have been. We played few quality sides and we were favourites for pretty much every game we played, including this round in my opinion. We let ourselves down in both legs in one way or another and managed to get knocked out by a side who aren't playing particularly well in the league at the moment and who were made to look very average by English opposition earlier in the competition. We had the opportunity to do something special and we failed and I'm not sure when we will next have this chance, it probably won't be next year. This may seem a harsh assessment of our season and I may not feel the same way in 24 hours time, but I think we are one game away from having a very average season. It seems unlikely that we will be able to qualify for Europe through the league and our failure last night means that if we don't beat Arsenal in the replay then the rest of the season will have something of the feeling of going through the motions.

I don't think it's harsh Eddie, in fact I'd agree with you, though I feel you underestimate the achievement of reaching the last 32. Rovers European record was awful so reaching this stage has been a real achievement.

We had the opportunity to do something special and we failed and I'm not sure when we will next have this chance, it probably won't be next year.

This is the bit that really hurts me. We did have the opportunity to do something very special. I've had rooms reserved in Glasgow for months as I truely believed we could go all the way. We haven't seen opposition to frighten us. I haven't dared speak this but I was begining to think we'd win in Glasgow. The opportunity was there, the competition was opening up for us.

Two people told me this might be the last chance to follow Rovers away in Europe. Hopefully this is temporary 'cos I have to do it sometime. Best cancel the hotel now

[mike at picture]

Last chance? Give over! Bolton are on the verge of The Champs League. Dont you believe that we can at least equal their achievements?

[Paul]

I thought Gamst was oustanding. He was our best player by a distance and might have scored from one his free kicks early on.

He was certainly our best player but I'm not sure I'd say he was outstanding on the night.

I have just one more thought. To date we've done well, very well in the FA Cup. I'm starting to get a gut feeling about this one. Arsenal is a massive hurdle but with City on the horizon and the promise of a sell-out real old-style cup-tie and then the semis? Who knows? The Arsenal game is absolutely massive and I hope Hughes has them fired up to go out and blast the Gunners to kingdom come. We can do it, I know we can do it, we just need the team to believe.

My only worry about the FA Cup is will we be able to afford cup final tickets.

[Paul]

Last chance? Give over! Bolton are on the verge of The Champs League. Dont you believe that we can at least equal their achievements?

I think they menat this season. Maybe we can but it's going to take a huge effort to qualify for Europe next season, or see the UEFA places drop down the PL, which requires all sorts of unpredictable circumstances.

[CAPT KAYOS]

The opportunity was there, the competition was opening up for us.

Two people told me this might be the last chance to follow Rovers away in Europe. Hopefully this is temporary 'cos I have to do it sometime.

As I said before Paul , alot of us feel the same which is why I feel like I do today - especially (and not trying to rub this in)I didn't get the chance to travel this campaign but have on previous and know what its like to follow the team into Europe.

[mike at picture]

Euro Qualification over for me this season. However, with the current manager and coaching team we WILL qualify again soon.

[roversmum]

Last chance? Give over! Bolton are on the verge of The Champs League. Dont you believe that we can at least equal their achievements?

Given the talent we have I would like to think so.

However, on several occasions this season we have seemed not to be up for it - or only turned up for one half of the match. This needs to be addressed, and as we have a more than decent squad these days apart from maybe midfield (through injury) I don't understand why given that there is competition for places. I got used to seeing it during Souey's reign and thought we had got over it. Some of last season's matches were magnificant and I had hoped for many more of the same this time around. I'm almost back to Lawro's 'I don't see where the goals are going to come from'.

Or is it just that I had a bad night's sleep last night and the blue and white tinted glasses are a bit cloudy?

[Paul Mellelieu]

I don't want to sound like a broken record, but we played well enough to win this one, except we didn't take our chances. I'm not sure that a defensice midfield player was what we needed, as he would have had nothing to do. Dunn is a long way from fitness, but did improve as the game went on and bayer retreated, whichn is also why Derbyshire didn't make the impact he can.

[G Somerset Rover]

I'm almost back to Lawro's 'I don't see where the goals are going to come from'.

I worry of this too. Gamst aside, to state the obvious we've lacked a real cutting edge in recent games. In my opinion we could do with a revamp of our strikeforce come the end of the season-which is perhaps worrying given that we did the same thing at the end of the last campaign.

[Zulu]

Last chance? Give over! Bolton are on the verge of The Champs League. Dont you believe that we can at least equal their achievements?

Well, no not really.

And before anybody starts, I'm not laughing about your exit last night. I thought you had a great tournament and I wanted to see you go further.

[pleasure]

wonderful piece of writing, capt. i agree whole-heartedly.

I'm still heart-broken.

the 'bent' officials , our 'hit and hope/ longball style', lack of midfielders nonda's ineptitude and our poor finishing have all been well documented.

I'm more disappointed in Mr McCarthy. I've defended his recent displays, and excused him for being tired etc..., but his display last night was inexcusable.

he reminded me of Dwight Yorke, and showed a distinct lack of effort and commitment to the cause.

he confirmed it was all about his mindset, by back-chatting and whingeing to rovers fans, who shouted encouragement to him.

1 lad near me, who travels over from Ireland for every home game, praised benni for winning a throw.

benni then looked at him, shook his head and muttered at him. it happened again, further along from me later in the game.

I could excuse him if they were getting on his back, but these fans were encouraging him, and nothing could've been lost in translation.

there is no rift between benni and MH, but there could be between him and the fans.

the crowd was superb, both in terms of numbers and volume.

rovers always disappoint when we get a big home support in.

hope those same fans return for sunday/ the arsenal replay, but I fear some may have been put off.

[waggy]

got a few irons in the fire to commenerate this fine season in the uefa cup,and a little something for one lucky fan ticket

[CircoW]

Let's have a bit of a reality check here. It is the best run we have ever had in Europe, we've had some great trips, good performances and, even if we did fail to take our chances last night, the players will be better and a lot stronger from the experience.

Just seems to me that there is a feeling that English clubs should just roll other teams over in Europe - a view that stems from the fact that everyone has an over-inflated opinion of the Premiership and its quality.

We had enough chances to beat Bayer last night, didn't take advantage, weren't synical enough or strong enough defensively away from home and went out.... but we'll be back, don't worry about that.

[Eddie]

wonderful piece of writing, capt. i agree whole-heartedly.

I'm still heart-broken.

the 'bent' officials , our 'hit and hope/ longball style', lack of midfielders nonda's ineptitude and our poor finishing have all been well documented.

I'm more disappointed in Mr McCarthy. I've defended his recent displays, and excused him for being tired etc..., but his display last night was inexcusable.

he reminded me of Dwight Yorke, and showed a distinct lack of effort and commitment to the cause.

he confirmed it was all about his mindset, by back-chatting and whingeing to rovers fans, who shouted encouragement to him.

1 lad near me, who travels over from Ireland for every home game, praised benni for winning a throw.

benni then looked at him, shook his head and muttered at him. it happened again, further along from me later in the game.

I could excuse him if they were getting on his back, but these fans were encouraging him, and nothing could've been lost in translation.

there is no rift between benni and MH, but there could be between him and the fans.

the crowd was superb, both in terms of numbers and volume.

rovers always disappoint when we get a big home support in.

hope those same fans return for sunday/ the arsenal replay, but I fear some may have been put off.

Not defending his performance last night or those of recent weeks but could you actually hear what he was saying? I am always reluctant to be critical of body language, it varies so much from player to player and what appears to be negative can just be the way the players deal with things (Henry being the perfect example). He certainly needs to pull his finger out, though I think that is something several of our players need to do and quite frankly I think Hughes needs to as well. We've shown a lot of ambition in the last 18 months, unfortunately in order to achieve our objectives we have to come up with the goods when they are really needed and this season we haven't done it when it has really mattered. The Arsenal game will be season defining and could also play a huge part in the future of the club for the next couple of seasons; no European football would be a huge loss.

[joey_big_nose]

Sorry joey, but how does that make sense?

Well lacking a cutting edge is a shame, but it's only part of the game. We dominated possession and defended well and created a few opportunities. By no means was it an ideal performance but it wasn't bad.

[only2garners]

I'm inclined to think that last night's performance wasn't really that much different to most of our European performances this season, except that last night we didn't take a chance. Against Basel it wasn't looking great for 75 minutes until Tugay pulled out a master strike and they went to pieces. Against Nancy we won a match we didn't really deserve to with the last kick. Away at both Krakow and Feyenoord we could easily have drawn and lost respectively - maybe they wouldn't have been deserved results but it could easily have happened.

Clearly we have a few players below par (too many matches) and others just feeling their way to fitness and into the team but we still made a number of chances last night against a team in ultra defensive mode - we just didn't take them.

[JamieUK]

hope those same fans return for sunday/ the arsenal replay, but I fear some may have been put off.

I've been put off! I cant remember the last time I watched Rovers at home and enjoyed how we played. Granted we havent been at home very much in the last few weeks but looking back :

Boro - Won 2-1. Scabbed it in the end after Boro scored and looked like they would go on and get another.

Arsenal - Lost 2-0. Played against 10 men for most of the game and still didnt really threaten them.

Sheff Utd - Won 2-1. Again scabbed it - this time in the last minute.

I've had my season ticket for 15 years and hardly ever miss a home game (only if I'm out of the country) but after last night I'm thinking of missing the match on Sunday.

As a lot of people have said - I feel so let down & dissapointed. I think some time apart may be best for our relationship.

[Fife Rover]

28961

With approx 7000 from Dingleland.

And that is one of the reasons why I want the dingles and our other Lancashire teams up in the Prem with us. All this garbage about never wanting them to win anything again and to go to hell or worse just makes no sense at all. Might relieve the pent up emotions of a few numpties but it wont help pay the bills at Ewood, and neither will Lancashire United!

[Paul Mellelieu]

Just checking Jamie. You're not seriuos are you?

[waggy]

i reckon we can still make europe next season,good run in the league and the fa cup to come everyone who went away this season must have enjoyed it,i reckon we will make europe

[mike at picture]

I've been put off! I cant remember the last time I watched Rovers at home and enjoyed how we played. Granted we havent been at home very much in the last few weeks but looking back :

Boro - Won 2-1. Scabbed it in the end after Boro scored and looked like they would go on and get another.

Arsenal - Lost 2-0. Played against 10 men for most of the game and still didnt really threaten them.

Sheff Utd - Won 2-1. Again scabbed it - this time in the last minute.

I've had my season ticket for 15 years and hardly ever miss a home game (only if I'm out of the country) but after last night I'm thinking of missing the match on Sunday.

As a lot of people have said - I feel so let down & dissapointed. I think some time apart may be best for our relationship.

Jamie, I have had periods when I have fallen out with Rovers. That was in the days when the club was run by a board with a spirit crushing lack of ambition and was represented by journeymen players. This team and manager as well as the club need and deserve your support. Get down there on Sunday