[Archived] Blackburn Rovers 0 Bayer Leverkusen 0

[CAPT KAYOS]

Yes, it was a great stop.

Mmm ... haven't seen any proper great saves then?

That was a routine easy save for a goalie - fair do's to Dunny he did everything right ie headed it down, bar probably putting it in the wrong position.

The one from Benni was better in terms of closing down and anticipation

[yorkblues]

i have had 4 very good away trips but the feeling i had this morning was like the one after the Palace game .

jordan travel was good do you remember the two black germans coiln hendry the big scotish man dose he still play for you

[yorkblues]

i do think we missed Aaron Mokoena last night

[CAPT KAYOS]

i do think we missed Aaron Mokoena last night

I don't - we needed Wonder Woman not the Incredible Hulk

[Ray-Von]

Mmm ... haven't seen any proper great saves then?

That was a routine easy save for a goalie - fair do's to Dunny he did everything right ie headed it down, bar probably putting it in the wrong position.

The one from Benni was better in terms of closing down and anticipation

I'll bow to your superior knowledge. It looked a pretty good reflex save from where I was sitting.

[yorkblues]

I don't - we needed Wonder Woman not the Incredible Hulk

wonder woman would have been nice red hot pants

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

Oh and a bit of advice, punching the back of your own seat on the BBE because the useless Spanish referee has made another unbelievably bad decision will not help. You'll just have a sore hand the day after.

I think I might sit near you, saw the back of a chair go flying past at full time.

Ah well, I knew with all the "We are playing Lens next" stuff we were gonna get knocked out. At least this way we can focus on the league and possibly the FA, as long as we don't mess it up next Wens

[RevidgeBlue]

The one from Benni was better in terms of closing down and anticipation

I've just watched the match again (glutton for punishment) and that was actually a superb block by the defender not a save although I'm not certain Benni couldn't have done a lot better having done well to create the chance in the first place.

I got a rather different perspective of the game watching it again, I felt the turning point was Benni's glaring miss on 70 mins. What made it even worse was the fact that if he had missed the ball altogether Derbyshire was perfectly positioned in the centre for a tap in into an empty net.

Nonda's miss looked even worse than it did last night. The keeper sold himself completely and all Nonda had to do was lift it over him. Instead he got his body horribly skew wiff and screwed the ball well wide.

Ramelow should have walked after cynically chopping down Nelsen then throwing Pedersen to the floor. Didn't even get one yellow. A shocking tackle on Dunn also went completely unpunished.

We actually got some very good crosses in at times which the Germans defended superbly.

The ref's performance looked equally as bad as it did live. We now have a definitive answer on taking a quick free kick. You can take one if you're Manchester United but you can't if you're Blackburn Rovers.

Very frustrating - should have been a 2-0 win and everyone would have been happy.

[Jordan]

i have had 4 very good away trips but the feeling i had this morning was like the one after the Palace game .

jordan travel was good do you remember the two black germans coiln hendry the big scotish man dose he still play for you

Got in last night and didn't say a word to my parents. Went to bed and all I could think was 'Nonda you fcuking idiot'. Today was not much better. I had Leeds fans singing 'your not singing anymore' when I walking into the office and an e-mail from a scummer saying 'whats that going out the cup, is it the rovers? its the rovers'.

I cannot descibe how gutted I am.

As Yorkblues rightly says we have had four fantastic away trip courtesy of the Rovers and we are all very lucky to support such a team. I hope last nights result will give the team that little push to try and get back in it next season and makes Wednesdays game so much more important.

I have some great memories from the trips.

Salzburg - That night before the game in the Irish Bar was unbelievable and before the game in that massive beer garden.

Krackow - Going to a lovely city and getting absolutly leathered after the game. Also met some great people over there.

Feyenoord - What can I say, we painted Rotterdam Blue and White. Great result and a brilliant support from the fans.

Leverkusen - Without a doubt the best trip. The beer, the carneval, beerman, sandwich man, the revolving toilet, michael jackson, wheres my roof?

The team gave it all last night. I know I mentioned Nonda's chance but it was his goal in Germany which set us up for a great chance of going through.

Not to worry - Bring on the Pompy.

Oh and Jordan Travel will be back in business in July for Preson (pre-season). Preson is a lot better and sounded good when me and Vicky were making up words.

[92er]

For me the bottom line was that we had enough clear cut chances to win this game easily.

I thought Pedersen had a game second half and Dunn imporved as the game went on. I'm surprised that noone has mentioned how well the crowd got behind the team in the second half. it's the loudest I've heard the Rovers fans for some time and at 25k the largest number of home fans in the ground for many, many years.

Possibly the largest Rovers at home following since the ground was rebuilt.

[92er]

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.

I thought the reason we did not go through was not because the Germans defended so ably, or that they kept the ball so well but because we missed so many chances over the 2 legs, starting with Roberts' chance in the 1st minute of the first leg and terminating with Nonda's chance at the end of the 2nd leg, with quite a few in between. Are our strikers good enough? I think the overall quality might be higher than last year's bunch, but without anyone getting near to Bellamy's ability. I suspect MH will try to offload Jeffers and not sign Nonda, on the same basis that he did not sign Pongolle last year: someone better might be available for the next 12 months. We certainly could benefit from strikers who could take more advantage of the quite amazing crosses that are coming in at times from the wings.

I think that only very rarely have the midfield supported the strikers by having them getting into the penalty area in the MH era. At times Reid has done this, but not that consistently, but even though the headless chicken might run all over the place, he still does not get into the box very often. I also think MH will have difficult decisions to make about his central midfield. I personally think that Tugay's most profitable time for us was when we played in an extremely defensive fashion under Souness to avoid relegation and he played further upfield than normal. Not only was he able to concentrate on being positive, the team benefited by not suffering from his mistakes in front of the defense, and his inability to tackle. But who would be the best player to partner him, as probably a defensive player in front of the back 4? I don't think we have one. Savage does not have the self control to play that position, and indeed I don't think he can play in a 4-4-2 system. Lots of people on this board will disagree but Savage gets a lot of criticism from Rovers' supporters. So I really don't think there is an obvious combination.

What I didn't like about the Germans was their cynicism, which I think was worse than any time wasting we might have done against Arsenal. Here I think the ref could have helped us more by having been more effective-their booked centre half should have been sent off for encroaching at a free kick; how did number 9 avoid being booked, let alone sent off, after pushing one of our players early on, always putting his foot in, play acting towards the end that he had been punched in the face, when the ref ran all the way to the centre line to see him and didn't do anything about it; the 2 players who appeared to dive after Pedersen had tackled them in an attempt to try and get him sent off and let us not even get started on the players kicking the ball away!!

In many ways it was a superb night, with probably the highest attendance at home of Rovers supporters in the Jack Walker era, but with still a lot of dilemmas to be solved.

[colin]

I think that there to be a certain attitude to playing in knockout cup matches.

A sort of fatality that you are not going to win it. It only takes one defeat over 90 or 180 minutes in one of six or seven ties and there you are dumped out and you are not the winner just like whoever got dumped out in the first round or indeed the final.

Anyone think that Spuds will be more remembered for not winning their Worthy Cup final against us than we will be remembered for losing to Bayer?

Still, it's good to hear that lots of people enjoyed the travel and the away games, I enjoyed my evenings at Ewood also.

Onward & upward.

[Rover Down Under]

I'm still hurting and bitter. How is it after winning our group, scoring buckets of goals and being unbeaten do we come up against Bayer? Why couldn't it have been Macabre Loafer, Shagtar Donuts or Zoltar Wargame or one of the other unpronouncable teams? Why did the teams finishing 2nd and 3rd get easier ties? I really thought we could go to the semis at least and I hate losing to the Germans! It will hurt even more if the Toon or, even worse, Spurs win it.

[Ricky]

I don't think I have been sober since the game eneded. It's really not good.

I have had two of the best holidays of my life thanks to the team I love. Salzburg and Cologne were probably the best breaks I have ever had. A lot of it has to come down to the people I have travelled with. A big thanks to Jordan, Scotty, Manchester Blue, York Blues, JPW, AndyRovers, SAS, Clure, Bellamy11, Sleepyjack, Glenn, Smurf, SteB, Percy, Vicki, Beerman, Sandwich Man, and all the other people I have forgotten to mention.

To be fair I've had a very difficult couple of months but you guys have certainly helped me, things are starting to look up and I'm feeling happy again.

It's been memorable!!!!

[emglch]

saw nonda's miss on youtube.

hope hughes don't sign him.

[dave birch]

I don't think I have been sober since the game eneded. It's really not good.

I have had two of the best holidays of my life thanks to the team I love. Salzburg and Cologne were probably the best breaks I have ever had. A lot of it has to come down to the people I have travelled with. A big thanks to Jordan, Scotty, Manchester Blue, York Blues, JPW, AndyRovers, SAS, Clure, Bellamy11, Sleepyjack, Glenn, Smurf, SteB, Percy, Vicki, Beerman, Sandwich Man, and all the other people I have forgotten to mention.

To be fair I've had a very difficult couple of months but you guys have certainly helped me, things are starting to look up and I'm feeling happy again.

It's been memorable!!!!

Bloody Hell Ricky, the only thing you've missed is an afternoon in the Lord Nelson with SR and myself

It's good to see so many Rovers supporters enjoying the success of the team.

*Can some of the posts be cobbled together and given to the club as an incentive to the players that their efforts are appreciated and enjoyed?

[thenodrog]

Good idea .... err are you including the previous post in that Dave?

[Ricky]

Oh dear, don't remember posting that. Just found out that I spent £200 on Ebay when I got home aswell........ must keep away from the laptop when I get home.

[thenodrog]

saw nonda's miss on youtube.

hope hughes don't sign him.

you mean this.......... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kxvo-LyN_U0...ted&search=

for those of a nervous disposition look away now...

[Paul Mellelieu]

Not a great way to start the weekend.

[rover6]

I dunno, Dunny laughing at the guy who Bentley 'took out' is quite uplifting.

[Paul Mellelieu]

If only we's brought on Peter...

[rover6]

I must say that was what I was thinking. Enck's towering frame really would've lent height to our attack and undoubtedly he would have slotted that chance that Nonda spurned having spent much of his career accurately dispatching dodgy back-passes with lithe fly-kicks.

[waggy]

seeing them misses now i'm sober really does rub it in,senf nonda home just so our dave will stop singing

WHOSE THAT COMING OVER THE HILL

IT'S A HONDA? NO ITS A NONDA

[SAS]

I don't think I have been sober since the game eneded. It's really not good.

I have had two of the best holidays of my life thanks to the team I love. Salzburg and Cologne were probably the best breaks I have ever had. A lot of it has to come down to the people I have travelled with. A big thanks to Jordan, Scotty, Manchester Blue, York Blues, JPW, AndyRovers, SAS, Clure, Bellamy11, Sleepyjack, Glenn, Smurf, SteB, Percy, Vicki, Beerman, Sandwich Man, and all the other people I have forgotten to mention.

To be fair I've had a very difficult couple of months but you guys have certainly helped me, things are starting to look up and I'm feeling happy again.

It's been memorable!!!!

i agree with that

these 4 away games have been some of the best times of my life

ive met tonnes of new people and even my girlfriend at the feyenoord game and although i started off with someone to go to salzburg with, krakow and amsterdam i had to freeride.. leverkusen i took a group off 4

i still remember me and yorkblues riding it out to the end in poland with some crazy polish guy chatting @#/? to us, long after jordan was kicked out for falling asleep haha