[Archived] Poor Discipline

[John Howarth]

Complete and utter Bolllocks

Three "LLL"s? Thats pretty serious !

[herbergeehh]

I honestly don't care much about the yellow cards, though I do agree that referee's in general should be a bit more fair towards Rovers. It's like they're saying: "We know what you're up to, don't push it!" ... Backed nicely by the Graham Poll article above.

It's the bloody 2nd yellows I would like to see our players escape, and that problem is a hundred percent up to those eleven in my opinion. We can whine about unfair referee's all we want, but when our players are on a yellow card, they need to act like they're on probation. I think I've made that point five times in five different posts in this thread, so won't bother to say it again. Okay, one more time: YELLOW MEANS WARNING!

[roversmum]

Wonder who will get sent off today? My Money's on whichever of The Axe or Robbie Savage plays.

[thenodrog]

Essien Mum?

One things for sure .... 2 footed tackles are no go at the moment. Stupid rule cos refs are likely to punish them all cos it's fashionable yet the only danger is when the tackle is actually TOWARDS an opponant.

[DanLad]

Graham Poll column about Rovers in todays Mail.

Poll talks garbage.

[DanLad]

One things for sure .... 2 footed tackles are no go at the moment. Stupid rule cos refs are likely to punish them all cos it's fashionable yet the only danger is when the tackle is actually TOWARDS an opponant.

There's no need for two footed challenges at all. They should always be punished.

[thenodrog]

There's no need for two footed challenges at all. They should always be punished.

A budding Prem referee if ever I saw one!

Anyway as an aside more a coaching point than a comment on a tackle but if Samba had slid with both legs extended Arsenal's second goal would not have happened.

[Kennys Magic Hat]

Decent article by Poll even though i hate him; his best point being that Rovers sometimes go into certain games not bothered about commiting fouls and picking up yellow cards in order to get an upper hand.

As other people have said on this thread if you keep getting yellow cards then sooner or later the suspensions and red cards will follow! Hence my earlier point that at the moment its costing us - today there will be two changes to the defence we had against Arsenal due to suspensions.

Its totally unecessary though as we've proved we can play flowing and exciting football against anyone in the league without the need to disrupt games with cynical fouls - in fact we've been the better footballing team for most of the match against Liverpool and Arsenal at home in the Premiership this season.

Cut out the crap and we'll start winning more games again simple as that, not boLLLocks!

[DanLad]

Decent article by Poll even though i hate him; his best point being that Rovers sometimes go into certain games not bothered about commiting fouls and picking up yellow cards in order to get an upper hand.

Surely Poll has just lumped Rovers in as using Bolton tactics under Big Sam and hasn't bothered actually watching us play. We don't play the way he says that we play. He's just jumped on the bandwagon. Most of our yellows are very soft indeed.

His comments about Tugay kicking the ball away are ludicrous. EVERY opponent that we have played down at Ewood this season has blatently kicked the ball away. He then goes on to say that Tugay has a nice smile - what the hell has that got to do with it? Should Hughes give the players smiling practice to help them out with the refs?

I think Poll's comments as to worst refereeing moment (or whatever it was) being a comment on another refs fashion sense shows the measure of the man. No-one else would notice - They want to see a game of footy not have a good look at what the refs wearing. I think that the refs have made far worse mistakes this week, but they don't get mentioned. If only being badly dressed was the refs only crime...

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I mentioned the other day we had conceded more goals from set pieces than any other Premiership team, one of the reasons why is the sheer numbers of un necessary offences we commit within free kick range of our goals, it's not just about the officials , we do give our opponents plenty of chances to launch the ball at us.

[herbergeehh]

Dwight Yorke's just shown a great example of how to get a silly red card, after losing possession and making rash tackles from behind twice - in less than dangerous situations. These are the kind of tackles I am trying to crusade against here, but will keep quiet now until the next time we do it

[Scotty]

Dunn and Pedersen both picked up their 5th booking of the season against Everton, meaning that they will both miss the Arsenal away game. Samba will also be missing as he serves the last game of his suspension.

I suppose if you had to choose a game for them to miss Arsenal away wouldn't be a bad one, given that we're unlikely to get anything down there anyway, but our midfield is going to be pretty makeshift (for example, who plays on the left?). Not good.

[Jan]

Dunn and Pedersen both picked up their 5th booking of the season against Everton, meaning that they will both miss the Arsenal away game. Samba will also be missing as he serves the last game of his suspension.

I suppose if you had to choose a game for them to miss Arsenal away wouldn't be a bad one, given that we're unlikely to get anything down there anyway, but our midfield is going to be pretty makeshift (for example, who plays on the left?). Not good.

Well I for one am glad Pedersen is suspended, Playing him is like having 10 men on the pitch from the start. People go on about his "tracking back" and "defensive work", but all that consists of is running around being in no position to do anything useful or tackling like a girl (my friend's comment not mine)

A Pass to Pedersen is the last resort for the rest of the team. At least with him not there they'll feel more comfortable.

[JAL]

Dunn and Pedersen both picked up their 5th booking of the season against Everton, meaning that they will both miss the Arsenal away game. Samba will also be missing as he serves the last game of his suspension.

I suppose if you had to choose a game for them to miss Arsenal away wouldn't be a bad one, given that we're unlikely to get anything down there anyway, but our midfield is going to be pretty makeshift (for example, who plays on the left?). Not good.

Dunny and Pedesen both havent been up to standard this season which should give an opportunity to another squad member but do we have anyone to grasp the opportunity.

Does this mean Derbyshire will start the game he looked totally out of his depth aginst Arsenals supposed reserve team in the cup.

[herbergeehh]

I'm guessing a 4-5-1 formation with Bentley behind Santa Cruz will be the solution. Mokoena and Tugay will play central midfield with Reid, and on the left.. err..

Maybe Nelsen will be back for this one? Still a week away. In that case, move Ooijer to the right and push Emerton up and Bentley over / into his free role. If not, I guess Berner is our best pick - or a more attacking edge with Roberts, Benni or Derbyshire in an advanced role.

[RibbleValleyRover]

Does this mean Derbyshire will start the game he looked totally out of his depth aginst Arsenals supposed reserve team in the cup.

iirc, didn't Derbyshire play on the right wing during that game?

[joey_big_nose]

I'm guessing a 4-5-1 formation with Bentley behind Santa Cruz will be the solution. Mokoena and Tugay will play central midfield with Reid, and on the left.. err..

Maybe Nelsen will be back for this one? Still a week away. In that case, move Ooijer to the right and push Emerton up and Bentley over / into his free role. If not, I guess Berner is our best pick - or a more attacking edge with Roberts, Benni or Derbyshire in an advanced role.

Well I think we could get a serious doing over at Arsenal.... And I would give Nelsen as much of a rest as possible, especially considering Ooijer and Zurab seem to be going okay.

I suppose if I picked the side I would go for:

----------------------Cruz

Treacy-----------------------------Bentley

-----------McCarthy----Reid

-------------------Mokoena

Warnock---Ooijer---Zurab----Emerton (He hasn't gone to Australia has he?)

---------------------Freidal

To be honest we are lucky Mokoena is back. Otherwise we would be utterly screwed. And as much as Jan hates Pedersen I would feel a lot safer with him covering the left than Treacy but I can't see how we have much choice.

[USRoverME]

Is Olssen healthy yet? might he and warnock comine on the left?

[McClarky]

One thing that is really bugging me about Rovers this season is the amount of time the players spend whinging to the referee. Its as if every decision has to be challenged. Why can't they just get on with the game and stop annoying the referee. Hughes should tell them but I suppose he hartdly sets a good example.

I don't think we're a dirty side but there have been games when we have made a lot of rash tackles which will always get people booked which is why we are now getting so many suspensions. In particular I think Dunn could hav ebeen sent off on several occasions because he keeps giving the ref the chance to book him, which they usually take when its 1 of our players.

I would say we need to:-

a) stop complaining

stop handling the ball and

c) try and stay on our feet a bit more.....hey presto....problem solved.

[philipl]

Samba is the first player to reach two suspensions for 10 cards.

Alan Smith of course has committed 50% more fouls than Chris and has only 8 cards.

Chris is getting a card every four fouls. The highest ratio in the League.

Of all our players, I don't see Chris handling the ball, falling over and only occasionally having something to say to the ref.

[USRoverME]

No, but he does get himself out of position a lot and has to make silly challenges to prevent disasters.

I thought along those lines for a while Philip, that Rovers were hard done by based on the foul/card ratio (and I was tracking it for a lot of the season, and they were lowest in the league or near it (Man City was lowest for a while, because they almost never fouled). However, as I was keeping track via stats, I was watching out cards more carfeully, and to be onest, Iw as disappointed in many, btu I really had very few disagreements.

I stopped keeping track about a month or so ago, but I'll update me sheet for fun in a bit...

[USRoverME]

Just my take on some interesting numbers...

Middlesboro commit the most fouls per game at 14.32 (we commit 14.28). Man Utd are the least whistled side @ 10.2 fouls/game (Arse and City are both within 0.2 fouls/game)

We are however, also the most fouled team in the league, getting hacked 14.4 times a game, Everton and Tottenham close behind us.

Derby and Fulham must not challenge defenses, as they both only get fouled about 10.5-10.6 times per game. Oddly the "big four" tend to be in the middle of the pack. I had expected them to be fouled more often as the benefactor of any bias.

When it comes to cards, I look at it a few different ways in order to account for red cards as opposed to yellows. Unlike the fairplay tables, where reds count double, I tend to count reds and yellows both as a single card.

Oddly using this number, Chelsea, Man City, Tottenham and Arsenal commit fewer fouls per card on average than Rovers. Chelsea manage only 5.8 or so fouls per card as a team, where we are at 6.4 or so. The league average is 7.1 fouls per card. So in reality we aren't judged that much more harshly (on average) than the rest of the league.

Most oddly, Everton somehow manage to commit almost 11 fouls per card. Liverpool are next at just under 9. That is the really odd stat from my little spreadsheet, and to be honest its been consistent all season long. Everton must be the ref's favorites.... and it might have somethign to do with their challenge to the CL places.

[philipl]

Thanks for that- very interesting reading.

[AggyBlue]

Oddly using this number, Chelsea, Man City, Tottenham and Arsenal commit fewer fouls per card on average than Rovers. Chelsea manage only 5.8 or so fouls per card as a team, where we are at 6.4 or so. The league average is 7.1 fouls per card. So in reality we aren't judged that much more harshly (on average) than the rest of the league.

What your analysis doesn't show is that our cards seem to be for more trivial offences than those given to the bigger clubs.

[OscarRaven]

Such as having your neck wrung, instant yellow for Rovers!