Chelsea V Blackburn 15 September 2007

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

When watching the game on Setanta, I thought it was very close, maybe offside, maybe not... more offside than not.... but then the angle they were showing it at, makes it look as if the Rovers player is further up the field than he was...

Then later on, they had MOTD on in the pub and turned the angle to the one of the linesman and it clearly showed it was offside.

To be honest - I thought MOTD said it was on side.

They also picked up on something that the papers and Mourinho seemed to ignore. Just as they could claim a tight decision didn't go their way - what about the penalty that MGP should have got. If that had been outside the area the ref would have given a free-kick. So for me - I believe that we both ended up on the end of incorrect decisions - so a draw was overall a fair result.

Impressive performances from Brad - and most of the defence. Little disappointed how easily some of the Chelsea players got past our midfield. For me it shows how much we miss Reid's pace - as neither Savage or Dunn have enough pace to keep up with the likes of Essien or Cole. (no reflection on either player - as few players can keep up with Essien or Cole when on form).

MGP and Bentley seem to be flattering to decieve at the moment - but both put in impressive workloads - so can't complain too much.

[tonygreenbank]

All this debate has shown is that the offside rule must be the most puzzling in the game. Even supporters are turning on each other to show how knowledgeable they are about the rule! I used to think I knew the laws but np longer; if the linesman puts his flag up or not then I will go along with it. Yesterday`s decision went for us but next week it who knows. I cant believe that the game`s authorities will allow this to continue. Time for a rethink. By the way still think that Rovers did very well to get a point and remain unbeaten which must be applauded.

[philipl]

...and still no Rovers player has made it into any position in Garth Crooks' "team of the week". Not that it matters.

[John]

...and still no Rovers player has made it into any position in Garth Crooks' "team of the week". Not that it matters.

I cannot see how Santa Cruz made the squad for team of the week - is Garth ok??

[tchocky]

I simply refuse to believe that anybody can think that that goal was offside. Roversmum - offside isn't an opinion, it's a rule. The decision was wrong. Not that I'm complaining! The goal was legit, not even close to being illegal. RB, Bryan and PhilipL have even suggested that the ball across goal went marginally backwards?!? Backwards from what perspective?

Backwards from a Rovers perspective

No offside I'm afraid, but didn't see if Belletti was offside when he recieved the ball. Since noone has mentioned it I assume he wasn't.

I thought Chelsea approached the game with perfect tactics so am happy with the result.

[Eddie]

Benni wasn't great, tried too many little flicks and tricks and none of them came off, but I wouldn't drop him at the moment. If I did then Roberts would get a run. Derbyshire has never impressed me when he's started.

[tcj_jones]

Kalou was on-side when the ball was played to him from Belletti. I'm not sure about the build up, but that was onside.#

The offside rule is very simple, I'm not sure what people aren't getting.

[Hasta]

Anyone see the report in The People today. Look at the marks the Rovers players get.

Friedel - 6

Emerton - 5

Samba - 6

Nelson - 5

Warnock - 5

Makes you wonder how we kept a clean sheet if our defence was that bad.

When is the MOTM poll going up so that we can all vote Big Brad.

[Rovers in America]

Anyone see the report in The People today. Look at the marks the Rovers players get.

Friedel - 6

Emerton - 5

Samba - 6

Nelson - 5

Warnock - 5

Makes you wonder how we kept a clean sheet if our defence was that bad.

When is the MOTM poll going up so that we can all vote Big Brad.

How did Friedel and Samba only get a 6? I'd easily think they'd have gotten 7s if not 8s. The rest of them easily 6s if not 7s.

[thenodrog]

Everybodies arguing about whether the goal was offside or onside...... after viewing the incident at leisure, at every speed and from every angle. BUT who would bet their mortgage of being so certain of their judgement with just one split second view at normal speed and with a couple of seconds to decide? Whether the incredibly close decision was right or wrong remember the sh1t that we have had to put up with over recent years. Just another case for the introduction of video guidance imo.

[thenodrog]

Lucky, lucky Blackburn. We were very much in the game for the first 20 minutes, but were out-classed, out-played and out-thought by a vastly superior Chelsea side for the rest of the game. We were more than just hanging on for about 70 minutes, one of the worst games I've ever had to watch. Chelsea were sensational, with the exception of Sidwell, Kalou and Shevchenko, who were all sub-standard. Make no mistake, if Drogba and Lampard were fit, Chelsea would have won comfortably.

Friedel made a great save from Essien and good saves from Shevchenko,but the only two players worthy of MOTM were J. Cole and Essien, who were absolutely world class, just sensational. Savage played superbly for the first 20 minutes, but he and Dunn were just out-classed from then on.

Pedersen and McCarthy were shocking in the first half, unbelievably bad. Pedersen showed a real commitment in the second half to track back, but showed nothing going forward. McCarthy should be benched for such an abysmal performance. That was undoubtedly the worst I've seen him play.

We did not deserve a draw, but thank God we got it, and thank God Samba is ok.

EDIT: the one area Chelsea failed in was their lack of width. SWP didn't do much, but Cole and Malouda both wanted to cut inside and it made their play very narrow, and that suited us.

Further Edit: What an idiot Hughes looks. He's such a great manager who never acts unprofessionally, but he looked a right ###### after his interview. I dunno if it was mind games hge was playing but, either way, he looked a fool. Funny though.

Bit ott that imo. Chelsea were a stronger team than us but did not produce that good a performance imo. A really top team would have taken 3 points, they didn't so that speaks for itself. Mourinho whingeing about not having his best 'artillery' available in his post match interview sounded absolutely pathetic given the resources and finances at his disposal! I wonder just how good a manager he would be with the resources of Derby or Bolton or even at BRFC? Maybe if he had had the gumption to keep Gudjonnsen or Robben he might have had his result who knows?

But lets keep things in perspective though this Chelsea team are up there with the likes of Barca, Bayern Milan, Real Madrid etc and who would have whinged at any away 0-0 with them?

btw just what does the term 'world class' mean to you tcj? imo world class would mean being voted into the worlds top 11 players. If thats acceptable then imo Essien and Joe Cole whilst being very good players are nowhere near to that level imo. I am reminded of the Lpool supporter on MoTD 2 tonight who was gormles enough to say that this season Lpool have 2 'world class' players competing for every position! So that bloke is suggesting that that is 22 world class players in total and all signed on for the Anfield club!! Yeah right mate.

[ABBEY]

i dont care wheather it was on or off we have been due for about 5 seasons for a bit of luck against the big 4

[joey_big_nose]

I would say World Class means you would be amongst the best 100 or so players in the world at the present moment in time. On that basis there are imo only a few who can claim to be that in the Prem:

Christiano Ronaldo, Drogba, Scholes, Lampard, Torres, Gerrard, Fabregas, Vidic, Terry, Cech, Essien, Alonso, Berbatov, Hleb, Rosicky, and, as a contravesial outsider, Micah Richards. Probably a few I have missed out.

Joe Cole is one of those who can be world class but doesn't show the consitency required. Bellamy would be another as would Rio Ferdinand.

As an aside its a shame that so many of the finest players are held by the top four clubs, to the point where most of their secondary names would be top stars anywhere else. Hopefully some of the signings made by the chasing pack can emerge to be Berbatovs so things are more compeitive this year. Elano looks a good bet at least. But then the top four have more of those future candidates lying around too- Adebayor, Nani, Hargreaves etc.

And in Rovers case for all of Hughes' outstanding work in the transfer market we don't really have anyone with the raw potential to make it into the world class group- last time that happend was with Bellamy and Duff before him. Maybe Bentley or Samba I suppose... Shows that a well drilled, thoughtfully put together team can make waves though.

[RoyRover]

I was delighted with the point yesterday, but not with the way that we played. We started brightly, but never troubled Cech. From then on it was all Chelsea. Our forwards got very little ball, but when they did get Benni either let it bounce off him or tried a crap flick that didn't come off, while Santa Cruz did a better job of holding the ball up. Friedal was brilliant yesterday, he made some world class saves. As for the 'goal', well IMO it was onside and the officials got it wrong. But I'm not complaining. I look forward to us playing a lot better in our next home game and continuing to push up the table.

[tcj_jones]

Bit ott that imo. Chelsea were a stronger team than us but did not produce that good a performance imo. A really top team would have taken 3 points, they didn't so that speaks for itself. Mourinho whingeing about not having his best 'artillery' available in his post match interview sounded absolutely pathetic given the resources and finances at his disposal! I wonder just how good a manager he would be with the resources of Derby or Bolton or even at BRFC? Maybe if he had had the gumption to keep Gudjonnsen or Robben he might have had his result who knows?

But lets keep things in perspective though this Chelsea team are up there with the likes of Barca, Bayern Milan, Real Madrid etc and who would have whinged at any away 0-0 with them?

btw just what does the term 'world class' mean to you tcj? imo world class would mean being voted into the worlds top 11 players. If thats acceptable then imo Essien and Joe Cole whilst being very good players are nowhere near to that level imo. I am reminded of the Lpool supporter on MoTD 2 tonight who was gormles enough to say that this season Lpool have 2 'world class' players competing for every position! So that bloke is suggesting that that is 22 world class players in total and all signed on for the Anfield club!! Yeah right mate.

Well firstly, I hope you aren't implying that I am gormless, because I don't appreciate that.

On reflection, "sensational," is probably too strong a superlative in this instance. Chelsea were very good though and deserved to win by two or three goals. The reason they didn't was that they had Shevchenko and Kalou in attack, rather than Drogba and Lampard. They applied constant, relentless pressure for nearly 70 minutes and always looked dangerous. Again, perhaps I was going a little OTT about Cole and Essien, but only a little. They both put in excellent performances and, at times, definitely looked world class. I was probably a little OTT 'cos I was a tad intoxicated when I wrote the post and had just watched over the highlights again on MOTD.

In terms of clarifying what I mean by a world class performance, is a performance that you would witness from one of the world's best players on top form. In this case, I was probably OTT but, as I said, both were world class for periods. It's hard to define a world class player, but I would say that one would be within the top 50 or so players in the world. Off the top of my head, I can't think of many better than Essien. I'd say he'd be in the top 10 - 20 as he's undoubtedly one of the best midfielders in the world.

Claiming that Liverpool have 22 world class players is ridiculous though. I'd say they have one in Gerrard, again one of the very best in the world, and maybe Torres will become one.

[colin]

A bit of this?

Brilliant Ozzie, thank you.

Note the pleb checking his phone. It's what you do when your team score a goal. Guffaw!

Is Joe Cole getting just getting that little bit too excited?

[tcj_jones]

Possibly the best photo I've ever seen.

[dillo_dillo]

Sky players ratings

Brett Emerton [5] : Sloppy display ------------ I disagree...

SUN players ratings

[Texan Rover]

I can't understand what the confusion could be about the offside rule. The goal clearly should have stood. I love Sparky and the way he stands up for the players, but for me he sounded silly in the post-match saying "it was offside, only marginally so, but it's plain to see" or somesuch. I'm probably a bit over the top sometimes when it comes to the way that I favor Rovers when evaluating the officials, but in this instance there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the goal was onside.

That said, well pleased with the result.

[Presty On Tour]

a draw at the bridge, clean sheet and still undefeated.....happy days!

the fact that some of us were dissapointed with a point suggests the positive feeling on rovers this season.

friedel was like a brick wall in the the sticks and as for samba, i haven't seen defending like that since the hendry era!

the picture by ozziejones is priceless and as as for jose throwing his toys out of his pram

the only bad point of the day was benni, did he get out of the bed the wrong side or what?

if we win our game in hand we will be 2nd

[Eddie]

Note the pleb checking his phone. It's what you do when your team score a goal. Guffaw!

He's probably taking a picture.

[3rdpillar]

Why is Colin Hendry's spirit possessing Chris Samba? I hope he never visits a witch doctor to have it exorcised.

i thought the very same thing.... spooky!

[arealbrfcfan]

Sorry to be off topic, but does anyone know when our game in hand is and who we actually play?

[ihateburnley]

Sky players ratings

Brad Friedel - World class performance - 8

Tcj_Jones - you can add Brad to your list of 'World Class' players because Sky have told us so.

[cn174]

Sorry to be off topic, but does anyone know when our game in hand is and who we actually play?

It is Aston Villa, and at present I don't think we know. I reckon we'll wait and see if we get into the UEFA group stages, as if we don't there will be several free midweek slots