Liverpool Preview

[thenodrog]

Right, if he isn't world class then I'm afraid all of our players are horrible. If it is just "gormless armchair pundits" then why did Fabregas say last week that he and Kaka were the two best midfielders in the world? Gerrard didn't play well last night, but that was because of their formation and also in part down to the way that we played. Anyone in doubt of how good of a player he is should take a look at Liverpool's league position each year, he gets half of their points by himself. He turns what is otherwise a UEFA Cup side into a Champions League side by himself, if you can't appreciate that then I think you fall into the gormless armchair pundit category.

I guess that you must have dozed off in your Parisienne armchair yesterday evening if you think that. In midfield parlance Gerrards a Jack of all Trades and master of none. He's not a schemer, he's not a brilliant wide man, he's not particularly good in defensivre midfield as a getter and giver, but he does all OK. The best side to his game is in timing his forward runs into the box well and having a good shot and for utilising that ability and for scoring important goals he has become regarded in some less informed circles as 'world class'.

But

You have your views eddie and I have mine........ And as usual I'm right.

[Eddie]

Let's put it this way, I've never heard any top flight player, past or present, say anything other than the fact that he is a world class player.

[Bing]

Judging on technical ability, Gerrard is a long way from being a world class footballer. He's a good distance behind players like Xavi, Fabregas, Scholes, Kaka, Deco etc in that regard. He is one of the top midfielders though in terms of impact he has on games and how important he is to his team. I can't ever remember a supposed 'top' team being so reliant on a single player to make them perform and win them games. One of the journos on Sunday Supplement had it right this morning when they said he can become too 'Roy of the Rovers' on occasion and feel he has to do everything himself.

[thenodrog]

Let's put it this way, I've never heard any top flight player, past or present, say anything other than the fact that he is a world class player.

Well you just have now!

[thenodrog]

Judging on technical ability, Gerrard is a long way from being a world class footballer. He's a long way behind players like Xavi, Fabregas, Scholes, Kaka, Deco etc in that regard. He is one of the top midfielders though in terms of impact he has on games and how important he is to his team. I can't ever remember a supposed 'top' team being so reliant on a single player to make the perform and win them games. One of the journos on Sunday Supplement had it right this morning when they said he can become too 'Roy of the Rovers' on occasion and feel he has to do everything himself.

Very similar to Man Utd's 'Captain Courageous' of the 80's Bryan Robson...... except Robson could tackle and head the ball.

[Paul]

I mean come on guys, if you can't enjoy that, then what else is there?

Exactly. Though I guess three points on Saturday might top it ?

Did anyone else hear Rafa's remarks on MOTD: "I said before, at the beginning of the season, that this year will be more difficult for everyone. You can see it is not easy to win games in a row" Seven Rafa, SEVEN in a row.

We just have to hope Hicks and Gillette missed that little gem. No wonder Liverpool fans want him out, the man is just a bag of excuses.

[Plastic Head]

Judging on technical ability, Gerrard is a long way from being a world class footballer. He's a good distance behind players like Xavi, Fabregas, Scholes, Kaka, Deco etc in that regard. He is one of the top midfielders though in terms of impact he has on games and how important he is to his team. I can't ever remember a supposed 'top' team being so reliant on a single player to make them perform and win them games. One of the journos on Sunday Supplement had it right this morning when they said he can become too 'Roy of the Rovers' on occasion and feel he has to do everything himself.

Kuyt is a Burnley-class player then.

[thenodrog]

Kuyt is a Burnley-class player then.

I don't envisage many arguing with you on that one plastic head.

[frosty]

Happy with a point in the end, although we hit the woodwork twice in the first half they threatened greatly in the last 15 minutes. It's a good job Torres wasn't playing - he would have buried the chances Kuyt spurned.

[grizfoot]

Draw was probably about fair in the end, had it not been for poor finishing by Kuyt and good saves from Brad we could have eaisly lost it in thoose last 15minutes. Think we began to tire towards the end of the game and we seemed to lose grip of the game once Dunn went off. First half though we were easily on top and Bentley should have put us in front.

Any points against the 'big four' can only be considered as a bonus. Friedel was MOTM in my opnioin although Samba was magnificent once again and Emerton did a good job in CM in absence of our normal CMs.

[Blue blood]

It shows how far we've come that after a draw with Liverpool I'm disappointed to not come away with 3 pts. Ok, over the 90 mins a draw was probably a fair result, but really rovers should have put the game to bed before Liverpool found their way back into the game. That we did not win was only a combination of bad luck from 2 excellent chances in the 1st half, and a ref not having the bottle to give the penalty in the second (bet he'd have given it the other way though). Considering the disarray Liverpool were in for much of the game, had we scored first, I firmly believe that we would have gone on to win it. In fact I suspect the floodgates may have opened and we'd have got a couple of goals.

As for the Liverpool resurgence, great though Brad was (what a legend) you do wonder had the team been fully fit whether Liverpool would've had the space they got at the end. Looking at the game, title challengers they are not, and raffa's comments infuriate me - they were lucky to get a point, NOT unlucky not to get three.

As for rovers, pretty much everyone had a good game. Was very impressed by the back 4, and thought emerton did well in his new role as centre mid. Dunn is proving to be excellent in midfield whilst Santa Cruz must be the signing of the season. Peds looks short of confidence, which was a tad suprising since he's looked ok when coming on as a sub, although with our midfield injury crisis he'll be playing a fair bit I suspect. Emerton perhaps is an unsurprising choice to fill in at centre mid and seemed to slot in fairly well adding some much welcome pace into the centre of the park. With our injury problems at the moment he'll probably get a few games there.

One final point would be despite our injury problems we still managed to put out a very good team. The back 4 are all excellent players, as are the front 2, and the midfield was packed with quality - i can't think of one player you wouldn't want in your squad. Ok the midfield was a tad unbalanced but it shows how far we've come when we can loose 4/5 players to injury and still put out a very good side.

[Kennys Magic Hat]

Can't believe the comments about Gerrard! I was watching the positions he was taking up last night, and his awareness of the space around him and ability to link up the play, despite being out of position was excellent! Its not his fault Benitez constantly plays him out of position in order to make way for his defensive based football. If he played Gerrard in the centre and Crouch up front every single game they'd be doing a lot better. Its the reason they will never win the Premier League under Benitez.

As far as Rovers are concerned, we were the better team for 70 minutes of the match until Crouch came on. We were unlucky not to be 1 or 2 in front by then though so how Benitez can say they deserved to win is a joke! Yet another example of top 4 manager political spin; to appease the shareholders and dupe the biased media and fairweather, highlight watching football 'fans'.

Gerrard is a world class player though and if i was manager and I could sign any player for Rovers I'd sign him every day of the week!

[Lee]

It was moved because Rovers were still in the UEFA Cup.

Not true, that was the excuse that Manchester United came up with, it was their game and their decision to move it.

HAD we got through in the UEFA Cup, THEN we would have kindly requested the game to be moved.

[philipl]

Not true, that was the excuse that Manchester United came up with, it was their game and their decision to move it.

HAD we got through in the UEFA Cup, THEN we would have kindly requested the game to be moved.

In which case it is true.

I didn't say anything about which club had requested the change although on an earlier post on the same subject I had said it had come to fit in with Manchester'sway of doing things.

[cletus]

A view from the Rowdy Riverside....

Let`s all do the Samba!......

[American Rover12]

A view from the Rowdy Riverside....

Let`s all do the Samba!......

Genius

[Dunnfc]

Dunn - my record for attending Blackburn Rovers games was (until tonight)

1 draw, 6 losses - 7 goals for, 15 against.

Orite i see, Sorry pal.

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

Hansen was so biased, he was funny and entertaining years ago but now he's in a comfort zone like the rest of the team.

To be fair to Hansen, he did say that "Blackburn have been playing really well recently" and that "Ewood Park is a difficult place to come to." Gary Lineker mentioned the fact that Rovers had won seven games in a row. (Two of them in the Carling Cup.)

I actually think that Rovers are currently doing well in the Premiership table despite the fact that we haven't always played that well. Indeed out of the 11 Premiership games we have played so far, I'd suggest that in only four or five of those have we played to our proper capabilities - at home to Arsenal, Man City and the first half showing against Reading, together with the away performance against Everton at Goodison Park. Our win at White Hart Lane - which received a lot of praise from the media - was somewhat fortuitous as Spurs certainly had the better chances in the game.

On Saturday night's MOTD, it would have been nice if Hansen had said a bit more about Rovers - however there wasn't that much time available as we were the penultimate match in the schedule. For that you have to blame the producers rather than the pundits. MOTD did focus on Kuyt's misses and Liverpool's lack of a prolific striker, which I thought was fair enough as it was a major talking point of the game. In the last 20 minutes Liverpool were the better side and if Torres had been playing possibly they might have nicked the game at the end.

I feel that generally the BBC pundits have been complimentary about Rovers this season. They certainly haven't dwelled on the fact that in Europe we were an absolute shambles against Larissa. (The worst Rovers performance since World War 2 according to Fife Rover). Benni McCarthy has received praise from the BBC despite the fact that earlier in the season he was barely breaking into sweat for the team.

Suggestions from Les Ferdinand and others that we can finish in the top four this season are I feel hugely optimistic. There is still considerable room for improvement despite our healthy league position at present. Two areas where I feel we need to improve are the crossing from wide positions and the fact that some of the players can be sloppy in possession at times and give the ball away cheaply. At the highest level (especially in Europe) it is imperative not to give possession away cheaply.

Mark Lawrenson hasn't always been Rovers' biggest fan, but at the start of the season he was very complimentary about the team. He said on the BBC website: "Blackburn's wide players Pedersen and Bentley are as good as any in the Premiership".

I'm sorry, but if Lawro had to endure some of MGP's dreadful performances this season, I think he might have to seriously revise that opinion. It has been hugely frustrating at times to witness MGP's woeful attempts at corners, free-kicks and his seeming inability to beat a man and consistently deliver a good cross.

David Bentley is naturally very talented, but I think it's fair to say he has had a mixed season so far - sometimes playing well, but at other times not delivering the kind of performances we should be expecting from someone who is keen to be an England regular.

For Lawro to suggest that MGP and Bentley are as good a wide pairing as Giggs and Ronaldo is frankly ludicrous.

I don't think people should be getting their knickers in a twist too much about the BBC pundits. Fans of Portsmouth, for example, probably also feel that their club doesn't get enough attention and praise, but there's always likely to be a predominant focus from the media on the bigger clubs. For me Alan Hansen is still one of the best footballing pundits on the box. (I don't know how he manages to put up with the infuriating Ian Wright during England matches).

this was very much a patched-up, makeshift Rovers side that did well to take a point from a top-four team.

You seem to have changed your tune James compared to last season when you were calling for Hughes to be sacked and replaced with Chris Coleman. You said that every manager had a natural shelf-life and that Hughes's tenure at Rovers should come to an end. Would you now admit that you were wrong to call for Hughes to go ?

You pathetic prat.

It seems as if personal insults on the football section of the M/B are more likely to be ignored by our esteemed moderators. But if anybody says 'boo to a goose' on the immigration topics then they immediately get closed down. "Ooooh a bit of politics - shocking!"

[Rovers in America]

I think the thing that goes without saying from that game was how good of a job I thought the ref Martin Atkinson did. He seemed willing to let a play go on and not call the ticky-tacky fouls. Really helped with the flow of the game. As well, didn't seem like there was any bias shown towards Liverpool going against the recent custom. May have been one of the better jobs by a ref in a Blackburn game this year of the ones I've seen.

[RoyRover]

I watched the game last night on Setanta and it shows how far we have come under Hughes that some people, my self included are disappointed when we get a draw with Liverpool. IMO we didn't play that well and this was partly due to the fact that we had a patched up midfield. We never really got going and never put them under sustained periods of pressure like they did to us in the final 10 minutes. Even though we were in control for the first 80 minutes, we didn't create enough clear cut chances. However, I must say that I thought that McCarthy and Santa Cruz were excellent, David Dunn had a good game and is making me believe in him, Emerton played very well considering that centre midfield isn't his usual position and Samba just gets better as the games go by.

I think that the thing that stood out the most to me about yesterday's performance is that we lack depth in terms of quality. We didn't have anyone to bring off the bench that could really make a difference and change the game. Granted that we have some injury problems, but it's still obvious that we can't compete with the bigger clubs in terms of quality in their squad and yet we have still been performing well, despite this. Once we have a healthy team, with Steven Reid back in the fold and hopefully some new faces in January, we can really challenge for a Champions League place.

[daren]

Watched the match on Setanta in a pub and the volume was low so I didn't have to suffer the commentary. I did have two fans, Liverpool and Anti-Liverpool behind me, and their conversation was hilarious! Ewood looked great, really full. The mikes in the Rovers stands must have been turned off for the first half because all you could hear was Liverpool chants in the first half, even though there was shots of the crowd singing. Heard ye in the second half, though!

Ref did well. In fairness the penalty was a 50-50 call. It probably should have been a penalty, because his hands were up, but there was no way he could have moved them. Who'd have thought we'd see Ooijer scissors kicking a shot at goal! Speaking of Ooijer, I thought he did really well today. He had a great understanding with Samba, so when his lack of pace was exposed, Samba simply closed the player down allowing Ooijer to get back and then the two of them bullied the ball back. It was great to see such a good understanding.

Thought Nelsen was close to back to his best, that was a good performance indeed yesterday. Warnock played well aside from periods where he kept passing the ball away to a Liverpool player. Mind you, in those periods virtually everyone on the team was doing the same thing!

Midfield was very rough and ready, but worked extremely well. Thought Dunn was immense and very unlucky for that shot not to go in. At one point he wriggled through four Liverpool players and just when he got space he had lost his footing so he passed it off. I reckoned he should have hit it, because Santa was marked. Bert was excellent as well, although as others have noted, he did drift right. Bentley found it hard going without his support, but I thought some of his passing was exceptional. I was surprised he hit his big chance with his left, though. Also, I thought that Reina got a touch on it, but it was difficult to see. Perdersen.... Gamst, Gamst, Gamst.... he looked like he'd never played with Benni before - they were on a completely different wavelength. Which was a shame, because there were a few moments that last season would have ended up with one of them in space, bearing down on goal. He played ok, but his set pieces were atrocious and you could see the confidence ebbing from him every time he took one. This really needs to be sorted, but it's hard to see how.

Santa was very heavily policed indeed, which gave Benni a little space to work in, but to be honest, the game was a game of defenses. Liverpool's defence was generally very strong indeed which meant that the strikers had a tough night of it. Benni worked his socks off.

The game changed when Dunn came off, and even more when Kewell and Crouch came on. Crouch made a huge difference, as did Kewell's ability to get at Ooijer. We looked tired in the last ten minutes, hardly surprising really. We managed to be both unlucky not to win, and lucky not to lose on the same night, so I suppose a draw was fair. We go back to 5th, but t'Pool drop back to 7th. So I get to mock my Liverpool supporting mates! Joy!

Edit: Just read the match reports. Wow, the Times one is over the top. Enjoyed it, though. The Independents was better. I especially liked this

Last night they stopped the juggernaut that is Blackburn Rovers

We're a juggernaut now!

[only2garners]

Ref did well. In fairness the penalty was a 50-50 call. It probably should have been a penalty, because his hands were up, but there was no way he could have moved them.

Whilst it's true that Carragher could not have moved his hands when the ball came to him, what was he doing with his hands up by his head in the 6 yard box? It can't possibly be anything to do with balance - how does holding your arms above your head make you better balanced? If a defender has his hands up there and the ball hits him it's a penalty. It it's not then every defender should get their arms up in the box as it will be much more difficult to get the ball past.

Having had to leave the match 5 minutes early (for the first time in about 20 years) to get to a do in Sheffield I am just back and have read the last few pages of comments. It's pretty clear that there is no consensus about players' performances other than that Samba is wonderful. Just to break that, I didn't feel that he had his best match last night. He was good, but he still finds himself out of position at the back too often to be great. He's still young and learning rapidly from Nelsen, who could run a master class in positioning. Nelsen always looks less impressive because he always seems to be in the right place so the clearances are simple. Samba looks more dramatic because his pace and telescopic legs mean he can catch attackers he has no right to. It does seem at the moment that all Samba has to do is a couple of marauding runs up the pitch and the man of the match award is his.

[philipl]

I think the thing that goes without saying from that game was how good of a job I thought the ref Martin Atkinson did. He seemed willing to let a play go on and not call the ticky-tacky fouls. Really helped with the flow of the game. As well, didn't seem like there was any bias shown towards Liverpool going against the recent custom. May have been one of the better jobs by a ref in a Blackburn game this year of the ones I've seen.

Totally agree with you- Atkinson was excellent. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the Carragher penalty decision (and I agree he sought and obtained an unfair advantage from having his hands up there), we know we had two if not three pens given against us at the end of last season in almost identical circumstances.

Earlier in this thread I posted a Liverpool web site assessment of Martin Atkinson. To sum it up, it went- we rarely win with this guy in charge because he never gives us benefit-of-the-doubt decisions. Presumably unlike most of the other refs....

More grist to the mill of systematic bias.

[doctorryan]

Dunn - my record for attending Blackburn Rovers games was (until tonight)

1 draw, 6 losses - 7 goals for, 15 against.

Well then, unless for some reason we need to lose a match; stay the hell home from now on. Or watch it at a pub, I don't care. Just stay out of the g***amn stadium. :!:

[Presty On Tour]

i never felt we were ever going to lose the game from start to finish.

shame about the woodwork and the penalty decision.

the bottom line is it's all gravy baby and enjoy it, we are playing out of our skins and its happy days being a rover