[Archived] Carling Cup Qtr Fnl. Home To Arsenal

[gazsimm]

Steven Reid was at fault for all 3 goals, why play him when you've got Zurab on the Bench?

how many pints did u have last night, it was quite clear that Samba was the fault for the 2nd

[modes98]

How can people say gamst was good last night, he never wanted the ball and when it came to him he just wanted to get rid of the ball as quicky as possible, his crossing was diire, You could see it last night that players did not want to give him the ball, cos they knew he did not want it. He has no confidence at all, how many more chances does his want.

As for Benni, the guy does not want to here end off, he has no feeling for the club and should be sold in january

Rubbish, the players had no problem passing to Ped, in the second half and in ET our biggest threat came down the left hand side. Bentley, Ped and Warnock were passing and moving really well to create space for crosses. He put in some very good crosses that were in between the defence and keeper and we calling out for someone to attack. Granted he had the odd one that went out or was over hit but that's no different to any other winger. No wonder he has no confidence if when he does well people still have a go.

As for Benni things just aren't falling for him. He is a flair player and with that you get the odd moment of stupidity. The guy scores goals for fun and i'd rather he did that for us than for one of our 'top 6' rivals. If Hughes feels he can't motivate him then fair enough but his threat and goals are not easy to replace, especially given his price tag.

[BrianPotter]

What we have got to try to remember is that normally every team will have a bad spell at some point during the season, for us in recent times it has always come at the begining of the season in the form of a slow start. This time we started well and have hit a sticky patch now, which hopefully we will come through and get back to winning ways. A good side does not become a bad side overnight.

The major problem we have at the moment is our defending. Going forward we still look good and are creating plenty of chances (although as always with Rovers I think our goals scored to chances created ratio is pretty poor - we simply dont convert enough of our chances). Basically, if you are going to concede 5 goals away from home and 3 goals at home you are not going to win football matches. We need to address the defensive issues quickly:

(1). Nelsen: Has looked out of his depth, he is the one of the weak links at the moment and I think this is unsettling the rest of the defence. I would suggest giving Zurab a run alongside Samba to see how that works.

(2). Protection from midfield: The midfield is offering little protection to the back four. Since the re-introduction of Gamst, Warnock has looked a shadow of him former self. To me we are carrying Gamst and with his contribution to the game we are effectivley playing with 10 men! Savage cant be faulted for effort but he is 5 seconds behind everyone else on the pitch and offers little cover for the back four - If I was Dunny I'd would have been gutted having to play alongside him against Arsenals midfield last night - it was two against one for the whole first half.

I would be tempted to revert to this line up:

Brad

Bert Samba Zurab Warnock

Bentley Reid Tugay Dunn

Santa Roberts

[Rob of the Rovers]

Is Samba suspended this Sunday? Hopefully Zurab will have a decent game and then have a run in the team, as something drastic needs to be done to our defence. It's just a shame that Ooijer is injured as well, as Nelsen is doing nothing to justify his place either.

I'm begining to come round to the same opinion as many on here that we need a new central midfielder.

Diarra was absolutely superb for Arsenal last night. Strong in the tackle, simple passing, and never stopped running for 120 minutes. He has been making noises about the lack of opportunities he has been getting, but unfortunately I think bigger and more glamorous clubs would be ahead of us in any queue for his services

[gazsimm]

Rubbish, the players had no problem passing to Ped, in the second half and in ET our biggest threat came down the left hand side. Bentley, Ped and Warnock were passing and moving really well to create space for crosses. He put in some very good crosses that were in between the defence and keeper and we calling out for someone to attack. Granted he had the odd one that went out or was over hit but that's no different to any other winger. No wonder he has no confidence if when he does well people still have a go.

As for Benni things just aren't falling for him. He is a flair player and with that you get the odd moment of stupidity. The guy scores goals for fun and i'd rather he did that for us than for one of our 'top 6' rivals. If Hughes feels he can't motivate him then fair enough but his threat and goals are not easy to replace, especially given his price tag.

He was not wanting the damb the ball so how can you say he had a good game. he just wanted to get rid of the ball every time it came to him.

As for Benni i agree he is a good player on his day, but its quite clear he is not his normal self and he shoud be made to make way for Roberts.

[BrianPotter]

Is Samba suspended this Sunday? Hopefully Zurab will have a decent game and then have a run in the team, as something drastic needs to be done to our defence. It's just a shame that Ooijer is injured as well, as Nelsen is doing nothing to justify his place either.

I'm begining to come round to the same opinion as many on here that we need a new central midfielder.

I've thought about that as well, but I'm hoping Reid may be the answer to that problem. I think that a left sided midfielder needs to be seriously looked at, Gamst isnt up to it and is showing no signs of improving. For me Dunny does a far better job on the left but I would like to see him in the centre alongside another quality midfielder that will allow Dunn to be more creativie. Is Reid the answer? I'm not sure but time will tell. Dear Santa, please can we have a new left sided player for Christmas!

[philipl]

Eduardo does give an unfair slant to your figures. Take him out and replace him with another £2m player and we're pretty equal and far more experienced.

I'll happily take Eduardo out.

We won 2-1 and are in the semi-final!!!

Incidentally, I clock that Rovers line out at £21.25m and Eduardo cost £10m - the Euros figure is quoted there as £.

[Exiled in Toronto]

Eduardo does give an unfair slant to your figures. Take him out and replace him with another £2m player and we're pretty equal and far more experienced.

...and would have won 2-1.

Interesting reactions to the game. I am with Paul in that it was another emotional rollercoaster that left me completely drained. The first half went beyond embassing, it was humiliating. At home, to an eleven that had one-fifth the number of PL starts compared to ours, and we couldn't get near them. Should have been 2-0 after 10mins, then it would have been a rout.

Thanks to a hopeless decision by the linesman right under his nose, and then thanks to an awesome finish by our one class player on the night, Santa, a glimmer of hope. Second half convinced me finally that we need to build this team around Santa.

He could easily have had 4 last night with any sort of luck. Samba's header was unlucky, Benni's and MGP's misses were inexcusable.

We lost a great match to a top quality set of players, so can't complain overall, but at the detailed level, so much was very wrong.

Brad - that's 8 goals shipped in a row now without getting close to saving any of them. I could pick the ball out of the net and point at defenders. We need him to be big at the moment and he's gone AWOL

Reid - A poor selection by Hughes. I'm sick of people filling in - at this level it's as demanding a position as elsewhere on the pitch and amateurs, as we saw last night, weaken the entire defence.

Nelsen - Hardly won a header in the first 75 mins, slow, some truly awful decision-making, but one or two trademark good lunges. Will he return to form, or has his injury done for him?

Samba - Gone from awesome to being to worst centre half since our 3rd division days

Warnock - OK, I quite like him actually.

Bentley - wasted on the right when reliant on the next two for service. I love the fact every time he gets the ball he tries something positive. Quit the diving though.

Dunn/Savage - Remind me of a quote from Will Hay's 'Oh, Mr Porter" - "Everything here is either too old or doesn't work, and you're both!"

Gamst - Only looked reasonable because Bentley was spending half the time on the left wing. That miss near the end was miles wide even before it hit the defender. He only looks half good when Bentley/Benni or someone else also plays there. Wingers are supposed to do things on their own and he patently can't. Get rid in January

Santa - Brilliant

Benni - last night I actually thought he was doing it on purpose. Get rid at any cost in January

Hughes - None of his decisions worked. Reid was a disaster, subs made us worse, extra time cried out for Tugay and he wasn't there.

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

Samba - Gone from awesome to being to worst centre half since our 3rd division days

You've never seen Lorenzo or Tiny Taylor have you?

[gazsimm]

You've never seen Lorenzo or Tiny Taylor have you?

what about Dailly and Peacock

[Mattyblue]

You've never seen Lorenzo or Tiny Taylor have you?

worst since 3rd div days???? Is everyone actually going mad on this board!!!

Late October- best side since 1995, Samba, world beater, Hughes is the messiah etc etc.

Mid December- Hughes has lost the plot, cant get motivated for games anymore etc etc

We are suffering a BLIP boys, Jesus H Christ, you talk about the lower league days but you obviously dont remember them because they were ACTUAL bad times.

Get a grip everyone!!!!!

[Exiled in Toronto]

You've never seen Lorenzo or Tiny Taylor have you?

You've never seen John Coddington have you?

[pleasure]

(2). Protection from midfield: The midfield is offering little protection to the back four. Since the re-introduction of Gamst, Warnock has looked a shadow of him former self. To me we are carrying Gamst and with his contribution to the game we are effectivley playing with 10 men! Savage cant be faulted for effort but he is 5 seconds behind everyone else on the pitch and offers little cover for the back four - If I was Dunny I'd would have been gutted having to play alongside him against Arsenals midfield last night - it was two against one for the whole first half.

thank god! i thought i was alone in that view, brian.

i said the same to those around me at wigan.... and got told "reid and savage are our best midfield pair!" i couldnt hold back the laughter! "tugay and axe wouldve got overun!" (so that didnt happen to sav and reid then ???)

savage has always been a headless chicken, but he's now lost any real pace and is no longer an asset to us. he never got near any of the arsenal players and i cant remember him tackling anybody. like you said... it's 2 against 1.

unlike nelsen, samba, ped, - savages problems arent down to confidence / lack of form. his legs have gone!

i'd pick the axe ahead of him every week.

on PED. i thought he showed signs of coming back to his old self last night, and unlike mccarthy

he always puts in a shift!

benni is reminding me more and more of dwight yorke!

we need a moral boosting win, and quickly. i think most of our problems are down to a lack of confidence..... but we do need to strenghten in january... particularly in central midfield, and upfront.

[bobsterbrfc]

this is going to seem a different opinion, but on the way back to the car last night, i thought how far Rovers had come that not making the semi-finals, and struggling to break into the top 6 consistently, is becoming considered a total failure! losing to Arsenal's kids isn't good, but this thought was comforting for me!

[thenodrog]

Lot of knee jerk reactions all of a sudden on here. Dry your eyes kiddies and move on. Last nights match was excellent stuff and especially for any neutrals watching on TV. No doubt the Wigan match was superb entertainment too. It just hurts cos twice we came from being dead in the water only to be nailed at the death.

Anyway my opinion for what it's worth is that Tugay replacing Mokoena on the bench could have won us that game when the Arse had been reduced to 10 men. The extra time match situation was made for him.

Also a pity that Fat Wylie did not have the balls to send RVP off in Sept. Two dismissals for 2 footed lunges might just have shut Wengers gob once and for all! btw I don't suppose Hughes managed a comment about their 'violence' in challenges.

Lest we forget......

Wenger said: "I felt there was a desire for violence more than commitment in some of the challenges. We were very resilient against a team that was over-physical. We dealt well with the problem we had."

[philipl]

Developing the 'drog's theme"

Denilson was 70th red card for Wenger's Arsenal

[bazza]

I'm amazed to read some of the views on this thread.

I agree with Paul. Those of you who couldn't get to Ewood last night missed an absolutely thrilling game of football. The Arsenal "kids" are a joy to watch, better to watch than their first team. They taught our lads a lesson in football in the first half. I thought it was going to be a Rugby score.

Then in the second half we had them on the ropes, could have won the game. And in extra time second period that header by Samba(?) that hit the post could have given us the chance of penalties.

I thought Dunny's injury was a strain due to chatting to an Arsenal player during the long period when the Arsenal guy got carried off. Dunny should have kept himself moving.

In fact the only Rovers player to keep moving during that long break in play was Reid, who is getting fitter and stronger every game.

That was the sort of football to bring the crowds back regardless of the result.

[adopted scouser]

Lot of knee jerk reactions all of a sudden on here.

And you're surprised Gord ? This is the brfcs fickle fan forum in all it's glory.

The wheels have come off the last few games that's all and some are calling for Hughes' head ? Unbe-farking-lievable.

Newcastle

West Ham

Tottenham

Reading

Middlesbrough

Birmingham

Bolton

Sunderland

Fulham

Wigan

Derby

Our small town club with limited resources has played better this season than erm ... all of the above.

Get a bloody grip.

[BrianPotter]

That was the sort of football to bring the crowds back regardless of the result.

I would normally agree with you - but this is Rovers we are talking about

[Hasta]

I'll happily take Eduardo out.

We won 2-1 and are in the semi-final!!!

Incidentally, I clock that Rovers line out at £21.25m and Eduardo cost £10m - the Euros figure is quoted there as £.

Unless of course his replacement is another 17 year old wonderkid who bangs in a hat-trick, wins a penalty and we lose 2-5.

Yes Drog, the games were exciting for the neutral and a rollercoaster to watch. However my gripe last night is that the decision to play Reid at RB and not utilise Roberts were mistakes by Hughes that were feared by some of us pre-kick off and may have resulted in a different result. If we consider ourselves a top 7 Premier league side last night was a game we should have won.

This is the brfcs fickle fan forum in all it's glory.

The wheels have come off the last few games that's all and some are calling for Hughes' head ?

Whilst I'm having a moan because I don't feel we are helping ourselves, I'm pretty sure that 99% of the people aren't calling for Hughes' head.

[rover6]

Okay - Reid may have messed up and do you remember that mistake he made at right back in the UEFA cup - against Genclerbirligi, I think...!!! However, Hughes obviously thought that Reid's superior speed would be necessary to counter Arsenal's fast moving football, and Rangers fans will tell you that Zurab's right back performances were one of the reasons he was allowed to leave.

We have defensive problems, our central midfield lacks class on the ball and on the flanks, we could do with a bit of speed - however, I think we've got to applaud Arsenal's youngsters. Wenger is doing what no-one else seems capable of - building for the future and the present at the same time.

[philipl]

Arsenal view on why the kids have beaten Everton, Liverpool and now the Rovers

Have to agree about the entertainment value last night. Watching it on the box, the two hours flew by in a game that was gripping from beginning to end,

[Sandiway Blue]

Okay - Reid may have messed up and do you remember that mistake he made at right back in the UEFA cup - against Genclerbirligi, I think...!!! However, Hughes obviously thought that Reid's superior speed would be necessary to counter Arsenal's fast moving football, and Rangers fans will tell you that Zurab's right back performances were one of the reasons he was allowed to leave.

We have defensive problems, our central midfield lacks class on the ball and on the flanks, we could do with a bit of speed - however, I think we've got to applaud Arsenal's youngsters. Wenger is doing what no-one else seems capable of - building for the future and the present at the same time.

Exactly what Rovers should be doing,we really need to put more effort into our academy.

[Guest WestSussexTombo]

Exactly what Rovers should be doing,we really need to put more effort into our academy.

Problem with that is Wenger is spending the same amount for players going into the acadamy from Europe as we do on first teamers. He virtually has a unending supply of money, so can pick players from whatever country he wishes (usually France or Spain) to go into the acadamy.

Im sure his acadamy will be producing World Class youngsters for years to come!

[Ozz]

OK, Ok,ok. Bit peed off with last night. It was exciting, emotional and excellent value for money. But I left with a sense of resignation, which clouded over all the good points. I mean to lose a quarter final to ten men at home over 120 minutes, felt like a real chance lost to me. Seems like Hughes Rovers career is to be remembered by a string of what could have beens, which is a little like his tenure in charge of Wales. So nearly a glorious success against all the odds. Don't get me wrong, I am not knocking the guy he can only do what he can only do, within the constraints of either the pool of players available to him in the Welsh job, or the amount of cash he can spend on players at Blackburn. And I do think he has done a remarkable job here. But there is something there that just keeps holding us back from the real glory, the cup finals and the trophies. How many semis has we lost with Hughes here? Some may say the glass is half full, fine you can think that way. But the fact of the matter is we could have been in three finals in three years and we have not taken one chance to do this.

Take last night, after the result and defensive performance on Saturday, you would think we would be right up for it, from the kick off. In your face defending, tough tackling and saying to the Young Gunners "You think you're pretty good? Well I've been there and done it son, so off you pop.." Or words that sum up this sentiment. But we were sloppy, slow, lethargic and uninspired looking. Maybe even bored!

Playing Reid at right back? Good grief he was rank on Saturday in his best position, and was all at sea last night at full back for the first hour. What has Zurab done wrong? A class international defender got 3 minutes at the end of extra time. Even if he had been a little rusty he could not have been worse then Reid was.

And Roberts on the bench? The last ten minutes we had Samba up front, whilst a Premiership striker kept his coat on the sat on the bench? If he was not going to be used, why not have had Tugay on ready to run the game in extra time?

And starting Savage and Reid in the middle on Saturday,was a huge tactical blunder in my opinion.

It sounds like I'm against Mark, I'm not I am eternally grateful for the turnaround both on and off the pitch in his tenure, but he is getting it wrong a little too often at the moment for my liking. Maybe I'm just peed off by the amount of goals we are conceding and the overall standard of play in the last 5 or 6 games.

Still, knowing Rovers we will probably thump Chelsea on Sunday and I will be laughing again!