Blackburn Rovers Vs. Newcastle United

[Mr. E]

football's a bonkers game, indeed.

Now let me just say I am delighted that we have won, very important victory....but we were far from good enough.

Once again we missed every chance we could possibly miss, with the exception of Super David Bents, the most important player in our team. The defense was shaky and made quite a few bad mistakes - but that was because every single Newcastle attack at the end ended up in our penalty area. Especially in the last 15 mins, our midfield line was literally non-existent. Newcastle just waltzed in whenever they felt like it and we could not keep the ball to save our lives. If it was another solid team like Villa we would have been hammered.

We played 10X better vs Villa and lost 4-0, yet here we somehow won. Kind of like the Spurs game.

Again - I know this might sound like a very negative post, but I do think we need to address some big faults in our game. Very happy that we won though.

[Rovermatt]

Nice to heighten the tension at St. James's Park. Almost as nice as a welcome 3 points.

[Rover Down Under]

and while were at it well done Mr Atkinson for allowing the game to continue / not being card happy / ruining the game for one or other set of fans...a rare spectacle nowadays as a Rovers fan.

[Cocker]

Fat Sam not happy on sky at the moment.

Great result - sounds like what goes around comes around (talking about the villa game)

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

To the arrogant barcode fans at todays game......

Our support may be f'kin shyte but so is your team and manager.

Satisfying afternoon result indeed!

[philipl]

Thanks for the comedy value of this thread lads!

Good post by Tango. 10 out of 10 for Mr Atkinson again- hope this isn't a prelude to him having a stinker.

Newcastle were well up for it this afternoon so for Rovers to get 3 points is a great result. BFS was playing 3 up most of the time and had midfielders playing as full backs.

Outstanding performance from Warnock, Bentley brillianbt most of the game and although Chris Samba had his moments of keystone cop defending, is there a more exciting/entertaining defender in the Premiership today?

Very happy with some nice results elsewhere as well to get us back towards the nice end of the table.

[Cocker]

We have been given game of the day on sky - whaaaahooooooo

[3rdpillar]

This game is bound for a 0-0 scoreline!

eeemmmmm!!!!!!!

[3rdpillar]

BENTS! He's having a superb game today. The ref playing the advantage helps for once.

ADVANTAGE !!!! Yer right, the ahole wan't going to give us anything and it just back fired on the fat get!

[3rdpillar]

BBC report Tugay's goal as a poke. From where I was sitting it was a pinpoint shot curled from the outside of the boot. 1970's Brazillian style.

We'll wait and see what Linker and his cronies think.

[1864roverite]

Oh well winter beckons and for me the toon army are in for one hell of a winter struggle. Our own BRFC however can look forwards hopefully to yet another successful December.

Like many others, I am agog at how we managed to lose 0-4 vesus Villa yet come up trumps 3-1 at home to the mighty bar codes FC aka fat freddies army of big mouthed yobs.

The game today was odd. The first 45 mins instantly forgettable as both teams struggled to get a grip on the game, my view though was that Rovers JUST held the upper hand as the ref blew his whistle. Oh yes, the ref. He had a good game in allowing the game to flow and kept the bookings to a minimum.

The second half saw Rovers kicking into the Blackburn End and just as we expected some improvement, mssrs Samba, Oijer,Mccarthy and co opened up like the red sea to allow that little gimp Martins the freedom of the box to glance home his header off that magnificent forehead of his (or is it squarehead?). 1-0 barcodes and the 6300 fans erupt with their usual tripe.

Just 7 minutes later, Rovers reply with a goal a certain Mr Beckham would be proud of. It is not very often that Shay Given is left stranded on his line but the way Bents struck the shot he had no choice but to admire the way the net bulged. Do not miss it on football first or MOTD.

Rovers took the initiative but some strange substitutions left me bewildered. I cannot accept the Dunn substitution whereas the mccarthy substitution was 20 mins too late. Mccarthy clearly has issues on his mind and I can see him facing a spell on the sidelines if he continues to give the ball away. What is more annoying is the fact that some of his play is simply graceful, the first half RSC chance is evidence of that.

As Rovers strived to take the lead, our midfield was being overrun. Instead of removing Tugay they leave him on ! Today was not a good day for him although I will save him for last. Again, Rovers then take the lead with yet another sublime Bentley finish. The toon army is silenced again.

As BFS makes his substitutions, a previous nemesis of Rovers in the form of fat boy viduka enters the fray. He and Martins the gimp cause havoc and the game gets tasty. A flurry of rash tackles and bookings follow. Rovers defence try everything in their power to play a bar codes player in but Brad saved the day.

And then, the ultimate finale for the muppet behind me. I had raged at the way Tugay had given the ball away on at least 4 times in 5 minutes as Newcastle poured forward and then Tugay spoils it all by finishing off the bar codes with a cool finish. 3-1 Rovers and game well and truly over.

Is it the end for BFS ? it might just be the one that grants him a p45 and yet another big pay off courtesy of a not too well run football club with serious problems.

Positives from the game, 3 points, a plus goal difference and a decent 20 minute run out for Reidy. Oh how we can do with him ploughing up and down the middle of the park.

Negatives, the defence went walkabout for the bar codes goal, the Bentley booking which was needless and the lack of toilet paper when ralph came to visit after the end of a seriously bad hangover !

So its a nice start to December, the month of gifts, tinsel and football. This month see Rovers with an oppotunity to cement their Premiership place for next season whilst building a platform for the New Years run for a European place as well as the chance to secure yet another major semi final place in the League Cup.

Oh yes, finally, we have the FA Cup 3rd round draw. A home tie against a minnow would do nicely as well as seeing manure v liverpool as well as chelsea v arsenal. We can al dream, its what the cup is all about

[grizfoot]

Second Half was some of the best end-to-end football I've seen in a while. We weren't on top form by any means but could have easily had a hatful that second half.

Newcastle really are Notlob in disguise, long ball, long throw-ins, closing down, the lot. Priceless seeing the reaction of Big Sam after the third.

Bentley showed his class today and made the difference between the two teams. Superb free-kick and quality finish from him, shame he's going to be suspensed for the West Ham game. Definately the Man of the Match. Tugay wrapped the game up with a brilliant curled shot with the outside of his foot, pure quality.

[frosty]

Great win in the end, when we conceded the goal off the set piece (again) I feared the worst.

Great strikes by Bentley, he deserved his MOM.

Newcastle have definetely adopted Bolton tactics.

[Baz]

I thought overall we deserved it as we had the better chances - we just need to be a bit more lethal up-front.

Defensively we where poor, Ooijer to me is too slow both on the floor and in his reading of the game.

Cant believe people are congratulating the ref - Alan Smith spent 90 minutes shoving our center-halves as they were heading the ball away, yet free-kick after free-kick given against our forwards for nothing. Also in the first half there was 1 injury for 3-4 mins and the physio came on 2 other times as well - Given was taking nearly a minute per goal kick yet there was 2 mins injury time - second half no injuries at all and 4 mins given?

Great 3 points for us - theres a nice 5 point gap below Everton too - separating the 2 halves of the table.

IF we can win next Sunday and take something from the JJB too it will set up up terrifically for a post x-mas surge towards the top 5.

Oh and can someone stop Benni from marking anyone at free-kicks - it was his man both against Villa and today too!

[Wild Irish Rover]

and while were at it well done Mr Atkinson for allowing the game to continue / not being card happy / ruining the game for one or other set of fans...a rare spectacle nowadays as a Rovers fan.

Arse... The eejit completely dominated the majority of the match with his stop-start tactics, blowing for practically every single infringement The first half was a non-event and if we hadn't ridden our luck in the second half we could easily have been crying into our beer this evening too.

At the moment, I can't see any value in playing Benni and Santa in the same team - its all just flowery flicks and tricks and very little that could be considered the art of the striker. What a difference Jason Roberts made - in the same way that I suspect Savage would make against teams like this. If we have to persist with B & S up front, at least lets have Sav making a nuisance of himself and causing defences (theirs) to make mistakes, which quality strikers like B&S can work with.

Well done Rovers for passing this test though. The second half was good entertainment and at last the crowd woke up.

[Wolverine]

Just got back from the game and I think we opened the game and ended the game the better side. In fact it was roughly the duration that they had Carr on the pitch that they had the better chances. Having said that, they were terrible even when they were on top. When we were bad we were hopeless.

In spite of this, we did play some fantastic fooball here and there but the usual suspects and a lack of concentration could have cost us.

Their best player by far was definately the linesman in front of the riverside who continually failed to bring anything to the referees attention. By the by, the referee was also below par. A cast iron penalty when McCarthy was brought down and petulance from Martins on Warnock were consistantly ignored.

Anyhow, justice was done, and we even prooved to have more imagination than the Toon fans when it came to singing, even if we were beaten in volume. I am just so happy to have had the chance to sing 'Shearer Wonderland' just one last time!

[brfcshabba]

BBC report Tugay's goal as a poke. From where I was sitting it was a pinpoint shot curled from the outside of the boot. 1970's Brazillian style.

We'll wait and see what Linker and his cronies think.

Reminded me of Ronaldinho's goal against Chelsea

[Roar of the Rover]

Not the best performance but still come out with 3 points, sign of a good team?

And please no more Manager of the Month awards, no wins in November!

[they_think_its_all_rover]

Whoah... NEVER driving to a game again... back to the train for me! lol... had a nightmare trying to get out of Blackburn after the game... getting into Blackburn was a struggle after the police closed the main road into Blackburn off too!

Had awesome seats. 3 rows back, just behind the drummer. awesome view of the goals. I feel I had a part to play in our first goal... ( ) it was quiet as Dave stepped up and I shouted "GIVEN!" just as he was about to strike it... well, he never moved!

I knew Sparky was saving Roberts for when their defence got tired... as they were playing just like Bolton last year... Roberts came on and got 2 pens in 10 mins in that game... He came on today and changed the game IMO.

Best players;

Roberts (changed the game with his strength and ability to hold the ball up)

Bentley (sheer class today... shame he misses the Spam game)

Ooijer (looked solid at the back... we would have conceaded in the first half a few times if it wasnt for him)

& same goes for...

Warnock (brilliant today, had a top game defensively... not as great going forward today).

It was great to see the players enjoying themselves at the end, especially Dave singing along with the crowd and then Tugay at the end recieving the Turkish flag and singing to him.

Reid looked good, put in some killer through balls.

Joey Barton should walked for being completely wreakless near the end.

The ref was poor... people are saying he had a good game... but he gave us NOTHING! gave them everything! I'm suprised we got the freekick for Dave's first... and as someone said above, he WASNT going to give anything for the bad challenge on Roque when he got his second.

Didnt know your allowed to take Maccy-Ds into the ground... I was pleased as I'd just bought it without looking at the time (Yeah, the pub grub plan didnt go too well because of traffic! lol).

The best part of all was silencing the barcode fans and getting the 3 points!

P.S. could anyone make out a word they were chanting? haha...

[Jan]

Today I was able to combine my two favourite things, football and shopping at the same time. For those of you who don't know, it was "Ladies Day" in the Red Rose Suite, and they had clothes, handbags and jewellery for sale- as well as beauty treatments available!!! If they'd had shoes it would have been PERFECT. (Although spending more than my season ticket cost on 2 dresses wasn't in the plan)

Winning the game with three goals at our end of the ground was just icing on the cake. And then after the game we had 3 great Rovers players turn up to speak to us- Bents, Santa Cruz (oh my god he's even MORE gorgeous up close) and Derbyshire. Oh and MGP was there and bypassed by most in the lounge (as he was by his team-mates for most of today).

More days like this will be good.

Oh and Benni was probably suffering a bit from the 14 stitches he had in his leg after the Fulham game (why was he playing?)

[Beta Ray Bill]

I think both teams had got confused that it was FA Cup day as they played as if it were a cup tie rather than a league match.

Just wtached it again on Sky and it reaffirmed one thing - Trevor Francis is a class 1 <fill in the blank>.

Amongst his many pearls of shitedom:

Shot on target by Rovers, heading for the goal but hits the lower arm of geremi - "you can't give a penalty for that, he was only 2 yards away". Couple of minutes later, Bert uses his upper arm in the box but in a non-goal scoring position - "that's clearly a penalty".

Either both are, or both aren't.

[gumboots]

I think both teams had got confused that it was FA Cup day as they played as if it were a cup tie rather than a league match.

Just wtached it again on Sky and it reaffirmed one thing - Trevor Francis is a class 1 <fill in the blank>.

Amongst his many pearls of shitedom:

Shot on target by Rovers, heading for the goal but hits the lower arm of geremi - "you can't give a penalty for that, he was only 2 yards away". Couple of minutes later, Bert uses his upper arm in the box but in a non-goal scoring position - "that's clearly a penalty".

Either both are, or both aren't.

he did manage one moment of quality though when the commentator said "How are they going to decide what to do with the ball?" when someone put it off and he just said "Drop ball between Barton and Bentley"

[rebelmswar]

Well I got the score right! I think it will be fine now we got over the mini slump and most of our players played very well. I have to say I am very impressed with Roberts he seems to want to play very badly and has some good skill and belief in himself. Warnock in that game was great and some very brave tackles, Ooijer was also quite decent. Bentley was however man of the match in my opinion and should be hammering at the door for England.

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

should be hammering at the door for England.

I daresay he will be when we actually qualify for something.

[Walls]

Defensively we where poor, Ooijer to me is too slow both on the floor and in his reading of the game.

I thought he was exellent today, as he has been in the last 3 games regardless of what position he has played in. I even think he should keep his place instead of Nelsen - who for me has been a bit error prone of late. Warnock again was very good but defensively needs to learn he doesn't have to dive in and commit himself 100%. One thing I did notice today was that Samba NEVER marks goal side at free kicks. Was Carew his man on Wednesday and Martins his man today? Needs to be corrected ASAP.

And as for MGP I just don't know what's wrong with the bloke. Should he be dropped completely? He is a shadow of his former self and seems so low on confidence. If Peter isn't up to it I think we seriously need to look at that position in Jan.

A well deserved win today but just looking at the table we'd be equal 2nd if we had beat Fulham and Villa...