West Ham Preview

[Raymond Rover]

That was an absolute nightmare to watch, everyone looked like they couldn't be bothered. The passing by the midfield was absolutely shocking, so off target most of the time I wondered if they had got confused what team they are playing on.

I think Samba again was the only one looking like he was trying, we need some fresh blood in the midfield and a striker that will get in the box, maybe Anelka isn't looking like such a terrible option after all.

[Rover Down Under]

urrrrgghh. Why do we always lose to mid table teams at home like this? It's so frustrating being a Rovers fan sometimes. I just knew this would happen. I hope this is a turning point for Hughsie - drop Pedders, bring Reid in from the start with Dunn and Sav and stop getting cards! We lost this cos we were without Bents, there were NO CROSSES from the right! They just closed us down too quickly and we had no options. Why do I stay up till 4.30 am to torture myself?

[Eddie]

I'll say this, everyone who said "just enjoy the win against Newcastle and I don't know why people are moaning", this is why we were moaning. The performance last week was really not all that much better than today, we simply happened to score two goals from nothing and added a third late on. If Santa Cruz had taken his chance and Tugay's effort late on had gone in then many who are saying that we were awful would be telling the rest of us to lighten up and enjoy the victory. We have serious defensive problems, we also cannot afford to play Dunn out wide as he drifts in far too often and it gives us no option out wide. We need to improve the centre of our midfield so that we can keep control of the game and the tempo. We essentially play by simply running at teams as fast as possible and passing it around. On a good day it is wonderful to watch and slices them open (Reading first half being a prime example), on a bad day the passes miss their man and we end up never being able to build attacks (as happened today).

[yellowsubmarine]

This is not Champions League candidate football.

Bentley is sorely missed.

[Rovermatt]

A shambles from beginning to end, that is an absolutely unacceptable result. No wonder people don't turn up at Ewood when our performances can be abject as that. Crap in possession, careless going forward and some absolutely shocking defending all combined to give a West Ham side devoid of any real class a very easy three points.

We created next to nothing in their box and on the rare occasions that we got in behind their under-tested defence the finishing was embarrassing. A chill runs down my spine just thinking about Santa Cruz's effort late in the second half. As usual the visiting goalkeeper had a blinder when called upon but in reality our attempts to test Green were completely and utterly laughable. We have two top-class centre forwards who are consistently starved of decent quality into the box. We lack the ability in midfield to ping the the ball about on the floor. Why not play to our strengths and test the opposition?!

Our midfield was far too narrow and Pedersen offered absolutely nothing on the left. That cash-grabbing @#/? Neill in particular had a very pleasurable afternoon.

Disgraceful!

:angry2:

[johnny boy]

Very poor, we really missed Bentley.

Our early season promise looks very distant.

[Ricky]

God im pleased I didnt drive up to Ewood for that tripe.

If we could get a pack of polo's and a smartie for MGP at the moment I'd be inclined to take it. Poor again.

[daren]

They played at times like a team of strangers. I was very disappointed. Our worst player, for me, was Bert (except for his corners, which were ok). Pedersen actually improved slightly and was very unlucky that his shot didn't squeeze under Greene.

Benni dropped back to far, and Dunn did not look comfortable on the right - he kept dropping infield and we were too narrow up front. Their goal was some of the worst defending I've ever seen from Rovers, with Brett's 'clearing' header causing the problem in the first place.

Carlton Cole was lucky not to be sent off for a very late tackle on Brad (after his AWFUL one on Samba). And Ooijers injury is worrying, I hope it's not serious.

Tugay was taken out of the game, he barely got a yard of space in the entire game. The pass to Roque over the top was a peach, and Roque's touch was sublime, but the finish was wild. Mokoena was back to his worst - wild tackling, poor passing, and poor control.

Like I said, disappointing.

[jim mk2]

Cruz should be dropped for those misses. Basic stuff for a centre forward.

Four defeats out of four against the Ammers.

[LeChuck]

McCarthy is a class apart upfront, but gets no service.

He really was the only positive thing for me today, he's a joy to watch on the ball sometimes.

Other than that, we were poor. We desperately lack pace, especially out wide. It's going to be another drab season; out of Europe already and mid-table in the league. Talk of Hughes for England or Hughes for Old Trafford is so far wide of the mark at present, he's got a long, LONG way to go improving us before being considered for top jobs...I don't see many other mid-table managers having their names thrown at the those jobs.

[frosty]

The team needs freshening up badly.

Look at this midfield:

Pedersen-Mokoena-Tugay-Dunn

??

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

TURGID.

Little to no spark,guile or craft throughout the side and thats being generous.

[Mozzer]

i come on here and see people slag pedersen off-who in my opinion along with tugay was our best player....

everyone has it in for pedersen, but yet when samba, emerton, warnock, mcarthy, cruz, dunn have poor performances they say nothing..

[Ricky]

To be honest today I think you'd struggle to find a player who came out of the match with a great deal of credit. Benni had some noce touches and flicks but all too deep really.

Pedersen has been average for the whole season in my view, guess thats why he's taking some stick

[Exiled_Rover]

I'll say this, everyone who said "just enjoy the win against Newcastle and I don't know why people are moaning", this is why we were moaning. The performance last week was really not all that much better than today, we simply happened to score two goals from nothing and added a third late on. If Santa Cruz had taken his chance and Tugay's effort late on had gone in then many who are saying that we were awful would be telling the rest of us to lighten up and enjoy the victory. We have serious defensive problems, we also cannot afford to play Dunn out wide as he drifts in far too often and it gives us no option out wide. We need to improve the centre of our midfield so that we can keep control of the game and the tempo. We essentially play by simply running at teams as fast as possible and passing it around. On a good day it is wonderful to watch and slices them open (Reading first half being a prime example), on a bad day the passes miss their man and we end up never being able to build attacks (as happened today).

It's the third home game in a row where we've been atrocious. It's entirely on Hughes' head - you can't play Tugay and Mokoena together. Neither one does enough running to pressure the opposition when on the ball, and neither one is far enough upfield to support the strikers. As a result, Benni and Cruz have to come deep for the ball, completely stifling our attack.

You can see why Cruz was so cheap, relatively. Two sitters.

[andrew92]

Cruz should be dropped for those misses. Basic stuff for a centre forward.

what and make it even less likely to score

The team needs freshening up badly.

Look at this midfield:

Pedersen-Mokoena-Tugay-Dunn

??

is a poor midfield needs bentley and a left mid, keith tracey? sergio peter?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

You can tell after 10 minutes what the story will be on days like this, we started really casually, about two thirds of our passes either went to a hammers shirt or out of play, Rovers allowed them to play themselves in comfortably. We were second to most balls and the lack of movement in midfield was obvious to all, we're crying out for a playmaker in the middle. It was too little too late for me , we only started playing in the last 10 minutes, our lack of sheer athletic ability in midfield was also obvious.

Wham didn't offer much but as soon as they scored ( a comedy of errors if ever I saw one, but one of several pieces of collective poor defending) you just knew they would hang on and get the points. Thank god we've already got 26.

Scores

Freidel 6 Did OK no chance with the goal, don't like a goalie as captain though.

Emerton 6 I thought he did alright, he wasn't the only one to blame for the goal.

Samba 6 Not at his best but made some timely interceptions.

Ooijer 6 Not a bad performance but his propensity for rash tackles got him an early booking and after that he's walking a tight rope.

Warnock 4 Shocking, the worst I've seen him play.

Dunn 4 Started quite lively but soon faded and gave us no width, we played in front of Wham all afternoon.

Mokoena 4 I've defended the Axe in the past but I can't today, really poor. Do not play Axe and Tugay again in the same midfield.

Tugay 6 Tried hard and looked class on the ball , but you can do on the half way line.

Pedersen 4 Business as usual, hardly in the game. He contrived to squander a guilt edged chance in the first half by putting an easy cross beyond the un marked Santa Cruz with the goal begging. Played against a known liabilty when it comes to rash tackles and never took him on ONCE. We need a replacement in the window.

Santa Cruz 6 Played quite well and worked hard but missed two really good chances, the one he put into the Blackburn end called for a cooler head.

Mc Carthy 6 The best I've seen him play for a while, yes he does run up blind alleys but he had very little support today.

Subs Savage 6 The usual Savage, ran about to no great effect personally, but he did up our tempo appreciably.

Reid ? Barely had a touch.

Roberts ? Same as Reid.

[Paul]

Very, very poor. Nothing else to say.....except forget Anelka and buy a midfield - complete.

[James No. 7]

i come on here and see people slag pedersen off-who in my opinion along with tugay was our best player....

everyone has it in for pedersen, but yet when samba, emerton, warnock, mcarthy, cruz, dunn have poor performances they say nothing..

Emerton used to get lampooned regularly when he was playing on the wing. Do a search for Emerton posts from before you joined the board.

Also check Nicko's thread on page 307 for a more recent opinion on Emerton. One member believes that we that "we have NO right back". That was before this match. That's not exactly a vote of confidence.

There was quite a bit of McCarthy hate/non-love (whichever way you look at it) earlier this season.

Dunn has his doubters on here too.

[Mozzer]

everyone had a poor day, yet people only mention pedersen...

im not on about years back-in on about today, and still with one of his better performances he gets slated..i suppose it will take a goal a game to stop fans calling him..

[James No. 7]

everyone had a poor day, yet people only mention pedersen...

You were too early with your comment. Some of those players you mentioned have already been mentioned as poor and more will follow up.

im not on about years back-in on about today, and still with one of his better performances he gets slated..i suppose it will take a goal a game to stop fans calling him..

No-one is going to slate anyone over one game. Someone has to be consistent(ly bad) for a proper slating.

[den]

Almost embarrassed to put a man of the match poll up.

[John]

A lot of teams are saying we are such a tough team to play against, but I do not think we are. We have an ok record against the better teams in the league, but did not actually beat any of them.

I was worried about this game because West Ham are a committed team, even though I do not rate their current line-up (mainly because they have injuries).

In an attacking sense we do not pose that much of a threat (or enough of a threat). We lack any real pace in our midfield and we are too easy to over-run. We play some nice stuff but not in the areas that matter. As Andy Gray said, we play far too narrow and this limits our options when looking to create chances.

The midfield is a problem area, and we are finding ourselves too relient on Bentley. Pedersen form is woeful, the Axe is sadly not good enough for a team looking to reach the higher end of the Premiership table. Dunn has had a decent enough season but if he did not play for BRFC, I would not be worried about seeing his name in the opposition team sheet.

People were unsure on Cruz goal scoring record before he came to us, and I can see why now.

I am usually a pessimist when it comes to Rovers but I have not been convinced with our team so far this season. We need more pace and also need to try and create more variety in our play. I have not even mentioned the fact that we are concede soft goals. But whilst this is an obvious problem and obviously a major one, I am more concerned with our attacking play at the moment.

I was actually having a good weekend until watching that. It really annoyed me, plus the fact the West Ham fans in work are a bunch of ar**holes.

[Tango]

Almost embarrassed to put a man of the match poll up.

And miss off possibly the only person worthy of it; McCarthy

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

No Benni on the poll?

Some people just can't wait to blame it on him, can they