Rovers Vs. Pensioners

[American Rover12]

well, I don't think we got one break all game. Watched the game live this morning, but just waited to see some other opinions before adding my own little piece.

Emerton? Not a good day at the office to say the least. Messes up big quite a few times. At times I forgot Warnock was on the pitch. Nothing good to say about him, but nothing bad as well. Zurab stole the show (voted for him by a hair over big brad) I've said it before, and I'll repeat myself again; I've always rated him higher then Andre and he should be playing more, it was a fantastic outing for him. Santa just shows how valuable he is each and every game. His vision and knack for being where he should most of the time is above par. Good to see Reid back in action some more. Bentley was in a class all his own today. He was doing everything from linking, following up, playing good defense and just generally doing everything he could and needed to. Very impressed. Love that free flowing CAM role for him.

Overall lady luck wasn't at Ewood; or in England today for the Rovers. Quite frustrating, the talent is there, but the finishing and just the luck of the breaks aren't.

Oh yeah, MGP: Not helping his cause by playing like @#/? every week.

[Mr. E]

hah and what am I saying that is so much "crap" ? The fact is we have had poor performances all season long, with only one or two players (mainly Bentley) giving us anything. We were lucky to win a fair few which we should have lost (Spurs, Newcastle), but all that has run out. Our results since October are my case in point. I really fail to see where all this optimism is coming from.

[tcj_jones]

Oh yeah, MGP: Not helping his cause by playing like @#/? every week.

I thought that Pedersen was greatly improved actually. He tracked back well on numerous occasions and put in some great challanged. Going forward he put Bentley through with an excellent lofted through ball and his corners, for once, looked threatening.

[American Rover12]

I thought that Pedersen was greatly improved actually. He tracked back well on numerous occasions and put in some great challanged. Going forward he put Bentley through with an excellent lofted through ball and his corners, for once, looked threatening.

That is a good point and something that slipped my mind, so fair play to you on that. He did track back and support quite well.

Can't say I agree with you about his corners; they were decent at best and the most threatening one came at the end, which he just kicked as hard and sharp as he could, it looked a threat by coming close to the post. Also his set pieces were crap again. Bents was in prime position and MGP still got the right of way.

[Ben-2000]

not read any posts..GUTTED SHOULD OF GOTTEN SUMMUT

Just about sums it up. With the chances we had we should have taken at least one.

We should have taken advantage of them having an off day although between them their keepers kept them in the game on 2 occasions.

Decent performance all round though... lets just hope we can be the first team this season to get something from the COMS.

All it leaves now is to say Merry Christmas everyone - hope you all have a good one!

[philipl]

The BBC report is very complimentary about Rovers and the Independent reckons we were robbed.

[Presty On Tour]

it's all good getting these complementary reviews and all but the bottom line is we lost. i'd much prefer 3 points and a crap review as the league table matters and it doesn't give reviews, it just shows the facts and we have just added another input into the lost section.

[Paul]

Very disappointed with the result but deligted to see a much improved performance. It must be very tough for the players at the moment as so little has gone right in the last few games, good to see they are still holding their heads up and have the confidence to take on Chelsea like this and Arsenal (second half) in a similar way. Surely we must get a little bit of luck soon? I think we just need to take the lead in a game and everything will change - looking forward to Thursday!

A special mention this morning must go to the six young lads sat on the front row of the BBE next to the steps nearest the JW. You're behaviour was utterly appalling; the abuse and aggression thrown at Lampard and straight in the faces of the stewards left many of us watching ashamed of you as fans. How the one (blue striped sweater) who ran to the opposite corner to abuse Lampard stayed in the ground I don't know. By far the worst behaviour was from the lad in a white hoody. Hopefully the club have you all on video and will ban you.

Congratulations to the MB member who won the half-time £500 draw! Mine's a double.

[des]

I think all in all a good game to watch, and most of the players, played well. The only short coming was that often we played only one forward up front, and as such we had one to link up with.

Midfield was better, however its on area in which MH still has alot to work on. well roll on thurday and its a game that we do need points from if our season is not going to go down hill.

God bless and happy christmas and a great new year to one and all.

[USABlue]

Was it a good performance by us or were Chelsea just crap. Anyone else watching just know we weren't going to score yesterday, was one of those games. I am getting a bit concerned now.

[jim mk2]

You'll be even more concerned after we've lost at Derby on Dec 30.

Merry Christmas.

[Flopsy]

Jim, I mentioned that yesterday (with Nesta) after they drew with the Barcodes, I was hoping they would have won to get rid of the away day hoodoo, now roll on their first three away points at Ewood.

Might put some money on that.

bah!

[jim mk2]

Jim, I mentioned that yesterday (with Nesta) after they drew with the Barcodes, I was hoping they would have won to get rid of the away day hoodoo, now roll on their first three away points at Ewood.

Might put some money on that.

bah!

Eh ? My tickets say the game's at Pride Park !

[joey_big_nose]

Negatives:

Nelsen looks finished on recent form, desperately short of pace again today in an error strewn performance and skinned for the goal.

Ditto Tugay, thought he had an abysmal game today and his misplaced pass initially started the move which led to the goal.

Well, I have to agree with both of those points. I simply can't believe it about Nelsen. Has literally gone from being arguably our best player to being the worst in a few short months. The fact that he is our captain is going to make it very hard for Hughes to drop him unless he absolutely believes he is finished. Yesterday the kiwi was a liability. Very depressed abouth this. If he was playing as well as he was last season we would have at least 5 more points on the board. His decline has meant that everyone is a lot more nervous when going forward as they know we can get skinned at the back, and although Samba has beem culpable as well his confidence must have been knocked too.

Tugay can still pass but a man who was once slow is now almost static. Love him, but last season at Ewood (on the pitch anyways).

[thenodrog]

Much better performance which just adds more question marks over our continued inability to self motivate for the so called 'easier' matches. If we had played like that v WHU and Wigan we would now have 6 points more on the board imo. Yesterday we were good value for a point and I don't think we would have been flattered by all 3. I said just before Cole scored that we would pay for going close so many times and we did. And that is the difference between really top teams and also rans. Despite having our best strike force for many years we really do need too many chances to score. It's not mystery that we won the title not cos we had the best players in the Prem but because we had the best convertor of chances in Europe at the time.

I'm struggling to pick out a MoM between Bentley, Zurab and RSC who all had excellent games. (edit.... decided Bentley as Zurab failed to move forward to meet a corner in the first half that should have led to a sure fire goal) Most of the others performed well enough too but Nelsens loss of pace is very worrying. In midfield we have too many question marks over our flawed diamonds. Tugay is past competing with top stars from clubs at the business end of the table, Dunne / Reid all look yesterdays men, Sav ditto and the Axe is simply a black Atko at best.

Not been mentioned on here but Warnock must take some blame for the result as he was flat footed and ball watching when he left Nelsen so exposed for their goal. If he had tucked in closer when the ball was across the pitch he might well have cut out Coles run.

Looks like Hughes has decided that there is only room for one boss at Blackburn and that boss is not any player or players agents. One mistake from Hughes was by replacing Tugay with Roberts. It actually appeared to work against us and disrupt our play.

[Tris]

Thought we became less effective after Tugay went off yesterday, and the starting formation suited him. Nelsen is a worry - in fact on current form our first choice centre halves should be Oiijer and Zurab - deservedly leading in the MotM poll IMO.

[Hasta]

Thought we became less effective after Tugay went off yesterday, and the starting formation suited him.

We did become less effective when Roberts came on for Tugay. I think the 5 in midfield was enabling us to retain possession and work the ball through Chelsea quite well. Once we went to 4 in midfield we lost impetus in the game. I don't think this was down to the loss of Tugays' influence though who I felt was the worst player for Rovers. More the lack of numbers in that area.

[only2garners]

We did become less effective when Roberts came on for Tugay. I think the 5 in midfield was enabling us to retain possession and work the ball through Chelsea quite well. Once we went to 4 in midfield we lost impetus in the game. I don't think this was down to the loss of Tugays' influence though who I felt was the worst player for Rovers. More the lack of numbers in that area.

The real positive about the starting formation was that playing off a lone striker and being given the freedom to roam is clearly Bentley's best position - Chelsea had no idea what to do with him particularly in the first half hour. When Tugay went off we reverted more to a 4-2-4 and looked considerably less effective. With the benefit of hindsight we would have been better sticking to the formation and bringing Savage or Mokoena on to replace Tugay. Of course the tailing of of performance could also have been due to players tiring and Chelsea shutting up shop.

[Ozz]

Joe Cole touched the ball twice all day and won the match. @#/?.

I though that RSC was fouled on the half way line in the run upto the goal, though I may be wrong.

In the bogs at half time, one old bloke says to another "What do you think so far?"

His mate says"What a load of rubbish."

What do Rovers fans expect? 1970 vintage Brazil every week? JHC, they were brilliant in the first half.

And I thought the crowd, in both numbers and voice were excellent too, apart from the sub human dikwads at th front of the BBE screaming at Lampard and Cole at every corner. Shocking, should be banned!

Anyway, wont be back on line till after Xmas, so see you at Man City and hope everyone has a great, safe time over the holidays.

Byeee!

[Exiled in Toronto]

in fact on current form our first choice centre halves should be Oiijer and Zurab - deservedly leading in the MotM poll IMO.

I was thinking that myself. I thought at the time Oiijer was very unlucky to be dropped when Nelsen returned from injury, and it would be grossly unfair if Samba replaced zurab on Thursday.

[den]

In the bogs at half time, one old bloke says to another "What do you think so far?"

His mate says"What a load of rubbish."

What do Rovers fans expect? 1970 vintage Brazil every week? JHC, they were brilliant in the first half.

My experience is that rovers fans think they're crap if they lose - whatever the performance is like.

If we win, we're usually crap as well.

[Paul Mellelieu]

Drog's wrong on Reid and Dunn (you must learn to spell). Reid in particular is starting to find his feet.

[herbergeehh]

I though that RSC was fouled on the half way line in the run upto the goal, though I may be wrong.

I don't think he was fouled, unfortunately Roque just lost his concentration for a second, allowing Alex or possibly that @#/? Carvalho in front of him. Not a good place to lose possession against Chelsea, though we did look decently organized at the time. That cut through-pass from Kalou would've stretched any defence though..

I thought Zura was excellent at the back, nothing less. I would split the mom award between him and David Bentley, who looked untouchable in the 1st half. He pulled everything off at one point, he just didn't lose possession. When Roberts came on though, he wasn't able to roam around as much, and he became more predictable. All in all a very good match performance from Rovers, and if Santa had just scored on that half-volley..

PS: Positive performance from Pedersen aswell?

[frosty]

PS: Positive performance from Pedersen aswell?

Better yes, hopefully he's improving.

[modes98]

I though that RSC was fouled on the half way line in the run upto the goal, though I may be wrong.

Yep i thought the same thing. I sat in the JW for a change and RSC looked to receive a shove in the back.