Preview: Manchester City Vs Rovers

[thenodrog]

Just a point (and bearing in mind that I have not seen the match) but so many people on here are being scathing about the performance of the Rovers yet the press and media reports are generally reporting a far different scenario. So whys that then?

btw eddie .... for your own sake stop bumming Benny up so much. You sound daft.

btw.... Are you 2 related?

[Ricky]

Eddie, you cant say that Roque had an Ok night and then try to claim that Benni was excellent when he came on.... it just doesnt work.

Santa Cruz (our top scoring, but not a natural goalscoring CF) is head and shoulders above Benni at the moment in terms of desire, passion, workrate, and more importantly GOAL SCORING!!!! yes, thats what I want my strikers to do. I dont care if benni can balance the ball on his left arse cheek on the half way line.... it really doesnt matter to me that he can flick it over a players head and then fail to pass it to a blue and white shirt......i want to see our forwards SCORE GOALS!!!! I defended Benni to the hilts on here last season as he was scoring goals. I defended him when people slated his workrate because he was SCORING GOALS...

[bob fleming]

btw eddie .... for your own sake stop bumming Benny up so much. You sound daft.

Don't waste your keyboard theno - if Eddie and Shillito want to big up one of our subs then let them get on with it. The "only natural finisher/goal scorer" we have on the books who at this moment in time isn't good enough to get in the first eleven? I wonder why that is?

Good point last night. I thought City looked a good team at times and no that wasn't just down to our "defence" or the fact that we couldn't string a couple of passes together in the first half. Santa just keps scoring, 13 now. Long may it continue.

[LeftWinger]

Although we were awful in the first half - I thought we did enough for a point in the second. We didn't test Hart much - but Friedel didn't have much to do either. Roque is on fire - and I thought Benni looked up for it when he came on. The ball wasn't quite running for him, he's low on confidence, but he is trying.

[Paul]

Just a point (and bearing in mind that I have not seen the match) but so many people on here are being scathing about the performance of the Rovers yet the press and media reports are generally reporting a far different scenario. So whys that then?

Possibly the media didn't see it either? The only sensible explanation I could give, and it's not convincing, is we had a poor view of the game from behind the goal, while the press will have had a side-on, more elevated view? I thought the view from our seats was rotten for a new stadium - row Z, lower tier.

[brfc4ever]

Roque's goalscoring run at the moment is fantastic, but my view on him hasn't changed. He's a quality player, I've never said anything else, but I still don't think we can rely on him to score goals, I'll be very happy if he keeps this up for the rest of the season and proves me wrong.

I dont get it. 7 goals in 4 games. 12 goals so far. And we cant rely on him scoring goals ??

Okay..

RSC

[Roost]

Overall a great rsult. The only team to take points off City this season at home is a good thing.

Good bits:

Santa Cruz - Brilliant awareness. He is just getting better and better

Bentley - Although shackled for 70 minutes, provided 2 killer crosses for RSC

Benni - His desire and passion were first class when he came on

Bad bits:

Dunn - How many times did he give the ball away? his first touch was shocking

Reid - See above

Nelson - Just not the player he was before the injury - no confidence, lack of leadership at the back

We have turned the corner............ roll on Derby

[S15]

Don't waste your keyboard theno - if Eddie and Shillito want to big up one of our subs then let them get on with it. The "only natural finisher/goal scorer" we have on the books who at this moment in time isn't good enough to get in the first eleven? I wonder why that is?

A few weeks ago I suggested the same about MGP, and got the whole 'Hughes knows he's class, he's just giving him chance to get his form back' response.

In recent weeks he hasn't been good enough, granted, but it doesn't change the point which is..

HE IS THE ONLY NATURAL GOALSCORER WE HAVE.

Do you have a counter arguement or not? McCarthy has 8 goals in half a season. That's 16 in a full season. Whilst he's been totally off form. Bells? Ringing?

Also, perhaps the fact the form of the team has not improved one jot since McCarthy has been dropped perhaps suggests the problem lyes elsewhere. Where could that be????!!!!!

McCarthy will never run about Dickov style, or kiss his badge, so us old fashioned Northerners will never warm to him. In fact, over a 15 game period he will probably actually only put in 2-3 really good performances. However, I can promise you over the same period he will get atleast 6 goals, a record proven throughout his Rovers career.

If that's not good enough for you, then prepare yourself for some very dark days ahead, when your wishing we had a Dickov to spearhead our play off charge.

[brfc4ever]

Eddie, you cant say that Roque had an Ok night and then try to claim that Benni was excellent when he came on.... it just doesnt work.

Santa Cruz (our top scoring, but not a natural goalscoring CF) is head and shoulders above Benni at the moment in terms of desire, passion, workrate, and more importantly GOAL SCORING!!!! yes, thats what I want my strikers to do. I dont care if benni can balance the ball on his left arse cheek on the half way line.... it really doesnt matter to me that he can flick it over a players head and then fail to pass it to a blue and white shirt......i want to see our forwards SCORE GOALS!!!! I defended Benni to the hilts on here last season as he was scoring goals. I defended him when people slated his workrate because he was SCORING GOALS...

Brilliant stuff mate

" I dont care if benni can balance the ball on his left arse cheek on the half way line...."

Can he really do that ?? Wow !

[joey_big_nose]

I have to say we actually played quite well today, set up right all over the pitch, with notable under performers recently (Pedersen, Nelsen, Emerton, McCarthy, Dunn, Reid) all playing well, also Samba seemed to be back to his old self. However we were undone by a tragic tactical error of putting zurab (who to be fair is not the slowest) up against Petrov who was sensational in the first half. With decent finishing they could have scored 4 from his crosses.

To give Hughes his due he did change round at half time, but Petrov was knackered in the second 45 so maybe Emerton would have recieved the same treatment if the Aussie had been at RB in the first half. We will never know.

Nonetheless on the face of it probably the worst tactical error of Hughes' reign, he should have seen that mismatch coming to be honest. Maybe he did and thought zurab was the best counter, whatever way he got it wrong.

The big positives for me is we seem to have our confidence back, Samba's refinding form has a great deal to do with that, and Cruz looks unstoppable. Bad news is that anyone with an ounce of nous knows we can be undone with serious pace. Absolute first point of call come the window is to get a striker or left winger with real pace so we can adjust our game plan a bit to play on the break to defend a lead or settle into a match away from home or against superior opposition (oh to be able to swap McCarthy for a fit again Bellamy). As it is we hold such a high defensive line that if we have an off day or play a team with a few quality speed merchants then we will come unstuck.

We had the better of the play, and more shots on goal (especially on target) but I cannot help but always feel nervous at the moment because we are so vulnerable on the break.

[Silencio]

A few weeks ago I suggested the same about MGP, and got the whole 'Hughes knows he's class, he's just giving him chance to get his form back' response.

In recent weeks he hasn't been good enough, granted, but it doesn't change the point which is..

HE IS THE ONLY NATURAL GOALSCORER WE HAVE.

Do you have a counter arguement or not? McCarthy has 8 goals in half a season. That's 16 in a full season. Whilst he's been totally off form. Bells? Ringing?

Also, perhaps the fact the form of the team has not improved one jot since McCarthy has been dropped perhaps suggests the problem lyes elsewhere. Where could that be????!!!!!

McCarthy will never run about Dickov style, or kiss his badge, so us old fashioned Northerners will never warm to him. In fact, over a 15 game period he will probably actually only put in 2-3 really good performances. However, I can promise you over the same period he will get atleast 6 goals, a record proven throughout his Rovers career.

If that's not good enough for you, then prepare yourself for some very dark days ahead, when your wishing we had a Dickov to spearhead our play off charge.

Agreed here.

[nottsrover]

I have never liked McCarthy. When he was doing his job, scoring goals, that was fine. He has lost his form, appears disinterested and does not play for the team. Whatever we get for him will be better invested in a new player wuith something to prove.

McCarthy is easily the most talented striker I have seen in a Rovers shirt in some time - he is a natural goal scorer and will deliver for us again with some careful management and decent service. What will not help is a load of fans getting on his back everytime they percieve him not to be trying. It seems to me that some Rovers fans would prefer a striker who puts the yards in on the pitch regardless of raw ability. It simply doesn't work. Ask Liverpool fans whether Kuyt's work rate makes him a worthwhile player to have leading the line. We'll be wanting Ashley Ward back yet!

[Paul]

What will not help is a load of fans getting on his back everytime they percieve him not to be trying.

I'm not on his back and I certainly don't want an Ashley Ward leading the line. The point is McCarthy was scoring last season, in the summer he clearly wanted away to a CL club, and now he's not performing. You'll have to excuse me if I question his motivation last season and this. I think he's simply picking up his money. I don't expect him to rip up the pitch for 90 minutes as it isn't his style but over the last seven games, all of which I've seen live, he hasn' appeared interested. Compare that with Santa Cruz.

[RevidgeBlue]

Santa Cruz had an ok night, no service, but took his two chances perfectly.

Keep digging Eddie.

"What have the Romans ever done for us?"

[Eddie]

I really don't feel his link-up and hold-up play was as good as it has been, but I think that may have been in part due to the formation and mainly due to the fact that the rest of the team were pretty dire. I thought Benni's general play was much better than his last night, although as I said, his two headers were perfect.

[den]

Keep digging Eddie.

"What have the Romans ever done for us?"

Eddie is definately underrating Rocky.

He would be a bonus to ANY team, including the top four.

[Eddie]

I'm not underrating him, I've said I think he is a fantastic player, just not a natural goal-scorer. I've said many times that his general play and work ethic have been fantastic, but I still feel he won't regularly score goals. There are plenty of very good forwards like that, his role in the side is just different from someone like Benni. In my opinion they are both very good players who we are very lucky to have.

[RevidgeBlue]

- Hughes cost us two points; Petrov skinned us 3 times- 2 goals and a miss of the season. Even us on the MB saw that one coming so Sparky has to hang his head in shame for that one.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but there's no way in the world Hughes could reasonably have anticipated Zurab would put in quite such a dire performance after looking so sharp on Sunday. He ought to be able to put in a passable performance at right back.

[den]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but there's no way in the world Hughes could reasonably have anticipated Zurab would put in quite such a dire performance after looking so sharp on Sunday. He ought to be able to put in a passable performance at right back.

It wasn't hindsight Simon. It was said by some of us, before the game, what would happen.

[krislu]

After watching the game last night there should be no doubt that Benni and Santa should start up front against Derby. We can't have Emerton and MGP on the wings, they are both usless in terms of creating chances for our strikers. As for our central midfield, we seem to have a lot of players who can play there, though neither seems able to put in a decent performance. Both Dunn and Reid where shockingly poor in my opinion. They can't pass, they can't protect the back four, they can't support our forward line...nothing!

[RevidgeBlue]

Some weird views about last night's game, no, we didn't play very well and yes, we did look as though we could have played until New Year without scoring before we got the second equaliser.

However, any port in a storm, it was imperative to stop the dire run of results and give ourselves something to build on.

Can't agree with numerous comments about Samba and Nelsen, thought they looked much more solid last night, snuffing out any threat from Citeh down the middle.

Reid and Dunn were poor, Bentley frustrates the hell out of me, scintillating on Sunday, completely ineffective for the most part last night.

Pedersen isn't on anything like A1 form yet but I didn't think he was too bad. People just seem to be judging him on his worst matches earlier in the season no matter how he's played.

For him McCarthy did look quite keen when he came on. Perhaps Citeh is one of the places outside the "big four" he would lower himself to move to.

[thenodrog]

It wasn't hindsight Simon. It was said by some of us, before the game, what would happen.

I take your point and obviously Hughes should come on here before he picks his teams...... (make a change from him constantly ringing me up).

Anyway what about the Chelsea match? Who had Zurab vying with Bentley as MoM? Who thought Bentley could perform so well one match and so poorly the next in the support striker role? Now we have Krislu insisting that we start with RSC and Benni up front v Derby. Now I'm not for or against that particularly but who knows whether we will see the real Benny of last season or the disinterested imposter? Why not go with the power and pace of Roberts in a match that will likely be a physical scrap? Fact is it is very difficult to predict when a player will play a starring role or be absolutely awful. I'm not at all in favour of Tinkerman Benitez's style but the opposition changes every match so what works in one match will not necessarily do so in the next.

[Lathund]

I really don't understand all this venom at saying RSC isn't a "natural finisher/goalscorer". Because he isn't one. That's not slagging him off, as I think he's the most valuable player we have. But look at his past scoring record, look at some of the chances he's missed, and keep in mind that Eddie made his comment before the Arsenal game (Maybe even the Wigan game?) and it's not a very strange thing to say. Ibrahimovic isn't a natural goalscorer, neither are Adebayor or Ronaldinho, to just name a few. Doesn't mean that these players don't score goals though. I'd imagine when people think of natural goalscorers, the archetype of that would be 'Pippo' Inzaghi; fantastic finishing and awareness, but can't do anyting else. You don't have to go to those extremes though, you also have the RvNs, Shearers, Owens or indeed Bennis.

However judging from the last few games it's possible that Roque could turn into one. But it's also a matter of attitudes; You'll often see Roque running the channels or doing other work that means he'll not be at the receiving end of the resulting cross, meaning a lower chance it'll be converted. But if he wasn't doing that kind of work there'd be fewer crosses coming in. Which is most valuable? I don't know; ideally you'd want both types in your team. I think you could say though that a player like RSC is more valuable when there's little or poor service for the strikers, whereas if you have good midfield support a poacher would be better to have. Though like I said, the best thing would be an in form Benni + Roque partnership with our wingers raining in accurate crosses so we could have the best of both worlds.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I'm just pleased we got a point at the hardest place in the premiership to get one ( according to the statistics ). As I said last night the first half was poor but we've shown plenty of character to come back so many times in this bad spell, if only we could score first now and again.

I think we can't afford a midfield with five none tacklers in it, we also lack a bit of size in midfield, the games I've seen recently we've either been 2nd to too many 50/50 balls or in some cases not even got a challenge in, last nights first half was a game in point.

No1 priority for me in the window a David Batty type to give the back four some protection, an Arteta type who can link with the front two and can run with ball and keep possession, plus a left winger.

[thenodrog]

I really don't understand all this venom at saying RSC isn't a "natural finisher/goalscorer". Because he isn't one. That's not slagging him off, as I think he's the most valuable player we have. But look at his past scoring record, look at some of the chances he's missed, and keep in mind that Eddie made his comment before the Arsenal game (Maybe even the Wigan game?) and it's not a very strange thing to say. Ibrahimovic isn't a natural goalscorer, neither are Adebayor or Ronaldinho, to just name a few. Doesn't mean that these players don't score goals though. I'd imagine when people think of natural goalscorers, the archetype of that would be 'Pippo' Inzaghi; fantastic finishing and awareness, but can't do anyting else. You don't have to go to those extremes though, you also have the RvNs, Shearers, Owens or indeed Bennis.

However judging from the last few games it's possible that Roque could turn into one. But it's also a matter of attitudes; You'll often see Roque running the channels or doing other work that means he'll not be at the receiving end of the resulting cross, meaning a lower chance it'll be converted. But if he wasn't doing that kind of work there'd be fewer crosses coming in. Which is most valuable? I don't know; ideally you'd want both types in your team. I think you could say though that a player like RSC is more valuable when there's little or poor service for the strikers, whereas if you have good midfield support a poacher would be better to have. Though like I said, the best thing would be an in form Benni + Roque partnership with our wingers raining in accurate crosses so we could have the best of both worlds.

I'll tell you what suprised me most about RSC starting pre season at Deepdale and that he is a 'proper' English centre forward and very good at that style of play. I was certainly not expecting that from someone from Paraguay.