[Archived] Ryan Nelsen

[Presty On Tour]

Our captain seems to be having a bad time of it of late, his performances have shown he maybe isn't the player he once was since coming back from injury.

The Admiral is being blamed for almost every goal we concede and many posters have suggested he has lost a gear to his pace, losing his man to often when marking and his positional play has been suspect.

It's very hard for any manager to drop their captain, obviously his commitment and attitude on the pitch is of a leader so would dropping him be a bad idea?

We have zurab and ooijer who can fill in at centre back and probably friedel would get the captains armband.

Tbh i think we would be weaker outfit without him on the pitch, everybody has bad days and he not the only one in the side at the moment to be having them.

remember form is temporary, class is permanent and mr nelsen is class imo

[Mozzer]

im a big fan of nelsen-i used to think he was our john terry..but over the past months he has been terrible..he has lost the pace he had-he marking is terrible..i personally feel he is letting the defence down..hes no more the admiral he once was...

samba and ooijer should be given a try in central defence in my opinion...

[Cocker]

I have said it before though that I think the way samba wanders around the pitch at times like he has a free role and makes Nelson look bad. He is trying to cover bigger gaps. Your defenders should stay defenders (no matter what their height is) You dont get the likes of Ferdinand/Vidic/Terry/Toure just wandering round the pitch. When Nelson looked good he always had the man next to him and each guy knew which zone they had to cover but now with Warnock and Bert Pegging it down the flanks and Samba in a world of his own Nelson looks stranded quite often.

Now, dont get me wrong, there are times this season where Nelson has been at fault but this happens to defenders now and again.

It will get sorted - hell, its not like we can just go out and buy a new one anyway is it

[Mr. E]

If it's just a bad form - ok, but he shouldn't be starting until he works things out. He has cost us more than anyone else. Oiijer and Samba should be our CBs, at least Ooijer can mark a player.

[modes98]

Ferdinand

He regularly does but it just seems to pass everyone by.

Samba is very good at making recovery tackles and Nelsen is not! My main concern is the stupid and needless free kicks and pens he gives away. IMO he has lost something, be it pace or the ability to read the game. He isn't the same player.

[Fife Rover]

If it's just a bad form - ok, but he shouldn't be starting until he works things out. He has cost us more than anyone else. Oiijer and Samba should be our CBs, at least Ooijer can mark a player.

I fully agree with you Mr E. I too know what a rock Nelsen has been for us until recently, and you cannot lose your experience and class, but you can, and do lose form; sometimes for longish periods. So reluctantly, I feel that for the team's and his own sake, the Admiral needs an extended rest to give him every chance of recovering his form and possibly finding the lost yard again.

[Exiled_Rover]

I fully agree with you Mr E. I too know what a rock Nelsen has been for us until recently, and you cannot lose your experience and class, but you can, and do lose form; sometimes for longish periods. So reluctantly, I feel that for the team's and his own sake, the Admiral needs an extended rest to give him every chance of recovering his form and possibly finding the lost yard again.

He's not been the same since the injury, so that's where I'd start looking.

[Dunnfc]

Quality guy and quality player on his day but hes lost the urge to make a Ryan Nelsen tackle and dosent look right when running - he runs with his right leg slightly outwards .

The guy needs to be dropt not because hes bad and we hate him but to give him the chance to have a rest, get some sprint suttles under his belt and be right mentally.

[mjs]

Our defensive problems are not all down to Nelsen.

As a team we are all over the place and lose shape too easily, Cocker's point about Samba and our full backs is spot on. I am all for attacking and trying to win games, but we are giving ourselves an uphill battle every week. I think MH and his staff need to get back to basics.

A defensive midfielder would help too.

[Laurence]

I think that Cocker makes a good point that our full backs get forwards a lot more this season, in previous seasons we've conceded fewer goals, but I think that we've also played less attacking play, so this season the two centre halves are more exposed than they have been in the past. Normally a decent defensive midfielder would sit in front of them as the full backs get forward, to provide cover, but we don't have anyone in that role.

This is made worse by the fact that Ryan is clearly still recovering from his operation which was after all a pretty radical solution to his hamstring problem and any normal person would probably have needed much longer to recover from it. Ok so he's a pro sportsman so he should be able to recover more quickly than most, but he's clearly not there yet and we don't know, for example, what kind of pain he might be playing through.

I have no doubt that he'll recover his form but he might well benefit from an occasional rest period with Ooijer filling-in at CH, can't see any harm in doing that if it helps him recover.

[joey_big_nose]

Nelsen has clearly lost quite a bit of pace presumably due to his injury. That seems to be the heart of the problem to me. He is in a side which regularly plays with two extremely attacking full backs and a high backline. This loss of pace leaves him terribly exposed when other teams counter attack.

We have two options if the loss of pace is permanent:

1) Play deeper.

2) Get a new centre half.

What has worried me recently is that he has started getting beaten in the air and out muscled too which never used to happen either. Nelsen's loss of form is the crucial element of our awful christmas run.

[USABlue]

I am thinking the loss of a little pace is not the whole problem, he also seems not to be ablke to turn very quickly either. I still don't think those are the reasons. What I used to like about Nelsen had nothing to do with physical attributes. He had an outstanding ability to read the game, he seemed to sense where the pass would be made where the cross was coming and this made up for some of his poor speed, he has lost this ability to read the game. Seems to me.

I mean the guy used to be immense, I lauded his ability to sense what was going to happen, up there with the likes of Moore. Right now he's looking a very average Championship player,

[philipl]

USA, I think the physical limitations have completely undermined his confidence. When goals go in that are down to him you see his face contorted with anguish- he is hardly going to run that off and his head inevitably will be full of self-recriminations and re-runs of what had just happened distracting him from the game in frony of him.

Samba is a brilliant player but he needs someone who is totally aware playing alongside him. In the short term, we have little option but to put Ooijer into central defense and make him acting skipper.

[Hughesy]

Ryan Nelsen is a major problem in our defending this season, and to be honest I think Samba has been carrying him for the whole season, the only difference being that at the beginning, nothing could get through Samba or Friedel, where as now he is realising he has to do 2 centre half’s work, aswell as trying to help drive our midfield forward.

Yes I agree that our fullbacks are more attacking and do leave us abit more exposed, however Nelsen is being beaten to everything by his man, he is giving stupid fouls, penalties, own goals away and he has been the reason for our poor defending for as far back as Aston Villa at Home which was around 8 weeks ago!

I don’t know if they have changed the style of defending but every time Nelsen is defending it looks like he is doing Zonal defending, rather than man to man, where as everyone else tends to be man to man marking and every time the man nearest to him, finds space behind him as he goes ball watching, leaving a massive hole in the defence.

In the last 4 league games we have only conceded 1 goal per match, however that is hiding over the cracks. A team that could take their chances, like United would of put 5 past us easily.

Our performances, especially at Home have been awful. Also it doesn’t help with the fans not getting behind the lads and trying to be that 12th man. Good thing to note is that we are still in touch with 4th place and all those above us are playing poor also, however the likes of Everton & Villa seem to still be grinding out wins, even when they play poor. They will have a bad spell, soon enough though, don’t worry about that!

[mattyboy6000]

a top class defensive midfielder would help. but regardless its undeniable that he's responsible for a lot of lost goals recently.

[waggy]

in last nights telewag kevin gallagher reckoned rovers should continue playing nelsen even though he is playing poorly to his high standards,but how long can we as a team carry the admiral for.i said before zurab should have kept his place at c/back,now hughes has big decisions to make

[modes98]

He is injured anyway so it isn't an option. The lay off will do him good and let us have a proper look at Andre and Zurab.

[waggy]

just read that in nicko's thread,nothing on club website BLESSING IN DISGUISE

[CircoWill]

just read that in nicko's thread,nothing on club website BLESSING IN DISGUISE

Here you go Waggy: http://www.blackburncitizen.co.uk/sport/sp...t_operation.php

Like you say, might not be a bad thing the way he's been playing recently!

[JAL]

Here you go Waggy: http://www.blackburncitizen.co.uk/sport/sp...t_operation.php

Like you say, might not be a bad thing the way he's been playing recently!

That looks like the clubs party political protectional line of looking after ones club captain by changing the mindset by stating that hes injured when in fact hes been plain and simply dropped because hes been pants.

Now, seems the ideal time to give Harry Redknapp a ring about the possible saleability of our captain.

[jkritchey]

Nelsen hasn't covered himself in glory to be sure, but to my mind the problem is not him, or any individual, but rather poor coordination among the back six players. For which he certainly can be held responsible, but not solely. As was pointed out, Samba is all over the park, and it creates awkward match ups and huge gaps for well angled through balls.

None of the back 4 have speed to burn. So they need to be coordinated, and this season they seem anything but. A CB like Nelsen needs his other CB and Fb's to be predictable.

[Exiled_Rover]

Nelsen hasn't covered himself in glory to be sure, but to my mind the problem is not him, or any individual, but rather poor coordination among the back six players. For which he certainly can be held responsible, but not solely. As was pointed out, Samba is all over the park, and it creates awkward match ups and huge gaps for well angled through balls.

None of the back 4 have speed to burn. So they need to be coordinated, and this season they seem anything but. A CB like Nelsen needs his other CB and Fb's to be predictable.

Warnock, Emerton and Samba are all quick, so that theory holds no water with me.

[jkritchey]

Warnock, Emerton and Samba are all quick, so that theory holds no water with me.

Samba and Emerton are quick for their size, but I wouldn't rate them quick overall. Nor Warnock, at any size.

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

Nelsen: "I let Rovers down"

Ryan is honest enough to admit that it was foolish of him to keep playing for Rovers when he wasn't fit. He should have been rested much earlier than he was.

But having said that, I certainly don't think that Ryan was the only player to blame for some of the abysmal performances earlier this season, such as the 5-3 defeat away to Wigan and the humiliating 1-4 defeat at home to Coventry (when Nelsen came on as a sub for the last half hour). Others were to blame too for the shambles, though Nelsen's lack of fitness obviously didn't help.

[joey_big_nose]

Great stuff. I think Nelsen's masive drop in form and fitness cost up at least 6 points this season. e was our best player last term and our leader, losing him was massive.

If he can come back it will be a huge huge boost. Lets give him massive backing when he next comes out to play.