Rovers V Everton Preview

[rover6]

BTW It is a sad, sad indictment of the Premiership that Everton, Man City and Villa are so high - and frankly, that we are in such a comfortable position.

None of these teams are anything special attacking-wise and Villa and Everton, especially, rely on a strong defence and good set-pieces to win games. Not a great deal of good football going on at all.

Games between these teams tend to be as boring as anything. It's only when they play bigger teams and rise to the occasion that things spice up and people start talking about the excitement of the Premiership. Without the top four/five, the Premiership would be oh so dull.

[Yorick]

BTW It is a sad, sad indictment of the Premiership that Everton, Man City and Villa are so high - and frankly, that we are in such a comfortable position.

None of these teams are anything special attacking-wise and Villa and Everton, especially, rely on a strong defence and good set-pieces to win games. Not a great deal of good football going on at all.

Games between these teams tend to be as boring as anything. It's only when they play bigger teams and rise to the occasion that things spice up and people start talking about the excitement of the Premiership. Without the top four/five, the Premiership would be oh so dull.

The fault is not those clubs at all. Any fault can only be laid at the door of the Champions league. The distribution of money from that competition means that the top 4 clubs could very nearly fill the next 4 places in the Prem from their subs bench and reserve teams. Quite simply they can afford to pay top international players to sit on there arses for 90 mins every Saturday.

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

Who is the lone voter for Pedersen every single week?

[American]

Jan - she has a secret crush, much like with GS.

[Fife Rover]

Who is the lone voter for Pedersen every single week?

Not sure; but I have heard his initials are MGP.

[tonygreenbank]

My comment is that the game showed that we are nowhere near a Champion`s League place and we will have to do well for a Uefa spot. No wonder we have applied for the Intertoto Cup again.

As for the two contentious decisions in the match it is interesting that watching the match from the riverside it didnt look like a penalty on Johnson and I dont honestly think the fans behind the goal were convinced either. As for the offside goal on Radio Rovers the assessor Alan Wilkie was quoted as saying that Johnson was offside as he became active from an offside position. If that is good enough for the FA assessor then its good enough for me.

Hughesy has changed our style from earlier in the season and I must say it is not very watchable at the moment. I watched the Boro display at Newcastle today as well as at Ewood 2 weeks ago and they are playing with real flair; it comes to something that Boro are more attractive than us. We have exciting players at Ewood but we are too defensive in games especially at home.

[Paul Mellelieu]

BTW It is a sad, sad indictment of the Premiership that Everton, Man City and Villa are so high - and frankly, that we are in such a comfortable position.

None of these teams are anything special attacking-wise and Villa and Everton, especially, rely on a strong defence and good set-pieces to win games. Not a great deal of good football going on at all.

Games between these teams tend to be as boring as anything. It's only when they play bigger teams and rise to the occasion that things spice up and people start talking about the excitement of the Premiership. Without the top four/five, the Premiership would be oh so dull.

As usual the facts contradict you.

Rovers away to Everton - good open game, some great play by us first half.

Rovers at home to City - ditto. Away to City: 2-2. open attacking game.

Rovers home to Villa - er...ditto. Away to Villa: didn't see it (jsut like you I suspect)

Yesterday, crap first half, good second half.

BTW Dunn's been playing well recently, but you wouldn't know that.

[Manchester Blue]

My penneth...

I am beginning to see things happening that are very akin to when Souness had his meltdown and this worries me - we are literally starting with 10 men every game with 'Gamst' and he is becoming a liability - no wonder Warnock gets caught out of position so many times as he is carrying the workload for him. In addition, there where many a time yesterday when it was blatantly obvious that the players did not want to pass to him and didn't unless enforced.

As for the officials .... oh is that what they are - As they keep going on they play to the letter of the law - what aload of bollux. The ironic thing is I though it was better they did officiate like they did as it made more of a game.

Said the same about the similarities with Souness' spell last week Capt and events continue to keep my view the same. Players playing week in week when miles off form, and even worse playing players well out of position is so annoying. Derbs is a poacher plain and simple, against Boro we got lucky that one fell to him but is it really sensible to play a poacher on the wing. Can't remember Gary Lineker or Michael Owen playing on the wing very often.

Gamst is so low on confidence and so poor it's now gone beyond embarrassing. To see the bench running to the touchline time again clapping and shouting come on Morten akin to an 8 year olds football match just makes it more sad. He's lost it, everyone can see it, including the bench, so why is he still playing week in week out.

I'm happy that they have made a good move to put Reid in front of the back four he looks solid and keeps things tight. It's very frustrating however to see us play 60 mins or more at home with one up front. The difference when Benni came on was so clear that everyone was thinking why did we not start with this formation.

It's clearly not as bad as some are making out and to suggest it's been a poor season overall is wrong. However there are many worrying signs and people burying their heads won't help that.

[Blue n White Rover]

Another blank yesterday in front of goal.

Our goalscoring record at Home is shocking!

[Hasta]

Here is a question for you all:-

What was the last home game where Rovers were definately the better side over 90 minutes?

[Plastic Head]

Who is the lone voter for Pedersen every single week?

Mort of Tromso.

[Blue n White Rover]

Here is a question for you all:-

What was the last home game where Rovers were definately the better side over 90 minutes?

Chelsea? We lost that though.

[Plastic Head]

Here is a question for you all:-

What was the last home game where Rovers were definately the better side over 90 minutes?

Reading??

[Hasta]

Reading??

That's what I was thinking. Reading on October 20th.

Not great for a european-challenging team is it.

Especially when you look at some of the teams we've played at Ewood since then.

[Yorick]

The difference when Benni came on was so clear that everyone was thinking why did we not start with this formation.

I dont agree. Subbing Benny for Dunn signalled the start of 15-20 minutes total Everton domination where we could not get out of our own half and which was only corrected by Tugay replacing the totally ineffective Derbyshire and Bentley moving wide right. From that point forward we took the initiative and were growing in strength at the end. btw this is not intended as a criticism of Derbyshire who is playing out of position, it's just a statement of fact.

[John]

Saw an interview with Nelsen on Friday night, and he was saying that we are too open & attacking when playing at home.

[Mozzer]

makes me laugh when people say is mark hughes upto the job-were 8TH, havent dropped outside the top ten this season, and are up there with the likes of everton, portsmouth, man city, aston villa and west ham who all have spent money this season...

some people need to get real, and stop expecting blackburn to be great all the time..

good job some of us are realistic..

[RevidgeBlue]

Here is a question for you all:-

What was the last home game where Rovers were definately the better side over 90 minutes?

I would have to say Man City at home as long ago as the 2nd of September.

I thought we were poor in the second half against Reading after going in at the break three up.

In fact, imo we've only played two really good games at home this season, Arsenal and City in the opening two home fixtures.

Three and a half if you include the Chelsea game and the second half against Arsenal in the Carling Cup.

[RoyRover]

I'm disappointed with this result, because this was a chance to close in on fourth position. The tactic of playing 4-5-1 at home is very negative against a team that we would have a good chance of beating. The fact that Everton were the better side seems to show how this tactic didn't work. The fact that we are playing Arsenal next, made the need for three points more vital.

One positive is that the defence seems to have looked much stronger. I think that Nelsen's absence has something to do with this. Even if he is the captain, if our defence is better without him, then I don't think that he should just come back into the side. He has to get back to form which made him one of the best defenders in the league.

[JAL]

I dont agree. Subbing Benny for Dunn signalled the start of 15-20 minutes total Everton domination where we could not get out of our own half and which was only corrected by Tugay replacing the totally ineffective Derbyshire and Bentley moving wide right. From that point forward we took the initiative and were growing in strength at the end. btw this is not intended as a criticism of Derbyshire who is playing out of position, it's just a statement of fact.

Totally agree with you there Yorick, i thought our two local lads were the least effective players in the team and fully deserved to be subbed though Dunny was injured and had to leave the pitch, but as young Matty left the field he seemed to sprint off as if to suggest thank god thats over.

[JAL]

I would have to say Man City at home as long ago as the 2nd of September.

I thought we were poor in the second half against Reading after going in at the break three up.

In fact, imo we've only played two really good games at home this season, Arsenal and City in the opening two home fixtures.

Three and a half if you include the Chelsea game and the second half against Arsenal in the Carling Cup.

After our early season burst a patern seem seems to be emerging that only a fool can ignore two victories out of the last ten home games of which we were lucky against Sunderland in one of them.

Not since the Man City home game have we dominated for long periods for me the problem has been Nelsens costly poor form the midfield not being strong enough and the lack of a decent all round hard working partner for Santa Cruz.

[philipl]

Friedel is in Garth Crooks team of the week with Arteta. Perhaps this should be in annoying pundits!

[RibbleValleyRover]

Garth Crooks hasn't got a clue. He is without doubt one of the worst pundits out there.

[Hughesy]

4-5-1 – Is it negative? Not really because Bentley was there to play more like a 2nd striker, just abit deeper I a free role. We played with a solid team, due to the fact that we keep conceding soft goals, and therefore didn’t want to lose an early goal to one of our rivals. It wasn’t negative; we had more chances and more possession. As the game wore on, Hughes believed the 3 pts were there for the taking and brought on a striker and a creative midfielder.

Derbyshire – upfront or on the wing, is not YET good enough. All the local fans who want to see a local lad do well, I don’t blame you, but fact is that he is not good enough to play ahead of McCarthy or Roberts. On the wing he is too easy to knock of the ball, he doesn’t put everything in to 50/50 challenges either.

Upfront he is good when played through. Other than that he isn’t yet good enough. He doesn’t have a clue where Santa is going to flick the ball onto and his positional play isn’t the best. Again he is too soft on the ball. Im not denying he tries hard, and im not denying he should be given a chance, but at the moment he isn’t of a level where he can command a place in a team with top 6 ambitions. Il probably get slated, but that’s a fact.

Offside or Not? When the ball was 1st played up, Johnson was OFFSIDE, therefore as it was the same attack it was offside as he became active, following an OFFSIDE position in the same passage of play.

Penalty or Not?

Everton’s probably should have been, Although by this time it was the case of the Boy that cried Wolf one too many times. Yes 1 or 2 of the times he went down it was a free-kick but 4 or 5 times he went down it wasn’t, someone send him some studs!!

Benni’s could have been as he lost balance following the tug on his shirt.

Defence – Much more solid without Nelsen, whether its Samba and Ooijer or any combination of those 2 or Zurab. BUT don’t slate Nelsen; yes he’s been poor, but that’s because of an injury. IF in the summer we did get £6 million + then it would be one to consider due to his age!

Midfield – Bentley HAS to play on the right wing, where he usually links well with Emerton. Pedersen unfortunately is out of form, however at the moment we have no cover available (Peter still injured?!). Once Peter is back then Pedersen will return.

Everton – 2 pts – Fair result in both games overall.

City – 4pts – Easy at ewood, fair result at eastlands

Villa – 1 pt – Freak result at Home, could/ should of won at Villa (Derbyshire)

Liverpool – 1 game, 1 draw

Main objective is not to lose to your rivals, which so far we haven’t done too bad with!!

[Flopsy]

when was the last time we lost a league game?