[Archived] Birmingham Last Game

[Nate]

What a wonderful day! I get dumped the day before our second anniversary, by email, which I read 5 minutes before kick-off, then we loose 4-1 and miss out on Europe. Isn't life wonderful!

Pfft. You don't need women. Football is all you need

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Words cant describe how disappointed I am with that bizarre second half performance and scoreline...they were NEVER four f'kin goals better than us!

Why the pointless three substitutions that seemed to knock us out of our stride and shape?,we looked comfortable until then.You dont mind seeing your team lose if the effort is there Den and for many that is where the frustration is coming from.

You know sometimes Rovers............

[T4E]

What's so hard to understand about the "fickle" comment? It's not refering to those disappointed with today's game. It's aimed at the "We're useless, we deserve to be relegated, Hughes is useless, we need to sell our whole squad" comments.

It is a totally inaccurate way to describe the situation. Any comments like the above have been in the context of todays game, ie "we played like a relegation side", or "Hughes made terrible substitutions". They're all hard to argue with, and are in no way fickle.

[Mozzer]

poor result , poor performance-thought emerton was by far our best player today...bentley was greedy and lost the ball in good positions like last week..reid isnt a right back..other then emerton i thought all our players looked tired..

for the season-to finish 7th with the money we have spent-brilliant..

[emglch]

MGP was playing well when he was taken off. THat's a bad substitution on hughes' part.

[Lathund]

It is a totally inaccurate way to describe the situation. Any comments like the above have been in the context of todays game, ie "we played like a relegation side", or "Hughes made terrible substitutions". They're all hard to argue with, and are in no way fickle.

Except not all comments have been like that. Comments like those you mentioned (Things I said as well) aren't fickle, and noone has called them fickle. No use in arguing over this though.

[grizfoot]

MGP was playing well when he was taken off. THat's a bad substitution on hughes' part.

Got to be one of the most ironic posts of the season. People have been calling for Hughes to axe MGP from the starting line-up all season.

Although I do agree taking off MGP & Vogel was a bit puzzling since they were both having decent games. When Vogel went off we seemed to lose grip in midfield and a ulitmately it looked like the players were already on their summer holidays for last ten minutes. What makes it worse is the fact that Villa only drew meaning a win would have been good enough for us.

However we can take consolation in knowing that Big Club will be visting places such as Bumley next season.

[T4E]

There's no doubt in my mind the original comment was designed to further antagonise an already emotional group of people. Almost as pathetic as Rovers performance this afternoon.

[tony gale's mic]

It is a totally inaccurate way to describe the situation. Any comments like the above have been in the context of todays game, ie "we played like a relegation side", or "Hughes made terrible substitutions". They're all hard to argue with, and are in no way fickle.

Those aren't fickle, but there's been plenty of other comments.

People are going to think I'm overacting...but 7th place is extremely fortunate for us. The truth, based on tactics, quality of football, and especially the effort we (don't) put in...we should have been in the dogfight too.

A masterpiece from Mr E..

Hughes is inept when it comes to everything apart from buying and selling players. Anyone who dislikes United should hope that he takes him off of our hands.

our squad then goes out and vastly underperforms whenever it matters

couple of nuggets from Eddie

Hughes knows how to pull off a transfer coup, but is totally ignorant tactic wise

etc etc

[Beta Ray Bill]

Crap performance, crap result made worse by West Ham's late equaliser.

However, those who seem to be moaning the most about failure to qualify for Europe are the exact same people who claime we lost the chance to qualify weeks ago.

Why can't some people realise that this year has been an exceptionally odd one for European qualification. We ended up 3 places higher than last year, with 6 more points. Most clubs (and fans) would see the positive in that. Not Rovers - seems like some on here think we've gone backwards.

[philipl]

That was a grotesque performance. Brum were there for an absolute hammering and we somehow contrived to lose 4-1 ourselves.

It was a game crying out for Benni to be played - we needed that little bit of extra skill (or a shed load more skill than Jason Roberts posesses).

Reid is not a right back.

[Biddy]

Crap performance, crap result made worse by West Ham's late equaliser.

However, those who seem to be moaning the most about failure to qualify for Europe are the exact same people who claime we lost the chance to qualify weeks ago.

Why can't some people realise that this year has been an exceptionally odd one for European qualification. We ended up 3 places higher than last year, with 6 more points. Most clubs (and fans) would see the positive in that. Not Rovers - seems like some on here think we've gone backwards.

Thing is, we could and should have qualified for Europe this year too. 7th is a great league position, mainly from very average performances. The real dissapointment comes from the early exits from Europe and both cups this year in pretty bad style.

[T4E]

However, those who seem to be moaning the most about failure to qualify for Europe are the exact same people who claime we lost the chance to qualify weeks ago.

Why can't some people realise that this year has been an exceptionally odd one for European qualification. We ended up 3 places higher than last year, with 6 more points. Most clubs (and fans) would see the positive in that. Not Rovers - seems like some on here think we've gone backwards.

I agree with the overall sentiment - and yes I do think we've had a good season. In addition, yes it has been been an odd year for European qualification - yet, in spite of the odds being massively against us, we still managed to put ourselves on the brink of qualifying. We then inexplicably threw it away in the most bizarre 20 minutes of a Rovers game I can remember in recent times.

All the other things are irrelevant - we would have been in Europe had we managed to beat the 2nd worst team in the league. Instead we lost 4-1. Thats extremely hard to stomach, regardless of the circumstances.

[Presty On Tour]

roberts is rubbish at this level ans should be sold, he probably couldn't even finish his dinner!

reid is not a right back and overall it was a really bad job from rovers.

[Eddie]

Those aren't fickle, but there's been plenty of other comments.

A masterpiece from Mr E..

couple of nuggets from Eddie

etc etc

Right, if I'm overreacting, provide some examples that show what I said to be incorrect?

[T4E]

Those aren't fickle, but there's been plenty of other comments.

A masterpiece from Mr E..

couple of nuggets from Eddie

etc etc

Eddie has been banging that drum for a while - he hasn't suddenly changed his mind. To a certain extent I'm with him - Hughes makes some strange tactical decisions.

I think Mr E might be letting his frustration get the better of him. Can't say I blame him either.

[tony gale's mic]

I agree with the overall sentiment - and yes I do think we've had a good season. In addition, yes it has been been an odd year for European qualification - yet, in spite of the odds being massively against us, we still managed to put ourselves on the brink of qualifying. We then inexplicably threw it away in the most bizarre 20 minutes of a Rovers game I can remember in recent times.

All the other things are irrelevant - we would have been in Europe had we managed to beat the 2nd worst team in the league. Instead we lost 4-1. Thats extremely hard to stomach, regardless of the circumstances.

I am aggrieved about today and I don't think it is overreacting to vent our frustrations about our performance today (as opposed to dissatisfaction with the season like the posts i quoted before).

However if Villa had beaten or even drawn with Wigan at home last weekend we wouldnt be even talking about this. Part and parcel of not being one of the top sides is that we will have off days like this, we don't have enough quality that if certain quality players don't turn up we have quality around the pitch to make up for them.

Like I said it doesn't mean we shouldn't be annoyed about today's performance but that's the reason why I was calling for a bit of perspective before.

[RibbleValleyRover]

Has anyone seen any comments from Sparky yet? I will be extremely interested to hear his views on today's match.

[tony gale's mic]

Right, if I'm overreacting, provide some examples that show what I said to be incorrect?

Our squad doesn't by enlarge underperform when it matters. In the league, EVERY match matters as much as the last, and fact is we've finished 7th this season which is something we can be pleased with and shows that to be rubbish.

Sure this season in the cup we've disappointed but last season we had a couple of great cup runs with pretty much the same set of players.

[Eddie]

Last season has nothing to do with my statement.

[tony gale's mic]

Last season has nothing to do with my statement.

Well you've referred to the squad and so if you're going to look at us as a whole then you should look at the last few seasons. And we have mostly performed where it matters this season or we wouldn't have even been in this position.

[Plastic Head]

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Rubbish defending.

Reid awful. Bentley disinterested.

WE NEED A RIGHT BACK, PLEEEEEEEZE

Pleeeeaaaaase buy a right back Sparky.

Oh please. Come on please please.

I don't want much just a right back. Pleaeaeaeaease.

Booo again. Worst result of season is saved for last. Shambolic defending in the last 20 mins.

[T4E]

I am aggrieved about today and I don't think it is overreacting to vent our frustrations about our performance today (as opposed to dissatisfaction with the season like the posts i quoted before).

However if Villa had beaten or even drawn with Wigan at home last weekend we wouldnt be even talking about this. Part and parcel of not being one of the top sides is that we will have off days like this, we don't have enough quality that if certain quality players don't turn up we have quality around the pitch to make up for them.

Like I said it doesn't mean we shouldn't be annoyed about today's performance but that's the reason why I was calling for a bit of perspective before.

This is exactly the point. Everything broke for us - we had a couple of good results, others dropped points - giving us an unlikely chance on the last day of the season. Today we got ourselves in a decent position at 1-1, and had a really good spell where we were taking them apart. We even had the let of off them missing an open goal! Yet we still threw it away. Not because we're a small club. Not because we're based in a small town. Not because we can't fill our ground, or because the media don't give us any credit, or because we've spent less than Pompey/Spurs/City etc etc. We had the ability to go on and finish the job, it was there for the taking, and we bottled it.

[Eddie]

Perfectly put and anyone who argues with that is being overly optimistic and kind to our club.

[tony gale's mic]

This is exactly the point. Everything broke for us - we had a couple of good results, others dropped points - giving us an unlikely chance on the last day of the season. Today we got ourselves in a decent position at 1-1, and had a really good spell where we were taking them apart. We even had the let of off them missing an open goal! Yet we still threw it away. Not because we're a small club. Not because we're based in a small town. Not because we can't fill our ground, or because the media don't give us any credit, or because we've spent less than Pompey/Spurs/City etc etc. We had the ability to go on and finish the job, it was there for the taking, and we bottled it.

As I said fine - get angry about today.

But don't make sweeping statements about the attitudes of the team, the manager and how we've done this season.