Rovers Versus Tottenham

[Manchester Blue]

Can't believe everyone is getting so hot and bothered about an event where the 22 underpayed heroes couldn't even be arsed what happened.

So why can you be bothered to even post about it, let alone read about it? I know you had other things on your mind yesterday with a semi to keep you pre-occupied.

[thenodrog]

So why can you be bothered to even post about it, let alone read about it? I know you had other things on your mind yesterday with a semi to keep you pre-occupied.

With getting outplayed first half and a blatant handball for the goal the only difference between the fabulous Pompey All Stars and the baggies from the championship.

[S15]

So why can you be bothered to even post about it, let alone read about it? I know you had other things on your mind yesterday with a semi to keep you pre-occupied.

So you disagree with me?

Btw you're very funny. Almost effortlessly.

[S15]

And I'm glad in pointing out that a similar sized team are better than us at the moment I've given the locals something else to divert their attention from our own team.

Now you can hate teams near us geographically and ones hundreds of miles away.

Ace.

[Eddie]

Just consider these transfers.

Roninson 1.5M We all know he's awful

Chimbonda 4.5M Average Full-back

Zokora 8.2M Mokoena in disguise

Jenas 7M Ponce

Berbatov 11M Sulky

Keane 7M The only player I would take on board

Gilberto 2M Fill in fodder

Malbranque 2M Not good enough for Fulham

Bale 5M No mark

Dawson 4M Looks decent at times but look at their defensive record.

Huddlestone 2.5M Sumo!

Bent 16.5M ......1.65M would have been too much

Hutton 9M Who?????? 9M..... never

Lennon 1M See Jenas

Essou -Ekotto 3.5M Who???????

Rocha 3.3M Who??????

Woodgate 8M Crock

Gunter 2M Who?????

Gardner 1M Joke

I make that 99 Million pounds absolutely down the drain.

You're kidding right? Sometimes people on here amaze me.

Robinson - Not the best keeper in the world, but certainly worth 1.5 million and if they were to sell him today, which they probably will this summer, they will fetch more than that.

Chimbonda - Probably a bit overpriced, but they'd get close(ish) to that price if they sold him.

Zokora - Far too expensive, but he is a good player.

Jenas - Personally I think that is too much for him, but he's in and out of the England squad and he's still a young player, so if they were to sell him they'd probably at least get close to it.

Berbatov - Great player. Doubled his value.

Keane - See Berbatov.

Gilberto - Too soon to judge.

Malbranque - Not amazing, but he's done pretty well for him and for that price, in a position where there aren't that many good players around, that's ok.

Bale - Still too early to judge, but I'm sure that he'll fulfill at least some of his potential, which will mean it will be at worst an ok price.

Dawson - Good defender. Worth it. Again, they'd at least get their money back.

Huddlestone - Good potential. I'm sure we'd pay 2.5 million for him if he were offered to us this summer.

Bent - Way too expensive and they didn't really need him.

Hutton - Overpriced, but too early to judge how good he will be.

Lennon - Good player, steal at that price. They'd get several times that for him now.

Essou-Ekotto - Can't really judge him.

Rocha - Not great, so probably a bit too much.

Woodgate - The price is fine if he stays fit.

Gunter - Don't know who he is.

Gardner - He's ok, certainly not a shocking waste of money.

So I'd say that if they were to sell that entire bunch today, they'd at least make their money back, which in the premiership means you're doing some pretty good business. They may not have been a great team this season, but they have some good players and they have some good potential and I'm sure that they will be back in the top half next season.

[Atomicrover]

If we sign Huddleston we don't need Vogel!

btw Vogel?! Doesn't he write godawful poetry?

That's "Vogons" I think (HGTTG?)

[RibbleValleyRover]

I think some people need a reality check.

It was Vogel's first competitive match in 10 months. Whilst he has obviously kept himself fit in order to look for a club, it’s going to take him time to get some match sharpness and get used to the pace of the premier league.

I thought he had a solid debut, he kept the ball well showed he has some passing ability, both short and long range. I could only think of 2-3 times where he gave the ball away.

I’m really looking forward to seeing him next season, with a full pre-season under his belt I’m sure he can be a good player for the club. Surprised to see his age being talked about in a negative way, 31 is not a bad age at all for a defensive midfielder.

In regards to the penalty, seeing a replay today i'm starting to shift towards the view it should of been a pen. If what happened, happened anywhere else across the pitch it would of been a foul.

[USABlue]

Only saw bits and bats of the game so other than about a 20 min spell in the second half I can't really comment. What I did see we were very lacklustre, no real threat to the spurs goal. Roque's Pen, would never have been given and cradit to the lad's honesty in trying to go for goal.

In truth I was impressed with Spurs not so much their play but how they conducted themselves when we were in possesion. They really closed us down very quickly gave us very little time to settle and they worked very hard. I don't think I can recall that sort of work ethic from a Spurs side in recent memory, bit like we were a couple of years back. I'd keep an eye on this lot for next season.

I got the impression we have already taken the foot off the pedal and are coasting to the finish line.

Vogel, from what I saw, an occasional pass that showed promise and a couple of losses of possesion that were enough to worry me. Juries out lad needs more time.

[thenodrog]

That's "Vogons" I think (HGTTG?)

Correct.

[thenodrog]

C'mon Bob you should know by now that those are only nailed on if it had been against us!

Thats 8 bloody bookings in two games now with hardly a bad foul in either. I don't care what anybody say's, I don't care if I'm accused of being paranoid but the referees do find it all a little too easy to book our players!

Just been reading the stats and apparently we had 20 fouls against their 4! From a fairly competative 1-1 draw with not a dangerous tackle in sight how tf can the foul ratio be so skewed? It's all bololox! Walton is obviously starstruck by the billy big times from the smoke.

Those facts alone should be enough for his performance to be fully scrutinised by Keith Hackett..... or am I just being naive?

[Laurence]

It was Vogel's first competitive match in 10 months. Whilst he has obviously kept himself fit in order to look for a club, it’s going to take him time to get some match sharpness and get used to the pace of the premier league.

I thought he had a solid debut, he kept the ball well showed he has some passing ability, both short and long range. I could only think of 2-3 times where he gave the ball away.

I’m really looking forward to seeing him next season, with a full pre-season under his belt I’m sure he can be a good player for the club. Surprised to see his age being talked about in a negative way, 31 is not a bad age at all for a defensive midfielder.

Spot-on RVR. I'm always a little uneasy about players who have great first games; remenber Bert's debut against Wolves - outstanding then did nowt for 2 seasons (Per Frandsen ditto)

Admittedly Vogel did look a little lost to start with, but he was probably wondering what the hell Reid was up to, he didn't seem to get involved in the game for ages. Like the guy behind me said, at least Vogel passed the ball in the right direction.

[modes98]

Just been reading the stats and apparently we had 20 fouls against their 4! From a fairly competative 1-1 draw with not a dangerous tackle in sight how tf can the foul ratio be so skewed? It's all bololox! Walton is obviously starstruck by the billy big times from the smoke.

Those facts alone should be enough for his performance to be fully scrutinised by Keith Hackett..... or am I just being naive?

It took him 27mins to give us a free kick. That is despite there being some very obvious ones.

The penalty just topped it off for me. Stone Wall, robbed by the ref.

[mjs]

Those facts alone should be enough for his performance to be fully scrutinised by Keith Hackett..... or am I just being naive?

Just realistic, unfortunately it will never happen. It is time some of these refs were taken to task.

The man was the biggest 'one sided b******' I have ever witnessed.

An absolute shocking performance from him.

[RibbleValleyRover]

Sparky's take on Vogel:

"I thought, given the amount of time that he has been out of the game, that it was an exceptional performance," said Hughes on Radio Rovers.

"He kept going and I didn't really expect him to last the ninety minutes, but that will stand him in good stead,

"I think it is important that we expose him to the Premier League and certainly we did in the opening twenty minutes because the pace and movement of Spurs gave everybody a problem not just Johann. I thought he came to terms with the pace and what was needed very quickly and that is a credit to him

"He wasn't really flagging at the end so that is a credit to his professionalism and how he has looked after himself during the time that he has been out, so he'll become better and stronger for it."

Source: http://www.rovers.premiumtv.co.uk/page/New...0.html#continue

[rover6]

I think some people need a reality check.

It was Vogel's first competitive match in 10 months.

But still better than the "new Makelele" of South African fame? I think Vogel will go from strength to strength after this debut. As long as he can handle the pace of the Premiership, his positional discipline and passing ability will be very valuable.

As someone mentioned above, a Per Frandsen/ Bert Emerton/ Egil Ostenstad debut would have had me worried.

[only2garners]

Contrary to most of the posters I thought it was a decent if not outstanding performance. Nelsen for me (and for the media I've read so far) was clearly man of the match - hardly put a foot wrong and a welcome return to form. Perhaps one of the many Pedersen critics can explain to me why the team's performance considerably declined when he went off? Vogel's performance was very encouraging - he was always available and passed crisply and intelligently - can only remember 2/3 misplaced passes, remarkable for a first match in the Premiership and the first competitive match for 10 months.

For me, having seen the MOTD coverage, Berbatov's goal was offside, but it was tight and I can see why the flag wasn't raised. He was clearly onside when Jenas got the ball but just in front of both the defence and Jenas when the final ball was played to him. How anyone can argue that it was clearly onside is completely beyond me - it's tight either way.

I'm with Lee Dixon for once on the penalty. 2 yards outside the box and it would have been a free kick - if it's a free kick outside then it's a penalty inside. I'd like to see Roberts' "foul" on Dawson again as well - wasn't on MOTD but I've got Football First to see yet. It looked like Roberts just spun off him but there could have been some shirt tugging on my blindside I suppose. Finally how did Warnock get booked for what looked like two clean tackles late on? I'm a long way away from that corner but he seemed to get the ball cleanly and then collide with the player - anyone have a better view?

[AHoyle90]

Nelsen was outstanding, decent performance from us but our passing was really poor for most of the game.

[B.R.F.C]

If you honestly think with our respective remaining fixtures we're going to overtake Villa you must be living in a dreamworld. They've got Wigan at home, Derby away and Birmingham home out of their last 5 games.

And of those two we have them in the reverse...Derby at home and Brum away. Also since when has the Brum derby been anything but a given win?

I'm with Lee Dixon for once on the penalty. 2 yards outside the box and it would have been a free kick - if it's a free kick outside then it's a penalty inside. I'd like to see Roberts' "foul" on Dawson again as well - wasn't on MOTD but I've got Football First to see yet. It looked like Roberts just spun off him but there could have been some shirt tugging on my blindside I suppose.

Correct on both accounts there, the ref bottled both of those decisions. What exactly did Roberts do wrong? If the refs are giving free kicks for that kind of thing it really is becoming a non contact sport.

As for the game first 20 minutes Spurs had the majority of the play and the chances. From then on in we got back into the game and scored one of the best goals I've seen at Ewood this season...great pass from Reido, great skill and cross from Bents and a calm finish from Ped.

Second half we played alot better and we kept the ball well in midfield with Vogel having a calming influence on our play it seemed. The game seemed destined for a 1-1 draw and that was confirmed when the referee didn't give the pen.

Hopefully we can play a Liverpool who go through 120 minutes on Tuesday night and with our away form maybe we can get something at Anfield. Also why not against Man Utd? Boro seem capable of it.

[thenodrog]

Finally how did Warnock get booked for what looked like two clean tackles late on? I'm a long way away from that corner but he seemed to get the ball cleanly and then collide with the player - anyone have a better view?

Correct he did. Unfortunately the 'referees assistant' was playing at being a proper referee. He was flagging and giving fouls off his own bat all afternoon.

[Ozz]

Didn't go yesterday...goodish crowd. Many from Spurs?

Good Getty photo as usual...

[B.R.F.C]

Didn't go yesterday...goodish crowd. Many from Spurs?

I would guesstimate about 3,500-4,000 possibly

[S15]

I think Vogel will turn out being a good signing.

Per Frandsen was friggin' amazing that game though.

[1864roverite]

official Spuds following Ozz

3125

You werent out on a pie tasting comp were you ??

[Ozz]

Strangely Enough Waz, erm no. In Blackpool checking stuff...

[DanLad]

Perhaps one of the many Pedersen critics can explain to me why the team's performance considerably declined when he went off?

The change in formation left us unbalanced and lacking width.