[Archived] Blackburn Rovers - Manchester United

[Paul Mellelieu]

Some of the dicks posting above might read the Times report: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/foo...icle3780059.ece

[Fife Rover]

Anyone else other than me at Ewood that awful day in 1966 when we lost 5-0 at home to ManU ?

Unless Rovers are in the right frame of mind for a battle I fear a repeat on Saturday.

Yes Jim I was there that awful day, but although you are right about us getting a drubbing from Man U, the score was a little more respectable 1-4.

[Hughesy]

Dont you just love Chris Samba. Like I said before Samba is quality!!

I will just love it if Samba plays to his potential and shuts all the doubters on here up. Hope come sunday your all licking his ass again.

Big Chris has been immense today.

Friedel, Samba, Nelsen, Warnock and Vogel were particularly impressive. Gamst had his best game in a while.

Despite not getting the full 3 points, that was a great performance today.

Samba had his best game in a long time.

Samba was superb. Three races against Ronaldo at the end and he won every one of them.

The back four also did a decent job, Samba inparticulary was magnificient especially considering he's had some dodgy loking performances in prior games.

Samba-Faultless

[Tim Southampton Rover]

I'm disappointed we couldn't hold on to the win but we probably didn't deserve to anyway considering how Man Utd seemed to throw everything at us including the kitchen sink. Everyone played very well and Friedel is just super human. If every man can put in that much effort against the teams we've got left to play then i'm sure we will all be very proud come the end of the season.

[Blueboy Downunder]

don´t know if anybody else will have the same viewpoint as me and i may get slaughtered for this but here goes -

wether it was by design or not, defending so deep and allowing a team to attack us for what seemed like the entire game is very very poor. there centre halfs had a day out on the whole. regardless of whom we were playing against...i thought positionally and playing wise we were asking for trouble right from the start.

one glaring thing for me was that i have never seen 2 performances from different players that where such a stark contrast to eachother...i have not seen such a brilliant performance from a goalkeeper (like what we got from brad today) for many many years. as a matter of fact it is probably one of the best goalkeeping performances i have seen, in 30 years of watching rovers...truely world class.

steven reid - what the (Please don't use that word again) are you doing?? you where absolutely disgusting out there today.

[USABlue]

Friedel was outstanding, I think Rocky deserves a honourable mention I thought his work rate and performance today was nothing short of phenominal

[Scotty]

As I mentioned earlier, we lined up with a 4-2-3-1 formation today and matched United's system. It worked like a charm. The reason it worked though was due to some outstanding individual displays from players who were playing different roles to the one they are used to.

Emerton was a revelation as a holding midfielder and was my man of the match. He has the technique to retain possession and find himself space on the ball, he can tackle and has the pace to track runs, and he's a great outlet for us when turning defence into attack. He ran his socks off today and covered every blade of grass.

Santa Cruz was also immense. He played wideish-right of the 3 supporting players behind Roberts and did a superb job. He supported the lone front man as often as possible, tucked his goal away with real class, but also did a fantastic job defensively - especially in the second half when United got on top. Again, he showed great technique and rarely gave the ball away.

Bentley put in a superb first-half display playing as an attacking central midfielder, in a similar role to the one Gerrard does so well at Liverpool. Bentley was always available for a pass, was always trying to create, always positive, and frequently beat defenders with his close control and skill. His influence waned in the second half as United played a more direct and wide game, but he still showed glimpses of extreme talent. How some people can advocate selling him is beyond me.

As well as the three players mentioned above, there were others who put in noteworthy performances. Vogel showed that he could turn out to be another exceptional aquisition by Hughes. He was all technique, close control, simple passes, clever turns, but he also put his foot in when required. He faded as the match wore on, understandably, but he showed enough to make me look forward to his performances next season. Nelsen was back to somewhere near his best - commanding in the air and sharp on the ground. Samba didn't make any major balls ups, and he's a good defender when he doesn't do that. Roberts worked his nuts off up front and, even though I thought Vidic was outstanding against him, he never gave the United defence a moments peace.

And, of course, Friedel was at his Superman best. He'll get all the headlines, and rightly so, but he hardly had anything to do for 75 minutes, which I guess makes the saves he made near the end even more impressive.

Negatives? Well, there were a couple. Reid just seems to be scared of the ball. OK, he was playing out of position today at right-back, but there's no excuse for the lack of composure - hell, the lack of talent - he showed throughout the match. He's a good player without the ball - he can run for days and gets in good positions - but give him the ball and he panics. It's a bit of a drawback that for a footballer. Pedersen did ok, especially defensively, but he wasted some good opportunities - especially one in the second half that could have put the game to bed.

I also thought Hughes should have replaced a clearly knackered Roberts with about 15 minutes to go. And, while I'm having a go at Hughes, why are we still so bad at defending set-pieces? United were given free header after free header today whenever they swung in a corner or free-kick and it's been the same story all season. It was no surprise at all to see them score from a corner.

We didn't win today because United are a top team, we started to tire as the game wore on, and we can't defend set-pieces. We'd put an incredible amount of effort into the first 70 minutes of the game and, unfortunately, we couldn't sustain it. But a point is better than most of us expected and, perhaps more importantly, we restored a bit of pride after such a limp display away at Liverpool last week. We also, perhaps, got a glimpse into the future. I think Hughes wants us to play today's formation more often - and I think he's going to recruit more players with technique, and hopefully pace, to allow us to do so.

[Presty On Tour]

just got in, totaluy bolloxeed!

friedel is just the bestest keeper / player ever, my god some of the saves he done were world class!

gutted we conceeded late bit what a performanc e from the lads, we nailed ronaldo and he was rattled, he couuldnt play, you could see it. rooney my god, dive of the season!

thought cruz, peds, and vogel were immense, i jsut didnt see the point of bringing the axe on, why ffs

overall its a draw, more important than the 1 point was the way the team played, so happy, v proud.

[RevidgeBlue]

As I mentioned earlier, we lined up with a 4-2-3-1 formation today and matched United's system. It worked like a charm. The reason it worked though was due to some outstanding individual displays from players who were playing different roles to the one they are used to.

Emerton was a revelation as a holding midfielder and was my man of the match. He has the technique to retain possession and find himself space on the ball, he can tackle and has the pace to track runs, and he's a great outlet for us when turning defence into attack. He ran his socks off today and covered every blade of grass.

Santa Cruz was also immense. He played wideish-right of the 3 supporting players behind Roberts and did a superb job. He supported the lone front man as often as possible, tucked his goal away with real class, but also did a fantastic job defensively - especially in the second half when United got on top. Again, he showed great technique and rarely gave the ball away.

Bentley put in a superb first-half display playing as an attacking central midfielder, in a similar role to the one Gerrard does so well at Liverpool. Bentley was always available for a pass, was always trying to create, always positive, and frequently beat defenders with his close control and skill. His influence waned in the second half as United played a more direct and wide game, but he still showed glimpses of extreme talent. How some people can advocate selling him is beyond me.

As well as the three players mentioned above, there were others who put in noteworthy performances. Vogel showed that he could turn out to be another exceptional aquisition by Hughes. He was all technique, close control, simple passes, clever turns, but he also put his foot in when required. He faded as the match wore on, understandably, but he showed enough to make me look forward to his performances next season. Nelsen was back to somewhere near his best - commanding in the air and sharp on the ground. Samba didn't make any major balls ups, and he's a good defender when he doesn't do that. Roberts worked his nuts off up front and, even though I thought Vidic was outstanding against him, he never gave the United defence a moments peace.

And, of course, Friedel was at his Superman best. He'll get all the headlines, and rightly so, but he hardly had anything to do for 75 minutes, which I guess makes the saves he made near the end even more impressive.

Negatives? Well, there were a couple. Reid just seems to be scared of the ball. OK, he was playing out of position today at right-back, but there's no excuse for the lack of composure - hell, the lack of talent - he showed throughout the match. He's a good player without the ball - he can run for days and gets in good positions - but give him the ball and he panics. It's a bit of a drawback that for a footballer. Pedersen did ok, especially defensively, but he wasted some good opportunities - especially one in the second half that could have put the game to bed.

I also thought Hughes should have replaced a clearly knackered Roberts with about 15 minutes to go. And, while I'm having a go at Hughes, why are we still so bad at defending set-pieces? United were given free header after free header today whenever they swung in a corner or free-kick and it's been the same story all season. It was no surprise at all to see them score from a corner.

We didn't win today because United are a top team, we started to tire as the game wore on, and we can't defend set-pieces. We'd put an incredible amount of effort into the first 70 minutes of the game and, unfortunately, we couldn't sustain it. But a point is better than most of us expected and, perhaps more importantly, we restored a bit of pride after such a limp display away at Liverpool last week. We also, perhaps, got a glimpse into the future. I think Hughes wants us to play today's formation more often - and I think he's going to recruit more players with technique, and hopefully pace, to allow us to do so.

Scotty slating Reid - now there's a surprise!

Reid wasn't great but neither was Emerton as both are being mysteriously played out of position for no apparent reason.

Samba , MOM in my opinion, absolutely superb, back to early season form.

RSC also superb.

Nelsen, looking a liability at the moment.

Bentley - great first half, disappeared second.

We didn't play that well technically today imo but if only we could show that sort of fightng spirit for the other 37 games of the season.

[Eddie]

I thought pretty much every played well today.

Pedersen wasn't always at his best going forward, although he did contribute, but his defensive effort was fantastic.

Vogel looked good.

Roberts was the big let-down of the starters. He was just a lump up-front and should have been replaced by Benni at some point.

Santa Cruz, Emerton and Friedel were fantastic from start to finish.

Bringin on Mokoena? Horrible decision. I said it the minute I saw he was coming on and it proved to be correct when he lost Scholes for the corner (not sure he was even in a position to mark him at the start). Why make a move like that with only a couple of minutes left? If we had really wanted to sure up the back then we should have brought on a proper defender. Really poor move on Hughes' part.

[Rover Down Under]

tbh, im absolutely f****** ###### off.

The casino here in Perth advertised the game to be live. "The biggest screen in the southern hemisphere". Headed down to be the only guy in a Rovers shirt in a sea of Red shirts. May I add that 80% of the people in United shirts where Asians who had never even been to the city of Manchester. Talk about marketing .

To make matters even more disheartening, the network decided to reschedule, and cancel the coverage of the game.

Absolutely dishonest and after a few pints I've sent a very angry e-mail to our local cable company, Foxtel.

Any other Aussies have the same situation? Absolutely disgracefull.

The game was never on Foxtel as far as I could tell. I checked Friday and was amazed it wasn't being shown - typical really, I've seen practically every other Rovers game this season bar 2 or 3 and the best match of all is replaced by a ruddy Gayovalhandball (AFL) replay, so I listened to Wendy on Radio Rovers instead ;-)

As for the billions of Asian Man U and Chelsea supporters, yes they annoy me too but I finally figured it out and it's not down to marketing: When you have a small "member" you need to compensate by being a large member (or a member of a large group of small "members".)

[cletus]

Gutted at result, but can only be expected really. Man Ure always seem to get favourable treatment by refs. Friedel had awesome game & was truly world class!

I`d have settled for a draw before the game yesterday, but to be denied of a great victory in the 88th by Qwark from star trek really hurt.

Over it now though. Rovers have drawn against 3 of the top 4 at Ewood this season & only lost 0-1 to the Russian gangsters team....a game we could`ve won. if only we could start beating the teams around us, we`d be top 4 material ourselves.

[Shaddy]

As for the billions of Asian Man U and Chelsea supporters, yes they annoy me too but I finally figured it out and it's not down to marketing: When you have a small "member" you need to compensate by being a large member (or a member of a large group of small "members".)

PS: I'm not Asian either.

[Paul Mellelieu]

I think, as usual, Scotty as it spot on, although he criticism of Reid is a little harsh.

Not sure that Hughes will use this system routinely, but after a shaky first en, it worked a treat.

As Rev says, Nelsen is still looking far from his best.

A great day out though, and let's hope it has a galvanising effect on season ticket sales.

[philipl]

Reid should be criticised for diving in costing a number of free kicks and giving Rooney the chance for a delayed action dive in the area but I think Scotty's criticism is a bit excessive when you consider how ineffective he made Rooney, Ronaldo, Nanni and Giggs despite the Mancs focussing on his flank. Ooijer would have been the natural right back selection but I suspect a critical bit of pace short of what would have been needed to face the Manc assault.

Hughes got the timing of the substitution wrong to the extent that he broke the rule of not chaging the team when facing a dangerous set piece and he was duly rewarded with Mokoena marking fresh air when the corner came over. Vogel had Scholes taped all afternoon but the little gingernut had his free back header for the goal.

But all praise to Hughes for the tactics otherwise and setting the Rovers team up so well.

A word of praise to Rob Styles- he obviously knew we are desperately dependent on City getting that UEFA Fair Play place the way he kept his cards in his pocket.

[rover6]

Great tactics from Hughes but all I can say is, Hughes needs to get over his obsession with Mokoena and find a real utility man to sit on the bench.

It's a shame we don't have someone with a bit of pace and skill to come on when we're defending for our lives. It would give relief to the defence and perhaps pin back a full back or two. Matt Derbyshire might've been useful, but I don't think he'd have troubled Man U too much. Ideally, ROberts would come on to harry and cause general confusion with powerful running.

[thenodrog]

Yes Jim I was there that awful day, but although you are right about us getting a drubbing from Man U, the score was a little more respectable 1-4.

Might be wrong but without checking I thought it was 0-4? We did get beaten later in that season by Lpool 1-4 courtesy of a Mike Harrison pen into the Darwen end.

[Ozz]

Roberts was the big let-down of the starters. He was just a lump up-front and should have been replaced by Benni at some point.

Your kidding me Eddie? Roberts gave the centre halfs a nightmare, every ball that came to him, he battled and fought and shook Ferdinand or Vidic all match long. He tired as the game went on, and to be fair I thought Rio played like he did in the World Cup-he was brilliant-but he had to be.

Further thoughts this morning.

Wes Brown committed at least 4 fouls, worthy of a booking, and didn't get one. Rooney physically wrestled a Rover to the ground, may have been Bentley. Rooney lost it today, but Reid and Samba battered him

[thenodrog]

From the Observer.........

"Paul McGarry, Observer reader I thought we'd done just enough. I was a little surprised with United's physical approach - if Rooney had been Robbie Savage, he'd have been off - while I was amused by Ferdinand, dancing round like a kid not allowed to stay up and watch telly when decisions went against him. Friedel was everything you'd expect, while Santa Cruz was our best outfielder. The formation, with him on the right, was odd, but it seemed to work. It's bittersweet, as the title is between one marketing brand and another one. But in points for pounds spent I think we're probably top of the league.

The fan's player ratings Friedel 9; Reid 7, Samba 8, Nelsen 7, Warnock 8; Santa Cruz 9, Emerton 8, Vogel 8 (Mokoena n/a), Pedersen 8; Bentley 8, Roberts 8"

Has this mboard almost got a monopoly in this paper?

[joey_big_nose]

Your kidding me Eddie? Roberts gave the centre halfs a nightmare, every ball that came to him, he battled and fought and shook Ferdinand or Vidic all match long. He tired as the game went on, and to be fair I thought Rio played like he did in the World Cup-he was brilliant-but he had to be.

Me too. Roberts led the line well and played that lone striker role brilliantly. He made our goal and gave our defence an outlet with long runs on to the ball.

Hughes' tactics were sensaational. Maybe they worked so well because United play onlt three in midfield so we could outplay them, but to be honest I would be exceedingly temtped to use them again with maybe Dunn or McCarthy in for Pedersen.

We fully deserved the point, although Emerton's handball was a bit lucky that it was not a pen.

I couldn't believe how many players we were consistently getting in the last third supporting Roberts. We haven't managed that all season. Indeed if we can make this system work it has a great future for us.

We can line up in any of these forward formations:

------------Roberts

Pedersen-Bentley----Cruz

or:

-------------Roberts

Bentley-----McCarthy---Cruz

Or, my personal favourite:

--------------Roberts

Dunn--------Bentley-----Cruz

There is a great amount of versitility there, especially with Derbyshire and McCarthy also able to work in this sort of formation. The trick seesm to be having Cruz out right who causes all kinds of problems with his direct running and balll retention. Also the formation is exceedingly fluid with all the attacking players swapping positions. To be honest if I was a defender I would not be relishing the physical battle against Roberts combined with Bentley, Cruz and Dunn all being willing to run at me from different areas of the pitch.

I am going to look to the last two games with great interest. This could be a revelation.

[RoyRover]

I would have taken a point from this game before hand and after the final whistle I couldn't complain about the result. Yeah, it would have been great to beat those b@$t@rds but in all honesty we could have lost that game by three of four if it hadn't been for Brad. We played very well in the first half, really stopping United from getting going, while creating a couple of good chances. I wish we had imposed ourselves more on the match though and played like the home side. It was obvious though that the tactic was to stop them from playing and get forward whenever we could. The second half was all United and should have scored a couple, but the time at which the goal came was pretty hard to take.

Brad was the best player on the pitch and he showed once again that he is a world class keeper. Defensively we looked better and I thought that Samba looked like the player he was at the start of the season. I was also impressed with Steven Warnock who kept Ronaldo under wraps. Nelsen looked pretty shaky in the first half, but made some important blocks and tackles in the second. I still think that Ooijer is a better option. Steven Reid was poor. He didn't look comfortable on the ball and gave the ball away on a number of occasions. In saying that though, I thought that he played a number of United's players very well. Vogel and Emerton were brilliant.

Vogel showed a bit of European class, keeping the ball with simple, intelligent passes, while also putting the foot in. Emerton's pace allowed him to cover the whole pitch and slow them down. Bentley had a good game in parts, with a few good runs, crosses and shot. But thought that he drifted in and out of the game. Santa Cruz was excellent. He took his goal really well, while also causing a number of problems for Evra with his height and strength. Roberts worked very hard and his presence in the box was what lead to our goal. I thought that too often when the ball was played up to him, he was simply out muscled or out ran by their two centre backs. It highlighted our lack of pace up front and this is one area where the manager should look to improve.

[Alan75]

Might be wrong but without checking I thought it was 0-4? We did get beaten later in that season by Lpool 1-4 courtesy of a Mike Harrison pen into the Darwen end.

Feb 5th Liverpool 1 - 4 Harrison (pen) Gate 30,414

May 7th Man U 1 - 4 Harrison (open play) Gate 14,513

[thenodrog]

Feb 5th Liverpool 1 - 4 Harrison (pen) Gate 30,414

May 7th Man U 1 - 4 Harrison (open play) Gate 14,513

14,513?

[RibbleValleyRover]

I wasn’t expecting anything prior to the game, so I am delighted to get a point against the best side in the league and arguably Europe.

The performance was a real step up. We showed great determination and resolve and overall looked solid pretty much in all areas of the pitch. In particular the first half we were excellent and showed the qualities I mentioned. At times in the first half it looked like United couldn’t handle us. Second half it was obvious that United would step up in gear and go out on the offensive, and we showed great strength and resolve to keep them back until the 88th minute.

The standout performances for me were obviously Friedal with another superhuman performance, something which he always seems to do against United. Nelsen and Samba are starting to look like getting back to their very best, Emerton and Warnock showed great energy and drive. Vogel was superb in the midfield, a battling performance and great tackle to deny Ronaldo from getting a possible shooting opportunity. In terms of the forward line I thought Gamst and Bents had pretty good games even though they were less effective in the second half. Roberts was a real handful to the United defense and never stopped running and battling all game. Roque, well what can I say the guy is pure class. Pace, strength, superb movement, he was absolutely superb.

To be honest I thought nobody had a shocker, and it was a good solid performance by the whole team.

In terms of the penalty decisions, the only one for me that United had a strong shout for was the Emerton one. Roberts’s penalty chance would have been very harsh, but I’ve seen them given from time to time. Rooney also should have been sent off.

Lets hope we can take the huge positives from our performance and take them into our next game.

[1864roverite]

suffered death by text

still hate scummy manure with even more desire

pleased that Brad showed he is the ONE

on the way to the wedding I attended heard punters backing ronaldo to score a hattrick at Ewood, well blox to them he haerdly got a kick except those from Warnock !!

Happy with a he point although all 3 would have been great