[Archived] Derby Preview

[cn174]

He was on the half way line. Fair goal

Yup! Nice to see Reid and Warnock nice and alert after the corner

[Rover Down Under]

A good win, could have been 10-1 with all the 2nd half chances. Poor first half as usual though! Thought Emerton was very good today, he ran at the defence on a number of occasions and got into some good positions, Warnock got forward well and Vogel was consistent again. Bents, Peds and Reid were the poorest today, Bents dilly dalllied too long on a few occassions and lost the ball, Peds wasted some good crossing opportunities and Reid just didn't do much and was at fault for the Derby goal. Great to see the Derby fans in good spirit, I doubt our fans would be the same if we were in their position. They've already sold 20,000 season tickets for next year!

Well next weekend will be interesting, hope West Ham can help us out again like on 14/5/95! Of course we have to win as well against a relegation threatened team which is where things will most likely go pear shaped...

[Montfort]

I agree that I don't see why Emmerton is not playing at right back. He had a good game in midfield but I think we miss him in the right back position which he has taken to really well. He has improved his defensive abilities in this role but the great advantage is when he charges up the right wing. He does a better job at this as a right back than when he played at right wing. I think that Emerton linking up with Bentley at full throtle really scares the oposition. Reid did not seem to do many forward runs of this nature. Emerton crosses a ball better than Reid as well. Not on an anti Reid trip, just think this is not his best position. Think he has done exceptionally well to come back from such a long term injury and think we will see him kick on again next season.

Honor and respect to the Derby fans. Don't know how they can keep going on that fare. I could'nt. Not that I would disown Rovers. I would just find more enjoyable and pressing activities on a Saturday afternoon - like cleaning out the septic tank.

Great season. Thanks

[RoversFanUSA]

Well first off have to ask. Is anyone else not upset about the fact it should have been atleast 7-1 Rovers? I mean we played well and the win was good for us but i felt we played poor for some minutes and then really well in others. Roberts did well except he should have had ATLEAST a hat trick today,Santa=class, Bents was a little disapointing today, and emerton IMO played pretty dang good today.

Also a quick shout out to Robbie Savage, played well today and had his usual hussel his ass off kind of games. Wish the best to him next season in the pop fizz.

Also did anyone notice Sparky and his lack of joy at the goals and the win. The wifey must have given him whatfore before he left for the game this morning...YIKES!

[Iceman]

Can anybody who watched the game on tv or was at the game,plz explain y we had a poor 1st half.i looked at the stats 1st half,and we had something like 60% posession and like 8 or 9 shots at goal.thanx guys.

[SAS]

first half was a disgrace

2nd half we played a lot better and should have won by more ultimatly

[roversmum]

He was probably still cross about their goal. I certainly am. In truth, we should have slaughtered them but we made it look pretty hard at the start.

The Derby fans were great. Hope they regroup, have a ball next season, and get back into the prem. Our visit to Derby was most enjoyable.

[yellowsubmarine]

The hope for European football is still there.

Hopefully Sparky will drill that into the minds of the players for this entire week. Play the best game of this season against Birmingham in our last game. Send us to Europe and Big Club back into the Big League.

[RoyRover]

It was good that we won our last home game of the season, scored a few goals to cheer the crowd and kept the chance of European football alive. I just watched the highlights of the game on MOTD and apart from their goal, I don't think it showed how much better they apparently were. We should have scored a hat full in the second half and it highlighted the weak finishing ability of Jason Roberts. Lets give one more big push and send Birmingham into oblivion, hope that Wigan get a result against Villa and we claim the last European place.

[thenodrog]

Lets give one more big push and send Birmingham into oblivion, hope that Wigan get a result against Villa and we claim the last European place.

Wigan just did that I'm guessing that you mean West Ham?

[thenodrog]

Good to see Sav having the craic with a few of our players during the match. Obviously still matey with a few. When Warnock clattered him hard they both had a smile on their faces.

[Beta Ray Bill]

Good to see Sav having the craic with a few of our players during the match. Obviously still matey with a few. When Warnock clattered him hard they both had a smile on their faces.

He wasn't quite as friendly with Vogel.

[Hughesy]

Probably annoyed because Vogel had his shirt!

[Bing]

On Radio Rovers Sav said that he felt Vogel had gone over the top of ball when they went in for a challenge and was disappointed with it. He had a laugh about the Warnock challenge, said it was great tackle - strong and fair and put him on his backside.

I enjoyed the lack of histrionics from both sides yesterday. A notable incident was when Tyrone Mears and Warnock had a crunching 50/50 in the first half in front of the Riverside. Good to see both get up, slap hands and get on with the game.

[1864roverite]

Lets accept that when a team like Derby come to Ewood with such an awful record, Rovers always seem to offer hope to them in one form or another.

Yesterday, Rovers gifted Derby a freebie goal, just like they did at Pride Park, it set of the 3000 plus Derby fans like they were gonna bury the curse that haunts them this season. BUT, Rovers pulled themselves together and courtesy of RSC and Roberts but the game to bed 3-1 Rovers.

It should have been more, but who cares ? Events at Villa Park and The Riverside ensured that once again our season goes to the wire.

Who could have predicted the Wigan result ?

Now, the Rovers/Wham relationship figures again on the last game of the season. If Rovers can pull off the victory at Brum then Wham do the business then we can plan for Europe.

Pleased as punch with BRFC. A nice sunny day, continuing of our long unbeated record for 2008, 3 points and a decent crowd of 26000 plus. The sun really does shine on the righteous

POIGNANT MOMENT...

The players on the pitch earn approximately somewhere in the region of approx £20000-£30000 per week for their exerts on the pitch. Those 15 or so HEROES that were awarded medals at half time earn approx £14000 per YEAR for their efforts.

Each and every one of those Soldiers deserved the rapturous applause given to them. Well done to Ewood for saluting them

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

Yesterday was a graphic illustration of the difference in mentality between myself and some of the lunatic supporters from other clubs.

Despite Derby being totally humiliated this season, their crazy fans came for a party - dressed in beach clothing, grass skirts and with inflatable fruit and vegetables. If Rovers were ever humiliated in the Premiership in the future, on 11 points with two games to go and in serious danger of being the worst team in top flight history, there's no way in the world that I would be partying, dancing in the stadium and bringing inflatable bananas to a game.

If my team was humiliated in the same way as Derby, I'd be spitting blood rather than partying.

Since the game of football was invented in this country, Loughborough College in Division Two in 1889-90 is the only team to have gone through a campaign in the top leagues with only one win. If Derby fail to beat Reading on the final day, they will match that unwanted record.

Following their game with Rovers, it's now 31 games without a win for Derby, equalling the league record of Cambridge United in 1983-84. Failure to beat Reading next Sunday will mean surpassing that record.

And yet the Derby fans still party - incredible. Let's not forget some of the things that Paul Jewell has said about his team earlier in the season. After their match against Wigan in February, Jewell said: "That's the worst display I've ever seen from a so-called Premier League team. It was dire. It was just not good enough. There was no desire. From the first whistle to the last we were second best in all departments. To play like we did today was embarrassing and disgraceful, because Derby deserve better than that."

For a manager to say that his players have "no desire" is a damning indictment of professional players earning vast amounts of money each week. If that was my team showing no desire, I'd be chanting "You're not fit to wear the shirt" and I'd be fuming with them.

To party like Derby fans are currently doing frankly beggars belief. I'd be extremely concerned about the message that it must be sending out to some of Derby's highly paid players. They must be thinking to themselves: "Hey, we can show no desire at all and the fans still sing and party."

They can pick up their massive wages each week, fail to perform, go 31 games without a win, and the Derby fans still refuse to say what a disgrace they are.

After losing 6-1 against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, Jewell said: "It was embarrassing to sit there and squirm through ninety minutes." After conceding 6 goals at home to Arsenal, Jewell described it as "comic book" defending. "We seem to concede soft goals every week and from unbelievable mistakes. They wouldn't win a game at any level playing like that, be it in the Third Division or the Premier League."

After their 0-6 home defeat against Aston Villa a couple of weeks ago, Jewell said the Derby performance was "Embarrassing, heartless, horrible and unacceptable."

"I am hugely embarrassed," said Jewell after the Villa game: So should the players and the fans be embarrassed too. Yet the Derby fans prefer to have a jolly and a party. I just can't get my head around a mentality that wants to party after your team is an absolute disgrace and a shambles.

Perhaps I'm just a different breed to Derby fans. They might call me a miserable bugger, I would call them mad - I just cannot accept highly paid players going through the motions and showing no desire. To me such players are fraudsters who are cheating the fans who pay their wages. I refuse to accept it.

Some people might defend Derby's players on the grounds that they aren't good enough for the Premiership. I would say that they aren't good enough and crucially they have not shown the proper desire, which is criminal in my eyes. If they had gone down fighting, then fair enough. But to be relegated whilst not showing the correct level of desire and to go 31 games without a win is disgraceful.

Jewell came to Pride Park as Derby manager in November saying: "It's going to be difficult to keep Derby in the Premier League, but we're not adrift. I'm not here to wave the white flag."

Some of the Derby players did decide to raise the white flag earlier in the season. They are a disgrace to their club and supporters.

My brief thoughts on yesterday's match itself are that Rovers were garbage in the first half. I hope that Mark Hughes told them so at half-time. In the second half we played better and probably should have won by more than 3-1 if Jason Roberts's finishing had been up to scratch.

[jim mk2]

If Rovers were ever humiliated in the Premiership in the future, on 11 points with two games to go and in serious danger of being the worst team in top flight history, there's no way in the world that I would be dancing in the stadium and bringing inflatable bananas to a game.

It's called love of your club, supporting it through thick and thin, in the good times and the bad.

Similar to love of country, supporting it and backing it .... warts and all.

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

It's called love of your club, supporting it through thick and thin, in the good times and the bad.

That statement from you beggars belief after your post last season when you advised Rovers supporters not to travel to Old Trafford for our FA Cup semi-final with Chelsea.

Posting that Mark Hughes had "lost the plot", you advised Rovers fans to save their money rather than watch our FA Cup semi-final.

"Quite frankly I don't see why supporters should be arsed to go to Old Trafford for the semi-final," you said.

Please explain to me how not going to an FA Cup semi-final is "supporting the club through thick and thin".

Please take a read of your exact post from April 7th 2007 at the link HERE

Were you supporting Mark Hughes "through thick and thin" when you were calling for Chris Coleman?

I may be a miserable bugger at times, but at least I'm not guilty of the striking hypocrisy you have displayed when you previously advised Rovers fans not to travel to an FA Cup semi-final and now today you are having a pop at me about "supporting the club through thick and thin".

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

Despite Derby being totally humiliated this season, their crazy fans came for a party - dressed in beach clothing, grass skirts and with inflatable fruit and vegetables. If Rovers were ever humiliated in the Premiership in the future, on 11 points with two games to go and in serious danger of being the worst team in top flight history, there's no way in the world that I would be partying, dancing in the stadium and bringing inflatable bananas to a game.

No, you'd much rather have a nice moan on here rather than have a good day out on the last away game in this league.

[T4E]

That statement from you beggars belief after your post last season when you advised Rovers supporters not to travel to Old Trafford for our FA Cup semi-final with Chelsea.

Posting that Mark Hughes had "lost the plot", you advised Rovers fans to save their money rather than watch our FA Cup semi-final.

"Quite frankly I don't see why supporters should be arsed to go to Old Trafford for the semi-final," you said.

Please explain to me how not going to an FA Cup semi-final is "supporting the club through thick and thin".

Please take a read of your exact post from April 7th 2007 at the link HERE

Were you supporting Mark Hughes "through thick and thin" when you were calling for Chris Coleman?

I may be a miserable bugger at times, but at least I'm not guilty of the striking hypocrisy you have displayed when you previously advised Rovers fans not to travel to an FA Cup semi-final and now today you are having a pop at me about "supporting the club through thick and thin".

[Neil Weaver]

Now here's a post as rare as hen's teeth. Thought good old Mr Rennie had a very decent game yesterday. OK, the players weren't niggling but he wasn't up to his usual antics of being the centre of attention. Couldn't help notice how he looked to play an advantage after almost all fouls, and if there wasn't one within a couple of seconds he'd blow the whistle.

[philipl]

Only saw the highlights so didn't catch anything of Mr Rennie.

However, since he has come back onto the Premier referees list, I'd say he has become one of the very best refs around. All credit to him for working on his officiating and coming back stronger.

Changing tack, apart from the debatable point about Everton losing, ALL the fixtures have gone our way this week-end.

[Hughesy]

Good point, never really thought about the ref, which usually means he had a good game. Makes a change, we have seen some dire refs this season.

[Plastic Head]

Yesterday was a graphic illustration of the difference in mentality between myself and some of the lunatic supporters from other clubs.

Despite Derby being totally humiliated this season, their crazy fans came for a party - dressed in beach clothing, grass skirts and with inflatable fruit and vegetables. If Rovers were ever humiliated in the Premiership in the future, on 11 points with two games to go and in serious danger of being the worst team in top flight history, there's no way in the world that I would be partying, dancing in the stadium and bringing inflatable bananas to a game.

If my team was humiliated in the same way as Derby, I'd be spitting blood rather than partying.

Maybe they're not as cheery as they seemed....

Suicide?

[ABBEY]

It's called love of your club, supporting it through thick and thin, in the good times and the bad.

Similar to love of country, supporting it and backing it .... warts and all.

Save your money chaps and give Old Trafford a miss next week.

Chelsea will win at a canter and our lot will stroll through the rest of the season as a prelude to a relegation battle next year.

Hughes has lost the plot. Get Coleman.

is the one you mean smudge haahahaha

jim strikes again