[Archived] Keith Andrews - Rovers Newest Signing

[Miker]

As I posted in the main thread, Andrews was OK 50% and awful 50% of the time. He made one telling pass which set up the third goal. But a clearing header on the half way line Jack Walker side went vertically up instead of forwards and set up the passage of play that lead to Eagles' goal.

Yes by Keith's standards, he had a good game...

While heading it upwards was pretty poor, it occurred earlier in the game and did not lead to the Eagles goal.

People talk about N'zonzi's youth and how he's going above expectations, but just because he's younger doesn't mean that Andrews isn't surpassing those same expectations coming from the 4th tier to score 4 goals last season and perform AT THE VERY LEAST decently. N'zonzi was great against Arsenal in the first half of the match, but how much did he contribute against Burnley? It was a pretty average performance, Andrews was a lot more involved in attacking play.

So he points at people to tell them where to go, so what? Don't kill the guy for doing what any good player should do and communicate with your teammates.

Someone commented earlier on the fact that there's bias against Diouf and I disagree because most people on here will acknowledge when he performs well. With Andrews it seems to be half-half and it's absolutely bizarre. I can tell you right now that while I'm not Andrews' biggest fan, those of you that are saying we should be booing Andrews off the pitch and are going to extremes to slate his performance regardless of their quality, can f*** right off. He scored 4 goals for us last season and has cleared the ball off the line countless times, put in important blocks and challenges and works his socks off every game. Deal with it.

I've said it before, I won't stand for people slating players for succeeding above their level. Criticise players for poor performances, don't put them down for good ones.

[Hasta]

I take issue with that hasta

I've been watching Andrews all season for rovers and ireland. Last season i gave him the benefit of the doubt because it was his first season at the top level. however this season he has shown himself to be severely limited as a footballer

He is a serial ball watcher, he can't tackle, his passing is average and the way he just jogs round the pitch is incredibly frustrating. he allows the game to drift him by, not once for rovers has he ever tried grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck and try and dictate play. I honestly have no problem using him as back-up, but he is behind Dunn, Grella, Emerton and Nzonzi in my opinion. Unless he ups his game and concentrates he will find himself back in the lower leagues

Your general assessment of him is quite accurate and I agree with you - he should be backup material as best. If you look back at my post I say he needs replacing. However during the 90 minutes of the Burnley game he was not 'Truly Dreadful' as you stated. If you watch it back yourself and if you are honest you would agree.

[philipl]

Nzonzi is not perfect and he has a few bloopers on his record but having watched central midfield to see where we are going wrong, the inadequacies by and large are not his.

I would never boo a Rovers player but apart from Nzonzi, it appears our central midfield options remain horribly inadequate.

Nobody will convince me Andrews played well against the dingles- he did some good things and some bad things and generally operated at the barely ok level against a pretty but also pretty ineffectual midfield. We now have a trip to Chelsea where if he plays he will once again get destroyed.

[thenodrog]

Sorry. Plastic Head was 100% right. Andrews has no place on a Premier League football pitch. And as for the pointing...............

I especially enjoyed when he was trying to tell Dunn what to do and Dunn just pushed him away disdainfully. Or when someone had the ball on the Jack Walker side of the pitch and Andrews was standing 6 feet away calling for the ball. The person on the ball simply ignored him- much like the team did with Pedersen the previous season. (Pedersen did ok yesterday, though)

I only noticed that happening toward the end of the season with Warnock.

He stopped a burnley player (dont know who) going forward , just outside our box. Could've been a big chance for Burnley. If you saw the same game as me, you would see that Andrews had an excellent long pass to CHimbonda (or Gamst) right before that goal as well.

Indeed..... but apart from that we may as well have had 10 men.

[Big Fat Sam]

While heading it upwards was pretty poor, it occurred earlier in the game and did not lead to the Eagles goal.

People talk about N'zonzi's youth and how he's going above expectations, but just because he's younger doesn't mean that Andrews isn't surpassing those same expectations coming from the 4th tier to score 4 goals last season and perform AT THE VERY LEAST decently. N'zonzi was great against Arsenal in the first half of the match, but how much did he contribute against Burnley? It was a pretty average performance, Andrews was a lot more involved in attacking play.

So he points at people to tell them where to go, so what? Don't kill the guy for doing what any good player should do and communicate with your teammates.

Someone commented earlier on the fact that there's bias against Diouf and I disagree because most people on here will acknowledge when he performs well. With Andrews it seems to be half-half and it's absolutely bizarre. I can tell you right now that while I'm not Andrews' biggest fan, those of you that are saying we should be booing Andrews off the pitch and are going to extremes to slate his performance regardless of their quality, can f*** right off. He scored 4 goals for us last season and has cleared the ball off the line countless times, put in important blocks and challenges and works his socks off every game. Deal with it.

I've said it before, I won't stand for people slating players for succeeding above their level. Criticise players for poor performances, don't put them down for good ones.

Sorry, but didn't they win possesion back when Keith was trying to head his header back and then from that created the goal? You could easily say that if he had headed it back where it came from the move would never have been created. Andrews does spend a lot of time pointing and giving instuctions, I have no problem with that, but people should watch what the rest of players do with Keiths helpful hints. I do get the impression at times that some of our players do not have faith in Keith on the pitch.

I will never and would never advocate the booing of our players they are not the ones who pick the team. I would however be keen to hear why Sam plays him all the time perhaps he can see something we don't after all he is the expert.

[Blue blood]

That legend also thought we were too quick to sack Ince.

I noticed that too. Gally was and still is one of my all time favourite players, but I do wonder at some of his opinions. Maybe too much time on the treatment table? Cracking player though.

As for Andrews I think the whole debate can be summed up by the following:

1) He had a good game for us on Sunday. Sure there were a couple of mistakes, but his positive contributions outweighed his negative ones. He should be credited with this at least.

2) Sadly statement 1 is very rarely the case. In fact this is the first game I've seen where this can be said. Ergo he's not good enough for us.

3) However he gives his all, so booing him and getting on his case is counter-productive and unfair. Not his fault he's out of his depth. What we really need is for Sam to give someone else a go there cough emerton cough.

[tonyoz]

I've just watched the game back again (this will be the third time I've seen it after watching it at Ewood and then in a drunken state last night).

I have revised my opinion of Andrews performance. He wasn't just OK. He actually played quite well. He get's his foot in and breaks play up quite a lot of times - one of which sets up the first goal. His positioning is generally OK and he blocks a Graham Alexander shot that is flying into the corner. His passing is not as bad as people make out (miles better than the axe was) and he also somehow manages to put that Bikey on the deck.

I don't think Keith is a superstar but I have defended him on here several times because, in my humble opinion, he takes massive amounts of unwarranted stick on here. Usually I quote the stats to make my point but this time I decided to take a leaf out of your book when I too watched the match again. I took a pencil with me as well. Here is Keith's first half:

0.30 Half tackle by Keith and Burnley lose possession.

0.39 Optimistic long pass downfield - cut out by defender.

2.18 Wins header convincingly.

9.36 Blake waltzes past him. Oh dear!

14.50 Quick pass to Di Santo's feet.

16.45 Pressurises 3 Burnley players in quick succession causing Burnley to run ball out of play.

24.40 Plays 2 accurate attacking passes to feet.

35.50 Instrumental in some of the best play in the half. Plays an excellent crossfield ball to Chimbonda to create pressure. Receives the ball and lays it off to Dunn who has a shot at goal.

37.54 Tackle, Rovers gain possession.

38.25 Header to Chimbonda.......good idea but not quite hard enough.

38.45 Tackle but ball runs to another Burnley player.

40.50 Poor header in midfield nearly put us in danger.

41.15 Wins ball in midfield.

42.08 Great crossfield pass to Pedersen who heads on to Chimbonda for the 3rd goal.

47.24 Good long pass down the wing to Di Santo's feet.

Sorry I couldn't find the zillions of bad passes that some of you saw. They must be in the 2nd half?

[tonyoz]

That legend also thought we were too quick to sack Ince.

Looks like Paul is on course for yet another promotion campaign.

[tcj_jones]

Thanks for the input there, TonyOz. Interesting to read on paper his match contributions.

For me, his first half performance was the best since his debut sub role at West Ham. However, the fact that he didn't do anything worthy of note, for you, in the second half supports what I said about him fading and going missing as Burnley pressed.

I think he is a poor Premier League player, one of the worst, but he did pretty well against Burnley, first half at least. Nothing specacular, mind.

[Plastic Head]

I don't think Keith is a superstar but I have defended him on here several times because, in my humble opinion, he takes massive amounts of unwarranted stick on here. Usually I quote the stats to make my point but this time I decided to take a leaf out of your book when I too watched the match again. I took a pencil with me as well. Here is Keith's first half:

0.30 Half tackle by Keith and Burnley lose possession.

0.39 Optimistic long pass downfield - cut out by defender.

2.18 Wins header convincingly.

9.36 Blake waltzes past him. Oh dear!

14.50 Quick pass to Di Santo's feet.

16.45 Pressurises 3 Burnley players in quick succession causing Burnley to run ball out of play.

24.40 Plays 2 accurate attacking passes to feet.

35.50 Instrumental in some of the best play in the half. Plays an excellent crossfield ball to Chimbonda to create pressure. Receives the ball and lays it off to Dunn who has a shot at goal.

37.54 Tackle, Rovers gain possession.

38.25 Header to Chimbonda.......good idea but not quite hard enough.

38.45 Tackle but ball runs to another Burnley player.

40.50 Poor header in midfield nearly put us in danger.

41.15 Wins ball in midfield.

42.08 Great crossfield pass to Pedersen who heads on to Chimbonda for the 3rd goal.

47.24 Good long pass down the wing to Di Santo's feet.

Sorry I couldn't find the zillions of bad passes that some of you saw. They must be in the 2nd half?

Too many ball-watchers on this thread.

On the ball, Andrews is poor.

What he does in between his occasional touches is unforgiveable.

Check Arsenal's second goal as a prime example. He doesn't know how to play the position. Simple.

[tonyoz]

Thanks for the input there, TonyOz. Interesting to read on paper his match contributions.

For me, his first half performance was the best since his debut sub role at West Ham. However, the fact that he didn't do anything worthy of note, for you, in the second half supports what I said about him fading and going missing as Burnley pressed.

I think he is a poor Premier League player, one of the worst, but he did pretty well against Burnley, first half at least. Nothing specacular, mind.

Hi tcj, my "2nd half" comment was a poor attempt at sarcasm on my part. I think the performance of the whole team fell in the 2nd half and I wasn't in the mood to continue the analysis. I did notice first time around though that Andrews started passing sideways in the 2nd half. He had not done that at all in the first and I guessed that he was under instructions.

[Hasta]

Too many ball-watchers on this thread.

On the ball, Andrews is poor.

What he does in between his occasional touches is unforgiveable.

Check Arsenal's second goal as a prime example. He doesn't know how to play the position. Simple.

I don't need to check out the Arsenal goal. I saw the game and saw the midfield crumble. I could go on and on and quote examples from previous games in which Andrews has been awful. He needs to be replaced.

However if you think on Sunday that "he was embarrassed by the only midfield worse than ours' as you stated, then you are obviously blinkered and biased against him no matter what he does.

[alexanders]

Cheers for the analysis TonyOz.

That's just how I remember Andrews in 1sth half. Some stunning passes and contributed well both defensively and in attack.

[philipl]

I don't think Keith is a superstar but I have defended him on here several times because, in my humble opinion, he takes massive amounts of unwarranted stick on here. Usually I quote the stats to make my point but this time I decided to take a leaf out of your book when I too watched the match again. I took a pencil with me as well. Here is Keith's first half:

0.30 Half tackle by Keith and Burnley lose possession.

0.39 Optimistic long pass downfield - cut out by defender.

2.18 Wins header convincingly.

9.36 Blake waltzes past him. Oh dear!

14.50 Quick pass to Di Santo's feet.

16.45 Pressurises 3 Burnley players in quick succession causing Burnley to run ball out of play.

24.40 Plays 2 accurate attacking passes to feet.

35.50 Instrumental in some of the best play in the half. Plays an excellent crossfield ball to Chimbonda to create pressure. Receives the ball and lays it off to Dunn who has a shot at goal.

37.54 Tackle, Rovers gain possession.

38.25 Header to Chimbonda.......good idea but not quite hard enough.

38.45 Tackle but ball runs to another Burnley player.

40.50 Poor header in midfield nearly put us in danger.

41.15 Wins ball in midfield.

42.08 Great crossfield pass to Pedersen who heads on to Chimbonda for the 3rd goal.

47.24 Good long pass down the wing to Di Santo's feet.

Sorry I couldn't find the zillions of bad passes that some of you saw. They must be in the 2nd half?

Thanks for this - very interesting.

Backs up my assessment pretty convincingly that he was awful for the first half of the first half and OK thereafter.

Up to the 23rd minute he touched the ball 4 times, made 2 clear booboos and disrupted the opposition twice.

From then to half time he touched the ball 11 times, made 2 booboos, disrupted the opposition 3 times one of which they won back immediately and made 4 excellent passes of which two created chances and one was scored from.

Add it all up and in 48 minutes of the first half, our Irish international at the heart of our central midfield

-touched the ball 15 times if you include passes returned to him,

-boobooed 4 times,

-disrupted the opposition 5 times included making just ONE successful tackle,

-and made 4 good passes.

And this is hailed by the Andrews supporters as one of his best performances!

Excuse me but this is our experienced lynch-pin central midfielder against our dearest neighbours who were passing it through the middle all the time in the first half and not going out wide.

That is pathetic- anyone got Dunn or Samba's statistics? They are the other members of Rovers central spine.

[tonyoz]

Thanks for this - very interesting.

Backs up my assessment pretty convincingly that he was awful for the first half of the first half and OK thereafter.

Up to the 23rd minute he touched the ball 4 times, made 2 clear booboos and disrupted the opposition twice.

From then to half time he touched the ball 11 times, made 2 booboos, disrupted the opposition 3 times one of which they won back immediately and made 4 excellent passes of which two created chances and one was scored from.

Add it all up and in 48 minutes of the first half, our Irish international at the heart of our central midfield

-touched the ball 15 times if you include passes returned to him,

-boobooed 4 times,

-disrupted the opposition 5 times included making just ONE successful tackle,

-and made 4 good passes.

And this is hailed by the Andrews supporters as one of his best performances!

Excuse me but this is our experienced lynch-pin central midfielder against our dearest neighbours who were passing it through the middle all the time in the first half and not going out wide.

That is pathetic- anyone got Dunn or Samba's statistics? They are the other members of Rovers central spine.

It just goes to show that you can make statistics tell any kind of story you like huh?

[beerwins]

I dont see the great argument he isnt good enough and neither is nzonzi to be playing in central midfield together, they both have some good moments and im sure nzonzi will blossom there but i dont think keith will get much better.

To me the central midfield area is where the inspiration comes from for the whole team, someone who can put a good challenge in, break up play and hold the ball to dictate play, this is and has been are main problem at rovers for some time and until we get somebody in or prime salgado for this role i see a lot more goals conceded from this area.

Out of the players we have for that role or players that are being touted for that role i still dont see many that are good enough:

GRELLA: Too slow, not seen enough of him.

NZONZI: Good future talent but still too young.

REID: Good player but injured too often.

ANDREWS: Tries hard but floats in and out, im not sure the players respect him either.

EMERTON: Would need to have plenty of games there to be considered a starter.

DUNN: Well we all see dunns capabilities and im sure if put back into traditional 4,4,2 he would no doubt be a lot more stiffled.

SALGADO? would make a good influential figure there but pace would be a worry.

Sunderland bolstered their ranks with cattermole and cana in the centre of the park and it has improved them because both give 110% and not afraid to get stuck in, you can argue bent has been the difference but would he get the chances he has been getting with their weak midfield they had last year.

I dont want to be too critical over KA because he tries his heart out and sometimes seems to be competant but i want rovers to flourish and this wont happen until we sort out this area.

[tonyoz]

That is pathetic- anyone got Dunn or Samba's statistics? They are the other members of Rovers central spine.

OK you got me. I couldn't resist the challenge. Stats courtesy of the Daily Telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/6358890/Blackburn-Rovers-3-Burnley-2-match-report.html

Player, Passes, % success, shots, balls won

Andrews 30 73 0 3

Dunn 30 70 4 0

Samba 28 68 2 0

I confess, I didn't record every touch in my own data.....just the significant ones.

[Steve Moss]

Why is it that the official BRFC site always seems to have interviews with Keith Andrews? It's constant, week in and week out. Today the club refers to him as "Rovers ace Keith Andrews . . ." He's become the player spokesperson, seems like. Don't get me wrong, I don't think he's terrible like some here, but he's hardly an ace. Is he being groomed for the captaincy or something?

http://www.rovers.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10303~1835029,00.html

[CrazyIvan]

Why is it that the official BRFC site always seems to have interviews with Keith Andrews? It's constant, week in and week out. Today the club refers to him as "Rovers ace Keith Andrews . . ." He's become the player spokesperson, seems like. Don't get me wrong, I don't think he's terrible like some here, but he's hardly an ace. Is he being groomed for the captaincy or something?

http://www.rovers.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10303~1835029,00.html

I noticed too. It amuses me especially because it'll really annoy people like Al who seem to think that because they are older than most of us they know much more about football than all of us put together. Oh, and their views are 'respected'... lol

Andrews is an average Rovers player. That's it.

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

He, along with Dunn, Robinson and Nelsen are the vocal ones. I suspect Keith is getting lots of airtime on the back of this victory because it might soften the aggression towards him. Good PR and all.

Hah hah hah.

[Plastic Head]

Why is it that the official BRFC site always seems to have interviews with Keith Andrews? It's constant, week in and week out. Today the club refers to him as "Rovers ace Keith Andrews . . ." He's become the player spokesperson, seems like. Don't get me wrong, I don't think he's terrible like some here, but he's hardly an ace. Is he being groomed for the captaincy or something?

http://www.rovers.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10303~1835029,00.html

It must be a typo.

I think they meant "Rovers arse Keith Andrews . . ."

[yellowsubmarine]

andrews is such a waste of space!!! argh1!!!

[sambo]

Andrews v Lampard

It's ugly at the moment...

[Exiled in Toronto]

Anyone still think Emerton is the answer in CM?

[Dan]

God hates us, why the he'll couldn't Keef get flu?! He us officiay the worst Rovers player in the last ten years. Put the tea lady in his place, could she do any worse?

He is ######, comparisons to Mark Atkins are laughable, he makes Atkins look like Maradona and Pele's love child :-(