[Archived] West Ham Versus Blackburn Rovers

[MarkBRFC71]

We shouldn't be that surprised how bad our defence looks, as it was pretty poor all last season - individual errors all over the place. I still maintain that Ooijer and Zurab is a better central partnership than Nelsen and Samba. Ooijer is NOT in any way a rightback - far, far too slow - why is Simpson not playing, or Emerton?!? Friedel probably spared them some more blushes last year which so far Robinson is only adding to.

Ince needs to take the blame for not replacing our only creative player (Dunny) in the starting line-up. Reid is Championship standard at best, Bert is a better rightback than winger, Pedersen has played only one decent half - Bolton at home last season - since the FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea and needs to be dropped, and for me sold. Unfortunately it's too near the deadline but I would be looking to replace him in January unless he drastically improves.

We see possibly the best debut by a Rovers player for years on Weds, containing skill, vision, true passing ability and shooting accuracy - and Carlos is left on the bench. Derbyshire got another chance and did nothing only prove he is not good enough for the Prem - in fact I think he pretty much found his level on Weds against Grimsby.

Last week's result has been well and truly put into perspective by the fact Hull have been mullered 0-5 by Wigan.

It's 2 days until the window closes, and we still need a quality right winger, and if Roque is injured we DESPERATELY need a striker. Even if he isn't, we should still sign one as apart from Roque we're struggling - Roberts has done well, Derbs isn't good enough - full stop - fatboy needs offloading ASAP.

A terrible, terrible day.

[frosty]

Who never saw that coming? Of course PI would put on his love child (Andrews)... what with his pedigree of... wellll... ahem... he was a great league 2 footballer.

That Chilean footballer of the year bloke must really be crap.

Villanueva couldn't come on as he isn't a centre midfielder, Andrews was the direct replacement and by all accounts did pretty well.

[rover6]

Oh yeah, and when I say that Jason Roberts was Heskey-esque today, that was true of his penalty. Let himself down.

[Elegia]

The next weeke here is going to be fun....

Robinson - Responsible for the first goal. Pulled off a cracking save from Bellamy. 5/10

Warnock- Usual quality. 7/10

Nelsen - Thought he was back to his best after the first two games. Today he played as badly as he did against the Hammers last year! - 4/10

Samba - Atrocious. He has his ups and downs but today was the worst. 4/10

Ooijer - Lacked the pace to get up and down. Etherington utterly annihilated him on the counter. 5/10

Gella - didn't realise he was on the pitch for ages. Anonymous to the point of being substituted. 4/10

Reid - Still not up to it. Poor corners, poor control. Great shot from distace. Is a physical player but fialed to apply his physique to the midfield. 5/10

Pedersen - Okay. Not really much came from him but he was solid. Utterly outclassed by Treacy when subbed. 5/10

Emerton - Standard. Lots of running, solid defensviely, no creativity. 5/10

Roberts - Easily our best player in the first half, disappeared a bit in the second. Took his goal well. Awful penalty. 7/10

RSC - Never got going, got injured. We needed him in the second half. Not really fair to rate him.

The good stuff was the substitutes

Derbyshire - Lively, should have got a goal which was wrongly disallowed. Great crosses and ability when he ran the channels. 7/10

Treacy - Great outlet in the second half. Real threat. I could see him starting very soon for us. 8/10

Andrwes - all the talk was of him "lacking premiership qulaity". Actually looked a better technical player than quite a few out there. 7/10

Strange game really. West Ham were clearly the better side overall but then we had enough chances to at least draw the match. Green was outstanding for them, as was Etherington. When Bellamy came on he showed that he is a brilliant player. 4-1 is a ludicrously flatterng scoreline, especially in light of the chances we had.

We need Dunn back, we need quality on the right. We need to shift McCarthy and get in a different striking option. I hope to God RSC is not seriously injured.

I'm not distraught but the most worrying thing is the lack of composure at the back and that Grella who is supposed to tie up the midfield looked poor. We need him to come good.

Absolutely spot on

[socngill]

I don't know what happened to the Chilean, but other than that this was not Ince's fault. There are a million factors that caused todays defeat, few of which I could have conceived of to be as grating and as frustrating as those that happened, but I wouldn't put Ince near the top.

Ince chose the team. He chose to again ignore McCarthy (although I assume he is injured...) and also no Tugay on the bench. Failed to make changes in defence when we were appalling. He brought Andrews on instead of Carlos.

If players are playing crap, it is the managers job to haul them off the pitch. With 7 subs we should be able to bring on a defender.

Don't get me wrong, I like Ince and think he has the makings of a great manager, but today he just made too many wrong decisions.

[Paul Mellelieu]

A terrible, terrible day.

What a drama queen.

[brfcshabba]

Just to add to the gloom, it seems we had 5 booked if I am not mistaken is an automatic fine.

[joey_big_nose]

Just a wonder, did anyone else expect Jason Donkey to Score from that Pen? I was cheering when we'd been awarded it, once I saw Roberts was taking it I knew he'd miss 100%.

With you all the way on that. I thought Derbs would take it? But I guess he missed one at the end of last season....

He isn't a donkey though, he was our best player in the first half. Without him we would have had no outlet at all.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

ITS ''ROLLOVER ROVERS'' AT THE BOLEYN FOLKS.....

You just knew it was going to happen!

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

we badly missed Dunn and Santa. McCarthy would have come on instead of derbs im pretty sure. Injuries are not an excuse but injuries to those three players really took their toll.

-

Samba - Reid. extremely poor from both. Samba was a liability and Reid was ineffective.

Derbs - did very little all game. he deserves his chance to play but too often when he isnt used as an impact sub late on he doesnt do that much

Roberts - good goal. caused trouble. but will never be a 20 goal a season striker. always needs 5 chances to score.

Gamst - did nothing. at all. not a sausage.

+

Treacy - pacey looked a threat and id be tempted to start him ahead of Gamst

Andrews - didnt remotely look out of his depth. if anything made Reid look like the league 2 player.

Ince: hand forced with Santa, Andrews was a good move in hindsight and Treacy was effective. He isnt absolved of blame but too many of the players went missing today - not his fault in my eyes.

[American Rover12]

Haven't read any other posts so apologies if I repeat anything. The 4-1 scoreline doesn't tell the whole story and it flatters West Ham, but none the less it was something that could have been avoided.

Rovers have no excuse for missing a penalty and not converting on some of those chances they had. Dunn's absence really showed. Another thing it did; expose Reid. Just not up to par anymore, at least as a starter. Matty Derbs did well for not being used to playing anywhere near that length of time. Grella didn't look bad but he didnt look good. Andrews was surprisingly up to it, not taking a bad touch and having quite a few passes and some in tight places.

The fouls called at time were just plain daft and caused the first half to by extremely choppy and really lack flow. The second half seemed to be featuring a completely different referee. The card count is quite steep though, Rovers need to be staying out of trouble.

Ooijer isn't a right back. Samba makes few but huge mistakes. Nelson is the anchor but isn't perfect and Warnock was extremely inconsistent today.

West Ham away is the worst.

[brfcshabba]

ITS ''ROLLOVER ROVERS'' AT THE BOLEYN FOLKS.....

You just knew it was going to happen!

I'm surprised people expected any points today

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

It wouldn't surprise me if we went out and beat Arsenal after this.

Oh yeah, can we stop with the "it's doomsday" comments. It's West Ham. We expected this. It has been happening since the dawn of time.

[Bobby G]

On top of everything The thing is Arsenal is next!

[MarkBRFC71]

The next weeke here is going to be fun....

Robinson - Responsible for the first goal. Pulled off a cracking save from Bellamy. 5/10

Warnock- Usual quality. 7/10 HE WAS AT FAULT WITH A SCHOOLBOY ERROR FOR AT LEAST ONE GOAL 5/10

Nelsen - Thought he was back to his best after the first two games. Today he played as badly as he did against the Hammers last year! - 4/10

Samba - Atrocious. He has his ups and downs but today was the worst. 4/10

Ooijer - Lacked the pace to get up and down. Etherington utterly annihilated him on the counter. 5/10

Gella - didn't realise he was on the pitch for ages. Anonymous to the point of being substituted. 4/10

Reid - Still not up to it. Poor corners, poor control. Great shot from distace. Is a physical player but fialed to apply his physique to the midfield. 5/10

Pedersen - Okay. Not really much came from him but he was solid. Utterly outclassed by Treacy when subbed. 5/10

Emerton - Standard. Lots of running, solid defensviely, no creativity. 5/10

Roberts - Easily our best player in the first half, disappeared a bit in the second. Took his goal well. Awful penalty. 7/10

RSC - Never got going, got injured. We needed him in the second half. Not really fair to rate him.

The good stuff was the substitutes

Derbyshire - Lively, should have got a goal which was wrongly disallowed. Great crosses and ability when he ran the channels. 7/10 NO WAY GOOD ENOUGH - LOOKED LIKE A LITTLE BOY LOST - AGAIN. 4/10

Treacy - Great outlet in the second half. Real threat. I could see him starting very soon for us. 8/10 PRETTY MUCH ANYTHING IS BETTER THAN PEDS AT THE MOMENT!

Andrwes - all the talk was of him "lacking premiership qulaity". Actually looked a better technical player than quite a few out there. 7/10

Strange game really. West Ham were clearly the better side overall but then we had enough chances to at least draw the match. Green was outstanding for them, as was Etherington. When Bellamy came on he showed that he is a brilliant player. 4-1 is a ludicrously flatterng scoreline, especially in light of the chances we had.

We need Dunn back, we need quality on the right. We need to shift McCarthy and get in a different striking option. I hope to God RSC is not seriously injured.

I'm not distraught but the most worrying thing is the lack of composure at the back and that Grella who is supposed to tie up the midfield looked poor. We need him to come good.

No offence, but you've got a serious case of blue 'n' white glasses. I've corrected your scores and comments for you!

[bigbrandjohn]

100% Ince's fault that defeat. I backed him when he was appointed but today every decision was wrong. Starting with Reid and Grella in the middle for a start. No creativity there at all and Grella hasn't played at all this season - he didn't even play in the pre-season games I believe!

And then bringing on Andrews was a mistake. Actually, the first mistake there was buying the guy, but we are losing, need to chase the game and so he brings that pile of ###### on? Should have brought Carlos on. I assume Tugay is injured? Otherwise why on earth wasn't he on the bench - or starting for that matter?

Poor decisions by the guy on the sidelines.

Yes our defence was very poor, but then he should have brought Samba off at half time, put Ooijer in the centre and brought Simpson on at right back.

The only thing that would have improved on the 4-1 score line was if Andrews had got injured and missed the rest of the season.

Comments like this make me wonder why you bother to support Rovers at all. Simple fact was that Andrews was involved in everything that created opportunities. He looked composed for a first time out in the Premier league .The train that was the W Ham midfield coming through was broken up in the second half. At full time it looked like we could sneak an equalizer.

WE lost it to the gob bag who nicked points for us out of nothing a few seasons ago. So we learn from this and move on. One game, it should have been 2-2. Plenty to work on but these are early days. Oh and we didnt lose 3-0 at home to the bottom club

[PLZ Blue]

Did you watch the game? And if so, were did you 'gain' your understanding of football?

I did indeed... and to be fair Andrews did reasonably well all things considered.

The point though is this: Ince brought Villanueva in, played him in the cup, and waxed lyrical of his performance.

Then when it is clear that we needed a spark, he brings on his favourite instead.

When is the kid going to get given a chance?

[Exiled in Toronto]

Although I believe if Derbs goal had stood or we had scored the pen we would have gone on to win, it was the Hughes stalwarts who lost this game for us today. Nelsen horribly outjumped for the first (Brad would have been rooted and in all likelihood let it in) Samba pathetic for the 2nd - awful technique and judgement. Reid useless in the middle and out wide. Pedersen and Derbs ineffectual. The defensive collapse at the end both unprofessional and inexcusable.

On the plus side, I though Ince subbed ealy and well; both subs in the 2nd half did immesurably better than those they replaced. Andrews was our most effective centre mid today by some distance. Grella I though hung back after his early yellow, so well done Ince for the half time switch. Treacy put in more good crosses than Ped did all last season - deserves to start.

If Roberts could take a pen or Emerton head a cross... but they can't.

I think Ince finally saw today that many of Hughes team had been carried by Bentley-Santa.

[Dan]

I think I will post again a little later once the kids have stopped chucking their dolls out the pram.

Can't wait. I assume you are waiting till you watch match of day? The 'kids chucking.....' are people that have seen the game.

[Veevs]

Ok we got beat.. its going to happen no matter which side you are.. WHU had to win for the manager.. Bellamy first game back..

Derbs goal should of stood, roberts should never of taken a penalty...we played fairly well except for at the back.. still not got a clue what has happened to them.. grrr

As for the sub:

Derbs: Had to happen with RSC coming off

Treacy: I figure Ince had a choice, try and get something from the left against Neil.. or take off one of the strikers (Roberts bar pen miss was doing ok) I reckon he made the right choice

Grella: Was pushing his luck, with Riley in that form he would of not made the full second half

[MarkBRFC71]

Treacy put in more good crosses than Ped did all last season - deserves to start.

Seconded! We've needed to drop Pedersen for a long, long time.

[joey_big_nose]

No offence, but you've got a serious case of blue 'n' white glasses. I've corrected your scores and comments for you!

I turned it off at 3-1 so I missed the Warnock cock up. Maybe your assessment is right.

I think that is unfiar on Derbs. I thoutht he was eefective on the counter and should of had a goal. I didn't think he was so bad.

Treacy was very very good. A genuine winger we havn't had since the time of Duff. Obviously not world class but I liked him a lot. Excellent crossing, could beat his man on the outside, always looking to drive forward. Not sure what you think is wrong with him?

[rover6]

FOr all the concerned Rovers out there, I would not be excessively worried because, barring two positions, the pieces are all there. Ince has just got to find the best configuration. We seem to have a good left winger in Treacy. We have a good second forward in Villaneuva and so on and so forth.

The stand-out weak spots are, imo, right wing (which Ince is apparently trying to address) and, a new opinion from me, central defence.

Few people have been talking about a new central defender and in fact, I doubt Ince will bring one in. But after today's game, Nelsen and Samba do look jittery and mistake prone. And that's not something new. (Although, they weren't helped by the other players).

[socngill]

Comments like this make me wonder why you bother to support Rovers at all. Simple fact was that Andrews was involved in everything that created opportunities. He looked composed for a first time out in the Premier league .The train that was the W Ham midfield coming through was broken up in the second half. At full time it looked like we could sneak an equalizer.

WE lost it to the gob bag who nicked points for us out of nothing a few seasons ago. So we learn from this and move on. One game, it should have been 2-2. Plenty to work on but these are early days. Oh and we didnt lose 3-0 at home to the bottom club

What are you talking about? For a start we didn't have that many oppertunities in the second half and our midfield was so poor that we were resorting to long balls all the time. He gave the ball away on a fair few occasions and looked out of his depth if you ask me.

But the point is, we were losing, we had no creativity on the pitch, so we bring him on? What? How about Carlos. If he's not fit enough to get on the pitch he shouldn't be on the bench. And where was Tugay today? He could have given us that spark we needed.

[Hasta]

After watching it on the box marginally the better side lost 4-1.

Despite the penalty miss Roberts was the striker that caused most problems again. Had either the legit goal been allowed or the penalty scored we'd have taken at least a point from that game. The last 2 goals (was Bellamys actually a free kick in the build up?) just made the scoreline not reflect the game.

I won't be slitting my wrists yet.