[Archived] Middlesbrough Preview

[Eddie]

First half we were quite good, second half we just lacked ideas and a draw was really a fair result. McCarthy needs to get starts, not because of his goal, simply because of what he brings to the team. Derbyshire is simply not good enough to start in this league, if anyone can provide me with an example of a game in which he has been above average or effective for 70 minutes plus then I would love to have it. Villanueva and Emerton seemed to be at the heart of most of the good things that we did, although Villanueva obviously needs to get used to the speed of the game here as he was caught on the ball a couple of times in good positions. Grella was decent, if unspectacular, he was tidy on the ball and did a decent job of breaking up play. Why at home do we need Grella and Warnock? Surely it is one or the other. I wouldn't mind seeing MGP given a role in central midfield alongside Villanueva with Grella protecting.

Much like last week, a point against Boro isn't a terrible result, but we need to start winning games. I though our overall standard of play was decent and at least we showed some fight, I also like that Ince was willing to throw men on for the win and that he also made changes around the 60 minute mark to try and win it.

[American]

we could play till midnight and not score, full backs not really bombing on.......slippy pitch just ain't allowing control to hit byline and pull balls back.

1-0 down. Mccarthys head will now drop as it always does.

His head dropped the ball into the goal, it did.

Thought we played well, especially in the first half, but our finishing was awful.

[frosty]

First half we played pretty well, Villanueva did well, Santa was unlucky when he hit the post.

Second half wasn't good....not much idea really. I thought Grella did really well, encouraging signs.

[gumboots]

First half we played pretty well, Villanueva did well, Santa was unlucky when he hit the post.

Second half wasn't good....not much idea really. I thought Grella did really well, encouraging signs.

Glad to see some positivity near the end here because we played all the football today. It was extremely frustrating, not to mention cold and wet, at ewood and their goal was an accident waiting to happen. The one they had disallowed looked clearly offside at the ground although my kids, who for various reasons couldn't be there today, tell me TV showed it to be onside. We need to get the ball in the net when we are on top, but again there hasn't been a run of games with Ince able to put out his best team or perhaps even to identify it with injuries and internationals. McCarthy looks keen, Santa Cruz was clearly affected by the knock or whatever it was he took, Villanueva is still not fully match fit. A lot of frustration but not a bad overall performance by any means.

[Oklahoma]

Don't think we were that bad.

But at home we should be more ofensive.

One of things that has to change is our mentality.

When you start a game with 7 players that are defensive minded, another one is in the wrong position (Derbyshire), that leaves only 2 players that really offensive.

If we don't have wingers, we should play a 4-4-2 with a a diamond formation midfield. Villanueva should play behind 2 strikers, Grella as a DM and two centre midfielders.

[Iceman]

The offside goal was clearly onside, mrs gumboots. We did okay, but seriously by now ince should have a settled side out there. Derbs aint a winger, warnock aint a midfielder. We need to get that right.

[Exiled in Toronto]

Derbs did well receiving and running with the ball but I don't think he played a decent end ball all game- two bad misses from Derbs when we were completely on top in the first ten minutes.

We have to face it, we don't have a decent winger on either flank- balls into the box from either flank missed their targets all game.

Carlos was a bright spark but second half they had sussed how to snuff him and we really did not have a plan B.

Grella has a huge anount to learn to be Premier League standard.

Agree with that - I was thinking myself that we don't have a decent winger at the club. Bentley was carrying a lot of passengers all in all. Derbs has had his starts and not earned his place. Even though he's noit a winger, his decision-making and execution when in the box has been poor for a while now.

Disagree on Grella though - I can't remember seeing a Rovers midfielder make that many tackles. Grella and a fit Dunny would be OK.

Bennis should start next game; for the first time in 2 years he looked like the 24-goal Benni.

OK first half but poor 2nd. I do like the fact we bossed possession for once, even if we didn't take advantage of it.

[CrazyIvan]

There are some people with their heads so far up their own backsides they can't see a decent performance when there is one. The passing and movement was very good from Rovers. The only thing lacking again is in the final third. Once we get Roque scoring and we start putting the final pass in we'll be flying. Grella deserved MotM. He played very well indeed in what must have been horrible conditions. Blustery and very wet. Carlos was very impressive. We were let down by Roque's finishing and it's not often you say that. I was really hoping someone would have a shot at goal instead of looking for the pass, my one real criticism of the team in general. Ince is slowly making his mark on this team and it's a passing game and with some width we'll do well. There were many, many times I was waiting for someone to hoof the ball out of defence as we did under Hughes constantly but they passed it out. Yes there were long balls played but you show me a team that never puts the ball in the air. Overall, we should have won, our play deserved it. My mate summed it up when he said we bossed that game but he thought we were going to be sucker punched with a defeat from a side that did virtually nothing all game. Fortunately Benni had his head on straight and we got the draw. My mate also said that this season is a transition and it will take time. He was an Ince doubter, not as rabid as some on here but he can see we're moving in the right direction.

After all the crap that some people constantly spout on here it is nice to listen to someone who's followed Rovers through all the leagues say we're going in the right direction. I'm sick of hearing all the negative posts, bloody minded opinons, and complete rubbish people are prepared to put forward as fact. It's time people realised that Ince is here to stay and it would be nice for them to get behind Rovers and Ince and back him rather than look for constant reasons to shoot him down. What point is there in being utterly negative about Rovers and Rovers manager? Who does it benefit?

[RoverRich]

Kinda wish it was Robbo who got his head to it though .

So do I. He is my fantasy football keeper (dunno why ) and I originally thought it was him so was going mad! When I realised it was Benni I was a little deflated but then I realised we had just equalised in the last minute of injury time so madness resumed

[Blue blood]

Well having seen us vs Grimbsy, Manure and le Arse I was looking forward to seeing today where Ince's team are at: not as challenging as the top teams but an ok side (who as the game progressed I thought were poor) should be a benchmark of where we are.

First half was great - beautiful football from rovers, some of the best I've seen in a long time. Ok we didn't create too many chances, but we did create enough good quality chances to have been ahead comfortably by the break. Not sure Rocky was 100% or he'd have probably buried one of his chances, but overall rovers were unlucky not to go 1-0 up at the break. Sure Boro did have a goal disallowed, but that was pretty much it in the half, and rovers would've been very hard done by to go in a goal down. In fact I thought our defending was pretty good that half too.

Second half, after a promising start, rovers seemed to get a wee bit frustrated and started to play a few longer balls, which eased the pressure on boro. Boro then got a good goal (with their first chance of the half) against the run of play.

I wasn't too worried at that point as there was still plenty of time left but what was worrying is that rovers seemed to forget everything they'd done that afternoon, and didn't get a good chance on goal until the 94th minute equaliser. To have 15 - 20 mins in which to press for an equaliser and only have one real chance is pretty shocking. The rovers mindset really needs working on, as heads are going and staying down when we go behind, and we don't really look like having a plan b. Admittedly we did get a last minute equaliser, but having only one chance in the last 20 mins that's a tad fortuitous in my book.

In terms of individual players I thought that Grella had a decent home debute. He looked a bit rusty, andsat a bit too deep at times for my liking (especially when needing an equaliser) but got stuck in and often used the ball well when he got it. A promising start.

Derbyshire is not a right winger, and is certainly not a left winger. Having to cut back onto his right foot every time he wanted to cross gave boro an easy time on that flank. Ineffectual is putting it mildly. Get him up front where he belongs.

Olsson was promising but made quite a few schoolboy errors. Will be a good player, but not just yet. Move Warnock back to left back position. Especially in tandem with Grella, Warnock doesn't offer enough either going forward or creatively as a centre mid.

Simpson to me had a good game, some good runs forward and did his defensive duties, and i'm warming to him. Hopefully a deal can be sorted out to buy him. Also thought Benni was back to his engmatic best - didn't look a constant threat, but some nice touches and popped up at the right time to score the goal.

Overall I'm disappointed - we deserved and should have won - and it looks like we need/are hunting for a left mid AND a right mid. But there are positives in the form of some beautiful footy in the first half, and a salvaged last minute point.

[grizfoot]

Robinson was the reason for our equalizer which seemed to be God-sent, but it won't spare the team from the criticism.

Where to start.

Carlos - f*** off back to South America right now. Completely useless, even more so than Pedersen. Can't cross the ball, can't pass, loses it every time it's near him. Makes 1 good long shot for every 5 mishits. Get out.

Satna Cruz - missed 5 clear goals today. Dump him at Man City's stadium and get rid already.

Derbyshire - did nothing but stupid long crosses that went out for a goalkick with no one ever coming near the ball.

Emerton - tries, but is nowhere near good enough to be taking on 2-3 players at once

Warnock + Grella - might as well plant two trees in their place, they'll be more useful

Olson - Back to the reserves right now. Goes forward like a blind horse but can't beat his man and can only give away fouls. Ruined half our chances today.

Paul Ince - the biggest clown of them all. 3 strikes already I think. After the depressing performance vs Man United, this one effectively killed us. Why on Earth do you not start with McCarthy but Santa Cruz? That cost us the game more than anything. Weak midfield all around.

Season over as far as I'm concerned. If we can't beat Bolton or Boro, what else are we going to do? We'll get a drumming from Villa next game and sink back to lower table mediocrity.

Did you even watch the game you clown.

First half we could have easily been 3 or 4-0 up had we taken our chances. Villanueva was causing havoc in the first half and linked up well with Santa Cruz I thought. Roque seemingly left his finishing boots at home today on another day he would have easily had a hat-trick. Thought some of the passing and movement was pretty good considering the conditions. 'Boro scored with their only chance of the second half. Although we didn't create too much in the second half but had a large majority of the possession. Carlos drifted out of the game in the second half, especially when he was watched to the flank.

Couple of things we did learn from today, Olsson isn't good enough at LB, get Warnock back there. Derbyshire isn't a winger (we all already knew that one).

I'm starting to think some of you are just so anti-Ince that you are becoming biased against Rovers performances. We played fair more football than we ever did under Hughes, anyone remember the home games against West Ham, Villa and Sunderland last season? We were much worse in thoos games.

Grella looked composed on the ball and put him some brilliant tackles. Treacy was absolutely terrible in the few minutes he had on the pitch. Bring back Gamst!

[Blue blood]

Agree with grizfoot - there are some worrying things about the performance today - namely what on earth was matty doing on the left, and why do we go in a sulk when we go a goal behind - but most of the criticisms levelled at the team were way off the mark.

Think Rocky was clearly not fully fit today as his usual sharpness seemed off - but don't blame Ince for playing our most talented and consistent striker ahead of a 1 game revival from Benni, or the out of form Roberts.

[Sandiway Blue]

Robinson was the reason for our equalizer which seemed to be God-sent, but it won't spare the team from the criticism.

Where to start.

Carlos - f*** off back to South America right now. Completely useless, even more so than Pedersen. Can't cross the ball, can't pass, loses it every time it's near him. Makes 1 good long shot for every 5 mishits. Get out.

Satna Cruz - missed 5 clear goals today. Dump him at Man City's stadium and get rid already.

Derbyshire - did nothing but stupid long crosses that went out for a goalkick with no one ever coming near the ball.

Emerton - tries, but is nowhere near good enough to be taking on 2-3 players at once

Warnock + Grella - might as well plant two trees in their place, they'll be more useful

Olson - Back to the reserves right now. Goes forward like a blind horse but can't beat his man and can only give away fouls. Ruined half our chances today.

Paul Ince - the biggest clown of them all. 3 strikes already I think. After the depressing performance vs Man United, this one effectively killed us. Why on Earth do you not start with McCarthy but Santa Cruz? That cost us the game more than anything. Weak midfield all around.

Season over as far as I'm concerned. If we can't beat Bolton or Boro, what else are we going to do? We'll get a drumming from Villa next game and sink back to lower table mediocrity.

Congratulations you win dumbest post of the year award....

Given that it was his first game in how long i thought Grella`s passing and general play was superb especially in the first half (as was the rest of the teams play).

It has been a very long time since we passed the ball as well as we did in the first hour and it would have been a great injustice if Rovers hadn`t equalised as they didn`t deserve to lose.

As for the comment on dumping Santa Cruz at City`s stadium i think i speak for the majority on here when i say you are talking through your backside and really do need to sort out whether you are a Rovers supporter or not.Because it is very rare you have anything positive to say about Rovers or our players at all.

[CrazyIvan]

Times review already here... Seems they rate Grella and Carlos.

[bazza]

So many negative posts on here just puts me further in the gloom; after listening to the national and international news and the weather forecast. If I had a gas oven I'd stick my head in it.

You people who watched it on TV must have seen a different game to me.

Rovers and Boro were evenly matched and the result was a fair one in the end.

I know that Olsson was weak and Derbs was playing out of position but there were so many positive things to be drawn from todays game.

Grella is a terrific midfielder who can only improve as he gains more experience in English football. Carlos is a superb little player and the same applies to him as to Grella.

Benny McCarthy looks leaner and fitter and back to his old self. Roque is superb.

I thought Rovers showed the makings of something exciting in the way they TRIED to play football.

Mr Ince is still finding his feet with a new club, new staff, new players. He cannot wave a magic wand!

I like the way in which we are moving.

Quite soon, (maybe a few months) you will see a total footballing Blackburn Rovers.

I am so looking forward to the good times.

[Hughesy]

we could play till midnight and not score, full backs not really bombing on.......slippy pitch just ain't allowing control to hit byline and pull balls back.

1-0 down. Mccarthys head will now drop as it always does.

Muppet! Who scored the goal?

Watching rovers is such a torture. no clue what we are doing out there. we just can't score.

Wrong again! It finished 1-1

well its justified.what the hell has turnbull had to do? absolutely sod all. second time in 2 games we have created nothing.

and 4 million on grella! ince is already playing the "i have no money card". what you do have your wasting mate

Turnball has had to pick the ball out of the net, and also deal with 3 shots on goal. As for Grella he got the man of the match and played well. Can I ask, did you go? Thought not! Also the times report says "Star man: Vince Grella (Blackburn) "

Robinson was the reason for our equalizer which seemed to be God-sent, but it won't spare the team from the criticism.

NO - OOIJER WAS AT FAULT FOR GIVING HIM ROOM TO SHOOT.

Where to start.

Carlos - f*** off back to South America right now. Completely useless, even more so than Pedersen. Can't cross the ball, can't pass, loses it every time it's near him. Makes 1 good long shot for every 5 mishits. Get out.

SAYS IT ALL ABOUT YOU! MUPPET!! DID YOU SEE THE PERFECT CROSS HE PLAYED FROM THE LEFT TO BENNI?

Satna Cruz - missed 5 clear goals today. Dump him at Man City's stadium and get rid already.

I WISH THEY WOULD DUMP YOU IN A RIVER! And his name is Santa, not SATNA.

Derbyshire - did nothing but stupid long crosses that went out for a goalkick with no one ever coming near the ball.

FINALLY WE AGREE!

Emerton - tries, but is nowhere near good enough to be taking on 2-3 players at once

EMERTON HAS BEEN ONE OF OUR BEST PLAYERS ALL SEASON, AND PROBABLY LAST SEASON TOO! AT LEAST HE HAS PASSION AND TRIES, WHICH IS MORE THAN YOU.

Warnock + Grella - might as well plant two trees in their place, they'll be more useful

GRELLA MOM, WARNOCK FULL OF RUNNING.

Olson - Back to the reserves right now. Goes forward like a blind horse but can't beat his man and can only give away fouls. Ruined half our chances today.

UTTER CRAP! TALK ABOUT GIVING HIM A CHANCE.

Paul Ince - the biggest clown of them all. 3 strikes already I think. After the depressing performance vs Man United, this one effectively killed us. Why on Earth do you not start with McCarthy but Santa Cruz? That cost us the game more than anything. Weak midfield all around.

ANOTHER ANTI INCE DOOMSDAY FAN.

Season over as far as I'm concerned. If we can't beat Bolton or Boro, what else are we going to do? We'll get a drumming from Villa next game and sink back to lower table mediocrity.

DID WE BEAT BORO AT HOME LAST SEASON??!?!?!?!

Ok shots on target for you muppets - emerton near post, roque post, roque header 1st half, the goal. Thats 4 alone. Where the fook do you get no shots on target??? Enough said for now!

[JAL]

Times review already here... Seems they rate Grella and Carlos.

Was impressed with Grella looked to have a great understanding with Bret who seems to be one of only a few Rovers who are ninety minute men.(Joey Barton is the other man to go in the middle with him for me.)

Carlos for me has one role and one role only thats the free go anywhere linking with the forward role, not wide left wide right, though I take on board what Kevin Gallagher said about Carlos in that is he just a home player - time will tell.

[JAL]

Was impressed with Grella looked to have a great understanding with Bret who seems to be one of only a few Rovers who are ninety minute men.(Joey Barton is the other man to go in the middle with him for me.)

Carlos for me has one role and one role only thats the free go anywhere linking with the forward role, not wide left wide right, though I take on board what Kevin Gallagher said about Carlos in that is he just a home player - time will tell.

Derbyshire needs a good kick up the arse, he runs around like a pretty little boy lost with no guts, out of position fair enough but were is the desire to do the simple things and show a willingness. From minute one Derbs was rubbish today.

[47er]

There are some people with their heads so far up their own backsides they can't see a decent performance when there is one. The passing and movement was very good from Rovers. The only thing lacking again is in the final third. Once we get Roque scoring and we start putting the final pass in we'll be flying. Grella deserved MotM. He played very well indeed in what must have been horrible conditions. Blustery and very wet. Carlos was very impressive. We were let down by Roque's finishing and it's not often you say that. I was really hoping someone would have a shot at goal instead of looking for the pass, my one real criticism of the team in general. Ince is slowly making his mark on this team and it's a passing game and with some width we'll do well. There were many, many times I was waiting for someone to hoof the ball out of defence as we did under Hughes constantly but they passed it out. Yes there were long balls played but you show me a team that never puts the ball in the air. Overall, we should have won, our play deserved it. My mate summed it up when he said we bossed that game but he thought we were going to be sucker punched with a defeat from a side that did virtually nothing all game. Fortunately Benni had his head on straight and we got the draw. My mate also said that this season is a transition and it will take time. He was an Ince doubter, not as rabid as some on here but he can see we're moving in the right direction.

After all the crap that some people constantly spout on here it is nice to listen to someone who's followed Rovers through all the leagues say we're going in the right direction. I'm sick of hearing all the negative posts, bloody minded opinons, and complete rubbish people are prepared to put forward as fact. It's time people realised that Ince is here to stay and it would be nice for them to get behind Rovers and Ince and back him rather than look for constant reasons to shoot him down. What point is there in being utterly negative about Rovers and Rovers manager? Who does it benefit?

Well I tought it was much like the Bolton game,only without the goalmouth incidents. No point in being negative I agree,but every point in being realistic. NO CREATIVITY is the story.Bentley's gone,Dunn is injured and that's it. No creativity from midfield apart from the odd contribution from Villanueva. So lets look to the wingers to feed the strikers--------sorry forgot we haven't got any.Derbyshire wasted on the left-wing,Benni wasted on the bench.Not good enough. Grella looked OK and we fought to the end,that's about it.

[gumboots]

The offside goal was clearly onside, mrs gumboots. We did okay, but seriously by now ince should have a settled side out there. Derbs aint a winger, warnock aint a midfielder. We need to get that right.

It wasn't clearly onside in real time as the majority of the Blackburn end will tell you although having seen it on tv later it was. Ince can't have a settled side with injuries to his midfield and with Villanueva needing to be eased in and youngsters being introduced. He needs to be looking at getting his best 11 sorted in the next couple of games so that they can get used to what he wants them to do and get used to one another. And to even up that goal they should have had we should on the replay quite definitely have had a penalty. Mind you we'd probably have missed it.

[Mozzer]

we certainly deserved something from this game..

i cant believe people are saying we was poor and our season is over with-we played some decent football today-created quite a number of chances and other then there goal defended really well..

villanueva-ok he will lose the ball-but he is still adapting-it will take him a good 6months to get used to the pace-saying that tho-he was still our best player in first half for me

grella-can tackle, can pass-needs more match practise tho..

nelsen-looks to be back to good old self-after today i still think samba and nelsen is the partnership for us tho..

[Presty On Tour]

BRING PEDERSEN BACK!!!!

[47er]

That's our 'Get out of jail free' card we've used up this season. Just a shame it happened at home against a team who we should be beating comfortably.

We had 3 good chances to score through Santa Cruz but apart from that we didn't really test their keeper.

I think it's time for Ince to start playing people in their correct positions.

Warnock back to left back, Emerton at right back once we buy a right midfielder. Put two actual midfielders in the middle and put Benni and Roque upfront.

Sorry! Meant to say couldn't agree more!Back to basics,play the best players in their best positions. Its not rocket science. If we continue to play defensive line-ups against teams like Boro at home we are going to be in trouble.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I thought we were poor tonight, too many passes for the sake of passing the ball until we played ourselves into trouble. It's "pass and move" not "pass and wait" , too many players were taking the ball stood still ! At least we kept going and for once made a dead ball situation count. They played the conditions much better than we did, it's a bit like Rugby when the conditions are that bad, get the ball in your opponents half and wait for the mistakes, that's how they scored.

Scores

Robinson 5 What was he doing for the goal ? Stand in the MIDDLE of the goals in future you muppet.

Simpson 5 Ok in defence, not got a creative bone in his body.

Ooijer 6 Steady but all at sea for the goal, lost Alves completely.

Nelsen 6 Not the rock he was, frightens me to death when he's on the ball.

Olsen 5 This has to be his last game at full back, too wet behind the ears, his day will come but he's not ready yet, may be better on the wing.

Emerton 6 Worked hard as usual but this is his least effective position.

Grella 7 My M.O.M. He looked the part tonight got about the field , put a foot in, moved the ball simply when that's what the

conditons called for.

Villanueva 7 Yes he gets caught in possession, yes he's a bit on the slow side but he's the one player we've got who can do the unexpected and come up with something the opposition are not ready to deal with. He's the one player who'll call for the ball at all times in any area of the pitch. Be patient , this lad's got something.

Warnock 5 England class left back totally lost in midfield, I didn't know he was playing.

Derbyshire I can't write what I feel about his performance, he's not a winger I know but tonight !!! I'm sure he knows how bad that was. If I were him I wouldn't sleep a wink tonight.

Santa Cruz 6 Started brightly but faded as the game went on.

Subs

Treacy Ineffectual.

McCarthy Looked sharp, got the vital goal.

[bobsterbrfc]

obviously people have their opinions, and i was just curious to see what people think, but i really don't see Derbs "making it" at Blackburn. I think it's another Gally-esque case. Really think a move to another club where he can play upfront regularly is essential for his professional career.