[Archived] Rovers V Chelsea Match Preview

[Presty On Tour]

OK.

So to yourself, Jal or any bright spark, who should we have played up front?

Villanueva and Derbyshire

[JAL]

Who would you have played up front?

Good question of the ones available Jason Roberts especially after receiving a new contract what a boost, would have thought the new contract would prove motivational sadly it looked like the years are beginning to catch up with Jason.

Ince needed to strengthen his hand in the summer but by signing Robbier Fowler instead of the younger brighter footballer games like sundays gave us little optimism and damaged Inces credibility in the process.

But then again two upfront could possible well have helped Roberts cause, but then Ince was trying to cover his arse with his two new signings in midfield who were unable to match up against their opponents.

[AggyBlue]

Villanueva and Derbyshire

Thank you.

IMO Carlos is far to slow in body and thought. Matty is just not good enough.

I think Alex and Terry would have got the deckchairs out.

[gumboots]

Thank you.

IMO Carlos is far to slow in body and thought. Matty is just not good enough.

I think Alex and Terry would have got the deckchairs out.

Quite right although the brollies might have been more appropriate

[Presty On Tour]

Thank you.

IMO Carlos is far to slow in body and thought. Matty is just not good enough.

I think Alex and Terry would have got the deckchairs out.

I think those to as a pair(front 2) would of cased much more problems than the Jase Roberts cardboard cut out with bricks on his feet ever did

[AggyBlue]

I think those to as a pair(front 2) would of cased much more problems than the Jase Roberts cardboard cut out with bricks on his feet ever did

That's fair enough.

Hopefully Roque will be back and have a new partner the next time we play them. so we may never know.

[gazsimm]

I think those to as a pair(front 2) would of cased much more problems than the Jase Roberts cardboard cut out with bricks on his feet ever did

Carlos and Derbyshire are to weak to play up front. What Roberts needed was either Benni or Santa playing alongside him, but sadly Ince could not pick either of them.

[Presty On Tour]

Didn't Derbyshire and Villanueva play up front against Grimsby in the cup? I seem to remember they did and scored 3 goals between them in a 4-1 win.

I know it's only Grimsby, a lower league team but at least it shows that they can score goals together up front rather than when we have Jase's school of finishing up there on his own.

[gazsimm]

Didn't Derbyshire and Villanueva play up front against Grimsby in the cup? I seem to remember they did and scored 3 goals between them in a 4-1 win.

I know it's only Grimsby, a lower league team but at least it shows that they can score goals together up front rather than when we have Jase's school of finishing up there on his own.

Grimsby just says it all!!, Derbyshire is not good enough for the prem and its about time people realise it as well.

[ABBEY]

So no-one expected us to get anything from this game at all, except a beating. We played better than against Man Utd and Arsenal, which is what most asked for and got. The next game is the one that matters not this one which we were always going to struggle to get anything from.

Having seen us lose is it 6 on the bounce?, there is cause for concern but increasing that concern based on a game no-one on here predicted we would win is nonsensical.

just because we knew we would lose doesnt make it ok and people who think this way are LOSERS.

[Amo]

Blackburn manager Paul Ince has criticised Chelsea assistant manager Ray Wilkins over his claims that Rovers were over-physical and aggressive. Ince confronted Wilkins after the Blues' 2-0 defeat at Ewood Park.

He said: "For him to come out with that garbage about us trying to put them on their backsides and that we are over-physical - we weren't like that. Of course I was a physical character as a player but all the teams I have managed have played football."

That's the problem, Incey. All this pretty passing in the centre-circle is getting us nowhere. We haven't got enough flair in the side right now, so teams like us have to resort to bullying our opponents. Playing that down just shows how naive we are right now.

[G Somerset Rover]

Ince's post-match comments are worrying me. I hope behind the scenes he isn't telling the players week in week out they just played 'fantastic' when yet again we've lost.

We did pretty well all things being considered for periods of the second half yesterday, but "fantastic"...come off it Paul.

And as for his 'luck' comments, haven't we heard them somewhere before?

[Jan]

Ince's post-match comments are worrying me. I hope behind the scenes he isn't telling the players week in week out they just played 'fantastic' when yet again we've lost.

We did pretty well all things being considered for periods of the second half yesterday, but "fantastic"...come off it Paul.

And as for his 'luck' comments, haven't we heard them somewhere before?

Yes

From another bad manager.

The one in between managed not to mention it

[DingleBaiter]

Yes

From another bad manager.

The one in between managed not to mention it

He was too probably too busy talking about all the bad days he had at the office, and not kicking on, and reminding us of the standards he sets for the players and our clubs but not himself

[den]

Ok Den - here is your opportunity as your Football management skills are obviously top class. What would of been your tactics (other than the usual 'get in their faces'). Dont forget we had Dunn, Reid, Emerton, Ooijer, RSC, McCarthy, Grella (50%) all out.

Hughesy, you don't have to have the tactical nous of Alf Ramsey to realise that if you are playing with 5 midfielders you must try to dominate midfield, and as far forward as possible. You also must have pace in your team.

Roberts up front who can't trap a bag of cement, in front of 5 midfielders all stood in a line just in front of their own penalty area will NEVER work, - will it? I'm not making this up Hughesy, but that's what happened for the first 20 minutes solid. We were lucky not to be four goals down by that time.

[Hughesy]

Yes you must try and dominate midfield, but it was 5v5 in there dont forget, and they simply have better players, hence the position in the league.

Also that is one of our problems, we have hardly any pace in our team. With Roque & Benni, we dont have anything up front that can cause a team like Chelsea serious problems.

They would of ate Derbyshire for breakfast, so to be honest we had no other options for that place other than Roberts!?

[MCMC1875]

Yes you must try and dominate midfield, but it was 5v5 in there dont forget, and they simply have better players, hence the position in the league.

Also that is one of our problems, we have hardly any pace in our team. With Roque & Benni, we dont have anything up front that can cause a team like Chelsea serious problems.

They would of ate Derbyshire for breakfast, so to be honest we had no other options for that place other than Roberts!?

'WOULD HAVE' it's 'WOULD HAVE'!!!!!

[CrazyIvan]

'WOULD HAVE' it's 'WOULD HAVE'!!!!!

Actually 'would have eaten' is better

[AggyBlue]

You also must have pace in your team.

Roberts up front who can't trap a bag of cement

Two good points Den.

Who should Ince have picked to add the pace and who should he have played in place of Roberts?

[den]

Yes you must try and dominate midfield, but it was 5v5 in there dont forget, and they simply have better players, hence the position in the league.

Also that is one of our problems, we have hardly any pace in our team. With Roque & Benni, we dont have anything up front that can cause a team like Chelsea serious problems.

They would of ate Derbyshire for breakfast, so to be honest we had no other options for that place other than Roberts!?

It was the huge gap between Roberts and the 5 midfielders that was the problem Hughesy, as pointed out by me just after the game and Lee Dixon on MOTD. Plus, if you go with one up front, you need pace in your side and we aint got it. 4-5-1 at home isn't the way to go with our squad, in my opinion and lots of others.

[Parsonblue]

The most disappointing aspect of yesterday for me was that I actually went to the match expecting us to be beaten. I felt the same going to Villa the other week and although we are playing some attractive football, it's largely confined to the midfield areas. In both penalty areas we look totally unconvincing. Under Hughes, I always felt that we could get something out of every match. I know that we didn't but I always went to the game anticipating a good result.

But for Robinson - who might well have been sent off very early with a different referee - I think we would and should have been well beaten by half-time. I must admit that since Bobby Mimms arrived I think that Robinson has improved with every game.

I thought the defence looked better with Zurab in the middle in place of Samba but I remain unconvinced about Simpson at right-back. I think his positional play is suspect and his support play is poor. For me the cross that reached row Z of the Darwen End rather sums up his eratic distribution. Olsson continues to improve but I still think I would prefer Warnock at left-back and Olsson playing on the wing in front of him. Olsson has pace and can cross a ball on the run - two aspects of Pedersen's game which have always been suspect, although in fairness, by his standards, I thought Pedersen was slightly better yesterday but to make him MoM in front of Robinson was a joke.

It's in midfield where we continue to have problems. Without Brett we have no-one who can play wide right. Carlos is too slow to be a wide player and Matt is not a winger. I think this is an area that Ince ought to have strengthened in the summer instead of leaving it until the last day of the window before attempts were made to sign a winger. We all knew Bentley was leaving before Ince arrived so that ought to have been his number one priority. I feel that too much time and effort was spent on ensuring that Andrews and Fowler got deals and we are now paying for it. If Brett and Reid had stayed injury-free we might have got away with it but it was always going to be a gamble.

In the first-half Chelsea completely dominated the midfield and made the likes of Grella and Andrews look ordinary at best.

I can only assume that Grella is not match fit. I thought that at West Brom last week when he was every bit as bad as when I had seen him at West Ham. Yesterday he was poor again and I just don't understand why he is being played when not fit when we have Mokoena on the bench and Vogel frozen out. If he's not fit the manager shouldn't be playing him and if he is fit then he looks a very poor buy. Andrews, who I thought was decent at Villa - easily his best game for us - and average at West Brom, just looked out of his depth yesterday. I can only assume that when Dunny is fit again that Andrews will be relegated to the bench. I actually thought that Ince had made a good tactical decision to replace Grella and Andrews as Mokoena gave our midfield more backbone than we had shown in the first half. It was disappointing to realise later that it was injuries that had forced the changes because after Grella and Andrews went off I thought we looked much better as a team.

Up front Roberts looked totally ineffective. While the 4-5-1 formation was the right one to play the fact remains that we just don't play it very well at the moment. Our front player becomes isolated from the rest of the team and all too often we loose possession when trying to find him.

Personally, I would be more than happy to adopt the approach that Ray Wilkins talked about because at the moment we have become something of a soft touch in this League. We badly need some of the steel that Hughes and Souness could inject into their teams to go with the pretty football that Ince is trying to adopt. If we could marry both styles together we might have a winning combination.

Three points from the last eighteen is a major worry and I must admit that part of me will travel to Sunderland on Wednesday night more than happy to suffer a defeat in the Cup in exchange for three points next Saturday.

[DingleBaiter]

Interestingly, several people came up to talk about the match last night on Preston station when I took Tash to catch her London train. Some but not all were Rovers fans. All felt we had done well in the circumstances given some strange decisions from the referee, the fact that we were playing Chelsea, our injuries and the conditions. The interest in and support of Rovers was quite refreshing.

Just one more thing. Back to the season of the Carling Cup win; I seem to recall a relegation fight looming and being won after that, so do we really need to panic yet?

And this is why we all love our Mums; they always see things with better perception and allow us our little tantrums

[DingleBaiter]

.... For the last 15 or so Samba should have come on as centre forward (to replace either of the full backs) and then gone and stood between Terry and Alex. The defence should have had instructions to 'bomb' him with high balls with the wingers and attacking midfielders closing in to pick up the scraps. ...

Crikey, must admit to thinking the same myself. Spooky

Having found Hughes' old tactics charts in the second half (judging by the long diagonal high ball they kept playing for Peds to nod on), I thought he'd also revert to sending ole Baron Samedi on to knock em around more. He's even recouped Hughes's 4-5-1 and "derbs is a right winger' plays too, cripes.

I think a good old lesson in field measurements would go down well with our team. As has been sagely pointed out before, there is a massive gap between the lone striker and the midfield. When we're defending, virtually all our players fall back into an imaginary second 18 yard box in front of the painted one. Clearly, they don't know the meaning of 'full size pitch'; it's neither a man for man or zonal strategy, just a weak attempt to get behind the ball.

The dead ball kicks from Rovers were totally shocking yesterday. Carlos took two corners from the left, and looked to curve them to land centrally outside the box - whilst our usual four man huddle were inside it?? He handed over to Pedersen shortly after who tried to do the same. Why?

At least Carlos managed to find a bit of time settling into his proper position (at last) Pleased to see Pedersen sparking a bit more, he does well with the work and his aerial threat was important to us yesterday, and he set up Roberts well. However, it's impossible to even get mildly excited when the ball drops to Roberts, he's just not a finisher.

We need to find TWO strikers that will play (and score) regularly, one to play with Roque and another instead of Roque (form, injury or flitting notwithstanding).

We need to see Carlos getting games, match fitness and playing in the 'hole' - there's more chances/goals in our team with him than without.

We need to see Treacy back to his pre/early season form to keep Peds playing like yesterday.

We possibly need to keep reshuffling our defence to get the best performances, until.

We need to get to the bottom of the Grella injury, if needs be write him off for a month & maybe make peace with the Axe and Vogel. It's in our interests on the pitch, and can only help commercially if they perform.

It would be nice to see Judgey get a run in centre midfield, his energy and confidence will be a fillip, especially to the fans (who'd probably cut him more slack than Andrews).

I'd like to keep Olsson in that position and make it his own, it could ruin the lad if the results don't turn but it's also the best way to blood him. He's strong enough, I'm sure, and it keeps pace in the team, plus Warnock must be one of first names in midfield now so they can always reshuffle 'in game'.

Overall, yesterday wasn't as bad as I'm sure most would have expected, if they're honest with themselves that is. Most expected a hammering - it could have been, if the penalty was given or Robbo didn't think he was Brad Friedel. However, Carlos could have scored at a very interesting time and we were still capable of pegging them back until the second, against a fantastically on form striker in a fantastically on form team.

It's all about scoring goals though ultimately, we need to more shoot more than ten John Woo films combined.

[BRFC1995]

It's fair to say though, that the conditions were to rovers benefit. It stopped Chelsea from playing as well as they can and evened the game out.

could'nt disagree more, can't remember us playing well or winning when conditions are terrible. Instead of being a great leveller i thought the conditions suited the team with better technical qualities and really showed up the players who even on a sunny day struggle to find another man with a pass.........would of been the humane thing to take pedersen outide and shoot him after the match, its hard to watch the deterioration and not do something. Tempted to say the same of roberts but the fellas never had talent to lose.

[den]

could'nt disagree more, can't remember us playing well or winning when conditions are terrible. Instead of being a great leveller i thought the conditions suited the team with better technical qualities and really showed up the players who even on a sunny day struggle to find another man with a pass.........

Well you might disagree, - but you're wrong.

Muddy, or sticky pitches are always a great leveller.