[Archived] Spurs Preview

[RevidgeBlue]

On a brighter note Betnley was absolute pants today

Certainly was. Bentley putting in his usual flattering to deceive shift was one of the few bright points.

For me the problem was not that we sold him, but that we failed to replace him with anyone at all.

I thought Lennon was sensational today and we should have got him in summer. Failing that Pennant would have been better than no-one at all.

[John]

little going forward Pedersen was trash, Emerton had an off day and Andrews & Mokeona sounds more like Championship than Premiership quality to me. Although some of you make Vogel sound like Patrick Vieria the way some of you keep going on about him. He had one good game for us that was against United at home, for the majority of the games he played he looked nothing more than neat and tidy, which some of you have criticised Andrews for being. Had Vogel playing would the result really been any different, probably not would be my gues.

Off the top of my head, he was man of the match in the Pompey away game which we won. Considering he was not fit, I thought he looked decent last season. Certainly better than our current central midfield options!

At least he can pass a football......

[RevidgeBlue]

Mokoena is and continues to be crap. I hope some club is stupid enough to buy him in January, or maybe we should just release him on a free.

Mokoena is rapidly turning into the player who is so bad no-one can play with him.

Certainly Warnock, Tugay and Andrews have struggled in this respect whereas any combination of those other three has looked a lot more promising.

[bob fleming]

Certainly was. Bentley putting in his usual flattering to deceive shift was one of the few bright points.

And yet Bentley put a cross in the likes of which we haven't seen all season. Roque would have buried the header all day long.

[92er]

Based on Radio Lancs report today, it sounded as though Lennon was very good in the first half, but not in the second half.

I thought the Axe was decent in the last 2 home games and he got a good report from the Everton away game.

[RevidgeBlue]

And yet Bentley put a cross in the likes of which we haven't seen all season. Roque would have buried the header all day long.

True bob.

Just depends whether one decent cross in 90 mins and otherwise a stream of wasted deliveries floats your boat I guess.

[RibbleValleyRover]

Based on Radio Lancs report today, it sounded as though Lennon was very good in the first half, but not in the second half.

Simpson when he came on did a good job against Lennon, he had the pace to deal with him.

[Maverick]

In my opinion, the problem was that Olsson should not have been on the field after 30 minutes. He had already given a goal away, had a yellow card, was playing pretty poorly and seemed to be diving in at any opponent who moved. Surely. Ince should have seen this, and taken him off

I agree totally. Olsson could infact have got his second yellow card earlier then he did. That Ince did not take him off when everybody saw how much problem he had with Lennon, is a mystery. This just shows Ince lack of managing ability during games. I can not see any structure in the way we play. Does Ince have any tactics at all? Looks like we just loose the ball in midfield or play a long ball to Santa Cruz, that has no support from people around him. Our midfield are to deep on our own half when we win the ball, and there are no real runs from players into the box, when we are in goalscoring position.

[bob fleming]

True bob.

Just depends whether one decent cross in 90 mins and otherwise a stream of wasted deliveries floats your boat I guess.

Well considering RSC would have buried the chance and that our midfield served up next to nothing from open play I reckon he'd still get a game.

Still we pocketed £18m for Bentley which is just great isn't it? Just think what we can do with that? Oh hang on, we've no idea if we can spend it on replacements or not do we? Where is the money? So many questions go unanswered.

I reckon the future of BRFC will become a hell of a lot clearer between now and the end of January. Fasten your seat belts.....

[RoyRover]

I watched the match today and thought that we did ok for the first 10 minutes, we looked up for the match, looked like we could create some problems and then Olsson tried to be too clever and we are a goal down. Things got worse for Olsson after that, as Lennon totally skinned him time and time again and the red card was inevitable. This totally changed the complexion of the game and from then on we didn't have a hope. We did create some good chances, with Benni, Roque and Pedersen all missing chances that in form players would bury. Some of the passing today was woeful and there is obvious lack of creativity in team. It was good to have Emerton back and I suppose that is one plus, as he is a player who will be crucial to us getting results. The only positive to come from today's game was that David Bentley was dreadful.

I now firmly believe that Ince has one game to save his job, if that. If he were to be sacked in the morning I wouldn't be surprised or care. When he was talking before the game he said that the most important thing today was the performance. I'm sorry Paul, but what planet are you on? How can we possibly have the luxury of having good performances with the position we are in. It is about getting results and moving up the table. He has somehow convinced himself that good performances will be good enough for him, the club and the supporters. I say this now with total honesty, I couldn't care less about how we played from now until the end of the year, as long as we survive. It's a sign of how dramatically things have changed at our club over the last few months that now any type of win will do, while under Hughes I was critical of the team when they played poorly and won, because I felt that they were so much better than that. They aren't under Ince. I was all for Ince's idea of playing good football and if it were getting results then we wouldn't be in the trouble we are in. Under Hughes sometimes we played good football and sometimes we didn't, but at least we always had a chance going into games and this lead to some big scalps and respectable league finishes. Now all I want is to know that we will still be in the Premiership next year.

Does anyone know if there are any of those fan nights coming up, where fans can ask questions to say John Williams or whoever and find out exactly what is going on at our club? Why the club has turned around so dramatically from Hughes, why there is such a lack of funding every season, even though we play in the richest league in the world and why this year so little money was made available for transfer when according to Hughes we had £10 million to spend and when the £17 million that we got for Bentley was to spent on new players according to John Williams? I'm not sure who I'm angry most at, Paul Ince for being so useless, John Williams and the board for hiring a guy from the 2nd Division and giving him nothing to spend or at Hughes for leaving us up s##t creek without a paddle? The next game will say a lot for not only the future of Paul Ince, but of Blackburn Rovers.

[47er]

We could well be bottom at Christmas. I can hear the death rattle.

[John]

If he were to be sacked in the morning I wouldn't be surprised or care. When he was talking before the game he said that the most important thing today was the performance. I'm sorry Paul, but what planet are you on? How can we possibly have the luxury of having good performances with the position we are in. It is about getting results and moving up the table. He has somehow convinced himself that good performances will be good enough for him, the club and the supporters.

On Sky after his interview, his friend Jamie Redknapp pulled him up on that, saying he did not agree with Ince. Redknapp said its all about results NOT performances.

[T4E]

What did the current top four managers in the league ever achieve as players?

Well, Martin O'Neill won the European Cup under Brian Clough at Forest.

Sorry

[Amo]

Ince: 'you know, you know, you know...'

One thing's for sure, you sure as hell don't!

[Hasta]

And yet Bentley put a cross in the likes of which we haven't seen all season. Roque would have buried the header all day long.

Not necessarily. He had a clear header against Sunderland last week 6 yards out which just smacked into the side of his face.

He also failed to get any real contact on a header from about 5 yards out today.

If Roberts had been involved in both of these incidents they would have had their own thread by now.

One good thing about today was that second half Santa Cruz won practically every ball knocked up to him and laid it back off. Not his fault there was very rarely anyone there.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

Blackburn manager Paul Ince:

"We played some good stuff against a very good Tottenham side at their ground and we silenced their crowd for most of the game.

"The effort put in was unbelievable - the performance was outstanding.

"I thought we were going to salvage something. Had the ball been in the right place we would have got a point."

from the bbc

Comical at best, if he really believed it was an unbelieveable performance then he is deluded

There was a very good performance by Nelsen and Samba - at best most were only ok (excl Emo who I thought had a good match). MGP showed flashes of his form from two years ago - mixed up with his form of the last year. Santa - sorry the guy doesn't look as motivated, or as sharp as he did last season. For the Andrews detractors - definitely not one of the worst - but why does our midfield look so disjointed from the defence.

Funny thing is - we showed in the second half how to play away from home in the EPL.

I have long said that Ince should be given more time - and I would say that nobody can criticise too greatly when we have so many players out injured or suspended. However, if Ince doesn't accept that we haven't got world class players at our club - and can't go away from home and play teams off the park - we will get relegated ! Even with everyone fit - I don't think we can play the type of football he wants us to play and consistently get results. He has to get pragmatic quickly - IMO he is trying to change things too quickly.

BTW - for all the stick that Olsson will rightly get - were one earth was his back up. Playing away from home against a quick winger - surely you just ensure that where possible MGP doubles up against Lennon ? The number of times he was left one on one with Lennon was criminal. The coaching staff have to make us hard to beat and get back to basic quickly - or Ince will be out of a job before xmas - and though some will disagree I am not certain that will be in the best long term interests of the club.

[Paul Mellelieu]

It's almost too depressing for words, and while I feel very sorry for Ince, I just can't see where the next win is going to come from.

For a premiership side to put out Andrews and the Axe in central midfield is the measure of how bad we are right now.

The lads seem to be trying, but we need some leadership to turn things round. And that means starting in the Boardroom.

[sharptommy]

Lookin at the team sheet before, looks good, solid keeper, good centre halves, decent wingers, good strikers but it was blazingly obvious the centre mids are completely out of their depth! i play in blackburn combination and would not fancy playing either of them two in midfield lol

feel sorry for ince but he's consistent in making poor team selection and very dodgy subs, was crying out for a bit of creativity second half, bet tugay is pullin his hair out!

interviewer asked ince before game if getting the 3pts was the most important thing and ince shrugged his shoulders and said the performance was the most importnat thing! No joke!

[den]

Loads of people did on here when we were discussing Bentley replacements, or even doing a Lennon + cash deal for him.

I think Den might have been the most vocal if I remember rightly...not to drop him in it or anything.

Long memories some people!

I'll stick with my opinion of Lennon - stop him running and he has nothing much to offer*. He doesn't play against full backs as bad as Olssen, or should I say defenses as bad as ours was today, very often.

*A bit like SWP.

[rover6]

A side note, but surely all those people who were saying that they would not want Aaron Lennon to replace Bentley because he was a one-dimensional player with pace and nought else must backtrack. Today, he was not as good as he was playing under Martin Jol - and he was up against a weak full back for half the match - but he proved that he is an excellent player who may be a little profligate with crosses but is a darned useful outlet.

I defy anyone to suggest that they would not welcome Lennon as a replacement for Bentley. Sadly, it will not happen and never did look even remotely likely.

Secondly, I agree with those who say that Ince has got a few games to save himself. I have defended Ince but, quite simply, we cannot afford to go down and we have to draw a line with Ince at some stage.

The scariest thing is looking at the names of potential successors.

A criticism I have about Ince is why was Judge not on the bench today? We need a sub right winger and Judge is the only valid contender after Emerton. Keith Treacy has had a fair crack and has NOT come up with the goods. Despite what people may think of me, I urge managers to give young players decent chances BUT I also expect said player to show something. Treacy has shown very little and Ince should have shoved him aside for Judge.

Then we wouldn't have to put the hapless Derbyshire on the right.

[FourLaneBlue]

Emerton played well...if we are not going to use him at right back then we should stick him in the middle. Emo has the speed and mobility that our other players in that position generally miss.

I remember those years when Emerton seemed such a disappointment...over the last 2 or 3 years he has been our most consistently competent player.

[Parsonblue]

I have argued that Paul Ince needs to be given more time but after today’s debacle I’m finding it increasingly difficult to justify that viewpoint. On the long trip back to Blackburn I was left to reflect on another passionless performance from a team that seems destined for relegation. Three points from 24 says it all really. Spurs weren’t good. In fact they were barely average but, nonetheless, they were better than us. Yet, when I look at the website and read that the manager thinks we played well I begin to wonder if we are watching the same game.

I felt sorry for young Olsson today because the least experienced player on our side was left to deal with Lennon on his own. Pedersen offered him no support and the manager didn’t appear to spot that Spurs had obviously targeted the youngster as an area to exploit. He needed help but was left to fend for himself.

Nor can I understand a central midfield pairing of Mokoena and Andrews for 90 minutes while Tugay sits on the bench. At 38 Tugay is still our most creative player and one of the few who can be relied upon to retain possession and play the ball to feet.

Our midfield today was little short of embarrassing and yet Tugay was left on the bench.

Roque looks like a player who is totally fed up with the style of play that is being employed. He is asked to chase long, hopeful balls, bring them down, control the ball and then hold it up while a pedestrian midfield catches up with play. Who could blame him if he looks towards Manchester for an escape route in January?

For the second week running I have watched an abysmal performance by the Academy side being followed by an equally inept one by the seniors. I really do fear for the future of the club. At the moment we seem to lack any sense of direction or purpose. In 65-66 we were told we were too good to go down and a similar situation seems to be building again. We went down in 65-66 without a whimper and were out of the top flight for a quarter of a century. Our present team is certainly not too good to go down and I don’t believe that we can wait much longer for the situation to be turned around.

Ultimately, these are the same players – minus Bentley and Friedel – who took the club to seventh position last season. While I didn’t expect that to be repeated without strengthening, the players are capable of achieving better than at present. We lack organisation and we certainly don’t look to be as fit as we have been in the past few seasons. While I applaud the intentions of the manager to play an attractive style of football the bottom line is that it just isn't working. Playing pretty triangles on the half way line is not going to win many points. Defenders trying to play a one-two in their own penalty area is asking for trouble. Let's play football in the opposition area, not our own.

I find it heartbreaking to see all the hard work that Hughes and his staff did to build the club up being frittered away in a matter of a few months.

I can only hope that my return journey from Portsmouth next week is happier than the one today!

[thenodrog]

And yet Bentley put a cross in the likes of which we haven't seen all season. Roque would have buried the header all day long.

Took the words right out of my mouth bob.

[Nayef]

Well done Paul Ince!

Intellectually qualified to lay bricks on a wall, you are single handedly going to sink Blackburn Rovers into the Championship. When Hughes left and Ince was appointed the first thing I thought of was relegation even with the players Hughes left behind.

And now I believe that not only will Blackburn Rovers get relegated but Burnley will get promoted.

They've suffered for so long being in Rovers' shadow. Tis time they had their fun in the sun. Ours is over.

[philipl]

Ince in tunnel fracas with Joe Jordan