[Archived] Blackburn V. Stoke City

[rovers1993]

roberts great work... but CRAP shooting again.

that bloke has great pace, technique, work rate, strength... he's basically drogba but the worst shooting in the league! if he can shoot, im sure he'll be in the top 4 some where now.

[AussieinUk]

FULL TIME - Good game and a clean sheet!

[bennyboyt11]

roberts great work... but CRAP shooting again.

that bloke has great pace, technique, work rate, strength... he's basically drogba but the worst shooting in the league! if he can shoot, im sure he'll be in the top 4 some where now.

the way he passed that ball to the goalie and had a laugh about it after... shame really

how much more competant did our defense look... my god

[T4E]

One down, 8 to go.

Well in Big Sam

[AussieinUk]

Full Time Stats

Rovers -Stoke

10-4 Shots on target

1-10 Shots off target

13-11 Fouls

3-7 Corners

3-3 Offsides

0-2 Yellows

53%-47% Possesion

Well done Big Sam and the boys

[herbergeehh]

Extremely happy, we didn't impress in possession but our forwards did really well and we made Stoke pay. As someone said, if Roberts wasn't the worst finisher in the league he'd be one of the best around. Still handy, and he works well with McCarthy. If Big Sam can keep this up, we just need a midfield partner to David Dunn (who was immense today) and hopefully a winger to push Emerton further back.

Thank you Mr. Williams, and happy Festivus For The Restuvus.

[Wolverine]

Delighted. Thanks for proving me wrong in the summer sam, keep it up!

[T4E]

Far canal - two good wins and suddenly Sunderland are 12th! The table looks a lot better tonight.

[Mr. E]

good start, but still a lot of work to be done. I really do want us to continue with this strikeforce though.

[joey_big_nose]

Tremendous effort from the team. Roberts (his woeful shooting aside) and McCarthy were excellent, and well supported by Pedersen and Emerton. We defended deep an in numbers and it worked a treat. Stoke couldn't get much out of us. Whenver they got a man free he would be surrounded by three Rovers players. Second hald we should have had four more!

To temper it a bit, Stoke are a very one dimensional team, and we probably have one of the best aerial defenders in the league in Samba. Beyond set pieces they had very little to offer except for Fuller who I thought looked teriffic (a future rover player perhaps?)

Against higher quality opposition who pass the ball a bit if we played like that we could get penned in very easily. Nonetheless the defence looked stable and organised and everyone worked like maniacs.

I wonder if Santa when fit would get back in the team? He does not complement Roberts or McCarthy as well as they compliment each other.

[RibbleValleyRover]

Great result that should give us a real boost going into the Sunderland game.

[LeChuck]

Brilliant stuff...I haven't felt this good about Rovers for a long time. Even though he's only been there a few days, the difference in the defence and general organisation of the team was huge...and there wasn't a stupid individual mistake in sight.

I'm glad we got the result we did, it can't have been easy for John Williams to get rid of Ince after a few months and appoint with someone who the fans were against in the summer, so hopefully he'll be feeling good about the decision he made today because it was definitely the right one.

[Presty On Tour]

Excellent start to the BFS reign!

3 points, 3 goals and a clean sheet. Merry Xmas!

[roverich]

Just watched it an we defended brilliantly in the first 20mins whilst stoke had lots of possession and really didnt let them create any chances - very encouraging! Roberts played very well holding up the ball and turning defenders but still needs to improve his finishing. He had a great one on one around 70-75mins after turning his marker brilliantly but took one too many touches and got too close to the keeper which given his poor finishing ruined the chance as he hit it quite tamely at the keeper. His reactions for his goal showed good awareness and instinctiveness so I think he's still got a part to play for us and should be held onto in January at least.

[tony gale's mic]

good start, but still a lot of work to be done. I really do want us to continue with this strikeforce though.

Christ he's even bringing you round, that's no small feat.

At times today we were really good - that move which led to Simonsen saving from Pedersen then Roberts (though he was offside) looked suspiciously like the kind of stuff Ince had been trying all season to play but couldn't threaten a goal with. Probably didn't deserve to be 3 up at half time but the most important thing was how solid the back line was.

Bit worrying about Sunderland though...they're in even better form and we have them next up..

[novella]

Lets not worry about Sunderland for now!!

My weekend isnt tainted for the first time in 3 months!

Great Performance!!

[dopper69]

Make no mistake this was possibly the most important game of the season. Stoke are now into a bit of a blip of form with no win in 4 games and look as if they could be dragged back into the relegation zone.

Excellent win, excellent performance and Robinson was solid.

[philipl]

perfect start for Sam with the Rovers.

The big difference was our defensive organization which was back to the standard of Hughes time at Ewood. I thought Samba was immense but we were defending from the front again.

We were weak in midfield and we conceded far too much posession to an injury ravaged Stoke which are undoubtedly the weakest set up in the Premier League this season when they have so many players out.

Great to see Benni bac and playing so well and creatively. Roberts was, well, Roberts.

Man City in the bottom 3 at the time of writing.

[joey_big_nose]

Christ he's even bringing you round, that's no small feat.

At times today we were really good - that move which led to Simonsen saving from Pedersen then Roberts (though he was offside) looked suspiciously like the kind of stuff Ince had been trying all season to play but couldn't threaten a goal with. Probably didn't deserve to be 3 up at half time but the most important thing was how solid the back line was.

Bit worrying about Sunderland though...they're in even better form and we have them next up..

Sunderland will be a real test. They have lots of options - Jones in the air, Cisse in the channels, they have some creativity in midfield. It will be facinating to see how Sam will deal with them. I can see Jones having a field day if we sit as deep as we did against Stoke.

[bigbrandjohn]

BBC Stoke reckon thare was no Sam Allardyce effect just a poor performance. It sounds like us last week listening to their fans go on.

[T4E]

The Big man has just been interviewed on Soccer Saturday. What a relief to have a manager who talks straight, has a point and doesn't appear like a child in front of a camera.

[yellowsubmarine]

Excellent start to the BFS reign!

3 points, 3 goals and a clean sheet. Merry Xmas!

And no yellow cards.

[LeChuck]

We were weak in midfield

Not wanting to dwell on negatives at all today, but that really is the only one. I forgot Andrews was playing until he scuffed a shot at the goalkeeper around the hour mark.

Mokoena's poor but at least he makes his presence felt, he really needs to be playing alongside Dunn until Grella is fit.

[tony gale's mic]

Not wanting to dwell on negatives at all today, but that really is the only one. I forgot Andrews was playing until he scuffed a shot at the goalkeeper around the hour mark.

Mokoena's poor but at least he makes his presence felt, he really needs to be playing alongside Dunn until Grella is fit.

Vogel and Dunn in midfield would be a good midfield partnership. We started to see flashes of what Vogel could do towards the end of last season and his pedigree speaks for itself. He was immense vs Man Utd last season, but Ince didn't give him a chance, let's hope Sam takes a look at him in training this week. If he performs to his abilities, that would actually be a pretty strong midfield pairing.

[joey_big_nose]

Not wanting to dwell on negatives at all today, but that really is the only one. I forgot Andrews was playing until he scuffed a shot at the goalkeeper around the hour mark.

Mokoena's poor but at least he makes his presence felt, he really needs to be playing alongside Dunn until Grella is fit.

I don't agree. Andrews was one of our poorer players but he retained the ball and moved it around competantly. If Mokoena was in there we would not have got the ball forward so well. I would start Andews alongside Dunn provided we are not playing a good midfield. If we are then Mokoena has to come in to track the runners. Sunderland is an interesting one becuase they are quite average in the centre of the park...

Hopefully Grella will be fit.

Vogel and Dunn in midfield would be a good midfield partnership. We started to see flashes of what Vogel could do towards the end of last season and his pedigree speaks for itself. He was immense vs Man Utd last season, but Ince didn't give him a chance, let's hope Sam takes a look at him in training this week. If he performs to his abilities, that would actually be a pretty strong midfield pairing.

Vogel just strikes me as a bit lighweight to be honest. Interesting he did not make the 18 today, with Judge on the bench. It will take time for Allardyce to run his rule over them, but seeing as he played last week it is suprising he was left out.

Maybe Sam doesn't rate him either?