[Archived] Blackburn V. Stoke City

[1864roverite]

Well then, how good does it feel to not have the hump on a Saturday tea time ?

Lets put a few things into perspective, Stoke City are a horrible team to play football against. They are for ne, a team that does very well with what it has got, and if we are really honest on todays performance all they have got is bombardment type football. They have effort and a work ethic but everything is centered around winning a high ball knock down and a set piece.

For 8 minutes today, they battered into this Rovers team hoping to find them buckling under a deluge of high balls, and on the evidence of the defending on show in the previous 11 games I am certain that Stoke thought they would take something from this game.

How wrong could they have been.

Rovers today, in the main were the same players that Mssrs Ince and co had at their disposal and under that regime didnt have the nerve, the verve or the ###### to stand up and fight or indeed play total football such were our shortfalls, such was our disorganisation and such was our teams discontent. It was for me, the chance to nail the reasons why this current set of players, good players who can actually play football, in comparing how we coped with Stoke, they manner in which the team was set up and the football that was to be played.

So, back to the game and we saw ball after ball heading towards our goal area, and for once we were actually defending the Blackburn End goal in the first half.

Samba, Nelsen, Ooijer and Warnock, between them a very experienced back four, stood up well for each and every bomb sent towards them. Together they weathered the storm, they got lucky ricochets but they stayed firm and strong and survived. The difference ? ORGANISATION.

We then saw a move forward and MGP take a player on wide in the area and hey presto PENALTY, clinically despatched by a rejuvenated Benni McCarthy. 1-0 Rovers. The oatcake eaters in fine voice suddenly quietened as the rendition of Delilah greeted the goal.

A few moments later and Lady Luck is on the pitch as the Stoke defender passes the ball across his 6 yard line to Roberts, for once, he didnt have to think about it and slammed the ball home before the keeper moved. 2-0 Rovers.

smiles returned to the crowd, the players and to Ewood in general.

Joyous scenes reverberated a short time later as Benni slams in number 3 after Roberts inability to take a 1 on 1 chance with the keeper saw the ball break out to him.

3-0 and game well and truly over.

Half time and what could we make of the game as Sam's Boys left the field to a seriously loud applause.

well, the answer led at the feet of David Dunn. A solid quality performance. He does really look fit and trim and its great to see him strutting around the pitch, god how we have missed him. Another thing that clearly stood out was the link play between Samba and Nelsen aided by both full backs. The organised defence, the will to win headers, the talking, the basic football ethics were all evident as Rovers stood firm. Emo and MGP both got involved going forward and in defending. The only weak link for me was the inclusion of Andrews, its not because of my well documented reasons it because todays game cruelly exposed him for what he is, an average championship player. its not his fault that he has been brought to our club but today, in general, he didnt pass well, he didnt head well, his one shot was scuffed, his tackling was poor and he gave the ball away far too many times. Other than running all game that was and is as good as it will ever get for him.

At half time, I spoke to Revidge and Preston Blue. I think we can say that in general we agreed on a great start for Rovers being based on ORGANISATION.

My wish for a clean sheet was granted although I really wished that Rovers could have scored a couple of more to nibble away at our poor goal difference.

The abiding memories from the second half, and in no particular order, Bennis workrate deserving a hattrick goal, Tugays insistence that his invisible mate is always next to him in a Rovers shirt and Roberts persistence in missing 1 on 1 goalscoring chances.

Beggars cannot be choosers so they say, so I suppose, that after a week that has seen Rovers hit more headlines than Paris Hilton, we have to be eternally grateful to Sam and for the 3 points that we so clearly needed as an early Xmas present.

Questions will clearly be asked as to how this team performed so differently to when Ince and co were in charge and rightly so. We are hearing the stories coming out of the traning ground and I am certain that we will hear more. You have to ask just what it was Rovers were doing under Ince during the week because beleive me, today we saw the same players completely changed in a 7 day period that saw us destroyed by Wigan Athletic !

Has Sam had his magic wand out ?

Has Lady Luck paid Rovers an early Xmas visit and decided to spare us even more poorer fayre ?

Is it plain old experience and common dog that Sam has in abundance ?

Was Ince so far out of date with traning methods and man management skills - based on his lack of qualifications ?

Did the players really hate the regime so much under Ince that they spoke with their feet ?

Its going to come out eventually, believe me.

This team today had a real togetherness about them. They ran, they fought for the ball, they passed, they defended for their lives, they had pride, they had effort in abundance and they so clearly wanted to show it on the pitch. The hunger was there as was desire. It rejuvenated the stadium and the Blackburn End sang their hearts out.

Players received standing ovations, reminiscent of the recent years of being a team that is hard to beat. The club appears to have a galvanised look about it.

One thing is for sure, Sunderland will not be looking forward to playing Rovers. I am certain that Mark Hughes isnt either.

I know its only the 1 game and its the usual about a new manager getting a response but believe me, this was different to what we have seen.There is no comparison to when Kidd came in, same with Hodgson and Harford. Rovers went back to basics, defend together, pass and move and create chances.

A few pointers.

Roberts is far better when he doesnt have to think about scoring, we saw that in his goal.

Benni Looks happy but at this point we dont need fancy flicks just your good old self mate because you are class.

MGP looked good, take players on in the area and you get penalties.

Samba and Nelsen were a class act.

Robinson is clearly Englands number 1. One save he had to make was class.

Have a Merry Christmas fellow Blues.

[cn_barlow]

One thing i am sure of. If Ince was in charge today, we would have lost.

the difference between the two in front of the camera couldnt be more evident; big Sam exudes confidence, Ince makes me nervous and embarrassed.

Thank you JW, for making the decision and giving us a fighting chance...

Get something at Sunderland and its definately game on.

Im going out on a limb here and predicting a mid table finish for the rovers....

[thenodrog]

Robinson is clearly Englands number 1. One save he had to make was class.

You have got to be kidding. Sure he had a fierce shot to save but his judgement for crosses and corners was absolutely abysmal. He misjudged the flight of crosses one after another. if we've got rid of Booby Mimms as GK coach it's no wonder..... he is turning Robinson into a carbon copy of himself!

[modes98]

Good display. Shame Jason Roberts couldn't miss the keeper in the second half and add to the tally. 3 good goals, we just need to keep it up now against Sunderland.

[1864roverite]

He did well with what was thrown at him. He missed 1 cross only when he hesitated everything else was competent enough.

[Tom]

As an aside, have we only scored one goal at home this season in front of the Blackburn end?

Such a great feeling tonight its been so long since I've seen us win

[frosty]

As an aside, have we only scored one goal at home this season in front of the Blackburn end?

Yeah! Benni's against Middlesbrough - and that's when most people had left.

[Martin]

A great result and a great start.

Stoke are poor. But they put us under a lot of pressure in our penalty area by simply lumping the ball in there. Under Ince we would have caved no doubt about that whatsoever. A little organisation goes a long way.

Robinson makes me feel very uneasy when he comes for crosses. He seems to be flapping at everything. He needs to learn to catch the ball. He creates problems by trying to punch the ball clear.

Andrews needs replacing. We are carrying him. It's not his fault, but he's simply not good enough. Vogel to replace him.

Benni - thank you for returning. He was sublime today. He will be a big player for us this season. Both him and Roberts looked tasty up top.

Santa may have had his Christmas wish granted today.

Now, let's have a strong end to the year and hit the ground running in January.

Good times.

[Sysagent]

Well for the first time in months I am actually looking forward to MOTD tonight...

[martmitch]

Well for the first time in months I am actually looking forward to MOTD tonight...

hopefully they wont bury us down the order!

1 on 1 training for roberts anyone?

[Billy Castell]

Good God. We won. We actually won. At home.

It sounded like the first half had Stoke bombing into the box and putting our defence under pressure. We resisted, a change from Ince's brief spell, and scored 3 goals.

Didn't catch the second half.

[RevidgeBlue]

Today just showed how sudden and startling the "new manager effect" can be.

For me we were pretty poor during the first 18 mins, not particularly any better or worse than a lot of displays under Ince, yet we somehow found ourself two goals to the good!

We got another stroke of luck with the Stoke defender conceding a rash and needless penalty for our opener. How Ince could have done with a bit of fortune like that.

After we went 2-0 up however it was a different story. Confidence seemed to ooze back into the team and we looked a far more determined proposition than of late.

We still have a lot of work to do and you fear for Stoke because they were abysmal but you can't ask for anymore than what we got after such a terrible run of results.

Overall that was the best 90 minutes I've seen from Benni in a Rovers shirt. It will be interesting to see if he can keep that standard up. Generally he and Roberts never stopped harrying the Stoke defence right to the end and I think it made a nonsense of the oft mooted suggestion the players aren't fit enough.

Dunn was also superb, how he's been missed during the first half of the season.

Nelsen and Samba much improved, I thought Warnock still looked a bit shaky but his confidence should return after another couple of clean sheets.

A big well done and thank you to Big Sam for giving the team some confidence back and getting them organised. Was it really only about 172 hours ago all looked lost after the Wigan debacle?

Well done also to John Williams and the Board for acting so decisively and landing their man.

[gumboots]

hopefully they wont bury us down the order!

1 on 1 training for roberts anyone?

Well Sunderland may get ahead of us but I can't see what else will. the BBC were covering this match on 5 live and saying it was the only place to be. add to that we scored our goals in the first half, which helps decide running order if there are no obvious big games and we could well even, shock, horror, be on first.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Just how the hell are Stoke City above Rovers?.....it really does go a long way in telling you how utterly abject we were under Ince,this proud club was in the gutter

I've seen and heard more sense,commitment and passion from Sam over the last two days than that was shown over Ince's entire,horrible tenure at Rovers.

What a difference!

[cn174]

Well according to the BBC website we're top of the running order for MOTD.

It feels so good to have won!! Not the prettiest performance ever, but a clean sheet was definately welcome. We coped with most things they threw at us, a few hairy moments such as when that cross/shot bounced off the crossbar, but they have very few real chances on goal.

Bring on Sunderland!!

[bobsterbrfc]

Thank you Big Sam

[Bobby G]

I loved the celebration and passion when the camera panned onto JW up in the stands when we scored our 3rd goal! Loved it!

[Paul]

You have got to be kidding. Sure he had a fierce shot to save but his judgement for crosses and corners was absolutely abysmal. He misjudged the flight of crosses one after another. if we've got rid of Booby Mimms as GK coach it's no wonder..... he is turning Robinson into a carbon copy of himself!

Frankly that is rubbish. He missed one, badly true but still only one.

[gumboots]

For reasons unbeknownst to us, we should be pleased that they weren't allowed to take a full allocation. 7000 Potters fans in full voice would NOT have made a particularly pleasant welcome for Sam on his first match-day in charge.

They weren't allowed the full allocation because they used to run an away travel thing that kept a close control on who got away game tickets. However, about 6 weeks ago they relaxed this thinking that now they are in the Prem they weren't playing their traditional rivals and so there wouldn't be trouble. Cue 27 arrests at the Newcastle game. Our police then said no thanks we don't want 7000 of you descending on ewood in the run up to Christmas. Rovers were turning away anyone who wasn't on our own club's data base yesterday because of fears that Stoke fans would try to get into the home areas and cause trouble. Apparently there have been a lot of callers to radio Stoke about the scrapping of the away travel controls from well-behaved fans who are worried about others wrecking their reputation and leading to more stringent controls by other clubs when Stoke come to town.

[Bobby G]

His movement off his line has improved alot over the course of the season. He was missing everything in the first few weeks!

[gumboots]

Just feel like i won 1000 quid or something! Well done to the lads and even roberts(even though i am nowhere near a fan of him!!)

Well done Sam and John!!

My son won £14 on 3-0 final score. He was panicking when we had the later chances but also hoping we scored a few more. He'd have lost his £14 to see us win 6 -0

[islander200]

My son won £14 on 3-0 final score. He was panicking when we had the later chances but also hoping we scored a few more. He'd have lost his £14 to see us win 6 -0

nice one

[tcj_jones]

We absorbed everything they threw at us in the air and hit them three times on the counter. Sam got his tactics spot on today. He's confident, experienced and tactically astute; an extremely competent manager.

How on earth has that defence conceded so many this season? Stoke City may not be the best team in the league, in fact they were dreadful today, but for defenders, their long ball game is extremely difficult to defend and our boys were superb.

Roberts is worse at one on ones than me.

[Amo]

Stoke were actually one of the worse sides we could have played. No, hear me out. They aren't the most technically gifted, but they bombard the box with long balls and long throws. For a shaky out-of-sorts defence with a susceptible goalkeeper like ours, it could have been worse than a side trying to play through us. But the lads stood up to the task and got the job done. Still a long way to go of course, but great stuff.

[grizfoot]

A few people have already touched on it but the main difference between today's performances and our recent shambolic performances was organisation. The simple idea of having two banks of four was put into full effect today. Emerton and Pedersen inparticularly did a lot of tracking back and didn't leave our fullbacks isolated which has led to our problems in previous games.

That being said I didn't exactly think we played brilliantly despite winning 3-0. For the first twenty minutes Stoke monopolised the possession of the football albeit not creating much in the process. The ol' throw the ball into the mixer got quite boring by the time they took their 412th long throw of the game. Samba and Nelsen top marks, cleared and dealed with everything that was chucked their way, also having Ooijer in at RB made sense today because he was like an extra centre back in there able to clear the constant threat of balls being hoofed/thrown into the area.

In the first half hour we had possession of the football in Stoke's area three times and it resulted in three goals. Roberts and McCarthy linked up well if only Roberts could finish we'd have a deadly strike duo on our hands. Dare I say it but we actually looked more threatening upfront today without Roque on the pitch.

The central midfield duo of Dunn and Andrews worked and worked. Dunn was immense I thought, we have missed him dearly he is far and away the best central midfielder we have at the club. Andrews again wasn't standout by any means but he kept possession well and definately is a better bet than having Mokoena in there.

Towards the end of the second half we created numerous other chances and it could have easily been 4 or 5. Yes this was only against a weakened Stoke side, but after just a few days under the management of Big Sam we look much better organised and managed to win comfortable 3-0 without ever really getting out of 3rd gear.

You can't really grumble at that.

Merry Christmas.