[Archived] Middlesbrough Vs Rovers Preview

[Bobby G]

Big disappointment. Roberts should have buried the header. Jones palmed it away for the cameras. We have dropped at 2 points against City, 2 points today, 2 against Bolton and possibly 2 at Sunderland. How will that not harm us at the end of the season? We still have to play some of the bigger sides in the league too...

On a plus note, Grella was again very good. Dunn excellent when he came on as well.

[Presty On Tour]

The Robers header was a great save but a decent striker from their would of gave the keeper no chance!

[my_name_is_Earl]

Very disappointing considering the chances we had. Still very optimistic though for the season, as well as the next three games. We're very difficult to beat and I fancy us to get something against any team that overloads in its attempts to break us down, especially with Diouf on the right.

There's a long way to go yet and we look in very good shape if you consider our form against that of the teams around us.

[Biddy]

The Robers header was a great save but a decent striker from their would of gave the keeper no chance!

We had a supposed £20m striker on the pitch who got no where near anything to even get a header on goal.

[DE.]

I wish pundits would stop going on about Sam's 'unbeaten' record at Blackburn, it's really not that impressive and consists mostly of draws against teams we needed to win against. Sunderland, should have won, missed a last minute chance. City, lost a two goal lead. Bolton, had to come back from two goals down after a dire first half. Boro, should have won, missed a last minute chance.

I hope these mounting lost points don't come back to bite us in the arse come the end of the season.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

This is just so frustrating,we are creating chances left right and centre but just not capitalising.We are just not picking up enough points from teams around us at the bottom...a point is better than nowt I suppose but in our position a run of wins is so desperatley needed at the moment.

** BIG SIGH**

[herbergeehh]

That's about 110 minutes I'll never get back. What a dire performance, especially in the 2nd half. After losing Emerton, the only player contributing something with reminisce of pace was Stephen Warnock, arguably our man of the match. Roberts should've come on earlier, both strikers struggled, and the midfield didn't help them much. Gamst Pedersen was awful, and should've been subbed - but with injuries to Andrews and Emerton, we couldn't make the substitutions we needed to make.

I think both sides' fans will go home, thinking "how could we not get three points from them?". We went close on several occasions, but nothing dropped our way, and we desperately needed someone to get behind their defence. McCarthy didn't to anything to deserve a place either, and Santa Cruz was invisible. (THEY DO NOT MATCH!)

Just disappointed, that's all.

[BRFC1995]

We're doomed now, as don't see us getting any points in next 3 games, poor finishing let us down again

we were terminal 6 games ago, we are far from doomed at the minute thankfully. having the ability to get clean sheets means games against bigger clubs should'nt be looked upon with complete dread anymore.

sunderland win 2 0 tomorrow and we are out of the dropzone, not the end of the world to put in a great away performance and only get a point.

[philipl]

Two misery guts have just been posting I see.

RSC played excellently, MGP and Dunn had very bright second halves and Rovers dominated the game.

Disappointing not to win but there wasn't a lot wrong with that performance.

[my_name_is_Earl]

Come on folks, its really not that bad. We are in great nick at home and could beat villa and hulls home form is the worst in the league. Potential 6 points there and then we'd be nicely up a few places. This run-in is bound to go down to the wire and there's plenty more twists and turns yet....................keep the optimism

[Bobby G]

It wont be until April before we get another decent run of winnable games, and I think thats when our fate will be decided.

In the meantime, defence looked good again. I believe Diouf will give an extra dimension to our game. Some skill and pace.

I thought the Boro team was there for the taking with no confidence, and we had the chances to make that happen. But werent lethal enough.

[Biddy]

Two misery guts have just been posting I see.

RSC played excellently, MGP and Dunn had very bright second halves and Rovers dominated the game.

Disappointing not to win but there wasn't a lot wrong with that performance.

Need to agree and disagree there. Agree that the performance was actually very good, the defence were excellent and very rarely troubled. Dunn was a breath of fresh air when he came on.

RSC and MGP on the other hand were both just going through the motions today. Did you actually see RSC in the box? Or if he was, it was only to run in and then out again. Roberts had more influence in his 20 mintues than RSC did in the whole 95.

[Blue n White Rover]

We're doomed now, as don't see us getting any points in next 3 games, poor finishing let us down again

We have Villa, United and Hull, we should be getting 4 points from these games, if we break our season down into sections it is possible for us to survive. It's gonna be tough but I'm very optimistic!

Come on Rovers!

[dingles staying down 4ever]

This was a game we had to win, we might still be close to the pack at the moment, but come 3 games time, we could very easily find ourselves with the fixtures we have coming up, rooted to the foot of the table.

JR v Sunderland-last minute sitter missed 0-0

JR v Boro'-last minute sitter missed 0-0

4 points dropped between the two games, we need to turn these draws into wins ASAP.

don't forget JRv Bolton at Reebok - missed sitter

and

BM missed pen Bolton at ewood - another 4 points

[Guest Kamy100]

Big game that we needed to win. Yet another draw, this is all very reminiscent of the season we went down, drew to many games and then when the crunch game in the last 10 games we couldn't handle the pressure. It is going to be very tight this season and they way things are going it is going to take sub 40 points to survive, everyone keeps taking points of each other.

Apart from the Newcastle and Stoke games all of our other league games with Sam incharge have had last minute drama which has cost us points:

Sunderland 0-0 Rovers - Roberts misses sitter

Rovers 2-1 City - We are leading 2-1, last minute of injury time we concede a silly goal 2-2.

Rovers 2-2 Bolton - Last minute of injury time Nelson hits the post

Boro 0-0 Rovers - Roberts has header saved, could have done better with it from all accounts.

That lot has cost us 8 vital points which would put us on 31 points and looking at UEFA Cup spot.

The margins between success and failure in this league are very very slim.

[DE.]

The result here is no cause to stop being optimistic, but it's cause for concern. We have dropped a scary number of points against relegation rivals and the team have nobody but themselves to blame for the position Rovers are in. Sam needs to be tough with the players and let them know results like today's are not good enough, because if any of the players think a 0-0 draw against the weakest Boro side we've visited in years is a decent result we're in big trouble. We're making it hard for ourselves, and the frustrating thing is we do have the quality to be better than this.

[jim mk2]

..... their would of gave .....!

...... there would have given ...

Stoke's win today against City is the one result I did not anticipate. Still think Stoke will go down but Rovers have thrown away 6-8 points in the past month.

Bloody Ince (and Williams).

[BuckyRover]

...... there would have given ...

Stoke's win today against City is the one result I did not anticipate. Still think Stoke will go down but Rovers have thrown away 6-8 points in the past month.

Bloody Ince (and Williams).

I think this is now Allardyce's responsibility. The manager carries the can. He has had a whole transfer window.

[StaffsRover]

Whilst I agree 3 points would have been good today I think we all need to look at the bigger picture. Whilst we are having too many draws you need to look at some of our rivals and I am sure their fans are more concerned than us. Starting with 'Boro themselves, whilst we only got a point, they were the home team - apparently awful and are below us in the league with no form at all. Portsmouth are heading as far south league wise as they are geographically. They have no form, can't buy a point and (for me) are dead certs for relegation. Stoke won - whoopee but BELIEVE me they will not stay above us. Add West Brom, a rapidly falling Hull, Spurs in tatters and dead in the water Barcodes - we are the only team amongst that lot showing shoots of improvement. I am sure their fans feel they are in a worse position than we are.

Anyway I have just been looking at our remaining fixtures and have not used rose-tinted glasses at all as you will see. I belive that we will get 21 more points between now and the end of the season at worst. I have not predicted wins where we have no chance, nor have I given us a point based in a prayer. Here is my remainder of the season and believe we will finish (based on this) on 44 points - whether thats enough to stay up we will just have to see. Remember this my WORST case scenario as I am sure there are more points to be made.

Villa (H) 1 point

Manure (A) 0 points

Hull (A) 3 points (yes you hear me correct - they are truly struggling and I still believe they will be in trouble

Everton (H) 1 point

Fulham (A) 1 point

Arse (A) 0 points

West Ham (H) 1 point

Spuds (H) 1 point

You can see that up to this point I am certainly not flattering us - 8 points in 8 games!!!

Liverpool (A) 0 points

Stoke (A) 3 points

Wigan (H) 3 points

Citeh (A) 1 point

Pompey (H) 3 points

Chelsea (A) 0 points

WBA (H) 3 points

21 points - TOTAL 44 points

I need to get a hobby!!

[Guest Kamy100]

No this situation is all Ince's making. Sam has done superb job of getting Rovers back to parity.

I am still confident we will get out of it. We could have made things a hell of a lot easier for ourselves by winning these games but then again when have Rovers done anything the easy way!!

[DE.]

Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce:

"We produced several opportunities and we should have won the game and this is happening too often when chances are going begging.

"We are not burying the opposition when we are on top and as a result we have found ourselves in the bottom six.

"I'm pleased that we have kept out unbeaten run going but we should have far more wins in this period."

I'm glad to see Sam is not happy with that point, shows his ambition. Pretty much what I was hoping he'd say.

[92er]

I think this is now Allardyce's responsibility. The manager carries the can. He has had a whole transfer window.

Good points as always Bucky.

Of course, we could point out that Ince had 1 week before a 2 month transfer window,whereas Allardyce has had approx 3 weeks before a 1 month transfer window, which has not yet closed and our position might be somewhat different at the end of the window.

Time will tell.

I'm glad to see Sam is not happy with that point, shows his ambition. Pretty much what I was hoping he'd say.

It is great to be getting points now, but the fundamental question for me is whether BFS can turn draws into wins. We still need to get at least another 5, maybe 6 to ensure we stay in this Division. And survive as a club.

[1864roverite]

Have just watched Sams press conference, he is NOT a happy man.

Quite clear that his team have dropped a total of 8 POINTS in recent games which may be fatal to our hopes of survival.

Next we have Brad visiting his old stomping ground after the cup gmae at home to Sunderland.

[BuckyRover]

Good points as always Bucky.

Of course, we could point out that Ince had 1 week before a 2 month transfer window,whereas Allardyce has had approx 3 weeks before a 1 month transfer window, which has not yet closed and our position might be somewhat different at the end of the window.

Time will tell.

It is great to be getting points now, but the fundamental question for me is whether BFS can turn draws into wins. We still need to get at least another 5, maybe 6 to ensure we stay in this Division. And survive as a club.

Yes, so Ince had 9 weeks and Allardyce 7.

But Allardyce is much more experienced and you would expect a better scouting network.

I am happy with a point however

[92er]

Yes, so Ince had 9 weeks and Allardyce 7.

But Allardyce is much more experienced and you would expect a better scouting network.

What I am saying is that the transfer window is not yet closed, so your criticisms might well be very valid on Tuesday. He seems to intend Diouf to play on the right, so in a way a replacement for Bentley.

And we're agreed that Ince had longer.

And more money.