[Archived] Rovers Vs Villa Preview 7th Feb K.o 3pm

[Balwer]

Whilst Villa are great on the counterattack our fullbacks certainly helped them no end by being caught too far up several times and not being able to double back in time. If you can't beat your man on pace make damn sure you'll be there in time to shut him down when Villa get the ball back.

In amidst all the Andrews bashing, I have to say I did see him rush back to shut Aggy down in the first half and stop a one on one situation with Robinson. Not trying to defend the guy as he wasn't good enough today and should be a bench player at best.

[Doogs]

Sorry Chaps but we have the worst central midfield pairing in the premier league. Grella is a slower than a 3 legged donkey, and Andrews wouldnt get in Stanley side. Face up to it, were down and out.

[philipl]

To be honest I thought the second was offisde but the first was dubious I thought our players collided.

Reading the match report on my phone on the way home it said it was disallowed for handball which I didnt see.

The fourth official told the TV co that it was disallowed for the push. If you watch it before the ball reaches Heskey, there is a clear push on Nelsen but the ball was always going over him to Heskey so Robinson and Rovers got lucky on that one.

I am no fan of Grella but he was OK whereas Andrews was sub-OK.

Villa rode their luck but after the two games so far this season, we certainly owe them one if we draw them in the FA Cup.

[Majiball]

Seems like I was the only one who thought Grella was absolutely pathetic.

Inept. Grella does not look up to the job.

[sambo]

yes grella was bad very bad and slow as well

however remember folks its only one game, up to now we have played well and not got enough points out of them, so roll on the next match and we need some points

Next league game:

United away

[philipl]

Sorry Chaps but we have the worst central midfield pairing in the premier league. Grella is a slower than a 3 legged donkey, and Andrews wouldnt get in Stanley side. Face up to it, were down and out.

You will cheer up when you see Bolton and the Baggies today.

You will also realise just how good Villa are when you see Chelsea today.

[sanlorenzo]

Despite his "love for Blackburn Rovers" Cruz is gutted the transfer did'nt happen.

He looks lazy and dissinterested because his mind is 20 miles away at Wastelands.Has been all season.

Hughes and Allardyce screwed up the transfer with their cat and mouse game.

you were able to discern this in the 16 some odd minutes he played. The guy is a pro and gives his all whenever he is on the pitch.

[tony gale's mic]

Grella has only worked when he has been paired up with Dunn.

[Majiball]

Grella has only worked when he has been paired up with Dunn.

The roles are clear when they play together.

Grella sits, Dunn pushes on. Andrews and Grella had no clue who should push on and who should sit.

[philipl]

Watched ten minutes of the second half of Pompey v Liverpool and Ref Webb (who should have been to Ewood) has given Pompey three fouls which Bennett was never going to give to Rovers in a month of Sundays.

[Wolverine]

Sanlorenzo, my point was that Santa did no more or less than any other player, but didn't really make it that clear.

We are not down and out. We will get out of this if we play as good as we can.

I can't see how booing and heaping criticism on players is going to help us. If that's your bag then fine.

The only way out of this is supporting the team fully. Thank god Churchill wasn't a Rovers fan...

[PAFELL]

Watched ten minutes of the second half of Pompey v Liverpool and Ref Webb (who should have been to Ewood) has given Pompey three fouls which Bennett was never going to give to Rovers in a month of Sundays.

Pompey are now winning 1 0

[Balwer]

On to a more pleasant topic, how about the English cricket team? Can't wait for the Ashes!

[grinder]

Just back and like everyone else pretty hacked off. Andrews and Grella shouldn't start together actually scrub that Andrews shouldn't play again, quite simply on of the most inept midfield performances I've had the misfortune to see, can't run /tackle/pass/head/shoot and worst of all he never demands the ball or ever takes up a position where he can receive it effectively. Grella wasn't much better too slow and gets vertigo when he crosses halfway, that in turn meant that Tugs was much further up the pitch when he came on and easily bypassed. Can sort of see the thinking behind Pedersen on the right, clearly to protect Ooijer from Young's pace though that kinda says that Ooijer isn't a full back (which we all know).

Yes clearly 2 penelties - the Roberts tug was nailed on IMO BUT what else did we create? The midfield simply isn't up to it and Dunn obviously isn't fit. Positives? well thought Samba was excellent against pace and the later physical threat of Carew and Spit the Diouf showed enough to suggest he could fit in well. Villa are decent but we didn't compete.

Its going to be a worrying run in - need a drink!

[imy9]

So Rovers lose their first game under Big Sam (after NINE games unbeaten), against a team occupying 4th place and equalling the record number of away wins in a row in PL history.

I agree things do not look great for us at the moment, but rewind 10 games ago and look at the position we were in then. are we better or worse? I have faith that in two weeks, Dunny, Grella, Givet, Diouf, Cruz will all be match fit, they are all carrying knocks/coming back from injury, gives me belief that we can survive.

[Tom]

On the robers penalty incident and also to an extent the roque one, did anyone else think they could have carried on running instead of stopping to complain or going down?

Certainly Roberts looked like he could have carried on from my seat in the Blackburn end. However I also think Friedel would have saved any penalty we had.

BTW I love you Mr Aureilo

[DE.]

Seems like today was a reality check more than anything, I'm surprised anyone thought we would beat Villa... they're a class side and we're most certainly not. Probably the weakest midfield in the league, and whilst it's a crime we didn't strengthen that area over January we're now stuck with what we have and are going to have to make do. It'll be interesting to see what happens from here, Sam had to taste defeat eventually, and to be honest I would have earmarked this game as the first one for him to fall under.

We're far from down yet, anybody saying that needs to get a grip. As it stands, WBA, Stoke and Boro are in worse condition than us, and eventually that will be reflected in the table. With our current squad, a lot will ride on these teams maintaining their poor form, because our squad doesn't really have the quality to take the situation into their own hands, but we still stand a chance at least. It's a shame Newcastle and Sunderland won, but they're far from out of it yet.

United away next... wonder if Andrews will start that one? (If not, then who takes his place?)

[Majiball]

I agree things do not look great for us at the moment, but rewind 10 games ago and look at the position we were in then. are we better or worse? I have faith that in two weeks, Dunny, Grella, Givet, Diouf, Cruz will all be match fit, they are all carrying knocks/coming back from injury, gives me belief that we can survive.

Thats exactly what I thought had happened. We should stay up but we are looking like we're going to do it the hard way.

[Balwer]

United away next... wonder if Andrews will start that one? (If not, then who takes his place?)

Surely the only decent pairing we have is Grella and Dunn, who compliment each other well and bring out the best in each other? Apologies to Tugay, who is becoming increasingly inconsistent in his old age. Nobody else can fill the starters roles in that area (at least not with Bert injured).

With those two in the middle surely MGP on the left and Diouf on the right is the way to go? Yeah it's not the best midfield in the league, but that foursome isn't the worst.

Andrews goes back to the bench, where he belongs.

[Tom]

For me we have to go 4-5-1 at Old Trafford

Mokoena in front of the defence then Pedersen Dunn Grella and Diouf with either RSC or Roberts the lonely man up front. Mcarthy isn't the right man for a lone striker.

[modes98]

On the robers penalty incident and also to an extent the roque one, did anyone else think they could have carried on running instead of stopping to complain or going down?

I didn't think Rocky could have. He had his head taken off by a flying arm, certainly given that position there is no way rocky would hit the deck instead of taking the chance.

I didn't think we created much but the introduction of Diouf helped. However on the flipside I didn't think Villa deserved to beat us. The first goal was down to poor attention by Dunn who either should have dropped onto the short corner or shouted at someone else to. The second was just us pushing for the equaliser.

Shame to lose the unbeaten run but maybe now we will concentrate on taking our chances!!!

[DE.]

Surely the only decent pairing we have is Grella and Dunn, who compliment each other well and bring out the best in each other? Apologies to Tugay, who is becoming increasingly inconsistent in his old age. Nobody else can fill the starters roles in that area (at least not with Bert injured).

With those two in the middle surely MGP on the left and Diouf on the right is the way to go? Yeah it's not the best midfield in the league, but that foursome isn't the worst.

Andrews goes back to the bench, where he belongs.

That's assuming both Dunn and Grella will be fit... sadly it's not something we can count on. I hope, however, that this is the pairing we go with. Or maybe bring back Vogel, he played well against Manure last season

[Pinch]

Pompey winning again (2-1)...damn

Now..2-2

[grizfoot]

A typical lackluster first half from Rovers this becoming a sadly fimiliar feature in our recent home games. Against both Both Bolton and Newcastle we've had poor first half's and the trend continued today. In truth Villa could easily been 3 or 4-0 up had it not been for the Heskey disallowed (didn't see much wrong with it myself, may have missed something though) and a bit of brilliant/lucky defending from Nelsen meant we were only 1-0 down at half time. The goal we did concede was well taken but came from a simple short corner were we failed to pressure their players which resulted in Milner having all the time in the world to pick his spot.

At half time the introduction of Tugay and The Spit seemed to encourage a bit more attacking play in us. But we still never really looked like scoring against a strong Aston Villa defense. Best chance of the game probably being Roque's shot from the edge of the area. I can't remember Big Brad having to make a meaningful save all game.

Our problem was evident from the offset. The central midfield partnership of Grella and Andrews was terrible at best. I lost count the amount of times they gave possession away cheaply, they both looked out of their depth up against the class of Barry and Petrov in Villa's midfield. Andrews first half performance was summed up by his attempt to control a ball which ended in the ball flying off his shin ten yards in the opposite direction, a half-decent first touch would have seen him in a brilliant position to get a shot on target. It wasn't just Andrews who was poor though, it's easy to make him the scapegoat but in my opinion Grella, Dunn and Pedersen were all equally as bad in that first half.

Was too far away to judge the shout for a penalty in the first half. But the one in the second half on Roberts I was scremaing for, clearly pulled him back which stopped him getting to the ball. Villa's central defenders coped with everything well, although some would argue they were on the brink of man-handling our forwards at every opportunity. In the modern game you expect to get free-kicks for thoose sort of fouls but the ref today clearly didn't see it that way. Roque also took a forearm to the face on the edge of the area, which again resulted in no freekick.

Overall though you can't blame the referee for the outcome of the game. Villa were simply too good and too quick for us if anything the 0-2 scoreline flatters us, it could have been much, much worse.

[Plastic Head]

so the morale of the team doesn't matter then?

Do you for one second think that by booing andrews Big sam is goin to think "that guy's (and a small section of the ground) opinions matters to me, i'm wrong, lets never play him again" and please dont go on about the manager listenin to the fans because lets face it, he's goin to do what he wants, thats why in his job discription it will probably state that he makes the decisions...not you.

also, what do you think it will do to Andrews performance? Are you booing him because you want him to play better? because if you are (and i'm no rocket scientist) i'm pretty sure it wont help.

To sum it up:

Big Sam's goin to play him no matter what because as an experienced premier league manager (and i'm guessin you're not) he see's talent,

booing him wont help anyone,

get your head out of your arse

support the whole team.

Okay Okay.....but theres only so much a man can take.

Andrews is taking us down ...I can't do nothing!