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

[RevidgeBlue]

Villa were lucky today. Two heavily deflected goals.

The sort of luck teams enjoy when they are on their way to winning something and having watched Chelsea v Hull on an adjacent screen, Villa are miles better than Chelski at present. Also seen Liverpool and Arsenal recently and were Man U to falter on their peerless journey to a third title on the trot, the only team that would pick up the baton are Villa on current form.

Their defending is outstanding. Referee Bennett gave them a lot of leeway at the back and they took full advantage of all the latitude given to them.

Villa's first disallowed goal could easily have been given- shove on Nelsen that could well have/almost always have been missed but the second disallowed goal was very clearly offside.

Against that, Rovers had four big penalty shouts. One was very clearly correctly ruled out but the other three were nailed on penalties. The fact that the TV company did not use all the cameras at their disposal to examine those calls pretty well shows they were certain penalties! The bias in the commentary was yet again ludicrously against the Rovers.

Sam probably made a mistake in not starting Diouf in place of Andrews who yet again was clearly out of place facing top Premier League opposition. I am worried that Dunn did not appear for the second half.

I would have started RSC in place of Roberts but RSC was pretty ineffective in his 20 minutes run out. Nelsen and Samba were outstanding for the Rovers.

No dishonour in losing this one (except for Ref Bennet) but wins for the bar codes and Sunderland are results we could have done without. Looking a bit lonely for the bottom four at present.

PS There are some really stupid people posting on this thread.

From massively over-reacting to every move Ince made, to head buried firmly in sand.

[BRFC1995]

pompeys result has cheered me up no end. i think as long arsenal win tomorrow we can lose to united and then build from there with our one game in hand cushion........................suicide hotlines deal with people cheerier than me when i saw pompey winning with 5 minutes left. its boro, wba and either stoke,rovers or pompey.

[philipl]

From massively over-reacting to every move Ince made, to head buried firmly in sand.

You are burbling again Rev

There is absolutely nothing about my post which is remotely head buried in sand. The simple fact is you have a massive guilt complex over Ince and quite rightly so!

[DaveyB]

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

Maybe Chelsea were bad, but I don't how that makes Villa good. In fact, if they are the 3rd best side in the Prem then the standard really has fallen further than I realised. O'Neill is hailed as some kind of tactical genius - not sure that a 9-man defence just hoofing long balls upto a really quick striker is that great though. Even Graham Taylor was more sophisticated!!

The only positive that I can take from the game is that until today I was worried that we were becoming an overly negative, long ball, kick and rush team. Villa made us look like 1970's vintage Brazil!!

They do have what we're missing though - players that can put the ball in the net. Two poor teams, personally I thought a draw would have been a fair result, but they took their chances, we didn't.

The Ref had a shocker, but we do need to stop relying on penalties and free-kicks to score goals. In other words we need to be able to create chances from open play.

As for Diouf - looked decent enough on the ball (although when he did get past his man he couldn't cross as he has no left foot - why wasn't he on the right??), but contary to others on here I was unimpressed with his effort. No chasing back to help out the full-back and not prepared to chase lost causes into the corners, allowing their full-backs to have the ball with no pressure on them.

Oh well, never mind, I hear it's more interesting in the Championship anyway...

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

its boro, wba and either stoke,rovers or pompey.

'kin great isnt it!

[tony gale's mic]

philipl we didn't make Friedel make a save. The selection was completely wrong. You know I've been a fan of Sam from day one but if you can't acknowledge when he's been wrong and when our performances have been very poor then you end up coming off every bit as myopic as the blind Ince fans earlier.

Like I said earlier, I hope he learns from his glaring errors today.

[philipl]

philipl we didn't make Friedel make a save. The selection was completely wrong. You know I've been a fan of Sam from day one but if you can't acknowledge when he's been wrong and when our performances have been very poor then you end up coming off every bit as myopic as the blind Ince fans earlier.

Like I said earlier, I hope he learns from his glaring errors today.

...another one who cannot read my post.

[modes98]

The selection didn't help us today. Trying MGP and Dunn on reverse wings was a good idea to try but having seen that it didn't offer us anything he should have reverted back. Diouf would have given us more and with Dunny in the middle we would have been alot more solid.

[incy wincy little spider]

Just got back from the game (and haven't read this thread so its all my own opinions) and was it me or were the crowd really really quiet?

The most worrying thing about the game today (apart from the ref) was that I can't remember brad making a save in 95 mins of play!

Also Dunn and Andrews didn't seem up for it and were pretty poor, although that could be tiredness from FA cup game. Lastly i hope benni never back-heels a ball again - it never works!

O yeah we could do with at least one more proper winger on today's performance/tactics, seemed we were too narrow

[DE.]

Maybe Chelsea were bad, but I don't how that makes Villa good. In fact, if they are the 3rd best side in the Prem then the standard really has fallen further than I realised. O'Neill is hailed as some kind of tactical genius - not sure that a 9-man defence just hoofing long balls upto a really quick striker is that great though. Even Graham Taylor was more sophisticated!!

The only positive that I can take from the game is that until today I was worried that we were becoming an overly negative, long ball, kick and rush team. Villa made us look like 1970's vintage Brazil!!

I think you're being far, far too harsh on Villa here. Even if they did play like that today they are a good team with good players and a great manager, their position in the league and performances against some of the bigger clubs (The Arsenal match immediately springs to mind, they were awesome in the first half of that one) prove that.

There's no shame in losing to them, nor will there be if we get beat by utd next weekend. We just have to look on from there.

[Majiball]

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

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

Sam will have seen it today, I think Sam needs to get that Chinese doctor he had at Bolton and get her to fill tugay with whatever secret potion will give him his legs back.

his teammates miss him out if they can, what could be more damming. Perhaps its time we shoved another body in there and hope numbers makes up for a lack of central midfield talent.

[The Prof.]

Ok I only watched it on TV but I thought:

* was Benni on the p**s last night

* PR is NOT a goalkeeper

* Diouf played well when he got the ball. Also works hard.

* is Bennet a Referee or a Bookie??? strange person. I think he was doing everything he could to keep it at 0-1. I've never seen so many ''fouls'' inside and outside the box 'not given' and to be fair to the Ref against both sides

* Villa are an average side with speed up front but not much else.

* has Pederson some complaint where he still looks young but is really about 99 years old?

* hope Dunn and the other one are not badly injured. Tugay had one of his forgettable games and couldn't pass wind

* Grella was good, he can pass but looks small on TV but still competitive.

* 6 large cans of Heineken are not enough so I'm off to 7 Eleven.

* keep your chins up - we are not down yet.

Cheers

/

Well I'm glad someone watched the same game as me.

On thing no one seems to have mentioned is the performance of Warnock. Appalling. Both goals came from his none show at left back. He was winning me over until today - Givet in - we need a defender at left back. However, not sure what the tackle in front of the dugout did to him. Sending off offence which brought not even a free kick.

Villa hadn't much more than us but what they had was vital. Pace. The 3 smaller forwards constantly needed doubling up on and they dictate the game even before the ball was kicked.

Poor old Tugay can't be played in a fast game. Reminds me of my dog- love him to bits but his legs are going. Same haircut.

Grella - you get good and bad. Got both today. Like him but he will never score a goal at Rovers which puts him behind errrrr no one I know in midfield for Rovers eerrrrrrr. What sot of palyers are we buying???

Dunn - clearly not fit. Would have kept him on and asked him to play centrally passing instead of Tugay just to give us another sub.

None of the midfield were able to make 1 challenge at a ball being cleared from the Villa box. None had a shot.

Centre Backs - excellent - they could pull us out of this.

Andrews - 5 yards behind the play - is he in some sort of timedelay warp - never seen anything like this before - it's like back to the future- needs a Tardis. Only fit midfielder? Play Mokoena if you want a tackler/tracker.

Forwards - No quality service whatsoever. McCarthy can't play outside the box. RSC - needs a goal. Roberts - unlucky as got persitently fouled but the ref was blind.

Robinson - well you know how I feel about him catching but today - did anyone else pap it when he kept

a. Running out to clear the ball?

b. knocking his own players out?

c. Running to the half way line out wide to kick a ball?

Sorry - nice guy but has gone from eccentric to odd. Will send us down.

Diouff - Okay.

Pederson - ??? when did he last create a chance? worked hard off the ball.

Referee was desperate but hey guys - we didn't have 1 meaningful shot from anywhere. It is more organised than Ince and I can see the logic but we must shoot less than any other team in the league. (all 4!).

Why have we got players we don't rate and don't play but won't let go? Get rid and find some proper players.

We have gone beyond squeeky and into scary.

Still I thought we'd loose this one so thats okay.

Newcastle and Sunderland winning was a blow though.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Maybe too strong for some but in my opinion if Dunny was a Racehorse they would have shot the poor sod ages ago.

[tony gale's mic]

Maybe too strong for some but in my opinion if Dunny was a Racehorse they would have shot the poor sod ages ago.

Load of rubbish. He was out of position today.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Sorry,but he's physically meak and too injury prone...Blackburn lad through and through and all that but he's gone.

[The Prof.]

Maybe too strong for some but in my opinion if Dunny was a Racehorse they would have shot the poor sod ages ago.

But I can't see any other midfielder we have scoring or creating a chance!

[Parsonblue]

I thought the game today perfectly illustrated where failure to invest in the team over the past twelve months is taking us. Ince has clearly wasted what little money he was given and Sam has not been given anything as he has had to offload Derbyshire and Judge on loan to bring Diouf and Givet in.

We began the season with an understrength squad and have since lost players to long term injuries. Dunn and Grella have played very little and both look some way of being fully fit. Emerton and Reid are out for the season which leaves us desperately thin on the ground in midfield.

The reason we failed to qualify for Europe last season was because of the inadequate resources and since then we have allowed two of our better players - Friedel and Bentley - to leave.

Surely someone on the Trust must see that if the club is relegated - which I believe is highly likely - the value of their investment will crash through the floor. We only have to look at Charlton Athletic and Southampton - two clubs of similar size to the Rovers - to see what awaits a cash poor club in the Championship. I suspect the summer will see a major fire sale as the Trust try to recoup as much money as possible from the sale of players.

I must admit that I came away from Ewood Park today in a total state of depression. Not simply because we lost to a very good Villa side, but because I fail to see a future for the Rovers in the Premiership. I always felt that January was a month when the Trust could make a statement of intent by their activity in the transfer market and yet Sam has been starved of cash.

As for today's game I thought it was obviously the poorest performance since Sam's arrival and merely underlined the importance of the points we have allowed to slip away in recent weeks.

Robinson - Poor on crosses and positionallly not all that great. Friedel, Flowers, Gennoe, Arnold, Jones and Else are all goalkeepers that I rate more highly.

Ooijer - Thought he did OK today. Used his experience well.

Samba - Again, thought he did as well as could be expected considering that the midfield offered no protection.

Nelsen - Again, another decent performance.

Warnock - The weaklink at the back. It's rather worrying the number of goals that we are conceding from his area of the field.

Pedersen - He's been poor on the left but on the right he is totally wasted. I could see what Sam was after, getting Pedersen to swing the ball in from the right with his left foot. However, it didn't work and never looked like working.

Andrews - I saw him in League Two last season at Stanley and he didn't impress. He impresses even less in the Premiership.

Grella - Grabbi, Amoruso, Baggio - all experienced in the Italian game and all failed to impress in the Premiership. At the moment Grella looks like he will be added to the list. Hopefully he's still lacking fitness for at the moment he is dreadfully slow and not very accurate with his passing.

Dunn - Clearly not fit. I thought he was poor on Wednesday and again his passing and decision making wasn't at its best. I suspect his attempts to play through the pain barrier are affecting his performances.

Tugay - At 38 he remains our one midfield player who can open up a defence with his range of passing. Today he wasn't at his best and it begs the question of how long the club intend to rely on a 38 year old to carry the midfield.

Diouf - An impressive first appearance and will clearly be a major asset to the team. It will be interesting to see what position he finally settles in.

McCarthy - Has great skill but is still struggling fitness wise - as Sam admitted in the LT today.

Roberts - Lots of energy but his first touch is poor and he doesn't impose himself on defenders.

Santa Cruz - Having prevented him from being sold we must start with him in every game. He remains the one front man we have who can hold the ball up without falling over.

I believe that to have any hope of staying up we need to win six games and probably pick up a couple of draws. Looking at the fixtures and our squad I really am beginning to fear the worst. The away games at Hull, Fulham and Stoke will be vital as one will need to be won and victories will be needed against WHU, Spurs, Wigan, Portsmouth and WBA. As I say, I really do fear the worst.

[tony gale's mic]

Sorry,but he's physically meak and too injury prone...Blackburn lad through and through and all that but he's gone.

He is too injury prone, but when he can get a game in the centre of midfield he can still make a difference. He's not got any injury worries currently that will keep him out of the next game and hopefully Sam will actually put him in his proper position next time rather than harking back to the square pegs/round holes days of Ince like today.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

But I can't see any other midfielder we have scoring or creating a chance!

I cant see any at all doing that Prof!!!!

[The Prof.]

I thought the game today perfectly illustrated where failure to invest in the team over the past twelve months is taking us. Ince has clearly wasted what little money he was given and Sam has not been given anything as he has had to offload Derbyshire and Judge on loan to bring Diouf and Givet in.

We began the season with an understrength squad and have since lost players to long term injuries. Dunn and Grella have played very little and both look some way of being fully fit. Emerton and Reid are out for the season which leaves us desperately thin on the ground in midfield.

The reason we failed to qualify for Europe last season was because of the inadequate resources and since then we have allowed two of our better players - Friedel and Bentley - to leave.

Surely someone on the Trust must see that if the club is relegated - which I believe is highly likely - the value of their investment will crash through the floor. We only have to look at Charlton Athletic and Southampton - two clubs of similar size to the Rovers - to see what awaits a cash poor club in the Championship. I suspect the summer will see a major fire sale as the Trust try to recoup as much money as possible from the sale of players.

I must admit that I came away from Ewood Park today in a total state of depression. Not simply because we lost to a very good Villa side, but because I fail to see a future for the Rovers in the Premiership. I always felt that January was a month when the Trust could make a statement of intent by their activity in the transfer market and yet Sam has been starved of cash.

As for today's game I thought it was obviously the poorest performance since Sam's arrival and merely underlined the importance of the points we have allowed to slip away in recent weeks.

Robinson - Poor on crosses and positionallly not all that great. Friedel, Flowers, Gennoe, Arnold, Jones and Else are all goalkeepers that I rate more highly.

Ooijer - Thought he did OK today. Used his experience well.

Samba - Again, thought he did as well as could be expected considering that the midfield offered no protection.

Nelsen - Again, another decent performance.

Warnock - The weaklink at the back. It's rather worrying the number of goals that we are conceding from his area of the field.

Pedersen - He's been poor on the left but on the right he is totally wasted. I could see what Sam was after, getting Pedersen to swing the ball in from the right with his left foot. However, it didn't work and never looked like working.

Andrews - I saw him in League Two last season at Stanley and he didn't impress. He impresses even less in the Premiership.

Grella - Grabbi, Amoruso, Baggio - all experienced in the Italian game and all failed to impress in the Premiership. At the moment Grella looks like he will be added to the list. Hopefully he's still lacking fitness for at the moment he is dreadfully slow and not very accurate with his passing.

Dunn - Clearly not fit. I thought he was poor on Wednesday and again his passing and decision making wasn't at its best. I suspect his attempts to play through the pain barrier are affecting his performances.

Tugay - At 38 he remains our one midfield player who can open up a defence with his range of passing. Today he wasn't at his best and it begs the question of how long the club intend to rely on a 38 year old to carry the midfield.

Diouf - An impressive first appearance and will clearly be a major asset to the team. It will be interesting to see what position he finally settles in.

McCarthy - Has great skill but is still struggling fitness wise - as Sam admitted in the LT today.

Roberts - Lots of energy but his first touch is poor and he doesn't impose himself on defenders.

Santa Cruz - Having prevented him from being sold we must start with him in every game. He remains the one front man we have who can hold the ball up without falling over.

I believe that to have any hope of staying up we need to win six games and probably pick up a couple of draws. Looking at the fixtures and our squad I really am beginning to fear the worst. The away games at Hull, Fulham and Stoke will be vital as one will need to be won and victories will be needed against WHU, Spurs, Wigan, Portsmouth and WBA. As I say, I really do fear the worst.

Agree will all but 'Roberts doesn't impose himself on defenders' surely that's the one thing he does well?

[den]

Load of rubbish. He was out of position today.

Dunny's best performances in a rovers shirt came when he was played left wing in the championship - remember?

He's never done too much as a central midfielder.

[The Prof.]

I cant see any at all doing that Prof!!!!

Which makes you wonder why we are paying so many of them doesn't it! Desperate times. sell or sortout!

Dunny's best performances in a rovers shirt came when he was played left wing in the championship - remember?

He's never done too much as a central midfielder.

I thought he was played centrally for most of it?

[tony gale's mic]

Dunny's best performances in a rovers shirt came when he was played left wing in the championship - remember?

He's never done too much as a central midfielder.

I'd say the season we came up and he got an England call up playing from centre mid was better, plus it was at a higher level...besides Duff was still our left winger that season wasn't he?

[grizfoot]

I would have started RSC in place of Roberts but RSC was pretty ineffective in his 20 minutes run out. Nelsen and Samba were outstanding for the Rovers.

I have to disagree with you on these points.

RSC looked more likely to score than anyone when he came on. Crafted a decent shot that unfornately went wide and he was bursting in on goal in a very good position until he was hit across the face with the Villa defenders arm.

Nelsen had a very good game although I wouldn't call Samba's performance outstanding. Agbonlahor left him for dead on a couple of occassions with Samba commiting himself to early, the chance that Nelsen somehow managed to stop going over the line was all due to Samba pushing up and trying to snatch the ball. Also flet nervous everytime Samba was left one-on-one with Agbonlahor. On the whole though Samba did cope reasonable well but on an other day he could have easily cost us a couple of goals.

[BuckyRover]

I'd say the season we came up and he got an England call up playing from centre mid was better, plus it was at a higher level...besides Duff was still our left winger that season wasn't he?

His best postion is central midfielder IMO

philipl we didn't make Friedel make a save. The selection was completely wrong. You know I've been a fan of Sam from day one but if you can't acknowledge when he's been wrong and when our performances have been very poor then you end up coming off every bit as myopic as the blind Ince fans earlier.

Like I said earlier, I hope he learns from his glaring errors today.

Blind Ince fans. Love it.

We are starting to see the same under Sam as we saw under Ince.

You cannot polish a turd.