[Archived] West Ham Preview

[moerpho]

Mixed feelings today - gutted we didn't win and at the same time extremely happy with the way Rovers played. Ref was horrible at times - got the feeling they absolutely didn't want us to win. West Ham goal should never EVER have been allowed. And even though I think Allardyce is doing great for us, I kept thinking "why oh why didn't you bring on Tugay for Moko in the final 10 minutes??!?". BUT.....for the rest of the season: Keep playing Roberts & McCarthy and use Cruz as a supersub. We look a different (and more dangerous) team with those two up front. Oh yeah......and kick the hapless Robinson and put Brown in goal!

[brfc4ever]

Great game today. But this is the kind of games You should get 3 points from

Shots 19-6 ! On target 13-2 !!

[Presty On Tour]

Really could have done with the 3 points the performance deserved. Desperate for LeArse to win now.

[Bobby G]

Brilliant in the number of times we had chances and most of them were on target, but if it wasnt for Lucash Neills magnificent blocking and defending as well as some lax finishing from us we would have scored 4 or 5 goals.

Costly in that all our rivals bar Boro picked up points, which means we are now worse off than before the start of play and this was one of our winnable matches.

Spurs now is a must win, and I would have thought this game was far more winnable considering their injuries.

[kandi]

Why u wanting a boro equaliser, ive got them to go down.

Still another point picked up, where the hell is rsc when you need him, hindsight should have been sold in jan.

And where the hell was Benni when you need him?He was on the pitch for the full game,Roberts also!

[Pinch]

Still another point picked up, where the hell is rsc when you need him, hindsight should have been sold in jan.

I was thinking the same. Stoke's goals have been coming from: Beattie, Shawcross, Fuller.....no 15M pound striker amongst that lot. We should have realised that RSC would be needed, and although he's a hell of a player when fit, that his knees might flare up. I hate hindsight.

[Lathund]

We were very impressive today, especially in the second half, in all aspects but one; finishing. We were sloppy inside their box, but did everything right outside of it. I especially like how we won every 50/50 ball, and got to almost all of their clearances. That was what we did when we were at our best under Hughes. Neill and a couple of other West Ham players were very good, especially putting in some excellent blocks. But their midfield was very poor, nonexistent in the second half.

As for the Rovers players, McCarthy didn't have quite the impact he should've. Some nice moves, such as a cross which Diouf should've converted, but a bit too uninvolved. Wasn't awful, but he's the one Rovers player I wasn't all that happy with. Other than that I thought the performances overall were good.

But sadly, despite a very good perfomance that was two points lost. Our poor finishing and the linesman resulted in that (Although tbf we should be greatful for not conceding a penalty when Samba tried to rip Dyer's shirt off, so most of the blame should go to our lack of a lethal touch).

[Pinch]

And where the hell was Benni when you need him?He was on the pitch for the full game,Roberts also!

True, but who've we got to replace either of them with these days? RSC-no, Derbs - no, Carlos -umm, apparently not.

[Bobby G]

Today was a critical point in the season where we could have made a gap with Boro, and not let Stoke overtake us.

Results mean that teams like Stoke and Pompey need 3 wins to break 40 points and they have to find them from 8 games. Very achievable.

I think we need 4 wins from the rest of our matches to survive. Cant see anything less sufficing.

[Rovermatt]

Disappointing result but a loss would have been disastrous. We need Newcastle to lose now.

[Iceman]

What do our strikers do in training? Excellent performance, but again our finishing was woeful. 1 point is not bad, with Boro losing we at least now 4 points ahead of them. Arsenal to hopefully now beat Newcastle.

[LeChuck]

That second half was the best I've seen us play in a long, long time. If that's the kind of football Sam wants to bring to Ewood then I'm glad he's here!

What impressed me most was the fluidity of the forward line, I'm not even sure I could put a formation down on paper with Diouf, Pedersen and McCarthy in because they seemed to alternate so often.

Just a shame we didn't get the 3 points, we thoroughly deserved to do so. Actually, in the end we're kind of lucky to get a point as it was a definite penalty when Samba dragged Dyer to the ground.

[imy9]

Our next game against Spurs at home is VITAL (they all are), as if as expected Newcastle lost today against Arsenal, then they play Chelsea, we can realistically create a 5 point cushion between the bottom 3 and us, West Ham are our bogey side and we rarley beat them so a point can be seen as a bonus, I am not worried as our away record is excellent under Sam.

[Guest Kamy100]

Second half was much better, mainly becuase the movement was better with diouf and morten intercharging well. There were a lot of high balls in the box but nothing really fell to our strikers, I can only remember Green having to make one save in the second half. I guess what we now see at Ewood is 'percentage' football. If Newcastle lose to Arsenal we will be 2 points clear of relegation zone (we started the day one point clear).

My big worry is that we are not winning our home games.

[Plastic Head]

Oh dear.

A great chance to get an invaluable 3 points but poor defending against a lacklustre and injury hit West Ham might signal the end.

But lets face it, out method of attack was basically to create a series of scrambles from long throws. That was it.

Corners and free-kicks were woeful and the chances of us creating a goal from open play was virtually nil. Not to say we didn't deserve a win but we don't have players with the ability to create a yard to get a decent shot away and that led to far too many blocked shots. Passing is kept to the absolute minimum as we don't have players capable of stringing a decent move together.

Slightly odds on for relegation again i'm afraid.

As for the Hammers I suppose they will be happy with a point from that weak effort.

WEST HAM FANS ARRIVE AT EWOOD.

Robinson. Managed a save. Well done Robbo.

Givet. Solid. Looks too much like Basil Rathbone to me. Keep expecting him to stand on the ball and Gordon Strachan to appear. OOOOOh the bad memories just won't go away.

Ooijer. Slow.

Nelsen. Static for the goal.

Samba. All action dislay MOTM.

Warnock. Did OK. Battled on.

Mokoena. What do you expect?

Pedersen. Can surely only be in the team for his throws. Woeful at everything else.

Diouf. Can't beat his man (or take corners).

McCarthy. Totally ineffective.

Roberts. If he could play football would be a good player.

Sub Andrews. A Miracle......! Better than Ooijer.

Allardyce. Clearly realises the awfullness of our playing resources in the middle of the park and is trying to get all the points he can bypassing midfield. Could have used a sub though, maybe Dunny or Carlos might have just had that extra bit around the box.

If we don't go this year we must be favourites to go next??

[Paul]

For spells in the second half I was reminded of VE day as Rovers laid seige to the Hammers goal for 30 minutes before running out of steam. Sadly though we lack any player with the creativity to make a clear cut chance or give the opposing keeper soemthing to do. I can't fault the players attitude, determination or desire to win the ball and this was a better perfomance than we've seen for sometime. We deserved a win simply for the all out effort that was put into the match. Shame it's no substitute for skill.

We don't have a midfield so the only option is get the ball in the opposition box as often as possible, mainly from MGP's throws it seemed. Roberts and Warnock had the chances to win this and blazed them high and wide, McCarthy was missing in action. Defensively, offside or not, we let WHU walk through us for their goal, awful.

It was good to watch and to see the effort we put in, just worried about our ability to create real goal scoring chances from all that pressure. Green didn't have a save to make in 90 minutes. We got another point towards the 40 we need so it's a positive outcome. Three wins should do it and I think they will come against Stoke, Pompey and Wigan

[Pinch]

Barcodes have made it to HT without conceding. They've missed a penalty as well. We don't need them picking up any points from this match. Hopefully l'Arse can stick the fork in 'em in the second half.

[Fraserkirky]

Barcodes have made it to HT without conceding. They've missed a penalty as well. We don't need them picking up any points from this match. Hopefully l'Arse can stick the fork in 'em in the second half.

Desperate for a arsenal win watching this one.

Arshavin is scary good, hope he bangs one in, with newcastle's up coming fixtures I really fancy them and boro going down!

[RevidgeBlue]

Very poor first half, very good second half - why the hell can't we put in a 90 minute shift in the position we're in?

Doubtful whether a point today will be good enough in the final analysis - I feel if we fail to beat Spurs we're in very serious trouble.

Samba was absolutely outstanding today - at both ends of the pitch. Givet and Diouff were also excellent. Andrews did very well when he came on, the Axe cemented his reputation as one of our worst ever top flight players and I thought Benni's attitude and sharpness were very disappointing for much of the game.

As I've commented for a while, we don't look capable of winning our home games. If we're to survive we might have to nick wins at Citeh and Stoke.

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

Just got back. It's been a long time since we played that well, I'm baffled how West Ham kept us out.

Apart from the first half chance which McCarthy blasted over, we didn't have any clear cut shooting opportunities and we were just feeding off scraps. West Ham did really well to block pretty much everything we threw at them.

When Andrews was coming on to play RB I feared the worst, but he was fine there, consistently found himself space and rifled in a good goal, better than his West Brom one in my opinion.

I would have taken a point before this game and the somewhat unexpected wins at Fulham and Hull mean that we have a good cushion. 9 points and we should be there.

[Blue blood]

Just got back from the game, very heartened by the performance, utterly gutted we didn't get the three points, especially with stoke, pompey and spurs all winning.

To me the team looked much more like a team and the work ethic was tremendous.

The defence for the most part was solid - I thought our full backs in particular were excellent. Ooijer had a very good game even though he isn't the fastest he coped well with his man, and got forward well too, whilst Givet was commitment personified and looks, to use a cliche, the real deal - we must sign him. Samba and Nelsen both looked solid too, whilst Samba caused problems going forwards.

Midfield - Diouf corners aside looked very good, whilst Mokoena did his job and disrupted their attacks. Warnock was his all energy self and also played well. As a cm pairing they didn't offer too many telling passes, but they worked hard and kept the ball moving, so can't really complain. Thought Peds seemed to duck out of a few challenges, although offensively he seemed more dangerous. Hopefully he can get his old workrate back as well. His long range throws were new to me - and a valuable asset - I'm suprised it wasn't used more often prior Sam.

Up front, Benni and Roberts worked hard and did well, but seemed to be having a bit of an off day. If either one was on top form they would've buried the amount of chances we had. Nevertheless I thought they both looked threatening and linked up well, which is also encouraging.

Was really suprised to see Ooijer replaced at half time, but credit to Andrews who came on and got a very well taken goal. His extra attacking impetus almost made the difference in the second half. No complaints with the lad today.

A couple of thoughts away from the first 11.

1) We have NO options. With grella and santa injured and Wham on the ropes, we had no fresh legs who'd make a discernable difference to come on and give us that something extra to help get the three pts. Not sure it was a Dunn type of game as Wham were quite pacy and his lack of pace may well have hindered the side rather than add to it. Even so, Dunn aside, not having any options is pretty depressing.

2) The ref was dire. Thought we should have had a penalty for handball in the second half, whilst there were some other shocking decisions - the Roberts/Neill tussle that Neill got a free kick for (Roberts would've probably messed up the potential 1-on-1 but still) and the corner when Green took it behind the line which wasn't given.

Overall despite being heartened by a good performance, I'm very disappointed that we didn't take this golden opportunity for three points.

[DE.]

Oh dear.

A great chance to get an invaluable 3 points but poor defending against a lacklustre and injury hit West Ham might signal the end.

Slightly odds on for relegation again i'm afraid.

Are you joking? You'd have us as odds on for relegation over Newcastle, Boro and WBA? I don't think so. We'll survive IMO by virtue of those 3 plus possibly Stoke being worse than us by the end of the season.

On the other hand, I am getting fed up of seeing us deserve to win games (Sunderland, Boro, Bolton, West Ham) and fail to do so. IF we go down the reason will be because we lack the ability to score goals, not because we play terrible football. As today's second half shows, we can play some brilliant stuff... we just lack the ability to put ball into net on a regular basis. Sigh. Onto the next game.

[1864roverite]

Well fellow Rovers fans, the headline that so many of us supporters never thought we would ever see was so nearly upon us. I am talking about something like this.....

KEITH ANDREWS POINTS ROVERS TO SAFETY.....or something like it

I cant help feeling that today will give Rovers fans something to worry about as we head into April, the loss of 2 points may in the end prove a costly result as we strive to banish the thoughts of relegation and get ready to look forward to our summer holidays and a summer of respite from all things football.

Rovers set off like they meant business however we clearly had something missing from the make up of our team. I think considering our injury list and current playing staff, the team was set out as best it could be. 4-4-2 was certainly the way forward but I think the set up of the team was more of a safety first thing, employing The Axe and Warnock in the centre midfield slots.

Even though for 37 minutes Rovers were the better team, there was never any end product. Too many stray passes, not enough impetus, players not really giving 100%, too many moaners and of course some bad/poor refereeing decisions coupled with an inept linesman.

As Rovers strived for an opener we all knew what was coming. A wham goal against the run of play set panic amongst the Rovers faithful whilst the girlyboys from wham raised a voice from the Darwen End. I dont know who to blame for Nobles cross shot, be it the ref, the linesman, the defence who backed off at will, Ooijer, Tugay or Andrews, or maybe it was Shearer ! In fact I will lay the blame firmly at the feet of the Rovers midfield as they moved too far forward leaving Givet exposed with 2 players moving forward.

Sucker punch or what ? I would love to know the possession stats up to that point as Rovers certainly had more of the ball, Wham play some neat football but Rovers did dominate up until the games opening goal.

After a half time brew,the game resumed with Andrews replacing Ooijer, I mean he had been really awful in the first 45 minutes, his heart clearly in Holland as he prepares to move back across the North Sea to the land of daffodils and tulips, windmills, dykes and prostitutes. Playing at RIGHT BACK, I wondered if he had gotten confused with The Axe and gone to the wrong position, anyhow whatever he thought, good old Keith got up in a Rovers attack and as the ball zinged across the box there he was slamming the ball in the back of the net to bring Rovers level. 1-1 game on and Rovers attacking at will, surely it was only going to be a matter of time before our hoodoo is buried and Rovers take the lead.

I can only describe the minutes between the 59th and 92nd as a bombardment of the Blackburn End goal because that is what it was. Throw - ins rained down into the goal area, Rovers tried, Rovers hurried and Rovers just did not get the bounce of the ball as the ball continued to richochet around the box. I lost count of the corners we had but clearly, our crossing was so poor we would have to rely on MGP and his wonder throw to Samba, who I may add emerged with sterling credit for his display.

Despite all of this, Rovers lacked some control, they needed a player who could think rationally and pick out the right pass. Today, the two players who might just have fitted that role remained on the bench, Mssrs Dunn and Tugay were the players who might just have unlocked that defence as we battered the southern monkeys.

The referee didnt help things with his inconsistent display. The lino got his decisions for the 2 offside goals right but failed to pick up on the wham player in an offside position as they scored.

At the final whistle, all eyes were on the jumbotron, ears to the radios and phones in getting an update for the other results. News wasnt good as Stoke win, Pompy win, Fulham hammer United, Spurs do Chelsea whilst the Arsenal are a late kick off at the home of Barcode United. Rovers find themselves one spot above the bottom 3 and can find themselves even furhter down the table should the barcodes pull of a win.

It does not make for a happy Saturday night.

The negatives for me today were both McCarthy and Roberts floundering against Lucash and a young lad Tomkins, MGP may be able to throw a ball but his crossing is woeful. The corners from Diouf were crap whilst some of the lacklustre efforts of minutes 38-45 were clearly evident of players leaving the club in the close season. I am talking about Ooijer, Roberts and The Axe. Roberts spent more time whining at the lino.

The positives Samba was awesome and if the players had his heart we wouldnt ind ourselves struggling. Warnock was all action and is my MOTM, Nelsen led by example.

So then, as I watch the Palace v Reading dross, clearly not wanting to entertain any thoughts of having to play these two clubs next season, I see that the barcodes are 3-1 down to the Arse with 20 minutes to go. My beer is cooling in the fridge and I am now off for a long head clearing walk with the dog.

Wham are a team that I despise and so dearly wish to give a really good spanking AND they also play in claret and blue, Today should have been that day, I do however feel that it may well be bad news for Rovers in that we may never get the chance to bury the hoodoo UNLESS of course we draw them in a cup competition.

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

Put it this way, barring a miraculous Newcastle comeback, we are 2 points above the relegation zone. We started off 1 point above it.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

One point is better than nowt but you cant help but feel its two points dropped yet again.....we dominated the game but Rovers are so,so frustrating at home when it comes to finishing teams off this season.Samba was my MOTM by a mile and I hope to good Diouf NEVER takes another corner again for Rovers!

My worry is that Spuds at home will be a damn sight harder than today