[Archived] Spurs Preview

[dingles staying down 4ever]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the linesman in the penalty incident. He was in the ideal position to decide and instantly changes his flag to the other hand and moves it behind him to indicate it was not a penalty. Mr Walton, who proved yesterday why he should not get another 12 month extension, was not at the best angle to judge his situation. Did he not consult his Assistant ref? No.

As for the ball on penalty spot - the penalty spots at Ewood are marked like a polo mint. I thought the actual spot was the hole so whether the ball was touching the white line is irrelevant. Could be wrong though.

As for the match itself, best to forget about it - just relieved about the result.

Is Roberts definitely out for the season?

[No Nay Never]

The penalty was debatable, I think if I was the referee with a split second to decide, I would have been pointing to the spot. Although I am suprised he didn't use his linesman??

The game itself was a very poor affair but three points was all that mattered. I have lost count of the number of times I have seen Rovers play sides off the park and come away with nothing at all.

[Fife Rover]

It was a penalty, he may have tried to move his arm in time, but didn't! Its unfortunate but it happens.

So where was the requred "deliberate intent"?

[The Prof.]

Don't care if we get 7 0-0 draws now. Will be glad to see the back of what has been a truly awful season. Getting over Ince will still take a while but some creativity is desperately needed to be bought in for next summer. Thought the team and tactics looked rubbish at KO. By half time I though we should have played the youth team. But hey since he came, Sam has made it a closed door at the back by and large and conserved our only creative players to nick a win in the last quarter. Could be a sign of outstanding management. At least Tugay and Dunnie are still on their feet. (Dunn looked sore when he came on).

Some points.

1. eerrrrr...... did Robinson start catching yesterday or was it my eyes? Being his main detractor on here I thought he was excellent - Albeit against an truly awful Mutli MILLION £ strikeforce! Credit where it's due.

2. McCarthy. Put him in the box and you'll get goals, always been useless out of it but must have service.

3. Lennon.. Must be me - thought he was outstanding and made Givet look terrible for 60 minutes.

4. Nelson was MoM.

5. To many injuries - whats going on?

6. Wish we'd sold Roque for £20m and banked the cash. Is he really injured?

However. Think we'll stay up and I think we've now bought enough time to re-organise from the Ince mess. Must get better next season though.

Oh - and how on earth was Jenas ever an England player?

[thenodrog]

1. I'd have been riled if we had been refused the penalty.

2. Nothing wrong with long ball football as long as it is not the only tactic! When it's mixed with good passing play, one touch moves and plenty of wide play it's just fine and can be devastating for the opposition but yesterday we got 80 solid minutes of it and if Palacios had not been sent off, if Roberts had not been injured and if Tugay and Dunne had not decided to take the match by the scruff of the neck we would not have scored in a month of Sundays. Our survival hopes rest a lot on those two staying at least half fit.

3. The ref was poor and his refusal to ensure that the ball was on the penalty spot even though his attention was drawn to it by almost the entire team was at best mystefying, likely incompetent in the extreme criminal. However the worst decision yesterday must have been the sending off of Portsmouths Glenn Johnson. His offence was to get what must have been a painful kick across both knees. Pathetic and incompetent people! As I have said frequently on here the Prem league is rich enough to import the worlds best referees and so it should. Half the bugggers that we get are hardly fit to ref in the local Sunday League.

4. Robinson has had his share of criticism but that save yesterday from Bent was right out of the top drawer and kept us in the game.

5. Was this the other side of the coin from the Man City debacle? I dunno but a word of warning......... We got lucky which is something that has been missing all season. But to play like that for the rest of the season could easily see us finish on 34 points!

Finally..........

6. Did anybody notice how a touch of divine intervention overruled the stupid referee and caused the wind to twice blow the ball back into the triangle for spurs corner kick after the ref had overuled 5000 BRFC fans in and around the Bburn End and the JW stand? From that moment on everything went our way!! Spooky or what? I suggest that we all get on our knees today folks and give thanks where it's due. I think the Spuds fans singing Glory, Glory Alleluijah in funereal timing must have p1ssed the Big Guy upstairs off no end!

[rover6]

3. Lennon.. Must be me - thought he was outstanding and made Givet look terrible for 60 minutes.

Some people can't accept how good he is. I think they're just being intentionally blind. The guy isn't perfect and probably inferior to Walcott but he's pretty damn good as wingers go - especially when confident. Then again, Duff wasn't perfect but obviously he was judged by different standards because he was a Blackburn player.

A lot of people have this chip on their shoulder about wingers who, interestingly, play for other teams. Which is why ludicrously people on this MB have dismissed Lennon and SWP as sheer pace and nothing else - as if they're nothing better than Keith Gillespie. I'd love either of those guys in the Blackburn team.

[thenodrog]

3. Lennon.. Must be me - thought he was outstanding and made Givet look terrible for 60 minutes.

Eh? What were you watching? Lennon was absolutely rank bad bloody awful! Their worst player by some distance imo. I can hardly rem him putting in one dangerous cross or shot on goal. Red boots do not make a good player you know.

[Iceman]

Im going to agree with Gordon. Lennon was awful, and by no means did he destroy Givet. In fact he didnt do much in the game. 3 points is 3 points imo, and all this moaning is just silly. what happened yesterday is irrelevant in terms of performance, as we are heading in the right direction. We at a stage in the season, where points are more important than performance. We have played games where we were excellent but got nothing for it. Today should have been a time to enjoy the win, yet as usual we still moaning.

[mhead]

A reprise of some good posts

- the Linesman had easily the best view of the 'penalty' and his technical reaction was to signal the ref-NO PENALTY(by his flag and stance)

-yesterday taught Sam the sterility of his tactics by going back to Souey's midfield(probably because NOBODY is fully fit apart from Andrews!)

- can we move on from 34 points apart from our last match? We will see.

Our Beattie scored another beaut yesterday and would have been a Relegation bargain for us(not needed samba up front yesterday).We will need to be the 12th man at Stoke unless Beatts freezes when he sees the 10 Blue 'n White shirts.

And it will be 30 years plus 5 days by then.

[gumboots]

Lennon was quick but otheriwse ineffective. My question about the penalty was woiuld the ref have given them it if we'd been playing the other way round and the offence had occured at the Blackburn end and I don't think he would. Yes, i did see the wind blow the ball back into the corner, and I don't care who played well or badly or who deserved what. WE WON and got the 3 points we needed before going to Anfiled next week. The records won't show that the penalty was perhaps debatable, that the sending off was soft, that we were rubbish and looked more like a relegation team than those who are about to be relegated like the Boro, they'll just show Rovers2- Spurs1 and 3 points to us.

This is not the time for nice pretty football, or for recriminations against our team, our manager's tactics or anything else. It's time for YES,WE WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[RovertheHill]

One or two people on here need to read the laws of the game. Here's a link

Specifically look at page 33 and the part about handling the ball deliberately

It's funny the response on here to the performance. Last week I was saying to another fan how well I thought we'd played against West Ham and how it'd been perhaps the first exciting match at Ewood for a while. Their response was that they'd rather we played crap and won!

As for Lennon - I thought he was okay for about 10 minutes. What he did do though is tie up 2 of our players whenever they got the ball on that side because we were so worried about his pace. It would be nice to have someone that instilled that kind of fear in the opposition and by doing so created space for other players.

Redknapp fuming on TV makes me laugh. We're moaning because our bargain basement and patched up team wasn't up to scratch. How must Spurs fans feel after that collapse when 100-odd million has been spent on it

[Eddie]

Was it a penalty? I dozed through MOTD so don't know what was shown. From where I sit, JW upper, level with the edge of the BBE penalty area, I thought it was a penalty and one I would have expected, as would thousands of others, to be given in Rovers favour at the other end. I didn't notice the other incidents people refer to, it seems there are several missed "penalty" decisions in every game, which I think is more about the support than the referees.

I've watched Eddie's video clip and my view from that would be this. The ball hit Givet's hand and he only pulled his arm away afterwards plus this clearly gave Rovers an advantage so the ref was going to give a penalty. I can't see where the arguement is on this one. There wasn't a fan at Ewood yesterday who wouldn't have been screaming blue murder if that hadn't been given our way.

Totally agree.

So where was the requred "deliberate intent"?

Deliberate intent isn't required if you are making yourself bigger, which by having an arm out by his side is what Givet unfortunately was doing.

1. I'd have been riled if we had been refused the penalty.

My god are we agreeing on something?

Some people can't accept how good he is. I think they're just being intentionally blind. The guy isn't perfect and probably inferior to Walcott but he's pretty damn good as wingers go - especially when confident. Then again, Duff wasn't perfect but obviously he was judged by different standards because he was a Blackburn player.

A lot of people have this chip on their shoulder about wingers who, interestingly, play for other teams. Which is why ludicrously people on this MB have dismissed Lennon and SWP as sheer pace and nothing else - as if they're nothing better than Keith Gillespie. I'd love either of those guys in the Blackburn team.

I agree that Lennon was a lot better than people on here are giving him credit for. His pace causes us trouble for much of the match and they could easily have scored some goals from his play. He's not the greatest player on earth, but you can guarantee that he will create at least one thing in every match which is more than can be said for a lot of players. His crossing lets him down and he'll waste the ball in good positions, but he gets into good positions so often as a result of his pace that he only needs to get it right a small fraction of the time compared to slower players (like Bentley for example). He was probably their main attacking threat yesterday and was one of the reasons we always looked vulnerable when they got the ball and had the chance to run at us.

[Parsonblue]

Maybe he will come on but I suspect that he won't be used.

I still think that Villaneuva on the bench is a PR stunt by Allardyce - mainly for the fans. It seems to indicate that he values skilful play - which he doesn't.

Sam made it quite clear on Thursday night that at the moment Carlos doesn't have the legs for the Premier League. He has proved it every time he has played at that level and also when he has played for the Reserves. Against the Grimsby Town's of this world he looks great but has failed to impress against top flight teams. Sam got it spot on yesterday by moving Samba up front and unsettling the Spurs defence. Somehow, I couldn't see Carlos getting much change out of King or Woodgate. It was when the ball was played up front in the air that the centre-backs and goalkeeper looked unsettled.

[only2garners]

Was it a penalty? I dozed through MOTD so don't know what was shown.

Excellent choice Paul - I wish I had. I know we have to expect less interest from the media than the big clubs but last night's show set new levels. The commentator noted during the highlights that at the very least the penalty was contentious. After the game the managers' interviews concentrated solely on the sending off despite the fact that we know Sam also made a point about the penalty - selective editing. Either Harry wasn't asked about the penalty or the BBC decided not to show his response - either incompetence or selective editing. Messrs Hansen and Lawrenson then dissected the second booking and sending off in depth, eventually giving the impression that it wasn't even a foul. No comment on the penalty at all.

[Manchester Blue]

Deliberate intent isn't required if you are making yourself bigger, which by having an arm out by his side is what Givet unfortunately was doing.

Where in the rules does it say anything about making yourself bigger?

[dave birch]

Deliberate intent isn't required if you are making yourself bigger, which by having an arm out by his side is what Givet unfortunately was doing.

Where should his arm be, Out by his head, his arse?

Deliberate intent means going for the ball.

Look at the footage, he was withdrawing his arm, he was not sticking it out to stop the ball, he was not making himself "bigger"".

He was not intentionally going for the ball, full ###### stop.

[Iceman]

I havent checked the rules again, but it use to be ball to hand: NO penalty. Hand to ball: PENALTY! The fact that Corluka in the 1st half, also had a ball to hand/arm incident but wasnt given made the decision against us a tough one to give.

[thenodrog]

After the game the managers' interviews concentrated solely on the sending off despite the fact that we know Sam also made a point about the penalty - selective editing. Either Harry wasn't asked about the penalty or the BBC decided not to show his response - either incompetence or selective editing. Messrs Hansen and Lawrenson then dissected the second booking and sending off in depth, eventually giving the impression that it wasn't even a foul. No comment on the penalty at all.

Nope Arry simply ignored the question! 23 seconds into this link.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/e...rem/7972756.stm

Bloody hilarious interview all round! Old 'Should have, would have could have?' Arry never even looked the interviewer in the eye.

[thenodrog]

I must say I see a lot of penalties given for handball but very very few of em are deliberate. So where does that leave the argument?

[jim mk2]

Eh? What were you watching? Lennon was absolutely rank bad bloody awful! Their worst player by some distance imo. I can hardly rem him putting in one dangerous cross or shot on goal. Red boots do not make a good player you know.

And which game were YOU watching ? Lennon outmanoeuvred and skinned Givet at will in the first half and his cross was handled by Givet for the penalty. Not a brilliant crosser but a very dangerous player IMO whom as I have stated before we should have signed as part of the Bentley deal.

Less than 24 hours after that match I still don't know how we won. Perhaps him upstairs is smiling on the good guys at last.

I notice MoD didn't show Diouf's (or was its McCarthy?) header that should given Rovers the lead after about 15 mins.

[Eddie]

It was Diouf's header.

[thenodrog]

And which game were YOU watching ? Lennon outmanoeuvred and skinned Givet at will in the first half and his cross was handled by Givet for the penalty. Not a brilliant crosser but a very dangerous player IMO whom as I have stated before we should have signed as part of the Bentley deal.

Less than 24 hours after that match I still don't know how we won. Perhaps him upstairs is smiling on the good guys at last.

I notice MoD didn't show Diouf's (or was its McCarthy?) header that should given Rovers the lead after about 15 mins.

Thats obviously why they took him off then.

btw Jimski... already mentioned the Big Man here.................. Point 6.

http://www.brfcs.co.uk/mb/index.php?s=&amp...st&p=745172

[jim mk2]

Thats obviously why they took him off then.

Probably tactical but you're wrong about Lennon. Most fans would be over the moon if we signed him.

[Eddie]

Where should his arm be, Out by his head, his arse?

Deliberate intent means going for the ball.

Look at the footage, he was withdrawing his arm, he was not sticking it out to stop the ball, he was not making himself "bigger"".

He was not intentionally going for the ball, full ###### stop.

He didn't withdraw his arm one jot until the ball hit his hand. As I said, it was unfortunate, but his hand was out at his side and it stopped a potentially dangerous ball going across our box, I'd scream for it had it been at the other end and I'd expect it to be given. As to where his arm should be, well there isn't much you can do, but unfortunately when you square up and have your arms out at the side you are going to be in trouble if a ball hits your hand.

[thenodrog]

Probably tactical but you're wrong about Lennon. Most fans would be over the moon if we signed him.

I've never said Lennon is crap! I said he was yesterday. Every player has good and bad games, usually depending on their opponents. Rem Givet is some player and with Warnock doubling up Lennon was always going to be up against it. Arry should have had him switching wings.