[Archived] Liverpool Preview

[LDRover]

Wish I'd known we weren't going to bother before I parted with over 100 quid for tickets that's for sure.

All those comfortable with the defeat should also remember that Stoke have took two points from Liverpool this season with their effort and application. Today we had neither of those attributes and to be honest, that's the least one should expect.

[Stonesrick]

Wish I'd known we weren't going to bother before I parted with over 100 quid for tickets that's for sure.

I have already decided that if we do stay up that I will not spend around £40 on an away match again at Man U, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and maybe Citeh next season.

It is no longer a level playing field so what's the point?

I will go to Wigan, Bolton and other clubs where we at least have a chance of competing.

The gap is getting wider and wider!

[Mozzer]

get a grip people..ok we lost 4-0 and it could have been anything but this game wont define weather we stay up or not..

the team we had out shows we are struggling with injuries so people stop going on as if its the end of the world...

as for the game itself-

keith andrews is not a right back-maybe zurab should of started with ooijer at right back.

paul robinson kept the score down-im growing more confident in him

i think the only good thing to come out today was the three subs-

grella actually looked quite solid in midfield and when he came on there wasnt that big of a gap in midfield..

villaneuva in my opinion should be given a chance-he looked decent coming on , looking to create things and run at people...

doran-altho he lost the ball a few times-he surely does have something about him-i was impressed how when he had the ball he was running at players or trying to...

on to stoke-where its more realistic we will get something and hopefully have most our players back

[Parsonblue]

When Stoke and Fulham went to Anfield and left with a point they didn't face a Liverpool team who played like they did today. Nor did they go with a patched up team. Make no mistake today was bad. But I must be honest and say that I felt more disappointed coming back from Portsmouth, Spurs, Sunderland and Middlesbrough this season as those were games I felt we could and should have done better in.

There is absolutely no way that the players we have fit at the moment can possibly live with a Liverpool team that played as well as they did today. That's not defeatist it's just a fact of life. If you allow three transfer windows to pass without significantly stengthening your squad results like today are going happen. If we continue to ignore the fact that we have a small squad and that there are players in it who are not up to the job then results like this will happen more frequently.

Yes we were very poor today in all departments but Liverpool were excellent. The gap between the two squads is huge. To have any hope of getting something from these games you need to have everyone fit and everyone playing to their maximum.

Nor do I blame today on Sam. He has inherited a very small squad of players and had to allow Derbyshire to leave before he could bring anyone in. Our stagnant transfer policy has resulted in us having to use a player in midfield who is unable to train because of injury and is required to have pain killing injections just to get him as far as the bench. Yet even though he is not anywhere near being fit he is still regarded as a better option than other midfield players in the squad.

The fact that Keith Andrews has continued to play at right-back shows just how stretched we are and underlines the need to get Ooijer signed up for next season as soon as possible.

I left Anfield today thrilled by the quality of football I had seen from the home side. No matter how bad we were it was enjoyable to watch Liverpool knock the ball around with such confidence and skill. Our vital games are still to come and hopefully we will be able to put out a stronger side and those players will hopefully play to the maximum of their ability.

However, in the long run unless we can bring new players in for next season we will simply be postponing the inevitable even if we dodge the relegation bullet this season. The simple fact is that our squad has been in decline for almost two seasons now and this group of players is not going to get any better. We need new blood if next season is going to be something better than fighting to finish fourth from bottom.

[mellison24]

When Stoke and Fulham went to Anfield and left with a point they didn't face a Liverpool team who played like they did today. Nor did they go with a patched up team. Make no mistake today was bad. But I must be honest and say that I felt more disappointed coming back from Portsmouth, Spurs, Sunderland and Middlesbrough this season as those were games I felt we could and should have done better in.

There is absolutely no way that the players we have fit at the moment can possibly live with a Liverpool team that played as well as they did today. That's not defeatist it's just a fact of life. If you allow three transfer windows to pass without significantly stengthening your squad results like today are going happen. If we continue to ignore the fact that we have a small squad and that there are players in it who are not up to the job then results like this will happen more frequently.

Yes we were very poor today in all departments but Liverpool were excellent. The gap between the two squads is huge. To have any hope of getting something from these games you need to have everyone fit and everyone playing to their maximum.

Nor do I blame today on Sam. He has inherited a very small squad of players and had to allow Derbyshire to leave before he could bring anyone in. Our stagnant transfer policy has resulted in us having to use a player in midfield who is unable to train because of injury and is required to have pain killing injections just to get him as far as the bench. Yet even though he is not anywhere near being fit he is still regarded as a better option than other midfield players in the squad.

The fact that Keith Andrews has continued to play at right-back shows just how stretched we are and underlines the need to get Ooijer signed up for next season as soon as possible.

I left Anfield today thrilled by the quality of football I had seen from the home side. No matter how bad we were it was enjoyable to watch Liverpool knock the ball around with such confidence and skill. Our vital games are still to come and hopefully we will be able to put out a stronger side and those players will hopefully play to the maximum of their ability.

However, in the long run unless we can bring new players in for next season we will simply be postponing the inevitable even if we dodge the relegation bullet this season. The simple fact is that our squad has been in decline for almost two seasons now and this group of players is not going to get any better. We need new blood if next season is going to be something better than fighting to finish fourth from bottom.

Exactly the attitude we all should have. Good post mate!

[RovertheHill]

There is never going to be a sense of perspective after a performance like that. However, look at our season. We have had to put up with Paul Ince for nearly half of it. We have signed Keith Andrews and he's played nearly every game. Benni got fat. Roque wanted to go and then got a touch of the Andertons. Reid came back, wasn't the same and then got injured again, Grella and Dunn couldn't string 2 matches together, Tugay finally got old, Robinson is no Friedel, we appear to have no midfield and we never properly sorted out the right wing position. We have had to put up with abject sh*te most of the time at Ewood and I'm not just talking about the refs. We have been battered by the top 4 teams, we have lost to lower league opposition and we have had, imho, the worst season since we were relegated. And yet the fact is that we are 2 wins off 10th place and 3 wins and a draw off 7th. Now you could argue we are two defeats off relegation as well, and there are plenty that will. But I prefer to look at the positive. So assuming that we stay up, we make some changes over the summer - like get a midfield - and we can have a go at that top 10 finish again.

[Paul]

Parson Blue has said everything I was going to say so I won't go over that. I do have two comments though.

This is what the PL has become? A one-sided procession in which the majority of clubs no longer compete, some of them, Rovers included, have started to pick and chose the games which they try to win. Today cost me £114 in tickets alone. I won't be going next year.

The gulf between the sides was enormous. I think we will stay up, then we need at least 10 players. I don't think we have the funds for that but if it doesn't happen we may just be postponing the inevitable.

I'm looking forward to Stoke, we will see a game that matters, is competitive and we can win.

[AlanK]

It was never that bad under Ince.

Have you forgotten 3 points out of 30 already? It was a bloody nightmare under Ince.

[AlanK]

Oh hello, finally crawled out from under your stone have you

:D

Rover6 sets himself up a kipper. I didn`t see the game but I`m going to lecture you on it!!!!!!!!

[DE.]

Wow, didn't really understand the frailty of the squad until it was just shown on MOTD. It's amazing we didn't lose by more. Robinson appears to have had a good game (which says a lot considering the scoreline) and Liverpool's goals were really, really good.

I've also heard from a number of Geordies (deluded as they are) that Stoke were no where near as good as they'd feared and they feel a team with better quality could definately beat them at home. I'm quietly confident that with enough players back next week we'll secure a win over Stoke, and if we do get that win I think we'll be okay.

[AlanK]

After Agger`s goal, as good as it was, Motson said " what a relief ". How blatantly biased can you get? The guy is a jibbering idiot.

[tashor]

I have already decided that if we do stay up that I will not spend around £40 on an away match again at Man U, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and maybe Citeh next season.

It is no longer a level playing field so what's the point?

I will go to Wigan, Bolton and other clubs where we at least have a chance of competing.

The gap is getting wider and wider!

This post shows why clubs playing in the champions! league need to be kicked out of the domestic premiership. Choose. One or t'other. Been sayin' this for years. Funny thing is EUWAFER seem to be saying the same thing through that pathetic X froggo player who is now on the admin gravy train. The top clubs, financed by the chumpions league do not have to worry about injuries or suspensions as they can use the millions from DER CHIMPIONS to pay for squads of international superstars in the same way that royalty in the past payed for whipping boys to take the floggings of their maladjusted betters. At the same time the other eurogravytrain clubs whinge 'cos they don't get the sky millions of their english premiership rivals.

Funny thing is relegation and the visceral trips to PNE/B'poo/Dingles have an esoteric charm

[bazza]

Very embarrassed at the way we were rolled over but I think Sam got it right.

We have a horrendous injury list. Reid and Emerton out for the season. Roberts,MGP,RSC are injured. Dunn and Grella are returning from injury delicately. Diouf and McCarthy rested to be ready for the more realistically winnable Stoke game.

This was like a practice game for the Rovers where the result didn't matter.(We all knew there was no chance of even a point today). David Dunn who hasn't trained for a long time because of injury had a good session without harming himself further.

Grella and VN looked very good when they came on.

Look forward to Stoke where the team should include Benni, Grella, RSC and maybe Dunny. I think we'll see a different performance.

[Hughesy]

Our team today was weak - we were missing Diouf, Pedersen, Roque, Emerton, Reid, Roberts all out injured or ill. 6 First team players!!

We then had Dunn & Grella only 70% fit. You cannot compete with Liverpool/ a squad of mutli million £ players with that many out injured.

I expected nothing, we got nothing. Bigger fish to fry next week, so why risk injuries to key players.

[DE.]

Our injury list is ridiculous. Half of the first team squad out injured... with two others plating at just over half fitness. I hope Sam addresses whatever problem we have in the summer, because a squad of our size just can't cope with such heavy casaulties, as today's result shows.

[rover6]

You want to remember that quote when you're pushing the next unseen, untried youngster. Treacy was a star at the ROI under 21's, according to you wasn't he? He was the outstanding performer for the reserves according to your good self as well.

Den, to borrow your smug self-satisfaction for a second, "you want to remember about writing off Villaneuva when he's not had a real chance in his best position - especially after what was a useful cameo today." (Strictly speaking this smugness lacks logic because a cameo means very little but as you tend to eschew logic in sniping about youth players, I follow).

You've got in for youth/reserve football. Being balanced on this issue is completely beyond you. And I also get the feeling that you intentionally misinterpret my points so that you can trash young players - whilst you keep strangely quiet about the insipidity of experienced players like Gamst, Mokoena and so on.

Treacy WAS the star of ROI U21. He WAS the star of our reserve side. THE GOD himself, Mark Hughes, picked the guy to play for the firsts when he was just 16/17. He had some promise. He deserved the promotion. However, he hasn't built on that early promise, so it is right that he is ditched after what has been more than a fair hearing at first team level.

I will continue to advocate "unseen, untried" youngsters getting first team exposure because in the long-run, it is the ONLY way Blackburn Rovers, small town club, can compete at a decent standard. Any youngster who puts in consistently good reserve campaigns and gains international honours and plays in the same position as a underperforming regular DESERVES a chance at the top.

Not all will make it. But if you don't reward reserve players you disincentivise the whole system and you won't get anyone coming through. I also think it fair that if, like Gallagher and Treacy, they get a real chance but do not impress, they should be moved on. Which is why I find it appalling that Treacy continues to feature for the side.

[47er]

Very embarrassed at the way we were rolled over but I think Sam got it right.

We have a horrendous injury list. Reid and Emerton out for the season. Roberts,MGP,RSC are injured. Dunn and Grella are returning from injury delicately. Diouf and McCarthy rested to be ready for the more realistically winnable Stoke game.

This was like a practice game for the Rovers where the result didn't matter.(We all knew there was no chance of even a point today). David Dunn who hasn't trained for a long time because of injury had a good session without harming himself further.

Grella and VN looked very good when they came on.

Look forward to Stoke where the team should include Benni, Grella, RSC and maybe Dunny. I think we'll see a different performance.

Grella can pass and he can tackle but when he has the ball he is soooooooo slow. Its like he's still adjusting to the clock going on!

[McClarky]

Ince was a nightmare - course he was

BFS is a robot - course he is.

replace him at the end of the season because we have some tradition and values at this club, unlike the teams he has managed before. 1 of those traditions is that we are a team that try and win football games..................nuff said.

BFS OUT!!

[DE.]

1 of those traditions is that we are a team that try and win football games..................nuff said.

West Brom follow a similar philosophy.

[robbojohnno]

Name another manager who was willing to come that would have kept us up from that awful position of 13 points 18 games? I'm hoping you are having some bizarre joke but if not, you are a clown.

[MarkBRFC71]

When Stoke and Fulham went to Anfield and left with a point they didn't face a Liverpool team who played like they did today. Nor did they go with a patched up team. Make no mistake today was bad. But I must be honest and say that I felt more disappointed coming back from Portsmouth, Spurs, Sunderland and Middlesbrough this season as those were games I felt we could and should have done better in.

There is absolutely no way that the players we have fit at the moment can possibly live with a Liverpool team that played as well as they did today. That's not defeatist it's just a fact of life. If you allow three transfer windows to pass without significantly stengthening your squad results like today are going happen. If we continue to ignore the fact that we have a small squad and that there are players in it who are not up to the job then results like this will happen more frequently.

Yes we were very poor today in all departments but Liverpool were excellent. The gap between the two squads is huge. To have any hope of getting something from these games you need to have everyone fit and everyone playing to their maximum.

Nor do I blame today on Sam. He has inherited a very small squad of players and had to allow Derbyshire to leave before he could bring anyone in. Our stagnant transfer policy has resulted in us having to use a player in midfield who is unable to train because of injury and is required to have pain killing injections just to get him as far as the bench. Yet even though he is not anywhere near being fit he is still regarded as a better option than other midfield players in the squad.

The fact that Keith Andrews has continued to play at right-back shows just how stretched we are and underlines the need to get Ooijer signed up for next season as soon as possible.

I left Anfield today thrilled by the quality of football I had seen from the home side. No matter how bad we were it was enjoyable to watch Liverpool knock the ball around with such confidence and skill. Our vital games are still to come and hopefully we will be able to put out a stronger side and those players will hopefully play to the maximum of their ability.

However, in the long run unless we can bring new players in for next season we will simply be postponing the inevitable even if we dodge the relegation bullet this season. The simple fact is that our squad has been in decline for almost two seasons now and this group of players is not going to get any better. We need new blood if next season is going to be something better than fighting to finish fourth from bottom.

Some good points raised, but the lack of effort, heart and commitment from Rovers today was a disgrace. Liverpool will not have had an easier 90 minutes this season - in fact I bet they had to play harder in training this week.

[DE.]

Anybody criticising Allardyce needs to get a grip. Today was the opposite of the "winning football" he preaches but it was a write-off game against a champions league team. Sam knows where our priorities lie, and it was not in this match. I feel sorry for those who travelled to watch such a terrible display, but considering Rovers performances against the top teams this year... well, it had to be expected.

[Tris]

Perhaps the die-hards who spent I would imagine the thick end of 200 quid to go to Coventry, Arsenal and Liverpool might like to comment on how they feel about the view that we shouldn't try to win every game.

Sick of hearing the excuses, we had no chance of winning etc.......... next week is more important etc etc.

Today was an absolute disgrace, an abject pitiful surrender that was an insult to the famous blue and white halves, and all those players whio have battled and given their all for the team down the years. And that goes for the team selection almost as much as the "efforts" of the players.

What is the point of putting our best centre half on his own up front if no-one else is going to at least attempt to get the knockdowns?

Samba can be excused after battling away manfully, Robinson was exceptional and kept the score semi respectable. Tugay and Nelsen didn't play well but at least it looked as though the result mattered to them and their professional pride was hurting. Doran and Carlos looked bright when they came on.

A Liverpool fan behind me said that from our point of view it was simply a case of fulfilling a fixture today. Spot on.

Sam should be ashamed. It was never that bad under Ince. And I like the big man.

Bang on the money.

Football is a sport, it's about winning and losing and doing one's level best. I walked into Anfield today - having been shown the team news 10 minutes earlier on a mobile phone in the Arkles - thinking that my club had already put this one down as a bad day at the office. I thought that the low point this season would have been Wigan away, where we witnessed Ince's ineptitude hit the point of no return and a degree of confusion among the 11 players which was astonishing at this level.

Today was worse. I feel like we threw the match. Once the team sheets were in, there wasn't a single moment when Rovers had the slightest chance of even drawing this game. If the manager thought we might scrape a point against Liverpool with that team then he hasn't got a clue. If he went into the game thinking it's OK to lose then he shouldn't be in football.

The one positive after 90 minutes (other than the resolute display from Robinson) was the spark brought by Carlos Villanueva, but it was too little too late. Perhaps if Rovers had played a proper formation with available fit players in their proper positions from the start, it might have been 4-1 or 3-1 or 3-0 or 2-1 - or who knows, something better. We'll never know.

What we do know is this. Playing well and losing can help confidence ... being told you're good enough to compete with the best club teams in the world is uplifting. There was a message to our players and fans today === we are not good enough to compete so we won't bother trying. It's totally deflating. Let's hope that the players can pick themselves up for the Stoke game, otherwise our stay in the PL will be as good as over one week from now.

[benhben]

I cant see McCarthy being happy sitting on the bench whilst a centre back plays centre forward. Couldnt believe it. Agree with others that I feel big sam wrote this game off, to concentrate on more winnable games. However also agree with above that a 4-0 tonking cant be good for morale, at least playing a more attacking formation may have gotten Carlos or Benni on the score sheet, which would have helped their confidence no end. Considering his goals to games started ratio benni doesnt half struggle to make the starting line up :S

I respect sam in his ability to get results and without him wed be alongside west brom, but the football his teams play is nothing short of dire.

[Jonnolad]

Treacy was absolutely woeful, but not as bad as Andrews. I lost count the number of times he was skinned easily be Riera, and not even by some fancy footwork or anything, Riera just had to go round him.

Andrews was rated top of our starters by Daily Telegraph users:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/...-Blackburn.html

It's an enigma!