[Archived] Chelsea Vs Blackburn Rovers Preview 4pm Sunday 17th May 2009

[sambo]

Diouf is frustrating, when he runs and kicks it he sometiems appears to be in slow motion. Like his corners, sometimes I just want to tell him to put his effin foot through it.

[Tom]

Superb ball there by Diouf

[Tim Southampton Rover]

I'll be honestly mystified if Warnock wins player of the season this year.

He's been poor yet again today

I'd love to say McCarthy but he doesn't do it week in week out. I'd love to say Nelsen but he's not been consistent this season until Big Sam took over so instead I'd have to sit on the fence between Samba and Givet. Givet has impressed me so much since he came into the club. He joined us after becoming the forgotten man for Marseille and despite lacking match practice, he came in running and hasn't looked back by producing some superb displays as if he's been at the club for years.

[Inta Beaver]

Some if not all of our big players have gone missing today, Warnock, Pederson, Grella, Diouf have been very poor.

Andrews is never a RB. Benni doesn't look interested. We are playing like it is a friendly.

Doran and Robinson have played well.

If we could replace 9 of these players in the summer I would be happy! Grella is never worth the money we payed for him!

[chocky]

Do you get the feeling that the players were only going through the motions...they did not really care about the result..had they needed to win you would have seen a different match...I hope they at least get a win at home on the last day...I'm sure glad I did not go now...

[DE.]

Samba definately deserves player of the season. He doesn't exactly have a lot of competition, but not only has he been fairly solid at CB but he's made a huge difference to us playing up front at a time where we desperately needed him to deliver. No question in my mind.

[I_saw_Batty_score]

Our team just lacks pace throughout.

Doran looked to have some pace. Reckon he should start the last game instead of MGP.

[ontwowheels]

Only people running for Blackburn are an 18 year old and a 37 yearold.

[Tom]

Not a good performance but as I said I couldn't care one iota.

[Doaksie]

Last 20 minutes - Tugay seemed to put more effort in than any other Rovers player. There was a sense from the old maestro that he was savouring every single last minute of his Premiership career. Would have been nice to have seen his left foot drive nestle in the corner too. Maybe next week Tugay.

[modes98]

Grella is never worth the money we payed for him!

I thought Grella did very well today. Broke up alot of attacks and tried to get us going when we broke.

If Tugay's legs are gone then the rest of them have as well. He was running the length of the pitch to get involved and still making some brilliant passes and chips. Doran to was pretty good, against a worse left back he would have had a chance to cross the ball rather than lay it off.

Shame most of them had no interest in getting the ball forward quickly because there was a goal or 2 available today.

Still we're staying up!

[Inta Beaver]

I don't like losing but when you do lose you need to show some fight!

Not many teams would cope with losing both center halfs at half time against Chelsea, that's a positive to take out of that shower of !!!!!

[Amo]

No shame in losing to the best, and at least we gave it some kind of go compared to the previous capitulations. But let's remember the gulf in class and money between the two clubs, and not expect too much from the lads considering the overhaul awaiting the club.

[Tom]

I hope the board doesn't go into the usal post defeat meltdown tonight. All things considered it's been a superb weekend and sam should be proud of his achievements.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

An expected result and one that really had no significance but two observations from me:

1. In a game that supposedly meant nothing,why not play our only out and out striker in McCarthy from kick off and try to make a game of it for the travelling fans and the punters watching on Sky?.

2.Why did all our players,Samba apart, look like migets compared to the Chelsea players?.Chelsea were physically dominant and all their players

seemed to have far more pace and power.

What a crying shame Tugay's shot did not find the back of the net......Oh well,Bring on WBA and lets confine this awful season to the history books!

[Plastic Head]

Sadly this has to be considered a decent result.

The circle of success/income make it impossible to compete with the Champions League clubs as our 0/24 point total testifies.

How long will people pay £1000+ a season or £40 per month to see games where the outcome is already known.

Something has to be done to even things out. Maybe clubs qualifying for the CL should forego a percentage of their PL income to share out amongst the others.

A squad limitation would be a start. Maybe 25 max.

[Martin]

Full time Observations:

Robinson - fantastic. Could be a key player for us after looking very nervous for the first 2/3 of the season.

Andrews - tried.

Samba - Love his attitude.

Warnock - He looks like he wants away. I have no evidence . I just get that feeling as he's playing.

Pedersen - I like Pedersen, but he was poor. I hope Sam keeps him around

Tugay - He passed, he ran and ran and I love him.

Diouf - He slows everything down - I see why he didn't make the grade at L'pool.

Grella - I thought he was a good 'un. I think I may need to revise that opinion. He was woeful. It was like he was auditioning for Mokoena's role.

Doran - too small.

Benni - I've enjoyed his technique and he's been great, but it's time to go. He doesn't work.

Big summer ahead. We need pace, height and passion.

[Amo]

1. In a game that supposedly meant nothing,why not play our only out and out striker in McCarthy from kick off and try to make a game of it for the travelling fans and the punters watching on Sky?.

Probably to accommodate Villanueva whilst keeping Samba's presence up front.

Chelsea were physically dominant and all their players

seemed to have far more pace and power.

£130m would probably explain that.

[RoverRich]

I thought Grella did quite well as well today. I agree with Modes in that he did break a lot of the Chelsea attacks up but his passing does let him down on occasions. Doran did well when he came on. Looked lively, seemed willing to run and take on people at pace but did not see a lot of the ball as it seemed to be coming wide left to Diouf all the time. If only we had the opportunity to see what his crossing ability is like. I also thought Zurab did a decent job in the second half but a special mention to the maestro Tugay who surprised everyone by keeping going and constantly trying to create something. I hope he is firing in the shots next week as a goal would be a brilliant way to go out of top flight football.

[Ninjathunder]

I really couldn't care less about today and it feels nice. Well done Sam.

[beerwins]

I really dont think we did that bad at all, what were people expecting ? to go to stamford bridge and roll them over? We lost 2 centre backs brought back samba which totally changed our gameplan, we then started to roll the ball around a bit, sure we were outmuscled and outpassed but our squad and team isnt half as good as chelsea's.

We really do have to make some changes in the summer and today it showed we lacked cutting edge up in the final third but overall i have seen us perform way worse than that.

[OJRovers]

Expected result, mixed performances:

Robinson: Did well, looking solid at the minute, not at fault for the goals

Andrews: Awful. He's not got the footballing brain to play at RB.

Nelsen/Givet: Solid

Warnock: Worked hard up and down the left, maybe should've done better with his chance to shoot.

Tugay: Ran and passed as expected.

Grella: First half I was very impressed. Faded in the second.

MGP: Woeful again. Been getting away with it for too long.

Diouf: Didn't do too much, was better when he drifted inside.

Samba: Looked ok up front, worked very hard.

Carlos: Some nice touches. Could work against lesser teams than Chelsea.

Doran: Quick, he should start ahead of MGP, stick Diouf on the left.

McCarthy: On the beach. Lost it every time he had the ball.

Zurab: Should be playing at RB for us, much better thinker than Andrews.

Hopefully Tugay will get a goal vs West Brom, at least we're not playing Chelsea on the last day.

[broadsword]

So ... Sam has to get the wage bill down by 5 mill and keep us up next year.

Away you go Sam, piece of cake.

[sweet]

The commentary on sky sports today was an absolute disgrace, never before have I heard such a love in for a club before. I know chelsea did well, but nowhere near as well to justify the biasm on display today. When robinson pulled off those couple of great saves at the end all he got was a "oh he's done it again", this was after maybe a 5 minute rant about how well chelsea have done this season etc etc.

Did anyone else notice the extremity of this today?

[Eddie]

At the back we were a shambles, although Robinson did what he could. We dealt better with Drogba once Samba was moved back, but never properly picked up Anelka.

Don't know why anyone thinks Samba did well up front. He does OK for a centre back pushed up, but had we signed him to be a striker every would be slating him. Now that isn't a criticism of him, he can only do what is asked, but he isn't doing well up there.

The midfield did ok and we actually passed it quite nicely. First half did a good job of getting wide, but after the reshuffle with the side when Nelsen went off we weren't so good at doing that. Not sure if everyone knew exactly where they were supposed to be and Diouf was far too central at times if MGP was supposed to be further up the pitch.

Overall it was a match away against Chelsea, so anything we could have managed was a bonus, but another poor performance against a big side and we were lucky to come away only losing by two.

Hopefully we can end the season on a high next weekend.