[Archived] Everton V Blackburn Preview

[Nate]

Rewind back to a year ago. The www.brfcs.com messageboard was in meltdown due to the appointment of Paul Ince as the man to take over from Mark Hughes. With some fans for and some against, it surely was a conflicting time amongst fans alike.

AggyBlue said

I don't think there'll be any 'slackers' with Ince in charge

Roaming Rover from Greater Harwood offered his thoughts

I'm quite happy with Ince. OK he has no premiership management experience but neither does Laudrup etc. Ince has done a fantastic job at 2 clubs now, especially at Mac where he had no resources and performed a semi miracle keeping them up. These will be interesting times for Rovers, but I think Ince has too much about him to play the Mr Big and upset what the steady(ish) ship we have at Rovers

Hughesy seemed to think Ince was well up for the job

Personally I think all players will be happy. Let the good times begin

The Ince in camp couldn’t hope for a better start, ironically against Sunday’s opponents at Goodison Park. Everton were quite formidable at home, but an Andre Oojier strike in injury time gave Rovers a 2-3 win. With celebrations spilling over to the gaffer on the sideline, Rovers and Ince had gotten off to a winning start. But players and fans dreams alike quickly died. With questionable player purchases, formations and team line-ups that only crack heads could understand, a dressing room full of unrest and a record of 3 wins out of 17 meant Ince was gone. We were given an insight in to the guv’nors tactical nous during the game against West Ham:

Fast forward to the present and we can see quite a different Rovers side that will be travelling to Goodison. After an end of season cull, gone are Derbyshire, Oojier, Santa Cruz, Warnock, Mokoena, Villanueva and Simpson to name a few. Despite this Rovers have made a solid start to the new campaign with some decent performances.

Rovers currently see themselves above 19th placed Everton, currently sitting in 14th position with Rovers on four points and Everton on three. Most of the talk in Toffeeland in the off season was about the transfer saga of Joleon Lescott to Man City. Could this distraction explain Everton’s sluggish start to the season? As I type this, news has filtered through that Phil Neville will be missing the game (and a fair part of the season) due to knee ligament damage. So what has started off as a sluggish season for Everton is slowly getting worse.

I have the misfortune of having a mate who is a real life Toffee. To top it off, he is also a lawyer. So as I felt sorry for him for being a boring ######, I thought I’d give him the thrill of doing a Q&A for our wonderful message board.

Q: How do you sleep at night? Being a Toffee and Lawyer doesn’t make you a normal person.

A: It could be worse; I could support the team across the way. But I earn a lot of money, so I sleep ok.

Q: Everton haven’t really gotten off to the start we expected them to. Why is this the case?

A: The match against Arsenal was just horrific. I was hoping to at least get a point out of that game. The big shock was against your rivals, Burnley. We are missing Arteta that is for sure. But we had a bad start last season and we will turn it around that is for sure.

Q: How much has the loss of Lescott been to Everton so far?

A: He has been sorely missed, but for that type of money we had to sell. Especially as it became apparent that he wanted to leave the club. You guys would have felt the same with Santa Cruz. As soon as he knew City were in for him, his attitude changed and he just didn't give a toss. I’ve heard mixed reports about Heitinga from Atletico Madrid fans, but time will tell.

Q: If Everton don’t improve over the course of the season, do you think Moyes will be up for the chopping block?

A: I would hope not. Obviously he is a top class manager and this season hasn’t gone to plan for many reasons. Moyes on the outside seems calm and believes we can turn it around and we all trust him.

Q: Lars Jacobsen has surprised quite a few sceptics who questioned us signing him. But he has proven to be a solid player and is turning those critics around. What were Everton fans views of him?

A: His career never took off with us due to injury and so it was inevitable that he was to leave. Just hope he has a shocker this weekend then if he is playing ok!

Q: This is a pretty standard question we ask every guest on the board, but who should Rovers look out for in this game?

A: With Arteta out, I would say your Aussie boy Cahill. But you have some tall players which can nullify his obvious strength of scoring from headers.

Q: How do you view Rovers? Who in our team do you think will cause you problems?

A: Without sounding too rude, nobody really. In saying that, I mean there have been a lot of changes in your team this season and there are a lot of new young players that Sam has brought in that I don’t know much about. Out of the old guard though, I would say Dunn. He looked handy against West Ham so he could be a threat. Rovers are a no nonsense team, so I’m expecting a real tussle.

Q: Care to predict a score?

A: Will be a tough one. We aren’t performing and you guys need the points as much as we do. So I will go for a 1-0 with Cahill scoring the winner. Hope he does, he is in my Fantasy Football team!

Q: What the hell is Z Cars?

A: It was an old cop show based near Liverpool. The team use the theme song to run out to.

Me: I’m sorry; I’m not that old to know these things.

Q: Finally, you have a cracking missus! Proof money can buy love, hey?

A: It’s my English charm and wit.

As for me, I’m usually crap at predicting scores. But I’ll go for a 1-0 away win. Everton are missing too many decent players and low on confidence.

Predict away Roverites!

[Clitherover]

Sorry for being the eternal pessimist but....

1-1 draw.

[philipl]

Nice preview.

Rovers have to treat this one as winnable. I'll keep my powder dry predicting until after the Everton v AEK match on Thursday night- hopefully a bruising encounter! That said, Everton will be the stronger team for having Neville P out- I think he is that poor a player these days.

Wigan really should have won at Everton in the only game Everton have collected points from so far (they have 3 points don't they?). Wigan had 5 onside against 2 two minutes from time and contrived to patsy it to Howard from a bad angle. Everton went straight down the other end and got the decisive penalty.

That Everton v Wigan game was quite a rip roarer with end to end stuff so we could be in for an entertaining treat on Sunday.

[Nate]

(they have 3 points don't they?)

Yeah, will fix!

[Hughesy]

Neville will be a big loss for them. As has been Lescott & Arteta.

Im going for a 1-1 draw. Id be delighted if we could sneak a win, but its a tough place to go.

[joey_big_nose]

Feeling relatively confident about this one after Wolves.

Lots of options to change the game around (the bench could look something like - Brown, Nelsen, Salgado, Emerton, Hoilett, Kalinic, Di Santo - not bad! Thats with NZonzi, McCarthy and Reid not even making the bench....) and crucially we look exceptionally solid at the back.

I would expect us to put ut the same side as against Wolves, apart from perhaps Andrews being dropped for Emerton. However he had a good game also so probably this won't happen.

I would love it if either Di Santo or Kalinic got a goal because we need competition up front.

A draw is probably the most likely result, but I feel we have enough players playing well, and excellent organisation, to pull off a win. That would really get our season going.

[LeChuck]

Also going for a 1-1 draw, and a poor game as Everton make it very difficult for teams to play against them.

One plus side for us is that Neville is out, this might give Dunn more freedom in the hole. They don't have anyone else who will defend with the same discipline and tenacity in that holding role really.

[RibbleValleyRover]

Going for a 0-0 draw, even though Everton aren't firing on all cylinders they can make it hard for teams to beat them especially at home.

[jim mk2]

Rovers have a very good record at Goodison over the years; even in the 1960s we often won there.

3-0 defeat.

[roversfan1]

Im going for a 1-1 draw too - I watched the Fulham game on Sunday and Evertyon were poor in that they were very predictable and without Arteta they lack real creativity and hopefully after a game on a Thursday they will be knackered to boot!!

[Veevs]

1-0 to us is my prediction here.. Evertons preferred formation plays straight into our hands

I do think we will start with the same formation and the same lineup as the wolves game with maybe the exception of Emerton playing from the start.

[67splitscreen]

Sitting on the fence it's safer for now, to be honest I don't have a clue if either side can win this one.

A lack of fire power on both sides could result in a draw.

[rebelmswar]

3-1 again.

We will have our tails up and Moyes will need to attack, we will concede one as it seems that it is a habit but we will hit them on the break with the 1-3-2-4 formation.

I smell an Andrews goal, most likely the second one, with a Samba header being the first. Our new boy will get a scrappy third.

I am playing it safe as I do not like to predict.

[Mark Atkins' Bald Patch]

1-0 to us is my prediction here.. Evertons preferred formation plays straight into our hands

I do think we will start with the same formation and the same lineup as the wolves game with maybe the exception of Emerton playing from the start.

I may be wrong but do Everton not prefer a 4-5-1 formation? Therefore having an extra body in midfield to sit back and nullify our main threat in Dunn?

Despite that statement I remain optimistic for sunday, most likely a 1-1 but hoping for a 2-1 win. Pedersen free kick and another one off Robert's backside from a long range Dunn effort.

[RIML]

Going for a 0-0 draw, even though Everton aren't firing on all cylinders they can make it hard for teams to beat them especially at home.

I was thinking the same, Big Sam is probably hoping they put all their effort into their game tomorrow night which almost sets the pace for our game, keep it tight at the back, if we take our chances, who knows we just might nick it at the end again, a game of patience in Sam's terms.

[gazsimm]

Its going to be a very tough game for Rovers, i will be happy with a draw. Hopfully a few off the Everton players are still tired and off the pace come sunday after playing in europe this week. Neville out is a plus allready to us.

I will make 2 changes to the team that beat wolves last saturday, if everyone is fit. Di Santo in for Roberts and Emerton in for Andrews.

1-1

[Ozz]

Mystic Ozz says...

[Oklahoma]

We'll win 1-0, Roberts scoring with 10 minutes to go.

[1864roverite]

I think Saturday showed us that Rovers can mix football with the hard stuff and hoof ball is a figment of some others imagination (waggy and spencey).

I dont know why but I feel confidnet that Rovers can sneak something here. There are 7 Evertonians who I work with all of whom are not looking forward to the visit of Rovers.

1-0 for me and a nice 3 points.

[DE.]

I think it'll either be 1-0 either way, or a 1-1 draw. Can't see many more goals going in considering the teams.

Let's be optimisitic and say 1-0 Rovers, Kalinic to come off the bench and open his account for us in the final minutes of the game .

[mellison24]

I think it'll either be 1-0 either way, or a 1-1 draw. Can't see many more goals going in considering the teams.

Let's be optimisitic and say 1-0 Rovers, Kalinic to come off the bench and open his account for us in the final minutes of the game .

That means 3-2 win for the rovers after being 2-0 down, with Samba, Andrews and a Pedersen free-kick in the final 20mins for me lol

[EnglishChris]

This will be a draw or a a loss as I've yet to go to an away game were we've won

[jim mk2]

This will be a draw or a a loss as I've yet to go to an away game were we've won

I'm going so do me a favour and stay at home please.

[EnglishChris]

Sure will just give me £33 + £25 and I'll stay at home.

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

A: With Arteta out, I would say your Aussie boy Cahill. But you have some tall players which can nullify his obvious strength of scoring from headers.

[ Rovers are a no nonsense team, so I’m expecting a real tussle.[/color]

Strange how people have a stereotypical view of Rovers. Thought that Wolves had far greater strength in the air than us last week. If we were playing Di Santo, Nzonzi, Kalinic, Nelsen, Givet, Samba everyweek then fair enough - aerial threat - but we're not!

Also for all the talk of Rovers putting themselves about I don't think we are that competitive - there's certainly no Savage/Batty type player in there.

And what's this Everton 1st, Blackburn 3rd......-Arsenal, Tottenham, Man United in the bottom 7 ....boooo bully boys ....anti-football!! fair play table

Perhaps Sam will have us in Europe after all!!!!!

nb in the 0-0 brigade for this one.