[Archived] Everton V Blackburn Preview

[thenodrog]

Sam wasn't given enough time to take Newcastle down, so he's doing it at Ewood.

Yes obviously he sees getting clubs relegated as being completely necessary in order to further his career and ambitions.

How did waggy get your password Nick?

[Clitherover]

No more Roberts.

Pleeeeeeeeease!

[PAFELL]

Frustrating to say the least. Bad day at the office and some tough games to come.

Villa becomes a vital game now, a point is a minimum and they are in good nick.

Ditch the formation. Ditch Jason Roberts. Ditch Keith Andrews. Get Jacobson back in.

I hope Robinson gets the phrase he, once again, deserves for today. Without him it would have been a cricket score.

Sam has said nobodies place is safe. Well after this game he will know who to drop and who to try. He has also said rovers haven't got what they deserve so far this season. Sorry but Rovers deserved the win against wolves and the defeat today. But I still believe that Sam will be a success at Rovers - though we may have to patient for awhile. Hate to say it, but even Ince got a win at Everton - went down hill from there though. Hopefully the reverse will now happen.

[booth]

I'm worried about our position BUT it is only 5 games into a 38 game season. I think we should be in a much better position but, due to inept strikers (Roberts), we are in a dodgy position. Time is still on our side and Sam can turn this around. We have players back but they are not fully fit yet. Don't jump on the Sack Sam bandwagon yet.

I agree it's too early to say sack the manager but he's making and has made some terrible decisions so far. I personally don't believe it's the players. It's the team selections, substitutions and formations that are at fault.

I really hope he can turn it around, but with the matches we've got coming up it's going to be tough.

[roversinmyblood]

We seemed to attack okay and certainly had our chances, but the defence was appalling. I thought Nelson was past it last year but he is even worse this year - he can't even jump!!

[RibbleValleyRover]

Time to get back to the basics, work on the defending and cut out the stupid errors (if that means dropping players then so be it, need to concede less if we can't score). Make changes to the midfield, Andrews has to be dropped and i'd argue Pedersen maybe as well. What about putting Hoilett on the right or Emerton and play Diouf on the left? Dioufy can play on the left wing. Bring back Benni, he may be fat but he can score goals. I'd drop Roberts and look to play either Di Santo, Kalinic or Hoilett alongside Benni.

Scrap the 4-4-1-1 and play a 4-4-2.

[BuckyRover]

Out thought, out fought and ultimately easily beaten by a decidedly average Everton side. Bottom 3. Not good at all. Only waggy and spencey will be able to glean anything positive from this result.

You definitely can't. Very much pro Allardyce, you even intimated that under Bolton he played good football. When we play well we mostly lose, when we play badly we get hammered.

The Ince fans weren't in love with him, they just knew what the alternative was.

Sam 'The Messiah'. Don't make me sick

unfortunately I still don't believe sacking him now is the answer. We have to hope me manage to scrape 17th.

[broadsword]

You're right cause he was 11th when he was sacked, they went further down ever since then

Regardless of whether he was going to take Newcastle down or not, we could be in lots of trouble by the end of October.

Ten games played, 5 or 6 points maybe, looking at the fixtures that could easily happen, and is the sort of return that has got managers the sack before.

[Inta Beaver]

What annoys me is we have had 8 days to prepare for this game, they had 2-3 because they played on Thursday, can anyone remember how we used to play after a European game? We were always sluggish and only played for 45 mins! We should of taken advantage on this today and been all over them, I watched the game on Thursday so I know they had it easy but we should of been fresh!

We have missed a golden chance here today!

[adopted scouser]

Yes obviously he sees getting clubs relegated as being completely necessary in order to further his career and ambitions.

How did waggy get your password Nick?

Sorry Gord, just trying to lift the spirits. Not looking very good is it ?

[philipl]

Even worse than I feared- I said a 3-1 defeat.

Looking around the team.

Robinson produced three outstanding saves.

Samba I thought wasn't that bad and had some outstanding moments.

Wasn't Givet's day

Dunn can only carry the entire team on his own for so long- they eventually nullified him.

Diouf is class even though the end balls can be frustrating.

Thought MGP was doing well until subbed.

Hoilett is a bright spark.

Now to the worrying part.

Both Chimbonda and Salgado looked awfully suspect. Got themselves out of position and missed players running off them, repeatedly.

Nelsen; the Admiral got sunk today. Can he come back?

Grella and Andrews are simply totally inadequate and totally outclassed if we are playing one of the top dozen or so Prem teams. Neither are anywhere remotely good enough for Rovers to compete at this level.

Roberts. Simply cannot expect any return when he is the last 1 in 4-4-1-1. Again does not have the class to hack it this level.

Kalinic. Very very worrying.

We are in for some fearsome beatings in our next three away games.

[G Somerset Rover]

Well.

POSTIVIVES

1) Hoilett looks very good.

2) Diouf, Dunn, Grella, Givet all played decently enough.

3) We could (should?) have scored three. Created a reasonable amount.

NEGATIVES

1) Salgado - worst debut ever? Gave away two goals. Impossible to believe he has won European Cups.

2) Kalinic. Sorry to say this but he looks terrible. Never even managed to trap his ball. Trying to see the light here but simply can't.

3) Roberts - So poor with the ball at his feet

4) Last 20 minutes we gave up.

5) Samba lost his marbles on three seperate occasions.

6) Chimbonda, Andrews had relatively poor games.

7) Where are the goals going to come from?!?

Everton weren't that good. Created little but took their chances.

This is so diappointing. Damn Jacobsen's wife's timing. If he had played we could have at least got a point from this,

Samba is proving to be a damn liability at the moment. Throw in Salgado having an Ooijer too and we were never going to keep a clean sheet.

That's 7 away defeats in a row. Considering this is an Allardyce side who prides his teams on being hard to beat this is a very worrying statistic. We also can't score. Who the heck, maybe barring Dunn is going to score?

So 4-5-1 with Roberts up top again versus Villa it is then

[Hughesy]

I thought I heard you correctly. So those who are really worried about the team's position are the suicide squad who you constantly berate, you then go on to describe one of our players as dog sh!t. Hmmm.....now I wonder where the logical thoughts are coming from.

You are saying we are going down...sam doesnt know what hes doing etc.

Im saying we have 1 or 2 players who are not good enough to warrant a 1st team slot. Roberts, Nelsen & Andrews

BIG difference

[1864roverite]

Look on the bright side, England won a game of cricket in the 1 dayers

[RibbleValleyRover]

Regardless of whether he was going to take Newcastle down or not, we could be in lots of trouble by the end of October.

Ten games played, 5 or 6 points maybe, looking at the fixtures that could easily happen, and is the sort of return that has got managers the sack before.

I don't think Sam should be sacked but he needs to look at this result and make changes otherwise we are in trouble. Anyway we are so skint i doubt we would even contemplate sacking Sam. Just got to hope he makes the changes needed.

[MarkBRFC71]

Looking at the fixtures, I'm looking at 1 or maximum 3 points in the next 5 games. We could be going into the Pompey game, a potential relegation rival, with 5 points from a possible 30. I would say that lose that and the manager's position has to be VERY seriously considered, if it won't already be untenable.

[Guest Kamy100]

I said before and after the Wolves game that 4-5-1 is not the way forward for Rovers. To play 4-5-1 effectively you need to be tight defensively (we have not been this season) be able to retain possession (we can't), have pace so that you can hit team on the break (we don't have much pace) and the lone striker needs to not only be able to hold up the ball but also have the ability to score on a regular basis (Roberts can't).

I always felt that 4-5-1 wouldn't work against a decent side and that was proved correct today.

Really hope that Sam changes the tactics for next weekend, we need to be more positive.

Can't believe that people think sacking Sam is the way forward. We are only five games into the season and he needs to be given time to get things right.

Keep the faith there are 33 games left.

[MarkBRFC71]

Time to get back to the basics, work on the defending and cut out the stupid errors (if that means dropping players then so be it, need to concede less if we can't score). Make changes to the midfield, Andrews has to be dropped and i'd argue Pedersen maybe as well. What about putting Hoilett on the right or Emerton and play Diouf on the left? Dioufy can play on the left wing. Bring back Benni, he may be fat but he can score goals. I'd drop Roberts and look to play either Di Santo, Kalinic or Hoilett alongside Benni.

Scrap the 4-4-1-1 and play a 4-4-2.

I agree entirely. Why can't Allardyce see it if we can?!?

[doctorryan]

I've a feeling Sam will be implementing a 9-1 formation for most of October..........with that donkey dong Roberts up front of course.

[rog of the rovers]

Poor performance, and the players will know that.

Hopefully this is a wake up call to the squad and staff.

I'm glad we're playing Tuesday, it should mean that the result doesn't linger.

[John]

Looking at the fixtures, I'm looking at 1 or maximum 3 points in the next 5 games. We could be going into the Pompey game, a potential relegation rival, with 5 points from a possible 30. I would say that lose that and the manager's position has to be VERY seriously considered, if it won't already be untenable.

Fixtures are a massive concern and our situation is likely to be critical by the end of October.

[broadsword]

I thought one of the conditions of taking di Santo on-loan was that he'd start most games?

[hollowsr]

You are saying we are going down...sam doesnt know what hes doing etc.

Im saying we have 1 or 2 players who are not good enough to warrant a 1st team slot. Roberts, Nelsen & Andrews

BIG difference

Not meaning to pick at things but that's 3! Sorry

[RibbleValleyRover]

Really hope that Sam changes the tactics for next weekend, we need to be more positive.

But will he change it though? If we don't we are in serious trouble.

[tony gale's mic]

I thought one of the conditions of taking di Santo on-loan was that he'd start most games?

He's injured.