[Archived] Chelsea V Rovers Preview

[Bobby G]

Woeful. Embarrassing. Inept.

I cant begin to display my disgust at that supposed performance.

We were unlucky with a few injuries, but I dont think it wouldve made a shred of difference in the result. We dont have any ideas against the Big Four and its been happening for a long time. When we go down by 1 goal, its game over. Our defending becomes a shambles too. The blame there lay with the manager for not formulating any sort of plan.

I cant even imagine what will happen against United next week.

[dazmaz]

That was dreadful. Just shows how heavily we rely on Dunn and Di Santo to offer an attacking threat, and how we rely on Samba to be fit so that Nelsen can sit on the bench. An own goal, 3 Nelsen mistakes and a Robinson mistake - not once did Chelsea score a goal that was unstoppable, which makes it even more painful.

The team has to change for next week. Dunn, Di Santo, Reid, Hoilett, Samba and Chimbonda all need to come back into the team. Pedersen, Roberts, Andrews, Emerton, Nelsen and Olsson all need to get dropped. A little harsh on Olsson because he was nowhere near the worst.

why olsson? not one of the chelsea goals came from the left (robbos left that is) and robbo isnt to blame of any of the goals, who ever was infront of drogba for that header was at fault for moving forward..

[beerwins]

Sams out of touch plain and simple you cannot sit with so many behind the ball and expect a result from a lucky free kick, im not saying i expected to win but we had NO attacking threat at all, not 1 bit and we never intended to have.

Also i must add that if i ever have to witness that powder puff andrews pointing at other players to do his job im going to explode, this guy isnt being made a scapegoat he is just complete rubbish at everything he does, he cant tackle, he cant mark, he cant shoot, he cant run with the ball and worse than this is that when he loses his player he makes barely any effort to get him back and just points for someone else to get him, show me all the stats you want but we dont have anything to compare them with, even the well sam likes him argument doest work anymore because sam isnt getting it right either.

We need a player with passion and who will stick the boot in , i have never seen such a soft namby pamby rovers team ever, i wonder if they even understand the meaning of GET INTO THEM!!

[PAFELL]

We are an embarrassment away from home against the 'big clubs',we simply cant offer any sort of resistance.What has hapenned to the proud Rovers side who used to stick one up the likes of these in years gone by?.I have no idea what the answer is but god help us if our home form takes a dip.

Its all becoming rather depressingly predictable...another 5 goals conceded against Utd next week?

Even on espn the pundits are saying Rovers lacked ambition today. Rovers were negative and torn apart by Chelsea.

January will be interesting to see who gets sold - Roberts will go.

[gilstarwood]

what a shambles a complete joke why o why are we still playing that formation why did we not play 442 and give it a good go so negative that was ,pederson and emerton were awfull in first half but roberts up front on his own i give up very dissapointed another drubbing

[snatchymcsnatch]

I have no objections about parking the bus and hoping for a lucky break against teams like Chelsea - the problem with us is the defence clearly haven't the first frigging clue how to drive a bus.

[1864roverite]

That was absolutely embarrassing.

Watching the game closely we were simply undone at will by a team playing basic pass and move football. The Chelsea superstars didnt need to get pout of second gear such was their superiority against a woeful Blackburn team.

How did we manage to play so poor ?

Well we were set 4-4-1-1 yet again with Roberts, a man so clearly out of form he couldnt hit the net from 3 yards out. The midfield was set up around Andrews and Emerton with the wide berths to Diouf and MGP.

THIS WHERE THE ROOT OF OUR PROBLEMS BEGIN

The role of a defensive midfielder is to support the defence but more importantly PRESS THE BALL. In Keith Andrews, he neither presses or defends, the game and players of the opposition simply pass him by. He follows the ball leaving bloody huge gaps in the front of the defence, a defence that today that was always going to be overstretched irrespective of injuries or illness. It was the most important position in Rovers line up today.

Sam Allardyce and his back room staff got it horribly wrong by playing with Andrews in that position, the team set up was awful and it was only a matter of time before we hit the buffers. Rovers got lucky losing just 5 goals.

back to Andrews, just how much space did he allow the opposition ?

Why does he not close the player down ?

Why cant he defend ?

What is it he brings to our first 11 ?

THE STOCK ANSWER IS HE BRINGS PROBLEMS TO OUR TEAM BECAUSE HE IS BLOODY SHYTE.

I ask myself why the management cannot see this because it is so painfully obvious.

At 3-0 down our midfield needed addressing in the middle Sam, an unfit Reid would have been the better option. Placing Emerton in the central berth would also have been a better option. Putting salgado there would have been better than leaving Andrews to leave our defence wide open.

I am not blaming him for the defeat (Andrews that is) but he is 85% to blame, SA takes the other 15%.

In two games we have shipped 11 goals to two of the top 4, 13 if you include City. With manure around the corner our goal difference is fooked up big time and there is no way we are likely to score 4 or 5 in any games to address the imbalance.

#

I am so disappointed to have witnessed that game, we rolled over and had our belly tickled.

On a positive note, Robbo played well as did Olsson. I just dont know where we go from here.

BTW

IMO KA should never wear our shirt again, he embarrasses the meaning of Arte et Labore and BRFC !

[chocky]

Even on espn the pundits are saying Rovers lacked ambition today. Rovers were negative and torn apart by Chelsea.

January will be interesting to see who gets sold - Roberts will go.

I hope so...

[Plastic Head]

That's 17 goals conceded in 5 games.

On a more positive note

[Mozzer]

im no way saying the performace is acceptable ...

but sack the manager ?? come on ...

okay we crumble against top 4 sides but even under mark hughes we did - when we go to teams like wigan and portsmouth and get thrashed then id start to worry ...

[ABBEY]

MOZZER IS 9 AWAY DEFEATS IN A ROW NOT A REASON TO WORRY?

[1864roverite]

MOZZER IS 9 AWAY DEFEATS IN A ROW NOT A REASON TO WORRY?

Not yet Shaun, its only United away next lol

[philipl]

Losing 433 million to nil is embarassing.

Oops that is the respective amounts spent on the teams and we had our best three players out just to give Chelsea a sporting chance. Let's try again...

Losing 5-0 with the 5th scored at will in the 63rd minute is embarassing in the extreme. I can only offer the following suggestions:

- to Sam Allardyce. Listen to the second half commentary on Sky. They parked the blame for that humiliation firmly at your door and they were completely right to do so.

- to MGP. You were the principle reason why Sam's tactics, such that they were, failed. The ball got to you in dangerous positions SEVEN times in the first half and there was no end product from you whatsoever. In fact there was no beginning or middle product either.

- to Keith supporters. That ###### big hole Chelsea were walking straight through and pinging unchallenged shots from is where Keith "plays". What more evidence do you need that Andrews is League 2 class?

I was encouraged by what I saw of Salgado and Kalinic (in the circumstances) and the Nzonzi shuffle sending Terry and Lampard into collision was a season highlight. PS They were 5-0 up in the 87th minute and two players were throwing themselves at blocking Nzonzi- at NO POINT all afternoon did we show any dedication or endeavour to match that shown by Terry and Lampard when Nzonzi made idiots of them.

We will win at Old Trafford next week and I am being serious.

[LeChuck]

why olsson? not one of the chelsea goals came from the left (robbos left that is) and robbo isnt to blame of any of the goals, who ever was infront of drogba for that header was at fault for moving forward..

I did say it was a bit harsh on Olsson, I just think we missed Chimbonda there. I'd say Olsson is definitely second choice left back now though.

[booth]

According to ESPN, in the last 9 away games we've conceded 42 goals. Keegan was giving Allardyce some stick about his tactics saying when you got to Chelsea you have to get stuck in and play with two up front - you've no chance of defending for 90 minutes against them.

I know we had key players out with a virus (Dunny was very ill after the Burnley game last week apparently) but the players out there were still professional footballers. Even against Arsenal they gave them a game for 60 minutes, and only being cheated out of a penalty may have got something.

I can only blame the system as I still maintain we've got decent players/individuals in the squad who can win games. Playing one up front is putting the defence under so much pressure. Especially when our five in midfield are ineffective. It'd be better to chance four ineffective players in midfield and another outlet up front than having five ineffective players and the ball constantly coming back because 1 play up front is struggling to hold the ball up on his own (also Roberts isn't that kind of player anyway).

First two games, played well got beat playing 4-4-2. Then he goes 4-5-1, despite players like Dunny coming back. Ahhh, rambling now, frustrated and disappointed. I knew we'd get beat today but didn't expect them to roll over like puppies.

Opposition fans are really sticking it to Rovers tonight on the various networks over their quite pathetic performance.

At least Burnley were turned over 3-1 at home by Wigan.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

It may be Man utd,Arsenal,Chelsea or Liverpool with their international stars,

Your side may well be on a hiding to nothing with the odds stacked against you but....

FFS ALLARDYCE PLAY WITH 2 STRIKERS AND AT LEAST LETS GO DOWN FIGHTING!!

I just wish to god they would stop showing our away games against the top sides....we must be providing the best laugh to the nation in ages.

[tony gale's mic]

Bit confused by those praising Robbo so much here, yes he pulled out a couple of good saves but he also shouldve done a lot better for two of the goals.

Again, get some perspective. And we did put up a fight against Arsenal, we went 1-0 up and were level with them for a while but they got the better of us towards the end. What about Man Utd last season at Old Trafford? We've also had some performances like this one too but to claim Sam tells his players not to try against the big 4 is a load of cobblers.

[Rovermatt]

Pretty disgraceful to be honest. It shows how susceptible we are to the quality attacking players in the top sides. The same thing will happen next week no doubt.

[beerwins]

Something is certainly wrong when our goalkeeper is praised as our best player when we lose 5-0 and 6-2

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Something is certainly wrong when our goalkeeper is praised as our best player when we lose 5-0 and 6-2

Without him the scores would have been 10-0 and 12-2

[champions1995]

We simply can't compete against the best clubs away from home. Today has meant we have lost on our last 9 visits to a 'big four club' and that we haven't taken a solitary point since the 15th September 2007. That doesn't tell the story - 30 goals conceeded in those 9 defeats which is absolutely shocking. Why can't we find a formula that will make us difficult to beat away from home? Hull, Newcastle and Sunderland all came below us last season and they still took at least a point from one of their visits to the top four. Why can't we? Or why can't we lose with dignity and pride intact?

Rovers' Recent Away Record against the 'Big Four'

Chelsea 0-0 Rovers

Man United 2-0 Rovers

Arsenal 2-0 Rovers

Liverpool 3-1 Rovers

Man Utd 2-1 Rovers

Arsenal 4-0 Rovers

Liverpool 4-0 Rovers

Chelsea 2-0 Rovers

Arsenal 6-2 Rovers

Chelsea 5-0 Rovers

[Hullrover]

Then at least our fans wouldn't be pissing £100's of pounds up the wall travelling each week

Then don't go!!!

Watch it in the pub and spend < £10. What a whinger!!!

Get lost, Andrews!

And you could do better?

[sambo]

Then don't go!!!

Watch it in the pub and spend < £10. What a whinger!!!

And you could do better?

People will stay go, it is in their blood... loyal fans deserve better.

Does he get paid money to play for a Premiership team? And by playing for Rovers he is accountable to the fans, the poster isn't...

[Hullrover]

Losing 433 million to nil is embarassing.

Oops that is the respective amounts spent on the teams and we had our best three players out just to give Chelsea a sporting chance. Let's try again...

We will win at Old Trafford next week and I am being serious.

At last a sensible comment from someone (probably aged > 10)

[beerwins]

At last a sensible comment from someone (probably aged > 10)

What like "and you could do better"