[Archived] Sam's January Targets

[Steve Moss]

We didn't 'thrash' Villa or Chelsea.

A win is a win, whether by an inch or a mile- to paraphrase Vin Diesel.

And if I want to characterize the Rovers slaying EPL giants a "thrashing", I will. Thank you very much.

And as to the Aston Villa win, we did it with 10 men. So with that adjustment is most defintely was a thrashing.

[Tom]

I thought we were signing Meriem today, either the gun has been jumped or someone is holding fire on giving Sam any funds just yet

[MarkBRFC71]

We are not, NOT, going to get relegated and Sam needs more time to bring in some more good players.

I admire your (blind?) optimism, but you are saying that based on what? I assume you haven't been going every week?

The manager is tactically naive and inept, cannot get the best from his players, makes unfathomable team selections week in week out, relies on players who are simply not good enough, doesn't pick those who should be starting, has made some questionable buys to say the least, seems to have lost his passion and drive, blames the players when we lose but takes the credit when we win, oh, and likes to refer to himself as The Expert.

Yes, he did well in keeping us up last season, but is not taking us anywhere at the moment other than down.

For me the situation is simple - 4 points minimum required from our next two home league games or Sam should be shown the door.

[RibbleValleyRover]

I thought we were signing Meriem today, either the gun has been jumped or someone is holding fire on giving Sam any funds just yet

Probably can't afford him on the stretched wage budget. Either that or they have put their foot down on the home-grown issue.

[Tom]

According to the Mirror on Monday morning the deal was all but done, I can't see what has changed since then apart from the board now sure about Sam

[Ricky]

Miker, 7-8 players isn't a bit of a stretch. They were without lescott, toure, bridge, ireland, wright-Phillips, adebayor, onouha. All of which are regular starters. Also missing vieira and Johnson so that's 9 off the top of my head.

[broadsword]

You can't "thrash" someone 2-1, nonsense.

[Kelbo]

I have watched Coventry play Portsmouth tonight, Coventry were so unlucky conceding late on, but they prevented pompey playing by pressing the ball so quickly and not allowing them to play at all, we need someone who can do that 'a la Savage' and then give the ball to a playmaker, we need balance in midfield, then a couple of wide men with pace and the strikers we have, we will score!!

Our team is without balance or thought at the moment!!

[AJW]

we have a goalkeeper who doesn't make saves , we have a defense that makes individual errors, a midfield that doesn't tackle , wide players with no pace ,skill or ability to cross a ball , and a forward line that can't score goals , and no money to put it right and whilst BFS has to take some of the responsibilty for that i think the players need to look at themselves in the mirror also

[Kelbo]

we have a goalkeeper who doesn't make saves , we have a defense that makes individual errors, a midfield that doesn't tackle , wide players with no pace ,skill or ability to cross a ball , and a forward line that can't score goals , and no money to put it right and whilst BFS has to take some of the responsibilty for that i think the players need to look at themselves in the mirror also

The Mirror??? Is Nicko doing another article??

Yes I agree, but the managers job is to motivate and coach the players, these lads are on decent money and should be able to do a job (Andrews excluded)

I was once told by one of my managers in my playing days, you can be having a bad one, passes may go astray, things may go wrong, but there is no excuse for less than 100% and ensuring the @#/? you are palying against doesnt have a good one!!

90% of football is hard work and only 10% skill, for if you dont put in the hard work, the skill will never have the opportunity of showing through!

[frosty]

You can't "thrash" someone 2-1, nonsense.

And 3-3

[Drunx2002]

Please can we just buy some decent midfielders and use them by actually passing the ball along the floor and teach them to close down when the other team has the ball and make space when we have it. It's not actually that difficult. We need some sort of creativity and a settled strikeforce for the goals to come and take pressure off the defence.

Mokoena and Ferguson both scored today. I think they would both walk straight into our team at the moment, and that is saying something. No more full backs, no strikers needed (unless replacements for Benni & Roberts should they both go), just a decent midfield!

[bluebruce]

A win is a win, whether by an inch or a mile- to paraphrase Vin Diesel.

And if I want to characterize the Rovers slaying EPL giants a "thrashing", I will. Thank you very much.

And as to the Aston Villa win, we did it with 10 men. So with that adjustment is most defintely was a thrashing.

I know a win is a win, but I also know a slim victory is not a thrashing. I know you "can" characterise it as that, because I saw you do it. You "can" characterise a cow as a carnivore if you want. However, just like with this, you would be making yourself look a bit silly. Don't take offence, I genuinely like and probably agree with the majority of what I see you post, I just felt it was necessary to observe how ludicrous a statement that was. At any rate, Villa are not giants, and we beat Chelsea when THEY had ten men too. And it was still only 3-3. Obviously you have the freedom to say what you like (as per my post on that sort of matter before), but I'll be asking you to excuse me whilst I laugh at that one. No ill intent meant.

[Steve Moss]

I know a win is a win, but I also know a slim victory is not a thrashing. I know you "can" characterise it as that, because I saw you do it. You "can" characterise a cow as a carnivore if you want. However, just like with this, you would be making yourself look a bit silly. Don't take offence, I genuinely like and probably agree with the majority of what I see you post, I just felt it was necessary to observe how ludicrous a statement that was. At any rate, Villa are not giants, and we beat Chelsea when THEY had ten men too. And it was still only 3-3. Obviously you have the freedom to say what you like (as per my post on that sort of matter before), but I'll be asking you to excuse me whilst I laugh at that one. No ill intent meant.

No offense taken. Though I would argue that you and I are both looking silly debating whether a 'thrashing' was delivered by the Rovers. So in an effort to redeem myself somewhat (though not to the same extent as if I just dropped the subject completely- a far too mature reaction), I will concede I was clearly and obviously mistaken as to Chelsea (though I still think the word was properly used in Aston Villa's case- as in "to defeat thoroughly").

And if you still disagree with me, that's fine. Chalk it up to me being an ignorant American. I can live with it and may even deserve it.

As to Sam's Targets, I am frankly worried at this point. If Sam is on the two game countdown to sudden death, I suspect the board has put his intended targets on hold. I can see their reasoning, why purchase players for a manager who may be on his way out when the new manager may have other plans for those resources (or the cost associated with the transfer target may be re-directed to paying off Sam).

I think Sam is a decent manager. Far better than many of his possible replacements. And I am beginning to think the problems with the Rovers are partially due to the conduct of the board room which can apparently afford to pay off and hire managers, but won't direct significant funds to bringing new blood into the squad which is desperately needed (midfield, left wing and left back).

[Miker]

Miker, 7-8 players isn't a bit of a stretch. They were without lescott, toure, bridge, ireland, wright-Phillips, adebayor, onouha. All of which are regular starters. Also missing vieira and Johnson so that's 9 off the top of my head.

Yes, but a back four of Garrido, Kompany, Richards and Zabaleta is by no means poor, especially since all were regulars last season.

A midfield partnership of Barry and De Jong is as good as any, and an attacking force of Petrov, Tevez, Bellamy and Benjani is extremely potent. I've watched Man City on many occasions both last season and this season and all those players are absolute quality. They are as good as any players in any of the top 4 sides, with the exception of Benjani, who nonetheless was in great form against us and I have been a keen admirer of him since the 2007/2008 season when he was in exceptional form.

If anything, having 9 players out is just evidence how impressive the squad assembled is in both quality and depth. I'm assured that the team Mancini played against us was the best at his disposal at the time and chosen with tactics in mind, rather than giving players a rest, and I realise I say this with Robinho and Santa Cruz sitting on the bench.

[Miker]

The manager is tactically naive and inept, cannot get the best from his players, makes unfathomable team selections week in week out, relies on players who are simply not good enough, doesn't pick those who should be starting, has made some questionable buys to say the least, seems to have lost his passion and drive, blames the players when we lose but takes the credit when we win, oh, and likes to refer to himself as The Expert.

1.) Tactically, I agree he does have some shortcomings, but this is more down to being unable to find the right formation for the players and for the team as a whole to perform to their best.

2.) He's been a bit hit and miss with the players. Defensively we had a decent run of keeping clean sheets for a while, but get hammered by the big teams. Midfield-wise, you can argue he is now getting the best out of Gamst in years. He is also getting the best of a very young and inexperienced N'zonzi. He is also getting the best out of Dunn and Grella when they've played. Strikers have been poor, but chances have been created for them in games and they simply have been unable to finish.

3.) He relies on players at his disposal. People continually criticse his lineups, but I honestly don't see what drastic changes could be made? The biggest gripe people seem to have is playing Andrews and not playing Kalinic, but somehow I don't think that would solve the problem.

4.) His only questionable signing was Salgado and Van Heerden (who's now been moved on). I'm not sure how that is a massive negative/fault.

5.) Get over it he called himself "the expert" once, in fact I'm not so sure he even used that term exactly.

The fans are in denial that we are extremely weak financially and we have to work from scraps to achieve anything in the Premier League, which includes placing faith in average-to-decent players who come here on frees or on the cheap, rather than expensive big name signings like some other clubs have managed to make. We are in a position where the club's finances have to be stabilised and some sort of core player base needs to be established. Unfortunately, Sam has had to come in when our star players were sold, and the others either had to be sold to make money (Warnock) or were already keen on moving on (this includes Santa Cruz, McCarthy, and Roberts).

Look at our current first team squad and see how many new players there are since Mark Hughes was here. Answer: a lot. People talk about our similarities with Birmingham and Fulham, but how many players have retained their place in Birmingham's squad since being promoted, and how many players have retained their place since Roy took over at Fulham?

Fact is, sacking the manager will not solve our current problems, it will make them even more untenable and result in what happened to Newcastle. The difference will be that our supporter base and finances will not allow us to go directly back up like they are likely to do.

[Steve Moss]

Fact is, sacking the manager will not solve our current problems, it will make them even more untenable and result in what happened to Newcastle. The difference will be that our supporter base and finances will not allow us to go directly back up like they are likely to do.

A very well reasoned and thoughtful post.

The money we would use to pay off Sam, if we were to sack him (and likely replace with someone even less talented), is better spent improving the squad. Get to the summer and the wage load will lighten considerably and we'll have some flexibility to make improvements.

On other news:

Everton is again sniffing around Benni but don't want to pay 2.5 million. http://www.fansfc.com/story/18239.html

Holden is on trial at Bolton (which irritates me to no end- we had an opening). http://www.tribalfootball.com/holden-begins-trials-bolton-569391

[gumboots]

1.) Tactically, I agree he does have some shortcomings, but this is more down to being unable to find the right formation for the players and for the team as a whole to perform to their best.

2.) He's been a bit hit and miss with the players. Defensively we had a decent run of keeping clean sheets for a while, but get hammered by the big teams. Midfield-wise, you can argue he is now getting the best out of Gamst in years. He is also getting the best of a very young and inexperienced N'zonzi. He is also getting the best out of Dunn and Grella when they've played. Strikers have been poor, but chances have been created for them in games and they simply have been unable to finish.

3.) He relies on players at his disposal. People continually criticse his lineups, but I honestly don't see what drastic changes could be made? The biggest gripe people seem to have is playing Andrews and not playing Kalinic, but somehow I don't think that would solve the problem.

4.) His only questionable signing was Salgado and Van Heerden (who's now been moved on). I'm not sure how that is a massive negative/fault.

5.) Get over it he called himself "the expert" once, in fact I'm not so sure he even used that term exactly.

The fans are in denial that we are extremely weak financially and we have to work from scraps to achieve anything in the Premier League, which includes placing faith in average-to-decent players who come here on frees or on the cheap, rather than expensive big name signings like some other clubs have managed to make. We are in a position where the club's finances have to be stabilised and some sort of core player base needs to be established. Unfortunately, Sam has had to come in when our star players were sold, and the others either had to be sold to make money (Warnock) or were already keen on moving on (this includes Santa Cruz, McCarthy, and Roberts).

Look at our current first team squad and see how many new players there are since Mark Hughes was here. Answer: a lot. People talk about our similarities with Birmingham and Fulham, but how many players have retained their place in Birmingham's squad since being promoted, and how many players have retained their place since Roy took over at Fulham?

Fact is, sacking the manager will not solve our current problems, it will make them even more untenable and result in what happened to Newcastle. The difference will be that our supporter base and finances will not allow us to go directly back up like they are likely to do.

There's a lot of sense in what you write but the thing is that at Birmingham and Fulham the managers seem to have got their players playing to their strengths. Our manager doesn't even seem to know what the strengths of our players are and we are certainly not playing to them. He openly admitted just this week that he doesn't know his best 11 and for me the lack of confidence the players show in one another and in the manager's tactics are the most concerning thing. I said last season that although the football was dull at least we were getting results and for the time that was enough. However, I like most others couldn't foresee that we'd be playing even worse football this year and that despite having a chance to tweak the team and make it more as he wanted it our manager would still have no idea of a plan A that might work let alone a plan B. I'm quite prepared to stay with the manager we have if he can start finding some results, but his post match interviews don't inspeire me with confidence and I quite often know, not think, that we've been watching completely different games.

[Iceman]

we havent signed anybody yet? well there's a surprise for you

[JAL]

we havent signed anybody yet? well there's a surprise for you

You begin to wonder if the board are unsure about Sham Allaryces judgement. We know we are.

[Iceman]

You begin to wonder if the board are unsure about Sham Allaryces judgement. We know we are.

well we know Nicko mentioned, that Meriem was on the verge of signing a short term contract. That has gone very quiet, and could well indicate that perhaps the board are holding back any potential signings until after the Fulham game

[alexanders]

Assist by Meriem.

He wants him to continue playing hoofball.

Camel Meriem

A really nice pass though.

[neophox]

I don't think we have a bad squad. I would like to see this team out in a game:

Robinson

Jacobsen, Samba, Nelsen/Givet, Chimbonda

Hoilett, Nzonzi, Pedersen

Emerton above Nzonzi as a creative midfelder

McCarthy, Kalinic

This would be exciting, put Nzonzi in a position to win Balls. Hoilett and Pedersen can run around the park, then we have attacking flair in Jacobsen and Chimbonda. And then the creativity of McCarthy and the height of Kalinic.

If Pedersen or Hoilett dosen't make it just put in Dunn! Dunn looked lost in his role against Man City.

[ffan]

Roy Meredith (sp?) speaking on Chappers Premier League podcast says Blackburn are interested in Scot Parker

[EwoodGlory]

Maybe if we can Mortgage Ewood