[Archived] Fulham Vs Rovers

[modes98]

Let's not forget Fulham only had 4 shots on target resulting in 3 goals, a frustrating night for the Rovers, it just wasn't to be.

A very good point.

I am watching the highlights as I type.

First half I am told we were on top and second half they were. Difference seems to be they took the chances on offer. Granted we pushed to get back into it and let another in but that isn't a big point.

Stoke is tbe game we should be winning and the game our minds must focus on. Today was an opportunity but never a granted 1 or 3 points.

[joey_big_nose]

Just got back. We dominated the first half, should have scored two at least - one within the first three minutes. 60% possession in our favour. I groaned when Andrews started on the right (wtf?) but he actually did okay first half. On balance we were much better, although we suffered from not having a penetrating pass when we needed it. Grella and Dunn were moving the ball well, the wide players held onto it, the strikers got behind them, it was really encouraging.

Fulham created two chances all half. They scored one of them in the last couple of minutes.

Second half we went to pieces. Fulham could have had six (although we should have scored twice ourselves), dominated possession and we resorted to chucking the longball which was useless. Mystified by the substitutions - we needed imrpvements in midfield not up front.... why bring on TWO strikers? One woul dhave been enough,

What I found utterly confusing was why didn't Nzonzi start and Dunn play on the right? Or at least why did we not reshuffle that way? It was bizarrely obvious we needed more composure in the middle. Also it didn't help that Diouf was truely awful in the second half.

Robinson had a poor game too. Pah

[Miker]

Just got back. We dominated the first half, should have scored two at least - one within the first three minutes. 60% possession in our favour. I groaned when Andrews started on the right (wtf?) but he actually did okay first half. On balance we were much better, although we suffered from not having a penetrating pass when we needed it. Grella and Dunn were moving the ball well, the wide players held onto it, the strikers got behind them, it was really encouraging.

Fulham created two chances all half. They scored one of them in the last couple of minutes.

Second half we went to pieces. Fulham could have had six (although we should have scored twice ourselves), dominated possession and we resorted to chucking the longball which was useless. Mystified by the substitutions - we needed imrpvements in midfield not up front.... why bring on TWO strikers? One woul dhave been enough,

What I found utterly confusing was why didn't Nzonzi start and Dunn play on the right? Or at least why did we not reshuffle that way? It was bizarrely obvious we needed more composure in the middle. Also it didn't help that Diouf was truely awful in the second half.

Robinson had a poor game too. Pah

I am utterly devastated by the result. I would've been ok with a draw, but to be so dominant in the first half and then end the game with a 3-0 loss is just demoralising. I was afraid of this happening because we had made so many mistakes at Bolton and it was evident that against a team that wouldn't waste their chances like Bolton we could be easily exposed. I was encouraged by the improved passing and movement (Diouf at least didnt pass back 99% of the time) and the amount of excellent tackles and interceptions made, especially by Grella, was very pleasing. But then we concede a goal out of nowhere towards the end of the first half and that was it. Game over. I wasn't the least bit hopeful after that.

The substitutions came a little too late and should've been better. I wonder what Sam would've done if he was at the game at half time and if he would've pulled off what we did at Portsmouth? I think after about 10 minutes of the 2nd half it was evident that we were in absolute shambles now and needed a change. Fulham is one of the best teams in the league defensively and it takes a lot more to break through them. At this point, given we had Andrews on the right, we should've taken Diouf and Di Santo off and brought on McCarthy and Kalinic. We should've switched to a 4-3-3 with Dunn, Grella and Andrews as the midfield three and then pushed on for an equaliser. Swapping two strikers for two strikers was just useless, especially given Roberts and Di Santo were already working their socks off to try and get through the Fulham defence without much success. So a different approach or formation was needed.

It just makes me angry that we could look so good for such a long period of time and then give it away. I don't think we have a chance to push for Europe, but I was looking forward to us sitting in the top half before the weekend, but that didn't happen

[Miker]

Wow, I just read the earlier posts and people are actually upset by the performance of Grella and Andrews? Seriously? They were the two best players on the pitch in the first half. How any blame can be put on them is beyond me. Questions should be asked of our defence, and even more so of Robinson and our strikers that were unable to do much. But Andrews and Grella? Tell me one thing that they did wrong compared to the others on the team. I just completely disagree with the people that have criticised them this game. I don't know what they were like towards the end of the second half, as I had to leave for work, but surely they can't be faulted at all in the first half.

By the way, no one has mentioned this, but Kalinic looked very promising for the 10 minutes or so that I saw him before I had to go. He looked up for it and was involved in some nice looking moves. Maybe it's time to give him a start?

[thenodrog]

Let's not forget Fulham only had 4 shots on target resulting in 3 goals, a frustrating night for the Rovers, it just wasn't to be.

Thats the Premier League for you. Miss your chances and you'll get walloped. We missed 3 chances they scored 3 out of 4 or 5.

Unfortunately for us Fulham showed better application and more intelligence around and in the box. And considering that their attack is led by that numpty Zamora that is a sad state of affairs.

Ref was crap.... but this is becoming a usual observation. He really needs to study upon the dangerous play rules.

[tcj_jones]

Just got back. We dominated the first half, should have scored two at least - one within the first three minutes. 60% possession in our favour. I groaned when Andrews started on the right (wtf?) but he actually did okay first half. On balance we were much better, although we suffered from not having a penetrating pass when we needed it. Grella and Dunn were moving the ball well, the wide players held onto it, the strikers got behind them, it was really encouraging.

Fulham created two chances all half. They scored one of them in the last couple of minutes.

Second half we went to pieces. Fulham could have had six (although we should have scored twice ourselves), dominated possession and we resorted to chucking the longball which was useless. Mystified by the substitutions - we needed imrpvements in midfield not up front.... why bring on TWO strikers? One woul dhave been enough,

What I found utterly confusing was why didn't Nzonzi start and Dunn play on the right? Or at least why did we not reshuffle that way? It was bizarrely obvious we needed more composure in the middle. Also it didn't help that Diouf was truely awful in the second half.

Robinson had a poor game too. Pah

This post pretty much sums it up for me, virtually exactly what I was about to type.

First half we dominated and got hit by a sucker punch, but the second half was awful. The amount of aimless punts down the pitch to nobody in particular was so frustrating. That the two strikers we brought on barely got a touch goes to show that it was the service was lacking, not the performances of the front men.

[beerwins]

I cant believe i am saying this but andrews in the first half was probably one of our better players grella seemed to do well also, whatever happened to them in the second half can only be described as a tactic failure.

Seems to strike me that in the first half we held the ball, passed and moved only thing we really lacked was lack of finishing, the players really seemed up for it, then the second half came we lumped the ball about never got a foot on it and never looked like scoring.

I may well be one for looking into something that isnt there but to me it seems that in the first half we tried to play football and we looked good but for missed chances we could have been sitting on a few goals lead, when we went 1-0 down we resorted to our usual tacticts of lump it long and my oh my it just didnt work again, the players just dont want to play this football and they are making their feelings known which is so easy to see.

Like I said I may be reading more into this but when we play the lump the players show no effort at all, it seems very sad to me that at this stage of the season we dont know our best formation, our best players to play the formation we want and a way to shut up shop. Call me a pessimist but i really feel something isnt right at rovers at the moment, we won at bolton without being at our best, then tonight we lose without even competing in the second half when the game was there for the taking, i fail to understand such a lack of consitancy.

We started like we ended at bolton but when we went 1 down we gave up, i cant help but feel that the motivation for the players is wrong in the half time chats, to see such a drop in spirits because of one goal is very strange.

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

Got back an hour ago. What struck me was the lack of pace and creativity in the side. Fulham nullified Dunn and therefore prevented us from getting any meaningful ball to the strikers. We had no ideas whatsoever, completely lacked any dynamism or cohesion after they had scored and reverted to lumping balls up to the front two who were only ever on the fringes of the game.

Hoillet needed to be introduced. Diouf was shocking. Grella was relatively composed and Andrews did ok for 45 mins. Dunn did little but, as mentioned as our only creative outlet he was an obvious threat which Fulham marked out of the game. He also played too deep to make an impact. Strikers tried hard but couldnt get any service. Not sure that Di Santo and Roberts is the way forward.

Overall: Depressing. Devoid of any ideas for the second half and made a poor Fulham side look good. A defeat can be stomached but not one so poorly contested. We never looked like getting a result from half time onwards. They should have had 4/5 by the end.

A win against Stoke will just about make up for tonight but that performance was concerning. .

[RibbleValleyRover]

By the way, no one has mentioned this, but Kalinic looked very promising for the 10 minutes or so that I saw him before I had to go. He looked up for it and was involved in some nice looking moves. Maybe it's time to give him a start?

Problem is who is going to create opportunities for him? Dunny is the only player i see in this side who has that ability to create something for Kalinic or Benni (goalscoring type strikers) so they can put it away. If Dunny is unavailable, has a shocker or is nullified by the opposition's tactics then we are toothless.

I still think the central midfield is a weak area, but looking at it now I think our wingers are a huge, huge problem. Pedersen doesn't offer anything, Diouf is looking like his legs have gone, Hoilett won't sign a new contract and will likely be freezed out as a result, Doran is too inexperienced, Emerton can do a job but right wing i don't think is his best position and he can be inconsistent when he plays there, then there is EVH who can't get a game. Truth is we never replaced Bentley and this mistake is costing us.

If we had money to spend we should be looking at bringing in a winger or two who can put a decent ball into the box. We are so one dimensional with Dunny being the only creative outlet, if we had Dunny in the middle and another creative player on one of flanks we would be so more dangerous and would provide far more service to our strikers. But we all know we will have peanuts to spend, or we won't strengthen this area.

[Tris]

Thats the Premier League for you. Miss your chances and you'll get walloped. We missed 3 chances they scored 3 out of 4 or 5.

Unfortunately for us Fulham showed better application and more intelligence around and in the box. And considering that their attack is led by that numpty Zamora that is a sad state of affairs.

Ref was crap.... but this is becoming a usual observation. He really needs to study upon the dangerous play rules.

We didn't have 3 chances from where I was sat in the Putney End. The Golden Boy from Argentina has clearly been training with Roberts too much, because he had far too long to mess up the one obvious chance early on, and the failed attempt to score was pure Jason Roberts.

The ref was no better or worse than any other ref in any other fixture. Didn't even notice him to be honest.

Fulham showed better application and intelligence because they were better prepared, and knew their roles. They have a proper manager in Roy Hodgson. It's a total contrast - Hodgson varies his tactics, has a game plan for every fixture, and gets performances and results from poor to average players (Dempsey anyone?)

But Allardyce leaves our best players out of the team, plays formations and selections that don't work and his inevitably crap plan A is only backed up by a panic button reaction.

The extent of the problem won't become apparent until next seasons STs go on sale - at whatever price, cheapest or most expensive in the league. The hard core will always be there and hats off to them.

I fear that thousands of others - tempted by the great prices this season - will choose once again to stay well away from Ewood Park on Saturdays - even if it was free - because right now it's like watching a painful divorce in slow motion. Football shouldn't be like this.

[Paul]

Di Santo - Not good enough. His style requires top class players around as his speciality appears to be 'flick ons'

You mean he has a style? Done nothing in any game I've seen to suggest he has any sort of style at all.

[USABlue]

Oh come on did we really expect a performance tonight? We only just played on Sunday and then we have another game on Saturday, we should feel sorry for the poor little darlings. For those that suggested that the players put in extra effort after we go a goal down, be sensible this is the modern footballer we are talking about, much easier to just throw up ones arms and give up the ghost. After all the Boss is gone for a while may as well take it easy.

As you may have guessed my patience is wearing thin with some of the lacklustre efforts, nothing but 100% blood and guts on Saturday will do for me. Maybe it's time I gave real consideration to giving this lot a rest from my schedule, I'm feeling a bit sorry for those of you that have to go and pay. Hoping, still, it gets better.

[Miker]

But Allardyce leaves our best players out of the team, plays formations and selections that don't work and his inevitably crap plan A is only backed up by a panic button reaction.

What crap. Allardyce's "plan A" was excellent and we dominated Fulham in the first half until a goal at the end of it totally destroyed morale. What best players did he leave out of the team? Besides McCarthy, all of them were playing. Emerton was injured and N'zonzi is good and has massive potential, but I'd pick Grella over him right now easily. Sam had no contact with anyone in management or the players at all at half time, so I'm not sure how he could have had any influence at all on the team that came out in the second half, so accusing Sam of having a "panic button reaction" is just daft.

Hodgson gets the best out of average players? So I guess Sam getting a brace from Roberts isn't the same as Hodgson getting a brace from Dempsey. Or Sam bringing a young French league two midfielder and getting consistent performances from him every game isn't good enough? Or getting the best out of Dunn in both fitness and form should just be ignored as well? How ridiculous.

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

Haven't seen the second half bt after the first half we were apparently Arsenalesq in play and in possession. Get some perspective.

[Miker]

I may well be one for looking into something that isnt there but to me it seems that in the first half we tried to play football and we looked good but for missed chances we could have been sitting on a few goals lead, when we went 1-0 down we resorted to our usual tacticts of lump it long and my oh my it just didnt work again, the players just dont want to play this football and they are making their feelings known which is so easy to see.

The only reason a team resorts to lumping the ball forward at such a stage is because when you're 1-0 down and you haven't been able to break a team down, you resort to getting the ball forward as quickly as you can, so you can win corners or free kicks in the final third and try and exploit them from that. I'm not saying it's a smart thing to do or that it works, but that's the logic behind it, rather than pass it around the pitch where time is wasted and it's possible nothing eventuates from that either. That's why the midfield probably looked ineffective by the second half, as we were no longer letting them pass the ball around, but were simply bypassing the midfield altogether to just get the ball forward.

Oh come on did we really expect a performance tonight? We only just played on Sunday and then we have another game on Saturday, we should feel sorry for the poor little darlings. For those that suggested that the players put in extra effort after we go a goal down, be sensible this is the modern footballer we are talking about, much easier to just throw up ones arms and give up the ghost. After all the Boss is gone for a while may as well take it easy.

As you may have guessed my patience is wearing thin with some of the lacklustre efforts, nothing but 100% blood and guts on Saturday will do for me. Maybe it's time I gave real consideration to giving this lot a rest from my schedule, I'm feeling a bit sorry for those of you that have to go and pay. Hoping, still, it gets better.

We seriously lack concentration away from home, so we start to concede a lot of goals once we go 1-0 down. However, when you look at our home form, we are the complete opposite there. Witnessed by our fightback against Villa, Portsmouth and Burnley. Even at Man City we fought back really well and were unlucky not to equalise. So just because it seems we lack effort away, doesn't mean the team shows no effort at all.

[Seedstral]

Another fickle set of comments from a fickle bunch. You should start being realistic for a change and realise we are a club that sets out to survive season in season out!! I'd be quite happy to finish 17th every season so our much loved club doesn't crumble and fall down the leagues ie Leeds and Southampton etc. Both big clubs in English football who gambled and failed. Be grateful for what you've got as results like last night suggest it might well be a tough season but i for 1 wont be complaining if we survive at the end of the season. The management team cant win they go 4-4-2 and get beat 3-0 regardless of the team selected and yet up until the Portsmouth 1st half 4-5-1 worked even beating our dear neighbours (were any of you critical then)!!! Instead of being critical take a step back and realise that we aren't the team from 15 years ago this is now and accept it!! We will always be BRFC regardless but we will never be a top 6 side again unless the club become mercenaries!! In Big Sam and John Williams i have faith and so should you!!

[Mr. E]

Another fickle set of comments from a fickle bunch. You should start being realistic for a change and realise we are a club that sets out to survive season in season out!! I'd be quite happy to finish 17th every season so our much loved club doesn't crumble and fall down the leagues ie Leeds and Southampton etc. Both big clubs in English football who gambled and failed. Be grateful for what you've got as results like last night suggest it might well be a tough season but i for 1 wont be complaining if we survive at the end of the season. The management team cant win they go 4-4-2 and get beat 3-0 regardless of the team selected and yet up until the Portsmouth 1st half 4-5-1 worked even beating our dear neighbours (were any of you critical then)!!! Instead of being critical take a step back and realise that we aren't the team from 15 years ago this is now and accept it!! We will always be BRFC regardless but we will never be a top 6 side again unless the club become mercenaries!! In Big Sam and John Williams i have faith and so should you!!

Graeme Souness and Mark Hughes would like to challenge your "never be a top 6 side" analysis.

[jim mk2]

Done nothing in any game I've seen to suggest he has any sort of style at all.

Were you at the Reebok on Saturday ? The lad looks a proper footballer to me, which is more than be said of his current strike partner or the laggard McCarthy.

[Steve Moss]

Less chance now since he rejected our contract.

Why should we invest the time and energy in developing him as a player, if he's just going to bolt?

Robinson had a poor game too.

Everyone has an off day. Robinson wasn't his best but I suspect he'll get his act together by the weekend.

Wow, I just read the earlier posts and people are actually upset by the performance of Grella and Andrews? . . .

By the way, no one has mentioned this, but Kalinic looked very promising for the 10 minutes or so that I saw him before I had to go. He looked up for it and was involved in some nice looking moves. Maybe it's time to give him a start?

I though both Grella and Andrews both did well. Didn't see as much pointing out of Andrews which may explain his improved performance.

And I agree about Kalinic. He looked class. He nearly scored in the box and, unlike some, I don't think it was a dive. He was going full bore and even a small bump can take a man off his feet at that speed.

Ref was crap.... but this is becoming a usual observation. He really needs to study upon the dangerous play rules.

Ref was poor. Two penalties on Di Santo, completely undeserved. Banged Diouf for a hand ball, also undeserved. Pounced on Kalinic, also undeserved. Fulham got the benefit of every call. If video assistance ever makes it into the game, I think the Rovers will go up a goal a game, as we'll start getting some justice.

. . . i cant help but feel that the motivation for the players is wrong in the half time chats, to see such a drop in spirits because of one goal is very strange.

I really didn't see spirits drop. The Rovers looked to me that they were battling very step of the way. What appeared to happen is that Fulham's attacks were no longer being disrupted or broken up and Fulham was allowed to get right on top of the defense, which I suspect is a mid-field issue though I have no idea at whom the finger should be pointed.

But Allardyce leaves our best players out of the team, plays formations and selections that don't work and his inevitably crap plan A is only backed up by a panic button reaction.

Football shouldn't be like this.

Who is our best player? McCarthy? The man couldn't be bothered to collect a ball unless it was Fed Exed to him, restricted delivery. By contrast, Roberts, Di Santo and Kalinic busted their humps and to make chances, which they did though they couldn't seal the deal. I thought McCarthy was the worst player in a Rovers uniform tonight.

And over all, the Rovers did well. I'm confident the season will go well. We will have a solid mid-table season and that Sam will continue to improve the squad. The future is no where near as dark as you make out.

[Miker]

Graeme Souness and Mark Hughes would like to challenge your "never be a top 6 side" analysis.

I believe we can be, or at least push for that... but not yet. We've shown this season that we do have a lot of good qualities, but it hasn't come together yet and it's not all that surprising because we have a lot of new players and they need to get used to each other's style of play and it doesn't take 1,2 or even 10 games to do it. We can be confident that we won't be stranded at the bottom of the table come the end of the season at the very least, but we're not going to wow anyone either.

[Iceman]

Disagree with those who said, Andrews had a good. What was his role suppose to be, in that midfield. You can clearly see that his defending is poor, and he is not creative type player. Im happy we changed to 4-4-2, but with a midfield as slow as that last night it was terrible to watch. Il be happy to see Nzonzi and Bert back in there tbh.

[47er]

We didn't have 3 chances from where I was sat in the Putney End. The Golden Boy from Argentina has clearly been training with Roberts too much, because he had far too long to mess up the one obvious chance early on, and the failed attempt to score was pure Jason Roberts.

The ref was no better or worse than any other ref in any other fixture. Didn't even notice him to be honest.

Fulham showed better application and intelligence because they were better prepared, and knew their roles. They have a proper manager in Roy Hodgson. It's a total contrast - Hodgson varies his tactics, has a game plan for every fixture, and gets performances and results from poor to average players (Dempsey anyone?)

But Allardyce leaves our best players out of the team, plays formations and selections that don't work and his inevitably crap plan A is only backed up by a panic button reaction.

The extent of the problem won't become apparent until next seasons STs go on sale - at whatever price, cheapest or most expensive in the league. The hard core will always be there and hats off to them.

I fear that thousands of others - tempted by the great prices this season - will choose once again to stay well away from Ewood Park on Saturdays - even if it was free - because right now it's like watching a painful divorce in slow motion. Football shouldn't be like this.

Tris you didn't appear on here when we won at Bolton! We should have won it in the first half which we totally dominated but as the commentator said-that goal on half-time knocked the stuffing out of us. Very disappointing but these days happen. I feel very sorry for all Rovers supporters who travelled all that way.

Some commentators have got it right----no creativity in mid-field if Dunn isn't firing and we do need a speedy winger or 2.

[Bobby G]

Robinson back to his "best" during the last few games. It seems every shot on target is going in.

I thought Grella was good in the first half actually as he was working really hard.

Oh how different it would have been if Di Santo scored in the first minute, but I knew he wouldnt from his body language.

Some of our players truly arent good enough to play at this level.

[tony gale's mic]

We didn't have 3 chances from where I was sat in the Putney End. The Golden Boy from Argentina has clearly been training with Roberts too much, because he had far too long to mess up the one obvious chance early on, and the failed attempt to score was pure Jason Roberts.

The ref was no better or worse than any other ref in any other fixture. Didn't even notice him to be honest.

Fulham showed better application and intelligence because they were better prepared, and knew their roles. They have a proper manager in Roy Hodgson. It's a total contrast - Hodgson varies his tactics, has a game plan for every fixture, and gets performances and results from poor to average players (Dempsey anyone?)

But Allardyce leaves our best players out of the team, plays formations and selections that don't work and his inevitably crap plan A is only backed up by a panic button reaction.

The extent of the problem won't become apparent until next seasons STs go on sale - at whatever price, cheapest or most expensive in the league. The hard core will always be there and hats off to them.

I fear that thousands of others - tempted by the great prices this season - will choose once again to stay well away from Ewood Park on Saturdays - even if it was free - because right now it's like watching a painful divorce in slow motion. Football shouldn't be like this.

You only seem to pop up on here when we lose...

[RIML]

Another point is that the balance of the side was all wrong. It worked on Sunday in the second half but with Givet out tonight we didn't have one left footed player on the pitch. Watching the highlights on Sky now Robbo should never have been beaten on his near post like that. Awful goal keeping and defending from Nelsen.

Agree that Robbo shouldn't be beaten at his near post but at least Nelsen tried to make a challenge, I didn't see any other defenders making a challenge did you?