[Archived] Rovers V Liverpool

[yellowsubmarine]

Men-of-the-match has to be Nelsen and Samba. Tower of pillars from the two of them. Chimbonda was solid. Overall the team played well. Definitely more shooting practices for the strikers as well as one-on-ones.

[Messi422]

I think that was Samba's head!

I'm still not convinced Givet is the right option at left back, I think Chimbonda is several times better in that position.

I would like to see Jacobson on the right and Chimbonda on the left.Givet is not fast enough to stop speedy player, like Glen Johnson.

[Miker]

I think that was Samba's head!

I'm still not convinced Givet is the right option at left back, I think Chimbonda is several times better in that position.

I think Givet did ok, but I think Chimbonda does better on the left than on the right. He seemed fairly vulnerable today and was probably our worst player.

[67splitscreen]

To sum up the defense today I would have to give them straight 10's with an 8 for Chimbo, he did give/lose the ball at least twice.

[G Somerset Rover]

I think it's a little unfair to criticise Givet as the man is naturally a centre back but is having to play left back.

Pleased for Nelsen today as I have been one of his biggest critics.

Next week will be a great yardstick for how our season will fair.

[John]

I was happily wrong then, good result.

[Bobby G]

I agree about Givet, as he is a center back playing on the left hand side. I

[RoversFanUSA]

Good result I haven't seen the game yet because I'm at work but great to see we got somthing out of a big game such as this

[LeChuck]

I think it's a little unfair to criticise Givet as the man is naturally a centre back but is having to play left back.

It wasn't meant to be a criticism of Givet, he's obviously nowhere near as comfortable at left back as he is in the centre.

It's nice to have selection headaches in nearly every position now. Salgado and Jacobsen will both feel they deserve a place in defence, Dunn is yet to return in midfield and we could potentially select any combination of our four strikers as they all have distinctly different attributes.

I think one of the worries when Sam came was that we would become very predictable, but the reality seems we are anything but!

[Messi422]

Anyone know Jacobson is injured or something? He is even not on the bench in last 3 matches.

[Bobby G]

On a side note, Benni had some delightful touches and looked good today. I hope he isnt dropped when Dunn comes back as the one weak point right now is left midfield, and Dunn could get in there cause I wouldnt break up the central midfield partnership at any cost.

[Mr. E]

Special mention for Samba, who defensively speaking played maybe his best game for Rovers. Few players in the world can contain Gerrard throughout the match as well as he did (though that only encouraged Gerrard to dive around...)

[Harry Balls]

I would probably have taken 0-0 before the game started, but now I'm actually a bit disapointed we didn't take all 3 points. We were the better team for most of the game and created many more chances.

Robinson - 6; Didn't really have too much to do, but apart from the left foot swipe which hit Mascherano he did everything pretty well.

Chimbonda - 6; A bit nervy today. Tried to get forward towards the end but to no avail. Has had better games in a Blackburn shirt.

Samba - 9; Excellent. Not a foot wrong defensively and showed some neat touches going forward too. My man of the match.

Nelson - 8; As Samba, he was brilliant. Between the two of them the scouse swine had very little joy in and around our box.

Givet - 6; Troubled by Johnson on a few occasions but had a decent game for the most part. Offered very little going forward though.

Emerton - 7; I love this guy! Full of energy and extremely direct. End product not as good as it was against Chelsea though.

Grella - 7; Solid. We look a much better defensive unit with him in the side. Kept Gerrard quiet for the most part. Hope he can stay fit.

N'Zonzi - 8; He is going to be a star. Solid defensively and showed some invention going forward too. Lovely pass to put Di Santo through.

Diouf - 5; His usual self. Reluctant to run at defenders, holds the ball too long and constantly pissing off the referee. At least Pedersen offers something with his long throws...

McCarthy - 6; Some nice touches but he just doesn't look fit. Didn't really do enough to give Fat Sam any selection headaches when Dunn is fit again.

Di Santo - 7; I know he has his critics, but I think this boy is brilliant! Granted, he cocked up another one-on-one, but he is full of running and has bags of talent. I would be sad to see him go back to Chelski.

Kalinic - 7; Turned Agger brilliantly and should have done better with the shot. Also had a great chance to nick it at the end. Looks a very good player though and I hope he gets much more game time soon.

Hoillett - 6; Tried running at players but was stopped in his tracks most of the time. Again, I would definitely like to see him get more game time especially ahead of Diouf!

Andrews - ?; Nothing noteworthy (like usual really). Can only tell he's on the pitch because of his stupid run. Sam, please don't start him next week!

P.S. Gerrard is a filthy, cheating, hubcap stealing, scouse prick!

[Amo]

Fantastic result! It's a shame we couldn't take all 3 points, but Liverpool had chances to win the game as well. Let's hope this is another stepping stone for the season.

[Guest Kamy100]

Just back from Ewood and very proud of the team.

We coped very well against any threat that Liverpool offered, apart from the Ngog chance they rarely threatened and are far, far short of being a top four side, never heard the Liverpool fans so quiet.

Rovers were awesome, Samba and Nelson were brilliant. Grella and Nzonzi closed down Liverpool very well and Di Santo and Benni linked up superbly. Di Santo and Kalanic should have scored but it was impressive to see the movement to get into those goalscoring positions. Holliet again made a difference but the lad needs to learn to pass as time and again he lost the ball, at the end if he had released the ball earlier it would have allowed Kalanic to run clean through.

The future looks promising at the end we had 4 young players on the pitch and shows that Sam is slowly developing this side, also have to say that there was very little direct football today, we passed the ball quite well. I spotted that last 10 minutes with Liverpool getting on top Andrews came on to do a man marking job on Gerrard and he did that well.

Great performance, now we MUST carry this into away games starting with Hull.

[Bobby G]

I am sick of Gerrard and his antics too. He falls over the same exact way in the box every single time, turns his stupid head back to look at the ref and half the time he is diving when he does it.

[Steve Moss]

Cracking game.

Grella at last showing how good he is with two immense performances. Nzonzi is already a class act but what a player this kid is going to be.

Di santo and Kalinic are going to come good. They both have skill pace strength and their eye and composure in front of goal will surely come.

Nelsen and Samba were fantastic- that run from Nelsen was awesome. Emerton superb, Benni put in an excellent shify and the save by Robbo after Ngog hit the cross bar was right out of the top drawer.

Once again a bunch of borderline decisions all went the soon to be ex-Big 4 club's way. Liverpool slip deservedly further away from CL qualification with this result.

Happy days are back at Ewood after this week.

I counldn't have said it better myself. So I won't.

I think it's a little unfair to criticise Givet as the man is naturally a centre back but is having to play left back.

Pleased for Nelsen today as I have been one of his biggest critics.

Next week will be a great yardstick for how our season will fair.

I think next week will be the real test as to how the season will go. And I am personally thinking that Sam will close hard and we're looking at a 50 point season.

I think one of the worries when Sam came was that we would become very predictable, but the reality seems we are anything but!

I would probably have taken 0-0 before the game started, but now I'm actually a bit disapointed we didn't take all 3 points. We were the better team for most of the game and created many more chances.

P.S. Gerrard is a filthy, cheating, hubcap stealing, scouse prick!

All to Sam's credit, in my opinion. We will be a team to contend with in years to come.

And Gerard is a cheat.

[Plastic Head]

Generally happy with today. Draw a fair result, maybe we could have got all the points had we been a bit fresher, but all the guys who played the game on Wednesday kept going to the end, Benni apart.

Grellas best game so far.

Liverpool fans are a joke. Why are they not shouting for the managers head? Why do they still go to watch that every week?

Robinson. Nearly threw it away with a bad clearance and flapped a couple of times. Apart from that not much to do. Needs to cut out the errors or we're going to have to be looking for a realistic challenger to his position. 4.5/10

Chimbonda. Good, Always looks like he'd be even better at right-back when he plays left-back, but always seems to do better on the left somehow. Some good link ups with Emo though. 7.5/10

Givet. Not helped much by Diouf and did a good enough defensive job. 6/10

Nelsen and Samba. Too good for the pub player that is Kuyt, and Ngog was just too weak to make an impression. Both contributed going forward. 17/20.

Zonners. Got up and down really well despite Wednesday and did everything asked of him. 8/10

Grella. Mascherano without the fouls and moaning. Didn't give the ball away and held the midfield together impressively. Not a world beating performance but easily good enough for us and a completely different class to the unmentionable one.8.5/10.

Diouf. Just not good enough. 3.5/10

Emerton. Another all action performance and did his best to get us a goal. 8/10.

McCarthy. We didn't get him on the ball enough but he caused some problems until tiring after HT. 7/10

Di Santo. Improved as the game went on but didn't do enough on the ball. Wasted a clean through chance by looking for the linesmans flag. 6/10.

Hoillet. An improvement on Diouf and his pace kept their right back in check. 6.5/10

Kalinic. Looked a handful and nearly won us the game. Promising again. 7/10

********. Didn't touch the ball. --/10.

Just a mention of the last minute incident. If a full back clears the ball upfield and a centre forward clips him after the ball has gone, it is always a free-kick and sometimes a card, even if the ball goes out of play. So what is the difference if a forward knocks the ball past the keeper and the keeper clatters into the forward. The ball trickles out but surely a free-kick???

Referee and linesmen were definately on the side of the reds as usual. Decent afternoon all things considered.

[Iceman]

Come January, 1 good left winger and an experienced striker who can finish. I would keep Benni, because he can guide Kalinic and Di Santo. Di Santo is interesting, because he works hard but is not composed in front of goal. Sounds like a young Roberts, but he will get better with more games. Very happy with the result, because we were not scared of Liverpool and were not going to roll over and give the result to them. Very proud of Rovers, and you can see the guys are brimming with confidence. MOM for me was Nzonzi, the youngster has been immense for us. Who said we dont have players with resale value. We have Samba, Kalinic, Nzonzi and Hoiliett. Looking bright the future, and if Di Santo stays we will have a team with some talented youngsters. Credit to Sam, might not be everybody's cup of tea, but he has made the team alot more youthful.

[Rover Down Under]

Great performance, little dissapointed with the result but considering the supposed gulf in class it is still good. There were some disgusting dives by the Scouse cheaters that should warrant 5 match bans (if life were fair!). Highlight of the match was when The Admiral completely turned the Liverpool defence inside out around the 65th min, it was an absolute treat to see.

We have a lot of promise in the side now and after a shaky start I think we are going to be very hard to beat from now, when the strikers are in form and firing we will win games like this easily.

[Exiled_Rover]

Can anyone tell me why Reina and Carragher didn't see red today? Reina did his very best Schumacher impression on Kalinic at the end and Carragher brought McCarthy down in the second half after being caught in possession on the half way line.

As for the game, very happy with a point. We looked very tired towards the end of the game and when things opened up Liverpool were always the more likely winner. We stifled Liverpool well, though without Torres that's a much much easier task. We also created enough chances to win it, but sadly our inexperienced strikers couldn't make Liverpool pay. Allardyce did well with the subs too, we were in danger of being overrun, especially by Johnson on the right hand side (he's a fantastic player by the way), but the reinforcements tightened things up again and gave us more impetus going forward.

Couple of observations regarding players:

Grella makes such a difference in midfield, as I've said all along. He holds the whole thing together and enables us to build from a solid platform.

Diouf on the other hand, after a good season last year, is bloody terrible this. Having said that we don't have any options to replace him at the moment.

McCarthy looked interested today and had a good game for once before his legs went after a hard midweek game. He'll make a huge difference in our final position if we can keep him motivated.

The Man of the Match was probably Samba (who we're really going to struggle to keep hold of), again though Nelsen was also very good. This harks back to Grella as he provides fantastic protection for them in midfield.

[Stuart]

As other posters have said, if I'd been offered a 0-0 before the game, I would have taken it but now it's a little disappointing given the gilt edge chance for Kali at the end (and the Di Santo one-on-one).

Having said that it's brilliant to get back to feeling like we could have got more than a point out of a top 4 team (if Liverpool can still be called that).

[1864roverite]

The second huge club to come to Ewood in a week and another creditable performance from BRFC. I would happily have taken a draw before the game but I just think Rovers missed the boat with all 3 points in todays game.

This Liverpool outfit are nothing compared to the previous 3 seasons teams and if anyone wants to see a team regressing, the red thieves of Liverpool are the prime example. Benitez seems to have taken a previously good Liverpool team and made them nothing more than average.

I expected to see Rovers change the team and was disappointed with the initial non selection of Kalinic and also with the return of Diou to the flank. Looking at the Liverpool 11 I really thought Rovers might just nick it if we could carry on from Wednesday nights glorious game.

The first half came and went as Rovers gave Liverpool as good as they got. Rovers werent overpowered, werent bullied and didnt look out of place on the pitch. Liverpool huffed and puffed and seemed to want to play through the middle where Samba and Nelsen were patrolling. The referee was pickety and seemed to favour the Scousers rather than the Rovers with every decision going their way. 0-0 at half time was ok I just sensed that Rovers were looking for the kill but that they didnt know how to execute the required move.

In the second half we saw much the same but Liverpool were on the front foot as Rovers decided it was a good idea to back off. It was simply suicide football allowing them to come forward with ease. To add to this di Santo was foraging alone up front although he had the clearest chance to score when for some unknown reason he stopped fatally for a second instead of pulling the trigger. It had to change and Rovers put Junior on for Diouf, who has spent more time arguing again over every decision that went against him rather than concentrating on the game and then Benni was replaced by Kalinic. Rovers now had the two young stars of the future on the pitch, where they capable of scoring the goal to take the points?

Liverpool pressed as they were egged on by Rovers backing off and in a frantic minute they hit the bar, Robbo saved and Gerard cheated in trying to get a penalty. Rovers stood firm, Nelsen leading from the front, Samba taking charge at the back and Grella marshalling the midfield. Rovers came more into the game and then what happened ? They put Andrews on and take di Santo off !!!! I have no idea what the reason was for because Rovers could have taken charge of this game with a little bit more pressure on the Liverpool defence instead, removing a forward allowed them to breathe, allowed them space and yet again put them on the front foot, the pressure was now on Rovers because on entering the fray, little big eared Keith with the girly run, didnt know where he was supposed to bloody playing. Was he defensive in front of the back 4 ? was he to sit in the middle behind Grella ? Was he to support any other player in Blue and White ? Its probably a good thing that we only had a few minutes left as Kalinic was put through with an angled ball and instead of just shimmying the ball past the advancing Reina and then running the ball into the empty net he tried a first time effort that went harmlessly wide.

Full time 0-0 and a point gained in comparison to last seasons atrocious effort against them. All of this in front of a whopping 29600 crowd which couldnt really complain about the fayre on offer.

Robbo showed his class again.

Chimbonda and Givet had their moments but played well.

Nelsen and Samba were immense through the middle.

Emerton - solid.

Diouf - too much out rather than in the game.

Grella - solid game lets hope he stays fit.

Di Santo - workmanlike but missed the chance to score when through (again).

Benni - in and out, when in he looks good but out he is very poor.

NZonzi - another good game from the youngster.

subs

Hoilett - sloppy but a fine ball to Kalinic at the end.

Kalinic - carried on from Wednesday and looks like he has found his feet.

Andrews - NO COMMENT.

The season starts at Hull with some very winnable games coming up. Points gained at Hull, Brum, at home to Spuds, away at Wigan and home to Sunderland will set our season up and put us on a good footing for the cup games versus Villa. Add this to the transfer window opening in a few weeks and there could be some very happy seasonal cheer at Ewood Park.

Oh yes, nearly forgot. Dingles looked good today on tv but as well know, if you dont score when your on top you know hat happens. 2-0 loss and they take their rightful spot in the league, BELOW OUR BELOVED BRFC in the table

[joey_big_nose]

Can anyone tell me why Reina and Carragher didn't see red today? Reina did his very best Schumacher impression on Kalinic at the end and Carragher brought McCarthy down in the second half after being caught in possession on the half way line.

nicola got his shot away before Reina hit him so he had taken his chance so it was not denial of an opportunity. Should of been a free kick though? The lad should have tried to round the keeper as he would have either got an open goal or Reina a red.

[Exiled_Rover]

Reina charged out and forced him to commit to the shot early, then cleaned him out. Stonewall red for mine. How many times do we see players push it past the keeper and out of play and then take a shot from a sniper, yet get rewarded with a pen?