[Archived] Blackburn Rovers V Tottenham Hotspur

[RoverRich]

I actually thought we played well, we were more than a match for spurs, I dont think one member of the starting 11 played badly but...

where we fall down is we don't have the strikers to convert the slimmest of chances, we had 6 shots on target today to spur's 2, at least 2 of ours to my mind were clear cut goal opportunities any prem league club should be converting (di santos effort 1st half, mccarthy 2nd half)

this problem isn't just the strikers we lack any creativity in midfield, dunn is our only current creative midfielder worthy of mention and since he's been injured I think we can all judge for ourselves how our results have been going

crouch must really look forward to playing us hes always seems to ruddy score, spurs can we have bentley back?

merry xmas everyone

This post pretty much sums up what I was about to write. We did not play badly today, we took the game to Spurs and deserved a much better result than we got but that is what happens when you don't take your chances. The stats suggest that we were actually the better team. It is definitely creativity we lack in abundance and our strikers can't put the ball in the net but that happens when they are chopped and changed and messed about with as much as Sam is doing at the moment. Give a couple a run of games together, let them gel and watch the goals come, like what happened with Dunn and Di Santo. 16 goals in 12 games at one stage which isn't too bad but now 17 goals in 18 games is poor. Only Wolves and Stoke have scored less. We need Dunn back ASAP, 1 winger, 1 quality central midfielder and at least 1 striker who can score on a regular basis.

[mode_m]

Terrrible loss, not a great season, having my doubts about the whole situation. Is it me or is Blackburn one of the worst teams in the league in terms of entertainment? I can't think of a single highlight apart from McCarthy's miss when he hit the post. Perhaps Rovers could be so lucky for Mark Hughes to be fired from Man City and make a return to Blackburn, if only he came as a package with Bellamy, Santa Cruz and somehow Rovers could get Duff back from Fulham and Friedel and Warnock back from Villa. Every time Rovers have a player that is half decent they are sold and NEVER replaced.

I'll end my rant, just needed to vent somewhere.

[MeanGreenMachine]

Everyone can comment and say the midfield isnt good enough and the strikers arnt scoring but sam has had 2 transfer windows now to bring in his own players and let go some others. He has given us 2 dud strikers, a dud diouf and a promising nzonzi.

We are in serious trouble, and things need to change sooner or later wether it be the management staff or the playing staff because currently there isnt many at the club who i would keep.

[Mr. E]

And we still lost 2-0, creating about 2 clear cut chances.

That's hugely concerning.

The only option is to keep training and trying to improve. Because besides Dunn, this is as good as it's going to get.

[Rover Down Under]

Press conference at Man City tonight, looks like Hughes is out, anyone want him back?

[MeanGreenMachine]

What a pathetic defeatist attitude you have...

I see fulham and portsmouth both went out and beat united and liverpool today.... who would of thought.

Maybe some people should stop accepting fat sams word as gospel, no there isnt any money, thats because he has wasted it on the likes of kalinic,diouf,salgado,di santo,jacobsen on fees and wages. We have been screaming out for a decent midfielder for years now but every year we just totally bypass it...

[benhben]

I hate alldardce. Always have always will. 3 years ago if you asked me to name the manager I dislike most in the world id have said Sam Allardyce. If you asked me to name the player I hate most Id have said Diouf. Nothing over the last year has made me change my opinion. ###### tactics, ###### football ###### transfers. More demoralised with Rovers than any point in the past and ive supported them for 20 years including a relegation!

I actually envy burnley for their manager and the football he tries to play. Sad times.

[chocky]

Our problem is 9 shots on target and no goals..it is the same every match...

[RibbleValleyRover]

Press conference at Man City tonight, looks like Hughes is out, anyone want him back?

Absolutely not.

People say we have dud strikers, well i don't think we can say whether that's true or not considering the absolute @#/? service they are getting. I think players like Defoe, Bent and Drogba would struggle to score goals on a regular basis in this team with that service.

[BRFC1995]

What's the point of you?

Yes, we were sh!t again today but to suggest that we sign a champion pizza eater approaching his pension over a couple of promising youngsters (and yes they are promising!) is moronic at best.

a league goal from 3 yards between them half way through a season.......get real. i'd take kevin philips in a heartbeat over all our strikers right now and yes i 100% think vieri would have done more than the grand sum of nothing the other 2 have..........has teddy sheringham retired? he'd walk into our strike force

[Tom]

Rubbish, predictable and depressing.

-The ref was awful but we can't look for excuses, Defoe got away with murder all game though.

-Allardyce brought Hoilett off for Roberts, the ball landed on our right wing where we now had nobody, they break and eventually score, expertise tactics from the expert.

-Benni should have scored but I doubt anyone else could have controlled it like he did to get the shot, if Di santo was more alert he would have had a tap in. Di Santo should have done better with a couple of chances in the first half.

-The only brightside is we weren't totally over ran in midfield, both Grella and Nzonzi but decent shifts in, Hoilett looked a threat especially on the left.

-For some reason as soon as Salgado came off we were no threat at all, I don't know if it was Hoilett moving wings, Pedersen coming on or a combination of both.

Does the BBC still have the rights for the championship highlights next season? How we all laughed at Newcastle but I bet they are enjoying this season a lot more than we are.

[Doogs]

Lets face the facts, are there 3 teams worse than the Rovers in this league. I dont think so.

Every game follows the same pattern. No creativity, cant score, so slow at the back and cant keep clean sheets. Lets not forget for two years for various reasons we have sold our better players, and replaced them with cheaper less quality options. We have slowly built a side for relegation and the championship. We will get what we deserve come May. We shouldnt be surprised at our position.

[sambo]

Awful. The tactics were awful. Everyone was poor today. McCarthy didn't try, Grella can't pass, Salgado isn't a winger, Givet isn't the player he was. Hurts a lot does this.

[MarkBRFC71]

Allardyce has to go. It's that simple. I heard plenty of disgruntled fans today, and it appears that many are finally losing patience, myself included.

There are many reasons (one-dimensional tactics, arrogance beyond belief and to the detriment of the team, poor transfer record, unbelieveable team selections etc etc etc).

I look at Stoke and man-for-man I would take our players over theirs every time. Yet they are way above us, much harder to beat, not afraid of having a go at the big-boys, are positive at home - all things that we are not. The only difference is the manager - theirs is obviously good at maximising the playing staff available, ours isn't.

I thought Newcastle were a little hasty in binning Sam when he was their manager, now I can see why - the man is absolutely clueless and is taking Rovers backwards.

[roverblue]

Another disappointing result, we need to find a win from somewhere and get back on track. On reflection I thought the lads did ok today, particuarly in the first half and the goal was against the run of play (robinson should have collected IMO).

The 2nd half was a let down, we came out and played hoofball for 10mins before realising we are a much better team when we just get it down and play it. Unfortunately we seemed to run out of steam and seemed to slow the tempo down to the point that spurs could just knock it around and killed us with the 2nd.

Another frustrating team selection, was that 6 changes from Tuesday (a game itself which had ~4 changes). We cant continually keep chopping and changing the team, surely Sam knows his best XI by now. Salgado on the right wing was a mistake, most of us could have spotted that from the start and yet again means we are forced into an early substitution.

Hopefully get 4 points from Wigan and Sunderland or we might be in a sticky spot come new year!

[ebenrocks]

Really dont think it was as bad as people are making out.

Hoilett was class i thought. Thats one plus!

[LeChuck]

the man is absolutely clueless and is taking Rovers backwards.

Backwards relative to when? Certainly from the day he took the job.

[G Somerset Rover]

Was out playing myself today so haven't seen any of the game. But bleddy hell..man its not good when all of your best mates are yids.

1 goal in 6 games (from a centre half) plus no win in 6 explains it all really I guess.

Very very worried. What's woprrying me most is that besides spurs the teams we've been playing are one's that are going to be in and amongst us at the end of the season.

[MarkBRFC71]

Backwards relative to when? Certainly from the day he took the job.

I'm guessing you mean NOT from the day he took the job.

Yes he did well to keep us up last season, but he is not capable of taking us on. We are in trouble, and I think the problem is not the players, it's the system and the manager. Playing 4-5-1 is getting us nowhere, and he's either too arrogant and stubborn to change it ('The Expert' - lol) or more worrying he genuinely cannot see how awful and ineffective we are. For me he cannot go too soon.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

We all know what the problem is...we cant score for love nor money and its killing us!!

We didn't play badly but neither great = we simply just cant hit the ruddy onion bag....what are we to do?

26,490 on Ewood today,another excellent crowd considering the time of year.....how long will this last though if matters continue like this on the pitch?

We have problems.

[Blue n White Rover]

Awful. The tactics were awful. Everyone was poor today. McCarthy didn't try, Grella can't pass, Salgado isn't a winger, Givet isn't the player he was. Hurts a lot does this.

What game were you watching? McCarthy was the one that created anything for us, linked up quite well with Di Santo and did pretty well in my opinion. Unlucky not to score at the start of the second half, had a few decent attempts from outside. One of our better players on the pitch.

Grella shown today again why we paid £4million for him, it really is a shame this fella can't stay fit otherwise he would solve half our problems in the middle of the field. You say he couldn't pass? HE put in some great balls in the 1st half and unlike our other midfielders, when he gets the ball the first option he looks for is up front. He thoroughly deserved the MOTM.

Biggest mistake today by Sam was by taking Di Santo off for Kalinic. Di Santo won everything in the air VS Dawson, and held the ball up well to allow McCarthy and our midfielders to join in the attack. When he went off, it was bread and butter for Dawson, no problem in beating Kalinic in the air.

Mark Hughes is up for grabs people?

[ABBEY]

Pathetic boring pub footy ..clueless subs ....expert my arse ....go now. Bring hughsie back.....allerdyce is killing football ...I left before the end. 1st time ever and their were thousands outside and lots of clueless sam comments .

[Paul]

Though several players made some glaring errors during the game one couldn't truely say anyone had a bad game, in fact we played quite well for short periods. We lost this game for one reason, our formation and tactics. Rovers simply do not get enough players forward to carry any real threat to the opposing side. I lost count of the number of times in the first half Di Santo found himself isolated and trying to take on 3 or 4 Spurs defenders. A Rovers counter attack would see three players forward with the other eight still walking out of defence and those three would be against six or seven Spurs. It's impossible to score under those circumstances. Three clear cut chances at home and none of those really threatened Gomes who is a very dodgy keeper and didn't look at all confident today.

I still think we'll finish 15/16th but I can understand why some people are suggesting relegation is a possibility. I think we'll be very close to or in the bottom three by mid January. The semi-finals will b e fun but could prove to be a real distraction. Lot of people around me are unhappy with Allardyce and the current tactics.

Awful. The tactics were awful. Everyone was poor today. McCarthy didn't try, Grella can't pass, Salgado isn't a winger, Givet isn't the player he was. Hurts a lot does this.

Not sure you saw the same game as me! I agree McCarthy looked pretty idle but for me Grella had one of his best games to date.

[Plastic Head]

NO creativity whatsoever.

Totally reliant on set pieces.

Defended OK but no goals and no points again.

Sam can't make a silk purse from this shower of sh11e. Maybe time to think of someone else.

I believe a decent manager has just become available...???

[G Somerset Rover]

Ummmmm read Allardyces comments on Rovers.co.uk..he seems to have it in his head we've not won in five. Can anybody please remind him of a 3-0 drubbing at Fulham?!