[Archived] Nicko

[thenodrog]

I think Benni has quality in spades, he just doesnt show it often enough. When he's up for it he's still a top player but its those occasions are drying up. On their day there is no competition between who id rather see between Benni/Beattie, but thats not what we're dealing with.

Its a bored and unfit McCarthy or Beattie who would be energised playing for his boyhood club. Im not saying its an easy decision, its not, but i understand Sam's thinking with this one. Realisitically, Beattie would score more goals between now and the end of the season than McCarthy would.

But to play 4-5-1 with Beattie will mean dropping Kalinic / Di santo. Are you happy with that? With Dunne injured long term and Benny shipped out the who tf will or can play the link role? It's not really an effin centre forward that we need is it? Unless I'm missing something it's a bit like selling Samba and buying another right back isn't it?

[beerwins]

It's nigh on impossible to get players who can do that on the budget we have.

Our one big signing looks like he's going to be a good one. Hopefully that could persuade the board to loosen the purse strings (although it didn't seem to work with Hughes).

Chimbonda, Jacobsen, Salgado, N'Zonzi, Elrio and Di Santo cost about £2 million in transfer fees. You get what you pay for.

Yes I understand what your pointing out and I certainly understand that from the money that was made available was poor from what was sold but things should have been addressed better , Di santo is on loan and has scored 1 goal so in my mind its poor, Elrio has gone, poor again, the others see above.

Its bad business so sell your player of the year to fund the wages of a third right back when we have no cover in left back at all, Olsson was never a left back neither is Givet and Chimbonda is a much a left back as I am.

We lose our main striker and replace him with "something for the future" well who is going to score the goals?

And to replace the most influential player rovers had or ever had with a 20 year old kid who doesnt have an ounce of what Tugay had is just criminal.

Sure enough we are going to see the who's and from where and how much? Im a follower of blackburn rovers entitled to his opinion im not a manager nor am I paid to scour the leagues for bargains or unproven heroes thats Sams job and in my eyes he did it poorly.

[beerwins]

But to play 4-5-1 with Beattie will mean dropping Kalinic / Di santo. Are you happy with that? With Dunne injured long term and Benny shipped out the who tf will or can play the link role? It's not really an effin centre forward that we need is it? Unless I'm missing something it's a bit like selling Samba and buying another right back isn't it?

Pure common sense.

Benni has been used as the linking player for when Dunn is injured (which is more often than not) how does Beattie fill that role?

It's a bit like buying a right back for a left back position

[BlueWhiteDynamite]

Benni is one of the best players this club has EVER had! he can win games by himself. He might not always have an amazing game, but like at the fulham game, without him, we would not score. people say get 2 mill for him now. but with 800k a place int the prem, we would be losing money by selling him.

it annoys me so much when people at ewood turn on him, only to sing his name when we cant score and he's on the bench. he is pure quality technically. he might not have great fitness levels, but that is him as a human as he gets older. his skill is amazing. people slated his workrate against fulham, saying he didnt do much apart from the goals, yet he passsed the ball and held it up so well. distribution is amazing, and the tricks are world class. his only problem is that he is working around less technical players, so he gives the ball away, not because of bad play but because those around him arn't up to scratch.

Any blackburn fan that wants rid is deluded. we wont get a better replacement. simple as.

and dont get me started on 'is Nzoni up to premier league standard!', come back when you know something about football, at his age and his position, what a joke comment.

[Seedstral]

Yes I understand what your pointing out and I certainly understand that from the money that was made available was poor from what was sold but things should have been addressed better , Di santo is on loan and has scored 1 goal so in my mind its poor, Elrio has gone, poor again, the others see above.

Its bad business so sell your player of the year to fund the wages of a third right back when we have no cover in left back at all, Olsson was never a left back neither is Givet and Chimbonda is a much a left back as I am.

We lose our main striker and replace him with "something for the future" well who is going to score the goals?

And to replace the most influential player rovers had or ever had with a 20 year old kid who doesnt have an ounce of what Tugay had is just criminal.

Sure enough we are going to see the who's and from where and how much? Im a follower of blackburn rovers entitled to his opinion im not a manager nor am I paid to scour the leagues for bargains or unproven heroes thats Sams job and in my eyes he did it poorly.

I think its criminal that you compare Nzonzi to Tugay but hey he could sign the best player in the world as you would never be happy as it would be an Allardyce signing. Nzonzi is just starting out in the game having been plucked from the lower reaches of the French leagues whilst as much as we loved Tugay he was past it. Santa Cruz was a great deal for us but unfortunately due to the recession and financial constraints we were never going to be able to spend that money on other players but i do believe the money spent on Kalinic could end up to be an absolute bargain. No doubt if Hughes had brought these 2 players to the club you'd be raving about the both of them but he didn't so your never going to be happy. Like you say your welcome to your opinion but take off the "I Hate Allardyce" glasses first before talking utter rubbish!! Now that is only in my opinion i may had

[AggyBlue]

We all want Roberts out. The problem is finding someone to take him. Not an easy task that.

I thought Wigan were interested, has that changed?

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

Benni is one of the best players this club has EVER had! he can win games by himself. He might not always have an amazing game, but like at the fulham game, without him, we would not score. people say get 2 mill for him now. but with 800k a place int the prem, we would be losing money by selling him.

it annoys me so much when people at ewood turn on him, only to sing his name when we cant score and he's on the bench. he is pure quality technically. he might not have great fitness levels, but that is him as a human as he gets older. his skill is amazing. people slated his workrate against fulham, saying he didnt do much apart from the goals, yet he passsed the ball and held it up so well. distribution is amazing, and the tricks are world class. his only problem is that he is working around less technical players, so he gives the ball away, not because of bad play but because those around him arn't up to scratch.

Any blackburn fan that wants rid is deluded. we wont get a better replacement. simple as.

and dont get me started on 'is Nzoni up to premier league standard!', come back when you know something about football, at his age and his position, what a joke comment.

Thats total rubbish. You name me a Tugay replacement for the same price as we paid for Nzonzi..? Screw it, name me a Tugay replacement for £10m...? Plus, Chimbonda has done very well this season, but obviously that's ignored. Givet was brilliant toward the back end of last season and has done well enough this time around considering he's playing out of position. And Kalinic? Again, name a better striker for £6m please. Not many out there for that kind of money are there?

Anyway, Benni:

The problem is that Benni clearly is one of the best players we've ever had, but his focus clearly isnt on Blackburn Rovers. I dont want him to leave particularly as he does possess many attributes which our squad is desperately lacking in, and Id much rather ship out Roberts who is undoutedly in my mind one of the worst strikers we've ever had at this level.

However: Benni's not that fit, not the same player we had in '06, not scoring and clearly wants to leave. Under those circumstances things change. Beattie isnt anywhere near as good a player but i think he'll score more than Benni will from now until July.

In relation to Nodrog's post regarding Benni being the link to the front man, i agree this is not a like for like move but McCarthy has always been somebody who needs to be in the mood to score goals. Ive always liked McCarthy, and as ive mentioned i dont want to see him go BUT he does want to leave the club. His heart clearly isnt in it here any more and that is why selling him isnt neccesarily a bad move. Beattie isnt somebody i particularly want to see replace him but, as i mentioned earlier i can see Sam's logic although im not neccesarily that happy with it.

[saxo1man30]

i struggle to read this board at times, i really do.

salgado was brought into rovers as our main right back(with jacobsen as cover) when it appeared warnock was not joining villa after they offered a derisory amount. the money was needed by sam to purchase his first choice for the right back posistion which was chimbonda. when villa then came in with an adequate offer for warnock after we`d already took salgado on board, sam decided to purchase his first choice for the right back role despite having salgado, as givet was already at the club earmarked for the left back role(since he first came to the club on loan). when chimbonda first played in the left back posistion, givet was injured. that`s the only reason chimbonda ever played there.

sam was given 1 million of the warnock money to bring in a premier league defender after warnock`s departure, who else other than chimbonda could he have signed for that amount that was proven?

another myth that seems to have come about is that salgado is on massive wages, why does everyone assume that? nobody else was signing him when we brought him in and his galactico days were already over. we didn`t sign him from real madrid, he had been released some time before and was a free agent.

here`s my view of sam`s signings, taking into account the fees as well-

givet - massive success, an international player for 3m is good by anyone`s standards.

diouf - did the job we brought him in for, he was crucial in us staying up and sam could still get something more out of him yet. for 1m you won`t do any better.

van heerden - cost the club nothing and is on low wages. fans seem to forget he came to rovers after a long spell out injured at his previous club. he`s now on loan in turkey with the condition that he plays every game he`s fit for and has started well in a role behind the main strikers. this is still a wait and see.

nzonzi - for 400,000 an absolute steal. still a very raw and inexperienced player but has performed heroically considering this is his first taste of top level football ANYWHERE, let alone in the most competitive league in the world.

salgado - we`ll never know perhaps if he could have been a hit as sam has since brought in his first choice in his posistion. suspect that sam will try to persuade him to leave for a lucrative move to the usa or somewhere.

jacobsen - i really like this guy, he reminds me so much of the many dependables from scandinavia that we`ve seen in the premier league in the past. nothing spectacular but very reliable.

chimbonda - contrary to views i`ve been reading on here, i feel chimbo has been a massive success and i still think he`s a better defender than steven warnock.

kalinic - sam has held himback for his own good while showing him the way to make an impact in england and we are now starting to see the benefit of that approach. this guy looks like he`s going to become a major premier league striker to me.

di santo - has the makings of a very good targetman, but i think we`ll only see what he can become if sam signs him long term in the summer. i hope he can as i think he`s a perfect type for sam to mould into a star.

[beerwins]

I think its criminal that you compare Nzonzi to Tugay but hey he could sign the best player in the world as you would never be happy as it would be an Allardyce signing. Nzonzi is just starting out in the game having been plucked from the lower reaches of the French leagues whilst as much as we loved Tugay he was past it. Santa Cruz was a great deal for us but unfortunately due to the recession and financial constraints we were never going to be able to spend that money on other players but i do believe the money spent on Kalinic could end up to be an absolute bargain. No doubt if Hughes had brought these 2 players to the club you'd be raving about the both of them but he didn't so your never going to be happy. Like you say your welcome to your opinion but take off the "I Hate Allardyce" glasses first before talking utter rubbish!! Now that is only in my opinion i may had

I hate to point out the fact that you are wrong plain and simple I dont hate Sam check through my previous posts as to when he was appointed I rate him very highly as a manager but we are not Bolton.

I was hoping when Sam was appointed that he had more strings to his bow but it appears he has'nt and im basically stating the obvious, the football we have seen this year has been rubbish, im just stating the obvious.

" he could sign the best player in the world as you would never be happy as it would be an Allardyce signing"

Im not stating Nzonzi is rubbish im purely stating he isnt ready for the prem yet and he was the only signing to replace Tugay that isnt good enough.

If you like to don your I love Sam glasses fair enough but I love rovers and I dont think Sam has done good enough with his signings, results or tactics.

[BlueWhiteDynamite]

Magicmortensleftpeg, i presume you are agree with what i said then, and that the quote of thats rubbish isnt about my comment?

if Benni wants to leave then, as with all footballers thats fine, you really cannot do much. but i would ask the question of why they want to leave. I believe he should start 90% of the time, because of his vision and ability. if he wants to leave because he is not being played and needs to play to get to the world cup, i'd back his decision to leave. because with the amount of goals we have scored, i'd be fuming sitting on the bench with his ability.

[Harry Balls]

Thats total rubbish. You name me a Tugay replacement for the same price as we paid for Nzonzi..? Screw it, name me a Tugay replacement for £10m...?

Simple. In fact I'll give you a Tugay replacement for nothing; the man himself, Tugay. He should have been offered a one year extension. Even with his withering legs he'd be twice the player N'Zonzi will ever be. For me, this was the first in an increasingly long sequence of mistakes for Sam.

Anyway, I really don't get this fascination with N'Zonzi. He doesn't get stuck in, is often well behind play, only ever passes backwards or sideways and wins far too few aerial battles for a coat-hanger on stilts. If he was British and plucked from the second division, I reckon he'd be getting just as much stick as Andrews does. But no, his fancy name means that he is exempt from criticism...

[Miker]

Simple. In fact I'll give you a Tugay replacement for nothing; the man himself, Tugay. He should have been offered a one year extension. Even with his withering legs he'd be twice the player N'Zonzi will ever be. For me, this was the first in an increasingly long sequence of mistakes for Sam.

Anyway, I really don't get this fascination with N'Zonzi. He doesn't get stuck in, is often well behind play, only ever passes backwards or sideways and wins far too few aerial battles for a coat-hanger on stilts. If he was British and plucked from the second division, I reckon he'd be getting just as much stick as Andrews does. But no, his fancy name means that he is exempt from criticism...

How much did Tugay contribute in the previous season? He had maybe 1 or 2 good games, the rest were distinctly average and some he was virtually invisible. N'zonzi could be great, or he could flop in a few years. We'll wait and see. So far he has done well, but he needs a break from the first team because he can't keep performing at the sort of level he performed earlier in the season and it shows.

Clearly you haven't watched him in games because one of the reason people hold him in such high regard was because of some brilliant forward passes he's played to create attacking moves. He just needs to build up some bulk, so he can be a lot more menacing against the opposition because at the moment he's too lanky to be.

[otto man]

Suit yourself otto but you are wrong.

Of course I am Theno......I've disagreed with you!

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

But to play 4-5-1 with Beattie will mean dropping Kalinic / Di santo. Are you happy with that? With Dunne injured long term and Benny shipped out the who tf will or can play the link role?

Based on the other night he'll put Pedersen in there. Not saying I'd like it, but he could play there.

di santo - has the makings of a very good targetman, but i think we`ll only see what he can become if sam signs him long term in the summer. i hope he can as i think he`s a perfect type for sam to mould into a star.

For me he would be a much better signing than Beattie. Save any money we get and put it towards buying the lad.

[Bobby G]

Very very disappointing if Benni is out for Beattie. Like most people here, Id be happy for a Beattie for Roberts deal. But Roberts injury will mean the window passes him by and 1 month down the line he will be back playing from time to time! :s

[gumboots]

Very very disappointing if Benni is out for Beattie. Like most people here, Id be happy for a Beattie for Benni deal. But Roberts injury will mean the window passes him by and 1 month down the line he will be back playing from time to time! :s

Should that read Roberts for Beattie deal?

[Bobby G]

Yes, sorry about that.

[mellison24]

Having thought about it, the deal (if it actually happens) makes some sense to me. Benni, WANTS to move away. If we deny him that chance, his head will drop and he'll be shyte again anyway. best to get rid of a player who isn't in it WITH THE TEAM and get in a player of the same age, who can take a good set-piece, head the ball and create some more space for Kalinic. Plus, he won't be on 40k a week (as Benni presumably is) surely???

I think Roberts could end up being used as a make-weight (either now or in summer) for Gary O'Niell. Or maybe his fee and wages could be used to BUY Gary O'Niell (if Roberts doesn't end up at Boro). Would this not even the balance somewhat?

You could twist it to say Roberts and McCarthy out; Beattie and O'Neill in. That sounds a bit better, no?

I think our summer budget will come from selling the likes of Diouf and Andrews (maybe a couple of others) and some more promising youngsters will come in.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

Benni is one of the best players this club has EVER had!

Sorry - but he wouldn't even get in my top 50 players the club have had. I think it is a bit of a myth - stupid back flicks giving the ball away doesn't make a great player - otherwise Emo would be right up there at the top. Or are you thinking of the continually imaginative ways that an experienced player can get caught offside ?

IMO the negatives of McCarthy's play out weigh what he brings. You can point at moments of brilliance - like the free kick in the Fulham match - but these are balanced by lots of poor play (even in that match) - I would also add that MGP has produced deliveries like that - nobody goes on about him being one of Rovers greatest players.

[Hughesy]

Sorry - but he wouldn't even get in my top 50 players the club have had. I think it is a bit of a myth - stupid back flicks giving the ball away doesn't make a great player

Just an interest in what you said....of recent times, who is in your top 50?

[thenodrog]

Based on the other night he'll put Pedersen in there. Not saying I'd like it, but he could play there.

For me he would be a much better signing than Beattie. Save any money we get and put it towards buying the lad.

5 points above the drop zone and you want to experiment with MGP in a fey position??

Di santo is a 10 year better signing than Beattie but rem Beattie can head a ball.

I think Roberts could end up being used as a make-weight (either now or in summer) for Gary O'Niell.

Hey great idea! We could use Roberts in the WHU deal...... 3m and not a penny less for Benny but if you take Roberts in the deal we'll accept 2!

[mhead]

Benni would not be in the top 100 Best players the club has ever had.

If you want a list the first 40 are really obvious...including Den's top 11 team of all time plus all his contenders

and then 20 players from the Premiership Championship team plus immediate years after. The 3 jewels,Tugay and anyone

who has scored against Bumley! Benni is just a pin-prick in the 134 years history.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

Just an interest in what you said....of recent times, who is in your top 50?

How far can I go back ? Start with McKenzie and forward ? Or can I go back to Douglas Can I include all psitions - as this wasn't clear - top 50 forwards or 50 players ? I was refering to 50 players - which I could pick out 50 just in the Jack Walker era (which would incl Garner - just ).

I honestly think that Benni is another example of an over-paid player, with probably above average skill - but below average contribution to games.

Just a few JW onwards era :- Flowers, Given, Friedel, Berg, Hendry, Short, LeSaux, Wright, Batty, Sherwood, Ripley, Wilcox, Duff, Shearer, Newell, Garner, Gallagher, Sutton, Tugay, Bohinen (must admit a personal favourite), Samba, Nelsen, Bellamy, Santa Cruz, Speedie, Jansen, Dunn, Flitcroft, Warhurst, Henchoz, Berkovic, Hughes, Cowans, Sellars, Atkins, Moran, Kenna

Have (IMO) all contributed more or as much as Benni to Rovers cause. Go further back - well, I can even pick out players from the Kendall era that I would put ahead of Benni - McKennzi, Faz, Keeley - even probably Brotherston.

[S15]

Benni is one of the best players this club has EVER had! he can win games by himself. He might not always have an amazing game, but like at the fulham game, without him, we would not score. people say get 2 mill for him now. but with 800k a place int the prem, we would be losing money by selling him.

it annoys me so much when people at ewood turn on him, only to sing his name when we cant score and he's on the bench. he is pure quality technically. he might not have great fitness levels, but that is him as a human as he gets older. his skill is amazing. people slated his workrate against fulham, saying he didnt do much apart from the goals, yet he passsed the ball and held it up so well. distribution is amazing, and the tricks are world class. his only problem is that he is working around less technical players, so he gives the ball away, not because of bad play but because those around him arn't up to scratch.

Any blackburn fan that wants rid is deluded. we wont get a better replacement. simple as.

and dont get me started on 'is Nzoni up to premier league standard!', come back when you know something about football, at his age and his position, what a joke comment.

One of the most ridiculous things I've ever read.

[Silencio]

One of the most ridiculous things I've ever read.

But not as ridiculous as when you compared big fat Beattie to Teddy Sheringham a couple of weeks back eh?!