[Archived] West Ham Vs Rovers

[Steve Moss]

We picked up a point at West Ham - Prior to today we had lost the last 10 at their place..... - so thats progress.

Up to 10th....and now not many of the teams below can catch us even if they win their games in hand.

Fulham plays Portsmouth mid-week. Assuming Fulham beats Portsmouth (fairly likely, IMO) they'll jump ahead of us and we'll go back to 11th.

And Stoke have 3 games in hand on us and are at 25 points.

We're still in a pretty fair position but I don't see 10th lasting, unless Sam ups the tempo considerably.

[Hughesy]

Our next 3 games will go along way to help shape our final position...Stoke (A), Hull (H), Bolton (H).

7 points would be great, 9 points would be outstanding!

[JAL]

Just seen a West Ham player run past Chimbonda and into the box for fun, put the ball across the goal, fortunately for us no fanny hammer was there to capitalise.

How many more times ?

Our next 3 games will go along way to help shape our final position...Stoke (A), Hull (H), Bolton (H).

7 points would be great, 9 points would be outstanding!

We can be positive now going into the Stoke game.

[jim mk2]

Rovers deserved to win that match comfortably to judge from the highlights on MotD.

Handball for a penalty not awarded and Roberts found wanting again in front of goal. He tries to place the ball when he should smash it and tries to break the net when he should place it. Poor footballer.

Forget about a fee and let Wolves have him for nothing.

[Miker]

We could have Torres up front on his own and he wouldn't get many goals using Sam's hoofball defensive tactics! Passing, attacking football is the only thing that has looked like working.

Please, please, please can we quit the long throw in tactic too? It has work once(?) since Sam has been here. It must have a 0.001% sucess rate so far.

That's pretty obvious. The tactic was to frustrate West Ham and nick a goal, which worked fairly well and we were unlucky not to grab a winner. It was just a tactic used against a team we had not won against for a large number of successive games and for the first time in years we managed to draw against them.

[dazmaz]

Tube home wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be. Fulham is just as bad if not worse.

Thought we looked most dangerous after Roberts came on to much booing and 4-4-2 chanting. Seems like Green caught most of MGPs long throws - think maybe Sam will figure out that it's not an effective tactic?

First half was definitely dreadful, but thought that Samba, Nelsen and Givet were immense - Samba made sure he was hard to get past - and if someone did, Nelsen was there to clean it up. Givet was all over the place, but in a good way.

it isnt effective purely because peds cant get any power on them, they seem to flot into the box thus giving the keeper time to catch it.

at the end of the day its a point, hopefully teams below us wont have too much luck with their games in hand so we can look up the table rather than down it

[USABlue]

Kalinic isn't the player Sam thinks or wants him to be. He's not a Kevin Davies, a James Beattie or a Emile Heskey. He's technically gifted and prefers the ball to feet. We aren't making the most of his abilities.

Exactly, now if we can just convince the "expert". Of course we have to have it so Sam can make it sound like he figured it out.

[tonyoz]

Kalinic isn't the player Sam thinks or wants him to be. He's not a Kevin Davies, a James Beattie or a Emile Heskey. He's technically gifted and prefers the ball to feet. We aren't making the most of his abilities.

I'm not sure about this "technically gifted" bit; he does make things happen and I am taking to him more and more but it seems to me that he rarely strikes the ball cleanly - even when he scores (unless it's a tap in). Nerertheless, he does get into the right places and could well be our key-player for the rest of the season.

[Hughesy]

1st point there since 1995...........Every credit lads & Sam

[The Harwood Yankee]

No idea how much the 'Expert' gets paid but we could save ourselves that amount if we relieve him of his duties and put ANYONE in his place who won't select the useless piece of sh*t who is Keith Andrews and thus rob us of a functional midfield. Selecting Diouf as well is double the problem and taking off Kalinic in place of Roberts we all know robs us of the chance to win the game. It's a measure of how weak this division is that we can be as poor as we are and still be 10th. Sam probably thinks he's doing a great job when he looks at the league table. Let's not kid ourselves though, the bottom 10 of this division can all go down and that includes us.

[Steve Moss]

No idea how much the 'Expert' gets paid but we could save ourselves that amount if we relieve him of his duties and put ANYONE in his place who won't select the useless piece of sh*t who is Keith Andrews and thus rob us of a functional midfield. Selecting Diouf as well is double the problem and taking off Kalinic in place of Roberts we all know robs us of the chance to win the game. It's a measure of how weak this division is that we can be as poor as we are and still be 10th. Sam probably thinks he's doing a great job when he looks at the league table. Let's not kid ourselves though, the bottom 10 of this division can all go down and that includes us.

1. Relieving Sam of his duties means we buy him out of his contract and pay someone else. Essentially we will have doubled the expense. I'd rather invest it in some young talent. Sam's contract will expire soon enough and then we can evaluate whether he's the man to keep moving us forward.

2. I'm no fan of Keith's abilities, but he is acceptable as a substitute, which he proved today.

3. EHD is a problem, I agree. He's slow and apparently not up for it anymore. My dislike for him is compounded by his negative personal behavior. I keep hoping he'll decide that he wants to move somewhere warm.

4. I greatly prefer Kalinic over Roberts. But Roberts did create a chance to win the match, though he flubbed it. And he might still bring us a couple of million, so he isn't completely worthless.

5. Sam is doing a great job, all things considered. And I say that despite my personal belief that our current 10th position overstates our likely end of season standing by a position or three.

[tonyoz]

Our passing, especially in the first half, was poor. It was hard to watch at times. Diouf managed to complete 3 of his 13 passes successfully - what's that all about? It's not as though he is always seaching for the "killer" ball is it?

Even the new improved Gamst is still failing to find his teammates half the time!

Don't believe me? Check out the chalkboard here (Click on the orange tag "Make your Own"):

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jan/30/west-ham-blackburn-premier-league

[M2XLY]

Roberts made that chance all on his own, we dont have anyother striker who would have even got into that positon never mind score it! I think now Benni has gone he is deffo out best striker, he just needs someone up with him to put the tap in's in!

[Kelbo]

Just to go on record, because I feel like I've been one of Andrews biggest critics, but when Andrews came on he did surprisingly okay.. so fair play to him..

The first ten minutes after he came on, Andrews ran around and never touched the ball, after which, he committed a foul as he was far to slow, then a pass to Diouff, a simple ball with no pressure was played at least five yards off the target!! I dont know what you saw to think that performance was OK because I saw absolutely nothing!!

[thenodrog]

Happy to take a point and nudge closer to the magic 40 points.

Just seen the highlights on MoTD and I'm not as happy as I was paul. Pen not given and a soppy shot from Roberts.

He did absolutely great to get past the CH granted, but why does he sidefoot from that position ffs? He does this regularly so it's no wonder his finishing is so derided. If he didn't possess the great ability to get 1 on 1 so frequently he'd be playing in the Conference!

Sidefooting when 1 on 1 requires the body shape to alter giving the keeper early warning of where the ball is going. He'd be much more successful simply keeping his head down, aiming between post and stanchion and putting his foot through it. Alternatively but less preferable take another touch and draw the keeper who will then have no time to react to any bodyshape change.

Unfortunately I suppose by now no one can teach an old dog new tricks but it's very ironic that he actually made a video on finishing.

[47er]

Just seen the highlights on MoTD and I'm not as happy as I was paul. Pen not given and a soppy shot from Roberts.

He did absolutely great to get past the CH granted, but why does he sidefoot from that position ffs? He does this regularly so it's no wonder his finishing is so derided. If he didn't possess the great ability to get 1 on 1 so frequently he'd be playing in the Conference!

Sidefooting when 1 on 1 requires the body shape to alter giving the keeper early warning of where the ball is going. He'd be much more successful simply keeping his head down, aiming between post and stanchion and putting his foot through it. Alternatively but less preferable take another touch and draw the keeper who will then have no time to react to any bodyshape change.

Unfortunately I suppose by now no one can teach an old dog new tricks but it's very ironic that he actually made a video on finishing.

He definitely scuffed his shot, there was no power in it at all. Whenever he has time to think he stuffs it up.

[ross-shire rover]

To blame Roberts for us not winning is a bit over the top. It wouldn't have been a chance with our other strikers - they'd have been muscled off the ball. He should have scored, of course, but when you see other great strikers like van N, Torres, anyone you like to name they often miss sitters - the difference is they score a lot because they get other chances in the game. Our strikers don't have that luxury unfortunately.

[Ninjathunder]

The first ten minutes after he came on, Andrews ran around and never touched the ball, after which, he committed a foul as he was far to slow, then a pass to Diouff, a simple ball with no pressure was played at least five yards off the target!! I dont know what you saw to think that performance was OK because I saw absolutely nothing!!

Well I admit I wasn't there yesterday but listened to it and general opinion on radio and other feedback I've read was that he did ok when he came on. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of him but sometimes the lad can't do right for doing wrong.

[Parsonblue]

I thought it was an excellent team performance yesterday and made such a pleasant change to return from West Ham with a point instead of the usual defeat. We had the chances to win and ought to have had a couple of penalties. The handball on the line might have been difficult to spot but when a defender put both arms around Samba and hauled him down in the area it was difficult to see how the ref could have missed it - as it was right in front of him!

Nonetheless it was a good performance and made for a happy trip home. We looked solid at the back and in midfield. I thought Nelsen and Samba were outstanding in the centre of defence and Givet had a better game at left-back. However, Chimbonda didn't look quite as convincing and, when fit, I think would prefer Jacobsen in that position with Chimbonda being used further forward.

The system that Sam is using enables us to switch from 4-5-1 to 4-3-3 very easily and with the pace of Olsson and Hoilett this could be a very effective system - certainly it's the system that a majority of other Premier League managers seem to be using.

Finally, although I am no fan of Keith Andrews, I thought he did a decent job when he came on yesterday.

[greco]

roberts lacks composure, sam should instruct him to shot with power, dont think, just blast it as hard as you can.

I thought it was an excellent team performance yesterday and made such a pleasant change to return from West Ham with a point instead of the usual defeat. We had the chances to win and ought to have had a couple of penalties. The handball on the line might have been difficult to spot but when a defender put both arms around Samba and hauled him down in the area it was difficult to see how the ref could have missed it - as it was right in front of him!

Nonetheless it was a good performance and made for a happy trip home. We looked solid at the back and in midfield. I thought Nelsen and Samba were outstanding in the centre of defence and Givet had a better game at left-back. However, Chimbonda didn't look quite as convincing and, when fit, I think would prefer Jacobsen in that position with Chimbonda being used further forward.

The system that Sam is using enables us to switch from 4-5-1 to 4-3-3 very easily and with the pace of Olsson and Hoilett this could be a very effective system - certainly it's the system that a majority of other Premier League managers seem to be using.

Finally, although I am no fan of Keith Andrews, I thought he did a decent job when he came on yesterday.

solid post.

the underlined : thats actually not a bad idea parsons. Not something ive´ever thought about, but now you mention it..

we actually have a very versatile squad.

[RibbleValleyRover]

I just don't get "this was an excellent performance yesterday" that people keep bringing up. It was a good result no question but the performance was not good especially in the first half. First half we were sat too deep, our passing was awful and we were under a great amount of pressure at times. Some of our clearing was terrible how many times did we punt the ball away straight to a West Ham player to put us under more pressure. We may have had the best chance of the half when Pedersen's free-kick hit the bar but West Ham should have punished us for our shoddy performance.

Second half we played better, largely down to the fact we were hoofing the ball less and we put more pressure on the opposition by closing down more and actually attacking them.

Excellent point overall but if we play like we did in the first half against Stoke i can see us in trouble.

[SD4E]

roberts lacks composure, sam should instruct him to shot with power, dont think, just blast it as hard as you can.

thats the thing, he CAN NOT strike a ball. he is the only professional footballer i have ever seen who simply can not strike a ball properly.

ever single time he scuffs it. personally i would like rovers to give him a free kick, dead ball situation and lets just see once and for all if he can actually hit a ball with some power.

its so frustrating because he makes chances all by himself, but is without doubt the worst finisher i have ever seen at the rovers, even worse than ashley ward.

[Clitherover]

Roberts made that chance all on his own, we dont have anyother striker who would have even got into that positon never mind score it! I think now Benni has gone he is deffo out best striker, he just needs someone up with him to put the tap in's in!

Don't know what drugs you're taking but can you get me some please.

[thenodrog]

thats the thing, he CAN NOT strike a ball. he is the only professional footballer i have ever seen who simply can not strike a ball properly.

Damien Duff was the same till Dean Saunders came.

[den]

thats the thing, he CAN NOT strike a ball. he is the only professional footballer i have ever seen who simply can not strike a ball properly.

Oh I don't know. Ashley Ward couldn't shoot with any power whatsoever.