[Archived] Portsmouth Vs Blackburn Rovers

[deryck guyler's spoon]

Dress it up however you like. Woeful I'm afraid.

[SamTheShrew]

Phil Jones was the only thing good about this game today.

All I could find myself asking in the second half is what exactly does Vince Grella do?

as soon as Vanden Borre was sent off we should have gone 4-4-2, instead Grella came on, lost the ball, and then when he next got it he whacked it to nowhere.

bah

[MarkBRFC71]

Yes they are. Some people are going way overboard with criticism, using insults and wishing for another manager. The result needs putting in context to reply to that.

I don't hate the man - that would be childish - but I do not like his brand of "football" one iota.

And me wanting another manager are not based on today's non-performance, rather the dross we've had to endure since BFS took over. Last season, when we were struggling to stay up that was fine. I was really hoping for more this term though in terms of the style of football.

[Exiled_Rover]

Not that long really, just cannot stand the negative, one-dimensional, percentage-based tactics, and the stubborness and arrogance of the man. Today is a prime but not a singular example - we're safe, playing the bottom of the league who who have a decimated squad, and are down to 10 men - rather than go for it as soon as they went to 10, he waits until 82 mins before making a positive change?!?

I'm not alone - we'll see next season when we're back down to 12,000 season tickets as people vote with their feet!

And, try not to be a BFS-sheep at every opportunity - your posts blindly supporting him really are quite sickening sometimes. No-one will think you're less of a Rovers fan if you take off your BFS-tinted specs now and again!

The thing that REALLY grates is when Samba will bring the ball out of defence, have a simple pass to N'Zonzi, Pedersen, or Grella and instead lumps it forward.

We've been absolutely dire today, just as we were dire against Burnley.

I don't mind the one upfront, but it only works when you have pace on both wings. We're very solid at the back, but good god we're toothless going forward.

[LeChuck]

How frustrating is Hoilett by the way?

He's excellent at running with the ball and has pace to trouble anyone, but he has absolutely no end product, be it shooting or crossing. I hope they're working hard with him in training on this.

[Miker]

Please don't respond to the people that have come on here to be negative again. They were nowhere to be seen for the past 2 weeks and are now just using this as an excuse to give their failed opinions even a shred of credibility.

We had a plethora of chances towards the end, unlucky not to score from even one of them. It was just going to be one of those days. Good substitutions from Sam to try and win it, but we were just unable to finish off the game, as has been the case so often this season.

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

With a decent striker we would have walked it. Im embarrassed to have Jason Roberts at our club. 2 points dropped. Yes it was away from home but it was a Pompey reserve side. A pompey 10 men reserve side. Not the end of the world by any means but a reality check after last week.

[John]

We had plenty of the ball but lack of creativity is always a worry. Roberts airshot was nice too....

Think two strikers earlier would have helped - however we rely too much on Dunn for creating decent chances and generally we were poor with the ball in the final third.

[Amo]

Yes they are. Some people are going way overboard with criticism, using insults and wishing for another manager. The result needs putting in context to reply to that.

I'll just call the result as I see it: dreadful. Pompey played a makeshift side and were reduced to ten men early in the second half. Yes, we had a few chances to score, but I would expect nothing less under the circumstances. The performance was poor and Sam made his substitutions far too late.

[MarkBRFC71]

2nd half we lacked the cutting edge!

So why did BFS not make a positive change earlier - i.e. as soon as they went to 10 men? That's just plain bad management.

[Harry Balls]

I hope that fund set up for you fails, there are enough idiots already saying stuff like that.

You're pathetic!

Sam's negative tactics today were indefensible. If you weren't lodged so far up his backside then even you would see that.

People are so keen to lump the praise on him when something goes our way, but when he screws up there's always a million and one excuses.

We should have won this game and we didn't because our manager waited until the 80th minute to get a second striker on the pitch.

[Mr. E]

Do people not realize that 8th place could have gotten us into Europe this season?

[joey_big_nose]

Can't believe we did not manage to put them under more pressure at the end. We lacked quality through the middle and our final ball was poor. The conditions probably contributed to that. Sort of gaame where it would have been great to put Basturk on to create something if he was fit.

Kalinic should have been on much much earlier - however you have to also say that when he was on he was poor. Apart from blocking one of our own shots did he touch the ball?!

Hoilett was good, Grella poor. The whole defence was good- Jones and Samba outstanding again. Pedersnen's delivery improved through the game but it is hard to see how his spot wasjustified, particularly as it forces Dunn into a deeper and much less effective role.

We need a central midfielder of real quality for games like that. Loads of room but not enough imagination.

[RibbleValleyRover]

2 points dropped rather than a hard fought point gained. Another poor performance from Rovers especially as Pompey were there for the taking today. With numerous players injured, dodgy keeper and relegation pretty much guranteed we should have gone there today and really tested them. We resorted to the usual hit and hope hoof to the donkey that is Roberts, Olsson provided some support but there wasn't enough of it. Diouf and Pedersen were poor again. Pedersen for me offers nothing, he can't play on the wing anymore as his final ball isn't up to standard and he isn't good enough to play a central midfield role. For those that want him to stay i want some of what you are smoking, 40k per week for another 3-4 years means we deserve to be in the dire situation where wages dominate our budget. We should have sold him in January.

The only players to shine today were our defence, Givet was pretty solid and put in a great goaline clearance, Jones looks a real star, the Piquionne challenge was timed to perfection and Samba continues his resurrgence under the captaincy. Samba was limping earlier in the game and towards the end, could be worrying if he is out with United coming up.

A lot of work needs to be done in the summer, some dross needs to go and there needs to be some tactial rethinking by Sam.

[LeChuck]

I don't hate the man - that would be childish - but I do not like his brand of "football" one iota.

We weren't just thumping long balls today though, we were working the ball forward. You complain about one up front all the time, but the vast majority of teams in the Premier League play that way.

almost entirely the fat pillock's fault.

That post was, as you put it, childish. If it's not hate it's something close, enough to stop you making rational judgements anyway.

[Hasta]

Hoilett was good,

Are you joking. Hoilett was good in the sense that he ran fast but every time he kicked the ball, either to cross or shoot, he was woeful.

[LeChuck]

You're pathetic!

Sam's negative tactics today were indefensible. If you weren't lodged so far up his backside then even you would see that.

People are so keen to lump the praise on him when something goes our way, but when he screws up there's always a million and one excuses.

We should have won this game and we didn't because our manager waited until the 80th minute to get a second striker on the pitch.

I said it's a bad result and he has to take the blame, I've also said 'no excuses'.

The only pathetic people are the ones that throw their toys out of the pram every time we get a bad result.

[Hughesy]

So why did BFS not make a positive change earlier - i.e. as soon as they went to 10 men? That's just plain bad management.

Had we gone 4-4-2 and then Pompey scored, what would have said then?! Who's fault would that have been?

[Bobby G]

Poor lack of "balls" to take more risks, especially after their red.

I wouldve thought we would have more urgency after the pressure was off us!

[MarkBRFC71]

We weren't just thumping long balls today though, we were working the ball forward. You complain about one up front all the time, but the vast majority of teams in the Premier League play that way.

That post was, as you put it, childish. If it's not hate it's something close, enough to stop you making rational judgements anyway.

Those teams have strikers like Rooney, Torres and Drogba. We've got Roberts .... They have midfielders like Gerrard, Lampard and Giggs - we've got Andrews. The system works if you have the personnel for it - we don't.

OK, I let my emotions run wild on the last one - more out of total frustration than hate.

[Hughesy]

The only pathetic people are the ones that throw their toys out of the pram every time we get a bad result.

Amen!

[hollowsr]

You're pathetic!

Sam's negative tactics today were indefensible. If you weren't lodged so far up his backside then even you would see that.

People are so keen to lump the praise on him when something goes our way, but when he screws up there's always a million and one excuses.

We should have won this game and we didn't because our manager waited until the 80th minute to get a second striker on the pitch.

It also works the other way also, as in they don't praise him when we do well but blame it all on him when we do badly!

Do people not realize that 8th place could have gotten us into Europe this season?

Not saying you're wrong but how does it go down to 8th???

[Amo]

Are you joking. Hoilett was good in the sense that he ran fast but every time he kicked the ball, either to cross or shoot, he was woeful.

He's hardly played and didn't look match-sharp. But he did prove he can get behind defences, which is more than Diouf did for 75mins.

Had we gone 4-4-2 and then Pompey scored, what would have said then?! Who's fault would that have been?

And what if we had scored?

[philipl]

Ah well, one of those days. We will beat the Mancs next week- absolute certainty.

[MarkBRFC71]

I said it's a bad result and he has to take the blame, I've also said 'no excuses'.

The only pathetic people are the ones that throw their toys out of the pram every time we get a bad result.

Or the ones who hold Allardyce up as some sort of football god when we win? It goes both ways.

Just because some people don't like the BFS style of football doesn't make them any more right or wrong than you, and doesn't make their opinions any more or less valid than yours.