[Archived] Everton Preview

[Dan]

If all you want is sexy football then there are plenty of other teams to support.

If you want to see a Rovers side hold their own in the Premier League and be safely in midtable then you'd realise that Sam has done a very good job.

Ideally, you'd have both, but id take the latter over the former every day of the week.

Look at our players, look at the money we have and look at what happened under Ince's 'Sexy football'. Think about it and then think about it again. Its not hard to see what im getting at.

We can play better, playing football than we can playing this @#/? BFS calls football. We were total @#/? today and if we had played football we could have won. Sam's Anti-Football has luckily got us safe, but with the players we have we can do better. I'm sure playing football we can do just as well, if not better. We have shown this in the recent past. We also played better with two forwards on the pitch, as we have in the past. Sam is such a bonehead though, he won't learn, we have been through this pattern n the past.

I can have an opinion, if I don't agree with the manager it doesn't mean I have to go and support another team you idiot. I have supported Rovers a lot longer than Sam has been manager. I'm not happy, but I won't jump to another team, I love Rovers and always have done, which is why I am perfectly entitled to be a bit fed up. I have stated that top flight football is more important than the ###### way we play, but we can play nicer football than this. I wonder how many fans go to Ewood out of pure loyalty and dedication, rather than enjoyment? Sometimes seeing a win is enjoyment in it's self, but no one can say our football has been a joy to watch for 90% of time. The most enjoyable match was when the asisstant took charge and ditched Sam's awful tactics.

[MarkBRFC71]

I love Rovers and always have done

Which is why, like me, it hurts to watch the complete sh*te we play at the moment. The badge says Arte et Labore - where's the 'Arte' gone? I've never questioned whether I'd buy a season ticket in 28 years until now .... home games are a chore under this regime.

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

SAM OUT!

[Miker]

We can play better, playing football than we can playing this @#/? BFS calls football. We were total @#/? today and if we had played football we could have won. Sam's Anti-Football has luckily got us safe, but with the players we have we can do better. I'm sure playing football we can do just as well, if not better. We have shown this in the recent past. We also played better with two forwards on the pitch, as we have in the past. Sam is such a bonehead though, he won't learn, we have been through this pattern n the past.

I can have an opinion, if I don't agree with the manager it doesn't mean I have to go and support another team you idiot. I have supported Rovers a lot longer than Sam has been manager. I'm not happy, but I won't jump to another team, I love Rovers and always have done, which is why I am perfectly entitled to be a bit fed up. I have stated that top flight football is more important than the ###### way we play, but we can play nicer football than this. I wonder how many fans go to Ewood out of pure loyalty and dedication, rather than enjoyment? Sometimes seeing a win is enjoyment in it's self, but no one can say our football has been a joy to watch for 90% of time. The most enjoyable match was when the asisstant took charge and ditched Sam's awful tactics.

Can a mod delete me off this forum permanently please? Putting these people on ignore just isn't enough. Spam and constant personal attacks on the manager and various players is just uncalled for and I'm sick to death of it. So please, delete me because I don't want to be able to come on here and read these utterly depressing, absurd comments ever again.

As for Dan, and anyone else with his attitude, you can keep calling yourself a BRFC 'supporter', but you are not a supporter. Spending the entire match criticising the team at every opportunity does not constitute SUPPORT. What it constitutes is hatred and d1ckheadedness. There is such a thing as CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM. What you provide is not anywhere close to that. I have no idea why you bother because clearly you should be spending your time a bit better than this.

[DE.]

Absolutely gutting to lose like that today! I thought the boys showed great character to come back twice, but we missed Big Chris today. Nelsen showed he isn't really up to the job anymore - at fault for two of the goals. I love the admiral but his time is most certainly drawing to an end. Certainly as a first-teamer.

We lacked imagination, but that's no surprise. We don't play imaginative football. I thought Everton coped with us very well and played some good stuff. They dominated us for the first 40 minutes or so, we didn't really get started until an absolutely dire Morten Gamst Pedersen trudged off. We can forget selling him to anybody, he'd struggle in the championship with the types of performances he's been putting in lately.

Two lovely goals from N'Zonzi and Roberts (!!!), a rarity! I honestly thought we were going to snatch a point and to get done so close to the end was a real kick in the teeth. On the plus side, results went our way today so we still do have something to play for. We just need a few of the players to understand this.

Ah well, onto next week... I can't get too down, as I'm just glad we're safe for another season and hopefully have an interesting summer to look forward to. Our team certainly needs some work if we're going to break beyond 12th/13th place, but we're not too far off being able to do that. A couple of decent signings would give us a huge boost.

[alexanders]

How can people be dissapointed today with other than the result? Sam will never win over some people.

[rog of the rovers]

What happened with Andrews when he was substitued?

It looked as though he threw a water bottle at a fan.

No doubt some idiot was provoking him.

[doctorryan]

Can a mod delete me off this forum permanently please? Putting these people on ignore just isn't enough. Spam and constant personal attacks on the manager and various players is just uncalled for and I'm sick to death of it. So please, delete me because I don't want to be able to come on here and read these utterly depressing, absurd comments ever again.

As for Dan, and anyone else with his attitude, you can keep calling yourself a BRFC 'supporter', but you are not a supporter. Spending the entire match criticising the team at every opportunity does not constitute SUPPORT. What it constitutes is hatred and d1ckheadedness. There is such a thing as CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM. What you provide is not anywhere close to that. I have no idea why you bother because clearly you should be spending your time a bit better than this.

Financial and emotional supporters of a professional sporting club are entitled to ridicule a club, it's members and/or officers if they're unhappy with the results on the playing surface or the actions of the club off the playing surface. Get over it.

[Exiled_Rover]

Thought Everton were very poor to be honest. Especially when you consider the money they've spent. Moyes has coached his team in the dark arts (lots of niggly fouls, dives, cynical play) and made them a thoroughly unlikeable side.

We were absolutely dire for 60 minutes until we got Kalinic some support upfront. From that point on i.e. with two upfront and the midfield getting in the faces of the Everton players, we looked the better side.

Nelson was the big culprit for me today - they had three chances and scored them all, two were Nelson's fault. Jones, Givet and Salgado were fantastic again.

Andrews: awful.

All in all we deserved a draw, but lapse defending against a clinical side means we come away from the game with nothing.

[philipl]

The positives from today:

Rovers' best two goals of the season so far

Fighting spirit

27,022 attendance

Results at Fulham and Stoke

Negatives:

Nelsen looking past it

Andrews

Screwing up our home record.

Weird statistics corner. BBC had possession at 37-63 in favour of Everton and on target chances 10-4 in favour of us.

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

Kalinic did very well today. Had hardly anything to go off but held the ball up very well, plus played a very neat ball into Roberts' feet for the second.

[Mr. E]

I find that hard to believe. I bet you get suicidal when you burn your toast.

No, it's just that I'm a fan of the club who's message board you visit for some reason.

[RibbleValleyRover]

But what happened to the defence? It looks like they're back to normal after a few weeks of doing well - another 3 goals conceded. The worst one was watching Yakubu waltz on from the bench, wander straight through the box and head in unchallenged!

I think today highlighted how well Samba has been playing recently, the back unit had looked organised in recent games but today without Big Chris it was all over the place.

If i had only seen the last 20-25 mins I would probably say we had been a tad unlucky and that Everton sneaked a win. Unfortunately I watched the full 90 and overall it was a very poor performance.

I can accept that our manager likes to play a direct style, but we can’t even get that right. Our long balls are as poor as our short passes; balls are launched from the back into the channels and the opposition get the chance to get the ball back. Every so often we get a ball up to our lone forward but there isn’t anyone a mile near him so we lose it.

I just don’t understand how our midfield is supposed to work. All midfields need an attack and defence balance. I understand N’Zonzi’s role, he is there to anchor the midfield between defence and attack, and more often than not he sits deep breaks up play and plays a simple pass. But the rest I just don’t see what their clear role is, there’s just not enough attacking from that midfield imo.

It seems like I say this every week but I feel for Niko. One poorly passed ball goes over his head and to the keeper, another ball goes wide left on him into the channels and the defender gets it easy, another goes to the right to another defender, finally a ball finds him but there is nobody a mile near him. It’s a perpetual cycle.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

Though we didn't play well at all for the first half - on chances we were extremely unlucky to go in 1-0 down. A chance cleared off the line - and numerous close things meant that for all slick Everton passing - we should have equalised. Don't like Sam's tactics - but they are effective. Second half - two superb goals - and I think we can count ourselves unlucky.

My observations :-

Arteta - I thought lifting a hand to an opposition player was an automatic red card. The referee should be asked to explain why he didn't send him off - and what exactly MGP was booked for.

Howard - how can he aim a kick at Dunn and again get away without any form of card ?

Cahill - pushed Jones in the back just prior to their third goal. Another great spot by the referee.

Salgado - another great performance

Jones - absolute class, still has things to learn, but he can easily make one of the centre half positions his own next season.

Nelsen - would be harsh to say he was to blame for the defeat - but he was. Diving in for the penalty, being out muscled for their 2nd goal. At times, we badly missed Samba today.

Overall - Everton look a very good side, who will be near the top again next season. Major disapointment was being undone by another totally inept refereeing display - he really should have worn his "I Luv David Moyes" t-shirt today - so we would have at least known what to expect.

One last thing - I think we can award Everton fans with the honour of being the vilest, cockiest, fattest fans that have graced Ewood this season. They really are a distasteful bunch.

[Guest Kamy100]

Disappointing result.

I thought that both teams were poor and that a draw would have been a fair result. We were very direct and in the first half it worked, particularly towards the end of the half, there was choas in the Everton box on numerous occasions and we were unlucky not to score.

The second half, Everton started the better and seemed to be dealing with balls in the box better. Then we get a wondergoal from N'Zonzi. Poor defending allows Everton to take the lead, we then get another superb goal from Roberts and look the more likely to team to get three points. However, at the death more defending lets in Cahill to score the winner.

Sam is never ever going to win over some fans (there were plenty of moaners in the Jack Walker Upper today). If he gets results then people are happyish, but when things don't go well then people will moan about the style. I agree that at times it is soul destroying football, but then when you look at the bigger picture (our squad, the lack of financial resources) you have to say that Sam is doing wonderful job, teams like Everton have spent millions and yet we still compete with them. We do not have the players to play sexy, fast flowing football and we do not have the resources to purchase them.

[RIML]

Nelsen showed he isn't really up to the job anymore - at fault for two of the goals. I love the admiral but his time is most certainly drawing to an end. Certainly as a first-teamer.

I will be honest I didn't think he was great today, he give his all as always but defensively he wasn't good enough. I do think Givet should take some responsibility for the penalty. I'll have to watch it again but if Nelsen did just dive in, he should have known better. He wasn't the worst defender, he was a threat from set pieces he must have gone up for every corner/free-kick, unlucky with his header and he almost set up a goal in the first half.

It wasn't long ago when we won 3-2 @ Everton, Ooijer scoring in the last minute, now we know how it feels to be on the losing side

[DE.]

I will be honest I didn't think he was great today, he give his all as always but defensively he wasn't good enough. I do think Givet should take some responsibility for the penalty. I'll have to watch it again but if Nelsen did just dive in, he should have known better. He wasn't the worst defender, he was a threat from set pieces he must have gone up for every corner/free-kick, unlucky with his header and he almost set up a goal in the first half.

I agree that nelsen was a threat from set-pieces, but Big Chris would have been more of a threat. Right now I'd either want Samba/Jones or Samba/Givet in the centre. Nelsen still has a place on the bench and his experience and leadership qualities make him hugely important to our squad, but he's losing pace rapidly and he is becoming a liability, as much as I wish it wasn't so I don't expect Nelsen to be starting next season... barring some kind of early season injury crisis.

[Bobby G]

Disappointing result.

I thought that both teams were poor and that a draw would have been a fair result. We were very direct and in the first half it worked, particularly towards the end of the half, there was choas in the Everton box on numerous occasions and we were unlucky not to score.

The second half, Everton started the better and seemed to be dealing with balls in the box better. Then we get a wondergoal from N'Zonzi. Poor defending allows Everton to take the lead, we then get another superb goal from Roberts and look the more likely to team to get three points. However, at the death more defending lets in Cahill to score the winner.

Sam is never ever going to win over some fans (there were plenty of moaners in the Jack Walker Upper today). If he gets results then people are happyish, but when things don't go well then people will moan about the style. I agree that at times it is soul destroying football, but then when you look at the bigger picture (our squad, the lack of financial resources) you have to say that Sam is doing wonderful job, teams like Everton have spent millions and yet we still compete with them. We do not have the players to play sexy, fast flowing football and we do not have the resources to purchase them.

Couldnt have said it better Kamy. He has done a wonderful job considering the "average" squad of players at his disposal. We have been unlucky a few good talents have been unearthed this season largely from within the club to freshen things up.

[RIML]

I agree that nelsen was a threat from set-pieces, but Big Chris would have been more of a threat. Right now I'd either want Samba/Jones or Samba/Givet in the centre. Nelsen still has a place on the bench and his experience and leadership qualities make him hugely important to our squad, but he's losing pace rapidly and he is becoming a liability, as much as I wish it wasn't so I don't expect Nelsen to be starting next season... barring some kind of early season injury crisis.

Believe it or not, Big Chris has had 18 shots on target and scored just 3 goals, Nelsen has only had 5 shots on target scoring the same amount of goals. Samba's not been that much of a threat from set pieces considering his height.

[MarkBRFC71]

Can a mod delete me off this forum permanently please? Putting these people on ignore just isn't enough. Spam and constant personal attacks on the manager and various players is just uncalled for and I'm sick to death of it. So please, delete me because I don't want to be able to come on here and read these utterly depressing, absurd comments ever again.

As for Dan, and anyone else with his attitude, you can keep calling yourself a BRFC 'supporter', but you are not a supporter. Spending the entire match criticising the team at every opportunity does not constitute SUPPORT. What it constitutes is hatred and d1ckheadedness. There is such a thing as CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM. What you provide is not anywhere close to that. I have no idea why you bother because clearly you should be spending your time a bit better than this.

FFS get over yourself! I don't agree with half of the stuff you post, but it's your opinion and I respect that you care enough to come on here and post it. Just because people disagree with your opinion doesn't make them any more right or wrong than you. The whole idea of a forum is for people to come, vent their spleens, discuss with other fans their various viewpoints. If you can't get your head round this then you should just delete your account and choose another sport. Football is all about opinions and the discussion and debate of them - this forum isn't supposed to be Rovers love-in with all negative comments banned. If you want that kind of board perhaps North Korea's might be modded to your satisfaction?

[DE.]

Believe it or not, Big Chris has had 18 shots on target and scored just 3 goals, Nelsen has only had 5 shots on target scoring the same amount of goals. Samba's not been that much of a threat from set pieces considering his height.

That's interesting, I didn't know that. Still, I think I'd rather have Samba up there. He's been very unlucky with a few chances this season that he really should have scored. If he finds better form next season and we play the same style of football I think he could get 8 or 9.

[MarkBRFC71]

Salgado - another great performance

Jones - absolute class, still has things to learn, but he can easily make one of the centre half positions his own next season.

Nelsen - would be harsh to say he was to blame for the defeat - but he was. Diving in for the penalty, being out muscled for their 2nd goal. At times, we badly missed Samba today.

One last thing - I think we can award Everton fans with the honour of being the vilest, cockiest, fattest fans that have graced Ewood this season. They really are a distasteful bunch.

Agree with all that, although I thought Saha gave Jones more problems than Drogba and Berbatov combined, but overall he did well.

Everton fans are the nastiest in the league. Only United's push them close.

[RIML]

That's interesting, I didn't know that. Still, I think I'd rather have Samba up there. He's been very unlucky with a few chances this season that he really should have scored. If he finds better form next season and we play the same style of football I think he could get 8 or 9.

I suppose we can't be too disappointed with conceding 3 goals against Everton, we conceded 3 earlier on in the season and Samba played too

[MarkBRFC71]

We do not have the players to play sexy, fast flowing football and we do not have the resources to purchase them.

I disagree. Fulham play a decent brand of football with a very similar squad in terms of quality to ours, and probably comparable resources.

It's purely that our players are told to launch it as soon as possible and hope for a fortuitous knockdown by the management/coaching staff. Our players are more than capable of playing football - no-one's expecting us to be Barca-like but the total reliance on route one is mind-numbingly awful to watch. I think the players are having the skill coached out of them, and it must be soul-destroying for someone like Niko who can obviously play to have to be chasing down high balls launched vaguely in his direction for 90 mins.

[Eddie]

Yep, the argument that it is impossible to play decent looking football and survive in this league is just so simplistic I can't honest think that anyone truly believes it. We have done it in the recent past and teams continue to do it. Our squad possesses several players with very good levels of skill (Kalinic, MGP, Hoilett, Diouf, Dunn, Olsson, Emerton) all capable of playing in midfield or up front for a team that doesn't simply hoof the ball 70% of the time. Every team will play long balls now and again and sometimes you just need to get clear, but the fact remains that by doing it so often we are simply handing the ball back to other teams and allowing the to attack again without ever having to retreat. At times we turn games into a sort of training session for our opposition. Some games this will work because we will defend very well, sometimes they will finish poorly and sometimes we will do just enough going forward that we can get away with it, but long-term we need to keep the ball for longer periods of time (which we actually have been doing a bit more over recent months).

I think Allardyce is more than capable of realising this, but the key will be in bringing a central midfield capable of running the show in that sort of system. Everton and Fulham are mid-table sides who mix effort, force with a bit of skill and creativity...we sadly fall into a category with Stoke where we play the percentages.

No one on here is saying that they expect Arsenal or Barcelona to turn up next season, but just keep the ball, at least against the non-top teams, and give ourselves a better chance. I think the main cause of most goals we let in is simply the amount of time we hand the ball back to the other team by hitting it forward. We have decent defenders, but you can't ask them to do 60 minutes of solid defending every week and not expect the odd mistake or the odd piece of genius from the other teams. The problem is that we are in the premier league and even the sides at the very bottom are too good to do that to.

It's not ALL about results and if you make it all about results then you really have to do it every week. It's no good saying that this is the best football we can play and then simply dragging into 12th. I am fully prepared for everyone to now start saying how little we spend, but if you look at our squad we are probably in the 8-14 bracket, so to be 12th isn't exactly pulling off a miracle.