[Archived] Everton Preview

[tcj_jones]

Only watched the MOTD highlights tonight, but a few obervations:

- Arteta should have been sent off, unvelievable that he wasn't.

- both our goals were such quality.

- their first was a poor foul from Nelsen, really clumsy.

[Hughesy]

1st goal - Nelsen Penalty

2nd goal - Nelsen beat in the air

3rd goal - Jones turned, the man that scored? (The player Nelsen was marking)

[RIML]

2nd goal - Nelsen beat in the air

Nzonzi and Salgado were both beaten in the air before the ball reached Yakubu.

[JAL]

1st goal - Nelsen Penalty

2nd goal - Nelsen beat in the air

3rd goal - Jones turned, the man that scored? (The player Nelsen was marking)

Spot on Hughesy, i'd like to add whilst on Ryan Nelsen that he was clearly beaten by Tim Cahil who put his header over the bar early in the second half.

Samba/Jones looks THE central partnership for Rovers.

[Hughesy]

Nzonzi and Salgado were both beaten in the air before the ball reached Yakubu.

It was a simple flick on - we didnt deal with it when it came through. Nelsen was infront of Yakubu but still failed to meet it with his head

[Plastic Head]

Dear Mr Allardyce.

Would you please stop taking the p!ss out of me.

I can put up with a team that can't keep the ball. I can put up with the dire long throw tactic.

I can put up with Dunny being a link up player but never getting the ball.

I can put up with Pedersens repeatedly dreadful free kicks and corners.

But to ask me to sit through a performance from Mr Andrews when we all know he is no more capable of playing premier league football than I am is unforgivable and deserving of the sack in the morning.

Parkes in.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

OH WELL! were to start...

Enjoyable game,end to end football but sadly Rovers just falling short.Two superb goals,good atmosphere at a Sun bathed Ewood.

Everton did deserve the win but as mentioned they are let down by their loud mouth cocky supporters....just what the hell have they to be cocky about is another matter.

I hope the moaners were thouroughly 'entertained'

[Hughesy]

But to ask me to sit through a performance from Mr Andrews when we all know he is no more capable of playing premier league football than I am is unforgivable and deserving of the sack in the morning.

Parkes in.

SACK THE BOARD too!!

[RIML]

It was a simple flick on - we didnt deal with it when it came through. Nelsen was infront of Yakubu but still failed to meet it with his head

You expect him to defend single handedly, he needs his team mates to help out, two players, Nzonzi and Salgado were supposedly marking one player and still failed to win the ball, but you expect Nelsen on his own to win the ball, he was facing towards goal if he did "meet it with his head" he would have probably scored an own goal. The penalty was clumsy I'm not denying that but he tried to make up for the mistake, he give his all, the third c'mon there were two Rovers players on the line you could argue they should have done better.

[toetoe]

3rd goal - Jones turned, the man that scored? (The player Nelsen was marking)

Nelsen can't keep on marking Cahill when Yakubu is through.

[Inta Beaver]

How can you poke someone in the eye and not get sent off? If you push someone near the face nowadays you get sent off!

[RIML]

Nelsen can't keep on marking Cahill when Yakubu is through.

Exactly!

[modes98]

No complaints with the penalty decision but apart from that the ref had a mare. Inconsistant to the extreme. MGP gets booked for tapping Arteta on the ankles and yet Dunny gets hacked down and there is no card. The eye and face poke was a definate red card, how a player can get away with that when both the ref and assistant clearly saw it.

The goals were both out of the top draw of rovers goals. They should have been enough to win any match as should 2 goals at home.

Nelsen had a complete mare, he had a role in each of their goals and must have lost his head for the penalty tackle. Jones was caught out by the Yak for the 3rd goal but other than that had another great game. Nothing Robbo could have done about any of them.

Wolves now becomes a must win if we are to attempt to take a top half spot.

[Hughesy]

Nelsen can't keep on marking Cahill when Yakubu is through.

Correct but if your coming across and leaving a man unmarked (directly behind you) then you need to ensure a pass cannot be made by narrowing the angle....im sorry but Nelsen was poor today. As JAL rightly pointed out he was also beaten in the air earlier when we got lucky his header was off target.

[RIML]

How can you poke someone in the eye and not get sent off? If you push someone near the face nowadays you get sent off!

I maybe wrong but I'm sure that same ref sent off a Sunderland player for a similar offence.

[toetoe]

Correct but if your coming accross and leaving a man unmarked (directly behind you) then you need to ensure a pass cannot be made by narrowing the angle..

Which is what he tried to do, but Yakubu already had so much space there wasn't much Nelsen could do.

[RIML]

Correct but if your coming across and leaving a man unmarked (directly behind you) then you need to ensure a pass cannot be made by narrowing the angle....im sorry but Nelsen was poor today. As JAL rightly pointed out he was also beaten in the air earlier when we got lucky his header was off target.

How many times did Nelsen beat an Everton player in the air at set pieces? He was beaten once or twice, but who wasn't?

[Blue n White Rover]

The 3rd goal, I'd say the blame lies with young Phil Jones. His body position wasn't the best to start off with, so when Yakubu touched it past him, it took him longer to turn his body and block the cross or guide it out for a goal kick. Yakubu went past him as though he wasn't there, so Nelsen had to cover and when he committed, Cahill was left free with an open goal. If I was to be even more picky, then I'd say Givet should have got across to Cahill, as he was only a few yards away from him when he scored.

[Tom]

How can you poke someone in the eye and not get sent off? If you push someone near the face nowadays you get sent off!

Absolutely baffling, it wasn't even a decison that had to be made it was a blatant red.

[RIML]

How can you poke someone in the eye and not get sent off? If you push someone near the face nowadays you get sent off!

I maybe wrong but I'm sure that same ref sent off a Sunderland player for a similar offence.

I was right, the same ref sent off Kenwyne Jones for this.

[47er]

Massive disappointment after our recent form. Can't understand why we started so tentatively and let Everton boss the game early on. If we had done that against Chelsea or Manu we would have been massacred. That poor start is ultimately why we lost all 3 points and now have Sunderland breathing down our necks.

Massive error to start with Andrews, we always look to have 10 men when he starts. Not his fault and I would never boo a rovers player but he was bloody hopeless. We didn't need a player jogging up and down nowhere near the ball. Should have started with Diouf who has good ball retention and fires up his team-mates by annoying the opposition.

Congrats to N'Zonzi on that goal--my player of the year.

Finally the ref. Cannot believe how a player can deliberately poke some-one in the eye a few yards away from the ref! Just ludicrous. And why was Morton booked for it? It was hardly a dirty foul on Arteta and he never reacted to Atreta's petulance. Reffing standards in the Premiership are a disgrace.

[Brfcrule1]

I have to agree with most on here Arteta should have been sent off even on footy first the Everton manager agreed he should have gone. But also feel as though rovers should have had 2 penalties in the first half when Kalinic had his shirt pulled in the box. An even more blatent penalty was when Hibbert handled from Hoilett's cross. Although I agree with most on here I Love the Admiral but Nelsen at best is a bench player at fault for 2 if not 3 of the goals. Should have got in front of Yakubu for his goal and should never have dived in for the penalty. I also feel he has lost a yard of pace although is a threat from set pieces his defending at times this year have been atrocious especially today. Although people say we conceded 3 when we played them at Goodison earlier in the year I have to say the Jones/Samba is by far the best centre half partnership we have. We looked more assured and look more likely to keep clean sheets with Samba in the team. Have to say after the 3 we have conceded if Samba was on the pitch we would have probably kept a clean sheet. We missed the big man today but some special praise for Nzonzi & Roberts 2 absolutely amazing goals today shame we were on the wrong end of the result. Hopefully Samba will be back for the Wolves away game.

[Paul]

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.

I feel the majorty of this post accurately sums up yesterday's game and the situation at Ewood. Everton have far better players than us and attempt to pass the ball, often it just went sideways as they struggled to know what to do with it. Sadly we haven't got to the passing it sideways stage. We were very direct and it caused problems in the Everton box, I found it difficult to see how close we came to scoring on any of those occassions. Overall I felt Everton were better, not a huge gap, but definetley better than Rovers. Our performance was dreadful in footballing terms for 70 minutes till Nzonzi score a fabulous goal. The team picked up a bit after that and seemed a little more positive but conceded two very poor goals while scoring another peach. Overall it was a dire performnace highlighted by two great goals.

As for Sam? I don't like his CURRENT brand of football and never will. The games are boring and tedious to watch and we exhibit no skill or technique. Equally I fully acknowledge what he is achieveing with a very poor squad, no money and no sign we can invest. Mid-table is the best we can expect to achieve, just a shame the football is so awful to watch.

What really does concern me is the lack of goals and chances created. Plus in Kalinic we have a £6m striker who is either not up to the mark or needs to be in a team playing a different style of football. I don't know the answer but he doesn't look like a goal scorer to me. No control, poor first touch and just chases the ball when it bounces off him. I can't recall the last time I saw him have a shot on goal, so he's unlikely to score at any stage. Worried.

I don't think anyone's ever said the tactics haven't worked, not in a broad sense anyway. Because they clearly have, we're mid-table.

Allardyce isn't infallible though, not by a long way, and when some of his faults get pointed out, some people go spare.

I'm quite happy to call it as I see it, good and bad. Just like under Hodgson, Kidd, Parkes, Souness, Hughes. The only agenda I have is pro-Blackburn Rovers.

Allardyce has done well to get us where we are given his budget, no-one would deny that. The flip side of the coin is that he has a very cynical approach that doesn't sit well with some fans who are apt to say so when it backfires. He also comes across as an obnoxious git. But you can't win 'em all :-)

Steady Bryan you'll get in trouble for stating the obvious truth

[Parsonblue]

It was a simple flick on - we didnt deal with it when it came through. Nelsen was infront of Yakubu but still failed to meet it with his head

And if our so called England No.1 goalkeeper had moved off his line he could have punched the ball clear but, as per usual, he was static on his line when a ball came into the danger area.

I didn't think our performance was all that bad yesterday against a very good Everton side. It was the same old story in that we had chances in the first half, from set pieces, but didn't take them.

The goals we conceded came from individual errors. Nelsen for the first, Robinson I felt could have done more to prevent the second and young Jones got done for the third.

I think a finish of between 11th and 13th is very much on the cards and considering the financial situation I think that's a pretty good outcome. Indeed, I believe Premier League survival on our limited budget is a huge success story and one that deserves to be celebrated.

[Ossydave]

We wouldn't have lost that game had Samba been on the pitch instead of liability Nelsen.