[Archived] Rovers Vs Fulham

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

A point was fair, they had a big spell of pressure and probably deserved a goal, we did too.

Meh, if we could get a point from each of the top 10 and beat all the bottom half clubs we'd have 39 points from home alone. I know it wouldn't happen but it's just trying to put into perspective that a draw isn't the end of the world. I class Fulham a top 10 team.

[Bwfcdanny]

Good crowd that how many did Fulham bring?

[D-side17]

I enjoyed watching the game, Fulham a very decent side.

More to come from this Rovers squad.

How any Rovers fan can claim to have "enjoyed watching the game" today is beyond me. And I sincerely hope you are right that there is more to come from Rovers than we saw today because if not, it's going to be a long season.

That was soul-destroying stuff today. Every time I see one of our players just lump it forward without even lifting their head, a small part of me dies. It's just plain horrible to watch.

We didn't actually create a chance in the whole match. I'm afraid that we aren't going to be able to rely on opposition goalkeeper/defender mistakes in every game - occasionally we are going to have to create and score goals ourselves.

The decision to play Grella and Jones as our centre-midfield pairing is mistifying. Jones is quite clearly a centre-half being played out of position - Sam is presumably trying to keep him happy by accommodating him in midfield (as his first choice centre-half pairing is Samba and Nelsen) but I fear it may actually be counter-productive for his development. As for Grella, I just fail to see what he brings to the party other than a genuine risk of being sent off. His distribution is appalling and he appears to be attached to the centre-spot by a fairly short piece of elastic.

I watched Etuhu making a lung-busting run into our box from midfield in injury-time today in order to support a Fulham attack and just wished that we might once see that from one of our centre-midlfielders - not a chance. The gap between our forwards and the rest of our team is ridiculous. Given that Sam obviously tells our players simply to lump the ball forward at every opportunity, I cannot understand why we hardly ever seem to have anyone in the area behind the forwards where the ball frequently falls, whether off our striker's head or their defender's.

Our defence generally looks pretty solid (Samba is immense) - the problem is everything in front of the defence.

[budha]

Not so much the formation but the way we played.

Are you seriously suggesting we got back into the game? The longer it wore on, the worse we became. I was glad when the final whistle went.

Yes. It must be my blurry dodged stream, but I think we were on top from start until our goal and from Emerton's and Benjani's introductions onwards.

[modes98]

Good crowd that how many did Fulham bring?

500-750 maybe. It wasnt even half of the small upper tier.

You can hardly criticize our crowd sizes though. Careful on that bandwagon you jumped on.

[booth]

Drifting off topic here, but I would imagine almost everyone would rather see the games at the stadium, but for some of us it's not possible. I just don't agree on the view that people watching the game on telly or stream would have somehow limited or poorer view if they don't agree on your take on the match

It's not about that you've missed my point entirely.

I meant I wished I would have watched it online as if your experience was anything to go by it was a lot better than I viewed first hand. That second half was very poor, and we didn't improve when we supposedly went 4-4-2.

Although I do disagree that watching it live streaming on the web (which I have to rely on sometimes for away games) is as good as being there. I'd even say that about watching a match in HD never mind streaming over the web. There were times today where on camera there's no way you could have seen how shambolic it was. Positioning of players all over the place. Defence standing still on a clearance instead of moving up. There's no way you could see that as the camera follows the ball.

To that person saying we got a point of a very good Fulham team, Fulham were by no means great and minus a key player. I personally think with a bit more tactical nouse today, we would have got more out of the game. Hoofing the ball in the air to m diouf every chance we could when he was marked by a giant of a man was never going to work. It's that rudimentary tactical savvy that was lacking today, goodness knows why. SA said as much in his radio rovers interview, so why did he employ the tactic?

[Hasta]

What bothered me today was the style of football (keep with me !). I can accept that we are direct and go long more often than not. It plays to our stregnths etc...

However too many times as Fulham cleared the ball, instead of controlling the second ball and then trying to play practically everyone was happy to just head or volley the ball back up into the mix. Despite what some people may say that doesn't happen every week. Sometimes as the ball gets cleared out of the box we will get it down and then try to look to play it wide or through the ground. When Dunn plays he would bring it down in that situation every time. However today too many players thought that it was easy and acceptable to lob it into the box at every opportunity. That is when it gets frustrating. I don't know if that is orders or players taking the easy option.

[Plastic Head]

Im not even going to read through the reactions because it will be the usual suspects who have come out of the woodwork again - FFS it was 1-1, hardly then end of the world - yes we didnt play great but overall we havent had a bad start. 3 points next week and il be happy with our start (although we could/ should have taken more).

Oh and the BOO BOYS - Your not welcome!

Boooo!

[budha]

It's not about that you've missed my point entirely.

I meant I wished I would have watched it online as if your experience was anything to go by it was a lot better than I viewed first hand. That second half was very poor, and we didn't improve when we supposedly went 4-4-2.

Although I do disagree that watching it live streaming on the web (which I have to rely on sometimes for away games) is as good as being there. I'd even say that about watching a match in HD never mind streaming over the web. There were times today where on camera there's no way you could have seen how shambolic it was. Positioning of players all over the place. Defence standing still on a clearance instead of moving up. There's no way you could see that as the camera follows the ball.

And vice versa, being in the game you can miss little nuances visible only when the camera follows the ball closely or are shown in the replays when you're following the full pitch view in the game. But I guess it has a lot to do what you're accustomed with - I've only seen Rovers live once.

As said, from my dodgy stream it seemed that we were on top until our goal and from 4-4-2 onwards. Even some people who were at the game seems to think we weren't that bad, so I don't think it's a straight split between those who were in the games and those who watched it from telly/stream.

But enough from me about this, feel free to have the last word

[Dan]

Im not even going to read through the reactions because it will be the usual suspects who have come out of the woodwork again - FFS it was 1-1, hardly then end of the world - yes we didnt play great but overall we havent had a bad start. 3 points next week and il be happy with our start (although we could/ should have taken more).

Oh and the BOO BOYS - Your not welcome!

The boo boys are probabaly fed up of paying good money to watch the worst football in the league(least attractive). It's not even a skilled ong ball game, just hoof it forward and hope. Kalanic and Diouf are wasted here, we don't give them proper service, just hoof it to them with no support and hope we get a corner or a free kick. We have got players that CAN pass the ball well, we've proven we can play well when playing a passing game, but we resort to this hoofball. It's awful and it's embarrassing, everyone I speak to looks down on Rovers because of their awful style and arrogant, outspoken, fat headed hoofball merchant manager.

[thenodrog]

How any Rovers fan can claim to have "enjoyed watching the game" today is beyond me. And I sincerely hope you are right that there is more to come from Rovers than we saw today because if not, it's going to be a long season.

That was soul-destroying stuff today. Every time I see one of our players just lump it forward without even lifting their head, a small part of me dies. It's just plain horrible to watch.

We didn't actually create a chance in the whole match. I'm afraid that we aren't going to be able to rely on opposition goalkeeper/defender mistakes in every game - occasionally we are going to have to create and score goals ourselves.

The decision to play Grella and Jones as our centre-midfield pairing is mistifying. Jones is quite clearly a centre-half being played out of position - Sam is presumably trying to keep him happy by accommodating him in midfield (as his first choice centre-half pairing is Samba and Nelsen) but I fear it may actually be counter-productive for his development. As for Grella, I just fail to see what he brings to the party other than a genuine risk of being sent off. His distribution is appalling and he appears to be attached to the centre-spot by a fairly short piece of elastic.

I watched Etuhu making a lung-busting run into our box from midfield in injury-time today in order to support a Fulham attack and just wished that we might once see that from one of our centre-midlfielders - not a chance. The gap between our forwards and the rest of our team is ridiculous. Given that Sam obviously tells our players simply to lump the ball forward at every opportunity, I cannot understand why we hardly ever seem to have anyone in the area behind the forwards where the ball frequently falls, whether off our striker's head or their defender's.

Our defence generally looks pretty solid (Samba is immense) - the problem is everything in front of the defence.

Effin odd that we had one headed off the line then.

Consider this.

1. Allardyce wanted to strengthen midfield but the money necessary was denied him.

2. As with Everton and Arsenal Fulham are stronger in midfield than we are.

3. What sort of logic would recommend us taking them on head to head in theior sytrongest department?

Allardyce has said time and again that it is stupidity to play to our opponents strengths.

Our tactics might not be easy on the eye and it might not be pretty football for the purist but it certainly isn't football's equivalent of suicide is it? Please cast your mind back a couple of years if you are able and rem how Ince kept banging on about playing good football and all we saw was square passing until we lost possession wrong side of the ball and gave soft goals away.

[Bwfcdanny]

500-750 maybe. It wasnt even half of the small upper tier.

You can hardly criticize our crowd sizes though. Careful on that bandwagon you jumped on.

Criticize? I said it was a good crowd

[Blue blood]

Well that was a disappointment and a bit of a reality check.

Truth be told up until now I've been very optimistic about the start to our season - against Arsenal we were simply magnificent in part, we've got a very creditable results vs City and Everton, and as for Brum I still ahaven't figured out how we managed to loose. Come the end of the game, win or loose I've been pretty heartened by the performance.

But not today. Sure, it was a one off, sure we shouldn't overreact, but let's also be honest today was very bad. Our players played at best average, and at worst poor.

We started well and there is nothing wrong with our long ball game providing it's combined with us pressing, and Fulham were really feeling the pressure (not helped by their keeper flapping at everything). It seemed only a matter of time before the long ball tactics paid dividends and it did. Without a doubt to me Schwarzer (sp?) was impeeded, but truth be told given that he should have been sent off for hand ball outside his area - which was clear in the Jack Walker upper - Fulham can have no complaints.

After that we sat back, let them come at us, and duely Fulham got back into the game. I didn't think too much of Fulham as despite our best attempts to let them into the game offered little.

I was very glad for half time where I thought we'd sort it out, regroup and come out and once again dictate the tempo. I don't know what Sam said, but it didn't work, as we seemed equally keen that Fulham attack us, and they duely did. Eventually even a poor team like Fulham (they can pass it around nicely but without much cutting edge imo) managed a goal. We then tried to buck up our ideas, but we never really got back into the game, let alone get a grip on it once more.

We switched to 4-4-2 which didn't seem to have much effect, and truth be told, I thought the first change was wrong. I'd have kept Peds on and taken off one of Grella or Jones - well Grella to be accurate - as it was we just ended up with two unsupported players as oppose to one. Sure we had a few corners, but worryingly our main tactic seemed to be aimless punts up towards our strikers. Sure we had a few corners, but from open play we created absolutely nothing, and I doubt we would ever have done on that performance even if we were playing now.

Let's be clear on this - nothing wrong with long ball - in fact that was the way to beat Fulham. There is a lot wrong with aimless punts. Problem is this seems to be our plan B at the moment.

On a side note was very disappointed with the man Duff has become. What a whining, diving gobby piece of work he has become. Not a welcome change at all.

Player verdicts:

Robinson - little to do. One mistake but not costly.

Salgado - drifted inside too much. Not sure how much that's his fault and how much they actually needed support. However he was one of the few who really seemed up for it, and got in some cracking tackles. My motm on effort alone.

Nelsen - solid but unspectacular.

Samba - solid defensively, took his goal well.

Givet - did ok. Offers little going forward, but did alright against Duff. Wish he'd had crunched Duff a bit more though.

Grella - he often chooses the right option, but as someone else pointed out he cannot really pass, very poor imo. Sits but offers little to keep the team ticking over. Prefer N'Zonzi.

Jones - ran about a fair bit, but really think he should be doing Grella's job of sitting deep.

Pedersen - fairly quiet game, should be the box to box centre mid rather than the creative one.

EH Diouf - poor game imo - ineffectual sums him up. Poor attitude at times too. Where had the Arsenal Diouf disappeared to?

Diouf 2 - if he'd have spent more time working hard and less time diving about he might have had more impact on the game. Don't think he offers enough with his all round game to be a winger. Poor.

Kalinic - worked hard but horribly isolated.

subs

Emerton - some welcome direct running, but not the player he was.

Benjani - tried, but you can see why he's on a free.

N'Zonzi - too late to make an impact.

Overall very disappointed. Fulham were there for the taking and we didn't. The fans knew it and it showed at the end. Think the team know it too. Here's hoping for a positive reaction from the players.

[beerwins]

Effin odd that we had one headed off the line then.

Consider this.

1. Allardyce wanted to strengthen midfield but the money necessary was denied him.

2. As with Everton and Arsenal Fulham are stronger in midfield than we are.

3. What sort of logic would recommend us taking them on head to head in theior sytrongest department?

Allardyce has said time and again that it is stupidity to play to our opponents strengths.

Our tactics might not be easy on the eye and it might not be pretty football for the purist but it certainly isn't football's equivalent of suicide is it? Please cast your mind back a couple of years if you are able and rem how Ince kept banging on about playing good football and all we saw was square passing until we lost possession wrong side of the ball and gave soft goals away.

Why is everything so black and white, Pedersons effort that was headed off the line was hardly created, it came from a long ball fumbled by their keeper.

Also what are our strengths? Set pieces? We have played some good stuff on the deck but then we result to hoofing it when we run out of ideas.

Why compare Allardyce to Ince? That is one premier league manager and one that isnt even a qualified manager, how about comparing him to Hughes transfer dealings, tactics, speaking in public and results.

A bigger question that should be asked is, is Sam the man to take us forward if we are took over? His football tactics and attitude will never wash with all the fans not to mention the fact he only gave himself 2 years at Rovers and we all know he would be off in a shot if a bigger club came calling.

Also back on topic, that referee was awful, Hughes obviously had a chat with him at half time and boy didnt it influence him after the break, he gave everything Fulhams way.

[LDRover]

Effin odd that we had one headed off the line then.

Come on 'drog, that was 'created' by one of our famed hoofs into the box that the keeper spilled - don't argue for the sake of it.

[brian_gallagher85]

Effin odd that we had one headed off the line then.

Consider this.

1. Allardyce wanted to strengthen midfield but the money necessary was denied him.

2. As with Everton and Arsenal Fulham are stronger in midfield than we are.

3. What sort of logic would recommend us taking them on head to head in theior sytrongest department?

Allardyce has said time and again that it is stupidity to play to our opponents strengths.

Our tactics might not be easy on the eye and it might not be pretty football for the purist but it certainly isn't football's equivalent of suicide is it? Please cast your mind back a couple of years if you are able and rem how Ince kept banging on about playing good football and all we saw was square passing until we lost possession wrong side of the ball and gave soft goals away.

Damn phone...what I meant to say was

I agree 100% with this, but regardless of tactics, why the hell have we failed to show up in the second half in over half the games so far this season?

[AndyNeil]

Im not even going to read through the reactions because it will be the usual suspects who have come out of the woodwork again - FFS it was 1-1, hardly then end of the world - yes we didnt play great but overall we havent had a bad start. 3 points next week and il be happy with our start (although we could/ should have taken more).

Oh and the BOO BOYS - Your not welcome!

Get a grip, why shouldn't people be allowed to voice their opinion after that pile of @#/??

[BuckyRover]

Come on 'drog, that was 'created' by one of our famed hoofs into the box that the keeper spilled - don't argue for the sake of it.

He is sticking up for his "man". Understandable. He always said Sam was the right guy for us.

I have never been sure although I'm not too disappointed with a draw against Fulham (although I didn't see any of the match).

[LDRover]

Why is everything so black and white, Pedersons effort that was headed off the line was hardly created, it came from a long ball fumbled by their keeper.

Also what are our strengths? Set pieces? We have played some good stuff on the deck but then we result to hoofing it when we run out of ideas.

Why compare Allardyce to Ince? That is one premier league manager and one that isnt even a qualified manager, how about comparing him to Hughes transfer dealings, tactics, speaking in public and results.

A bigger question that should be asked is, is Sam the man to take us forward if we are took over? His football tactics and attitude will never wash with all the fans not to mention the fact he only gave himself 2 years at Rovers and we all know he would be off in a shot if a bigger club came calling.

Great point about the comparisons with Hughes as opposed to Ince. Any comparisons with Ince should be consigned to the bin as it was just a monumental error from the board - the comparisons with Hughes however are very relevant.

Remember how Hughes tried to elevate the aspirations of what Rovers could and should achieve and from relegation contenders we became top 6 material. For me Allardyce is doing exactly the opposite so that anything he achieves is magnified to be better than it actually is.

[gumboots]

I don't have a problem with the usual long ball tactics if and when they work but today even I, who usually make no comment about tactics because I know I've no real idea what I'm talking about, could see that it wasn't working. we were doing it badly. The relatively aimless punts we've all sort of got used to were totally aimless. We backed off and backed off until they were on the edge of the box and seemed to have little idea of how to close players down before they got into their stride. There was no link between our midfield and the poor guy up front on his own, MB Diouf was never going to get anything out of Hangelaand and yet we persisted with long balls hoofed up in his general direction. I was enormously relieved to get away with a point. If we'd had a cat I'd have no doubt kicked it into orbit when we got home. A point is better than nothing, but this was Fulham who are not good away from home. I'm not suggesting we should have been capable of playing them off the park or anything but we were at home for heaven's sake and we certainly didn't look like the home team.

I hope it's a blip. I hope that next match we can get our energy and committment levels back because with the odd exception the players looked like they couldn't be bothered or were just too tired to do anything about it. And to anyone watching on whatever stream you had - you really did see it through tinted glasses. There is no way it was even an acceptable performance for all but the briefest of spells early in the match and anything that suggested it was was just plain wrong.

[Blue blood]

Also, one thing I forgot to add/stress was how utterly dire the referee was. This does not in any way excuse our abject performance but it has to be up there in the top 5 worst refereeing performances I've witnessed at rovers in my time of supporting them. When you get just as many decisions wrong as you do right it's quite worrying. They talk about standards going up but that showing would not have been acceptable for pub teams, much less the premier league.

[JAL]

Positive has to be its another point on the board rather than three lost.

The defence looked solid again though Paul Robinson had a couple of indifferent moments second half nothing to concerning though.

Other postives have to be, any player other than Keef must have a chance of playing in the next game, so, roll on the blue and whites.

[MikeB]

A bad day at the office.

Sam needs to sort midfield - Jonesy aint a midfielder, always question marks against Grella and where is last season's player of the year ?

When results don't go, the wine rack gets hammered as does my head on a Sunday.

FFS, get the takeover done so that Sam can make a shrewd signing or two in Jan.

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

Consider this.

1. Allardyce wanted to strengthen midfield but the money necessary was denied him.

Don't recall Allardyce wanting to sign a midfielder in summer, he just kept banging on about a striker and he chose Benjani.

[philipl]

Obvious there is a huge difference between being at the match and watching on a screen.

But I was greatly impressed by the pace and energy we had particularly in the first 30 minutes when we really pressurised them and felt we came back strongly towards the end.

We were playing a club that undoubtedly has strengthened through this summer's signings which has four or five players who can really hurt opponents if you let them. I thought Rovers neutralised much of the Fulham threat really well.

Then chuck in Hughes going against Allardyce and an unbeaten record to protect and last season's Europa Cup finalists were very challenging opponents.

Far too many Rovers supporters are living in a fool's paradise when it comes to our opponents in the PL. It is not "only Fulham" or "only Stoke" to pick on two of the more derided clubs; every game is going to be very tough just as the big 4 and the wannabe big 4 clubs cannot think it is "only Blackburn" when they play us as City experienced last week.