[Archived] Rovers Vs Fulham

[Ben-2000]

Poor for the majority of the game... the atmosphere made up for it though, had a good old sing song in the Darwen End.

Improvement needed at Blackpool on the pitch though!

[Blue blood]

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.

Philipl I think your posts are normally very good but really disagree with this. Firstly Fulham looked poor in the first 30 minutes, really poor. Don't think anyone - or at least where I was sat - thought it would be a walk in the park or only Fulham - but on the basis of what we were seeing, saw one team utterly dominating another. It would not be arrogent to be thinking at that stage that we'd win by a couple rather than see what unfolded after our goal.

Even after we sat back Fulham didn't create masses. Given we backed off so much a decent side would have murdered us, whereas Fulham made heavy weather of getting the equaliser. Granted our good defence probably had a bit to do with that, but the amount of backing off we did and our awful ball retention made it a lot easier than it should've been for Fulham.

Secondly, I really don't think we rallied well late on. Far too many aimless punts, and if it had not been for their keeper thinking the ball was a hot potato we wouldn;t have had the one good chance we did in the latter stages of the games. Hit and hope is too kind a discription of what transpired after our goal.

Still consoling myself with the thought it's only one bad game, although am a tad worried we haven't more points on the board.

[gumboots]

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.

We didn't come back strongly at the end - we just stopped being as abject as we'd been from the minute we scored the goal until Emerton's introduction. At no point did you ever really feel we were going to get back into the lead. It wasn't "only Fulham" but nor was it a side with a good away record playing on good form. It was Fulham - a side we expect to be around our level, and therefore should probably beat at home and lose to away or perhaps, if we're lucky, sneak a good away point from. We were poor today. Much as I enjoyed the performance against City, I was very frustrated and disappointed by this one. It wasn't just that we didn't do the right things, but we didn't do any of the things we did, well. There are no excuses. It doesn't matter who we signed or didn't sign or who they didn't sign or did sign. The players out on the pitch can and should put in better performances. They should have been able to make the tactics or lack of them work much better than they did.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

VERY poor game today,thought the attendance was also poor considering the cheap tickets.We lacked ideas and quality,nothing will change until we are taken over and serious money is made available.

Sam Allardyce...shut your silly mouth with the ludicrous comments and get THIS side winning games.

Highlight of the day was seeing Phil Collins lad in the famous blue 'n' white at half time.

[RibbleValleyRover]

If we are going to go down the long ball direct route then at least make it accurate Sam. Far too often a long ball is launched goes straight to the opposition and then puts our side under pressure. How many haven’t become extremely nervous when we get the lead? When we get the lead and we sit back I have been tearing my hair out waiting the inevitable equaliser.

He who must not be named has been dire the past two games, reinforcing my view that he is only in the team for his long throws and corners. Whoever was saying they would like to see him a box-to-box role, he was moved from the wing because he completely lost his pace, there is no way he could play that role.

This current midfield has to be one of the worst we have had for years. Where is the creativity? The energy? Not a single player who can put in a consistently accurate cross (Haven't since Bentley's departure).

Some people have been saying that Jones's development may be harmed by this recent stint in Central midfield (LeChuck?). I have to say I now agree with them. Jones gives his all but he no midfielder, get him back playing as a central defender. If that means dropping Nelsen (Sorry RIML) then so be it. This lad needs game time in his natural position.

[Tom]

I'm still none the wiser as to why our player of the season last year is now dropped in favour of a centre half.

Bizarre

[super_arran]

Diouf man of the match?....baffled me too.

Salgado or even Grella deserved it more

[Blue blood]

Salgado yes.

Grella no. He might have a wider range of passing than N'Zonzi, but at least N'Zonzi's actually reach the intended target. He can't pass, and is painfully slow. Why both Grella and Jones are needed to sit deep is beyond me, especially since we struggle offensively as it is.

[super_arran]

I'm still none the wiser as to why our player of the season last year is now dropped in favour of a centre half.

Bizarre

I think it's a good thing that he's been dropped. It'll make him work for his place in the squad. and not just believe he should be in it because of some award he won.

He's steady but unspectacular is our "sideways Steven"

[Hughesy]

That makes no sense, your happy yet weve underachieved. You are allowed to criticise you know.

No it says performance wise/ points wise we have done ok. HOWEVER given the brum & Arsenal performances we could have had more.....What's so difficult to understand?

[Blue blood]

Isn't that what you want from a defensive midfielder though? There job is to break up the play, then give it to our more creative (ha!) players to construct the attacks. Also as N'Zonzi is better in the air and has more pace I'd say all round he offers more than Grella.

Not to worry though Grella will be out injured again soon I'm sure.

[Tom]

Each to their own but I think it's ######, he earned his spot in the team so why should he be dropped to prove a point?

Let's not forget he's our only midfielder to score so far this season.

[Scotty]

Well, that was a pretty shocking display today - as bad as we've played at home in 2010 I'd say.

I was slightly disappointed with the line-up before the game. I can understand why we kept the same team that battled so well at City last week, it would have been harsh to drop any of them, but I'd have liked to have seen a more positive side.

That said, we started ok; not brilliantly, but we did look the better team and probably deserved our goal after around half an hour. Schwarzer had looked dodgy every time a high ball came into the Fulham box and he again was found wanting for the goal. A long free-kick from Robinson was flicked on well by Samba and the ball somehow found its way into the bottom corner of the net. I've not seen a replay, but reports say that Diouf mk1 fouled Schwarzer and stopped him from getting to the ball, but perhaps that was justice for what looked like a deliberate handball outside the area earlier in the half by the keeper.

The goal only served to wake Fulham up and, instead of giving us confidence and impetus, we suddenly seemed to become nervy and vulnerable. Fulham started to pass the ball well, took control of the midfield, and without really creating much ended the half on the front-foot.

Fulham started the second half as they'd ended the first. Looking like a good team (with Danny Murphy pulling the strings superbly) they passed the ball well, controlled possession, and put us on the back foot. We defended deeper and deeper and simply couldn't keep the ball on the rare occasions we had it. So it was no surprise when the equaliser came ten minutes into the half - a good move culminating in a clinical header from Dempsey.

Allardyce swapped Pedersen for Emerton in response and switched to 4-4-2, with Diouf Mk2 joining Kalinic up front and Emerton and Diouf Mk1 playing on the right and left wings respectively. And it worked for a while. We slowly got a foothold back in the game - Emerton and Salgado especially linked well down the right - and we started to put Fulham under a little bit of pressure. But we couldn't sustain it for long enough, didn't create anything like a real chance, and all too often we gave the ball away and released pressure when it looked like we might be building up a resonable head of steam. We replaced Grella with N'Zonzi and Kalinic with Benjani but, despite the odd flash of quality from the latter, we never really looked like getting a winner. In fact, if anyone was going to score late on it was probably Fulham as they used possession well and broke at pace against us. Thankfully we defended well and took a point from a match where we were probably second best overall.

Robinson had a quiet game, had no chance for the goal, but did everything else he had to do ok. I guess he'll get an assist for our goal as well.

Our back four played well in the main - Samba stood out again and has started the season incredibly well - but we went to sleep for the goal. Salgado had a good game too and showed some real quality when whipping over 2 or 3 crosses in the second half. As a unit though they do have a tendancy to panic in possession and too often today we just hoofed the ball forward when we had the time to at least try to pick out a pass.

What can you say about our midfield? On the positive side we look as solid defensively as I can remember us being for a long time. Jones and Grella do a great job at protecting the back four and it's becoming increasingly difficult for teams to break us down. Jones is all energy and wins lots of headers, whereas Grella competes well and has a useful line in cynical tackles to break up opposition attacks.

Going forward though it's a different matter. Jones is limited at best in possession. He can run with the ball, and he's often good at releasing pressure when we're under the cosh a bit, but his distribution is at best poor and today it was downright dreadful. Grella at least tries to pass the ball, and on his day he can be pretty good at it, but today wasn't one of his good days. I still thought he shouldn't have been substituted though and for the second home game running I thought we gave away any control in midfield we had once he'd gone off. My biggest gripe though was with the early substitution of Pedersen. He wasn't playing brilliantly by any means (who was?!) but he did at least look like the man most likely to create something. And while Emerton came on and did reasonably well, I'd have liked to have seen Jones go off instead. Diouf Mk1 was steady but wasn't the threat he's been in the previous home games this season.

Up front Diouf Mk 2 was fairly quiet. He looked a bit lost playing wide right in the first half, became livlier in the second when he was switched up front, but he was fed on scraps all day and didn't really contribute much. Kalinic was poor throughout I thought and flattered to deceive for the most part. While it's probably harsh to judge him on today's efforts given the lack of service he received, I think he's a long way off being the £6m quality striker we need. Benjani showed more skill and quality in his 20 minute cameo than both Kalinic and Diouf put together.

Today's game will be manna from heaven for the anti-Allardyce mob. We lived up to the stereotype perfectly today by hoofing the ball about, creating little in open play, and scoring a route one scrappy goal. However, those with a more discerning outlook will realise that we haven't played like this, at least not at home anyway, for quite some time. For a good few months now we've tended to play a good mix of direct and passing football that has resulted in a proud home record and signs that we could soon have an improving away record. Today though we were just poor, and coming on the back of some unfortunate comments from the manager this week the usual suspects will have the knives out. Personally though I think the manager has performed minor miracles to get the team to the level we're at given the resources he's had. Allardyce has done a wondeful job and, like him or loathe him, I think he'll continue to improve the team the longer he is here.

[beerwins]

I'm still none the wiser as to why our player of the season last year is now dropped in favour of a centre half.

Bizarre

I cant figure this one out either, or the fact that when he has been used it has been in a more attacking role.

And I agree about Jones, as a central defender he has huge potential, as a midfielder he has done ok but I would like to see him in the centre back position learning his trade with Samba. Its nice to add some strings to your bow but at his age its better that he focuses on just one position.

[unclejack28]

Not trying to have a go or sound to negative but if you look at the goals we have scored so far this year

Everton - Howards mistake

Birmingham -decent cross decent goal

Arsenal - Decent play by Dioufs

Man city - Toure/Hart Mistake

Fulham - Refs mistake

Point im trying to make is 3 our of the 5 goals were gifted to us and those 3 gifts have given us all our 5 points we have so far

Sometime the tactics in games i.e. Hoofballs, Substitutions are questionable at best. Something needs to change or I fear this could be a very long, hard season..

[super_arran]

Each to their own but I think it's ######, he earned his spot in the team so why should he be dropped to prove a point?

Let's not forget he's our only midfielder to score so far this season.

Don't get me wrong I think he's decent.

Just think he himself might have believed his own hype.

That's just my theory though.

[AHoyle90]

Few things ive got to get off my chest...

Kalinic did not look world class, he barely linked play up and simply is not a target man. He cannot hold the ball up yet we persistently launch the ball to him expecting him to do it.

Mr. Real Madrids tactic today was to launch high balls up to a 6'1 striker against a 6'7 centre back renowned for his aerial ability. A manager of Inter Milan / Real Madrid standard would have had a much better plan to approach the game today. Please, focus on your job here at Rovers, you are not too good for a club of our stature, you belong here matey.

Fulham are an improved side from last season, Hughsey has quite clearly made them stronger and harder to beat away from home, with this they have some very good footballers and wont be an easy task for any side this season, so a point isnt a disaster. We haven't played well today.

Brett made a positive impact when he came on, ran at their full back and got some very good crosses in.

Can't get why N'Zonzi isnt playing, Sam couldnt speak high enough of him last year now he's constently left on the bench and brought on with 20 minutes to go.

Pedersen was awful, not sure why he looked so suprised while being substituted, he was clearly not at the races today and Sam was correct to withdraw him.

Benjani showed a few neat touches when he came on and would be nice to see him get an extended run in the Carling Cup outing at Aston Villa.

To end of a positive note, we drew, we didn't loose.

[AHoyle90]

Well, that was a pretty shocking display today - as bad as we've played at home in 2010 I'd say.

I was slightly disappointed with the line-up before the game. I can understand why we kept the same team that battled so well at City last week, it would have been harsh to drop any of them, but I'd have liked to have seen a more positive side.

That said, we started ok; not brilliantly, but we did look the better team and probably deserved our goal after around half an hour. Schwarzer had looked dodgy every time a high ball came into the Fulham box and he again was found wanting for the goal. A long free-kick from Robinson was flicked on well by Samba and the ball somehow found its way into the bottom corner of the net. I've not seen a replay, but reports say that Diouf mk1 fouled Schwarzer and stopped him from getting to the ball, but perhaps that was justice for what looked like a deliberate handball outside the area earlier in the half by the keeper.

The goal only served to wake Fulham up and, instead of giving us confidence and impetus, we suddenly seemed to become nervy and vulnerable. Fulham started to pass the ball well, took control of the midfield, and without really creating much ended the half on the front-foot.

Fulham started the second half as they'd ended the first. Looking like a good team (with Danny Murphy pulling the strings superbly) they passed the ball well, controlled possession, and put us on the back foot. We defended deeper and deeper and simply couldn't keep the ball on the rare occasions we had it. So it was no surprise when the equaliser came ten minutes into the half - a good move culminating in a clinical header from Dempsey.

Allardyce swapped Pedersen for Emerton in response and switched to 4-4-2, with Diouf Mk2 joining Kalinic up front and Emerton and Diouf Mk1 playing on the right and left wings respectively. And it worked for a while. We slowly got a foothold back in the game - Emerton and Salgado especially linked well down the right - and we started to put Fulham under a little bit of pressure. But we couldn't sustain it for long enough, didn't create anything like a real chance, and all too often we gave the ball away and released pressure when it looked like we might be building up a resonable head of steam. We replaced Grella with N'Zonzi and Kalinic with Benjani but, despite the odd flash of quality from the latter, we never really looked like getting a winner. In fact, if anyone was going to score late on it was probably Fulham as they used possession well and broke at pace against us. Thankfully we defended well and took a point from a match where we were probably second best overall.

Robinson had a quiet game, had no chance for the goal, but did everything else he had to do ok. I guess he'll get an assist for our goal as well.

Our back four played well in the main - Samba stood out again and has started the season incredibly well - but we went to sleep for the goal. Salgado had a good game too and showed some real quality when whipping over 2 or 3 crosses in the second half. As a unit though they do have a tendancy to panic in possession and too often today we just hoofed the ball forward when we had the time to at least try to pick out a pass.

What can you say about our midfield? On the positive side we look as solid defensively as I can remember us being for a long time. Jones and Grella do a great job at protecting the back four and it's becoming increasingly difficult for teams to break us down. Jones is all energy and wins lots of headers, whereas Grella competes well and has a useful line in cynical tackles to break up opposition attacks.

Going forward though it's a different matter. Jones is limited at best in possession. He can run with the ball, and he's often good at releasing pressure when we're under the cosh a bit, but his distribution is at best poor and today it was downright dreadful. Grella at least tries to pass the ball, and on his day he can be pretty good at it, but today wasn't one of his good days. I still thought he shouldn't have been substituted though and for the second home game running I thought we gave away any control in midfield we had once he'd gone off. My biggest gripe though was with the early substitution of Pedersen. He wasn't playing brilliantly by any means (who was?!) but he did at least look like the man most likely to create something. And while Emerton came on and did reasonably well, I'd have liked to have seen Jones go off instead. Diouf Mk1 was steady but wasn't the threat he's been in the previous home games this season.

Up front Diouf Mk 2 was fairly quiet. He looked a bit lost playing wide right in the first half, became livlier in the second when he was switched up front, but he was fed on scraps all day and didn't really contribute much. Kalinic was poor throughout I thought and flattered to deceive for the most part. While it's probably harsh to judge him on today's efforts given the lack of service he received, I think he's a long way off being the £6m quality striker we need. Benjani showed more skill and quality in his 20 minute cameo than both Kalinic and Diouf put together.

Today's game will be manna from heaven for the anti-Allardyce mob. We lived up to the stereotype perfectly today by hoofing the ball about, creating little in open play, and scoring a route one scrappy goal. However, those with a more discerning outlook will realise that we haven't played like this, at least not at home anyway, for quite some time. For a good few months now we've tended to play a good mix of direct and passing football that has resulted in a proud home record and signs that we could soon have an improving away record. Today though we were just poor, and coming on the back of some unfortunate comments from the manager this week the usual suspects will have the knives out. Personally though I think the manager has performed minor miracles to get the team to the level we're at given the resources he's had. Allardyce has done a wondeful job and, like him or loathe him, I think he'll continue to improve the team the longer he is here.

Summed up the game perfectly for me there mate, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought Kalinic was ineffective today.

[tashor]

Rovers well off form today but you are back to your best Scotty.............

[Exiled_Rover]

Summed up the game perfectly for me there mate, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought Kalinic was ineffective today.

I don't know why Sam is trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. He's never, ever, ever, ever going to be a target man. It's not his game. There's no way he's coming away with the ball more often than not if our tactic is to lump it up to him when he has Hangeland all over him. Absolute madness.

[RIML]

To end of a positive note, we drew, we didn't loose.

[philipl]

Having seen Match of the Day, what a terrible performance by the ref!

No wonder El Hadj Diouf got man of the match.

[DE.]

Not trying to have a go or sound to negative but if you look at the goals we have scored so far this year

Everton - Howards mistake

Birmingham -decent cross decent goal

Arsenal - Decent play by Dioufs

Man city - Toure/Hart Mistake

Fulham - Refs mistake

Point im trying to make is 3 our of the 5 goals were gifted to us and those 3 gifts have given us all our 5 points we have so far

Sometime the tactics in games i.e. Hoofballs, Substitutions are questionable at best. Something needs to change or I fear this could be a very long, hard season..

I was thinking exactly this earlier... we're extremely fortunate to have the points total we currently have (especially as Everton should have equalised against us and on another day City would have beaten us 4 or 5-1) and we can't rely on luck the entire season. Sam's comments post-match were quite worrying as well - he thinks the team need to get the ball down and play, but they clearly don't think that's what he wants or surely they wouldn't be hoofing it up the pitch and every given opportunity. Very confusing.

[unclejack28]

I was thinking exactly this earlier... we're extremely fortunate to have the points total we currently have (especially as Everton should have equalised against us and on another day City would have beaten us 4 or 5-1) and we can't rely on luck the entire season. Sam's comments post-match were quite worrying as well - he thinks the team need to get the ball down and play, but they clearly don't think that's what he wants or surely they wouldn't be hoofing it up the pitch and every given opportunity. Very confusing.

True, But I dont think we are fortunate to have the points total we have, I think our play so far has merited the points, we were a little unlucky not to get anything from the birmingham game and I felt we did enough (from our first half performance)to get something from the arsenal one too. the point im making is even if our play is good in games, I dont know where our goals will come from. Dunn was our highest scorer last year and I doubt he will get as many as he did last year this year. Niko does not look like hes going to get 15 goals this season and MD i would put at 8 max. Jones/grella/peds and diouf havent scored to many and doubt they will anytime soon.. so again my point is we dont have an actual goal scorer and if we are depending on luck/refs/mistakes whatever to get our goals that's the scary part.

[Tom]

How does Hughes have the cheek to moan about our goal when their keeper shouldn't have been on then say the handball is just one of those things.

Typical match of the day show countless replays of that but not the handball after the game.