[Archived] Rovers v West Ham

[beerwins]

Terrible.

There are no positives about today.

I can also confidently state that the players do not want Kean as manager.

I think that was obvious enough today, they moved faster when the fans jeered rather than when the manager heckled.

[steo]

Just catched the highlights and it looked as if west ham had a lot more chances than us,looks like we are going to lose jones for the rest of the season at least venkys can't sell him in january now but he's going to be a massive loss,kean played with no defensive midfielder,you just can't do that in football anymore and from what i seen there was too much space for west ham,surely someone should of marked parker.are we really only getting 5 mil in january who would that get us?,seriously worried we could go down,kean give niko a chance i still rate kalinic and hope he isn't forced out by our cluless owners

[DaveyB]

This game reminded me of the game against Wigan last season. Freezing cold, which lead to a weird subdued atmosphere, we took the lead and then seemed to fall apart and squander possession far too easily before conceding an equalizer.

The only difference in that game from today was that our second 'goal' from the corner that day stood, whereas today it was ruled out for some reason. What is it they say - better to be a lucky manager than a good one??

[Miker]

Last seasons game was 0 - 0

So the (Please don't use that word again) what? It's not like we were any more attacking last night. We barely had a shot on target. Our game was still reliant on set pieces and balls into the box, except that they were barely threatening at all.

Our goal was so scrappy its unreal. Not only did West Ham make a mistake in the build up, but Benjani took 2 wild swings at the ball and then Nelsen had 2 as well before it ACCIDENTALLY made it into the goals.

We played it along the ground against West Ham in the 0-0 as well mind you.

I'm sorry, but playing short or long, football is about creating chances and taking them. How many did we make last night? How many did we make in our last 2 home games? I rest my case.

[Miker]

Tactics/ Manager watch - POOR....To not include Olssen & Jones from the start was poor, Id would have also considered Hoilett & Kalinic over Emerton & Roberts.

I thought this decision was criminal. Unless they were injured, we should've started with our two best players at Bolton. In place of Dunn and Emerton. Giver was poor as well, so I would've even been for taking Givet off and placing Olsson there, with Jones in midfield and Hoilett out wide. Roberts is our only striker that has shown any sort of promise this season, so wouldn't have taken him off.

Pedersen was the only player I noticed doing well. Emerton was supposed to be the ball winner, but it looked like Pedersen was doing his defensive duties for him.

[grizfoot]

I thought all the hyperbolic tripe on here would stop once we got rid of Big Sam. But it's just got worse unfornatley. Okay it wasn't the greatest performance in the world but it wasn't the worst either, by the sounds of some posts on here you'd think we'd just got beaten 5-0 by the Dingles or something equally apocalyptic. I didn't have too many problems with the starting line-up to be honest, it's all well and good saying such a player should play in hindsight after you've seen the game. Olsson's only recentley comeback from injury and Kean obviously prefered the creativity of Dunn from the left-flank instead. Whilst Holiett did make a good impact coming off the bench against Bolton he very rarely seems to make much of an impression when starting games and it would be difficult to drop Diouf-MK1 who's been one of our better performers this season. God fordid me I've watched most of the match back and clearly the turning point in the game was West Ham's tactical change and our unfortunate triple injury blow which went we couldn't react to that. Don't get all the Dunn's finished talk, he played okay first half but after about an hour or so he was totally knackered and his performance dipped also, holidng onto the ball when we had promising counters on was highly annoying though. With Dunn lagging and the two left upfront it meant we had effectively had three players out of play when West Ham attacked most of the time, this may explain why West Ham had a spare man over for their goal. Although I might add it was an unlucky defleciton from Givet that set-up the goal. Up until the last 25 minutes or so I thought we controlled the game fairly well even if we didn't create that many chances. We always carried a threat from set-pieces(we had a goal disallowed for I don't know what) and I firmly believe if we had been able to bring on Olsson & Holiett (like as already been mentioned) we would have been able to see out the game and possible pick West Ham off on the counter-attack as they pushed forward. But that didn't happen our midfield looked flat out by the end of the game and that would be main worry, surely Premier League professional footballers should be able to last a full ninety minutes? Overall I didn't like the negative atmosphere in the ground and it can't have helped the players any, no need to angrily bark at our players everytime they get ball. Although I suppose it's somewhat understandable given the week we've had and the adverse weather condition that some people took it upon themselves to vent their disapproval. All I'd say would be let's give the new owners and Steve Kean the benefit of the doubt for the time being and get behind them.

[Exiled_Rover]

The important thing for me is that he's seen how all these players handle the positions now. If we run out the same team against Stoke, then I'll begin to worry.

[MickeFIN]

Totally awfull game was,I feel bad still

championship here we come..

normally mr salgado look very good but today against piguinne and etc he was so slowly.. that tactics not work.

our defenders working todaym reminds me days when we had poor defence something 90s when ian pearce was us..

strikers did we had these today? i havent seen it

2nd half possession... Rovers 39% WHU 61% thats tell everything...

they hit the post and cole allmost score that header, we was very lucky to get that 1 point...

the final countdown has start today..only miracle can save us...

bring on tony parkes!

[Jeru tha Damaja]

I thought this decision was criminal. Unless they were injured, we should've started with our two best players at Bolton. In place of Dunn and Emerton. Giver was poor as well, so I would've even been for taking Givet off and placing Olsson there, with Jones in midfield and Hoilett out wide. Roberts is our only striker that has shown any sort of promise this season, so wouldn't have taken him off.

Pedersen was the only player I noticed doing well. Emerton was supposed to be the ball winner, but it looked like Pedersen was doing his defensive duties for him.

Puzzled at that one. Roberts picked up an injury which will keep him out for a couple of weeks, but you'd have left him on the field? Not sure having an injured striker on the field particularly helps the cause, and if it makes the injury worse then we're without "our only striker that has shown any sort of promise this season" until when?

[Miker]

Puzzled at that one. Roberts picked up an injury which will keep him out for a couple of weeks, but you'd have left him on the field? Not sure having an injured striker on the field particularly helps the cause, and if it makes the injury worse then we're without "our only striker that has shown any sort of promise this season" until when?

Wow. Way to completely take my post out of context. I was clearly replying to Hughesy's post about players that started the match and have agreed with him on everything, except that I don't think Kalinic deserved to start ahead of Roberts. Never said anything about not taking an injured striker off?

[tony gale's mic]

Too many drama queens on this thread/site.

Whilst today performance was awful, it was no worse than its been of late. It was encouraging to see us taking the odd short throw, and in parts some of our build up play relied on short crisp passing not hoof ball, but it was limited I agree.

Not the best, but a points better than non, onwards and upwards.

So, since the start of last season, our home record against bottom half teams under Sam before today read P 14 W 11 D 3 L 0.

We were playing the bottom side in the league who havent won a game away from home all season.

They looked far more likely to win out of the two of our teams.

Against Wolves we dominated (except for the first five minutes) until we went 3-0 up.

Today we barely tested their keeper.

It's okay Gav, you can say that you were actually wrong, and it was a terrible mistake sacking our manager who'd done such a great job for us. No one will think any less of you. If anything, a lot of us will hold you in higher regard if you admit your mistakes.

Defending such an insipid performance when we'd consistently done so well in these matches under Sam does you far less favours.

But sadly, I doubt you'll have the courage to admit you've been wrong all this time...

[tony gale's mic]

Tell you what, you stop mentioning it in your posts every couple of weeks as though we're supposed to be impressed ('very highest achievers'), and I'll stop referring to it.

Allardyce has gone. Maybe he would have got his first win for us against WHU, maybe he wouldn't.

I have never, ever mentioned my profession in my posts on here, without someone bringing it up beforehand - let alone "every couple of weeks". I can say that quite comfortably because it's something I just don't do.

If you can find an occasion where I have done, be my guest.

Until you do so, we can all assume you're just a pathetic, tragic man who feels the need to make things up about someone he's never met on an internet messageboard.

[Jeru tha Damaja]

Wow. Way to completely take my post out of context. I was clearly replying to Hughesy's post about players that started the match and have agreed with him on everything, except that I don't think Kalinic deserved to start ahead of Roberts. Never said anything about not taking an injured striker off?

Sorry, I see that now, but that's not the way it reads at a glance (to me anyway). Guess I should go get some sleep.

[Blueboy Downunder]

i couldn't care less bout the game, however i would like to know the name of the song that is played as part of the goals montage at half time??

[yellowsubmarine]

Pedersen & MB Diouf were probably the only players who wanted to make things happen last night.

Dunn was just horrible to watch. Slow, ineffective, can't dribble, loses possession easiy. I was screaming for him to be taken off.

Emerton is back to his worst, headless chicken, thinks he can outruns the ball. The only good thing about him is he can run and run and run and run... and his cross for the goal.

Benjani seemed so uninterested and lazy. Suddenly i miss Roberts.

Nelsen sort of redeemed himself with the goal but his performance at the back wasn't inspiring at all. many misplaced passes.

Diouf/Givet/Salgado were all average.

[Derbyshire Blue]

Dunn was just horrible to watch. Slow, ineffective, can't dribble, loses possession easiy. I was screaming for him to be taken of

Have to agree, I only managed to catch the 2nd half and I've always been a fan of Dunny, but every time the ball came to him the move would break down as he either ran into trouble, was unable to control it or simple just gave it away.. very disappointing.

[Bobby G]

What a stomach Dunn has gotten on now. Shocking for a professional footballer. His injury last season was the catalyst for the end I think.

[gumboots]

Have to agree, I only managed to catch the 2nd half and I've always been a fan of Dunny, but every time the ball came to him the move would break down as he either ran into trouble, was unable to control it or simple just gave it away.. very disappointing.

To be more than fair to him, he never had anyone to take a forward pass from him, because Benjani was worse than I would have been up front. At least I'd have tried.

[Ozz]

Jones out long term, first choice centre forward out for a few weeks, Samba injured...can't beat the worst team in the league at home....Karl Pilkington managing the team...what a good week this has been.

[Grez]

I've never seen the concourse so full during the game ... Alcohol only numbed some of the pain of watching that yesterday.

[47er]

How many times yesterday did Salgado speed down the right flank only to be ignored? Usually by EHD who dithered and delayed as if he was frightened of making a penetrative pass. Diouf has looked good for much of the season but he looked really off the pace. I agree with those who would have liked to see Ollson and Hoilett taking them on. And I've never seen so many misplaced passes from Emerton who was given a central role in mid-field that was beyond him. As for Dunn, least said the better. What an innocuous lot we looked.

We have such little quality in the squad outside the defence that we need Sam's defensive formation and discipline to survive even against the worst team in the League.

[Wild Irish Rover]

Well, I've had time to reflect on this overnight and indeed woke this morning with a horrble feeling of deja vu about the whole game yesterday. So I got to thinking about what was bothering me about that performance and came up with:

1) What was different? - Well the obvious change was the absence of the usual hoof it over midfield up to the front runner(s) (except of course for Nelsen, who maintained his approach). We passed the ball along the ground and looked for players running in and around the locus of play. No aerial bombardment from Gamst Pedersen and even Robbo's kicks seemed to be significantly shorter

2) Deja Vu - I realised this morning that the horrible feeling of having seen this style of play before came from the efforts of Villa, Sunderland, Wigan and Wolves at Ewood - all of these teams zipped the ball around and made nice patterns, but all also failed to create much in the way of attaching threat. As a result they were 'pretty to look at but largely ineffective.' IMO what we saw yesterday from Rovers was no different - except of course that it wasn't very pretty!!

Conclusions? Well, despite it's limitations as a style of football, there are obvious merits in being able to use route 1 (e.g. the excellent goal thumped past us last Sunday is a good example) - it is simply a matter of knowing WHEN it is the right time to play like that. I guess there will be a period of transition before we establish a new style, but I hope to God that it isn't this toothless running around like headless chickens (sic) tripe that was served up yesterday - Rovers (under Allardyce) and many other teams have already demonstrated that it just doesn't cut it in the Premiership. Lastly, I know it has been said much more eloquently elsewhere but, with the best will in the world what was the logic for a fundamental change in leadership and direction BEFORE any viable alternative was identified and available? I guess the players are feeling somewhat underwhelmend by the new owners' thinking too - and guess where the impact of uncertainty and lack of confidence will be most clearly seen and exploited by our competitors?? Yes - on the field of play....

I, for one, am not looking forward to the visit of route 1 specialists Stoke in a weeks time - Are You??

[Kelbo]

How many times yesterday did Salgado speed down the right flank only to be ignored? Usually by EHD who dithered and delayed as if he was frightened of making a penetrative pass. Diouf has looked good for much of the season but he looked really off the pace. I agree with those who would have liked to see Ollson and Hoilett taking them on. And I've never seen so many misplaced passes from Emerton who was given a central role in mid-field that was beyond him. As for Dunn, least said the better. What an innocuous lot we looked.

We have such little quality in the squad outside the defence that we need Sam's defensive formation and discipline to survive even against the worst team in the League.

Having said that, Salgados runs are important in so much as they take a defenders attentions and pull them out of position, giving the man on the ball more space!!

[herbergeehh]

Stoke is the one place where we ought to play this type of football. They are better than us at the hoof game, especially with Samba and N'Zonzi out. We can beat them by playing Olsson and Hoilett, realistically with MB Diouf as the lone striker, and Dunn in the hole - or on the bench. Don't think he's finished, for the record.

Don't know if it has been mentioned, but thought Gamst Pedersen looked really good at times in central midfield yesterday. We DO need more running up front though, Benjani was isolated and not mobile enough. Can't wait to see a new striker - and as others have mentioned, Niko must be dragging his feet in training.

We have hidden our weaknesses by playing Big Sam's game, we need to improve drastically if we're supposed to play like yesterday. Ineffective passing game is what can get us relegated - we really need to sharpen up.

[47er]

Having said that, Salgados runs are important in so much as they take a defenders attentions and pull them out of position, giving the man on the ball more space!!

I honestly think that after the first few the West Ham defence could feel safe in regarding him as the permanent decoy man! in reality they just stood off Diouf while he made his mind up and then snuffed out his innocuous cross.