[Archived] West Brom v Blackburn Rovers

[beerwins]

Doesn't really explain why Kean was unwilling to play Linganzi for that role, especially with Emerton, Peds & Dunn playing who could lose the most possession.

Out of curiosity what makes you think Linganzi will do any better? I know it would be hard for him to be any worse but for what I have seen of him he isnt really up to scratch.

I think we HAVE to sign a central midifelder with a cracking engine, we must spend some money in this posistion because we have enough average players.

[yellowsubmarine]

A massive win which Big Sam will be proud of!

Kudos to the players who digged in despite being down to 10 men.

I will cut Dunn some slack tonight.

[Amo]

Out of curiosity what makes you think Linganzi will do any better? I know it would be hard for him to be any worse but for what I have seen of him he isnt really up to scratch.

Because we need someone who can shore up that midfield. He's the only option we've got. Unless you like Dunn & co leaving huge gaps all over the place?

[joey_big_nose]

WBA slightly outplayed us in the first half, but until Kalinic got sent off for that stupid challenge we were dominating them in the second.

WBA had 21 shots to our six, they hit the bar, we cleared off the line several times. P

It could have easily been a draw, WBA win. Great result but I am not sure I am going to judge too much on that result.

[Majiball]

Doesn't really explain why Kean was unwilling to play Linganzi for that role, especially with Emerton, Peds & Dunn playing who could lose the most possession.

Perhaps he's just not good enough? Kean by playing Hanley has shown he will make big decisions, both Samba and Givet on the bench shows he's got that strength of conviction. I just don't think Goulon or Linganzi are up to the job in this league.

We do have an impressive set of youth players at the moment it has to be said - just need some central midfielders to come through....

Hopefully for once as opposed to everyone of us screaming out for a central player who can actually play and us signing a right back we may finally get our wish this window.

I'd really like to see Kentaro prove they are useful and get Axel Witsel here. Preferably cheap and pronto.

[Gogger]

How good wasnt it to see us go for the kill instead of subbing on 3 more defenders and trying to win by one goal. The one thing i felt cost us under Sam. Still we are very weak defensivly. Hoping a return of Samba will fix that.

[doctorryan]

Not when Roberts is nowhere near the pitch it isn't

[Tooogs]

Just watched the game... Dunn was a liability all game, Hanley was great and is a superb back up CB/possible Samba/Nelsen replacement. Kalinic was great up until that tackle. Bunn was inspired when he came on for Robbo at half time and Hoilett helped ease the pressure bu being a great outlet. The same can be said for MB Diouf who ran his socks off today. We look so much better when Olsson plays and I'm chuffed to bits with the performance.

However I thought we went down to 9 men when Kalinic went off cause Dunny was missing from the start. We need at least 3 new midfielders and another striker and possibly another right back (YES I SAID RIGHT BACK)

[Exiled_Rover]

Okay... What does that have to do with my post?

He's a tall, strong, box-to-box player. He deserves a chance with the state of our midfield.

Because you said Kean sticks with the old pros. He does anything but that.

[Balwer]

Fantastic, almost the result of the season considering the momentum swing it took. Full credit to both Kean and the players. A loss today could have really set the tone for a difficult period but this result makes Kean's start seen reasonable now and hopefully will help lift the morale around the club. If there are more performances like today rather than Boxing Day then I will hold my hand up and say I am wrong about Kean's readiness for the gig, and I will do so happily.

[Valois]

Out of curiosity what makes you think Linganzi will do any better? I know it would be hard for him to be any worse but for what I have seen of him he isnt really up to scratch.

I think we HAVE to sign a central midifelder with a cracking engine, we must spend some money in this posistion because we have enough average players.

Agree totally, need to get ridof the dead wood (Grella, Andrews etc) and if there is 10million to spend, 5mil on a box to box midfielder, and 5mil on a forward, plus maybe another loan signing would do.

In regards to Linganzi, I think he is not good enough, although he would have done better than Dunn today, not hard, not sure he is the answer to the problems in centre mid though.

[Tom]

To all those negative Nigel's before the game, were are you now? I said before the game we should go out and play positive attacking football, and we did. Ok the gaps in midfield is a worry, but we have 4 centre mid players injured. Lets hope we can get a couple back soon, as some good additions in January. Really impressed with Kali and Mame today, Bunn was quality in the 2nd half, and they didnt create much when we went down to 10 men, just hit the bar. Dunn is a worry as looks terrible at the moment. He has to be dropped for the Sunderland game surely. No Salgado or Kali now either, bit worrying as the squad is seriously depleated already. Upto 9th in the league, and looked like we want to pass it around and play good football today. Things are looking a lot better. If only we could have won those last 2 home games now we would be 6th in the league.

Still here!

I asked before the match if anyone was genuinely expecting a result, after the tripe served recently next to nobody was, justifiably.

Great win though, good to see Niko play with a strike partner again and bag a couple, shame he had to potentially put a safe result in danger but we held on thankfully.

I agree that Linganzi should be given a go, against Norwich he looked good up and down the pitch and I think he could step up, even if he played blindfolded on his hands and knees covered in honey he would be more useful than Dunn.

[Amo]

Because you said Kean sticks with the old pros. He does anything but that.

He does with Dunn!

[Majiball]

Fantastic, almost the result of the season considering the momentum swing it took. Full credit to both Kean and the players. A loss today could have really set the tone for a difficult period but this result makes Kean's start seen reasonable now and hopefully will help lift the morale around the club. If there are more performances like today rather than Boxing Day then I will hold my hand up and say I am wrong about Kean's readiness for the gig, and I will do so happily.

Whats nice is we've seen an improvement overtime. I'm very Kean now to see what we can do against Sunderland if we can be a bit more solid in defence and retain our attacking threat from today?

But winning today is a nice way to round off 2010 as most of us thought a defeat was on the cards.

He does with Dunn!

Perhaps Goulon and Linganzi are so bad they make Dunn look good???

[DE.]

Football, bloody hell.

A strange game to try and analyse. I thought we struck lucky today, but at the same time the lads by and large all put in a good shift. Sometimes you need a bit of luck, and we were fortunate that WBA had a poor day in front of goal and both Robbo and Bunn had excellent displays.

The game was unlike any recent Rovers game. End to end stuff with caution thrown to the wind - entertaining, but nerve-wracking all the same. Whether this style of play will work out for us remains to be seen, but I thought we were more positive today than we have been in a long time.

Great to see Kalinic nick a couple of goals, but such a shame that he marred his performance with an awful challenge and a deserved sending off. Didn't seem like that type of player, and I hope it's a one-off because it could have been very costly. Saying that, I think for the last 20 mins or so we would have held back anyway so I don't think Niko's sending off had a massive impact on the overall flow of the game. I think it would have been very similar regardless of whether we had 10 or 11.

Special mention to Nelsen, who I thought was magnificent today. Threw himself in the way of shots time after time and did his best to lead by example and look after young Hanley, who is struggling a little to make the step up at the moment. Can't be too critical of him though, with our injuries and current situation in general he's been thrown in at the deep end and is dealing with it as best as a young player can. Thought Bunn was fantastic when he came on as well, very promising.

Dunn was off the pace again today, and we desperately need central midfielders in the upcoming window. Early in the match there was a massive gap in midfield and that void was exploited numerous times early on. It existed for much of the match and put more pressure on the defence than there should have been. A couple of good midfield signings in January could make a massive difference to our overall performance in the last half of the season.

A big win, this, but we need to find some consistancy now. I'd take a draw from Sunderland saturday, and they're going to be even more fired up now they've lost to Blackpool. Kalinic's suspension is something we could have done without, but we're going to have to deal with that like we're dealing with everything else at the moment. Testing times at the moment for Rovers, but I can't fault much of what the team did today. Great spirit, good result, and for the moment sitting pretty in 9th place roll on January - if the Rao family spend a decent amount of cash we've a good chance of finishing top half, but in order to do that the deficiencies in our team need to be addressed ASAP.

[beerwins]

Because we need someone who can shore up that midfield. He's the only option we've got. Unless you like Dunn & co leaving huge gaps all over the place?

I understand that, I just dont have any proof that he is any better because we have'nt seen him play much.

I dont want to rely on any of these young lads like Linganzi or Goulon I want us to sign a quality midfielder for which are at least a 2 season's overdue.

Dunn, Emerton and Pederson have played cack these last few matches but they have experience to know when to sit back and when to go forward.

Maybe by playing the midfielder's we are it gives more incentive to sign someone, if we start putting kids out the owners may well want Kean to give them a chance.

[Rovermatt]

I was apprehensive about this as West Brom can actually, you know, play football. However that's a really cracking three points and it's nice to see Kalinic with a brace.

[Valois]

Looks like Robbo has a calf strain, hopefully notout for too long, although Bunn was quality. Real shame Kali is suspended now for 3 games. He needs a good run in the side, which he hasnt really had to be fair. Showed today he is has potential to be a quality player. Injuries and Suspensions are racking up though.

[Amo]

Perhaps Goulon and Linganzi are so bad they make Dunn look good???

I understand that, I just dont have any proof that he is any better because we have'nt seen him play much.

You could drive a bus through the gap in our midfield. I'm not saying Linganzi will do any better, but it's damn well worth a shot if he's on the bench anyway.

[philipl]

henrywinter Henry Winter

#brfc fans been terrific all afternoon, now taunting #wbafc with "how **** must you be, we're winning away". Genius.

[mhead]

After all the sheer hysteria on here I said to my mates "its the West Brom match that will show which direction we are heading".....never expecting a victory and 9th position. If you want to make an omelette you have to break some eggs. This period will also show how good some of the young lads are with so many injuries....but from 9th one feels it is only the home form that may be difficult to predict. But hell we probably only need another 12 or so points to be safe. And with Big Sam it was another'write-off' season.So cheer up and stop being so analytical. Enjoy the ride.

[Lancs Rover]

Lots of 'we didn't really deserve it' and 'on a different day' type comments. Just a few weeks ago, it was the Chelsea fans who were singing, 'That's why we're champions' after stealing a win at Ewood. We won and scored three into the bargain. I think we should enjoy it and lose the 'apologising for not winning brilliantly' mentality. You don't have to dominate a game to win it, after all. You just have to take your chances. Even if you only have three in the whole game.

Another point. Kean. Obviously, we don't know the details about what has been going on behind the scenes. But even if the bloke doesn't get the job, and the project goes completely pear-shaped, you have to say that he has approached this situation, with some ridiculously intense and over-critical media scrutiny with some dignity. If nothing else, this has at least enabled the club to retain an outwardly dignified stance. When players have been queuing up to jump ship, the media has united behind Allardyce, I for one regret the 'Son of Sam' sobriquet. So far at least, he has resisted the temptation to blame, even by implication.

There's only one Keano. Well...sort of.

[Martin]

On the way home. Great away day.

Poor first half.

Great entertaining second half.

Fans brllliant. Dunn awful.

Players looked together. Huge weight lifted.

Funny old game.

[King Kenny's Magic]

Just watched the game... Dunn was a liability all game, Hanley was great and is a superb back up CB/possible Samba/Nelsen replacement. Kalinic was great up until that tackle. Bunn was inspired when he came on for Robbo at half time and Hoilett helped ease the pressure bu being a great outlet. The same can be said for MB Diouf who ran his socks off today. We look so much better when Olsson plays and I'm chuffed to bits with the performance.

However I thought we went down to 9 men when Kalinic went off cause Dunny was missing from the start. We need at least 3 new midfielders and another striker and possibly another right back (YES I SAID RIGHT BACK)

When Olsson went off injured for a bit we went down to 8

Yeah we do need a RB because Salgado is fading fast!

[Fife Rover]

When Olsson went off injured for a bit we went down to 8

Yeah we do need a RB because Salgado is fading fast!

Maybe true. But then again it might be more to do with playing two hard matches in as many days is getting beyond him now. I wouldn't be surprised to see him still able to cope finewith one game per week.