[Archived] Steve Kean

[braddock]

so far he has done good. He started out with a squad, that might have been a bit demoralized, after sams sacking, so he has done well to keep things under control.

points-wise its been average, he has had the luxury, of having an "easy" time with the fixtures, so it could have been better, but all in all, a job well done.

Still early goings, but there seems to be some improvement, but im eager to see, if this improvement will still be visible, when we play other midtable teams away.

I like his football philosphy, he wants a passing based team. At present time it translates into a style, where we mix it up, which makes our football, much easier on the eye.

so far he has done the job, quite a bit better, then i anticipated/feared.

No mention of the injury crisis and as for 'easy' fixtures I beg to differ.

[XLM]

Liverpool at home, Chelsea and Sunderland away. Not easy.

A pretty fair selection of games I'd say, and 10 points from 7 games (about 54 points over a whole season) is European form.

[greco]

No mention of the injury crisis and as for 'easy' fixtures I beg to differ.

wba twice

liverpool in crisis home

hammers bottom of league at home

stoke at home

chelsea in crisis away

sunderland away

we wont get a much better run of games, with so many at home, with so many beatable opponents. Thats what i meant by "easy".

[XLM]

wba twice

liverpool in crisis home

hammers bottom of league at home

stoke at home

chelsea in crisis away

sunderland away

we wont get a much better run of games, with so many at home, with so many beatable opponents. Thats what i meant by "easy".

Sunderland was away, so 4 at home 3 away?

Stoke mid table, West Ham who always seem to beat us, Liverpool and West Brom at home. That sounds like a pretty good representation of the league to me. Chelsea and Liverpool, in crisis or not are still 2 of the better sides in the league. There's only 5 stand out teams.

[greco]

No mention of the injury crisis and as for 'easy' fixtures I beg to differ.

wba twice

hammers bottom of the league

stoke home

liverpool in deep crisis.

out of 7 games, we wont get a much better fixturelist, when it comes to winnable games. There are no such thing, as easy games for a midtable team, but it doesnt get much better fixture wise then that and thats what i meant by "easy"

[47er]

Your not alone in that view. There are ways of disagreeing with a posters opinion, without reverting to insults etc.

one thing he did say was that the Venky's have about 162 businesses. Rovers just being one of them. Which may pour doubt on the skint venky's posts on this site.

There doesn't seem to be money available for transfers, contrary to indications. That's nothing to do with whether Venky's are rich or not.

[deftangel]

Hammers we've a dreadful record against, Stoke were in the top half at that point and play Allardyce football with better/bigger players. We got bullied that day. Given the injuries, they were pretty tough games, as was Sunderland away.

I think Kean's done pretty well, not exceptionally well thus far. The next four games or so I'd hope to get a couple of wins from so that will shed more light on the picture.

[cruz]

First two games against West Spam and Stoke were a transition. It must have been hard for Kean to reintroduce the players to positive thinking after the Sam era, coupled with the uncertanty after Sam was axed.

[BuckyRover]

It would have been easy to continue to lose after the Stoke game. He did very well to set us up to go and win at WBA (who aren't the best but we aren't very good away at all).

[cruz]

http://www.premierleague.com/page/FormGuide

8th in the form league table

[slough_rover]

When Sam was in charge many ppl accepted hoofball as they believed that the squad just wasnt good enough to play passing football. If an inexperienced coach like Kean can instill some fluid football there was no reason why Sam couldnt especially after keeping us up. I will always be respectful towards Sam as he kept us up. But as a manager im afraid he was pretty much a one trick pony. I just hope Kean can maintain the happy medium of results amd decent football.

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

I accepted Sam's football because it worked. It was effective and got us results. I dont think anyone on here said that we COULDN'T play a different way but that it was a risk which could have resulted in another Ince debacle. Ince wanted to play flowing football and almost got us relegated. Sam played functional, dull football and got us 10th. Its not a hard point to argue in my opinion.

Also, Sam promoted many of the youngsters who are now doing so well. Olsson/Hoilett/Jones got the chance under Sam so we do have plenty to be grateful for.

That said, Kean has done a very decent job. Santa and J.Jones both look more than capable and the football has certainly improved. Very intersting second half of the season awaits.

[braddock]

Hoilett would not have made it under Allardyce. Would have sent him years back.

[bennyboyt11]

All I can say is I actually enjoy watching Rovers these days, knowing we have these exciting spells on the pitch, with fast full backs making some runs and some quality play.

Long may it continue...

[chris]

Although I was dead against Sam's sacking and extremely concerned, from what I am hearing from players over again, sacking him was an excellent decision.

I'm am still a little suspect of Kean being a puppet, but it's doesn't appear to be a problem at the moment, and he talks a good talk, and seems positive.

there are alot of unanswered questions still but generally, it's working out well, thus far.

[dubdubdub]

We've missed out on players because nobody wants to play for a manager they've never heard of. Sam is well known here and abroad and could have attracted the players we have missed out on.

Allardyce - Disliked (hated) by all, not playing good football, club has no ambition.

Kean - Quickly making a name for himself, playing better football, owners who aspire for Rovers to be better.

Which would you choose?

[chocky]

Allardyce - Disliked (hated) by all, not playing good football, club has no ambition.

Kean - Quickly making a name for himself, playing better football, owners who aspire for Rovers to be better.

Which would you choose?

I still cannot believe that so many are trying to make Allardyce out to be this fantastic manager. He was someone who would keep a club up but lacked ambition to win trophies and play good football. His signings were not great either.

[dubdubdub]

Take it to the Kean thread

No because it's regarding why we may or may not have missed out on transfers according to that chump.

[dubdubdub]

I still cannot believe that so many are trying to make Allardyce out to be this fantastic manager.

Don't stick me in that bracket.

[92er]

I believe people are going overboard in praising Kean.

I appreciate he has changed the style of the team and I am sure the majority of supporters are pleased about that.

However, in my mind there are still questions about many aspects of his success.

The performance against Liverpool was superb for a lot of the match, but we were very fortunate to win 3-1. As I was watching the match, both my friend and I said "we can't leave Gerrard unmarked" when he appeared unmarked in the penalty area. Salgado brought him down.

It wasn't because of the excellence of our performance that we didn't concede a 2nd goal and I'm sure many people would have bet heavily on Gerrard scoring against a rooky keeper.

Badly thought out substitutions helped to create the problems at the end of the match.

In the home game against WBA, I thought we were extremely fortunate to benefit from an amazing own goal.

It wasn't as dramatic as the one the Villa scored when we were relegated, but it was a poor cross from Dunn and Roque was nowhere near getting on the end of it so I have no idea what was going through he mind of the defender.Until that time I can recall very little in the way of effective attacking by us, only the slick way WBA were going at us.

Will Kean be a good manager for us? Maybe, but I can't see he deserves the huge amount of praise he is receiving.

[AndyC]

I still cannot believe that so many are trying to make Allardyce out to be this fantastic manager. He was someone who would keep a club up but lacked ambition to win trophies and play good football. His signings were not great either.

signing diouf initially was a factor in us staying up. he was fantastic when he first came. the first player capable of retaining possession!

people have very short memories on here. we were dead and buried when he took over.

regarding the question about style of football - im like the majority. would much rather see us playing it with the ball on the ground, keeping possession

[gumboots]

I believe people are going overboard in praising Kean.

I appreciate he has changed the style of the team and I am sure the majority of supporters are pleased about that.

However, in my mind there are still questions about many aspects of his success.

The performance against Liverpool was superb for a lot of the match, but we were very fortunate to win 3-1. As I was watching the match, both my friend and I said "we can't leave Gerrard unmarked" when he appeared unmarked in the penalty area. Salgado brought him down.

It wasn't because of the excellence of our performance that we didn't concede a 2nd goal and I'm sure many people would have bet heavily on Gerrard scoring against a rooky keeper.

Badly thought out substitutions helped to create the problems at the end of the match.

In the home game against WBA, I thought we were extremely fortunate to benefit from an amazing own goal.

It wasn't as dramatic as the one the Villa scored when we were relegated, but it was a poor cross from Dunn and Roque was nowhere near getting on the end of it so I have no idea what was going through he mind of the defender.Until that time I can recall very little in the way of effective attacking by us, only the slick way WBA were going at us.

Will Kean be a good manager for us? Maybe, but I can't see he deserves the huge amount of praise he is receiving.

Don't think the defender was unduly worried about Roque as it was Kalinic behind him. I'm not going over board about Kean but I do enjoy going to matches now because I feel we'll carry on trying to score even when we get a goal up and hearing what some of the players say, they're enjoying games more too.

[Amo]

people have very short memories on here. we were dead and buried when he took over.

So was Allardyce's career.

We got him back into work and paid him very handsomely for it, too.

Sam is Sam. We all know what you get with him, but his tactics were getting old FAST.

[47er]

Allardyce - Disliked (hated) by all, not playing good football, club has no ambition.

Kean - Quickly making a name for himself, playing better football, owners who aspire for Rovers to be better.

Which would you choose?

Your rubbish options don't give us much choice do they?

[Steve Moss]

Allardyce - Disliked (hated) by all, not playing good football, club has no ambition.

Kean - Quickly making a name for himself, playing better football, owners who aspire for Rovers to be better.

Which would you choose?

Allardyce. I'm risk adverse and also don't think Sam uniformally played 'hoofball'. He frequently mixed it up. By contrast, Kean is, as of yet, not a known quantity. Give it another couple of months and I may answer differently.

And I neither disliked nor hated Sam. I thought he was an intelligent manager who did his job well. A thorough professional. I believe he likely saved us from relegation under Ince. He did nothing to offend me, his tactics were not one dimensional and I believe we would have prospered under him. Regardless, he is gone now, I appreciate his service and look forward to a [hopefully] bright Venkys future.

I believe people are going overboard in praising Kean.

I appreciate he has changed the style of the team and I am sure the majority of supporters are pleased about that.

However, in my mind there are still questions about many aspects of his success.

...

It wasn't because of the excellence of our performance that we didn't concede a 2nd goal and I'm sure many people would have bet heavily on Gerrard scoring against a rooky keeper.

Badly thought out substitutions helped to create the problems at the end of the match.

...

Will Kean be a good manager for us? Maybe, . . ..

Time will tell. In fairness, his performance to date, other than set forth above, have made me hopeful.