[Archived] Rovers v West Brom

[Tooogs]

So many idiots on here... Do you even go to the game? Jones was class as was everyone else apart from mgp, Salgado did well and always gets stuck in. Junior and Olsson are a joy to watch and Niko and Roque looked decent together. Roberts was gash. Samba was class. Dunn played great. Robbo too

[Bobby G]

Jermaine Jones offered something we havent had since Savage left.

[Blackburn Ravers]

Just got home from the match, few people on here are clueless, Jones was class today, And dunny played well as well, prob his best match of the season for me, gotta love Junior and Martin flying down the wings,

[steo]

Great win but disagree with most thought Jones was poor goes steaming into challenges and doesn't look like he has much pace,Hoilett was the star but Samba was immense,maybe people will start laying off Dunn,Salgado committed as ever but was constantly beaten by Thomas and his lack of pace is a worry.Santa Cruz oozed class and was unlucky not to score,Robbo deserved the clean sheet.Brunt is a real talent as good if not better than Adam.

[martmitch]

In hoilett and olsson we have two very exciting young talents, thought dunn played well today and roque too tho I was surprised to see him square the ball when through on goal, being his 2nd debut I'd have been hungry for some goals!pederson stunk the place out, even in the warm up he was struggling with hitting the target in am empty goal tho he did notably improve in the second half and seem to get more stuck in, someone must have had a word at half time

[Balwer]

give Hoilett a new contract ASAP he is the real deal.

He just signed a five year one fairly recently, we can't hand out new contracts to everyone anytime they play well for a patch.

[NookRover]

I have to ask myself, are some people ever happy!?

[Tom]

He just signed a five year one fairly recently, we can't hand out new contracts to everyone anytime they play well for a patch.

His contract is up next summer

[Amo]

He just signed a five year one fairly recently, we can't hand out new contracts to everyone anytime they play well for a patch.

Wrong. Hoilett's signed up till 2012.

[braddock]

Anyone who isn't aware that Jones played well doesn't understand football.

And as for going as far as saying underwhelmed by his performance, at worst you could say he had a decent game, and a decent debut is very good for your first game in the premier league.

He's got one hell of an engine on him.

[Bobby G]

Great win but disagree with most thought Jones was poor goes steaming into challenges and doesn't look like he has much pace,Hoilett was the star but Samba was immense,maybe people will start laying off Dunn,Salgado committed as ever but was constantly beaten by Thomas and his lack of pace is a worry.Santa Cruz oozed class and was unlucky not to score,Robbo deserved the clean sheet.Brunt is a real talent as good if not better than Adam.

I think you watched the wrong game. Jones looked very good. Broke down loads of attacks, got stuck in. Easy to see why he will get many bookings though.

[Steve Moss]

Hoilett absolutely class today again, Olsson good as well, but his final ball let him down a few times. Not sure how Jones got the MOM though, should have been Hoilett. Although Jones did pretty well, what we have be missing for a long time, although his challenge looked reckless on the edge of the area.

Robbo, if he isn't the best English keeper, if not keeper in the league I don't know who is at the moment.

Hoilett is class, agreed. We need to extend his contract ASAP. And thank Sam for making his trip to Canada to talk Hoilett's dad into convincing his boy to extend the first time.

There is no doubt that Robbo is the best English keeper. The FA need to kick Capello to the side, appoint a proper manager and get Robbo back on the national team. I think Sam could accomplish it.

As to Jones being MoM, I can see it. Also I think I've read that from a mental standpoint he needs to feel accepted or he does not perform. Kudos to the powers that be for figuring out that the attack dog needs a pat and biscuit to feel wanted.

Though from my perspective the true MoM was Robbo. As he normally is, IMO.

[Sanny]

Roque and jones both played really well considering it was their first 90 mins for us.

Steve Kean has got us playing much more attractive football, long may it continue!

Quite content with how things are going, despite all the uprest pre Christmas - I think we are set up as a top 10 team with the current manager/owners now.

[Sverre]

Great win but disagree with most thought Jones was poor goes steaming into challenges and doesn't look like he has much pace,Hoilett was the star but Samba was immense,maybe people will start laying off Dunn,Salgado committed as ever but was constantly beaten by Thomas and his lack of pace is a worry.Santa Cruz oozed class and was unlucky not to score,Robbo deserved the clean sheet.Brunt is a real talent as good if not better than Adam.

You are clueless. Jones played well. Which is probably the reason why we saw Dunn perform great. With Jones being a ball-winner Dunn could concentrate on different things, namely to contribute to the offensive play.

Nzonzi I thought did a good job as well. He was solid.

[Tom]

Who did Sky give MoTM to?

Also credit to whoever made the Hoilett / Olsson halftime video, really enjoyed that.

[Sysagent]

Just got back myself from the match and I have to agree with all the people here that actually bothered to watch the match saying that Jones was excellent, I made a special effort to keep an eye on him once I had separated him out from Olsson (they look identical from a distance), for a player that joined less than a week ago he was brilliant, looks to have a good understanding of the game and I can see him being one of the players of the season.

Dunny is getting back to his old self at last and I thought the match did dip from our perspective once he left the pitch, Givet was immense in central defence alongside big Chris...

As for Pedersen, well he was absolutely dire, he let the entire team down today and deserves to be dropped for a couple of matches to sort him out in my opinion.

Infact of the the eleven starters Pedersen was the only downside today and he needs to be told as much!

Oh and

SEVEN!

[Tango]

Pretty good display, with some lovely interchanges between Olsson, Hoilett, Santa Cruz and Dunn throughout. Gave West Brom a bit too much freedom, which allowed them to create several chances (and they should have had a stonewall penalty) but I think we just about deserved the 3 points. One thing I would say, Pederson was absolutely atrocious, one of the worst performances from him that I can remember. Couldn't find a pass, wasted set pieces and his ball retention was woeful. Fortunate that Jones provided some excellent cover.

[Fraserkirky]

He's got one hell of an engine on him.

Yeah he doesnt sprint that much but he justs keeps running the whole game.

[sambo]

Watched from about 20 minutes on tv (was football training, couldn't get back for this one (see signature))

Robinson was very good, did what he had to do, including one or two very good saves. Salgado seemed to be struggling with Thomas's pace a little bit, but the rest of the back four looked solid, especially big Chris Samba! Jones was very good, did the more boring jobs with some hard tackling, which allowed Dunn space to threaten - some of his runs were like the Dunny of old, but clearly tired as the game went on. MGP had a poor one, tried hard but nothing seemed to come off for the lad. He did make a couple of good interceptions though defensively. Olsson was good, but Hoilett was the star - what a player we have there! Roque was an absolute class act, so good to see him back, and I thought Niko looked good - Roberts was very poor when he came on.

Hopefully the negative rubbish from a few posters will cease - we certainly do not look like a team in a relegation struggle.

Come on Rovers

[steo]

I think you watched the wrong game. Jones looked very good. Broke down loads of attacks, got stuck in. Easy to see why he will get many bookings though.

He made a daft tackle in the box when he had no chance of getting the ball which should of resulted in a penalty and a booking and no one can dispute that.the lad can pass and cover but he's going to pick up plenty of cards,calling him poor was unfair i suppose but he didn't stand out.

[Torgeir]

You can see by reading here the difference in watching a game at the ground and on TV, namely in the verdict on Dunn coming off.

He was passing brilliantly at times but his lack of effort and inability to get back was blatant, he could barely move by the time he was subbed, correct decision to bring him off, much better from him on the ball today though.

We did play a diamond formation in midfield so he was often supporting our strikers. I think everyone agrees he's not fit enough to play a full 90 mins, but some players should spend most of their energy going forward - Dunn is one of them.

[RovertheHill]

Pedersen is such a confidence player I knew as soon as he made that mistake in the first minute he'd have a bad game. That said, he still put himself about and I'd take him on that form with one leg over our Keith.

I don't understand why people thought Jones wasn't good. He looked quick to me, and solid, and reminded me of Reid when he was at his best. And more importantly I think he was the reason that Dunn had the freedom to attack without worrying about (not) being able to get back.

Very pleasing to watch us play football again.

[Sysagent]

He made a daft tackle in the box when he had no chance of getting the ball which should of resulted in a penalty and a booking and no one can dispute that.the lad can pass and cover but he's going to pick up plenty of cards,calling him poor was unfair i suppose but he didn't stand out.

From where I was sat (upper central Darwen End) it didn't look that bad to be honest, West Brom did an identical incident up at the Blackburn End and nothing was awarded our way...

[Tom]

We did play a diamond formation in midfield so he was often supporting our strikers. I think everyone agrees he's not fit enough to play a full 90 mins, but some players should spend most of their energy going forward - Dunn is one of them.

Don't get me wrong he played really well and much better than he has been but he was visibly knackered by the time he came off.

Some very clever passes by him today, if he can learn to not attempt too much he can still play a big role.

I was impressed by how well people covered others today, Pedersen was poor on the ball but him or Jones always made sure to drop in for Olsson when he went on runs.

Special mention to Clattenberg for continuing to be awful, he gave Scharner a loooong talking to after a bad foul on RSC, then ten minutes later hacks someone else down on the edge of the box, no yellow.

[Rovermatt]

Good performance. I was delighted to see us passing the ball to each other.

Those who stood out:

-Robinson. Two cracking stops to save our bacon, the first was after 30 seconds when Pedersen gave the ball away and our defence was nowhere to be seen.

-Jones. Solid, dependable yet aggressive presence in the middle of the park. Excellent technique and passing ability.

-Dunn. He veers wildly between good and awful but today was a positive performance full of willing running (well, compared to his usual quota) and tidy control. His cross the first goal was excellent.

-Hoilett. Tricky, slippery and direct. He has a tendency to run into blind alleys but his goal was absolutely fantastic. Well done to the young lad.

-Olsson. Powerful and direct, a real two way player.

-Kalinic. Once again he didn't have much to work with (he also spurned a good passing opportunity in the first couple of minutes) but his link play was solid and his contribution to Hoilett's goal was outstanding. The presence of another tall, aerial threat up front in Santa Cruz should do him the world of good.

On the down side I thought Pedersen as woeful today. He is so careless in possession and he has a horrible ability to make counter-attacking moves grind to a halt when he gains possession. The ball always appears to be half an inch behind him or under his feet and he really struggles to control and distribute it swiftly.

Roberts was also rubbish during his time on the field. I'm a big advocate of the guy. He's powerful, direct and will always put in a good shift. He's really made an impact coming off the bench over the years and I certainly don't blame him for the miss near the end (the ball just wouldn't come down quick enough) but his inability to retain possession and simply pass to his team mates could cost us against better opponents. I absolutely knew he wasn't going to get round Tamas in the dying minutes when we had that odd man rush. He should have simply looked to pass it easily to one of his supporting players but instead he tried to nip it past the defender who simply swept it off his toe. Very frustrating.