[Archived] Mauro Formica Signs

[Kelbo]

Apparently, yes.

This is new to me.

All the whingeing and whining on this thread is due to the fans not being told anything by the club. We are being kept in the dark.

So the lad has been injured. I only found this out yesterday.

It's very, very frustrating when the owners and the club here at Ewood keep tight-lipped about what is going on.

PLEASE KEEP US INFORMED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As Mrs D has continually said, we must fall into line, ours is not to ask questions of the Royal Rao Family, just do as you are told!!

[John]

Andy cryer does not sound impressed

Slow start to game and not sure Mauro will play much of a part this season judging by these 15 minutes. Rochina looks lively though

Did Formica not perform OK in one of his previous outings? He has just come back from an injury so likely to be rusty.

On Rochina, even though the timing of his introduction was odd, he looked fairly sharp/lively at Fulham (was a brief appearance mind you).

[Pete1981]

Did Formica not perform OK in one of his previous outings? He has just come back from an injury so likely to be rusty.

On Rochina, even though the timing of his introduction was odd, he looked fairly sharp/lively at Fulham (was a brief appearance mind you).

It sounds like he is doing better as the game has gone on

#Rovers lead 2-1 after an hour. Micah Evans cooly finishing after Mauro Formica's flick.

[phildinio]

http://www.rovers.co.uk/page/ReserveNews/0,,10303~2321507,00.html

[bazza]

As Mrs D has continually said, we must fall into line, ours is not to ask questions of the Royal Rao Family, just do as you are told!!

Yes. Understood. But they are telling me nothing.

[47er]

If you look at the way other clubs are doing better than us at the moment, West Ham is probably the best example, they signed players who could perform in the Premiership now eg Demba Ba.

We signed ones for the future we might not have. Only Jones, inconsistently, has looked the goods. Transfer window was another example of incompetence.

[rebelmswar]

I am all for a bit of Kean bashing, but unless he knew he was a tool, which I doubt from his refusal to bugger off, buying for the future is a good idea IMHO.

Jones and Mr. Broken were supposed to shore up some of our squad inadequacies.

[Parsonblue]

My impressions of Formica, on the evidence of tonight, are that he is some way off being ready for the Premier League. He looked very lightweight and made little impression on the game at Leigh tonight. He played up front but got little change out of the Everton youngsters. Rochina made more of an impression but looks very raw. He scored a good goal and worked hard but seemed to wander all over the pitch. Although he was supposedly playing up front with Formica, he often drifted deep into his own half to pick up the ball and often gave it away cheaply. Nonetheless, he looked far sharper than Formica and might be a useful addition to the bench over the last few weeks of the season.

However, both players look more like long term buys rather than players who are going to save our season over the coming weeks. On the evidence of tonight our survival is going to depend on Santa Cruz, Roberts, Kalinic and Benjani rather than these two new lads.

[Baz]

Comment on LET from someone at the game tonight

glen9mullan, hindley says...

9:29pm Mon 21 Mar 11

Just got back from the reserve fixture which Rovers somehow won 2-1 despite being outplayed for long periods of the game.

Rovers started with Formica and Rochina up front, but within 10 minutes it was clear neither of these players are centre forwards,

Rochina dropped into midifeld for most of the match and at times was coming getting the ball off the back four, He reminds me of Van Persie in his younger days in looks and demenor, although he is more of a van der Vaart style player, He was the shining light on the night, showed some great touches and everything which was good about Rovers came from him. He is very skillful and scored a good 25 yard goal to give Rovers a 1-0 lead, but only after Everton had hit the woodwork twice, had a goal ruled out for a foul, whilst Bunn had to make 3 or 4 very good saves.

Formica was our worst player on the night, looked very uncomfortabkle up front and although did lots of running never saw much of the ball and when he did get it play broke down far to easily. The second half Formica played more wide right and the winger on the night Evans pushed up front as Evertons back four had been put under no sort of pressure from Formica. He looked dis-interested and certainly not the player I was expecting, I hope he was injured or he just had a bad day. I don't usually go watching the reserves but I was really excited to see Formica in the flesh, but on first hand evidence I felt like a child who Santa forgot to deliver too.

He did nod on for Rovers second goal which was neatly finished by Evans, but on the night Rovers had just two shots which brought about our two goals.

On evidence of looking over all the reserve players none look anywhere near the first team of yet although Rochina could be an interesting prospect next season.

I thought Potts was quite busy in midifeld and reminds me of young David Dunn, whilst Evans is a little like Hoillett.

Formica on this evidence could be an expensive flop, I sincerley hope not as I was very excited when we bought him, but he just didnt look upto it tonight :-(

[Guest linganzi]

Someone in the club needs to tell us that.

And it was a lot to spend on a player that 2 months later is no big shakes in the reserves

Got to feel sorry for him when you realise how much his transfer here made ja

[AggyBlue]

My impressions of Formica, on the evidence of tonight, are that he is some way off being ready for the Premier League. He looked very lightweight and made little impression on the game at Leigh tonight. He played up front but got little change out of the Everton youngsters. Rochina made more of an impression but looks very raw. He scored a good goal and worked hard but seemed to wander all over the pitch. Although he was supposedly playing up front with Formica, he often drifted deep into his own half to pick up the ball and often gave it away cheaply. Nonetheless, he looked far sharper than Formica and might be a useful addition to the bench over the last few weeks of the season.

However, both players look more like long term buys rather than players who are going to save our season over the coming weeks. On the evidence of tonight our survival is going to depend on Santa Cruz, Roberts, Kalinic and Benjani rather than these two new lads.

Both looked far better prospects than Kalinic did in his first game.

[Parsonblue]

Both looked far better prospects than Kalinic did in his first game.

We were remarking coming back from the Reserves tonight that Formica looked very much like Kalinic at the start of last season but a little more lightweight. He badly needs a run of games to get his match fitness up to speed but, sadly, there are very few reserve matches left and I don't think it would be doing the lad any favours to throw him into a relegation battle.

[AggyBlue]

We were remarking coming back from the Reserves tonight that Formica looked very much like Kalinic at the start of last season but a little more lightweight. He badly needs a run of games to get his match fitness up to speed but, sadly, there are very few reserve matches left and I don't think it would be doing the lad any favours to throw him into a relegation battle.

I agree that neither should feature in the first team this season.

Kally couldn't control the ball or even stay on his feet his first game, the newbies looked comfortable and showed some nice touches and a few slick moves. I thought overall they did OK.

[Miker]

We were remarking coming back from the Reserves tonight that Formica looked very much like Kalinic at the start of last season but a little more lightweight. He badly needs a run of games to get his match fitness up to speed but, sadly, there are very few reserve matches left and I don't think it would be doing the lad any favours to throw him into a relegation battle.

I remember Manchester United brought in Zoran Tosic from Serbia(?) a couple of seasons back. I was really happy to see he moved to the Premier League because I had watched quite a few games he played in and thought he was a hot prospect for the future. As it turned out, he couldn't hack it in the Premier League and was sold off the next season. I believe Ferguson was even quoted saying something along the lines of "he is a very gifted player, but he is not strong enough for this league".

Unfortunately, a player could be technically gifted, but simply not be good enough for a league such as ours.

I had a friend who was technically good at football and probably fitter and stronger than me. When we played indoor he did really well and one year when we tried out for normal soccer, he'd wow everyone in training with his skills. However, when time came for a real game on a big pitch and at the sort of pace we played, he was completely lost and consistently struggled to perform anywhere near to an adequate level. On the other hand, I was never brilliant in training, but on the pitch I knew from experience how to get into the right positions and when to make my runs and consistently created goal opportunities for myself and others.

So my point is that Formica might be light years ahead of a player like Micah Evans or Michael Potts in terms of skill, but on the pitch, in a real situation he might be badly lacking in quality.

[joey_big_nose]

This is a bit depressing as the last thing we need is another Kalinic style long term run up to first team places. Kalinic still does not look strong enough and it has been nearly two years - so I suppose the same could be true about Formica.

Good to hear Rochina is making an impact, sounds like he will get a chance in games this season. From the description it sounds like he will play in behind the main striker which is good as we only really have Dunn who can do that.

[Rover & Out]

our January transfer window is starting to look worst by the week.

did we really need to be spending £3.5m and rushing through a deal on deadline day for a player that is not even going to make a contribution this season?

I guess only time will tell but i'd have expected Formica to had stood out in what was essentially a youth-team fixture!

[Bobby G]

Physique will always be the question mark on players like Formica especially in a demanding league such as this. Im shocked to hear about his non-performance in what others have also labeled a youth-team fixture effectively. Maybe he is one for the big occasion.

Players seemed impressed with him in training, but they also did of Kalinic previously.

[Laurence]

Comment on LET from someone at the game tonight

glen9mullan, hindley says...

9:29pm Mon 21 Mar 11

He did nod on for Rovers second goal which was neatly finished by Evans, but on the night Rovers had just two shots which brought about our two goals.

If only the first team had such a good strike rate

[BPF]

Been sat on this for ages, but as it's out there now.

It has been said for weeks that Formica is nowhere near Premier League standard. Still a few uneasy people about his transfer. Imagine losing points over a player that was ****. I'm not suggesting that this is the case, but there are worried people regarding Formica. Trying to work out way.

[G Somerset Rover]

Been sat on this for ages, but as it's out there now.

It has been said for weeks that Formica is nowhere near Premier League standard. Still a few uneasy people about his transfer. Imagine losing points over a player that was ****. I'm not suggesting that this is the case, but there are worried people regarding Formica. Trying to work out way.

BPF - I've heard from many people who watch South American football that he's a very decent player.

I'm pretty confident his ability isn't a problem.

[BPF]

BPF - I've heard from many people who watch South American football that he's a very decent player.

I'm pretty confident his ability isn't a problem.

I hope you are right. The problem is I heard much the same about young Carlos last season. I think that it is very difficult to judge a player until you seem them playing in England. We'll have to wait and see what happens.

[Majiball]

WTF I just wasted £25.00 on a shirt with Formica on the back, he'd best be bloody good enough.

And seriously he can't be any worse than Julie.

[Sverre]

WTF I just wasted £25.00 on a shirt with Formica on the back, he'd best be bloody good enough.

And seriously he can't be any worse than Julie.

lol, I spent £20 on a shirt with Formica on the back on Saturday!

Got a picture with him as well, holding my shirt.

In the two reserve games he has played, he has scored 1 and given 1 assist. I mean, can't be ALL that bad?! :s

Forgot to ask Gamst Pedersen what he thought about Formica. He wasn't exactly happy to start on the bench. Kalinic seemed generally unhappy on his way to the parking lot post match. Whether or not he usually is that way I cannot tell though.

Big Sam was actually interested in keeping Carlos Villanueva, but the price demand was too high. £4million, apparently.

[Eddie]

I hope you are right. The problem is I heard much the same about young Carlos last season. I think that it is very difficult to judge a player until you seem them playing in England. We'll have to wait and see what happens.

I've seen him play twice and I would be very surprised if he turned out to be that far off of premiership standard. You never know with a foreign import, or any young player for that matter, if they will be good enough for the premier league, but I don't think we've done a Grabbi here.

[Majiball]

lol, I spent £20 on a shirt with Formica on the back on Saturday!

Got a picture with him as well, holding my shirt.

In the two reserve games he has played, he has scored 1 and given 1 assist. I mean, can't be ALL that bad?! :s

Big Sam was actually interested in keeping Carlos Villanueva, but the price demand was too high. £4million, apparently.

Players get signed because they are playing well. So you sign them move them have way around the world, turn their lives completely upside down and then you take away the final relatable part of their previous life, playing. 5 minutes, a couple, christ just being sat on the bench with hope, something familiar to the poor lad who is probably not in the best of spirits at present. Chicken Oriental.

One thing I'd love to know is did Carlos ever talk about his time at Rovers publicly? was his life train - hotel - sleep - train - hotel and so on? Or did the club do something to make his transition smoother?