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[Clitherover]

There is only one thing to blame and that is Venkys lies in the transfer window.

They bought no one worth a damn.

What a stupid thing to say, we haven't even seen the two players we bought Formica and Rochina play yet due to fitness.

Think before you post crap please.

[Mercer]

Venkys - I came back to an E-mail saying that the current Venky's summer budget is another £5,000,000. Hurray.

Wont be that if we are in the Championship - and those who don't think it is now a real risk, need to wake-up and smell the coffee.

[alexanders]

I was dissapointed after the game. Hopeless and dire.

Reading this board afterwards have made me suicidial and depressed.

[BPF]

Wont be that if we are in the Championship - and those who don't think it is now a real risk, need to wake-up and smell the coffee.

They're not worried about that, the sale of the ground will cover their investment

[1864roverite]

Utter rubbish I am afraid.

A few observations from the JW Upper.

Dunny is clearly unfit and is no longer a Premiership force.

Olsson is not a good left back and today he left us wide open.

Salgado was isolated too many times and so far off the pace it was frightening.

NZonzi and Jones need more time to gel as a midfield unit. I think they can both play together but when Jones went forward NZonzi was left stranded without other midfield cover.

Roberts ? Totally useless.

Todays draw may well be a very costly lost 2 points.

[Mercer]

What a stupid thing to say, we haven't even seen the two players we bought Formica and Rochina play yet due to fitness.

Think before you post crap please.

Would beg to differ. Would be amazed if either makes an impact this season - Sam always said that a 6 month adjustment was needed and that's for experienced players (eg Meireles, Liverpool), not kids. As for RSC - we can't be surprised at his absences and as for Jones, he hasn't made a difference and, IMO, wont.

So, transfer window looks at best indifferent.

[Clitherover]

Would beg to differ. Would be amazed if either makes an impact this season - Sam always said that a 6 month adjustment was needed and that's for experienced players (eg Meireles, Liverpool), not kids. As for RSC - we can't be surprised at his absences and as for Jones, he hasn't made a difference and, IMO, wont.

So, transfer window looks at best indifferent.

Yeah but to be fair, you are probably the most paranoid poster on this site so that means absolutely nothing to any of us.

[chris]

Would beg to differ. Would be amazed if either makes an impact this season - Sam always said that a 6 month adjustment was needed and that's for experienced players (eg Meireles, Liverpool), not kids. As for RSC - we can't be surprised at his absences and as for Jones, he hasn't made a difference and, IMO, wont.

So, transfer window looks at best indifferent.

I don't think we can moan too much about the window because every decent player was way too over priced, I want quality but not at rip off prices.

Wayne Bridge would have been a good signing but god knows what he earns.

[Balwer]

Wayne Bridge would have been a good signing but god knows what he earns.

not much more than Roque I'd imagine.

[Tom]

Would beg to differ. Would be amazed if either makes an impact this season - Sam always said that a 6 month adjustment was needed and that's for experienced players (eg Meireles, Liverpool), not kids. As for RSC - we can't be surprised at his absences and as for Jones, he hasn't made a difference and, IMO, wont.

So, transfer window looks at best indifferent.

I really couldn't care less about what Sam says, can people stop bringing him up.

Some people can't stop talking about him, it doesn't matter what he would have done different as he isn't here anymore.

[Mercer]

Yeah but to be fair, you are probably the most paranoid poster on this site so that means absolutely nothing to any of us.

I am realistic and pragmatic, that is all.

Having seen virtually all matches under Kean and seen what has happened to our club under new ownership, I have not enjoyed recent times and fear we are looking into the abyss.

And, if that's not bad enough, I'm going out soon to have dinner with friends who just happen to be Burnley supporters!

[Darwen Rover]

Robinson - 8 boy done good when called upon

Salgado - 6 legs gone I agree but still not the worst

Samba - 3 what has happened to this man??

Nelson - 7 mr reliable

Olsonn - 6 as so many have stated not a LB I'd have put Pederson there

Jones - 6 why play him out of place his best position is holding midfield

Nzonzi - 3 Sam was right he's not upto it

Dunny - 5 should be used as impact sub at best

Hoilett - 7 our only real threat when on

Kalinic - 6 cross between trying too hard and needs to stop being the White Jason Roberts ie falling on his arse when a blade of grass touches him

Roque - 7 class but glass I'm afraid

Subs

Roberts - 4 aaaarrrrrgggghhhhhh

Pederson - 6 average

Emerton - 6 industrial and helped salgado

Kean 3 - poor tactics / shocking performance Newcastle if more decisive should have buried us

Referee 0 - worst ref performance iv ever seen

[BPF]

0-0..what a crap result given our upcoming fixtures.

Kean is sliding further and further in my estimations.

He's here until we get relegated, guaranteed.

No, the referee had a good game. We were awful.

You clearly were not there, the referee was diabolical.

[Darwen Rover]

One thing I noticed re Kevin Nolan he was giving all his colleagues serious stick.. Real leader, on the pitch and can understand why he was wanted by Sam

[philipl]

Olsson - Completely ineffective as a left back. Furthermore, playing him here takes away so much creativity from the side.

Salgado - Embarrassing to the badge. His legs have gone. He is two yards behind the Premier League. In a sport were the difference between success and failure is measured in inches, it is not good enough.

Roberts - This boy belongs in the Championship.

Kalinic - Will never make it at this level. I've never been wrong about a striker (see the Di Santo thread).

Santa Cruz - I was delighted that we brought him back but I was naive towards the fact that he is made of glass.

Kean - Non-sensical and often downright odd tactics. Even the players seem to confused about their role. Still largely undecided on him but I cannot help but think that this is what happens when you hire a coach to do a manager's job (See: Brian Kidd). Today you could be forgiven for thinking that Mr Ince was making a cameo as manager.

Venkys - I came back to an E-mail saying that the current Venky's summer budget is another £5,000,000. Hurray.

Yes it is £5m again- this at least is a message we have been hearing reasonably consistently. The big question is will it be fees plus wages again in which case we have already spent it if either RSC or JJ go permanent.

To today's game and my feeling was not watching a Sam team, but watching an Ince team which is far more frightening. If you remember Ince started OK ish (as has Kean) but bit by bit the good disciplines on the pitch tutored by Sparky got forgotten/messed up. Similarly today, the basic disciplines Sam had instilled seemed to be waining.

Sam sides generally covered for Salgado's weaknesses with the result that he was playing like superman in the first half of the season- he was left on his own against two excellent players and just got run into the ground. In fact he did remarkably well given the lack of cover he got from team mates.

The defence generally was losing its shape with alarming frequency and we kept a clean sheet through Newcastle being shot shy and tremendous heroics by individual players. Thankfully Newcastle failed to mount any really sustained pressure so we held out for the 95 minutes.

What was most Ince-like was that ragged midfield which played without fluidity, confidence or authority. The more the game went on the worse it became. They just did not look like they had a clear idea of what they were doing and there were some horrible gaps through the middle in the last 20 minutes.

As for JR's contribution, he wasn't the worst Rovers player to be charitable. I have always thought Kalinic would respond to the right system but there were signs in the first half where he failed to retain posession which left me wondering about him. The second half was forgivable in the circumstances of what was a dire performance from all of the team.

[Jimmy612]

Salgado - Embarrassing to the badge. His legs have gone. He is two yards behind the Premier League. In a sport were the difference between success and failure is measured in inches, it is not good enough.

I would be surprised if you could name our right sided midfielder today? Salgado had absolutely no protection, and had a good partnership (enrique and gutierrez) running at him all day.

The balance in that team is absolutely dreadful! I think you'll agree that before Kean took over Salgado was having an excellent season, and this diamond formation (if you want to call it that) is particularly detrimental to his play because of the exposure.

[RevidgeBlue]

Yet again for all the talk about "diamonds" and "formations" I thought our major problem today was that a large number of players put in abysmal individual performances at the same time.

Salgado, Jones, Dunn, Nzonzi, Kalinic and Roberts were simply dreadful for me.

Not sure what possible formation would have covered for their inadequacies today.

That doesn't exonerate the manager though. It's his job to bring the best out of the players at his disposal.

[thenodrog]

Right I'm off out in 5 mins so a quick report.

1. Ref awful

2. Steve Kean the coach and wannabee manager has turned into a bus driver. A tactically clueless line up saw us play the entire first half with no right midfielder / winger. Hoillet, Olsson and Dunny were busy either holding hands or playing 5yd triangles on the left. wtf was that about? An absolutely shocking state of affairs that a manager from the Sunday league would not have allowed to continue. Emerton and Ped made a big difference.

3. Prince Albert of Monaco in the "Royal Box" today btw! Thats a 'proper' owner. Lets hope 'H' manages to persuade him to ditch Monaco FC, pot the Venkey mob and churn his vast fortune into BRFC...... We can but dream.

Ta ra.

[cletus]

What a crock of dump we witnessed today

Did we actually have a shot on target? I honestly cannot remember seeing one.

We stole that 1pt today. Newcastle are cr4p, but they outplayed us for most of the game....which is worrying

Oh, & many thanks to the Newcastle fan who threw a container of beer (somebody said it was a can, but i didn`t see it) from the top tier......hitting a 7yr old boy below on the head. The poor lad had to be taken out. I bet it made him feel really big & hard infront of his mates.

[Rovers Gals]

keans character is more of a Forman role ,he doesn't come across on listening to him ad a manager and leader of men .we,l have to wait and see if he develops . I do t want to be negative , I'm just unsure of his leadership skills at present . today was like us going to newcastle away (except we had our home kit on ) we where out muscled and the ref made mistakes . rovers fans are worried and wairy of our new regime . frustrating to watch today and on a positive note we kept clean sheet and got a point ! we have to have quality players to play a quality passing game ! this we are lacking in some areas , hence we need player passion and motivation ! please lads find that determination and belief u know u capable of .

[RevidgeBlue]

Emerton and Ped made a big difference.

We had this conversation in the Pub Gordon. Imo Emerton sparked a slight improvement but MGP didn't look too fussed about having been dropped when he came on imo.

Don't know if it's completely coincidental, but some of our worst performers in the last couple of weeks, Salgado, Samba and Roberts have all recently penned lucrative new contracts.

[Valois]

We had this conversation in the Pub Gordon. Imo Emerton sparked a slight improvement but MGP didn't look too fussed about having been dropped when he came on imo.

Don't know if it's completely coincidental, but some of our worst performers in the last couple of weeks, Salgado, Samba and Roberts have all recently penned lucrative new contracts.

Agree, although Roberts has always been one of our worst performers so no change there.

[bazza]

Oh so glad of a point.

Apart from the first ten minutes we were played off the park.

Mr Kean, you have a lot of hard work to do. I suppose Ryan Nelsen deserved MOM. I cannot think of anyone else to give it to.

32 points. Another 5 or 7 for safety? Where will they come from?

And Attwell, the ref?????????????? Either incompetent or bent. I'd like to think the former.

[cesus]

I'm a big Salgado fan but today really hit home that teams use him as a preferred attacking option. I know the cover for him wasn't there today but still you can't expect any player to have the fitness to get forward with all attacks and be there to hold Salgados hand when the speed demons are let loose. He is a very solid player, who has achieved far more than anybody in our squad for years BUT the lack of speed seems to be hindering him and the team hard at the moment.

Salgado was one of many to have a bad game today so I'm not just blaming him, I'm still trying to fathom our formation today, still clueless! We got an underserved point today more performances like that and it could be a saving point.

[chaddyrovers]

The rovers performance was awful. Only Robinson, Nelsen and Kalinic played well. Kalinic work hard but we need create anything for him to finish.

Rovers had no width or any decent crosses into the box.

Kean need to go back to playing 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 but play with some width on the pitch.

Stuart Atwell was awful. Not good enough to ref to under 9's game.