[Archived] Blackburn Rovers v Birmingham City 9th April 2011

[ABBEY]

was there any antagonising the brum fans ?

[roverwhelmed]

They didn't seem to need antagonising. Ragey faces.

Not from where I was...I don't know if there was in other sections. I looked up a bit like this ---> and that's all I saw from Rovers supporters near me.

[cn174]

  On 10/04/2011 at 14:53, ABBEY said:

what idiot allowed his son to pull on mgps shirt twice and mider him for an autograph as he was taking two throw ins?

Talking of MGP, did anyone else see the very angry man with a brown stripy tshirt walk all down the Riverside giving him abuse just before half time.

[92er]

  On 10/04/2011 at 15:13, cn174 said:

Talking of MGP, did anyone else see the very angry man with a brown stripy tshirt walk all down the Riverside giving him abuse just before half time.

I didn't but I'm sure someone else has referred to MGP being visibly shocked after an apparent confrontation with a fan.

[Iceman]

From watching on tv, I must say I didn't hear much in terms of singing. Perhaps its the way it came across on tv, but I was thinking why does it sound so quiet.

I did ask the question, but will ask it again. Why when we know we are in a relegation battle, do we need to give the opposition fans so much tickets?

[Mattyblue]

  On 10/04/2011 at 16:05, Iceman said:

From watching on tv, I must say I didn't hear much in terms of singing. Perhaps its the way it came across on tv, but I was thinking why does it sound so quiet.

I did ask the question, but will ask it again. Why when we know we are in a relegation battle, do we need to give the opposition fans so much tickets?

Birmingham only had 2800.

If you mean Utd and Citeh= £

[92er]

From the JW Upper I was certainly aware of singing from the Darwen End, partly by being able to hear some of the singers, and partly by looking at the group in the top left hand area and watching the singers.

[Majiball]

  On 10/04/2011 at 16:02, 92er said:

I didn't but I'm sure someone else has referred to MGP being visibly shocked after an apparent confrontation with a fan.

Shock would explain his showing yesterday, lol.

[Roversider]

  On 10/04/2011 at 15:13, cn174 said:

Talking of MGP, did anyone else see the very angry man with a brown stripy tshirt walk all down the Riverside giving him abuse just before half time.

Just in front of me, what an absolute moron. I would have been happy seeing him pushed out through the gate.

  On 10/04/2011 at 14:41, gumboots said:

Agree with that - all we could hear from the Blackburn end was the Birmingham fans

Sat in the Riverside I could hear the Rovers fans in the Darwen End clearly, it strikes me that a lot of the singers moved from the Blackburn End where it definitely seems quieter to me.

Given that our boys and girls in the DE were outnumbered by the Brum fans its not surprising that their away crowd sounded noisier.

[gumboots]

  On 10/04/2011 at 16:05, Iceman said:

From watching on tv, I must say I didn't hear much in terms of singing. Perhaps its the way it came across on tv, but I was thinking why does it sound so quiet.

I did ask the question, but will ask it again. Why when we know we are in a relegation battle, do we need to give the opposition fans so much tickets?

10%

[Exiled in Toronto]

Bit of a nothing game I thought - neither keeper had anything to do. Don't know where Samba and Nelsen were for their goal as it was straight down the middle, and if the freekick had gone in we would have been sunk. Absolutely punchless up front.

Dunn was a bit better than I had come to expect, but Pedersen in open play just defies belief - another 3.5 years of that because he won't be shiftable on his contract. One thing I agree with Nicko on is that but for Junior we'd be down already.

Must get Olssen on the other wing from now on no matter who plays LB

[Eddie]

  On 10/04/2011 at 09:59, 47er said:

Wake up Al.

You can't make too many excuses, but you do also need a bit of luck (and you certainly need to avoid bad luck). I think that we've done very, very well to get out of these three games with three points considering the decisions that have gone against us.

[Blue blood]

First chance to get on and post. Odd game, well disappointing game may be a more accurate reflection.

Was sat in the Darwin End, and was somewhat suprised by the atmosphere. Very little negativity or optimism round where I was sat - perhaps indifference. Either way made for a strange atmosphere.

The game itself - Kean - time to go. Birmingham were poor and there for the taking. Sadly we were just as poor.

Thought we started fairly brightly, but then went, a tad unfortunately, a goal down and Kean swapped to a 4-4-2 bringing on Roberts (allegedly) leaving J Jones and Dunn as our central midfielders. I said immediately that we'd now loose the midfield battle after that, and for much of the first half after that Birmingham did indeed outmuscle us in the centre of the park.

The injury clearly rattled Brum and Junior was able to take advantage of that. He's one of the few glimmers of hope in an uninspiring afternoon. from the closing down to the finish it was a nice piece of work.

Second half has to be the scrappiest half of football I've witnessed in a long time. Brum were poor, we were poor, in fact it was stunningly scrappy, with very few chances either way. Neither team did much of note and a draw looked inevitable long before the final whistle.

I've a few (ha!) gripes with Kean. One of which is why Olsson is not left mid - his powerful run in the first half illustrated that's where he is at his best. I'm none too happy with Givet not playing either, or the fact he's happy with a point against such poor opposition. It baffles me beyond belief that HE IS NOT AT ALL WORRIED BY THE FACT WE HAVE BEEN UNABLE TO BEAT THE TWO WEAKEST TEAMS IN OUR RUN IN WHEN WE ARE DESPERATE FOR POINTS.

Biggest gripe though is our forward line. Is Kalanic injured? Because if not what the hell has he done not to get ahead of that shower up front? I thought the three strikers were having a who can play worst competition.

Rocky - won very few headers, seemed to have lead boots, and the very few he won never went in the direction he intended.

Benjani - did absolutely nothing. Used his backside to push a few people out of the way but his ball control was awful. Slow, ponderous, and crap touch, a disgrace to any premiership team.

Roberts - did he actually touch the ball??? I honestly forgot he was playing at times in both halves. Never have I seen a player make less of an impact.

If we're reliant on these 3 to fire us to safety we're in deep, deep trouble. I cannot believe that there has been a worse strike force in the premiership.

Overall, a draw continues our lingering death, and that idiot Kean seems happy with how we played. Either he's a bigger liar or more deluded than I thought, and either way the sooner he, venkeys and kentaro leave the club the better imo.

[Stuart]

Re Atmosphere. From where I was sat - about the half way line on the Riverside, I thought the effort from both BBE and DE was top drawer. I remember thinking, if we don't win no-one can blame the fans. Particularly considering the stop-start nature of the game!

[EWOODACE1]

  On 10/04/2011 at 16:07, Mattyblue said:

Birmingham only had 2800.

If you mean Utd and Citeh= £

did they not have half of the bottom teir aswell as i couldnt see any rovers shirts in there

[Mattyblue]

  On 10/04/2011 at 16:59, EWOODACE1 said:

did they not have half of the bottom teir aswell as i couldnt see any rovers shirts in there

No, just top.

[roverwhelmed]

  On 10/04/2011 at 17:01, Mattyblue said:

No, just top.

Are you sure???

It wasn't possible to buy tickets online in the other side of the DE.

[cn174]

  On 10/04/2011 at 17:08, RotheyRover said:

Are you sure???

It wasn't possible to buy tickets online in the other side of the DE.

Yes, they were Rovers fans. I think they gave them to local schools.

[roverwhelmed]

  On 10/04/2011 at 17:09, cn174 said:

Yes, they were Rovers fans. I think they gave them to local schools.

Fair do's

[1864roverite]

My take on the game is that Kean had Rovers set up wrongly from the off.

Playing Rocky alone as a 1 man strike force was wrong, he should have set us up 4-4-2 from the off as when Roberts cam eon, and although he was crap, we caused far too many problems for brum, and, if we had gone with that from the off we would have won the game.

A few pointers/observations:

MGP was crap all through the first 50 minutes.

Roberts should not have played.

Why did we not exploit the gaps down brums left flank enough ?

Where was Keith bloody Andrews ?

Why does JJ have to give so many silly free kicks central to our goal area ?

Why was the ref not put down ?

The brum goal was most definately offside.

#

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

  On 10/04/2011 at 02:28, LeChuck said:

No wins in how many?

We can't win games on merit.

We couldn't buy a win at present!

[Jimmy612]

  On 10/04/2011 at 10:01, DavidMailsTightPerm said:

Diouf - let go to allow Hoilett to progress - yeh huge mistake that one. Also - who knows what negative influence on the squad from a player who has always been an "Allardyce" player

However - don't let this get in the way of your argument.

Our malaise coincided with EHD being 'potted' by Kean. Apparently a popular squad member and popular with many of the supporters too. Kean imo under instruction by Anderson threw him to the wolves. We haven't won a Prem match since and have gained 4 points out of a possible 24.

However - don't let the FACTS get in the way of your argument.

[roversmum]

  On 10/04/2011 at 17:43, 1864roverite said:

My take on the game is that Kean had Rovers set up wrongly from the off.

Playing Rocky alone as a 1 man strike force was wrong, he should have set us up 4-4-2 from the off as when Roberts cam eon, and although he was crap, we caused far too many problems for brum, and, if we had gone with that from the off we would have won the game.

A few pointers/observations:

MGP was crap all through the first 50 minutes.

Roberts should not have played.

Why did we not exploit the gaps down brums left flank enough ?

Where was Keith bloody Andrews ?

Why does JJ have to give so many silly free kicks central to our goal area ?

Why was the ref not put down ?

The brum goal was most definately offside.

#

You forgot:

why didn't Benjani being pulled down in the box constitute a penalty?

[thenodrog]

  On 10/04/2011 at 10:01, DavidMailsTightPerm said:

Diouf - let go to allow Hoilett to progress - yeh huge mistake that one. Also - who knows what negative influence on the squad from a player who has always been an "Allardyce" player

However - don't let this get in the way of your argument.

Our malaise coincided with EHD being 'potted' by Kean. Apparently a popular squad member and popular with many of the supporters too. Kean imo under instruction by Anderson threw him to the wolves. We haven't won a Prem match since and have gained 4 points out of a possible 24.

However - don't let the FACTS get in the way of your argument.

  On 10/04/2011 at 11:19, 47er said:

I won't thanks. Diouf could have played on the other wing to Hoilett yesterday, did that occur to you? And if you don't know what negative influence was exerted on the squad by Diouf, why mention it? Throw a bit of mud and hope it sticks?

Diouf was one of our best and most consistent players in the first half of the season.And he always played with passion. We were winning games then. Remember that feeling?

For what it's worth I'd have put Hoilett on the left from the start yesterday to try and exploit Carr's lack of pace.

[thenodrog]

  On 10/04/2011 at 13:18, GAV said:

The manager said that, its him who picks the team, and if he thought Givet wasn't in the right frame of mind to play, he won't play, move on.

haven't we been told that he'd formed a committee of senior players?