[Archived] League Cup

[JamieUK]

Just got back. The first 10 min were good but then as others have said it petered out.

Positives :

The return of Givet - made a big difference.

Rochina looked very skillful.

Goodwillie looks like he could become a good player, reminds me of the way Dickov was able to play the lone striker despite not being a typical target man.

Jason Lowe - Was disappointed not to see him start but looked decent when he came on - he's got an air of calmness about him, think he'll be a regular soon.

Negatives :

We were very very narrow at times and were crying out for someone to stick to the touchline. Hopefully when George John signs we'll be able to move Givet to left back and push Olsson to left wing.

Petrovic & Formica didnt make too much of an impact.

Would've liked to have seen Ribeiro - I'd have pushed Emerton up to the wing to make way in the second half.

Cant complain too much tho - Was a decent run out, hopefully no knocks and we've saved our bigger players for Saturday.

[JAL]

Negatives :

We were very very narrow at times and were crying out for someone to stick to the touchline. Hopefully when George John signs we'll be able to move Givet to left back and push Olsson to left wing.

Petrovic & Formica didnt make too much of an impact.

Would've liked to have seen Ribeiro - I'd have pushed Emerton up to the wing to make way in the second half.

Thought Rochina and Olsson more or less played along the byeline with Emmerton hugging the other side.

[Mercer]

Very strange match - excellent start and three great goals against the Owls' reserves.

Strange team selection - Emerton leaving the club so Kean plays him at right back with Bruno on the bench; extremely puzzling !!!

Petro - looks as though he will need at least 3 months to adjust. Looked slow and lethargic and blazed a glorious chance over from 1 yard in second half, distribution also indifferent. Not ready for PL.

Rochina - 2 great goals then flattered to deceive. Not enough end product.

Formica - lacks pace to be a real threat and looks overpriced at £3.5m.

Willie - IMO, the lad with the best potential. Creates great space for himself in the box with the ball at his feet and cool in front of goal. Might be a gem.

Second half, fell away again, almost completely. Sheff. Wed. were very, very poor and we would have struggled against any team from Championship upwards.

Might get Kean another match but, IMO, just papering over the cracks. Balance of team and squad doesn't look right.

Big question, which goalscorer will Kean leave out in order to bring the non scoring, and, IMO, brown nosing Roberts back on Saturday.

Also, had a conversation with a football person who was at Leigh on Monday night and, according to him, the signing of Myles Anderson is a much talked about joke in football circles. Seemingly, the lad had a very difficult game and Jerome, sat watching his lad, got enormous stick before being forced to move !!!

[Hasta]

Solid professional performance. Rochina and Formica linked up well early to create havoc. Goodwillie took his goal well and probably should have had a second when he turned inside the defender only for his shot to be saved.

Agree with most comments from people who went to the game although I thought Nzonzi played well in that understated way that he does (as in he didnt do anything noteworthy but did everything else right)..

[daverich]

I saw Balaji there with his son and Venny Rao. Think quite alot the Rao's family were there. Also saw Jerome Anderson there aswell.

Wonder if he is back on the scene now

Maybe he has never been off the scene, but just keeping a low profile.

And we all thought venkys had become wise to him and his cronies!

[Tom]

I thought Petrovic looked a good player, rarely gave the ball away although all his shots were powerful but too high.

We nearly scored a beaut in the second half, Rochina (I think) pulled it back to Goodwillie who sold a wonderful dummy but the keeper made a good save.

I sat next to the Rovers dugout and it's apparent that Jensen does all the shouting, he was going mad when Rochina tried too much.

[super_arran]

I saw him for England U20 and I wasn't impressed. Not good enough for a Premier League team but thats my view of course.

Did you see him against Chelsea last season?

And as a stand in CB tonight?

Quite impressive for a young gun

[Tom]

Rochina - 2 great goals then flattered to deceive. Not enough end product.

2 goals and set up 2 disallowed goals and various other chances yet he lacks end product?

I also think you're being harsh on Formica there, overpriced at £3.5m? In a world where Andy Caroll is £35m it looks a bargain.

[Mc Love]

Very strange match - excellent start and three great goals against the Owls' reserves.

Reserves - makes it sound even worse.

[vintageadidas]

Weird game to be honest! Awesome first 15 minutes, lots if nice touches and not a hoofball in sight! Worryingly though it reminded me of the ince era all over again! We seem to be missing some bite and have a few very soft players! No fortress Ewood like under Hughes/Sam with plenty of grit and passion.

I was excited and scared at the same time during this game! Kean had 4 of his players on tonight and all looked very comfortable on the ball!!

My man of the match was Nzonzi followed by Rochina; who by the way could be a very good player once he had more of an end product and uses less fancy flicks!

Overall a good workout!!

[JAL]

Judging the man of the match on the basis of who made the least mistakes, then i'd go for Gael Givet tonight.

[Kelbo]

Looks a great prospect to me. Can tackle and pass and is quick and strong. Nothing spectacular but solid. Did well out of position tonight, and I'm in no doubt he's a much better bet in centre-mid than Pedersen or Grella.

I would agree with that call too, he's quick with the pass and doesnt dwell on the ball, in fact Petrovic looked quite slow tonight, ball retention was good but he will have to up his game in the prem!

Wednesday left four first teamers out tonight and they were poor, only their number 17 impressed me, they are a poor side but I felt at times they were quicker than us and thats worrying.

Goodwillie can finish but is a one trick pony and if they continue knocking the balls through the channels, he will never score at Prem level, he's not quick enough and looks so unfit and he cant jump!!. Formica worked hard but had little impact on the game, he's too lightweight and for his build is not very quick either! Givet, Nzonzi and Olsson were quality and to echo my post the other day, the best striker we have is Rochina, yet we play him wide, pull him off on around 70 minutes after the man of the match performance, he is pure class.

Bert was solid and did nothing wrong and set up two of the goals, he will be missed. Good to see Givet back, he organised the back four and was really solid.

We must not get carried away by tonight against a very poor team, though at 3 - 0 so early in the game, it probably killed it somewhat, those are my views, oh, Hoillet was class when he came on, we must sign him and quickly!

[grizfoot]

Reserves - makes it sound even worse.

I'm guessing that was his aim.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

Petro - looks as though he will need at least 3 months to adjust. Looked slow and lethargic and blazed a glorious chance over from 1 yard in second half, distribution also indifferent. Not ready for PL.

Rochina - 2 great goals then flattered to deceive. Not enough end product.

Formica - lacks pace to be a real threat and looks overpriced at £3.5m.

Willie - IMO, the lad with the best potential. Creates great space for himself in the box with the ball at his feet and cool in front of goal. Might be a gem.

Second half, fell away again, almost completely. Sheff. Wed. were very, very poor and we would have struggled against any team from Championship upwards.

Might get Kean another match but, IMO, just papering over the cracks. Balance of team and squad doesn't look right.

Big question, which goalscorer will Kean leave out in order to bring the non scoring, and, IMO, brown nosing Roberts back on Saturday.

Football is all about opinions

Petro - saw enough to convince me he will settle in quicker than Jones did. There was enough inter-play between Nzonzi and him to think we may have found a decent midfield player.

Rochina - no end product - what he scored two good goals, If he does that in every match it will be enough end product for me. He worked hard throughout - occasionally tried too much and got caught in possession - but rightly man of the match.

Formica - sorry felt he justified his place and fee. Some of the inter-play of which he was often central (along with Rochina) was excellent at times.

Willie - scored a good goal, good calmness in front of goal. However - can't remember once when he beat his man in the air - he was too easily dispocessed - and look sluggish at times against a lower league defence. I can see promise - but he has a way to go.

Over the game I thought we had some excellent inter-play - and at times carved Wednesday up without ever making the best of the chances after the first ten minutes. Again big gaps between midfield and defence were worrying - though Nzonzi gets stuck in, I do worry about his positioning at times in midfield.

Overall - a very difficult game to make a real judgement on - I felt we coasted at times (understandable at 3-0 up) - and Wednesday often had more bite about them (at times too much). But there was more football played by Rovers in one match than a season under our previous manager - just a shame that we can't have Sam to organise the defence.

[chaddyrovers]

Formica - lacks pace to be a real threat and looks overpriced at £3.5m.

very harsh on Formica. though he played quite decent actually. work hard for the team, plenty of good touches during the game.

would start on Saturday for me on Saturday.

pic of the owners celebrating one of the goals. from Jason Roberts twiiter page

http://yfrog.com/kih2ptbaj

[Kelbo]

very harsh on Formica. though he played quite decent actually. work hard for the team, plenty of good touches during the game.

would start on Saturday for me on Saturday.

pic of the owners celebrating one of the goals. from Jason Roberts twiiter page

http://yfrog.com/kih2ptbaj

Tend to disagree, the odd flicks and quick touches with Rochina maybe, he had no impact on the game at all, Rochina is four times the player he is!

[Mc Love]

very harsh on Formica. though he played quite decent actually. work hard for the team, plenty of good touches during the game.

would start on Saturday for me on Saturday.

pic of the owners celebrating one of the goals. from Jason Roberts twiiter page

http://yfrog.com/kih2ptbaj

Who is the lady beside the pimp? Roberts looks overjoyed, probably because he is playing saturday

[Mercer]

Tend to disagree, the odd flicks and quick touches with Rochina maybe, he had no impact on the game at all, Rochina is four times the player he is!

And could be even better.

Need to work out his best position and play him there.

The lad can certainly finish so would seem him either in the hole or as a second striker.

Like a lot of gifted young players, needs to mature in his decision making rather than taking on one too many and losing the ball - that's what I meant by needing more end product.

[chaddyrovers]

Formica best position is just playing in the Bergkamp role just behind One striker in a 4-2-3-1 formation

[JAL]

Formica best position is just playing in the Bergkamp role just behind One striker in a 4-2-3-1 formation

Formica for me looks and plays like a slightly smaller version of Franco Di Santo. Its uncanny the resemblence

[Gav]

Formica for me looks and plays like a slightly smaller version of Franco Di Santo. Its uncanny the resemblence

Formica scores though, di santos doesn't.

[Mc Love]

Damn just missed the goals!

[SharrockDownSouth]

Was that a belter of a cross from Bert that I just saw to set up Ruben for the first goal?

[JAL]

Formica scores though, di santos doesn't.

Hopefully Gav.

[Gav]

Was that a belter of a cross from Bert that I just saw to set up Ruben for the first goal?

Terrible defending, but a good ball in for sure.