[Archived] Rovers v Everton

[Brfcrule1]

One puzzling thing from today when we were awarded 2 penalties as kean said yes Dunn & Pederson had gone off injured why then did the younger players take both penalties why didn't Goodwillie take the 2nd penalty and why let a 20 Y'old take the first why didn't Emerton/Olssen/Salgado/N'Zonzi/Roberts not take the first all of them are more experienced been here longer why put so much pressure on a young lad to take it also Salgado,Emo have champs lge experience surely both have more experience of taking penalties in such pressurized situations no disrespect to Hoilett because he is a future star I just think it's a poor show to let 2 inexperienced players to take the penalties the senior experienced players should hold their head in shame but on his last appearance it is hard to critcise Emo because of his workrate and loyalty to our beloved club but the others have really let themselves down by not putting themselves forward to take the penalties. On a bright note good luck Emo on your return hope it works out well for you thanks for the great memories and loyalty shown to this club will be missed.

[arbitro]

Can we stop moaning about the ref for once. Go on the Everton boards, they think he was totally against them.

Doesn't that tell you how poor he was overall? He was so random with his decision making and cautions that at one point it became laughable. He gave Everton a corner and realised he had made a mistake so from the resulting corner he 'found' a foul and gave us a free kick. I'm not blaming him for the defeat but he just added to the frustration with his erratic and inconsistent performance. The fact that he is now considered one of Englands top referees tells you everything about the current standard.

[Roversi]

Epl experience is important but when the younger players are well and clearly better then dunn, pedersen, Roberts Etc you have to put faith in them. The upcoming games are tough and sadly I can see us going a few further games without winning but I'm here to be proven wrong

[booth]

One puzzling thing from today when we were awarded 2 penalties as kean said yes Dunn & Pederson had gone off injured why then did the younger players take both penalties why didn't Goodwillie take the 2nd penalty and why let a 20 Y'old take the first why didn't Emerton/Olssen/Salgado/N'Zonzi/Roberts not take the first all of them are more experienced been here longer why put so much pressure on a young lad to take it also Salgado,Emo have champs lge experience surely both have more experience of taking penalties in such pressurized situations no disrespect to Hoilett because he is a future star I just think it's a poor show to let 2 inexperienced players to take the penalties the senior experienced players should hold their head in shame but on his last appearance it is hard to critcise Emo because of his workrate and loyalty to our beloved club but the others have really let themselves down by not putting themselves forward to take the penalties. On a bright note good luck Emo on your return hope it works out well for you thanks for the great memories and loyalty shown to this club will be missed.

Why? Because there's no leadership that's why.

For the people annoyed at Roberts for his fake limping, here's another. For one of the corners he was that preoccupied with moaning to the referee about nothing, he was looking in the opposite direction when the corner kick came over. Totally unprofessional.

[Herbie6590]

If that performance had occurred in mid season with us comfortably mid-table we would be (& could afford to be ) hugely philosophical about it, chalk it down to one of those things and move on.

However in current circumstances and with 4 very difficult games to come we could very easily lose our first 7 games. Swansea at home on 3/12 is probably the next "easiest" home fixture.

What happened to us today is often recalled in end of season videos as the sort of bad luck that teams at the bottom often suffer.

I am increasingly fatalistic about our destiny this season.

[Gamst]

We played very well in the second half today, but still lost. It is such a bad sign that we play that well and still lose. My last match was the home defeat to Man City last season and I had a similar feeling. I was sat in the Riverside and when Dunn hit the post it looked like the ball was going in. Had a feeling it would be one of those days and it was unbelievable at times. We really did batter them and they were really poor. Also when Formica struck the pen it looked like it was heading in from where I was sat. Also couldn't believe it when formica missed that open goal. Was one of those days and I still feel slightly sick. I thought most the team were pretty good, Givet and Samba were excellent as were Olsson and Nzonzi. Formica looked excellent. Some of his touches were wonderful. Sadly, for all of Formica and Hoilett's craft, it was totally wasted on that lummox up front Jason Roberts. He was utterly terrible, one of the worst performances by a professional footballer i've ever witnessed. He has legs like a 50p piece and was slow and lazy. He didn't win anything in the air and was slow to get in the box on numerous occasions when Formica or Hoilett had the opportunity to get the ball into the box.

Now for Kean. Why did he start with none of the new players? I would sooner have Shirley Bassey up front than Roberts, but he continues to start him when his complete ineptitude is obvious to everyone! We played him for 70mins!! Unbelievable! We instantly improved when Goodwillie came on. He instantly read Formica who created a good chance for him. Roberts had no chances and got in no dangerous positions for 70mins. Why was he still on the pitch? We improved when Kean was forced to bring on formica and Petrovic. MGP was awful before he got injured. Im also concerned about Petrovic. He appears to be very very slow and reminds me slightly on Goulon.

Kean is a loser and a drink driver and deserves his bad luck. The sooner he is sacked, the better. We are certainly getting relegated if he stays in charge irrespective of who we sign. He has instilled a losing mentality and I feel he is too chummy with the players. They are not scared enough of him. Also, I cannot abide his pressers as he is a smarmy lier. Whilst we played well today and I'm pleased that the players looked a bit more fired up, we are a sinking ship with a loser at the helm. Assertive action must be taken immediately. Kean must be sacked.

[Tom]

First not a penalty for me but Hoawrd was a good foot off his line when it was takem

Anyone remember Hoiletts penalty against Chelsea in the cup? Why couldn't he do that today

After seeing the one he gave for them I am lost for words, if thats a penalty there has to be a penalty on every single corner in every single game.

[Josh]

First not a penalty for me but Hoawrd was a good foot off his line when it was takem

I don't even know why that's still a rule, I don't think I've seen it enforced more than twice, every goalkeeper is always 2-3 yards off their line

[Rover & Out]

I don't think anybody can fault the performance today.

If we play to that standard for the remainder of the season then we will not be relegated.

Formica more than deserves a place in the starting line-up and should never have been dropped in the first place.

You'd have to question Kean's team selection (i.e. Roberts and no Formica) but that wasn't the reason we lost.

The Everton penalty is up their with the worst i've seen; similar to the Blackpool one at home against us last year!!

[Mc Love]

Hopefully Souness's lady luck will show her head!

[Tom]

I don't think anybody can fault the performance today.

In the first half I can, it was a total non event, the forced changes helped us out. Sadly I think it will take an injury for Roberts to lose his place

[beerwins]

Pundits are great are'nt they!! we win two penalties but neither of them were penalties because the player went down too easy, if it had been Man U it would have been why has the defender not been sent off.

I find it amazing that they wonder why attendances are dropping, maybe they should do a piece on equality, both of our penalties were a fair shout for a penalty, yes he went down easy but the first rule of a defender is stay on your feet, did Samba and Givet do that all day? yes they did and did it help? Did it hell.

[Tom]

Shearer said both ours were penalties

[Plastic Head]

Doesn't that tell you how poor he was overall? He was so random with his decision making and cautions that at one point it became laughable. He gave Everton a corner and realised he had made a mistake so from the resulting corner he 'found' a foul and gave us a free kick. I'm not blaming him for the defeat but he just added to the frustration with his erratic and inconsistent performance. The fact that he is now considered one of Englands top referees tells you everything about the current standard.

Don't be sidetracked by a referee, they are all mostly sh...

Ultimately, managers are responsible for results and if they don't get good ones they go.

Or at least they usually do. Perhaps when someone is represented by the clubs' owners things are different.

[Rover & Out]

In the first half I can, it was a total non event, the forced changes helped us out. Sadly I think it will take an injury for Roberts to lose his place

First half I agree but overall, the performance was good.

I don't really know what to say about Roberts, it obviously pays to say and do the right things.

I'd love us to sign a few decent strikers and see how 'positive' he is on twitter when he's playing reserves every week!

[deryck guyler's spoon]

I thought the first half was a bit tepid. Rovers were a bit frenetic for me and I felt Everton kept the ball better but that's only to be expected given how long their team has been together.

I thought we were fresh and a real handful in the second half albeit assisted by Everton's traditional early season sluggishness. Formica is a real positive and whilst Hoilett has had better games I love having him in our team. Every time he gets the ball in the opposition half you feel that something will happen.

We look a decent side going forward and will be better in the fullness of time when the newcomers bed in. The worries are that we dont have time, we have a manager who is inexperienced and unlucky and we are going to miss Samba so much.

[Oklahoma]

I find it quite funny that after a week of people complaining that the team is losing their most experienced players in the PL, people also complain that Kean used them in the first team today.

I believe Kean used this starting line up because it was the more experienced we had.

And since we needed the 3 points, it makes sence.

I wouldn't chose that first 11 but I can understand it.

The Roberts substitution could have been earlier if it wasn't the last one. Personally, I don't like Roberts a bit, hope someone wants to buy him...

The players Kean brought into the team look good so far and can make an impact in the team in the near future...

Today's result was unlucky and totally unfair. Everton did nothing to deserve the win.

[MarkBRFC71]

Just watched Football First - IMO none of the penalties should have been given. Terrible officiating.

[garnersfags]

What happened to the senior players for the pens ? I thinking about one guy in particular who got God knows how many international caps, played God knows how many games for a great internatiol side, been doing a bit of shouting in the papers lately. How come he didn't say " Give me the bloody ball, I'll sort this out ! "

Sorry to go back to this quote but I really think the decision to allow Junior to take the first penalty was the difference between us winning and losing.

How could our under fire first choice centre forward (the guy who more than any other player is picked for his ability to score goals) not have the bottle to demand to take the pen? He should be desperate to take this easiest of chances to score. If he is not brave enough to take it, he does not deserve to be first choice striker.

Any of our experienced players - Emerton, Roberts, maybe even big Sam - should have taken responsibility. This is Keans job, to ensure Roberts knows he must take the next pen, as soon as Ped & Dunn are withdrawn.

I honestly believe that if we had scored the first pen, we would have taken all 3 points. It is small but pivotal decisions such as this (and the 'safe' but cowardly starting line up) that have resulted in Kean's appalling record.

I agree that we now have a young squad that can win Premier League games but it takes a good manager to win in this League, to instinctively make the right decisions at the right time.

I am still so so devastated by our start to the season. I am desperate to be considered and calm in all my comment and discussion but the passion wells up inside me every time I am confronted with what is happening to the club that I love.

[Plastic Head]

Kean can lose 38 games this season and still not get the sack as long as Jerome Anderson is advising the owners...

Advising himself is he?

[grizfoot]

You can blame Venky's and Kean for a lot of things but today's defeat is not one of them. We hit the post, missed two penalties and had Tim Howard perform a remarkable save. We totally outplayed Everton, a team that finished 7th last season, for large parts of the game. The first 10 minutes of the second half we had Everton pinned back in their own third.

Got to feel a bit unfortunately that our main penalty taker Dunn went off and I'm guessing our second choice taker Pedersen had also gone off. Although I'd argue that we may not have got the penalties in the first place without the forced subs. Formica really was brilliant when he came on, he's got a great first touch, vision and rarely gives the ball away. Won two penalties with his tricky, looked nailed on at the time although the second of the two on reflection may seem a bit harsh. But then you look at Everton's penalty which was quite laughable, whether the two players jumping for the ball confused the ref I don't know. But Afro didn't even make an attempt to get the ball and Samba won a clean header but gravity defines he's going to come down on top of him if he's stood still backing into him.

Never a good sign that you play so well and lose. But there is plenty of positives to take away from today's game that was our best performance of the season so far. Formica needs to be starting every game, him along with Hoilett carry our main attacking threat. We are still desperately in need of a striker though, Roberts isn't good enough although for how awful he was today I felt for him, didn't win a single header in the air all day. Goodwillie did more in twenty minutes than Roberts did in the entire game. It's starting to get embarrassing everyone knows Roberts is the weak link and the substitution was an inevitably, only the fact we had one remaining sub delayed the introduction of Goodwillie for so long.

A defeat and still no points. But I feel a lot more positive after today's performance play like that this season and we'll be fine.

[FourLaneBlue]

Some bad confrontations in the BBE today with the fans....we cant go on like this.

Between fans arguing amongst themselves?

[USABlue]

Just seen Evertons 'penalty' and listened to Moyes lying through his teeth by saying samba had his hands on Fellini's shoulders preventing him jumping. Samba never laid a hand on Fellini's shoulders nor had any contact until after he had completely outjumped Fellini and headed the ball away. An absolutely dreadful decision by a absolutely incompetent referee.

100% Agree, Samba just plainly outjumped the Everton player and came down on them. Diabolical decision. Our own fault for missing two pens. I also thought we should have had a pen in the first half Howard clearly took our man out with his feet before he ever touched the ball. Now we have to stew over this one for two weeks. We did not score today so who will Kean drop next week I mean if a player scores he likes to bench em for the next week. I hope the Venky's took note of how immense Samba was today. Despite a gut wrenching defeat I fell some optimism. So if we do fire Kean who do we replace him with anyway.

How can you blame Steve Kean for today?

If he didn't pick the right team, which team would you have picked.

And if he'd played all the new boys straight from the kick-off and we'd still lost you would have blamed him again for doing so.

If you believe in luck; that SK is an unlucky manager whereas RFW is a lucky one, then maybe you all have a point.

Back to the game. I had a feeling we would lose 1-0 today. It was Everton's turn to win. (Superstition again, hey?)

We deserved to win this game 4-1.

I am very encouraged by the performance of the players today. I believe it's not all doom and gloom. We have to back the whole club; that includes players, manager, backroom staff and owners.

We WILL come out of it; I'm convinced.

My biggest criticism of Kean for today is not starting Goodwillie, clearly this kid has more of an eye for goal than Roberts ever thought of having.

Lets hope Dunn and Gamst are out for the season....

I think Dunny has been playing quite well so far, he is definately up for it and I'm loving his aggression

[Mc Love]

Everybody keeps saying the same thing that we totally outplayed Everton and yet we finished up with SFA! Kean is the only one I think is accountable.

[waggy]

watched the game last night and how we lost is beyond me,maybe its keans fault for not taking the penaltys himself.best moment was the fight just after half time between a vietnamese hooker and a cambodian bar girl