[Archived] Fulham Preview

[Stuart]

Reminds me of how we played under Ken before we signed JJ. He really gave us that bite in the middle of the park which stopped teams simply passing through us. Thankfully, Dann looked strong at the back and Givet also pulled out a couple of goal-saving tackles when he was moved inside.

Petrovic doesn't look the same kinda player as JJ. He looked very poor today, however, I'm not gonna judge him yet until he's had a series of games under his belt.

The team did look incredibly disorganised and leggy in places. We do have the makings of a good side - Hoilett, Formica & Rochina are all talented players, and there's now strength at the back with Dann, but we lack a true manager who can fashion these players into an effective outfit.

To be honest, a draw means little to me. I was hoping for all or nothing. That's probably the first time I've ever considered Rovers losing and I feel a little ashamed for it, but it just goes to show how frustrated I am with the situation. Venky's need to take action and put this whole sorry episode behind them and hire an experienced manager.

Spot on observation Topman. We may come to regret not shelling out the money required for JJ, and instead spending it on Petrovic and Slew.

This Summer was not a time to be buidling for the future but for plugging some gaping holes. I can only assume Vukcevic is not fit for him not to replace Dunn but if that's the case, why have him on the bench at all?

[Tom]

Too much worry tonight with some serious family hospital worries so not going mad. Crap from what I saw 2nd half very very poor . Kean out

All the best mate, fingers crossed for you.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

"overall I thought we were excellent today"

Christ almighty PLEASE deliver us from this tool Kean!!

[John]

Look like a bunch of strangers, some much needed good defending. Quite concerning looking at our next few fixtures.

Seems all a bit flat when we play at the moment.

[Balwer]

Just once, I'd love one of the Sky interviewers to say.

"C'mon Steve, cut the BS, your side were awful. Don't you think your position is untenable?"

"You doughnut"

I want them to ask him about what we can expect from An Idiot Abroad 2.

[67splitscreen]

Tired of his clue decisions and embarrassingly deluded appraisals of our games.

Owners due in for the next two home games, time to rip into him.

[roverandout]

i just take kean's comments and pretend they flipped backwards so then i hear him talking sense, cant listen to anything he says otherwise and when hes on tv i just turn the sound off because i cant stand his smug ugly face.

[otto man]

Just don't know what to say. Terrible performance! Schwartzer should have walked for that challenge, but that aside. I can't remember the last time we rolled over and died like that. KEAN HAS TO GO NOW. What the hell are they doing to the club I love?

KEAN OUT!

[chris]

Robbo 7 Did his job

Salgado 5 still a weak link

Dann 7 only for the fact he has not pplayed since han, rusty though

Samba 6 did his job

Givet 5 and 8 left back rubbish, CB great

(Olssen 6 did ok left back still exposed, better then Givet)

Dunn 7 Thought he did a good job

Nzonzi 5 offers nothing

Rochina 7 good game, defensively worrying

Holliet 6 tracking back poor, offensive didn't quite work

Formica 6 looked lightweight and struggled to get in the game

Goodwillie 5 Out classed, didn't look up or have awareness

Petrovic 5 looked s bit nervous on the ball, very average

Lowe ? didn't really see him touch the ball

[Pinch]

Reminds me of how we played under Ken before we signed JJ. He really gave us that bite in the middle of the park which stopped teams simply passing through us. Thankfully, Dann looked strong at the back and Givet also pulled out a couple of goal-saving tackles when he was moved inside.

Petrovic doesn't look the same kinda player as JJ. He looked very poor today, however, I'm not gonna judge him yet until he's had a series of games under his belt.

The team did look incredibly disorganised and leggy in places. We do have the makings of a good side - Hoilett, Formica & Rochina are all talented players, and there's now strength at the back with Dann, but we lack a true manager who can fashion these players into an effective outfit.

To be honest, a draw means little to me. I was hoping for all or nothing. That's probably the first time I've ever considered Rovers losing and I feel a little ashamed for it, but it just goes to show how frustrated I am with the situation. Venky's need to take action and put this whole sorry episode behind them and hire an experienced manager.

It's baffling how bad our midfield was in the second half - just a constant scramble of bodies, no real marking at all- chaos.

Rochina was one of the few Rovers who looked comfortable on the ball - and then he goes off?! I've got nothing against Lowe, but what was the objective there? Sit on a point while having none of the possession? Good one. And I guess Kean is already telling the press how well it worked today.

[BRFC1995]

So after the next game it will almost certainly be 2 wins in 20

resulting in 12 points from 60 I think, may be less

ince went with 13 points from 51

it makes no sense

[OsloRover]

Miraculous point gained considering our terrible second half performance. The players seem a lot less fit than they did only a year ago.

There is no shape to the team and even I would actually prefer to see Kean go.

Ratings (out of 10, though you're not going to see many of those):

Robinson: 7 - Solid as usual. probably our MOM.

Salgado: 5 - Didn't do as badly as some people think but still needs competition/replacing

Dann: 6 - Good game one blunder apart. Will be an important player for us.

Samba: 5 - Decent half

Givet: 5 - Pulled apart by Duff in the first half, commanding center back performance in the second

Rochina: 5 - Wonder strike but needs to learn to pass. Should have picked out Formica or Goodwillie for an early first goal instead of giving the ball to Schwarcer.

Dunn: 5 - Quite good half from the capt'n. One of our best passers and I can see why Kean wants him in a sort of anchor playmaker role.

Nzonzi: 5 - It's not a great sign that this kid seems to be our best midfielder. Tidy, but no passion and he seems to always slow things down.

Hoilett: 6 - Easily our most dangerous player, but we rely too much on him which makes him less effective. Hope he's all right.

Formica: 4 - Good technique but never threatened the goal.

Goodwillie: 4 - Didn't see much of the ball but just didn't look dangerous at all.

Lacked a physical presence up top against a poor home defense.

Subs

Olsson: 4 - Solidified the defense, offered little else.

Petrovic: 2 - Looks nowhere near the required level, I'd rather have Keith back. Only avoids a 1 due to not making any horrendous mistakes.

Lowe : 4 - Looked ok when he came on, not involved in much.

[The Rover of Finland]

WTF,,,the second half was really awful and this clown says we were excellent. It´s a miracle we took a point but actually had a great chance to take all three. If Vukcevic was brought in instead of Lowe we could have scored from that free kick. The lad can score from those better than anyone we have had in a 17 years I have lived with the club.

How on earth Kean didn´t take Goodie out?? He was limping 80mins plus extras. Why didn´t he give Yak a chance?? Why Love, not Vukcevic? Why are all our players picking injuries? Isn´t Dunny and Grella enough?

Happy with the point but halves like the second will relegate us.

VENKY´S,,DO A FAVOUR FOR US AND FOR YOURSELFS AND SACK HIM!!!

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Goodwillie 5 Out classed, didn't look up or have awareness

Agreed. Looked a headless Chicken at times but a young inexperienced lad up front cant do it all alone.

Wolves,Everton and Fulham,all relatively poor/average sides and 1 solitary point taken.

[ada2020]

Terrible performance, terrible match.

Has the clown been sacked yet?.....

[Nelsta]

Watched this with a Man Utd fan, All he said was "wow, cant wait to play your lot".

Arsenal next week is looking like another beating.

[sharpysharps]

In the 2nd half defensively rovers were decent, dann looks a solid signing and givet is clearly better at cb than left back. Going forward was pretty woeful. Despite his awesome goal Rochina is like a broken record when bringing the ball out from defence. I lost count of the amount of times he gave the ball away trying to bring it out from the back when under pressure. Formica was not as lively, and Goodwillie was clearly struggling with his hamstring in the 1st half but yet was kept on for the entire game, and that to me means very bad managing. We have a new striker in Yakubu with proven premiership quality sitting on the bench whilst Goody struggles with an injury for 60 minutes or so. Baffled by Vuckevic not playing, he is supposedly a different class to the other creative players we have, maybe he has a little knock from playing for Montenegro or something...

I suppose you have to say a point away from home and at fulham is a decent result but it should have been a defeat had it not been for some good saves from Robbo and the two centre halves. I fear for rovers against Arsenal if Kean is still in charge and I think he really needs to realise that he just annoys the hell out of us all every time he denies he is under pressure. Since when was Dunn captain as well? Terrible choice of captain in my opinion as he can't hack it for a full 90 and usually gets himself injured after 2 or 3 games in the team. I love the guy but he is no leader like Samba, i'd actually rather Scott Dann was given the armband.

All in all Kean needs to go. We need 4 points from the next 2 games to really kick on and I'd be amazed if we get 1 point. Sack him!

[Andy]

It was inevitable we were going to take something, irrespective of how bad we were - Fulham were the last team on a tasty weekend accumulator

Rovers were poor though and I'm sure even the biggest of wind-up merchants on here won't even both trying to defend the indefendable.

Rochina's strike and a couple of Robbo saves aside, I really can't think of anything positive to take from that performance.

We only took a point due to Fulham's inability to pose any kind of meaningful threat going forward.

Keep Kean and we're going down, simple.

[ABBEY]

Saw your tweet Abbey, understandable. All the best to you and your family.

Cheers, I'm on grandad duty at the mo .it's not good but we are praying she hangs in for a week at least.

[Scott18]

Agreed. Looked a headless Chicken at times but a young inexperienced lad up front cant do it all alone.

Wolves,Everton and Fulham,all relatively poor/average sides and 1 solitary point taken.

He was injured from the 15th minute and it was pretty obvious, he has quite a bit more pace than he showed today, he wasn't making the runs like he did for Scotland. A fully fit Goodwillie would have been a lot better IMO.

[beastlove]

Can anyone tell me why Samba wasn't captain today? Seemed really odd that he went off at half time as well.

We should have lost today. Worst second half I have seen for a while. I think Arsenal game will decide Keens fate. If we get smashed he will have to go

[1864roverite]

An away point is a point gained.

Reality is that we were awful, Fulham were no better. This weekend I have seen that WBA, Bolton, Wigan and Norwich are equally as poor as us.

Kean has to go now, he is totally unremarkable, a complete clown and an utter buffoon.

There is something very clearly wrong within the club and personally I think it stems from Kean himself.

[texasrover]

"It (the speculation) doesn't affect me, honestly. I have the dressing room and the backing of the owners. If the fans stay with us, we'll see many away performances like that where we win more than one point.

"I'm sure if the fans stay with us we'll finish in the top half."

It's weird, it's almost like Kean has reverted to blaming the fans for the team's poor performance and lack of points. Running out of excuses?

[Mercer]

Main observations:

Very fortunate that Fulham were so bad in the final third.

We conceded far too much space, particularly until the injuries worked in our favour and then we tightened it a tad.

Amazed how unfit we look. From being super fit under Hughes and Sam, we have players blowing their @rses-off after 20 minutes. As Neville said, we looked so leggy.

We don't look like a unit but rather, in the main, a collection of individuals.

Kean now has 2 wins and 13 points from the last 18 PL games. This is as good as it will get under this clown and unless he's replaced, we are going down.

[Speedie Dived]

Worryingly both Formica and Goodwillie had several chances to pass when the other was in a better position, but chose to shoot. Goodwillie especially appears selfish