[Archived] Blackburn Vs Arsenal

[Stuart]

So you are glossing over striking the woodwork twice, totally dominating the game and being cheated in the last minute by utter incompetence?

Nobody should be daft enough to believe that our troubles are over by any means after yesterday but honestly, there are people on here who are gutted that we won. Mr E even admitted as much.

Dreadful.

Glossing over, no. But you can't miss two penalties and bemoan bad luck.

Rest of your post I agree with.

[imy9]

Glossing over, no. But you can't miss two penalties and bemoan bad luck.

Rest of your post I agree with.

I would say bad luck when one of the pens hits the post and the opposition are given a pen when it blatantly was never one.

[chris]

Cant help but think we would have got beat 3-2 without those OG's yesterday

To be honest he is right, I can't help but think we would have lost 3-0 without Yakubu plus what he said).

Anyway PL football is always about fine lines.

some of Yakubu's touches put Rovers over that fine line lol with Roberts it would have been a frustrating game.

[Amo]

To be honest he is right, I can't help but think we would have lost 3-0 without Yakubu plus what he said).

Anyway PL football is always about fine lines.

some of Yakubu's touches put Rovers over that fine line lol with Roberts it would have been a frustrating game.

And if I can't help thinking we'd have beaten Everton if we converted those penalties.

I've never understood why people enjoy lamenting a victory. We won, nothing more, nothing less.

[Rover_Shaun]

I've never understood why people enjoy lamenting a victory.

So as soon as the final whistle went in Cardiff you left the ground immediately and never gave it a 2nd thought?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Grow up. Arsenal threw that game away as much as we won it. Im a fan, believe me, Id love to say that we ran Arsenal ragged, but we didnt. Arsenal scored two own goals. I believe we had about 3 shots on target and scored 4 times. To see Arsenal disintegrate like that was the big deal about yesterday from a neutral's point of view.

I know its fun to believe that there is a media conspiracy against Rovers but please, you cannot honestly fail to understand that Arsenal conceding 2 own goals, 4 goals away to the bottom team in the division and twice throwing away a lead, is bigger news then Blackburn winning??? Its not nice, but its not hard to understand.

Got to agree with a lot of that. I watched it on MOTD last night and again this morning. I'm absolutely over the moon about the win and the 3 points especially given the fact that a lot of " relegation candidates " won handsomely yesterday. Having said that on another day that could have been a real banging if lady luck hadn't have smiled on us, the two own goals were two of the softest OG's you'll ever see and without them we'd have probably got beaten. We still don't seem to have any sort of shape defensively, their first goal being a classic example. They were allowed to stroll around in centre midfield while we backed off and allowed the Arsenal player to pick his pass at leasure. Other people have said we can't play both Formica and Rochina, I agree with that one. Ollsen has got to start out wide on the left , every man and his dog who watch Rovers will know he's our most effective left hand midfield player, why doesn't Kean ? Another thing, let's not get carried away with the young lads performance at right back. He gave it a go but on occasions his positional play wasn't great, it's not realistic to expect him to slot in straight away, having said that he was an improvement on Salgado pace wise.

For me and I think several others the crux of the problem is centre midfield, without J Jones we're far too easily bypassed and really lack athleticism in those positions. I'd give Grella at least a half there against Orient and see how he performs. I know Grella and athleticism don't belong in the same sentence but I think we need to try him out. I'd give Lowe another game at right back and Hanley another game at centre half with Goodwillie up front in the Orient match. For Newcastle I'd go-

Robbo

Lowe

Samba

Dann

Givet

Hoilett

Grella if fit

Nzonzi

Ollsen

Rochina

Yakubu

It's a real shame we lost J Jones, I think the formula of two defensive centre mids, two flyers out wide and a link player working between the centre mids and the lone striker suited our playing staff best of all. Especially now we may have a lone striker who can actually score goals.

[dopper69]

Fantastic result yesterday, I didn't think that we could pull that out of the bag!

The injury time was real backs to the wall defending and it was so relieving when the final whistle went. SK got a good slice of luck yesterday which makes up for the poor luck in the first few games. Can't have been many seasons were we have made a better start than Arsenal!

Onwards and upwards COYB

[Amo]

So as soon as the final whistle went in Cardiff you left the ground immediately and never gave it a 2nd thought?

If you mean, I enjoyed the moment and didn't bother myself with pointless hypotheses, then yes, yes I did.

[soul boy]

Cant help but think we would have got beat 3-2 without those OG's yesterday.

Yep,then again we would have lost 0-10 but for Robbo,2 o.g's,Yak and Ollson.that's football for you,one minute your on the floor the next your flying high.

[jim mk2]

While I'm delighted with the win Rovers got away with murder defensively yesterday and if we continue to play like that over the course of the season we will be in big trouble.

[braddock]

While I'm delighted with the win Rovers got away with murder defensively yesterday and if we continue to play like that over the course of the season we will be in big trouble.

Perhaps if we play Arsenal every week we'd be in trouble. If it was QPR ripping us apart you might have a point.

[Stuart]

I would say bad luck when one of the pens hits the post and the opposition are given a pen when it blatantly was never one.

In which case you'd be missing the point, imy.

Unless the ball was kept out by a low flying pidgeon or falling debris from an orbitting satellite, there is no bad luck in missing a penalty.

Bad judgement, bad technique, bad timing, yes. Bad luck, no.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Perhaps if we play Arsenal every week we'd be in trouble. If it was QPR ripping us apart you might have a point.

I watched QPR on MOTD last night, they'll give us a game matey don't worry about that.

[Stuart]

I would say bad luck when one of the pens hits the post and the opposition are given a pen when it blatantly was never one.

In which case you'd be missing the point, imy.

Unless the ball was kept out by a low flying pidgeon or falling debris from an orbitting satellite, there is no bad luck in missing a penalty.

Bad judgement, bad technique, bad timing, yes. Bad luck, no.

[Guest Wen Y Hu]

Parsonblue's Arsenal match report is now published to the front page here.

[Tom]

I can't help thinking we would have won 6-0 yesterday if Samba converted his easy header, Formica scored and they didn't score any

[slough_rover]

I can't help thinking we would have won 6-0 yesterday if Samba converted his easy header, Formica scored and they didn't score any

Just like we would have won 1-0 at Utd last season if they didnt score their 7 goals...

[Fife Rover]

I hadn't watched MOTD until last night, for a number of reasons but mostly due to the ######-poor production and Rovers' wobbly start to the season.

Let's begin with Shearer's "Before we get onto Arsenal, let's give Blackburn credit..." Practically admitting that our performance was an afterthought.... and then he went straight on to talk about Arsenal anyway! It all came down to pointing out Arsenal's defensive lapses, which were there for all to see. As always, it's the big club which loses, not the underdog who wins.

I thought the whole point of hiring "expert" pundits is so they can give insight into the game which escapes the common fan? You know, analyzing tactics, formations, substitutions, that sorta thing?

I found myself shaking my head in disbelief throughout most of the show, with such gems as Shearer's "Bad day at the office" summary of Wolves, and Lawro's verdict that WBA will stay up 'cos Hodgson's a "wily old fox". I mean, what on earth are we paying these guys for? That show needs a total overhaul. It's been far too cosy for far too long.

Why do you watch it then? I haven't watched it for several years now. NO NOT EVEN ONCE! And the reason being that rational and fair critiques of football matches no longer exist.....end of! ONLY THE BIG CLUBS count these days, the rest are just put up for them to beat. You should all know that by now.

[chris]

I can't help thinking we would have won 6-0 yesterday if Samba converted his easy header, Formica scored and they didn't score any

maybe but I have bigger concerns I can't help but think this game would have never took place if football had not been invented.

[Andy]

In which case you'd be missing the point, imy.

Unless the ball was kept out by a low flying pidgeon or falling debris from an orbitting satellite, there is no bad luck in missing a penalty.

Bad judgement, bad technique, bad timing, yes. Bad luck, no.

Yeah, exactly - you can't blame bad luck for missing two penalties.

It's poor technique as, if you hit a penalty well enough, no 'keeper will be saving it.

As for the penalty at the other end, again, nothing to do with luck.

Bad tackle? Not really.

Poor judgement from the ref? Almost certainly.

But bad luck? No chance.

[1864roverite]

Each and everyone of our members are entitled to their own opinoon so I cant be bothered reading them all.

I am firmly in the Kean out clan but I didnt feel the need to march on Ewood yesterday demanding he be sacked. Back in my favourite stand after a 2 game sabbatical in the BBurn End and what a differnece it made !

I predicted a 4-0 Arsenal rapeing of our club, glad I was totally wrong. I hoped Kean would have gone before the game becasue I really dont rate him.

HOWEVER

I have to take my hat off to him for yesterday. Far too often we have seen a Rovers team come out in the second half and be totally inept. Yesterday something happened to change that.

Looking at the line up I was astounded to see young Lowe in midfield with the bench littered with midfielders. I knew instantly that we woiuld buckle in that area with the youngster being pulled over the place, even more so with the ever slowing Salgado still at right back, the one position where we have been destroyed in 4 games this season. The other players selected looked up and Samba was quite rightly reinstated as Captain. I couldnt grasp the exclusion of Ollsson.

After 10 or so minutes Rovers were all over the place and then Salgado gets taken off. Whether he was ill, injured or whether it was tactical it was the right decision. If he was ill before the game he should never have played. Placing Lowe in the right back slot worked because it allowed NZonzi to team up with Petrovic in the central berths, 2 young solid players who can run, tackle and hold the ball. It was at this point that I believe Rovers had some belief. Although we equalised against the run of play it was a class finish by Yakubu. ultimately Rovers wnet down 2-1 at the interval and I really feared for us.

The second half was a total change. We saw fight, effort, tactical awareness and a willingness to run. We got lucky woth an own goal equaliser but you have to make your own luck. Effort gets rewarded as does endeavour. When Yakubu slotted home number 3 from a dodgy offside position you got the feeling it was our day even more so when Arsenal notched our 4th goal. When Arsenal scored their own 3rd goal you got the feeling we could easily buckle, but we held out, we got lucky and we won 4-3.

A fantastically deserved win IMO and one that the team was rewarded with 3 vital points.

The points I make from the game.

My lucky blue undies came out of retirement and are now back in the frame on matchdays.

Ruben needs to understand that against teams like Arsenal you cant dribble past 5 players and that you must play the easy ball.

Hoillett needs to track back some more to lighten Givets load.

Formica could well be the fox in the box and playmaker if he can just muscle up a little.

Salgado - the end is nigh.

Robinson still easily Englands number 1 keeper.

In NZonzi and Petrovic I think we are going to see a quality central midfield pairing. They need some more games to learn each others game but they played very well.

Now then onto Kean. Credit where its due. He stood up and was counted. Yes he got a lucky result but he didnt hide nor did he shy away when Arsenal scored. That being said, the next game will mark his card. he must look at Orient and play Petrovic and NZonzi for the first 45 just for experience. He must hope Roberts can give him food for thought because I think we may have seen the beginning of a decent squad taking place. Granted, 1 result doesnt right everything but there is some quality football being played its not all hoof ball, we play the ball out and the midfield are playing pass and move football.

Upwards and onwards

[JAL]

I can't help thinking we would have won 6-0 yesterday if Samba converted his easy header, Formica scored and they didn't score any

We conceded three goals at home and could have easily conceded more yesterday !

[Blue n White Rover]

Salgado was holding his calf before he was replaced. I'm presuming it was an injury forced substitution (again) as opposed to a tactical switch.

[Tom]

We conceded three goals at home and could have easily conceded more yesterday !

But you know what? 4-3

In every single game you ever play you can say 'We could have scored here' 'they should have scored there'

For me we got the luck back that we lost against Everton, the other games have gone roughly with the flow of the game.

[4000Holes]

Each and everyone of our members are entitled to their own opinoon so I cant be bothered reading them all.

I am firmly in the Kean out clan but I didnt feel the need to march on Ewood yesterday demanding he be sacked. Back in my favourite stand after a 2 game sabbatical in the BBurn End and what a differnece it made !

I predicted a 4-0 Arsenal rapeing of our club, glad I was totally wrong. I hoped Kean would have gone before the game becasue I really dont rate him.

HOWEVER

I have to take my hat off to him for yesterday. Far too often we have seen a Rovers team come out in the second half and be totally inept. Yesterday something happened to change that.

Looking at the line up I was astounded to see young Lowe in midfield with the bench littered with midfielders. I knew instantly that we woiuld buckle in that area with the youngster being pulled over the place, even more so with the ever slowing Salgado still at right back, the one position where we have been destroyed in 4 games this season. The other players selected looked up and Samba was quite rightly reinstated as Captain. I couldnt grasp the exclusion of Ollsson.

After 10 or so minutes Rovers were all over the place and then Salgado gets taken off. Whether he was ill, injured or whether it was tactical it was the right decision. If he was ill before the game he should never have played. Placing Lowe in the right back slot worked because it allowed NZonzi to team up with Petrovic in the central berths, 2 young solid players who can run, tackle and hold the ball. It was at this point that I believe Rovers had some belief. Although we equalised against the run of play it was a class finish by Yakubu. ultimately Rovers wnet down 2-1 at the interval and I really feared for us.

The second half was a total change. We saw fight, effort, tactical awareness and a willingness to run. We got lucky woth an own goal equaliser but you have to make your own luck. Effort gets rewarded as does endeavour. When Yakubu slotted home number 3 from a dodgy offside position you got the feeling it was our day even more so when Arsenal notched our 4th goal. When Arsenal scored their own 3rd goal you got the feeling we could easily buckle, but we held out, we got lucky and we won 4-3.

A fantastically deserved win IMO and one that the team was rewarded with 3 vital points.

The points I make from the game.

My lucky blue undies came out of retirement and are now back in the frame on matchdays.

Ruben needs to understand that against teams like Arsenal you cant dribble past 5 players and that you must play the easy ball.

Hoillett needs to track back some more to lighten Givets load.

Formica could well be the fox in the box and playmaker if he can just muscle up a little.

Salgado - the end is nigh.

Robinson still easily Englands number 1 keeper.

In NZonzi and Petrovic I think we are going to see a quality central midfield pairing. They need some more games to learn each others game but they played very well.

Now then onto Kean. Credit where its due. He stood up and was counted. Yes he got a lucky result but he didnt hide nor did he shy away when Arsenal scored. That being said, the next game will mark his card. he must look at Orient and play Petrovic and NZonzi for the first 45 just for experience. He must hope Roberts can give him food for thought because I think we may have seen the beginning of a decent squad taking place. Granted, 1 result doesnt right everything but there is some quality football being played its not all hoof ball, we play the ball out and the midfield are playing pass and move football.

Upwards and onwards