[Archived] Blackburn Rovers v Stoke City Preview

[thenodrog]

A very poor performance , I have come to the conclusion our owners are just going to let us get relegated ...They have no duty of care towards BRFC ....

Well done but way too late. It was patently obvious before a ball was even kicked this season waggy76.

[walk down bolton road]

Couldn't agree more , it's the weakness in midfield, especially centre midfield that will see us go down. We''ve neither shape or balance and we don't work hard enough off the ball. You watch Barca with the players they've got and they still work like demons to get the ball back and then make options for the player in possession. We do none of these things.

These 2 posts are spot on,we are terrible when we do not have the ball.

You would have thought our" Brilliant " manager would have this sussed,there again he has been working on keeping clean sheets for 12 months with no effect whatsoever.

[LDRover]

Its all well and good getting men behind the ball and defending deep against good teams. The top six tend to want to pass it through and by defending in numbers the space is limited so it works if you defend with discipline. Sunderland did this excellently against city yesterday.

However, playing against a team like Stoke invites the ball into the box from dangerous areas up to 30 yards out. It's hardly surprising that Crouch bagged a couple. Against the mid to low teams we have to press the ball in the opposition half, theres no point backing off, it makes poor, limited teams look dangerous.

Not that Kean will be too bothered about that, he'll dine out on the United result well into the summer.

[AllRoverAsia]

My internet connection was bad so didn't really see the game properly. Got a reasonable go at Peds tackle on Kean but he should have followed through.

What sad times we are in where Desai and her barsteward brothers cannot be held accountable. Anyone up for a Pune holiday?

What was the crowd atmosphere like? nothing came across on my crap connection.

[jim mk2]

I'll eat my battered old flat cap if we win this.

After the freak win at Old Trafford I expect normal Kean service to be resumed.

Rovers 1 Stoke 2

Memo to self: Put money on it next time.

[cn174]

What was the crowd atmosphere like? nothing came across on my crap connection.

The crowd were very good I thought. Not sure who Kean will blame now, must've been a pure fluke that we lost.

[thenodrog]

Memo to self: Put money on it next time.

Me too. As my kids left for the match I said Stoke will win 0-2 or 1-2 and Crouch will score cos he always does. They looked at me with the contempt my parents expressed whenever Lord Haw Haw's name was mentioned.

[AllRoverAsia]

Memo to self: Put money on it next time.

What odds?

[Waggy76]

Well done but way too late. It was patently obvious before a ball was even kicked this season waggy76.

Yes , I lived in hope !

[pick32]

We looked a real threat form set pieces today but besides that we looked like we ran out of ideas and throwing samba upfront left us short at the back for the counter.

[AllRoverAsia]

Yes , I lived in hope !

We all do - never give up.

[K-Hod]

Same sh1t different day. Apologies if reading my posts after match is like deja vu, but then again so is watching us...

Appalling, only turned up 2nd half, even then, our standard undoing of ourselves by giving two goals away.

Stoke are very difficult to play against, and get up[ to every trick in the book, but we know that, or at least should!!!!!!

[sharpysharps]

verage performance overall i'd say, i've seen better and i've seen worse this season.

Average however is not good enough to beat Stoke. They are a quality side and very hard working. They have a solid backline that never really ever looked worried. Most of our chances were a bit scrambly, including the goal. I am pleased to see Goodwillie get a goal but it counts for nothing really. Formica worked hard as usual and I thought Nzonzi was ok. Just don't get the point in Petrovic though. I would rather have Andrews in the midfield than him as Keith at least knows how to get forward. Petrovic is one of the most negatuve and wimpish midfielders I have seen in a while. He doesn't challenge for the ball in the air despite being fairly tall. This is an essential part of being a midfielder and yet he seems scared to put a challenge in. Tackling with his feet is not much better.

Pedersen is fast becoming a joke of a footballer. With the exception of tackling Kean he didn't do much today and has no presence on the football pitch.

I expect more of the same in the Fulham game, minus maybe one or two players as they will have been moved on to balance the books.

[DE.]

Before I forget, I saw some "fans" getting Kean's autograph before the match started... unless they're planning to forge said signature onto some illegal documents that's absolutely disgraceful behaviour.

[JAL]

How, just how, can you buy, sorry pay money, to play Petrovic, Formica, and Dunn, you could have picked three fans from out of the crowd and they'd have made the same contribution.

What was all the long high ball stuff in the first part of the second half about ?

Yet again Yakubu stood out, all alone in a crowd of mediocrity. For him i'm grateful for as he at least kept Rovers in this match by dominating Shawcross throughout the game.

[Blue blood]

Just back and very dejected.

It seems as though the monkey managed to write Hamlet but failed with MacBeth.

The biggest weakness in the team (have not looked what others have put) is the midfield. It has to be the worst midfield in the history of the premier league. Awful does not begin to describe it. They offer NO protection to the back four. They offer NO creativity or attacking threat whatsoever. And they have NO shape whatsoever.

We only look threatening at set pieces and even then we don't get too many of those. We do not look like creating anything at any point, there's no movement. And defensively we let Stoke have time on the ball and time to shoot repeatedly. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that our midfield is badly costing us games.

Close behind in awfulness comes Kean's signings (Yakubu aside). Petrovic was anonymous - not sure even what "type" of midfielder he is meant to be. Formica was poor - for a wide midfielder he played far too narrow. The lad has talent but had no end product on today's performance. He had acres of space out wide crying out to be exploited but used absolutely none of it. As for Goodwillie goal aside, he looks awful. What on earth was that shot all about from near the halfway line? No pace or threat whatsoever - would rather have Roberts which is saying something.

Thought stoke eased off in the second half, which has to go down as one of the worst 45 minutes of football I've ever seen. Even when we (very surprisingly) got the goal we never looked like getting anything. Incidentally when was the last time we had a good second half - we once again looked very lacklustre after half time. Whether it's poor team talks or whether it's a lack of fitness or something else I'm unsure, but our second half performance once again looked shaky.

We can't sell Samba this window - he is immense both forward and in defence. Vital that we keep him, one of the few who really stands out as caring and having the talent to make a difference. Thought Pedersen blew hot and cold. Some excellent support of Yakubu in the first half and good corners were countered with some poor throws and a badly wasted chance in the second half. Still think he offers more than a lot of other plays though - including the frustration that comes with him.

Positives - Henley looks a prospect, if a tad raw. We started ok and were unlucky not to have a goal. Samba was unlucky hitting the bar and not sure why our goal was ruled out. In fact if we'd have played like we did the first 15-20 mins we may well have got something. Sadly 20 minutes does not make a match and on the balance of play we deserved nothing. Seeing stoke pass it about like they were Brazil in the second half has to be one of the most damning scenes in Kean's tenure as "manager."

Wondering how this was the team that managed to beat manure the other day. This performance had relegation written all over it.

[Audax]

I thought this game might be a banana peel. I thought trying not to lose in this instance even if meaning a draw was a better course to take. Why did I feel like this could end up in frustration, Stoke City has been playing relatively well... 1 loss in the last 7 or so.

[cn174]

Oh and what did Nzonzi do to deserve man of the match?!

Needs his eyes testing does that Peter Jackson

[cesus]

Oh and what did Nzonzi do to deserve man of the match?!

Needs his eyes testing does that Peter Jackson

I always think N'Zonzi gets away extremely lightly when we criticise our midfield, he for me is very much part of our worst midfield in premiership history! He doesn't get stuck in, he spends most of the game petulantly waving his arms about, he becomes 5'8 when it comes to winning the majority of aerial balls and don't even get me started on his passes! He will happily put his team mates under pressure just not to play a forwards pass.

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

Well that was crap. Underlined why kean isn't a manager.

You either start with the winning team from last week or you make a tactical decision to drop Henley and put Givet at the back because Stoke are direct.

Instead he does neither but brings Dunn back in.

The 4-2-3-1 or whatever the hell it was does not work with Dunn & Pedersen. They are too slow - we've known this for the last 3 years since Sam started it.

I thought Yakubu had a very good game considering the absolute lack of support.

Pedersen was a disgrace again today, how Simon can't get in ahead of him & Dunn is beyond me.

Stoke looked comfortable with all the long balls, our movement without Olssen and Hoilett is woeful.

Fans were excellent, hopefully that dispels the "we only lose because of the negative atmosphere crap".

Today it feels like our relegation was confirmed. Had we won, we'd be out but we've blown it.

That was keans' one game grace following the away performances. As expected he was found wanting again.

When the next home game rolls around we're likely to be minus Hoilett and possibly Samba (we won't miss Formica). With some no mark having replaced them.

Kean out

Venkys out

[beastlove]

We really lacked pace on the flanks today. When i look at Wigan , I can understand what the manager is trying to achieve. They play the same system and try to retain possession. They are down at the bottom because they have bad players but at least they have a game plan. I really cannot understand Keans game plan. For large periods of the game we simply booted the ball up to the yak. this in itself isn't a bad tactic but is useless when the nearest team mate is 10 meter away and no runners. Under Sam we a few players around the target man to win the second ball and break up play

[Blue blood]

We really lacked pace on the flanks today. When i look at Wigan , I can understand what the manager is trying to achieve. They play the same system and try to retain possession. They are down at the bottom because they have bad players but at least they have a game plan. I really cannot understand Keans game plan. For large periods of the game we simply booted the ball up to the yak. this in itself isn't a bad tactic but is useless when the nearest team mate is 10 meter away and no runners. Under Sam we a few players around the target man to win the second ball and break up play

This is what baffles me. What exactly are we trying to do? We buy players to play a style of flowing passing football similar to Swansea yet play a long ball style of game. It doesn't add up at all.

[broadsword]

Any 3 from 5 to go down now.

We'll be down before March is out.

I'm afraid I can only muster apathy. To continue to care is to be consigned to misery, wekk in, week out. The owners don't care as the club slides toward oblivion. There's not a single person at the club now who's got any idea how to sort this whole bloody mess out.

Only once Venky's have departed the scene and taken their bald love child with them can I begin to care again.

[Audax]

Fulham, ho ho, just went ahead of Arsenal in extra time, next up, man they were knocking on the door. Little reason for hope here, amazing

Hodgson

O'Neill

Pulis

Yeah, they beat Fergie's team but Jol next, it's kind of gloomy.

If Fulham wins which I'm sure they will, that leaves QPR and Wolves really who are in immediate striking position and both of those teams are probably due a win as well.

[broadsword]

This is what baffles me. What exactly are we trying to do? We buy players to play a style of flowing passing football similar to Swansea yet play a long ball style of game. It doesn't add up at all.

An uncharitable soul would suggest that a certain cockney spiv barrow boy wide boy agent is watching it add up in his bank account.