[Archived] Blackburn v QPR

[brfc63]

Topman, No sweat.

In these times, many are on edge and nerves are fraught. I have seen many, many postings where you are not too sure of the agenda (if any). Also we are a very easy target for the WUM's.

Thanks for the return.

[Boner]

Pedersen had an absolute shocker today, he was useless even by his own low standards. Why Vukcevic can't start instead of him I'll never know, it's not like he could do any worse.

Good to see Orr start; I thought he had a good game apart from the goal he gifted them, and you can tell he's a natural right back. Also I was pleased to see Lowe start in his natural position, he's earned it with the effort he puts in every week.

Switching to 442 when we're cruising was mental, I'd give my left nut to not spend the last 15 minutes of a match having heart palpitations

[AggyBlue]

In that case, you'd also have to say that in the 1st half Kean wiped the floor with Hughes.

Not a Kean fan btw, but credit where it's due and all that

A good manager makes adjustments during the game to improve the teams performance and counter what the opposition is doing.

One manager did that, one did the opposite.

Our manager is useless.

[Exiled in Toronto]

Just watched the whole game and thought we were good for our 3-0 lead for 70 mins - cracking goals - and you wouldn't have known players like SWP and Barton were on the pitch. The subsitution was ridiculously bad but, at the end of the day, they were one goal behind for less than 2 mins so I wouldn't exactly class it as "almost throwing it away". But for Orr's howler I think we wouild have seen it out easily.

This was an absolutely crucial 6-pointer and we won, which is all that matters in this mini-league of 5 teams.

[barry_]

the win was bittersweet for me today... first half the whole ground was rocking from a great display and the second half started the same until agent kean showed how inept he is as a manager by bringing on the waste of space that is modeste when all that was needed was a player like petrovic/rochine to replace formica.

I couldn't understand just why he brought modeste on... was he trying to lose us the game??

[Rover_Shaun]

Lowe - again so nice to see a player playing in their natural position, I love his energy and work rate.

He did well for 65 minutes then faded badly

[No Nay Never]

He did well for 65 minutes then faded badly

Which would have been around the time he was yellow carded.

[Rover_Shaun]

All part of his education

[roversmum]

Very happy with 3 points and drawing level on points with 17th.

Although after today I am beginning to wonder if Vukcevic is real?

Bad news, Maj, he is, was sitting on the bench near us.

From this report:

Hughes reckons

"We were very poor in that first half. The first 45 minutes were arguably the poorest we have been since I came through the door here and arguably of any of the teams I have been involved with to be honest."

Arguably so, Mark, totally unnecessarily lost us a European place here, and then jumped ship.

Three points is three points. I'll take them.

[Mike Graham]

Did you go?

I did...

We won!

No, I was doing the ironing and listened to the game on Radio 5 Live who thought we were unconvincing.

[JAL]

It must be great to play against Rovers as you know you are going to get plenty of chances as Rovers cant help but keep giving you the ball and if they dont do that then you know that many of them cant put a foot in to make a challenge.

[47er]

It must be great to play against Rovers as you know you are going to get plenty of chances as Rovers cant help but keep giving you the ball and if they dont do that then you know that many of them cant put a foot in to make a challenge.

Still the same old story, to win a game we have to score three. A big ask!

[BigUts]

Good win, not a great performance. We are still in with a shout of getting out of it....

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Just watched it on MOTD. The first passage of play encapsulates why we'll go down this season. Our decision making is awful. It's early on in a must win game and our centre half is chasing back up the touch line with the ball at his feet and an opponent lurking just behind him. It's a no brainer - put it out for a throw in asap and re group. Instead of this he dithers, bringing the ball back into a more dangerous area, another opponent in centre field spots his indecision and makes tracks to get between the ball and our goalkeeper. Unbelievably our centre half then makes a weak, blind backpass towards Robbo. The opponents nips in, gets the ball but luckily for us fluffs the chance.

Schoolboy defending from so called Premier League players. Incidents like that should never happen in pro football, even Bobby Moore would have put that one out. What do they do in training ?

[Rover_Shaun]

What do they do in training ?

Pull phantom hamstrings

[USABlue]

Great first half, very poor second half in which we were guilty of sitting back far too much, it was Sunderland away all over again.

Overall though, an invaluable three points and I thought QPR were slightly flattered by the late second goal which made the scoreline look tighter than the overall play might have suggested. Overall imo we looked much the better of the two sides and who wouldn't have taken a 3-2 win before kick off?

People complain about what Kean might have said at half time and blame the QPR fightback on him without giving him any credit whatsoever for the fact we got three goals up in the first place. I'd settle for a 3-0 lead at half time and a lazy second half every day of the week as long as we won frankly.

A special mention must go to Formica for me. It's rumoured he is homesick and wants to leave but nevertheless he is in the team and never fails to run his socks off or battle for every ball. That is the way to conduct yourself. Mr. Samba take note.

Totally agree, I've liked this little energizer bunny for some time now. He gets stick from some on here but I love his work rate and commitment. Interesting that him coming off seem to be a turning point in the game. Again Kean tried to throw us the game but we held on in spite of him.

[ElTwis]

Great result, not such a great performance. Lets be honest, we played better against Newcastle. Main problem for me is that we just can't win and keep the ball in the middle of the park, frustrating.

One other point - from my seat in NO1 the Darwen End seemed brilliant, never stopped singing and sounded like they had some new songs which is a refreshing change from "get into 'em". Shame they couldn't really be heard properly, what was the song with low pitched ohhhh's?

[briansol]

Agree with most that has been said here:

- Excellent first half. Great goals and Nzonzi pulling the strings.

- Second half, you knew QPR would give it a go and untill 70 mins it looked good with both Hanley and Dann steady. Then one mistake by Orr who had played well plus the infamous sub of Formica caused another frantic end to a game which made me not enjoy the victory as I should.

Some main take aways:

- Formica does an excellent job defensively and offensively and keeps the shape of the formation. I was shocked went Formica went of instead of Yakubu as that would have been natural. Kean should learn from that.

- Orr was better than expected except for the error. Particular good in the air I thought. Definetly brings value as a squad player. Also freed up Lowe in midfield, where I think he will come good with his energy. Refreshing to see somebody doing a full sprint to track back(Lowe).

- Kean rightly deserves critism for his sub (I thought bringing Henley on was fine enough), but the praise of Hughes bugs me a bit.

With all the money he spent I expected QPR to be a lot better against their own cast offs and a bunch of youngsters. Only when Mackie was brought on they got some urgency in their attacking play, so why didn't the genius start him? The result reflect more on him than Kean I would say.

[cn174]

Great result, not such a great performance. Lets be honest, we played better against Newcastle. Main problem for me is that we just can't win and keep the ball in the middle of the park, frustrating.

One other point - from my seat in NO1 the Darwen End seemed brilliant, never stopped singing and sounded like they had some new songs which is a refreshing change from "get into 'em". Shame they couldn't really be heard properly, what was the song with low pitched ohhhh's?

I think it was 'I've never felt more like singing the blues, when Rovers win and Burnley lose, ohhh Rovers, you've got me singing the blues'.

[Mattyblue]

It was, we need a few more classics to return 'wise men sing...'

[Exiled in Toronto]

Kean's biggest mistake for me was not the decision who to swap who for but making his sub at the same time as Hughes did. 3-0 the onus is on Hughes to make changes - any manager with a brain cell would have waited to see what Hughes did and then countered.

[joey_big_nose]

Similar to others here I am a bit confused why Kean gets blamed roundly for the awful substitutions but little credit for setting up the team to soundly beat QPR for 70 mins of the game. Surely you can't criticise for one without praising the other?

Stupid subs, but the broad signs are mildly positive. We have played well in every game, Arsenal rather glaringly aside, since Stoke.

Still, we will get stuffed by CIty. The following three games are winnable - we really need to get six points out of those three.

[Neil Weaver]

I'm no tactical genius, but add me to the list of folk who couldn't believe he replaced Formica with Modeste. Add me to the folk who think more of Formica's play by the game - really works hard which is something he didn't do soon after signing.

I suppose the medical/physio folk had chance to have a good look at Hoilett at half time so they thought that he was OK to carry on. I bow to their knowledge, but then why did Henley replace him? When he came on I thought to myself 'ah we're going to reshuffle, with Henley to LB, Olsson going into midfield, and Pedersen going to the right'. But no, utterly baffling.

Then Formica coming off. This time, surely Vukcevic? Nope. If you want to mess around with formations and tactics (when things are working OK) isn't Brockhall the time and place Steve, not in a league game? I suppose the only defence I can think of is that Formica was told to run himself into the ground for an hour and he'd be replaced. But why by the Sunday league centre forward? Look at the timings of Formica being replaced and the QPR goals. Related?

For 60odd minutes I was hopeful of that elusive clean sheet. At the final whistle I, like many, was just grateful for 3 points. If we had signs that SK was learning it would at least be something, but there are no signs. That's why, like so many, I was so annoyed after the game.

[Kelbo]

Just watched it on MOTD. The first passage of play encapsulates why we'll go down this season. Our decision making is awful. It's early on in a must win game and our centre half is chasing back up the touch line with the ball at his feet and an opponent lurking just behind him. It's a no brainer - put it out for a throw in asap and re group. Instead of this he dithers, bringing the ball back into a more dangerous area, another opponent in centre field spots his indecision and makes tracks to get between the ball and our goalkeeper. Unbelievably our centre half then makes a weak, blind backpass towards Robbo. The opponents nips in, gets the ball but luckily for us fluffs the chance.

Schoolboy defending from so called Premier League players. Incidents like that should never happen in pro football, even Bobby Moore would have put that one out. What do they do in training ?

The problem is not just decision making, our communication is awful, no-one is talking, someone should be saying, 'on your right shoulder' so Hanley would have turned the opposite way, or Robbo should have called 'get rid' its not rocket science but we have lost all our real experience and without communication, these errors will continue to be made.

I was always taught to tell a player when he could 'turn' safely or 'man on' I would always make those calls, it helps the player on the ball immensly. Finally, in the position Hanley was in, basically the right full back position, his turn should always be away from goal unless told otherwise!!

[Miker]

Really happy at the result, it was a must win game and we went about the job superbly by going 3-0 up in the first half. We have some fantastic players in the squad, and when they're confident and in form I feel like we can compete with any team in the league. Despite all that's gone on and sitting in 18th I am still proud to be a Rover and really proud of our players for showing so much character and desire to win in the last few weeks.

Can we avoid relegation? Until it's mathematically impossible, or even improbable, I will continue to believe we can.

Re: Kean's subs... I got the impression that he's wanted to try out a 4-4-2 formation for a while and being 3-0 up thought it was a good time to try it out. I can't think of any other reason to change it at 3-0. Bad decision either way and thankfully it didn't cost us.