[Archived] Blackburn v QPR

[den]

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.

According to Kean he went two up front because the Yak was struggling on his own. The interesting second part of his take on this, is that he then said "but QPR then changed their formation".

Well get out of here Kean. QPR taking advantage of us weakening midfield? What's football coming to? They shouldn't be allowed to do that, should they.

Outthought again - and so easily.

[booth]

Stupid subbing of Formica, along with totally changing the shape of a winning team caused another awful end to the game.

As a result we conceded two goals which dropped us a couple of places.

Still want Steve Kean and Venkys to go.

Overall though happy with the three points, not happy with our manager seemingly trying his best to lose us points when we're doing well.

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.

You just don't try things out like that when you desperately need three points. I can't think of any other manager that would. It showed up his inexperience. For me Kean was totally to blame for our second half cock up. And it's not the first time he's changed things and turned a game in the oppositions favour.

The strange thing is he put two up front but yet got the rest of the team to defend deep, which left a stupidly big gap between the attackers and midfield which meant that every time we got the ball it just got kicked up field to Modeste and Yak, who were easily beaten by the QPR defense and it came straight back ending with an attack by QPR. With that onslaught it's not wonder we conceded two. Easily the most idiotic thing for me was that Formica was my man of the match until he got brought off.

Also the ridiculous explanation of Yak struggling on his own was a load of bull. With Formica on he was linking midfield up and doing a lot of running for Yak I thought.

[roverandout]

not a great performance overall, first half we won the game because their keeper is utter ######, at least in the first half we showed energy and eagerness to win the ball but even then qpr always had players on one-on-ones with our backline, i ###### my pants whenever philips was up against ollson and the same with taarabt on the other side, second half we totally went into our shells and let them come on to us, when they got their second goal, i feared the worst, had the game gone on for another 10 minutes then i believe they would have equalised. The difference between us winning and losing it would seem is yakubu!!

[Miker]

You just don't try things out like that when you desperately need three points. I can't think of any other manager that would. It showed up his inexperience. For me Kean was totally to blame for our second half cock up. And it's not the first time he's changed things and turned a game in the oppositions favour.

The strange thing is he put two up front but yet got the rest of the team to defend deep, which left a stupidly big gap between the attackers and midfield which meant that every time we got the ball it just got kicked up field to Modeste and Yak, who were easily beaten by the QPR defense and it came straight back ending with an attack by QPR. With that onslaught it's not wonder we conceded two. Easily the most idiotic thing for me was that Formica was my man of the match until he got brought off.

Also the ridiculous explanation of Yak struggling on his own was a load of bull. With Formica on he was linking midfield up and doing a lot of running for Yak I thought.

Agree, it was a completely nonsensical tactical decision. I could only make sense of it as him trying to experiment, but that just highlights his incompetence and inexperience for me.

[JAL]

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

After yesterday's performances just dont know who will be coming down with the Rovers.

[LeChuck]

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 fundamental idea of trying to retain possession was absolutely the right one from Hanley, it was just the execution that was poor. Hopefully what he takes away from that experience is to be more precise with his pass next time, and not to put it into touch.

Are you suggesting they should practise thumping out for a throw-in during training...?! Even amateur clubs shouldn't do that, never mind top level clubs.

There was a good interview with Spurs' Assou-Ekotto recently, here's part of what he said:

"When a defender is caught out of position and running with the ball facing his own goal, the tendency is to just kick it out. It's actually encouraged. I find this very strange."

"As a professional footballer, you should be able to do more than just that. You should be able to have the mental capacity and skill to be able to stop, look, dribble and pass it rather than just kick it out."

"It is highly encouraged over here but it's something I've never been able to understand."

He's spot on. I'm surprised you're advocating booting it out as the best policy. Continually gifting the opposition possession in our defensive third will cost more goals than trying to retain possession like Hanley did yesterday.

[JAL]

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 ?

True but i'd say that can easily be rectified by young Hanley.

Its the Bardley Orrr miss control under no pressure that lets QPR back into the game thats a worry plus the poor defensive play of Martin Olsson and Vukcevic that doesnt seem to be so easy to rectify for these guys.

But overall the manager Stephen Keans standards are well below what we've come to expect from our beloved Rovers teams.

[Waggy76]

not a great performance overall, first half we won the game because their keeper is utter ######, at least in the first half we showed energy and eagerness to win the ball but even then qpr always had players on one-on-ones with our backline, i ###### my pants whenever philips was up against ollson and the same with taarabt on the other side, second half we totally went into our shells and let them come on to us, when they got their second goal, i feared the worst, had the game gone on for another 10 minutes then i believe they would have equalised. The difference between us winning and losing it would seem is yakubu!!

You have hit on something , that won't do QPR any favours ...The keeper is shocking and not vey tall ...

[blue_n_white99]

True but i'd say that can easily be rectified by young Hanley.

Its the Bardley Orrr miss control under no pressure that lets QPR back into the game thats a worry plus the poor defensive play of Martin Olsson and Vukcevic that doesnt seem to be so easy to rectify for these guys.

But overall the manager Stephen Keans standards are well below what we've come to expect from our beloved Rovers teams.

Does Kean actually have any standards? From a moral standpoint he is totally bankrupt, professionally he completely inept and yet his mates in the media praise him for his integrity.....must be us Rovers fans that have got it all wrong then.

You have hit on something , that won't do QPR any favours ...The keeper is shocking and not vey tall ...

I wouldn't be surprised to see Robbo there in the summer

[K-Hod]

Did well first half, though what in god's name Kean was thinking when he subbed Formica I'll never know!

Agree with the points about their 'keeper- he's not good at all.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

The fundamental idea of trying to retain possession was absolutely the right one from Hanley, it was just the execution that was poor. Hopefully what he takes away from that experience is to be more precise with his pass next time, and not to put it into touch.

Are you suggesting they should practise thumping out for a throw-in during training...?! Even amateur clubs shouldn't do that, never mind top level clubs.

There was a good interview with Spurs' Assou-Ekotto recently, here's part of what he said:

"When a defender is caught out of position and running with the ball facing his own goal, the tendency is to just kick it out. It's actually encouraged. I find this very strange."

"As a professional footballer, you should be able to do more than just that. You should be able to have the mental capacity and skill to be able to stop, look, dribble and pass it rather than just kick it out."

"It is highly encouraged over here but it's something I've never been able to understand."

He's spot on. I'm surprised you're advocating booting it out as the best policy. Continually gifting the opposition possession in our defensive third will cost more goals than trying to retain possession like Hanley did yesterday.

I've lost count of the number of goals I've seen conceded by players doing what Hanley did yesterday. Not long ago Wigan did it twice in one game and concede two goals as a result. Last week he made a similar sort of mistake and a better class of striker punished us for it. I've yet to see anyone score direct from a throw in. What would you have him do ? Try and dribble around his opponent when he's back on to him and the last man ? Or hit a firmer pass to Robbo so he can hammer it downfield and lose possession instead. Our main failing for a while has been our inability to keep the ball but there are situations on the field were unless you're Franz Beckenbauer you've got to accept you've got to temporarily concede possession. It's that decision making ability that sorts out the real players from the show ponies.

[Majiball]

The fundamental idea of trying to retain possession was absolutely the right one from Hanley, it was just the execution that was poor. Hopefully what he takes away from that experience is to be more precise with his pass next time, and not to put it into touch.

Are you suggesting they should practise thumping out for a throw-in during training...?! Even amateur clubs shouldn't do that, never mind top level clubs.

There was a good interview with Spurs' Assou-Ekotto recently, here's part of what he said:

"When a defender is caught out of position and running with the ball facing his own goal, the tendency is to just kick it out. It's actually encouraged. I find this very strange."

"As a professional footballer, you should be able to do more than just that. You should be able to have the mental capacity and skill to be able to stop, look, dribble and pass it rather than just kick it out."

"It is highly encouraged over here but it's something I've never been able to understand."

He's spot on. I'm surprised you're advocating booting it out as the best policy. Continually gifting the opposition possession in our defensive third will cost more goals than trying to retain possession like Hanley did yesterday.

The situation dictates the action, sometimes holding on to the ball is correct, at others send it north. Hanley made the wrong choice yesterday, could he have done differently and retained posession?

It's about doing the right thing in the context of the match to ensure you don't concede, yesterday was the wrong choice. Should he always boot the ball out, no he shouldn't but sometimes you'll need to and should.

[Clitherover]

I wasn't too happy at the end of the game even though we won but now I've had a few hours to cool off It was a great result against a major relegation rival in a game which I thought we were going to lose. The main thing is we played very poorly for large parts of the game and still managed to come away with a win, I don't think many of us could have said that a few months ago.

I still think there is an outside chance we can stay in the Premier League, the games against Wolves, Bolton and Wigan are going to be massive, if we can win those it's going to make a huge difference. Yakubu is going to be so important to us between now and the end of the season and I think he is an advantage we have over some of the other clubs around us.

[roversfan99]

Neither Bolton or Wigan have a prolific striker which may send them down.

We have the Yak, Wolves have Fletcher. West Brom have Long and Odemwingie, QPR have Cisse and Zamora.

That gives us hope.

[Veevs]

Frustrating result yesterday.. but I guess we won which gives us a fighting chance, a loss yesterday would of had dire consequences on the season.

Extremely angry seeing Nelsen was fit enough to get a game at the spuds (es given the Samba situation and Givet suspended).. he would of been perfect coming on and helping organising things in the second half yesterday.. disagree that it was a good idea to get him off our wage bill, the one thing we lacked in the second half was a leader and that is one skill Nelsen has in abundance.

Was chuffed Formica had a good game, feel he has had to much stick this season, out of all our players he seems to always put in a proper shift.

Would def of brough Simon on though for jnr, just don't get why he can't get a game. Modeste on for Formica was simply daft, I can understand trying to put pressure on them up front but taking off a player who was hassling them all over the pitch was stupid.

Our second half form this season is utter trash, but we got a win which keeps us in there.

[hesfromburn]

If the result was the other way round, people would be going mental. Why is it impossible fathom that qpr fought back? They have good players and a good manager it was always going to be difficult, yes you could argue Keans subs could have been different but there is nothing to say that would of worked.

Petrovic was shocking the last 2 games and what is to say he wouldnt just do the same and keep giving the ball away?

Qpr played very well in the second half and were relentless and didnt let up.

We struggled to get our foot on the ball and pass it around - I would argue pedersen was at fault for a lot of giving the ball away and I dont think he made a tackle all afternoon, very frustrating and back to his worst yesterday IMO.

Overall I think we did well and we got the 3 points againt relegation rivals. COYB!

[DE.]

If the result was the other way round, people would be going mental. Why is it impossible fathom that qpr fought back? They have good players and a good manager it was always going to be difficult, yes you could argue Keans subs could have been different but there is nothing to say that would of worked.

Petrovic was shocking the last 2 games and what is to say he wouldnt just do the same and keep giving the ball away?

Qpr played very well in the second half and were relentless and didnt let up.

We struggled to get our foot on the ball and pass it around - I would argue pedersen was at fault for a lot of giving the ball away and I dont think he made a tackle all afternoon, very frustrating and back to his worst yesterday IMO.

Overall I think we did well and we got the 3 points againt relegation rivals. COYB!

I don't think you understand why people are angry.

It's not because we won. it's not because we got 3 desperately needed points. It's not because QPR fought back in the second half.

The reason people are angry is because our manager made a concerted effort to get us to lose the match. He made horrific substitutions, ruined the shape of the team and very nearly cost us all three points again - and I emphasise again because he's been doing it all season.

People are angry because the bald cretin doesn't learn from his mistakes. He does it over and over again. We know he'll do it again in future matches and we know next time we probably won't have a three goal cushion to ensure we don't drop points.

Even the players were remonstrating with the imposter yesterday - not that it did any good.

If you are able to look beyond the "we won, yaayyyyyy!!!!" viewpoint there's plenty of reasons to be very concerned and far from pleased at what happened yesterday.

[K-Hod]

I don't think you understand why people are angry.

It's not because we won. it's not because we got 3 desperately needed points. It's not because QPR fought back in the second half.

The reason people are angry is because our manager made a concerted effort to get us to lose the match. He made horrific substitutions, ruined the shape of the team and very nearly cost us all three points again - and I emphasise again because he's been doing it all season.

People are angry because the bald cretin doesn't learn from his mistakes. He does it over and over again. We know he'll do it again in future matches and we know next time we probably won't have a three goal cushion to ensure we don't drop points.

Even the players were remonstrating with the imposter yesterday - not that it did any good.

If you are able to look beyond the "we won, yaayyyyyy!!!!" viewpoint there's plenty of reasons to be very concerned and far from pleased at what happened yesterday.

Re Pedersen- I don't see why Vuckevic can't be selected instead- offers the same in terms of dead-ball kicking, but tracks back much more, don't think any Rovers player has frustrated me more than MGP for a long time.

[hesfromburn]

I don't think you understand why people are angry.

It's not because we won. it's not because we got 3 desperately needed points. It's not because QPR fought back in the second half.

The reason people are angry is because our manager made a concerted effort to get us to lose the match. He made horrific substitutions, ruined the shape of the team and very nearly cost us all three points again - and I emphasise again because he's been doing it all season.

People are angry because the bald cretin doesn't learn from his mistakes. He does it over and over again. We know he'll do it again in future matches and we know next time we probably won't have a three goal cushion to ensure we don't drop points.

Even the players were remonstrating with the imposter yesterday - not that it did any good.

If you are able to look beyond the "we won, yaayyyyyy!!!!" viewpoint there's plenty of reasons to be very concerned and far from pleased at what happened yesterday.

I dont think he did make a "concerted effort" to make us lose the match. Qpr just played better and were relentless and were the better team in the scond half - thats football it happens.

I didnt think his decisions were the main reasons for Qpr's second half, It was qpr's approach to the second.

Like you just ignored whaat subs should he have made as players get tired and as I said Petrovic has been shocking the last 2 games with his passing and defensivly so how would putting him on help, and we didnt have many other choices.

I understand your thirst to moan about Kean but sometimes it is what it is.

[rovermagic]

We have so many times have been kept afloat by goalscorers. Santa Cruz, McCarthy, etc. The Yak is the real deal. But I'm afraid we will need Samba back. Only then are we better than QPR, Wolves & co. Nzonzi is also such a good player now. The way he strides out with the ball. Olsson seems to have faded. Is it Hoilett's unfitness that makes him last only 60 min. Is Hoilett a junior Dunny? Yakubu however seems to be able to manage his weight over the 90 by pacing himself. Formica also quite skillful.

[Clitherover]

But I'm afraid we will need Samba back.

Absolutely.

[80s russ]

Sorry if its already been mentioned, but where was David Dunn yesterday?

[vyeo]

We have so many times have been kept afloat by goalscorers. Santa Cruz, McCarthy, etc. The Yak is the real deal. But I'm afraid we will need Samba back. Only then are we better than QPR, Wolves & co. Nzonzi is also such a good player now. The way he strides out with the ball. Olsson seems to have faded. Is it Hoilett's unfitness that makes him last only 60 min. Is Hoilett a junior Dunny? Yakubu however seems to be able to manage his weight over the 90 by pacing himself. Formica also quite skillful.

We just about have the players to get us out of jail. The problem is that Kean's cluelessness, inept-ness and general uselessness will outweigh the players' ability to do so. Just look at Kean's record at substitutions. There was a moment after Mackie's second goal when the tv cameras caught Kean looking shocked and shaking his head. That is exactly how clueless the goon is. We won yesterday, but we're still in deep trouble because the leadership at all levels is practically non-existant. Unless this is resolved, I don't harbour much hope.

[yoda's brother]

cheers west brom

we are out of the bottom 3 now

[RibbleValleyRover]

Sorry if its already been mentioned, but where was David Dunn yesterday?

Injured after signing a new contract.