[Archived] FA Youth Cup Semi

[braddock]

Pockets of fighting outside old infirmary almost spilled onto our car. It looked like the bystanders were safe and those involved were the ones who wanted to be. About 4 fights across the road over about 50 metres.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Haley scored. Apart from that I really wasn't impressed.

The right result but not one player for me stood out in the Rovers side that really caught the eye.Excellent crowd with very little trouble.

[JAL]

The Rovers goalie and the big scouse centre half Ryan stood out for me.

All to play for at Burnley should be a good game over there.

[LeftWinger]

Haley scored. Apart from that I really wasn't impressed.

He didn't score.

[Mercer]

Just back from Ewood and very disappointing despite the win.

Our standard of football wasn't very good, technically poor with not much imagination and too much long ball.

Only one lad stood out for me and that was Osawe (number 8).

Captain O'Connell let the lads down with two foolish bookings, especially the second one and he was nowhere near the standard that people had spoken about - another long ball merchant.

Actually, though Burnley played the better football in the first half.

A couple of unsavoury incidents in the BBE where a number of the older generation were clearly uncomfortable behind the goals - not helped when two morons 'turned' on a 70+ year old who had politely asked them to sit down but no, they thought they had a devine right to stand througout the match even though only about 16 rows back, blocking the view of some. The stewarding was non existant. As flagged earlier an absolute disgrace that the club decided not to cater for those who normally sit in Riverside or JW. IMO, the club simply does not help itself any more and doesn't care.

No doubt I'll get some stick but so what, the club that I once knew has gone.

[braddock]

Our left winger had some good close control and good pace but overall my man of the match goes to the ball boy in the Darwen End who was purposely slow enough to get a few Dingles thrown out towards the end.

Burnley defended decently throughout, had spells of nice passing but Rovers were the ones who looked more dangerous in the right positions. Burnley stifled us by swamping the middle (twice three of their players went to head the same ball without a Rovers player in sight - never seen that before) and there were a couple of dingle collisions as well. The referee was generally poor, missed quite a few obvious fouls and the red which we received should never have reached that point as he should have blown for a free kick a few seconds earlier. Purely on the tackles though, they were both yellow cards. The red cards made us look a little more likely to concede (although it only seemed to highlight that Burnley didn't really know what they were doing once they got it up there) but also added a little more intent to our forward play as we had gone a bit off the boil by that point.

Not the best performance but they did the job against a plucky Burnley side whose fans were quiet for large periods and should have made the most of their voices to carry their young lads on against a better team. Had Rovers looked more interested they could have won by two or three.

[EWOODACE1]

The right result but not one player for me stood out in the Rovers side that really caught the eye.Excellent crowd with very little trouble.

agree completely

kicking off on albion street and new wellington street. i got caught up in the middle of it. not fun having a police horse charge at you

[braddock]

agree completely

kicking off on albion street and new wellington street. i got caught up in the middle of it. not fun having a police horse charge at you

I may have seen that from my car. Were you the one who was grabbed by the collar or the one who had his hands up in a 'I'm not doing anything' fashion with the horse licking the top of your head? Or was it another incident.

Full marks to the Dingle who jumped out at a car which turned out to be an unmarked police car.

Just back from Ewood and very disappointing despite the win.

Our standard of football wasn't very good, technically poor with not much imagination and too much long ball.

Only one lad stood out for me and that was Osawe (number 8).

Captain O'Connell let the lads down with two foolish bookings, especially the second one and he was nowhere near the standard that people had spoken about - another long ball merchant.

Actually, though Burnley played the better football in the first half.

A couple of unsavoury incidents in the BBE where a number of the older generation were clearly uncomfortable behind the goals - not helped when two morons 'turned' on a 70+ year old who had politely asked them to sit down but no, they thought they had a devine right to stand througout the match even though only about 16 rows back, blocking the view of some. The stewarding was non existant. As flagged earlier an absolute disgrace that the club decided not to cater for those who normally sit in Riverside or JW. IMO, the club simply does not help itself any more and doesn't care.

No doubt I'll get some stick but so what, the club that I once knew has gone.

A bit harsh to write players off so easily in a scrappy game in front of the most fans they've played in front of.

[Tom]

Haley scored. Apart from that I really wasn't impressed.

Hanley scored, is the other one Curtis Haley?

Hanley, Hanley, Henley and Haley simple eh

[greco]

glad they won.

perhaps the not so good football, was result of the big crowd and atmosphere, not many teens are used to that kind of pressure.

is the youth fa cup a compettion thats prestigious?? if so, it seems like a great accomplishment to have reached the semis.

[Mercer]

A bit harsh to write players off so easily in a scrappy game in front of the most fans they've played in front of.

Those with real 'star' quality are not fazed by a few thousand supporters.

I remember the greats like Best, Pele and even Ronney, at 17 or 18 they were playing at a top, top level.

None of those playing tonight are nowhere near that level - they are miles off.

As I said, very poor technically, and if they represent some of the country's best talent then God help us.

[EWOODACE1]

I may have seen that from my car. Were you the one who was grabbed by the collar or the one who had his hands up in a 'I'm not doing anything' fashion with the horse licking the top of your head? Or was it another incident.

Full marks to the Dingle who jumped out of a car which turned out to be an unmarked police car.

A bit harsh to write players off so easily in a scrappy game in front of the most fans they've played in front of.

i didnt get grabbed but they had me surrounded all the way down albion street and i think they wanted to have a go. i just kept laughing at them. if the horses hadnt have come i may have had to fend off about 30 of them and i dont think it wouldnt have ended well (for them )

the one who jumped out of the car was bragging all the time and they even where shouting at 3 little girls in a doorway calling them inbreds. the girls where only about 7

[Baz]

Thought we bossed the first half and Burnley the second, but in truth both defences were on top. Think the game at Tturf will be far more open, and that could work to our advantage, as Burnley really sat backand defended for a lot of the game., and Unwin had nothing to do at all.

[braddock]

i didnt get grabbed but they had me surrounded all the way down albion street and i think they wanted to have a go. i just kept laughing at them. if the horses hadnt have come i may have had to fend off about 30 of them and i dont think it wouldnt have ended well (for them )

the one who jumped out of the car was bragging all the time and they even where shout at 3 little girls in a doorway calling them inbreds. the girls where only about 7

Sorry, I meant jumped out at a car that turned out to be a marked police car, not of a car.

Didn't see that guy but he sounds like a lovely fellow.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

We are supposed to be an Academy level youth set-up,a much better level than Burnley....there really wasn't that much between the sides tbh.

[braddock]

Those with real 'star' quality are not fazed by a few thousand supporters.

I remember the greats like Best, Pele and even Ronney, at 17 or 18 they were playing at a top, top level.

None of those playing tonight are nowhere near that level - they are miles off.

As I said, very poor technically, and if they represent some of the country's best talent then God help us.

Maybe, just maybe none of these kids will be as good as those three. They might as well hang themselves now.

Just keep up with the negative reactionary posts, it really exposes the kind of person you are making such blasé judgements.

[deryck guyler's spoon]

Those with real 'star' quality are not fazed by a few thousand supporters.

I remember the greats like Best, Pele and even Ronney, at 17 or 18 they were playing at a top, top level.

None of those playing tonight are nowhere near that level - they are miles off.

As I said, very poor technically, and if they represent some of the country's best talent then God help us.

Oh no! The Academy hasn't produced a Best, Pele or Rooney!

[Mercer]

We are supposed to be an Academy level youth set-up,a much better level than Burnley....there really wasn't that much between the sides tbh.

Spot on - as said earlier, I thought Burnley played some of the better football !

[Mattyblue]

Very easy for most of you to say 'technically poor', 'god help us if that's the best we have' when it's the only time you've seen them.

That was an under par performance tonight, we were much better in earlier rounds. But so what? These are young lads who are obviously still raw.

Remember you only need 1 or 2 'graduates' to the first team a year.

This club has so many issues, but that youth set up is something you should be proud of.

[braddock]

We are supposed to be an Academy level youth set-up,a much better level than Burnley....there really wasn't that much between the sides tbh.

And if we were in the same league as them we'd finish well above them.

[EWOODACE1]

We are supposed to be an Academy level youth set-up,a much better level than Burnley....there really wasn't that much between the sides tbh.

i think the tactics didnt help. we played too direct and our players didnt suit that.

i previously said that no one stood out but our 2 centre halfs where pretty solid

[Mercer]

Oh no! The Academy hasn't produced a Best, Pele or Rooney!

Think you miss the point. My point was that those who are really going to make it don't get fazed on the 'big' occasion - one poster suggested the occasion had got to them a bit. It was not a criticism of the Academy.

I remember Damien Duff's PL debut as a 17 year old in a PL game at Ewood in front of almost 30,000 - it didn't effect him. Bottom line is you either have it or you don't.

[Andy]

Just back from Ewood and very disappointing despite the win.

Our standard of football wasn't very good, technically poor with not much imagination and too much long ball.

Only one lad stood out for me and that was Osawe (number 8).

Captain O'Connell let the lads down with two foolish bookings, especially the second one and he was nowhere near the standard that people had spoken about - another long ball merchant.

Actually, though Burnley played the better football in the first half.

A couple of unsavoury incidents in the BBE where a number of the older generation were clearly uncomfortable behind the goals - not helped when two morons 'turned' on a 70+ year old who had politely asked them to sit down but no, they thought they had a devine right to stand througout the match even though only about 16 rows back, blocking the view of some. The stewarding was non existant. As flagged earlier an absolute disgrace that the club decided not to cater for those who normally sit in Riverside or JW. IMO, the club simply does not help itself any more and doesn't care.

No doubt I'll get some stick but so what, the club that I once knew has gone.

That's awful.

You're supposed to be sat down during a game of football at Ewood Park. Numbskulls.

And as for fighting over a football rivalry (in other posts) - absolutely pathetic.

[Tom]

Those with real 'star' quality are not fazed by a few thousand supporters.

I remember the greats like Best, Pele and even Ronney, at 17 or 18 they were playing at a top, top level.

None of those playing tonight are nowhere near that level - they are miles off.

As I said, very poor technically, and if they represent some of the country's best talent then God help us.

I wasn't there tonight but seen most the lads a few times and there is talent there.

On this board alone in the last few years Olsson, Hanley, Hoilett, Lowe and even Jones have been described as not good enough and would never make it

[braddock]

Think you miss the point. My point was that those who are really going to make it don't get fazed on the 'big' occasion - one poster suggested the occasion had got to them a bit. It was not a criticism of the Academy.

I remember Damien Duff's PL debut as a 17 year old in a PL game at Ewood in front of almost 30,000 - it didn't effect him. Bottom line is you either have it or you don't.

So I'm guessing that Adam Henley, who has looked capable when in the first team should give up now because he didn't look anything special tonight?