[Archived] Rovers vs Aston Villa preview

[jones_rover]

What does Simon Vuckevic need to do to get a game!

[Messi422]

How much we bought Dann? 7m?

[rovers11]

Be interesting to have a quick straw poll as to whether that was a positive result or not. What do people think?

I'm very much of the opinion it was considering we were so poor in the first half and other results went for us.

[miqaayil]

I wonder who gave the half-time team talk. Robbo, Dunn or Coco?

I suspect it was Eric Black ... did anyone notice dunn running towards the bench to celebrate the goal .... kean thought he was running towards him ... thick skinned clueless idiot

[DE.]

What does Simon Vuckevic need to do to get a game!

Remove a certain clause from his contract .... allegedly...

[miqaayil]

Remove a certain clause from his contract .... allegedly...

Or maybe ... stoke kean's bald head

[DE.]

Be interesting to have a quick straw poll as to whether that was a positive result or not. What do people think?

I'm very much of the opinion it was considering we were so poor in the first half and other results went for us.

No, at this point it isn't a positive result. We need wins. We're now relying on other teams to help us out - when that happens you know you're in trouble.

The fact results went for us doesn't really make me feel any better - with a win we could have climbed out of the relegation zone and gained a few points on our rivals. Instead we're still deep in the brown stuff.

[Stuart]

I wonder who gave the half-time team talk. Robbo, Dunn or Coco?

Dunn was warming up on the pitch at HT so that's one less to pick from.

[riggers77]

Villa let us have the ball in the second half which made us look at best a championship side and we sneaked an equaliser. Hurrah. The number of clueless rover supporters is beyond me.

[Doogs]

More ###### again

[PAFELL]

Be interesting to have a quick straw poll as to whether that was a positive result or not. What do people think?

I'm very much of the opinion it was considering we were so poor in the first half and other results went for us.

Considering villa's past results v rovers. A draw is decent. Though that first half was terrible. So a draw better than a defeat.

Hope wolves lose tomorrow.

What does Simon Vuckevic need to do to get a game!

Play for free.

[K-Hod]

Awful first half, absolutely awful.

Improved second half, but still not good enough overall, lucky to escape with a point.

Petrovic and Pedersen poor, what does Vukcekvic have to do to get a game? FFS.

[sharpysharps]

Dunn the scummer goes straight to Coco

Not sure that's quite right. From what I saw he went to the bench and high fived someone but it wasn't Kean because he was stood in the technical area. As Dunn ran back onto the pitch he didn't acknowledge Kean when he got a pat on the back from Coco himself.

Thats how I saw it anyway. Spirited 2nd half performance, disasterous 1st half, much like home draws to Blackpool and Birmingham last season as I recall. Thought Marcus Olsson was decent, although didn't quite know what to do with the ball when it came to putting it into the box. However, I would suggest getting Givet in at left back and play Martin further forward, Marcus on the right if he can, Dunny behind Yakubu and Hoilett in Canada somewhere.

It still looks bleak in my opinion, as I feel Rovers now have to win 2 and draw 1 out of the next 3 games.

[davulsukur]

Remove a certain clause from his contract .... allegedly...

He can't be activating a clause, he's only played like 2 games???

[imy9]

Drop Petrovic and play Lowe in there.

Drop Formica and play Dunn.

Givet and Dann at CB for me.

With Lowe and Dunn in midfield we will keep the ball better.

Was pleased with a point after 80 minutes but dire first half we need to be more consistent.

[cesus]

Diabolical first half, maybe that word isn't actually strong enough to describe how bad that performance actually was! My biggest issue was the fact not one player in the first half wanted the ball, we are in a war, a dogfight and not one player had the balls to get hold of the ball and try and stop the stream of Villas attacks.

Second half was an improvement, fair play to Dunny like him or loathe him he will take the ball, he will try and go forwards unlike the guff in the 1st half. Lets not kid ourselves though we nicked a point today due to Robbo's brilliance and Villa for some inexplicable reason not actually turning up for the second half.

Learned today how very poor our squad is, and more worryingly how little fight we have amongst the squad.

[arbitro]

Kean once again demonstrated how far he is out of his depth with his team selection and tactics in the first half. When will he understand that Pedersen struggles on the right and Junior struggles on the left. And to pick N'Zonzi and Pertovic at home when they are almost identical as players is suicide. It might work away from home but when we should be forcing the initiative there should be a better balance and more attacking play. Putting Hoilett on the right and Pedersen on the left of the central two at least gave us some balance. I thought defensively it was the best we have looked for a few weeks and Bradley Orr, despite a couple of shaky moments in the first half did really well.

However I am really disappointed and it feels like we have lost. Villa were there for the taking today and once again our imposter of a manager shows how inept he is.

During the second half it was noticeable that Mcleish and his coaching staff were very animated and clearly unhappy with aspects of their teams play. As usual Kean generally stood at the edge of his technical area with his hands in his pockets in his impassive and clueless manner.

[LeChuck]

Givet and Dann at CB for me.

Seriously? On what basis?

Hanley was immense today. Dann was his usual flakey self and played a huge part in their first goal.

Got to be Givet and Hanley for me.

[Tom]

Simply shocking first half and very good second half. Problem is we seem to be guaranteed to see the first half standard every week whilst the second half sometimes makes an appearance.

Petrovic and Dann are both poor footballers simply put.

Pedersen woeful first half but much better central

We looked far better with 2 pacey wingers on, hoilett was poor and olsson isn't the full package at the mo but it's enough to panic other teams.

Even when off his game a bit Yakubu stands out as top class in a sea of averageness

[Clitherover]

And to pick N'Zonzi and Pertovic at home when they are almost identical as players is suicide.

Identical, really? Petrovic isn't fit to lace N'Zonzi's boots.

[LeChuck]

Pedersen woeful first half but much better central

Agree there.

He was the catalyst for our second half improvement. Every single move for the first 35 minutes of that second half started with him picking up the ball from deep and moving the ball forwards quickly. It must have been a deliberate tactic because everyone else looked for him when we were around our own half. Also, he put in more tackles than usual...at one point taking out James Collins in a crunching 50-50.

[LDRover]

You really can put the difference in performance in the two halves down to one thing - the removal of Petrovic.

The man is stealing a living, he's incredibly bad.

I think it also shows how far we've descended when some on here think that Marcus Ollson played well. He'll never make a player.

[arbitro]

Identical, really? Petrovic isn't fit to lace N'Zonzi's boots.

In terms of the role they play. Are you deliberately obtuse?

[24right]

Sitting in The Riverside you could see first hand the application or lack of from Junior in particular during the 1st half. We were counter attacking in one phase and he was jogging 30 yards behind the play. Contrast that with someone like Rooney who would have been busting a gut to get forward. It's not about skill and ability sometimes, its about doing justice to the shirt and the individual pride of the player himself in his performance. Basic effort and commitment should be the very minimum you should expect from a professional. The game changed when Keane made the changes, but the 1st half effort was abysmal and frankly depressing.

[imy9]

Seriously? On what basis?

Hanley was immense today. Dann was his usual flakey self and played a huge part in their first goal.

Got to be Givet and Hanley for me.

Dann has been injured and is only getting back to match fitness, he needs to play with a consistent CB for us to see his best and Givet and Dann are it, we need experience thus I would prefer not to start with Hanley despite how well he has been playing.