[Archived] Rovers vs Aston Villa preview

[savage90]

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.

That's ridiculous, how can you say he didn't play well? The two subs both had a huge impact almost immediately! Marcus provided a lot of energy and his pace made a REAL difference! Him and his brother set the tempo for the start of the second half and it helped balance the team. I wouldn't underestimate this. I'd like to know what you saw that makes you decide he won't make a player? No one's expecting a world beater but today I think he proved he can certainly add something to the team!

[Waggy76]

I think one thing we can be certain of at Rovers right now is that Radosav Petrovic is not on a match fee bonus like Salgado et al.

Keith Andrews is a world beater in comparison .

[LDRover]

That's ridiculous, how can you say he didn't play well? The two subs both had a huge impact almost immediately! Marcus provided a lot of energy and his pace made a REAL difference! Him and his brother set the tempo for the start of the second half and it helped balance the team. I wouldn't underestimate this. I'd like to know what you saw that makes you decide he won't make a player? No one's expecting a world beater but today I think he proved he can certainly add something to the team!

Did he ever beat his man?

Did he ever put in a decent ball?

Did he create anything with any individual skill?

I agree he has pace but so does Usain Bolt.

The fact things changed after he came on was more down to how poor we were beforehand, and the fact that suddenly there was more balance to the side.

Marcus will never be anything other than mediocre, of that I am convinced.

[Waggy76]

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

He can , with these clowns running the show .

[Tom]

He got to the byline and when about seven villa players were in the box managed to pick out hoilett who wasted the chance by taking a touch

Also linked up well with Martin a few times one early in the half almost creating a goal for Yakubu off martins cross

[Brfcrule1]

Having listened to the game on radio rovers I have to admit I am totally frustrated. I am pleased at least we got something from the game but it begs the question why can't we play 90mins with maximum effort?.

What did the clown say to them before the match if we had performed for the whole 90 mins we could have won that game but due to a lackkustre 1st half that is definitely 2 points dropped as villa were there for the taking!.

Not taking anything away from Hanley & Martin Olsson but the decision to sell Nelsen & Samba this window is a daft one as apart from Hanley & Olsson the rest of that back 4 is total s****!.

How anyone can call Scott Dann a 7M centre back probably needs glasses even Bradley Orr is far too inconsistent so for coco to sell both our best centre halfs is total bonkers!.

It just proves Venkys & Coco are complete liars it also calls into question the ability of our manager when we really need to start somewhere keeping clean sheets calls into the question the signings of Bruno Ribeiro & Myles Anderson.

When we are down to the bare bones these 2 can't even make the matchday squad or bench begs the question why buy them?.

Listening to today I would hazard a guess if either Samba or Nelsen were in that squad we would probably have won with a clean sheet to boot.

It also begs the question what do these guys do during the week does this clown do any work on there defence the fact we are unable to keep a clean sheet suggests to me not enough work is done on defence and more importantly keeping clean sheets.

I have to admit when I saw this month of fixtures I was hoping we would win a few but the teams we are playing was hopeful of keeping a few clean sheets but after today's 1st half shambles am not so confident.

No disrespect to Villa, sides like Villa at home we really should be keeping clean sheets the fact we were unable to do so today shows how far this team have fallen! Totally depressed after today.

[roversfan83]

I can't think of many worse Rovers players than Scott Dann. We paid actual money for him as well. When Givet comes back from injury I think I’d play Hanley at centre half with him. And he’s ###### as well. As for Petrovic he may be many things but sadly a footballer is not one of them.

I genuinely believe a dingle couldn’t do more in the way of team selection and tactics to screw us.

[Stuart]

What did the clown say to them before the match if we had performed for the whole 90 mins we could have won that game but due to a lackkustre 1st half that is definitely 2 points dropped as villa were there for the taking!.

I was wrestling with this during the second half. "Why didn't we play like this in the first half??"

The obvious answer, for me at least, was David Dunn. His enthusiasm and willingness to run with the ball changed the whole dynamic.

So here's the problem: Dunn has 45 minutes in him - possibly 60 at a strech (much like Tugay towards the end). Therefore, the logical thing would be to start with him, gain an advantage and then bring him off having done his bit. But at that point you lose that momentum he brings and we struggle to hold out - because we don't have anyone else we could bring in, especially with Lowe suspended.

By playing him in the second half, you can build a momentum which you can keep going until the most important period of the game. The gamble is that you need to play for 0-0 in the first half - hence presumably why we started with two holding midfielders. (Which makes no other sense to me). Unfortunately, we ended up 1-0 down and but for a save which Robbo had no right to make, we should have been 2-0 down and game over.

You really don't want to have to be chasing a game - particularly at the moment with our squad. However, if Kean has worked this out and attempted a game plan to get the most out of Dunny then fair play to him.

Sadly, having watched Kean stood on the touchline almost motionless and mute - in stark contrast to McLeish gesticulating and articulating to his team - it's probably more down to good luck than tactical nouse. Particularly given the fact that but for further heroics from Robinson Villa could have been out of sight.

[hesfromburn]

Dann has to be dropped (but he wont) he has been consistantly bad for us when he has played. i alwats see when he is partned with givet or Hanley they are having to do the work of 2 men.

1st half was awfful second half brilliant.

Robinson,Orr,Hanley,Pedersen,Dunn,Olsson,Yakubu were the only ones who could hold their heads up after today.

In the first half it looked as if we were playing with 7 men.

Worst game ive seen of formica in he just wasnt with it today he has been doing well at supporting the striker and holding onto the ball and getting back and tacking but today he just looked stuck in the middle and did nothing.

Hoilett was just ###### poor all game and fluffed 2 easy chances and the rest of the time he just lost posession (thats Pedersens job)

Pedersen was brilliant in the second half did everything right and bossed the midfield.

Orr also but in a really good performance at right back.

[OJRovers]

Dann hoofed the ball forward and lost it every time today, Hanley was winning tackles then giving it short to nzonzi. Dann looks a liability, got to be gg and Hanley next week. But we know that Kean won't dare drop Dann because he bought him.

[bazza]

The lack of fight, guile, speed, belief, effort, athleticism,etc in the first half shows us we will be relegated.

It's not the first time they've played like this.

I still think we are the worst team in the prem. And things ain't going to change.

I look forward to the day when Venkys are no longer involved with us and Coco has gone, regardless of which lower division we are in. And believe me we will be in a lower division.

[sparky12]

anyone saying Ped had a decent game must have been watching a different game to me.. constantly hoofing the ball to no one, giving easy passes away, poor flat corners and his throw ins weren't beating the first man!

[mattym]

For me a new low, nothing else I can think of to say other than that, sorry

[47er]

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

Play for free?

[ABBEY]

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.

Play for free.

A draw is decent??? F sake

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.

Dann ain't fit to lace sambas boots

[savage90]

Did he ever beat his man?

Did he ever put in a decent ball?

Did he create anything with any individual skill?

I agree he has pace but so does Usain Bolt.

The fact things changed after he came on was more down to how poor we were beforehand, and the fact that suddenly there was more balance to the side.

Marcus will never be anything other than mediocre, of that I am convinced.

But he did play well and any criticism of him today is unfair. His impact on the team was only positive so to come out and say that seems a little premature. Expectations of him are naturally low but I'm pleased that he's already demonstrated a little bit of what he said he was capable of, which is speed, attack and enthusiasm. He worked his socks off, won corners, provided width and I can only think of one misplaced pass. It was a big improvement on what the others offered in the first 45 that's for sure, so can only really say well done. Interesting to see SKY gave him 8/10 - IMO praise for Marcus today is justified.

[MarkBRFC71]

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.

Are you Pedersen's agent?

He was better second half no doubt (it would have been difficult to be worse than the first half) but Dunn was the one who grabbed the team by the scruff of the neck and was the main reason for the vastly improved second half performance without any shadow of doubt, N'Zonzi upped his game and Marcus Olsson offered a threat down the wing where Peds offered nothing.

I'd still drop him - Lowe is a better option than Peds centrally, and Olsson's pace is a better weapon than Peds hit and miss free kicks.

Anyway, as much as we keep getting poor results, Bolton and Wigan are managing to do just that little bit worse. Really need a crushing Fulham win tomorrow ....

[Tom]

What I hate when pedersen plays is when it's chipped or thrown to him to volley as far as possible, it's a deliberate tactic and he must be told to do it

Dunn is gettig a lot of praise and he did ok but looked unfit even for him, took the goal well though.

I think the improvement was more due to petrovic no longer being on the pitch and us using the wings, the left especially looked dangerous

[Barnesy]

IMO second half substitutions worked for once and we began to play. Villa adopted our usual tactic of retreating to hold on to three points then a point-which allowed us to play much more. This was illustrated by how much time pederson was given on the ball in that holding kind of position. Usually, an attack minded midfield can steamroller us in that position-it definately needs a Savage.

[Tom]

A couple more points

The ref twice should have booked players for diving today, one each way and nzogbia was infuriating with his play acting.

Also I appreciated the old fashioned goalmouth scramble in the second half today even if it wouldn't drop for us

[roversmum]

Aw diddums . Perhaps if they spent less time on the floor rolling about feigning injury they might have won. Typical McLeish team ...

Shocking performance from Rovers first half, though.

[Brfcrule1]

So Stuart you will then have to agree the clowns ineptness to not buy a central midfielder who is a box to box runner even the 5M for Jermaine jones not a lot in todays market or bring in someone similar and Stuart to be perfectly honest the decision to bring on Dunn was probably more fluke than anything tactical that you can be re-assured of

imy wrote: 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.

This made me laugh yes I agree Dann has been injured and is only getting back to match fitness so how long should we give him to get back to match fitness? bearing in mind we only have 12 games leftyou say Givet and Dan are the best centre half pairing and experienced yes admittedly Givet is so far as I can see Dann is very experienced at getting teams relegated does not look very good on his cv eh? You say you would prefer not to start with Hanley due to his inexperience I thought football was about playing your best players who do consistently well in training to gain results and with the number of games left do you think we have time to be experimentingor do you not think we need to be playing our best 11 to give us a chance of at least staying up?.

[Sparky Marky]

Don't make me laugh. Dann is ten times the player Hanley is....these are not normal times and I tell you there will be a longer queue for Dann than Hanley when we start selling everyone. There's better down pleasington than Hanley. Utter tosh.

[donnermeat]

Givet > Dann

Anyone > Petrovic

Simple as. These two were both terrible today and did anyone else notice the spat between Robbo and Petrovic? I'm sorry Petrovic but you are in certainly in no place to be questioning someone's ability/commitment towards the team. Yes Robbo does give the ball away (possibly too often) with his hoofs upfield but he is in no postion to have a go at him and sarcastically clap him when his long balls find no-one. That really angered me today.

How this guy has made X amount of CL appearances is beyond me.

If any errors, I'm sorry. Been on the shots.

Don't make me laugh. Dann is ten times the player Hanley is....these are not normal times and I tell you there will be a longer queue for Dann than Hanley when we start selling everyone. There's better down pleasington than Hanley. Utter tosh.

I've really seen it all now.

[Sparky Marky]

Id bet you anything that we get a more substantial fee for Dann than Hanley.