[Archived] GAME THREAD - Leicester City Home 12/13

[tomphil]

Approx 1,600 Leicester fans, that's from their site. Looking around, just like the other night it;s hard to even see 12.5k home fans. Don't know what it was like in BBE upper but when you look at the whole JW stand there can't be more than two thousand in the entire stand.

[Tom]

On the replay Vardy looks onside but it didn't show the offside in the build up

[Josh]

On the replay Vardy looks onside but it didn't show the offside in the build up

I think the offside was for Nugent, he jumped to win the ball which I presume made him active

[scotty_beam_me_up]

One thing I did notice was a low tone of booing when the Kean out chants started. Also a few more people shouting "back your team" along with a few obscenities. Which the group at the back of the Darwen end heard as it was followed by a rendition of Rovers till I die. I dispise Kean for splitting the fans.

[A cup of beans]

I watched the game online and I thought we were total p!ss. Leicester were by far the best team and should have got a point at least. I can only remember us having three decent chances in the entire game and two of them went in. We have no pattern or style of play. We can't keep the ball. We aren't as fit as other teams. We have seven points from nine which is a great start. Sadly it gives Kean more credibility. If we continue to play like this, our luck will run out and we will get shown up.

I agree with every word.

I was amazed at the euphoria around ewood.from the 2nd goal onwards!

Not enough kean out chants.

Bigger picture being missed.

[joey_big_nose]

Spoke to Etuhu after match, had foot in a flip flop. Wating to have it assessed tomorrow.

Murphy poor for me again today always passing square and backwards.

Agree about Murphy. Doesnt really seem to influence games. Hopefully he will grow over time. Not sure both he and Etuhu can sit so deep. In the games so far in the Champ it looks more sensible to play two strikers, a stadard four across midfield with one sitter and one central midfielder breaking forward.

Issue is neither of the CMs seem to have the fitness to break forward regularly.

[AllRoverAsia]

I could not find a decent working link to the watch the full game online so I've just read about it here and in online match reports. I did manage to just watch the FL summary online.

Rovers scored 2 good goals but maybe we had some luck as MGP was interferring with play on the Gomes goal, MGP was certainly in an offside position and blocking their keeper.

Classic Dann screw up for the Leicester goal but most reports says he had a good game overall.

After he scored was MGP booked for leaving the field (if he did) to collect a dangerous implement and brandish it? I don't give a rats arse if he was or not , just interested. I think he would have been in the PL. Definately pre-arranged if MGP scored and Kean would have known about the plan, nevermind blaming the kitman. Another indication of where Shebby is in the Ewood pecking order.

Like many I'm very happy with 3 lucky points but dread the effect of it.

[Puffsan]

We were as bad as i expected, but some positives moments. I'm very pleased that Bruno Is playing good. He has been slaughtered here on the board for a year now so i would feel sorry for him if he was really crap, but think he can be useful for us. Olsson also did a better job than I expected. He has a way to go but championship may be a good learning place.

Defense looks a lot better than last season, maybe it's because we're in the championship.

Was hoping goodwillie would score, think he needs to get some confidence back. Overall I think he did a decent job and think he could do well in the championship.

Rochina maybe has bad decisions here and there, but something always tends to happen when he has the ball. He's the x factor we need and we need to play him IMO.

Kean said in post match interview that rochina would probably been starting in our other games

If he hadn't been injured so hopefully he will play him.

I have watched the mgp celebration 10-12 times in slow motion and he looked really ###### when he threw the walking stick away. I've seen him that angry once before and that was when he scored for Norway in a game vs Finland i think. He had been booed for the main part of the game (and the 5-6 games before that)

He doesn't strike me as the type who would take a comment like that so personal so I think there may be more behind it than we know. Maybe it's because the club has put him on transfer, maybe there is something more we are not aware of.

Even though leicester were a lot better than us they didn't impress me. I've only managed to see to other games so far (Bolton - forest and Leeds - wolves)

So far forest and leeds have impressed me most, think the will be fighting in the top. Wolves and Bolton didn't look bad either though both there defense was a bit sloppy in the games i watched.

If we play like we did today vs Leeds next game I think we will get hammered.

Hopefully Robinson can keep up his great form, we need him to be at the top of his game with kean in charge

[AllRoverAsia]

I could not find a decent working link to the watch the full game online so I've just read about it here and in online match reports. I did manage to just watch the FL summary online.

Rovers scored 2 good goals but maybe we had some luck as MGP was interferring with play on the Gomes goal, MGP was certainly in an offside position and blocking their keeper.

Classic Dann screw up for the Leicester goal but most reports says he had a good game overall.

After he scored was MGP booked for leaving the field (if he did) to collect a dangerous implement and brandish it? I don't give a rats arse if he was or not , just interested. I think he would have been in the PL. Definately pre-arranged if MGP scored and Kean would have known about the plan, nevermind blaming the kitman. Another indication of where Shebby is in the Ewood pecking order.

Leicester has some great chances and Robbo was brilliant. Mind you all I saw was 5 mins of highlights.

Like many I'm very happy with 3 lucky points but dread the effect of it.

[booth]

From the BBC: "Morten Gamst Pedersen provided the perfect response to his critics after his late free-kick gave a lacklustre Blackburn victory against Leicester."

I'm not sure they actually bother to watch the matches at this level. The coverage is, as expected, very poor in the Championship!

Check out Sky Sports Australia's coverage of Blackpool's match. Their 6-0 win was that good they are at the top of the Premier League!

http://www.skynews.com.au/sport/article.aspx?id=787874&vId=

[RoyRover]

The difference at the moment is that we have one or two players who have a bit more quality than the teams we have played against so far and that has made the difference ie. Kazim Richards, Pedersen and Gomes. They've done very little, but have for a split second been able to do what other teams haven't. I have absolutely no faith in them being able to do it on a consistent basis.

I hate the fact that I'm divided between wanting Rovers to do well and being happy when we win, to then thinking about what affect it will have on Kean.

[Salgado Is A Hero]

How can people not rate Rochina's impact? We offered basically nothing offensively until he came on and then put them on the back foot.....yes he didn't create something every time but they wouldn't of sold him if he did......Murphy and Etuhu is a great pairing but they need someone in front who can find space and Rochina does exactly that.....I agree with the poster who said we should build our team around him.....Goodwillie is getting fitter.....he could certainly do some damage in this league as he proved a real handful for Celtic and Rangers in the past who are better than any C'ship side.

[Paul]

I agree with every word.

I was amazed at the euphoria around ewood.from the 2nd goal onwards!

Not enough kean out chants.

Bigger picture being missed.

I should apologise, obviously we can't enjoy ourselves at Ewood these days.

Personally I had quite a good afternoon. Enjoyed the game, Rovers coped reasonably well with some intense Leicester pressure and played a bit themselves scoring two very good goals. We weren't great but it was better than Wednesday.

Enjoyed watching MGP take the ###### out of Singh, even if it did involve the evil one.

Was a touch worried by Dann's motivation but then much of his play was good.

On the other hand Kean's selections continue to baffle me. How at 1-1 we ended up without a recognised striker, I include Goodwillie there, I don't know.

At the end a complete stranger slapped me on the back, grinned and announced "that's the way to do." So me, Tom and another guy had a good time. Sorry.

Oh well better afternoon than many last season......now pass thd sack cloth and ashes

Unsure where all these players are coming from. Edhino? When did we get him? On Wednesday we took off a couple of players including a Gomes, next thing I know I'm looking at the big screen thinking I'm sure he got subbed?

If we play the Olsson twins and both Gomes's at once I shall struggle. Paying the price for taking no notice all summer.

[Mc Love]

Has kean found his level at last or were we just very lucky again?

[Ricky]

Paul, you think that's bad!! We ended a pre season game with a back 4 of Henley Hanley Hanley and Haley!!!!!

[Speedie Dived]

How can people not rate Rochina's impact? We offered basically nothing offensively until he came on and then put them on the back foot.....yes he didn't create something every time but they wouldn't of sold him if he did......Murphy and Etuhu is a great pairing but they need someone in front who can find space and Rochina does exactly that.....I agree with the poster who said we should build our team around him.....Goodwillie is getting fitter.....he could certainly do some damage in this league as he proved a real handful for Celtic and Rangers in the past who are better than any C'ship side.

Rochina's impact has to be considered against Leicester pushing forward for equaliser. As someone pointed out earlier, technically gifted but flawed decision maker. This however should have been improved by the coaching staff, he is still the same player that signed for me, not improved.

Goal aside MGP was everything Shebby said about him, how he had the nerve to do that celebration after that performance i don't know. Management clearly in on it, that could be an interesting one to watch.

[Waggy76]

Doesn't need much to win games at this level. Woeful quality.

This squad, under a proper manager could be contenders. An odd bit of quality and power is all you need.

However, what breaks my heart is to see Ewood so empty and the longer that man stands on the touchline, the less chance we have of EVER getting repsectable numbers through the gate again.

KEAN OUT.

Spot on Matty , I watched most of the game on an internet stream , not many Rovers fans on .....Lucky to win , but from what I have seen the league in general doesn't seem as strong as it was on our last visit ....Bolton and Forest looked useful Leicester too .. Blackpool will blow up but could make play offs ...Wolves sold their better players ..Employ a decent manager with our poor squad could be enough to go up ...

Certainly no team in the league as good as Fulham and Rovers were in 2001 ..

[ABBEY]

Has kean found his level at last or were we just very lucky again?

Lucky ... VERY keans level is amateur on FIFA

[beastlove]

Cannot believe people are questioning Danny Murphy. He enables us to keep the ball and not rely on the long ball from Robo. The problem is the lack of movement ahead of him. Lowe on the right wing is like playing with 10 men. Also that Portugise youngster upfront was so bad he made goodwillie look half decent. We need a striker before the deadline

[hollowsr]

I'm a big Murphy fan and with him and Etuhu in CM its good to have a proper CM for Rovers more than we've had in a long time. However my issue is if them two play then they are both deep sitting players which means for the wings you need to have pace and/or trickery and we went with Gamst and Lowe in the first half, pretty much poorer copies on the CM.

Despite his goal Gamst was poor yesterday, his set pieces do nothing really he just floats corners in with no real pace and so they are easy to defend against. He did three good things yesterday, his first touch leading to his goal, his shot for the goal and then he had another brilliant touch in the second half as well.

Kean was on about after the game that we never got in behind their FBs, no surprise with them two on the wings.

Also think the Edinho bashing is a bit unfair, we barely had the ball in the first half and so he was pretty much only chasing every lump forward when we were releasing pressure on us. Also think it should be Gomes leading the line with someone running off him.

For their goal, very poor pass by Dann but in my view the ball was there for Robbo to clear and he stuck to his line.

Rochina showed why he was at Barcelona and why he is now at Rovers at the same time

End of the day there is some dross in this division and we are playing like it at the moment, if we could get a good manager I think we would walk this division with the squad we have

[Beta Ray Bill]

Spot on Matty , I watched most of the game on an internet stream , not many Rovers fans on .....Lucky to win , but from what I have seen the league in general doesn't seem as strong as it was on our last visit ....Bolton and Forest looked useful Leicester too .. Blackpool will blow up but could make play offs ...Wolves sold their better players ..Employ a decent manager with our poor squad could be enough to go up ...

Certainly no team in the league as good as Fulham and Rovers were in 2001 ..

It's quite funny, but that season we started well (11pts from 5 games to be in 4th) but then had a terrible run of form. When Rovers lost at Craven Cottage in the 10th game of the season, we'd only gained another point and were way down in 15th!

I remember this board was incredibly pessimistic and started questioning if Souey was the right man for the job etc. One prominent member stated he'd never darkened the door of the site again if we got promoted. He didn't stick to the promise and is still going strong now.

The big difference is that the Rovers of 2001 could cope with a poor run of form as we had a good manager, transfer windows didn't exist so we had the chance to strengthen when others couldn't afford to, some of our players hadn't got their stride and Hignett hadn't featured until Fulham. None of this could happen this season (although I guess technically Hignett could re-sign).

But we certainly weren't seen as a class team in the early stages of the season.

[thenodrog]

How can people not rate Rochina's impact? We offered basically nothing offensively until he came on and then put them on the back foot.....yes he didn't create something every time but they wouldn't of sold him if he did......Murphy and Etuhu is a great pairing but they need someone in front who can find space and Rochina does exactly that.....I agree with the poster who said we should build our team around him.....Goodwillie is getting fitter.....he could certainly do some damage in this league as he proved a real handful for Celtic and Rangers in the past who are better than any C'ship side.

Rochina is the one indulgence that we can afford in the league. A player who does little other than offer an occasional spark of match winning ability. A Tarabt at QPR, a Hoilett or a Berkovic last time we were in this position. However the team must be set up to accomodate him and keep him with a free role in support of the striker in and around the opponents pen area, they must be prepared to do the graft necessary to indulge his talents. Not sure given the way he wasted Hoiletts talent that Kean understands how to get the best out of him.

I have watched the mgp celebration 10-12 times in slow motion and he looked really ###### when he threw the walking stick away. I've seen him that angry once before and that was when he scored for Norway in a game vs Finland i think. He had been booed for the main part of the game (and the 5-6 games before that)

He doesn't strike me as the type who would take a comment like that so personal so I think there may be more behind it than we know. Maybe it's because the club has put him on transfer, maybe there is something more we are not aware of.

Shebby Singhs might claim his psychology worked then. Maybe like the Hulk MGP needs to be angry to get the most out of him.

[Ozz]

Hand made panorama from The BBE at yesterdays game, not great but shows up those empty seats. Taken with my phone.

[thenodrog]

It's quite funny, but that season we started well (11pts from 5 games to be in 4th) but then had a terrible run of form. When Rovers lost at Craven Cottage in the 10th game of the season, we'd only gained another point and were way down in 15th!

I remember this board was incredibly pessimistic and started questioning if Souey was the right man for the job etc. One prominent member stated he'd never darkened the door of the site again if we got promoted. He didn't stick to the promise and is still going strong now.

Memory might be fading now but didn't a switch to a virtually unknown 3-5-2 formation to make most use of Berkovic's prodigious creative talent not coincide with our improvement? I rem it worked fantastically in the Championship but Arsenal blew us out of the water when we tried it on them in the Cup.

[Beta Ray Bill]

Memory might be fading now but didn't a switch to a virtually unknown 3-5-2 formation to make most use of Berkovic's prodigious creative talent not coincide with our improvement?

Souey did go to 3-5-2 a lot that season - sometimes almost too soon in games - but Eyal didn't join until Feb 2001 iirc. That's what I meant about being able to strengthen outside of what would now be transfer windows (similar to Berg's full time signing after a short term loan).

We were already on the up and up by the time Eyal joined, he just helped us rather over the line.

Interestingly, the same member who would not darken the door of the website also lambasted Berkovic's signing, and was campaigning for Hartson (Berkovic's nemesis) to join. Oh how we laughed.