[Archived] Rovers v Wolverhampton Wanderers

[RibbleValleyRover]

Some of us have realised the possibility that squad isn't as good as some make out, I guess we will know once and for all when a new manager comes in. I can't be really critical of Black, the guy is clearly not up to standard as manager, nobody associated with the Kean regime is. Until we get a new manager up who will shake up the place with tactical changes and give the players the kick up the arse they need then nothing will change.

Got to feel for Rhodes today. The guy is quality if you give him the service, something he hasn't had much of in recent games. Whoever comes in next has to build that team around him and get the tactical formation to play to his strengths, otherwise it's going to be £8m down the drain.

The Championship once again is proving to be a highly competitive league and will be a tough one once again to get out of. Rovers have to find a new manager before the next game, if we don't then I can see us losing even more ground in our bid for promotion.

[tonyoz]

Well that was awful

Dann, Orr, murphy, CKR and Rhodes in particular stood out as even worse than their team mates today.

Luckily we know what Rhodes can do in front of goal but you'd expect do much more from a striker than what he showed today.

Murphy was obviously told to sit but even so his passing was shocking and cost us the goal.

Dann just wasteful in possession and Orr just clueless as to where he was meant to be.

Kazim tried to make things happen but greedy and again wasteful

As with boro Nunes was a bright spark he's hit and miss but can clearly cross a ball

Blimey Tom, that sounds even more depressing than the Radio Rovers commentary.

And what is Black on about in his interview? We don't have the right type of strikers for this league? We have strikers other teams would kill for.................why not ask Huddesfield how they managed to make Rhodes an 8 million pound man? Black really sounds clueless.

[pick32]

Only rovers players that turned up today were nunes and olsson.

[CAPT KAYOS]

Biggest pile of ........ I have seen for a while

How the hell most of those on the pitch have become professionals is beyond me on both sides- basic simple football determination and effort not even visible in minute amounts.

Wolves were there for the taking and were not much better but deserved their win for the excellent finish on the goal.

As for Rhodes - yet to be convinced how he has ever got to this level - weak is an understatement and has to be the campest player I have ever seen , may be playing a role not familiar with but doesn't excuse his performance - would be more at home with the cast of Towie.

Gutless, passionless clueless.

Was really looking forward to today - totally wound up and perplexed now.

God do we need a manager (proper) now.

[BRFC1995]

Orr and Murphy are on course to be holders of the worst ever players in a rovers shirt.

ALL THE PEOPLE WHO SLAG MGP ,WHO WOULD YOU RATHER SEE PLAY MURPHY OR MGP?

I don't think most of our current players suit the positions they are in, albeit most don't suit playing in this high a division

I don't think it would be a case of square pegs in round holes to put Martin Olssen in center mid alongside pedersen at lest there would be some energy and willingness...........Murphy and Lowe v Pedersen and Ollsen.....its no contest

[JAL]

Hope you're all seeing now that this group of players just aint anywhere near good enough.

[DE.]

The players aren't that bad.

Our formation, fitness and team shape is quite simply a joke. Any realistic squad of players would struggle given the ineffectiveness of the managerial and coaching staff to prepare them in any professional manner.

With a proper manager and a coaching staff that knows what it is doing these players will do just fine, of that I'm sure.

[philipl]

Hope your your all seeing now that this group of players just aint anywhere near good enough.

This is what is scaring me.

I knew that Murphy and Etuhu were nowhere near the level we need based on their performances at Fulham at the end of last season but I believe Eric Black said we don't have any strikers suited to this division...

Excuse me?

[Majiball]

Thanks to those who replied.

Guess we need a new manager asap as that's a shocking way to play these days, bring back the WM formation, lol.

[Amo]

Hope your your all seeing now that this group of players just aint anywhere near good enough.

It's been too long since we had a real manager, JAL. I think that's clouding your judgement.

[JAL]

Formica, ran round in circles, subbed at half time, nuff said

He should be sent packing on the first plane back to Argentina absolute garbage.

[gumboots]

Not one of the players today seemed comfortable with the role they were asked to play. Givet didn't know whether to get out to the full back position or stay central. System was presumably meant to make us hard to beat but it somehow made us less compact defensively as players chased the ball like 5 year olds and nobody seemed to stick to their man and make sure he didn't get the ball in a good area. Richards tried to play here there and everywhere but the one place he was supposed to be, or one expects he would be mopst effective, off the main striker Rhodes. Rhodes was so isolated it's unfair to pick him out as underperforming. Subs were the wrong ones - no change of formation or type of player when the subs came on. Nunes can cross a ball can he? Well, not from where we were sitting as every one found the first man and was cut out. The crowd wanted to party - what a pity neither the caretaker manager - hope that's all he is - nor the players seemed to want to give us anything to celebrate. I'd rahter have lost 4-3 than watched that dross.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Hope you're all seeing now that this group of players just aint anywhere near good enough.

Surely not, most people on here still think we've got the strongest squad in the league !

[Shabani]

Like watching 11 strangers who'd never played together before

[Proudtobeblue&white]

Back to 4-4-2, first principles, get everyone working to a script, Black has tampered and failed, as I said before, ship Black, Agnew, Shaw and the hangers on out and get a proper manager who will get the players fit and enjoying their football again!

[Rovermatt]

Kean instilled a level of incompetence and unaccountability in this team that will not be easily erased. I mean, were the players ever really made to answer for their crap performances last season?

Black, regardless of his character, is simply a continuation of that disastrous era. Only a proper manager can even begin to offer us the fresh start we are pining for. Even then he'll be swimming against the tide given the dipshit ownership and executive structure in place at the club.

[gumboots]

I agree. we've had 22 months of Kean's mismanagement. It will take more than 3 games to get rid of the mentality the players currently have. However, Black is not the man to do it. Management needs a complete overhaul

[grizfoot]

The formation was an interesting one, took me quite a while to figure out exactly what we where playing but I come to the conclusion that first half we played something best described has a 3-4-1-2, although trying to press the play high was a key feature it almost we had a front three at times with Rhodes and Kazim-Richards pulling out wide slightly and Formica almost operating in the centre-forward role. Needless to say the back three regular turns into a back five when defending. I would argue that we did look a little more solid and organised at the back using this formation than we have in other games this season where we've conceded countless chances. The only chance Wolves had first half I recall was an Ebanks-Blake header which really should have been a goal but hit the post.

Second half Formica was removed, he did plenty of running but had very little impact and the formation changed again. This time to more of a 3-4-3 or effectively a 5-4-1 when defending. This is the same formation that Wigan have been using for a while. Kazim-Richards played from the right and Nunez from the left. Nunez got man of the match despite only being only for 45 minutes. He did look lively but his poor crossing let him down once again, he seems to do the difficult bit in beating the player or making room for himself but then fails to delivery good crosses on regular basis. Definitley got something about him the kid though, should be starting most games. I can fully see how it would be considered negative when it can be said to be playing five at the back and only one upfront. But the game was a very close one and looked to be heading for a 0-0 but for a brilliant strike for the Wolves goal. I understand the idea behind the change in tactics but when you lose and create so little at home it does look bad. Then again we did have a few half-chances from Rhodes and Kazim-Richards missed a similiar easy headed chances that Wolves missed in the first half.

Glad to see a slightly improved atmosphere around Ewood. But a shame we never really saw an improvement in performance from our other efforts this season. I still say the experiment in formation by Black was worth a try because I'd say it suits our current squad that is very low on quality in wide midfield areas and very poor in defense. The sooner we get a new manager in the better. Although I honestly don't think the squad is quite as bad as some people make out, make a good appointment and we really should be challenging for promotion in my opinion.

[Drover]

First match back at ewood since the disaster that was the bolton home game last season. Few things stood out. As above murphy was terrible today. I dont really understand what his role is supposed to be. He doesnt get stuck in when we dont have the ball and when he has it at his feet it takes him an age to distribute it and rarely does he look for an attacking pass. When he arrived i was hoping that he could use blackburn as a final project and test himself in this league. However based on todays performance he has just come here to retire and the fact he has the captains armband is a shame. The armband should go to a player who at least looks like they care (ie robbo) and this is definitely not danny murphy. Lowe was terrible today also, cant pass, cant tackle, dont see how he is a centre mid. Formica works hard but offers little still. His tackling was probably the best out of all the midfield today which says a lot.

Genuinely think that today was a game where man of the match award should have been scrapped. Nunes got it in the end and although he did threaten occasionally when he first came on he completely wasted a good few corners. Our delivery into the box on the whole baffled me. I hadnt appreciated how undersized our new look team was until today. The majority of our crosses and corners were extremely lofted and with our team being so small thats perfect for the defending centre backs. They had lots of time to get under the crosses and send them to safety. Id like to see us whipping more balls at awkward heights across the goal as with our strikers this is the only way i can see them scoring via assists from the wings. I guess Eric black kind of had a point about the strikers but i felt it was more down to the way we played than anything else.

Rhodes was extremely isolated throughout, he needs someone close to him that much is clear as the few opportuinities he got to pass it around a bit his link up play was actually quite good.

Didnt think wolves were that impressive either, they basically did enough to win the game without really getting out of second gear. Neither team looks like promotion candidates as neither has the dynamism needed to keep the results coming.

Disappointed we didnt make our third sub also. Would have been no harm in giving gomes or rochina 5 or 10 minutes at the end when defeat looked fairly certain.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

Olsson was yet again our main attacking threat - and yet again we persist with him in a wing back position that he obviously isn't comfortable with.

Murphy - don't know what Dunn has to do to replace this guy. Dunn is the one person that can shake off the close marking that makes Murphy so ineffective - but still offer defence splitting passes (note to Murphy - when I say defence splitting passes I mean theirs not ours).

Overall a poor match - felt Wolves were better in the first half and we were the better team in the second half until they scored. We looked so much more effective in the second half when our defence pushed up to the half way line rather than sitting back all the time. I think this is one part of Kean's tactics that we may find most difficult to shake off - the number of times I saw Black encouraging the defence to step up was embarrasing.

Today's match could (hopefully) be pivotal to our season - for me we saw that Black can set up a better defensive unit than Kean (not saying alot) - but is struggling to truly motivate the players - or bring the necessary guile and imagination to enable us to score. Hopefully the owners will see this - and act quickly to get a new manager in. All this talk of taking their time - yes go through a thorough process - but that doesn't need to take weeks. The new manager needs at least one week with the players prior to us playing again.

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

Ended the Kean imposed exile and wished I hadn't bothered. First half was abysmal - no width or 'out' ball. Second half we noticably started hugging the touch lines. Orr is no attacking full back (he's a pretty poor defensive one).CKR disappointed, seemed to want to cross from deep instead of heading for the touchline. Nunes tried but why on earth try and ping cross field balls in the air to the lad? Murphy is just a crab.

Problem we have is the squad has been decimated. We have no pace (or none that we use effectively) so can't play over the top. We have no height so cannot bombard the box. Result, we just plod around hoping the opposition switch off. Oh for the days when you could chuck Samba, N'zonzi. RSC up front in the last five mins.

At least Black should be a million miles away from the job now. Especially following his comments on Radio Rovers about not having the right strikers for this division (was that a dig at Shebby/owners).

Interestingly - J Roberts would be just the player to have made an impact today.

[Parsonblue]

This is what is scaring me.

I knew that Murphy and Etuhu were nowhere near the level we need based on their performances at Fulham at the end of last season but I believe Eric Black said we don't have any strikers suited to this division...

Excuse me?

It's about the only thing he got right. We simply don't have a striker who is capable of winning the ball in the air or who is physically strong enough to hold the ball up. Black was spot on when he said if you play the ball up to our present strikers it will come straight back at you. In other words we have any number who want to play off a centre-forward but we don't have a centre-forward! Surely this comes down to the pre-season planning or lack of it. What was the point of playing £8 million for Rhodes if the coaching staff knew full well he couldn't play in the system the Rovers want to adopt. Black was quoted on Radio Rovers as saying we are asking him to play a role he hasn't done before - so why buy him? Why not buy a striker who can play the role the coaching staff wanted? This division is about strength and power and in attack the Rovers are sadly lacking. Admittedly, the likes of Lowe and Murphy in midfield are a handicap to start with. This squad is not good enough no matter who we bring in as manager. Personally, if Venky's have the money, give the new manager the season to sort it out and get rid of the deadwood and allow him to bring in his own players and coaching staff. By not doing this in the summer I fear that we have wasted this season in terms of launching a promotion push. We have now played ten games and have yet to play well. Far from dominating the division we have been second best in the majority of these games and even poor sides look capable of taking points of us.

[rovermagic]

We should take our time replacing manager. Like 99-01 we will prob need 2 yrs in Championship to regroup. Rhodes not 'towie' but actually courageous. Just look at his YouTube goals from last year. He's great with balls to feet, running onto through balls or sliding into box.

[dwayne cage]

What ever manager we get in they need to sort out the squads mentality. They have lost their heads. If (and I don't want it to be) Keane does come in, at least he will take no crap on or off the field. He will make sure they know he's not there to be their friends too.

I have been supportive of Black but I really do not want him to be our new manager. Anyone who leaves Nuno Gomes on the bench when he has rescued so many points for us this season has not got a great mind for management. If he stays on as a coach good luck to him.

We can't afford to carry on throwing away points. If promotion is the target we need a new and experienced manager in straight away. Wolves deserved to beat us, and frankly they should have won by a bigger scoreline.

Surely not, most people on here still think we've got the strongest squad in the league !

There is at least four squads in this league stronger than ours.

[LDRover]

It's about the only thing he got right. We simply don't have a striker who is capable of winning the ball in the air or who is physically strong enough to hold the ball up. Black was spot on when he said if you play the ball up to our present strikers it will come straight back at you. In other words we have any number who want to play off a centre-forward but we don't have a centre-forward! Surely this comes down to the pre-season planning or lack of it. What was the point of playing £8 million for Rhodes if the coaching staff knew full well he couldn't play in the system the Rovers want to adopt. Black was quoted on Radio Rovers as saying we are asking him to play a role he hasn't done before - so why buy him? Why not buy a striker who can play the role the coaching staff wanted? This division is about strength and power and in attack the Rovers are sadly lacking. Admittedly, the likes of Lowe and Murphy in midfield are a handicap to start with. This squad is not good enough no matter who we bring in as manager. Personally, if Venky's have the money, give the new manager the season to sort it out and get rid of the deadwood and allow him to bring in his own players and coaching staff. By not doing this in the summer I fear that we have wasted this season in terms of launching a promotion push. We have now played ten games and have yet to play well. Far from dominating the division we have been second best in the majority of these games and even poor sides look capable of taking points of us.

Leon Best was obviously bought to be that type of striker but is ,sadly, unavailable as yet.

For me, it's more the lack of pace that is crippling us. We can't stretch teams to create space, especially in the last third. Until we address this, we'll continue to bumble around in mid table (at best).