[Archived] Crystal Palace Preview

[broadsword]

I think automatic promotion is achievable.....if Berg is a decent manager and gets the players fit, motivated and playing in a system that gets the best out of them.....and adds a few new faces on loan or otherwise.

You'd think that by November that should've been enough of a sample to extrapolate over a season. And yes, under a new manager we should play better.

But something is nagging away at me, telling me we will drop off. Perhaps it's just a symptom of the last two years. I just feel so down about the whole club. In fact I would say I feel apathetic and down about it. When I should be wanting us to push on and get automatic promotion, and look forward to the next game.

[Amo]

You'd think that by November that should've been enough of a sample to extrapolate over a season. And yes, under a new manager we should play better.

But something is nagging away at me, telling me we will drop off. Perhaps it's just a symptom of the last two years. I just feel so down about the whole club. In fact I would say I feel apathetic and down about it. When I should be wanting us to push on and get automatic promotion, and look forward to the next game.

I know the feeling.

Last time we were in this position, I was genuinely buzzing about the prospect of getting promoted and mixing it with the "big boys" again. And why wouldn't I? We had an exciting group of players, a no-nonsense manager, and things were run quietly behind the scenes. Now I just want us to get promoted in spite of Venky's and their ongoing circus. Otherwise we won't have a club left.

[booth]

You're kidding,optimistic as usual.

We have to go up either this season or next, or there will have to be some serious cost cutting endeavours.

[broadsword]

Fans deserting, corporate entertainment leaving in droves, signings left right and centre, no sponsor ... I'm not sure how we're keeping going as it is, surely the parachute money doesn't cover everything?

They must be hurting now. Imagine if we don't go up after two seasons, they could put the club up for sale, but who would buy it for a reasonable price? It would be a total basket case. No doubt Venky's would demand some astronomical price while we gradually slip down the table.

Worrying times.

[G Somerset Rover]

Did anyone else see CKR during the warm up? He just tangled along, like he did the entire game.

Didn't see that but I did see him take 5 minutes to leave the field when subbed. We were 1 nil down.

If I'd have been manager hairdryer wouldn't have been the word...

[Jimmy612]

Didn't see that but I did see him take 5 minutes to leave the field when subbed. We were 1 nil down.

If I'd have been manager hairdryer wouldn't have been the word...

I was going ballistic when he did that. Incidentally it was probably the fastest he moved all match. Big attitude problem that lad.

[Jimmy612]

My first game of the season at Crystal Palace. First reason was that I now live down south and so home matches are a no go unless visiting family, and secondly because I had boycotted before Kean was gone and an appointment made.

I was so excited before the game. My passion for Rovers has returned. Any excitement of course very quickly evaporated when I witnessed, what I still maintain was the single worst Blackburn Rovers performance in 23 years. I know i'm only a 'youngster' to many of you lot. But I have still seen some dreadful performances in my 16/17 years of holding a Season ticket.

A few things stood out for me;

1. Murphy is sadly passed it and is on a last pay day. He is completely hopeless. I would never boo him, but I was growing increasingly angry by every passing minute. He refuses to pass forward. The ball is passed to him and he instantly passes it straight back to the player who orignially gave it him.

2. As realised at the back end of last season, Marcus Olsson is not good enough. Works hard without any quality whatsoever

3. Long balls to Jordan Rhodes are about as useful as putting Jason Roberts through on goal. He's playing against two 6ft + centre halves and we consistantly knocked long balls upto him. I felt so sorry for the lad. The service was absolutely woeful. Every cross was shocking. We are so desperate for a big bruising striker to play next to Rhodes, hope the Cameron Jerome rumours are true.

4. CKR has got that Billy Big Balls attitude that I cannot stand. From what I saw on Saturday he's a waste of space. Any arguments? I know that at the start of the season there were people saying he was useful. I just saw some sulky waste of time.

5. I was fairly impressed by Bergs changes, although blindingly obvious. I was quite frustrated when he took Pedersen off who I thought was probably one of our better players and looked stronger in the second half. Almsot scored 2 minutes before taken off. Simon impressed when he came on. Looks like a very tidy player. Needs game time. Rochina provided some spark, although he is just a luxury. Can we build a team around him?

6. This is undoubtedly the worst Blackburn team I have ever seen, bar none. Berg has his work cut out getting this lot playing. They were completely hopeless from first whistle to last.

The aftermath of Steve Keans reign of terror was all too evident on Saturday, Just hope Berg can organise this rabble and inject some much needed hunger into a completely stale squad.

I'm home this weekend and so will be at the Birmingham game hoping for a much better performance.

[Guest Wen Y Hu]

Parsonblue's match report is now published to the front page here.

[vintageadidas]

It really does show how awful a manager Kean was. The players he has signed are just not good enough. He wanted to be able to shout from the roof tops that he had the best squad in the league and he wanted teams to be scared of us. Well, i agree we have some well known names in our squad and it looks okay on paper but they are not suitable for this league.

I remember having the conversation with my old man about relegation and the fact it looked certain with 8 games to go. I said to him surely our scouts/backroom staff are watching the Championship/League One and have targeted the best players from a few teams who we could build a team around. They should be young, eager, hungry and have the potential to be fantastic players. The likes of Zaha, Clyne, Ince, Phillips, Gleeson and Quinn spring to mind from last season.

Instead, we purchased a past it Danny Murphy, his donkey side kick, an arrogant turk and hundreds of unknown Portugese players who will be loaned out and never seen again.

What a farce.

[bazza]

Just a thought about us fans not being given information. (Again)

I was rather upset that Berg had not included Gomes in his squad. I presumed he had decided that the Portuguese contingent were of no value.

Then, a few pages back, Chaddyrover tells us Gomes picked up an injury thereby preventing his selection. At least three other posts on this thread later asked why Gomes wasn't picked.

I hope that Berg's arrival will herald the resuming of proper information flow from the club to the fans as well as turning the doomed ship around.