[Archived] Henning Berg - Rovers Manager

[jim mk2]

N

Struggled? We dominated them.

.........but couldn't beat em

[Black Burn]

.........but couldn't beat em

That was down to a lack of finishing more than "struggling". I watched the match and I was cursing when the ball just went everywhere but inside the net. We were bombarding their goal.

[Mercer]

To get promotion, clearly you need good players but you also need a touch of steel, ruthlessness and a physicality.

I personally do not think we have these and therefore will be found wanting in some matches.

The next few games, against decent opposition with a harder edge than Poish, will show us just how good, or otherwise, we really are.

[Amo]

.........but couldn't beat em

Wouldn't "struggled to get three points" be nearer the mark, then?

Or is that not trollish enough?

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

There are too many weaknesses in the squad such as lack of a decent forward to support Rhodes and no dominating centre half. The "best squad" in the league" was totally dominated by Palace and struggled to get a point off lowly Brum.

The biggest weakness in our squad was the manager - now that has been addressed I think we will get a better idea of how our players match up.

Looking at our fixture list running up to Christmas - we will know who meets the grade - and where needs to be strengthened. Hopefully we will still be in touching distance of the top 2 - and be able to push on - but there are some tough fixtures.

[Mike E]

I think the only potential weaknesses of the squad are at LB, Centre-Mid and up front.

LB: The Olsson and Olsson combo (under Berg) seems to be performing tighter, with the twin that isn't attacking sitting back, so maybe it's not too big an issue yet.

CM: Full of ok-but-not-great players. With that being said, getting Etuhu (or Lowe, even) to sit back and let Murphy push up to support Rochina and the wingers seems to have worked a charm vs Peterborough. Just hope it carries on.

Up front: Rhodes is on his own, but with support from Rochina, he seems to be coping. Would do better I think once Best returns to take some of the marking off Rhodes.

Other than that, I don't think we do have any major weakness. Robbo struggles on long shots but no-one in the champ seems accurate enough to bother him yet (so down to poor finishing, rather than Robbo being any good). Many people mention the CB's, but I think Dann has played well. The only issue is that Hanley and Givet (as a pair) have worked better together imo than other pairings. We'll see what Berg thinks of that though.

The one good thing about Berg for me is that I'm certain of a top half finish. Fairly confident of a play-off spot. And by-no-means has automatic promotion left our grasp. WE CAN DO IT!

[Lhrover]

We have the potential to win this league, we have a great squad.

All im gonna say to the doubters is, who currently has a better squad in this league?

[LeChuck]

I think the only potential weaknesses of the squad are at LB, Centre-Mid and up front.

Interesting how people see things differently! I think the three positions you've just mentioned are our strongest.

- LB. We've got an international quality left back. Not many left backs played at Euro 2012. Showed his quality against England recently.

- CM. I can't think of any teams boasting better midfielders than Murphy and Etuhu. They bossed a very good Birmingham midfield of Ravel Morrison and Hayden Mullins. Lowe and Dunn provide good backup.

- ST. Don't understand this one at all! Rhodes is possibly the best striker in the division. Shortly we'll have Rhodes, Best, Rochina, Gomes and Goodwillie to choose from. I think most Championship clubs would swap with us. You say play Best with Rhodes, but without Rochina behind him Rhodes wouldn't have scored as many. You can't play all three.

For me the biggest issues are the wide areas and central defence. Marcus and Formica are doing jobs there but ultimately we need more quality there. Pace is a must. The biggest thing we can do to help Rhodes is get proper wide players to stretch defences and give him service.

We always look like to concede in the centre of defence. Maybe Givet returning will help this.

[True Blue & White]

We have the potential to win this league, we have a great squad.

All im gonna say to the doubters is, who currently has a better squad in this league?

Manchester United.

You can't play all three.

Well technically you can.

[Lhrover]

Manchester United.

Well technically you can.

United in the championship, did they leave massimo Taibi in net?

[LeChuck]

Well technically you can.

Well yeah, but to the detriment of the rest of the team. Anyone suggesting 4-3-1-2 will be put down for their own good.

[RibbleValleyRover]

He's done a pretty solid job so far. The fitness levels look like they are starting to improve and we seem to be playing with more style with shorter passing plus getting more crosses from out wide into the box. It's still very early in the Berg tenure but the signs are promising at the moment.

On the issue of the squad I don't think the flaws have gone away, they are still there but Berg is trying to compensate for them. Do I think we have a squad good enough to push for promotion? Yes, however I don't see us being a truly dominant side in this league. If we are to get promoted it's going to be one hell of a battle.

If Rovers manage promotion then it's going to be a very hard task to stay in the Premier League next season without certain players being purged from the squad and some money being spent wisely. Having the worst manager in our history was the no.1 factor contributing to our relegation, but the quality of the squad also played a big part as well. Do not fall into this trap that this squad is good enough to survive in the Premier League, it simply isn't.

[Plastics]

I don't think anybody has said this squad is good enough for the Premier League. But the Championship is a hell of a lot poorer.

[Bennisfromheaven]

Agreed Plastics, I believe we are, on paper, good enough for automatic promotion this year! No, we are not good enough for the premier league but we are not in the premier league!

I just hope berg & the players don't share the pessimistic views that some supporters have!

[RibbleValleyRover]

Agreed Plastics, I believe we are, on paper, good enough for automatic promotion this year! No, we are not good enough for the premier league but we are not in the premier league!

I just hope berg & the players don't share the pessimistic views that some supporters have!

I'm not saying automatic promotion is out of the question. I just can't see us being a dominant side in this division or getting there easily because I don't believe the squad is as good as some make out. The point about the Premier League was made because some fans think our squad is still good enough for that division (therefore we should find this division easy) and it was only the Kean factor that saw us go down.

I've said I think Berg is doing a good job so far but we have a long way to go yet. If you think that view is pessimistic then that's your prerogative.

[Bennisfromheaven]

It seems that anyone showing an ounce of optimism gets completely shot down!! Not saying you are the culprit but as a collective we dont like to blow our own trumpet!! God forbid!!

look at the positives, we have one of the best strikers in the league banging in the goals, a former Barcelona youth beginning to mature, we can almost boast an 11 of internationals or former internationals. we are getting fitter, more compact & playing better football all under a past hero!!

So whats the problem???

Get behind the team & believe!!

It just might happen!!

[Mike E]

Interesting how people see things differently! I think the three positions you've just mentioned are our strongest.

- LB. We've got an international quality left back. Not many left backs played at Euro 2012. Showed his quality against England recently.

- CM. I can't think of any teams boasting better midfielders than Murphy and Etuhu. They bossed a very good Birmingham midfield of Ravel Morrison and Hayden Mullins. Lowe and Dunn provide good backup.

- ST. Don't understand this one at all! Rhodes is possibly the best striker in the division. Shortly we'll have Rhodes, Best, Rochina, Gomes and Goodwillie to choose from. I think most Championship clubs would swap with us. You say play Best with Rhodes, but without Rochina behind him Rhodes wouldn't have scored as many. You can't play all three.

For me the biggest issues are the wide areas and central defence. Marcus and Formica are doing jobs there but ultimately we need more quality there. Pace is a must. The biggest thing we can do to help Rhodes is get proper wide players to stretch defences and give him service.

We always look like to concede in the centre of defence. Maybe Givet returning will help this.

The funny thing is I reckon both our POVs make sense haha. I often wonder if I'm still comparing us to a Premier League standard, though. I started supporting Rovers in our last promotion season (I was 10 or 11), so I've never really seen Championship standard footy til this year....although I have a feeling Kean's football was League1 standard in the Prem!

[SergioPeter89]

It seems that anyone showing an ounce of optimism gets completely shot down!! Not saying you are the culprit but as a collective we dont like to blow our own trumpet!! God forbid!!

look at the positives, we have one of the best strikers in the league banging in the goals, a former Barcelona youth beginning to mature, we can almost boast an 11 of internationals or former internationals. we are getting fitter, more compact & playing better football all under a past hero!!

So whats the problem???

Get behind the team & believe!!

It just might happen!!

Thank you Bennisfromheaven.

I can't help it, I'm smiling all the time. I cant wait to the next game.

But when I come on here, all I see is people trying to destroy all optimism.

[Black Burn]

Thank you Bennisfromheaven.

I can't help it, I'm smiling all the time. I cant wait to the next game.

But when I come on here, all I see is people trying to destroy all optimism.

Um, if that's all you're seeing does that mean you're ignoring the optimistic people like me?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

He's done a pretty solid job so far. The fitness levels look like they are starting to improve and we seem to be playing with more style with shorter passing plus getting more crosses from out wide into the box. It's still very early in the Berg tenure but the signs are promising at the moment.

On the issue of the squad I don't think the flaws have gone away, they are still there but Berg is trying to compensate for them. Do I think we have a squad good enough to push for promotion? Yes, however I don't see us being a truly dominant side in this league. If we are to get promoted it's going to be one hell of a battle.

If Rovers manage promotion then it's going to be a very hard task to stay in the Premier League next season without certain players being purged from the squad and some money being spent wisely. Having the worst manager in our history was the no.1 factor contributing to our relegation, but the quality of the squad also played a big part as well. Do not fall into this trap that this squad is good enough to survive in the Premier League, it simply isn't.

That's a fair summing up, the next two games will give more insight into our real abilities. I think we'll need re-inforcements to have a chance of promotion.

[chris_h]

There are better starting elevens than ours at the moment but over the next six months I reckon it will be the clubs who have squad depth that will come to the fore. For me that will be us and Bolton.

[bigbrandjohn]

A lot of supporters were hoping that Hughes would leave QPR and rejoin Rovers.

This article might put an end to any such romantic notion.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/nov/19/qpr-mark-hughes

As I have said on this MB before, Hughes was fantastic for Rovers but at 49, the tag of 'bright young thing' seems a thing of the past and, IMO, he seems to have lost that edge. Perhaps now one of yesterday's men.

He was good with no money but has blown it totally at the two clubs where the money was plentiful. At least we got money for Hoilett and Santa Cruz.

[Stuart]

He was good with no money but has blown it totally at the two clubs where the money was plentiful. At least we got money for Hoilett and Santa Cruz.

I wouldn't say we got 'good' money for Hoilett, John. Certainly not in the current climate!

[patrickvalery]

He was good with no money but has blown it totally at the two clubs where the money was plentiful. At least we got money for Hoilett and Santa Cruz.

I've wondered for a while now whether Hughes still likes to get potential signings in on trial. He used to do that at Rovers and i think it served him well. Gave him an opportunity to assess whether the bloke on trial was actually better or worse than we already had and also gave a nice insight into the character you were buying. I somehow doubt that if QPR or Citeh call up a club and ask to take a player on trial, they'll get told to stick it. It seems like the more money sides have at their disposal the less research they do before spending it.

[Plastics]

Edit - Sorry, made a point you'd already made.