[Archived] Henning Berg - Rovers Manager

[Muddboy]

Bolton fans singing- you should have kept steve kean ,finding it hard to disagree.

I suggest you make an appointment at the doctors as soon as you can.

Your head needs feeling.

[SydneyRover]

Truth be told Berg has shown no evidence he's any better a manager than Steve Kean.

But obviously Kean was a lying disgusting toad of a man which is the biggest difference, whereas Berg at least seems like a decent enough guy.

[Howler]

we he could start by playing Givet ( best defender on the clubs books ), CKR ( even with his bad attitude ) + Pedersen ( who can at least provide rhodes with some kind of service ) and what about Simon....

Damn right. I'd replace Etuhu with Lowe too. He might be limited but at least he has a bit of passion and can run! Pedersen is still good enough for this level and the best LM we have at the club (admittedly the alternatives of King, Rochina and Marcus Olsson are horrific). I've not noticed an improvement in our set pieces since he was dropped, as some of the resident sages on here were predicting.

Truth be told Berg has shown no evidence he's any better a manager than Steve Kean.

But obviously Kean was a lying disgusting toad of a man which is the biggest difference, whereas Berg at least seems like a decent enough guy.

haha not playing show pony Rochina and having Gomes upfront with Rhodes look like great tactics from Kean in hindsight!

Totally agree with the second point and why i am willing to cut Berg some slack. He has to start learning quickly though and change things that aren't working.

[arealbrfcfan]

It pains me to say it and I've always been so positive but until we get new owners/true leadership to lead from the top we will drop like a stone.

[ada2020]

we he could start by playing Givet ( best defender on the clubs books ), CKR ( even with his bad attitude ) + Pedersen ( who can at least provide rhodes with some kind of service ) and what about Simon....

Really, givet, pederson and Simon to save our season?

Givet cut himself off with his tantrums, pederson is a powder puff ninny who can't cross for toffee and three managers thus far have managed to ignore Simon quite easily.

There is no quick fix, that's the brutal truth. The squad is utter pap, has been for nearly a year.

And it's rapidly looking like Berg is not the man to resolve the issue, the only thing on his side is he didn't pick these players in the first place.

The shame is I don't see him getting anything in January, I firmly believe there will be no cash available, wheeler dealing will need to be done and really out of what we need to shift, what is there to tempt any clubs out there?

[Andy]

Bolton fans singing- you should have kept steve kean ,finding it hard to disagree.

Seriously?!

[Plastic Head]

The deterioration in results and performances since Berg arrived is alarming.

Didn't Gobshyte Singh say Kean would be sacked if he lost 3? Looking odds on now.

Berg needs to bring in someone to help now and insist an 6 players in and 8 out in Junuary or he may as well go now.

[patrickvalery]

Really, givet, pederson and Simon to save our season?

Givet cut himself off with his tantrums, pederson is a powder puff ninny who can't cross for toffee and three managers thus far have managed to ignore Simon quite easily.

There is no quick fix, that's the brutal truth. The squad is utter pap, has been for nearly a year.

And it's rapidly looking like Berg is not the man to resolve the issue, the only thing on his side is he didn't pick these players in the first place.

The shame is I don't see him getting anything in January, I firmly believe there will be no cash available, wheeler dealing will need to be done and really out of what we need to shift, what is there to tempt any clubs out there?

I think the decline of the squad was down to Ince personally. Big Sam squeezed every ounce out of a poor side and since he left we've had the misfortune of seeing the combination of a p!ss poor squad, p!ss poor owners and a p!ss poor manager. But Ince signed some right dross and the playing squad never really recovered. Berg has been left with a squad of players who aren't fit for puurpose. Scattered amongst it is some degree of talent here and there. But collectively its too lightweight and doesn't have a single leader in its midst. Exactly the opposite of what is required to get out of the division.

[SydneyRover]

It pains me to say it and I've always been so positive but until we get new owners/true leadership to lead from the top we will drop like a stone.

A club can do well with poor owners and a good manager, whereas it can't do well with the opposite. Had we appointed Holloway or someone of a similar calibre, I'm fairly confident we could have got promoted or been close.

I think the decline of the squad was down to Ince personally. Big Sam squeezed every ounce out of a poor side and since he left we've had the misfortune of seeing the combination of a p!ss poor squad, p!ss poor owners and a p!ss poor manager. But Ince signed some right dross and the playing squad never really recovered. Berg has been left with a squad of players who aren't fit for puurpose. Scattered amongst it is some degree of talent here and there. But collectively its too lightweight and doesn't have a single leader in its midst. Exactly the opposite of what is required to get out of the division.

The squad that started last Premier League season was still better than being the 18th best in the league IMO. Ince did sign some dross but this is still all down to Kean and Venky's. Under Sam we had numerous assets (Jones, Hoilett, N'Zonzi, Samba) that were very good players and who could have raised money for two new players each when they were sold. But that money was either keaned up the wall in the case of the Jones and Samba fees, or else the players were so badly handled we didn't get what we should have done for them (Hoilett, N'Zonzi)

[tomphil]

In reply to moerpho's post there was again no leadership. After the early goal the players just looked at each other in that oh here we go again type thing, apart from Hanley who was done easily again for the goal but he did berate the midfield and at least looked angry as did Robinson.

The most worrying thing was the alarming way the team and formation is now back to almost the same as under Kean and trying to play the same way. After Berg's initial changes when there were vast improvements but now back to square one and he did resemble coco in as much as he didn't seem to know how to change it. Having said that all the player's playing bad again are one's signed or over promoted by Kean and his cronies.

[den]

This has been coming for two years guys.

Some fans defended Venky's replacing Williams and Finn along with the club's entire infrastructure, sacking the manager, the use of agents in bringing in players - and even the club selling our best players. All of this was deemed by many to be "the way to go".

It's no surprise to many fans, mainly the older ones I reckon, and they also know how difficult the future is looking now. One things for sure though, there's no quick fix to this position we're in now.

[Steve Kean's Hypnotoad]

Some fans defended Venky's replacing Williams and Finn along with the club's entire infrastructure, sacking the manager, the use of agents in bringing in players - and even the club selling our best players. All of this was deemed by many to be "the way to go".

Did anyone defend the replacement of Williams/Finn? The good football brigade with their juvenile short-sightedness and demented priorities approved sacking Sam, but not sure anyone supported the other departures.

[LeChuck]

Money.

That has to be the root of it. Otherwise the only alternative is that Berg doesn't rate him, and that doesn't bear thinking about.

The money thing has been rejected by every credible source and is only pure speculation. It took us a matter of weeks to hear about it when it was Salgado and Roberts, I really don't think they could have kept it hidden for 18 months with Vukcevic.

[den]

Did anyone defend the replacement of Williams/Finn?

Absolutely they did.

[RibbleValleyRover]

I am surprised about all the negativity on here, I thought we have the best squad in the division and promotion would be a cakewalk?

Leaving the sarcasm aside it's abundantly clear that this squad is really bad and that is the major problem, not Berg. If you break down each part of the squad into defence, midfield and attack it is clearly obvious that there are major question marks about all areas.

Apart from the young right back Henley I haven’t really been impressed with any of the defenders. Dann has looked slightly more solid compared to last season but is still prone to catastrophic mistakes. Hanley looks like he has regressed big time. Martin Olsson has never convinced me that he can play as a left back, he looks far better as a left winger. Givet should be back into this team but who do you play alongside him?

When you look at the midfield I think you see by far and away the biggest problem area in the whole squad. There is simply no balance to it, there is not enough steel in the midfield when it comes to protecting the back four and not enough creativity or support to the striker.

Murphy and Etuhu might have been a solid partnership at Fulham but both are older now and I don’t think the combination is working which is causing us huge problems. On the wings I am not convinced we have the players to put in decent service on a consistent basis to Rhodes. I am not talking about pace here (we have that) I am talking about crosses into the box. If we had a Bentley here right now Rhodes would be banging those goals in.

When you look up front you have to feel for Rhodes, the guy isn’t feeding off scraps he is feeding off dust. I thought after the Posh game that Berg might have sorted out the service issues to Jordan, but since that game he has hardly been getting any service whatsoever. If Rovers are to get out of the division this has to be solved, nobody at the club has a proven record or quality to score the goals needed for a promotion push apart from Rhodes.

Unless Rovers are willing to make the tough decisions needed to remove the deadwood and then spend big in January then I think we will be struggling for the rest of the season. If this doesn’t happen then Berg is going to have to perform a miracle and I do not fancy his chances.

[broadsword]

Absolutely they did.

Not me, Den.

Have we gone over the tipping point? It would require Venky's to spend big time in January for us to turn this round. So many players need to leave, but who will buy them?

I can only hope that Venky's sell up in the summer to someone who knows what they're doing. But that would require a reasonable asking price and I don't think they'd do that. So I would expect a continuing spiral of selling off assets and buying crud to prop up the club, all the while resulting in an increasing degradation of performances. In other words, a vicious circle of failure. We'll end up in the fourthtier like that.

But as long as people know the Venky's name, they won't care.

[RibbleValleyRover]

Absolutely they did.

I don't recall a lot of people saying they thought it was a good decision; it was more a neutral stance. Venky’s had just bought the club, came out with a load of stuff about big investment and where they were going to take the club so at the time they were given the benefit of the doubt.

Not me, Den.

Have we gone over the tipping point? It would require Venky's to spend big time in January for us to turn this round. So many players need to leave, but who will buy them?

I don’t think we will be able to shift the deadwood and we are stuck with a number of players until their contracts run out as nobody will match the wages they are currently on. Pedersen for example we won't be be able to shift in the near future, even when he would have been a free transfer no clubs were interested.

I can only hope that Venky's sell up in the summer to someone who knows what they're doing. But that would require a reasonable asking price and I don't think they'd do that. So I would expect a continuing spiral of selling off assets and buying crud to prop up the club, all the while resulting in an increasing degradation of performances. In other words, a vicious circle of failure. We'll end up in the fourthtier like that.

But as long as people know the Venky's name, they won't care.

I think the chances of a sale are nil at this moment in time. We were on the market for years and that was when we were a well run club which had been performing quite well considering the money spent on it. We are a car crash of a club right now, I can’t see any individual or group of individuals being interested. I know a trust has been set up to buy the club but that will not work, they won’t have the finance to make it work.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Can anyone imagine this side in the Premierleague?...we would be mithered by the likes of even Wigan and QPR.

What I fear most is the fans turning on a good honest ex-player like Berg if matters dont improve,this really isn't a good situation for all concerned.

[Amo]

I don't recall a lot of people saying they thought it was a good decision; it was more a neutral stance. Venky’s had just bought the club, came out with a load of stuff about big investment and where they were going to take the club so at the time they were given the benefit of the doubt.

Indeed. Changes at boardroom and management level are almost always expected after a takeover. So I think many fans were open to whether Venky's would bring in the right people of their own. They did not.

[G Somerset Rover]

The money thing has been rejected by every credible source and is only pure speculation. It took us a matter of weeks to hear about it when it was Salgado and Roberts, I really don't think they could have kept it hidden for 18 months with Vukcevic.

Simon's not gonna go off spouting to the English media and venting on Twitter though is he. He can probably barely speak English.

[SydneyRover]

Indeed. Changes at boardroom and management level are almost always expected after a takeover. So I think many fans were open to whether Venky's would bring in the right people of their own. They did not.

I think plenty of people realised they were utterly clueless with the first major decision they made as owners of the club.

[martonrover]

I think plenty of people realised they were utterly clueless with the first major decision they made as owners of the club.

and every decision made since shows they remain utterly clueless, as is their representative, Mr Singh.

[den]

Not me, Den.

No, not you Bryan.

I don't recall a lot of people saying they thought it was a good decision; it was more a neutral stance.

Either you didn't read the posts that I did, or your memories failing RVR. Thinking and arguing that losing the top people at the club isn't such a big problem, isn't a neutral stance.

[Oklahoma]

What is worrying me the most is that, despite the bad games and lack of fitness, Berg still chose 10 players and the new player instead of giving other players a chance to be starters.

We don't have 11 obvious starters so it would be normal to change the squad specially when you have players with a similar level and most of them lack physical preparation.

Nuno Gomes was not even on the bench, yesterday.

CKR is good but needs to be "educateed"

Rochina needs to be on the bench to learn to select better his football

Murphy and Etuhu have been poor all season.

The 5 players most used this season so far are Robinson, Dann, Etuhu, Rhodes and Murphy (by this order). I believe most can agree that their perfomances have been quite poor, in general.

[jim mk2]

Five points out of 18 is poor and another defeat at Burnley coupled with a performance as lame as last night's and the knives will be out for Berg. We are in relegation form at the moment and if this run continues it won't be long before we are looking over our shoulders at the clubs catching us up in the lower half of the table. Berg has to pull off a good result at Turf Moor - his honeymoon period at the club is over.