[Archived] Birmingham Preview

[CapeTownRover]

I mentioned it the other day but the palace fans sat near me last week were of the opinion that we have the best squad in the league by some distance and that we are where we are solely because of Kean's incomptence.

I tend to agree

Its the one thing, where we need to give Berg the time, in order to see what he can do when he starts signing players. The impact, or lack there of by Kean is still very much around the squad. However, in the last 2 games, you can just sense the players are alot more confident and sure of themselves. Once we start getting that win, then i think hell will break loose in this league

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

Totally agree. I thought that this was by far Formica's best games for us. He always looked dangerous, got into some good positions, nearly scored a wonder goal, would have scored if Marcus Olsson had crossed instead of shot, had some great turns away from defenders, worked hard and linked up well with others. That's what I saw anyway.

Probably his best match in a Rovers shirt - personally still not convinced with him as a winger. IMO Simon is a better bet for the right wing - and Rochina for the second striker. Having said that - if he plays like he did yesterday it will be very difficult for Berg to drop him.

[JAL]

And award for idiotic observation of the day of the day goes to.... Absolutely no substance to the above, one of his best games as a Rover yesterday.

Based on nearly TWO whole years and not one game.

More fool you and the rest who thinks hes OK in a Rovers shirt you let us all down. Just please remind me how many did we win by against Brum for such a good game and what division is it exactly that we are currently playing in.

[Clitherover]

Enjoyed the game and the atmosphere yesterday, we were by far the better team and should have easily won this which made it quite frustrating. Danny Murphy worked his balls off in midfield and hardly put a foot wrong, more of the same please.

Didn't see their goal properly till I watched Football Focus at home and wasn't surprised to see the usual culprits in Dann and Hanley, we need Givet back desperately, these two cannot play together at CB.

Berg just needs a win to get the ball rolling then more will follow.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

Based on nearly TWO whole years and not one game.

More fool you and the rest who thinks hes OK in a Rovers shirt you let us all down. Just please remind me how many did we win by against Brum for such a good game and what division is it exactly that we are currently playing in.

I agree that Formica isn't worth the £3m we paid for him - but yesterday was his best match for a long long time - and I would be happy to see him in the team if he can sustain that level of performance. I think now that the Kean era is over - we have to give players a chance - players like Formica and Murphy need a proper team structure with a proper pass and move approach. Berg seems to have improved hugely our movement off the ball, and overall tactics - it was noticeable that both Formica and Murphy had their best matches for Rovers yesterday - hopefully it will continue.

As for division and who we were playing - I can't remember us doing too well at the start of the season we got promoted, and I can remember numerous matches from better days when we have been the better team and not won.

[gumboots]

Enjoyed the game and the atmosphere yesterday, we were by far the better team and should have easily won this which made it quite frustrating. Danny Murphy worked his balls off in midfield and hardly put a foot wrong, more of the same please.

Didn't see their goal properly till I watched Football Focus at home and wasn't surprised to see the usual culprits in Dann and Hanley, we need Givet back desperately, these two cannot play together at CB.

Berg just needs a win to get the ball rolling then more will follow.

How did you see our goal on football focus? It goes out lunchtime saturday!

[funny-old-game]

only one of those is currently capable of changing a game, and he'sbeen sat on his arse for 18 months.....

Couldn't agree more!

Rochina will make a great player if he has the brain capacity to do the simple pass rather than always looking for the killer ball, but will he ever get it, not sure. Barca must have kept telling him and I'm sure since he's been at Rovers he must have been told the same. As for Simon, he is the finished article no doubt, goes past his man with ease and finds the right pass!

Etuhu & Murphy played their best game yesterday as each took turns in going more advanced into the last third rather than both being stuck up field without the legs to both get back, made a great difference.

Long way to go but great improvement!

[RoyRover]

Based on nearly TWO whole years and not one game.

More fool you and the rest who thinks hes OK in a Rovers shirt you let us all down. Just please remind me how many did we win by against Brum for such a good game and what division is it exactly that we are currently playing in.

Are you saying that because we didn't win that means that Murphy, Henley, Formica and Vukcevic didn't play well? And that when players and the team play well, we should qualify our praise for them by saying that it was only against some team in the Championship? I'm not having a go, I just want to see if I'm understanding your post correctly.

[JAL]

Are you saying that because we didn't win that means that Murphy, Henley, Formica and Vukcevic didn't play well? And that when players and the team play well, we should qualify our praise for them by saying that it was only against some team in the Championship? I'm not having a go, I just want to see if I'm understanding your post correctly.

Take Henley and Vukcevic out of the equation, what i'm saying is they arent good enough to guarantee getting a result at this level. Scot Dann is another one.

The penalty when it his landed on Formicas head and then the Brum defender made a rash challenge that was luck every bit of it.

[gumboots]

Y ou have to be in the right place at the right time to get a pen. Formica was. Nobody is suggesting that he or any of our players is of a brilliant quality but yesterday some played better than we've seen so far and Formica was one of those as was Murphy. If you can't give credit where it's due then I feel sorry for you. Yes we are not premier league quality. Yes we should have beaten a poor Birmingham team but that doesn't mean that some players yesterday didnt do well.

[Clitherover]

How did you see our goal on football focus? It goes out lunchtime saturday!

Lol, the football league show even! Forgive me it's hangover Sunday as is every Sunday.

[Paul]

I haven't read any posts on here, apart from this page, so rather than going into too many details which will no doubt have been aired many times over, my general take on the game is that we saw some real influence from Berg - and in such a short time.

What we saw was the team go out and control the game in the manner that Berg used to play himself. I don't think Robinson hit a long ball all afternoon and the key was posession and patience. "Control" - we controlled posession and the pace of the game. The team knew what Berg wanted and responded excellently. The defence and midfield in particular played the way that Berg played the game - composed and with belief. I can't remember when we last went out onto the park with a proper game plan. It certainly never happened under Kean.

That control is the first step, the next step will be a bit harder to achieve. The imbalance of the squad is going to make getting that extra 10% needed to start winning games a tougher task. Even though we controlled the game for long periods, their 'keeper didn't have too much to do, while we still had a few nervous moments at the back. Does he have the personnel to take us that extra yard?

All in all, I was very impressed with Berg's influence and for the first time in years, I actually enjoyed the game.

Ah ha!! At last someone who saw the same game as me. Where did you sit den? A much improved performance, a good game of football between decent sides, lots of entertainment and a few sublime moments. The pass Murphy lofted over the Birmingham defence was so good I could almost taste it.

This was a side which hasn't played together in this style often. Anticipation is the key, players aren't quite sure where the ball might go. That will come. We do though badly need a partner for Rhodes. He can't do it on his own.

Must say I really can't agree with the vast bulk of posts made up to about 5.15pm yesterday.

[RoyRover]

Take Henley and Vukcevic out of the equation, what i'm saying is they arent good enough to guarantee getting a result at this level.

Again I'm not having a go, but if I understand you correctly what you are saying is that when players play well and Formica and Murphy did play well yesterday, we shouldn't praise them as they aren't good enough to consistently get results, so we should reserve our praise for those who are?

[gumboots]

Lol, the football league show even! Forgive me it's hangover Sunday as is every Sunday.

daughter works on football focus. Produced article on Celtic yesterday. Also does motd and motd2. Has done the closing montage tonight.

[yoda]

Take Henley and Vukcevic out of the equation, what i'm saying is they arent good enough to guarantee getting a result at this level. Scot Dann is another one.

The penalty when it his landed on Formicas head and then the Brum defender made a rash challenge that was luck every bit of it.

If Hanley hadn't been doing an impression of a statue big club would not have scored

[LeChuck]

If Henley hadn't been doing an impression of a statue big club would not have scored

That was Hanley. Henley had a good game.

[yoda]

That was Hanley. Henley had a good game.

Sorry, Chinese keyboard (English IME lol)

[den]

Where did you sit den?

Riverside Paul. I much prefer the JW upper, it's the best view on the ground, but when you compare £27 against £19 and more games this season it's a big difference. Thinking I might get a half season ticket, maybe for Crimbo.

[BigBar]

Although i would of loved 3 points on sat i think it was alot more obvious 'what we were tryin to do here' than ever before, we played out from the back, passed it very well at times, split them open at will and should have won the game...still looked a bit shakey at the back but they are still tryin to adjust after the horror period for the club...

Im predicting at least 6 points from the next 3 games, probably 7 and possibly 9! lets get the belief back!

[Ralfinho]

After watching yesterday, my team for next week is:

Robinson

Henley Dann Givet Olsson3

Simon Murphy Etuhu Nunes

Rochina

Rhodes

It's finally time to spank someone.

I'd like to save that sparking for December 2nd please. If Calsberg did away days........

[Guest Wen Y Hu]

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

[Neil Weaver]

Riverside Paul. I much prefer the JW upper, it's the best view on the ground, but when you compare £27 against £19 and more games this season it's a big difference. Thinking I might get a half season ticket, maybe for Crimbo.

Same here Den (JW Lower though rather than Upper). I've been at all the home games since Kean but at a tenner a game difference, I'll be in the Riverside till Christmas. Not sure where the half season ticket will be though.

[Ianrally]

I really enjoyed the game, the first for a long long time. I know the result didn't go our way, but at least we saw some effort especially from Murphy who I have not been at all happy with previously. As a fan, I of course want us to win, what I cannot stand is when the players don't show the same commitment. That was not the case on Saturday. At least we got an idea of what Berg is trying to do. Onward and upward from here let's hope.

I haven't seen it mentioned on here, but I presumed we had lost the toss when we attacked the Blackburn End in the first half, but then I thought Brum took the kick off. Was I dreaming?

[92er]

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

Parson-just check the number of league games we have played!

[gumboots]

I really enjoyed the game, the first for a long long time. I know the result didn't go our way, but at least we saw some effort especially from Murphy who I have not been at all happy with previously. As a fan, I of course want us to win, what I cannot stand is when the players don't show the same commitment. That was not the case on Saturday. At least we got an idea of what Berg is trying to do. Onward and upward from here let's hope.

I haven't seen it mentioned on here, but I presumed we had lost the toss when we attacked the Blackburn End in the first half, but then I thought Brum took the kick off. Was I dreaming?

First thing I commented on to my husband when i came home.If we didn't lose the toss, do you think it was possibly to keep them away from their own fans second half which is when we tend to concede throuigh tiredness