[Archived] Blackpool vs. Blackburn Rovers- Saturday 26/10/13 3pm.

[Barnesy]

Not seen much fuss made of the Blackpool defender saving Rhodes goal-bound shot with two hands-but staying on the pitch. It looked a clear red card offence to me on the TV and would have left Pool with 10 men throughout the second half.

[USABlue]

The detritus left by previous managers whether corrupt, on the make or just incompetent (and we've had em all since Nov 2010) is crippling the club and is a strong argument for a long period of stability under the current one. He might not be a Fergy or a Wenger but someone like him is necessary for the club to recover financially and the squad to become a team with a purpose instead of a collection of individuals and a rag bag of assorted accountants, managers, lawyers and agents on the make.

Well said Gordon, I agree and ido think he will do well given time

[bazza]

Blackpool created very little , got a cheap penalty and was gifted a goal by yet another Kean lack of concentration .

Seen a couple of post regarding Dann being dropped , which I can't quite understand .

Dann is one of only a couple of players in the team who is composed on the ball and can pick a pass out .

Keans kicking is awful , very rarely finds a rovers shirt and is the weakest link .

Kilgannon ain't good enough , the last 15 minutes he was dead on his feet and was found wanting .

Tommy Spurr is a cracking full back but is being asked to do too much behind King , King can't tackle and when he does track back he tends to assist the opposition.

Never been the biggest fan of Lowe , but last couple of games he has shown his importance to the team , he covers every blade of grass trying covering for players who sulk when it's not going their way .

Cairney is very gifted and is so composed on the ball , however when he gets the ball , the options available to him are poor , players don't move the opposition around off the ball , which makes us very predictable .

Was chatting last night with a mate who suggested that had rovers dropped king and Rhodes and Gond with Best n Campbell then we would of probably won the match . The opposition know who the danger men are , Blackpool took away our width and made it impossible for king to stretch his legs on a very narrow pitch , whilst Rhodes was marked by two players with the defensive midfielder making it a triangle around him .

Had rovers gone with the other two then all Blackpools weekly work of highlighting Rhodes and King would of been out the window . Bowyer needs to mix it up , as our lineup and tactics are far too predictable and easy to harness from the opposition.

At present teams who play us only need to watch the videos from previous games and they have our measure , this has to change if we harbour any hopes of a solid season

Good post, Glen. It gives us who didn't go to the game a good overview. And the suggestion of resting King and Rhodes for the game came as a surprise to me but a good idea. Maybe GB thought about it and decided against it or maybe it never occurred to him.

[thenodrog]

Good post, Glen. It gives us who didn't go to the game a good overview. And the suggestion of resting King and Rhodes for the game came as a surprise to me but a good idea. Maybe GB thought about it and decided against it or maybe it never occurred to him.

Bowyer dropping JR would be like turkeys voting for Christmas on here.

[USABlue]

Exactly and the case for the prosecution was given totally on MoTD by Robbie Savage who was criticising Crystal Palace's Maurouan Chamakh for the self same reasons that we criticise Jordan Rhodes. One could have used Sav's voice over and run a video of JR's performances. Sad thing is that Rhodes's weaknesses are so so easy for him to work on and improve.

Ao Chamakh's goal tally is?

[thenodrog]

Ao Chamakh's goal tally is?

Irrelevant. Both of them should be sat down to watch old vids of Ian Rush ...... and his goal tally was something else. Come to think about it current hot striker Suarez works as hard as hell off the ball, as does the likes of Rooney and RVP. There is a link to effort and success you know. JR is a shirker, what we used to call a tart liner. If he ever wants to make a name for himself in football he needs to work (and think) outside the box and not just in it.

[USABlue]

I will when we start winning games on a consistent basis. At the moment Lowe is one of the main reasons why we are not imo.

What are you meant to do, concede that we're not winning enough games but say it doesn't matter because Jase is a good old bloke whod tries his hardest?

I was wondering that as well. They seemed to speak quite favourably about him on the radio before half time, less so after.

Is Evans being out not also a reason? Seems to me Lowes better games came with Evans playing.

[USABlue]

Irrelevant. Both of them should be sat down to watch old vids of Ian Rush ...... and his goal tally was something else. Come to think about it current hot striker Suarez works as hard as hell off the ball, as does the likes of Rooney and RVP. There is a link to effort and success you know. JR is a shirker, what we used to call a tart liner. If he ever wants to make a name for himself in football he needs to work (and think) outside the box and not just in it.

Goals are irrelevant now? To use Rush and Suarez as examples is plain silly. Rhodes is very important to us.

[thenodrog]

You are beginning to sound like a Rhodes apologist. As soon as a player thinks he doesn't need to improve his game he begins to decline.

[chaddyrovers]

You are beginning to sound like a Rhodes apologist. As soon as a player thinks he doesn't need to improve his game he begins to decline.

Rhodes knows he needs to improve his game. and I'm sure that the coaching staff are working on this with him.

Rhodes scores goals and that what strikers get paid to do is score goals. think some fans get too over critical of him. we all knew what type of striker Rhodes was when we signed him.

here are the goals he scored for us last season. some brilliant finishes in this youtube video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZ4bYtDBA3U

[LDRover]

Chaddy, if Rhodes needs the coaching staff to tell him what his weaknesses are he must be thick as a whale omelette.

[savage90]

Wish Friedel would come back and do us one last favour before he retires.

[chaddyrovers]

Chaddy, if Rhodes needs the coaching staff to tell him what his weaknesses are he must be thick as a whale omelette.

of course Rhodes knows his weaknesses and the coaching staff will be helping him improve them during the training sessions. that's what I meant.

Wish Friedel would come back and do us one last favour before he retires.

no chance will Friedel come back to Rovers. he is at club that will be challenging for top 4 at the very least if not for the PL title. Plus Spurs are not going to loan out their back up keeper with them in 4 competitions in my opinion of course

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

Interesting and thought provoking post but the point you make about Best and DJ is theoretical only imo.

What your mate is saying is replace the two players who overall have been our most potent threats with two guys who have shown nothing whatsoever in a Rovers shirt since they've been at the Club.

An interesting exercise on the Playstation perhaps but one that would be a big gamble for the manager to take and not one with any real time evidence of success behind it to indicate it would be a profitable move.

I think somebody earlier made the comment that if we didn't get promoted Rhodes would be sold and we would end up with DJ and Best as our two forwards. I actually don't think it would be that bad a combination - DJ's scoring record in the Championship isn't quite as good as Rhodes - but does hold up quite well. As a combination they would offer more mobility and hold up play than any combination including Rhodes. Having said all that - I still think we will be a better team if we can keep Rhodes but get the best out of him - but (as I have always said) IF Bowyer decided to cash in on Rhodes in January I could see the rationale.

[JAL]

Chaddy, if Rhodes needs the coaching staff to tell him what his weaknesses are he must be thick as a whale omelette.

The old pro's used to say play to your strengths and here we are on a messageboard saying he should work on his weaknesses.

Think we will have to just accept his weaknesses and enjoy his strengths.

Goals please, but that certainly doesnt excuse the manager from dropping or resting him from time to time.

[Tom]

Rhodes knows he needs to improve his game. and I'm sure that the coaching staff are working on this with him.

Rhodes scores goals and that what strikers get paid to do is score goals. think some fans get too over critical of him. we all knew what type of striker Rhodes was when we signed him.

here are the goals he scored for us last season. some brilliant finishes in this youtube video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZ4bYtDBA3U

Hypothetical Question Chaddy if you had the best shot stopper in the world in the nets bet his kicking was woeful for example he couldn't reach the halfway line and sliced each kick and gave it away time after time would you be critical of his kicking? After all a keepers job is to stop goals if a strikers sole job is to score goals.

Its a similar thing here Rhodes does the main part of his task utterly superbly but the other aspects of his role he often abjectly fails at, it is fair that its mentioned and in some games it helps put us under pressure at the wrong end

[Mike E]

I'd like to offer that his goalscoring talent is outstanding. Possibly god-given. But that shouldn't excuse his inability to hold up the ball (strength can be added tobhis first touch EASILY) and lack of effort half the time in running the channels (effort is effort, anyone can try).

He's great. But he needs to improve his other aspects of his game. If not, it frankly shows a lack of ambition.

And he's one of my favourite players of recent years, so it's not like I'm a detractor in any way.

[broadsword]

of course Rhodes knows his weaknesses and the coaching staff will be helping him improve them during the training sessions. that's what I meant.

Most of what you post appears to have no more solid a basis than blind faith.

I get the funny feeling Rhodes has got the hump with being at Rovers, if a suitable bid comes in for him this January, I can't see him staying.

[Parsonblue]

The difference between the hold up play of Fuller on Saturday and Rhodes was the difference between night and day. Fuller won everything in the air, held the ball up, played in the midfield runners and constantly fed Ince on the wing. It's a pity we don't have someone like Fuller to play alongside Rhodes. Best is the nearest we have but is not in the same class as Fuller. Rhodes is a goal poacher, probably one of the best, if not the best in the Championship. However, in games like this he was a virtual passenger and his inability to hold the ball up means we lose possession rather too quickly and failure to retain the ball is one of our problems at the moment.

[Tom]

If only we had Yakubu alongside him, he was outstanding at holding up the ball and bringing the wingers into play

[USABlue]

You are beginning to sound like a Rhodes apologist. As soon as a player thinks he doesn't need to improve his game he begins to decline.

Not an apologist at all since most of all I see of Rhodes is his name on the scoresheet it's hard for me to be critical. Where did you hear that Rhodes has no desire to improve his game

Most of what you post appears to have no more solid a basis than blind faith.

I get the funny feeling Rhodes has got the hump with being at Rovers, if a suitable bid comes in for him this January, I can't see him staying.

That's what I have, blind faith and can you blame Rhodes if he does have the hump. Scores for fun and every buggars moanin. We could still have Beamo heh heh or Ward or Blake or Roberts. All workers with striker attributes

[roversfan99]

If only we had Yakubu alongside him, he was outstanding at holding up the ball and bringing the wingers into play

To be honest Yakubu's main strength again was scoring goals. he just was a more complete striker and not limited to his goals. His work rate was poor and he never ran the channels, but he had a superb touch, and plenty of strength and intelligence. Rhodes could learn alot from Yakubu if he was still here.

[Blandy]

If we don't get promoted do you honestly think we"ll be able to continue employing Best and Campbell? We'll be looking at who's banging them in for Chorley or Bamber Bridge

I think i'd rather have Darren Stephenson than Leon Best!

[Gav]

The old pro's used to say play to your strengths and here we are on a messageboard saying he should work on his weaknesses.

Think we will have to just accept his weaknesses and enjoy his strengths.

Goals please, but that certainly doesnt excuse the manager from dropping or resting him from time to time.

Absolutely, it's staggering people are aiming critisizm at Rhodes because all he does is score goals, that's all he needs to do, build a team around that strength and you're half way to the premiership.

I'd like to offer that his goalscoring talent is outstanding. Possibly god-given. But that shouldn't excuse his inability to hold up the ball (strength can be added tobhis first touch EASILY) and lack of effort half the time in running the channels (effort is effort, anyone can try).

He's great. But he needs to improve his other aspects of his game. If not, it frankly shows a lack of ambition.

And he's one of my favourite players of recent years, so it's not like I'm a detractor in any way.

His game isn't holding the ball up or running the channels, so to ask him to do that would detract from his goal scoring ability for me.

Get someone else to play that role and let Rhodes 'just score goals'.

[Blue n White Rover]

Absolutely, it's staggering people are aiming critisizm at Rhodes because all he does is score goals, that's all he needs to do, build a team around that strength and you're half way to the premiership.

His game isn't holding the ball up or running the channels, so to ask him to do that would detract from his goal scoring ability for me.

Get someone else to play that role and let Rhodes 'just score goals'.

That's what we try to do Gav but like anything, not everything goes to plan. When Rhodes does not score he offers absolutely nothing to the team.

Yak "just scored goals" too, but when he wasn't on the scoresheet he was very effective in bringing the wingers into play. Rhodes does none of that.

Bit of a catch 22 situation with Rhodes though, because you can't take him off as he can score a goal at any point.

Only way to solve the situation is to improve his game and if the fans can see where he needs improvement, then hopefully so will Bowyer. Whether Rhodes can improve is a different matter.

Having a go at those criticising Rhodes is out of order. He isn't immune to criticism just because he is our top scorer.