[Archived] Rovers v Millwall: Ewood Park - December 14th, KO - 3pm

[Leonard Venkhater]

Evans is starting running for the first time this coming week. They haven't put a date on his actual return.

On Gestede I think the criticism of him is a bit harsh. He showed great strength in a couple of tussles with defenders, and seems decent on the ball. Yes - i agree that if you are only on for 5 minutes you should be chasing everything - which he didn't. But I saw enough to suggest he will be good for us. Defenders will hate playing against him - he is tall and strong.

On a general point about performance, because of the wind it was tricky walking back to my car in a completely straight line after the match (no alcohol consumed btw) so it might not be the game to assess the minutia of player performance - tough day for goalkeepers.

I had been bemoaning what was a truly dreadful game, when I noticed the swirling wind blowing litter along the touchline. That wind would have made it difficult to control the ball as readily as usual, not to mention problems, when the ball moved in the air....so I won't be too critical on this occasion . Glad for the 3 points!

[thenodrog]

Indeed. I bloody hated playing in strong winds. Not only is it difficult to judge the flight of the ball but a howling wind covers the sound of opposing players behind you and frequently vision can become blurred too.

Yesterday I commented during the game that the wind whipping across the JW stand was coming left to right (from the Blackburn End) whilst the rain was being blown the opposite way.

[T.J.Newton]

there was a lot of bickering amongst rovers players right from the kick-off yesterday (especially amongst the back line and wide players) maybe/hopefully just a bit of boil over from all the crap surrounding Dodgy Campbell in the press this week that again hopefully will now have simmered down with the boost of getting 3 points.

Dann in particular irritates me the way he bolllocks teamates for mistakes that he was partially to blame for(usually due to poor communication)

[Brfcrule1]

Having watched that game from my usual BBE it was disappointing to concede the 2 goals in the manner we did but the blame must lie with the GK & Defenders jointly the 2nd should easily have been cleared by our defence before it got to their man 2 yards out and the keeper could have been more commanding however given the conditions with the wind and rain swirling around the conditions were not great but I thought overall I thought Eastwood's handling was excellent and far better than Kean & Robbo. Tom I would not normally disagree but throwing Robbo straight back in when he is fully fit even if we are paying him a fortune could upset the balance of the team just because he gets paid the most does not necessarily mean he should come straight back in and it would be incredibly harsh to drop Eastwood as all round he has been a very good keeper and who knows come Jan we might look to offload as we might need help to get Cairney in perm who I believe should now be the priority I did think overall it was a poor game but with the conditions it was hardly surprising even I felt a drop of rain come through the roof in the BBE but at this point in the season the most important thing is points even if the performance is not so great would swap that for the 3 points.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Yeah me too. I hated those games when you had a dry, hard playing surface and high winds. The sort of games you get in April and early May. The ball never seemed to come down and you spent most the match wrestling with your opponent in heading contests. Give me a slick, wet surface any day.

[Gav]

Apples & oranges. They're two completely different players.

Rochina showed last season that he can do the business in this league.

We almost went down Topman, Rochina was anonymouse for the most part in my opinion. Over inflated ego that delivers very little, get rid.

[Amo]

We almost went down Topman, Rochina was anonymouse for the most part in my opinion. Over inflated ego that delivers very little, get rid.

He only started 11 league games, GAV, and of them he produced 5 goals and 3 assists.

[roversfan99]

Having watched that game from my usual BBE it was disappointing to concede the 2 goals in the manner we did but the blame must lie with the GK & Defenders jointly the 2nd should easily have been cleared by our defence before it got to their man 2 yards out and the keeper could have been more commanding however given the conditions with the wind and rain swirling around the conditions were not great but I thought overall I thought Eastwood's handling was excellent and far better than Kean & Robbo. Tom I would not normally disagree but throwing Robbo straight back in when he is fully fit even if we are paying him a fortune could upset the balance of the team just because he gets paid the most does not necessarily mean he should come straight back in and it would be incredibly harsh to drop Eastwood as all round he has been a very good keeper and who knows come Jan we might look to offload as we might need help to get Cairney in perm who I believe should now be the priority I did think overall it was a poor game but with the conditions it was hardly surprising even I felt a drop of rain come through the roof in the BBE but at this point in the season the most important thing is points even if the performance is not so great would swap that for the 3 points.

We changed keeper 2 games ago and it didnt upset the balance too much. Eastwoods handling is much worse than Robbos for me, I often felt unsure with him and he has already made an error that has led to a goal within 2 games. I think the defence trusts Robinson much more than Kean or Eastwood, there where times yesterday including when Dann should have given a penalty away but we got away with it, where there was clearly trust and communication issues going back to the keeper.

Also please could you put full stops at the end of each sentence, just a minor niggle but it would make it much easier to read!

[T.J.Newton]

The communication(in terms of either 'lack of' or just 'poor' between Dann and Goalkeeper(any) has cost us at very least a dozen goals since his arrival.

[Leonard Venkhater]

Indeed. I bloody hated playing in strong winds. Not only is it difficult to judge the flight of the ball but a howling wind covers the sound of opposing players behind you and frequently vision can become blurred too.

Yesterday I commented during the game that the wind whipping across the JW stand was coming left to right (from the Blackburn End) whilst the rain was being blown the opposite way.

Me too. Rain and snow were fine, but wind always ruined games. Now wind and a plastic pitch was my idea of hell. I used to think "What's the point?" before I even went out there....

[West Yorks Rover]

WYR...... If I had only read two of your posts and they were the ones then I'd think you were an idiot.

The thing is Gordon, how many times do you have to watch a player to decide whether he has the necessary skill levels

to make it as a decent player in this league

Plenty of Ewood regulars on here, still don't rate Lowe as a player after watching him this season, even if he has improved a little,

he would have to improve a lot from what i've seen in the past.

I will also add, if Lowe had not come through Brockhall, I don't think he would have been a regular in the team, nor would he get

so much backing from some Roverites.

He does try though, got to give him that !

[den]

Rochina showed last season that he can do the business in this league.

You and me were arguing that a few weeks back Amo. I would love to know where you get that from. Is seeing an occasional glimpse, enough to show he deserves a starting place?

It's not, is it?

[USABlue]

Talk abour absence makes the heart grow fonder. All this talk of Robbo being our saviour bewilders me. He was poor before he went out. As for his handling being better than Eastwood I'm not sure how that can be since he hardly came for balls he cant get down for shots either. So he can kick but from what I've seen Eastwood has a hell of a kick also. We seem to have forgotten how many times we had lamented on here that Robbo should have done better.

Great to get the 3 points.

[thenodrog]

Talk abour absence makes the heart grow fonder. All this talk of Robbo being our saviour bewilders me. He was poor before he went out. As for his handling being better than Eastwood I'm not sure how that can be since he hardly came for balls he cant get down for shots either. So he can kick but from what I've seen Eastwood has a hell of a kick also. We seem to have forgotten how many times we had lamented on here that Robbo should have done better.

A bad days work appointing Paul Ince got so much worse when it led to replacing Friedal with Robinson. Yet many on here thought it was a good move.

[Amo]

You and me were arguing that a few weeks back Amo. I would love to know where you get that from. Is seeing an occasional glimpse, enough to show he deserves a starting place?

It's not, is it?

Nothing to do with my opinion, Den. It's all there in black & white, as I've posted already.

[Gally]

A bad days work appointing Paul Ince got so much worse when it led to replacing Friedal with Robinson. Yet many on here thought it was a good move.

Robbo was excellent for long periods under Big Sam imo. He clearly has flaws in his game, but I'd rather have a 30 year old Robinson than plenty of 'keepers getting game time in the top flight this season. I'd be amazed if he managed to get back to anything like that level now mind.

[Leonard Venkhater]

A bad days work appointing Paul Ince got so much worse when it led to replacing Friedal with Robinson. Yet many on here thought it was a good move.

I know Brad, himself,denied that Ince was a factor in his departure, but I did wonder.

Do you know for a fact that there was an Ince connection to Brad's difficult time under Houlier?..and that this influenced his decision to leave?

I listened to Ince on the radio yesterday about Pool's red cards..I thought he was embarrassing.

[Mike E]

You and me were arguing that a few weeks back Amo. I would love to know where you get that from. Is seeing an occasional glimpse, enough to show he deserves a starting place?

It's not, is it?

5 goals and 3 assists (was it?) in 11 starts. Yep, he's good enough.

BUT I don't believe he'd have helped vs Millwall in those conditions. Rocjina needs to play in semu-decent conditions at least to have any effect.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

A bad days work appointing Paul Ince got so much worse when it led to replacing Friedal with Robinson. Yet many on here thought it was a good move.

Really ? They must have been crazy.

[SoldierMo]

I really do wish we had kept mark bunn he was the perfect age too

[thenodrog]

I know Brad, himself,denied that Ince was a factor in his departure, but I did wonder.

Do you know for a fact that there was an Ince connection to Brad's difficult time under Houlier?..and that this influenced his decision to leave?

I listened to Ince on the radio yesterday about Pool's red cards..I thought he was embarrassing.

I know nothing substantial but rumour has/had it that Friedel's missus is black and Ince did/said something at Livvie which Friedel took exception to and that caused the rift. Denied by both parties of course.

[Brfcrule1]

A bad days work appointing Paul Ince got so much worse when it led to replacing Friedal with Robinson. Yet many on here thought it was a good move.

Gordon I must admit so did I and many of us I think we all realised Brad wanted to go and nothing was going to change his mind so we needed someone as experienced in and although Robbo did not have the best of times vs Croatia even I believed he could get back to somewhere near his best but I think it was fairly obvious from the start he wasn't but from the beginning I and many others backed him to shine however imo at the time Robbo should only have been 2nd choice on the list as I felt we should have gone all out to get Cudicini.

[Majiball]

save our friedel.

lol.

[Gav]

5 goals and 3 assists (was it?) in 11 starts. Yep, he's good enough..

But we play 40 games a season, even an injured Dunny plays more games on 1 leg than Rochina does!

[JBiz]

I know the club is constantly surrounded by negativity, and this is something that I have got used to in the past 3 years - however I still do not understand the whole "Jason's not good enough" debate.

Ignoring such facts like he has played for every level of England up to u21 or (not to mention) has filled in at both centre back and right back. Or forgetting that he has been picked to play Mark Hughes, Sam Allardyce etc. (managers with much better understanding of football than yourselves)

He is one of our best players - simple as. You'd have to be either ignorant or an imbecile (most likely both) to not see the effect he has on a game. The work rate and commitment, sheer speed and agility are his strengths. I agree he is not creative, when SK played him on the wing he was ineffectual (but that's why SK is in brunei) - however you need players like Lowe in the team to give the more creative players the ball back.

I have watched football for 20+ years, always looked deeper than who scores or sets up the goals. The way Jason breaks up play is a joy to behold, and I think he is compliments Lee Williamson's creativity, understanding and experience. (something Jason doesn't have) I also think GB should be commended for keeping him in the position over Cairney, who is not a BRFC player. It shows how he rates Cairney though,(by playing him in a weaker position) and hopefully we will get him for keeps.

If your comparing Jason to worldies like Tugay, (which is easy to do considering it wasn't to long ago when he wore blue and white) it's easy to be negative - but for this level at this time, Jason would likely get into most championship teams. If he continues to improve - I see him being a top flight box to box.