[Archived] Boro v Rovers - 8th Feb, KO 3 pm, Riverside Stadium

[arbitro]

Gestede's arrival and good form put his nose out of joint?

My own theory is that he hasn't played in a two very often and he seems to be struggling with this. Against Derby, Blackpool and yesterday Gestede was winning headers and I was expecting Rhodes to be on the end of a few of them. Quite often he was making the wrong run or not moving. Over time this partnership might improve as their understanding grows but in our position we need a quicker pay back.

[K-Hod]

Didn't he play as part of a 2 at Huddersfield?

[arbitro]

Didn't he play as part of a 2 at Huddersfield?

As I recall Novak played off him with Pilkington and Roberts coming in from wide positions.

[Atomicrover]

I think a striker who scored more goals than any other in 2013 doesn't become a poor striker overnight. Whatever we were doing as a team when he was banging them in we clearly aren't doing now.

[SoldierMo]

Well he assisted the goal in the 1-0 win over doncaster and in another game after that too so would hardly say hes not doin much

[Atomicrover]

Well he assisted the goal in the 1-0 win over doncaster and in another game after that too so would hardly say hes not doin much

Someone suggested earlier that in his attempt to become more of a "team player" or more rounded centre forward that his own personal game was changing.

[thenodrog]

hows it going to improve on the bench ?

JR might not but the team would improve. It's usually easier playing with 11 men on the pitch. Did you not go to the Man City game?

[SoldierMo]

Dont think rovers won against city home or awY??

[thenodrog]

Sorry but that's garbage.

No it isn't. I've neen saying for months now that he can finish but has the work rate of a tart liner. Best striker attacking player imo in the Premier League at the moment is Louis Suarez. He's bloody amazing both on and off the ball .... it's no coincidence imo that he is also the hardest worker. No doubt I'll now get it thrown at me that if Rhodes was half as good as Suarez he wouldn't be playing for us cos he'd be in the Prem.

But that would just prove my point wouldn't it?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

He's a very good finisher but when you've said that you've said it. A team of eleven Rhodes wouldn't beat an egg.

[thenodrog]

Dont think rovers won against city home or awY??

Don't think? Eh? Is your memory that poor?

Disregarding the stupidity of your comment that home match v City was our best performance of the season. No doubt some players raised their game but as a team we looked much better balanced throughout.

[SoldierMo]

Nup i think the bolton performance at home was the best and oh yeah rhodes played and scored in that one...same with leeds away

And mt comments wernt stupid it was my point that we DID NOT BEAT CITY...performance dusnt get you wins all the time

[thenodrog]

Nup i think the bolton performance at home was the best and oh yeah rhodes played and scored in that one...same with leeds away

And mt comments wernt stupid it was my point that we DID NOT BEAT CITY...performance dusnt get you wins all the time

Rather proves my point.

[jim mk2]

When he took over at Chelsea in the summer Mourinho wasn't sure about Hazard. He had talent for sure but he found a player who messed about in training and didn't apply himself in matches. In short, he didn't work hard enough and was warned he would never fulfil his potential and might not have a future at Chelsea if he didn't change his ways. Six months later Hazard is the best player in the country and one of the best in Europe. Now Rhodes doesn't have Hazard's talent, not by a long way, but the moral is all the best players and the best teams have to work very hard for their success. Rhodes comes across as a lazy so-and-so who needs a Mourinho-style rollicking up his derriere.

[SoldierMo]

Rather proves my point.

Haha blame the iphone...how can you justify a performance that had a draw to say rhodes should be dropped???without his hardwork and chasing we would have lost to burnley away

[Stuart]

No it isn't. I've neen saying for months now that he can finish but has the work rate of a tart liner. Best striker attacking player imo in the Premier League at the moment is Louis Suarez. He's bloody amazing both on and off the ball .... it's no coincidence imo that he is also the hardest worker. No doubt I'll now get it thrown at me that if Rhodes was half as good as Suarez he wouldn't be playing for us cos he'd be in the Prem.

But that would just prove my point wouldn't it?

I'm not sure what point you are trying to make - or even disguise by trying to deflect the argument with your last line.

Rhodes scored goals. That wasn't enough, he had to work on his off the ball, team work.

Rhodes does more off the ball work - and from what I have seen has a great attitude and does work hard, despite what arbitro sees from his seat - and now he doesn't contribute with the same number of goals, the knives are out again.

Gordon, I think you just want Rhodes to fail so you can be right about some comments you made months ago and now can't go back on. You're acting like the ugly butch girl of the class who has decided she doesn't like new pretty lass and has set out to destroy her.

Comparisons to Suarez are a complete joke and a red herring (to think I got pulled up as making a comparison between Best and Adebayor - that would be closer!). Do you really think we are like to see the kind of striker that Suarez is or Shearer was, at Ewood - ever again? I don't - and you don't either.

The fact is that we have a young lad with an indisputable eye for goal and some Rovers fans only seem to want to tear strips off him. I honestly think that the prolific Ings would be in exactly the same situation as Rhodes if he were here.

Rhodes is one of the few reasons to get excited about Rovers these days. I wish people wouldn't take it out on the lad because of negative, clean-sheet-centric tactics deployed by the manager.

[SoldierMo]

I'm not sure what point you are trying to make - or even disguise by trying to deflect the argument with your last line.

Rhodes scored goals. That wasn't enough, he had to work on his off the ball, team work.

Rhodes does more off the ball work - and from what I have seen has a great attitude and does work hard, despite what arbitro sees from his seat - and now he doesn't contribute with the same number of goals, the knives are out again.

Gordon, I think you just want Rhodes to fail so you can be right about some comments you made months ago and now can't go back on. You're acting like the ugly butch girl of the class who has decided she doesn't like new pretty lass and has set out to destroy her.

Comparisons to Suarez are a complete joke and a red herring (to think I got pulled up as making a comparison between Best and Adebayor - that would be closer!). Do you really think we are like to see the kind of striker that Suarez is or Shearer was, at Ewood - ever again? I don't - and you don't either.

The fact is that we have a young lad with an indisputable eye for goal and some Rovers fans only seem to want to tear strips off him. I honestly think that the prolific Ings would be in exactly the same situation as Rhodes if he were here.

Rhodes is one of the few reasons to get excited about Rovers these days. I wish people wouldn't take it out on the lad because of negative, clean-sheet-centric tactics deployed by the manager.

+100

[thenodrog]

I'm not sure what point you are trying to make - or even disguise by trying to deflect the argument with your last line.

Rhodes scored goals. That wasn't enough, he had to work on his off the ball, team work.

Rhodes does more off the ball work - and from what I have seen has a great attitude and does work hard, despite what arbitro sees from his seat - and now he doesn't contribute with the same number of goals, the knives are out again.

Gordon, I think you just want Rhodes to fail so you can be right about some comments you made months ago and now can't go back on. You're acting like the ugly butch girl of the class who has decided she doesn't like new pretty lass and has set out to destroy her.

Comparisons to Suarez are a complete joke and a red herring (to think I got pulled up as making a comparison between Best and Adebayor - that would be closer!). Do you really think we are like to see the kind of striker that Suarez is or Shearer was, at Ewood - ever again? I don't - and you don't either.

The fact is that we have a young lad with an indisputable eye for goal and some Rovers fans only seem to want to tear strips off him. I honestly think that the prolific Ings would be in exactly the same situation as Rhodes if he were here.

Rhodes is one of the few reasons to get excited about Rovers these days. I wish people wouldn't take it out on the lad because of negative, clean-sheet-centric tactics deployed by the manager.

Manager's fault is it? At 4-5-1 pre Christmas I read time and again that if JR didn't score it was because he was isolated up front, now Bowyer's gone 4-4-2 since signing Gestede it still doesn't suit JR and he's dried up completely yet somehow you suggest it's the managers fault again! Truth is that unless he learns how to contribute to the team effort and play as a proper target man JR will always be a square peg in a round hole whether it's for club or country and whether it's here or elsewhere. He is at his level as far as I can see, he is no way a Premier League player yet stupid us are paying him like one.

btw comparisons to Suarez are bang on. I'm gobsmacked that you reckon JR does lots of off the ball work after seeing Suarez on TV and 'live' the likes of Dickov, Speedie, Newell and Shearer etc turning out in the blue and white halves! Louis Suarez is a top top finisher of that there is no doubt whether it's left foot right foot or his head. BUT shove into the package his assists, his work rate and his burning and cussed desire to win and he becomes a true worldie. Guess what? The last two attributes cost nowt and are available to everybody! By condoning JR's shiftless attitude we are shooting ourselves and him in the foot. 'JR scores when he wants'? My arse.

He has talent cos it takes special talent to finish as he can, but he's wasting it..... and personally I can think of 40,000 reasons why! His value can only depreciate imo and he will cost our club millions.

[jim mk2]

Bowyer is to blame for Rhodes's shortcomings - but they are not tactical. Bowyer is to blame for giving Rhodes what appears to be an easy ride. A spell on the substitute's bench, plus orders to work harder for his very lucrative living, might shake him into some sort of action. Rovers fans will tolerate less than talented players along as they give 100 per cent but they will not tolerate shirkers. Rhodes can and needs to do alot more.

[dingles staying down 4ever]

People who are calling him lazy are off the mark. He does look like someone who is low on confidence though. He is working for the team which appears something that does not come naturally to him. I think he is struggling to read Gestede's flick ons something I thought he'd be good at.

His confidence will quickly return once he starts scoring again.

Now that Bowyer appears to have options it is for the manager to earn his money and decide how long he stays in the team.

[Stuart]

Louis Suarez is a top top finisher of that there is no doubt whether it's left foot right foot or his head.

Ah right, so it's not the world-class, Uruguayan international Luis Suarez at Liverpool you were comparing Rhodes to? Thank goodness for that. I thought you were going a bit mad there for a second.

[arbitro]

Ah right, so it's not the world-class, Uruguayan international Luis Suarez at Liverpool you were comparing Rhodes to? Thank goodness for that. I thought you were going a bit mad there for a second.

We are clearly seeing different things in Rhodes. But for clarity I am saying Rhodes doesn't seem to be the player he was before Christmas. You clearly do so from my perspective we aren't going to agree.

[USABlue]

For some reason Rovers were on the back foot from the start yesterday and never really got into the match as an attacking force. However most players put in one heck of a defensive shift to keep it 0-0 while one players seemed to think he was above it all and ambled around to very little effect. Bowyer needs to drop him IMO, at least for away games.

We dont have a gane fir what, two weeks now, perhaps the players started rheir break early. I can only comment on what I heard but if radio rovers were saying we were poor we must have been. I have to wonder if some of these players actually WANT to get promoted. Next two games make or break our season. Lose them and all we have left us the dingles. That one us ominous too.

[Tom]

As I said in the Rhodes thread (in general I didn't see the Boro game):

I don't agree that he's now doing the ugly stuff better in general he's just in bad form I think, to say he's now doing what people wanted is just a mask, he's put in two great crosses for Gestede but doesn't seem to be overly working defences

For someone who reads the game so well usually his anticipation of Gestedes flick ons has been woeful.

All good players have bad patches and the break is a at a perfect time for him, I imagine they will be working on that and he'll come out firing again after the break.

[thenodrog]

Ah right, so it's not the world-class, Uruguayan international Luis Suarez at Liverpool you were comparing Rhodes to? Thank goodness for that. I thought you were going a bit mad there for a second.

Sarcasm now I see stuart. Well done that can be quite funny at times and in the right place but ultimately it just provides a distraction, and especially so when it is misplaced at which stage it simply makes the perpetrator appear a buffoon.

Your undiminishing hero worship and support of all things Jordan Rhodes has now become obstinate and you are making yourself look foolish by silly point scoring comment. As you say any comparison between Suarez and Rhodes is completely unrealistic, they are the chalk and cheese of the football world. Suarez is the top scorer in the Prem whilst Rhodes is one of the top 3 in the Championship, also there is imo equal chance of JR playing for Liverpool or any top 6 Prem team as there is of Suarez signing for us! BUT the principle is the same. A number of players have the finishing skills of Suarez, lots of players have similar work rate, some have a burning desire to win but very few have all three. You cannot deny that Rhodes effect on a match when he doesn't score is poor to awful. Now that opponents have sussed him he needs to do better with the weak points of his game to avoid crashing and burning back to a lower division when his contract runs down with us. Any improvement will not only help the club that is paying him 40k pw but it is for his own good. If he wants to progress at both club and international level he has to improve his off the ball game and play more for the team than for himself.

If you are happy to see him vegetate into a lower league underachieving plodder then that is your prerogative but it seems to me that you care more about Jordan Rhodes than you do about Blackburn Rovers.