[Archived] Rovers v Ipswich Town

[joey_big_nose]

Good result and performance. Probably the last time we will see Rhodes, Gestede and King in a Rovers shirt too. Great to see Dunn off with a win.

Lenihan had a good game. Wonder if he can step in for Evans in midfield who we need to give the boot to ASAP. Players like Cairney, Lowe and Marshall I can cut a bit of slack to as they clearly have individual strengths. However Evans has absolutely nothing. Very slow, light in the tackle, appalling passing. I would say Keith Andrews offered considerably more.

Bowyer needs to be in early Monday getting transfers lined up. If Rhodes and Gestede are going we need to try and sell early to allow time to get replacements in.

[davulsukur]

The summer could be incredibly difficult to get through Garners.

The calibre of Rhodes and Gestede out with players like Brown in.

[Swanson]

I wasn't able to watch the whole game, but from what I saw Lenihan looked decent. And he usually plays midfield? He could easily step inn for Evans next season (If he gets a new contract).

[ada2020]

Just watching the game, 30 minutes in, all I can say is no wonder crowds are dropping. Utter dross.

If this is a "brand" of football our manager is promoting its no wonder we are going nowhere.

[Rover_Shaun]

We did win Ada. Its after 90 that counts

[ada2020]

I know, but looking at the later comments on here we didn't improve much.

Bar two set pieces we wouldn't have hot anything from the game.

[Tom]

I know, but looking at the later comments on here we didn't improve much.

We did after the first goal

[ada2020]

We did after the first goal

You think? Really?

I'm just glad I have the fast forward option.

[Josh]

some strike by King, I haven't seen it on TV but how that stayed out is beyond me

[DE.]

Last 20 mins or so of the first half were good. We had moments in the second half but Ipswich missed all sorts of chances and the game probably should have ended in a draw.

Without the likes of Rhodes, Gestede and King next season I don't know how we compete.

[rigger]

Everyone is worried what we will do without our strike force (We haven't done much with them,). I am more worried, how are we going to stop conceding so many goals.

[ABBEY]

both times dingle chaplow came in front of the BBE we scored ..classic.

[tomphil]

Usual slow start and first half crap but turned out a decent game in the end. Highlighting again that teams in this league struggle to handle our forwards when we step on the gas a bit and give them something to think about instead of the predictable stuff. Highlighting yet again how this season has been wasted sadly. Just what will we be saying this time next season I wonder ?

[ABBEY]

. Just what will we be saying this time next season I wonder ?

Hopefully , thank f the slumdogs have left and hope JA enjoys 5 years in nick.

[McClarky]

Really good game once we got going. Not much you can say about the defence considering the makeshift look of it but I really can't see how you can play Evans.with Williamson. Both similarly poor players. Good to see Dunny showing what we've missed this year and what we're going to miss. Good going forward though, Conway was excellent.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

Funny to see some of the negative comments about Evans - I actually thought he was a bit better in this match than recently.

For those saying Ipswich missed some chances - so did we - and how the referee didn't give us a penalty for the foul on Henley (which would have made it 4-1) I will never know.

Dunny really rolled back the years - some of his passes in the second half were out of the very top drawer.

Looking foward - Raya looked confident - Lenihan isn't a central defender, but definitely deserves a shot in the defensive midfield role. Last match for Rudy and King - possibly Rhodes as well - how we replace these players will define next season.

[Blue blood]

Great going forward, poor defensively. Story of our season!

A few comments.

- Defending was pretty poor throughout. First goal was laughable, and 2nd goal was a stupid foul to give away by Spurr. Only mitigating factor is that the 2 centre backs were really both out of preferred position, so hard to be too harsh on them.

- Having said that a rollicking for the first goal and how we defend corners is in order. Must do better if we're to improve.

- Liked the look of Conway, one of my favourite players. Provides good set pieces, I know he was on the left for the third goal, but generally we looked more dangerous from open play when he was on the right. Let's get players on their best foot formation wise.

- On the set pieces thing, why didn't we go all out to do this, like with Allardyce as a tactic this season? Ok not amazing to watch but with Rudi and Rhodes up front (the latter to head, the former to get knock downs) with Spurr's long throw (move Olsson to left mid) the likes of Baptiste etc. coming up from centre back for set pieces, we could really have had a powerful weapon at our disposal. Would've also negated our lack of pace. Opportunity missed I think.

- Central midfield is where everything falls down. Whether we buy new players, loan them, convert people, it doesn't matter but centre mid HAS to offer more than it currently does.

- In the end we were comfortable winners. With our strikers and wingers we really should have done better. In the end I thought we were the better team and IF we'd have put in the attacking performance today we did other times, we would be a lot higher than 9th. What could have been - we'll really miss our amazing strike force if they go.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

Bournemouth top

Edit: Champions. Remarkable. Football can stil throw up fairytales

A bit like Rovers - can throw up fairytales when backed by mega rich owners.

[DE.]

Funny to see some of the negative comments about Evans - I actually thought he was a bit better in this match than recently.

That's not really saying much though, is it? He's been well below average this season and if he carries on in this vein will be of no more use to us than Lowe or Williamson.

[Husky]

A win is always good though once again it’s a game that looks better on paper than it actually was; the usual patchy performance from us – some good parts but mostly dire and low tempo stuff. I dread to think what it would have been like if there wasn’t something riding on the game for Ipswich. Started very slowly as per usual and could have been 2 down before their even more woeful set-piece defending gave us a leg-up. Particularly had a good view of our 2^nd – where was the right back? LOL! Their penalty looked a bit “dramatic” on live viewing (certainly more so than the foul on Henley a bit earlier) – though the defender didn’t complain so I presume it was a definite crop.

It seemed to coincide with favourable (for Ipswich) scores from elsewhere coming in, but I particularly noticed an intensity drop in the whole game and atmosphere from average to low during the last 20 minutes or so as, King’s shot aside, we were particularly appalling. Had Ipswich not been the worst finishers I’ve seen at Ewood since the Wolves debacle (11/01/2015 - R.I.P. Rovers) then we probably would have been looking at the end of the not so almighty unbeaten run.

If anything summed up our season (and Brand Bowyer as a whole) it was the passage of play around the 72 minute mark when we were attacking down the left and within a few passes it ended up with Williamson passing the ball back from said attacking position all the way back to Raya who then proceeded to scuff the ball straight to an Ipswich player giving them the chance to attack – a corner followed and somehow an Ipswich player managed to hack the ball over our bar from 1 yard out. Complete Sunday league football all round – in fact probably worse – as I’ve never seen a Sunday league player pass back from an attacking left wing position to the goalkeeper.

A win’s a win I guess and no doubt GG (true to his name) will be going to Pune (as with last season) with some good BS about the unbeaten run blah blah!

It’s a pity that Derby so spectacularly bottled it as it just added to our season’s frustration when the away fans had cause to celebrate. That helped to sum up the whole bizarre nature of the game.

As if the footballing and financial situation wasn’t bad enough – it was bloody freezing too. It’s May FFS! Where the @#/? is the sun? The never ending Blackburn winter certainly isn’t good for SAD syndrome.

Left after the game as I find all that Happy clapping end of the season stuff (especially after such an underwhelming one) infinitely more “please pass me the sick bucket stuff” as ‘Let’s Get Gerrard to Wembley for his Birthday’ and suchlike.

It’s no surprise that the best thing that happened for me today happened elsewhere – Sheffield Wednesday’s equaliser meaning that today’s match ticket was essentially a freebie for me due to a small bet on Bournemouth several weeks ago. It might even stretch to a Lancs T20 ticket too. ROLL ON THE CRICKET SEASON!

[gumboots]

Get a season ticket if you can get to a few games. £60 for 7 games including yorks. Sure to be even more of a grudge match because of that slow run rate last year. We've got ours. Can't wait

[tonygreenbank]

I thought Rovers were excellent value for their win today. Great game to watch on Sky with chances galore for both teams. I really think that with 4 regular centre backs out with injury and a rookie goalie the team did ever so well to get the three points.

Some praise for that must go to the much criticised midfield where I thought Evans and Williamson covered a lot of ground getting in tackles and enabling Dunny and Conway to be the threat they were.

Our attacking play at times was outstanding as the Ipswich captain admitted post match.

[LDRover]

First 30 minutes apart I thought we played well enough and deserved the win. Dunn was a class apart and if he has been fit all this time has been criminally ignored.

Surprised to see the negativity towards Williamson. He isn't frightened of receiving the ball in tight situations, never hides and loves a challenge (one in particular today where he levelled the Ipswich midfielder was a belter). Yes he's short of pace but is nowhere near as bad as is often portrayed on here.

[DE.]

Williamson and Evans are too similar, which is the main problem. You can have one tough tackling player in your midfield who is technically poor, but having two (I'm not sure Evans can even be considered tough tackling, to be fair) leads to us giving away possession or failing to create good opportunities.

[MarkBRFC]

Surprised to see the negativity towards Williamson. He isn't frightened of receiving the ball in tight situations, never hides and loves a challenge (one in particular today where he levelled the Ipswich midfielder was a belter). Yes he's short of pace but is nowhere near as bad as is often portrayed on here.

I'd agree with that, I'm not his biggest fan but like you say he always shows for the ball and puts a foot in.

If his midfield partner was a true box to box type player he would be ok doing what he does.

It's when he has the likes of Evans and Lowe next to him he looks dire.