[Archived] Burnlee Preview

[arbitro]

Better team, unlucky, missed chances and whatever else he can come up with is really beginning to grate. Simply we lost today and have two wins from 13 games. He should do the honourable thing and go before it is too late. At least then he could say 'I had a right good go'

Despite Burnley not playing well I always thought that Bowyer was being tactically bullied by Dyche. Our set plays are poor and some of the open play stuff leaves a lot to be desired. In the second half Lawrence looked like our best chance of a goal from his position behind Rhodes. So when Bowyer makes a change he shifts him wide and puts Taylor behind Rhodes. He really has to go and soon.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

We played well, created plenty of chances and failed to take them. During the game I said to the guy in front Burnley are a better team with a better plan and a better manager. Under those circumstances we were always in danger of losing.

And yet this better team were absolutely battered in the second half - and in reality should have been beaten.

It is amazing that after a match when we were clearly the better team - but just didn't take our chances - we criticise the manager - his tactical ability and ability to motivate the players. Though I would have done things slightly differently - and before today's match would replace Bowyer - today he didn't do a lot wrong given the level of performance and desire by the players (especially after three games in a week - with one mostly with 10 men).

[Mike Graham]

The day just got better.

Time for me to get on with the ironing.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

If Laurence had scored we'd have sat on it anyway. It would of ended up 1-2.

He's no winner.

Bllocks

[TeamGB-11]

And yet this better team were absolutely battered in the second half - and in reality should have been beaten.

It is amazing that after a match when we were clearly the better team - but just didn't take our chances - we criticise the manager - his tactical ability and ability to motivate the players. Though I would have done things slightly differently - and before today's match would replace Bowyer - today he didn't do a lot wrong given the level of performance and desire by the players (especially after three games in a week - with one mostly with 10 men).

Winning games is a skill in itself, BSA showed us that..

[DE.]

And yet this better team were absolutely battered in the second half - and in reality should have been beaten.

It was reflected in the should have league table to be fair. 13 wins out of 13, going strong.

[joey_big_nose]

Close game that could have gone either way, one high quality finish from each team where one hit the post and the other went in. We had no real answer to their high pressing style throughout the game, but the few times we did play our way past it and through the centre we almost always created something of worth. The wide play resulted in too few crosses in the box, apart from the last 10 minutes or so.

Steele - One routine save, not to blame for their goal.

Olsson - Gives us options in the final third, but crossed poorly for most of the game. Steady defensively.

Hanley - Decent in a lot of defensive aspects of the game, but a liability when defending in the penalty area.

Duffy - Being Hanley's understudy guarantees anonymity. At least one of our central defenders should be better with the ball at their feet.

Marshall - Another decent performance in the back four, but offers more from midfield.

Conway - Would have been some player with a little bit more pace. Some good early crosses, probably our MoM.

Akpan - Limited player, but his physical presence in the centre of the field has been lacking for ages. Should have gone forward more.

Evans - Outshone by Barton, never put his stamp on the game. Catastrophic clearance led to their goal.

Delfouenso - Has som skill, but never a winger in a four man midfield. Should have been Marshall's position.

Lawrence - Some good runs, but drifted out of the game for long periods of time.

Rhodes - Didn't have a lot of service, but should be able to contribute more.

Bowyer - Mistakenly played Delfo instead of Marshall at right wing, and should have instructed one of the central midfielders to drop deeper when our back four had the ball. Couldn't have done much else different with the players available. Still, I just don't see him turning this around in any meaningful way. He's taken us as far as he can and it's time for a change, the "better the devil you know"-argument isn't good enough any more.

I don't think it's fair to criticise the formation, tactics and selection out there Evans and Delfy aside. We dominated the game in terms of possession and chances. Burnley got precious little. Personally I thought Marshall was good coming from right back and looked better than he has as a right wing all season.

Delfy was largely anonymous a couple of runs aside, and Evans mistake was utterly abysmal and he did struggle on the turn a few times. But apart from that we controlled the ball and created a lot of chances.

The only area we were really lacking was in finishing them. So if we want to criticise then it falls on Rhodes, Laurence and Akpans composure in front of goal. Not the system, tactics or selection, in my opinion.

However finishing is as much GBs responsiblity as anything else. And while he got the tactics right imo, we clearly have massive scoring issues. It's his job to fix that, he hasn't, and so we need to find a new manager who can do it.

[Stuart]

Bowyer says:

"the better team lost."

"we have to be more ruthless in front of goal"

"we played unbelievable football at times today"

"[at least Lawrence] was there to miss"

"performance levels are very good"

"there does come a point when we can't keep telling them 'well done for the performance levels'"

"the whole season we've played at this level and better"

Aside from that penultimate quote they could all have come out of the mouth of Kean.

Just pulling at that thread though for a minute...

"there does come a point when we can't keep telling them 'well done for the performance levels'"

What exactly is Bowyer going to do about it? He's right. Performance levels are difficult to fault. The players seem to give their all so he is clearly like and the players are of the right mentality. There don't seem to be any bad eggs but by the same token, nobody is demanding better. The board aren't demanding better from Bowyer so he can continue to do the same things over and over without recourse. The owners aren't demanding better from the board because they haven't given them the authority to act in the best interests of the club, they are seemingly only there to do the bidding of clueless buffoons who don't care about relegation, or promotion, or local rivalries, or pride, or any of the things that are important to the every other football league club.

I walked out of the ground listening to some young lad effing and jeffing about how Rovers fans were passionless (he actually used a different word that rhymes with fight) and it made me really angry. I wanted to punch this arrogant Johnny-come-lately in the mouth but the more I walked, and simmered, the more I thought he is right. Even the fans aren't demanding better. The are demanding nothing because 80% of them have had their hearts ripped out, and the other 20% are ready to jump on those who do dare to demand better.

The only thing this club has left is one game a season when we can get to nearly 20k and invoke the spirit of the times under Hughes, Souness, Dagliesh, and Bowyer is trampling all over that. There is no pride, we don't take the game to the opposition, there is no tubthumping, no emotion, just placid, robotic, going through the motions. Keep it tight and try to nick one, then bemoan misses or mistakes which take the spotlight away from the fact that the tactics were wrong - again.

If he had any pride, he would speak to the Raos and hand his notice in, or ask to be moved into the development part of the club, explain to them what needs to happen, and the fact that they need to go out and bring in the best manager that their £1m/plus per month losses can buy. They seem to listen to him, it's about time he did the right thing.

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

Genuine question. How many rovers managers have overseen 2 home derby defeats and kept their job?

[TeamGB-11]

I don't think it's fair to criticise the formation, tactics and selection out there Evans and Delfy aside. We dominated the game in terms of possession and chances. Burnley got precious little. Personally I thought Marshall was good coming from right back and looked better than he has as a right wing all season.

Delfy was largely anonymous a couple of runs aside, and Evans mistake was utterly abysmal and he did struggle on the turn a few times. But apart from that we controlled the ball and created a lot of chances.

The only area we were really lacking was in finishing them. So if we want to criticise then it falls on Rhodes, Laurence and Akpans composure in front of goal. Not the system, tactics or selection, in my opinion.

However finishing is as much GBs responsiblity as anything else. And while he got the tactics right imo, we clearly have massive scoring issues. It's his job to fix that, he hasn't, and so we need to find a new manager who can do it.

Its like he can't balance us out, most would admit he has improved us defensively so far this season, but it seems to have come at the cost of us scoring..

[mustard]

I honestly long for sh*t hoofball football and results. I'm tired of people using the "we're playing well" excuse as we continue to chuck points away. Give me a dull 90 mins and 1-0 win any day of the week.

[Stuart]

Genuine question. How many rovers managers have overseen 2 home derby defeats and kept their job?

How many have overseen two Derby defeats at all?

[mustard]

Aside from that penultimate quote they could all have come out of the mouth of Kean.

Just pulling at that thread though for a minute...

"there does come a point when we can't keep telling them 'well done for the performance levels'"

What exactly is Bowyer going to do about it? He's right. Performance levels are difficult to fault. The players seem to give their all so he is clearly like and the players are of the right mentality. There don't seem to be any bad eggs but by the same token, nobody is demanding better. The board aren't demanding better from Bowyer so he can continue to do the same things over and over without recourse. The owners aren't demanding better from the board because they haven't given them the authority to act in the best interests of the club, they are seemingly only there to do the bidding of clueless buffoons who don't care about relegation, or promotion, or local rivalries, or pride, or any of the things that are important to the every other football league club.

I walked out of the ground listening to some young lad effing and jeffing about how Rovers fans were passionless (he actually used a different word that rhymes with fight) and it made me really angry. I wanted to punch this arrogant Johnny-come-lately in the mouth but the more I walked, and simmered, the more I thought he is right. Even the fans aren't demanding better. The are demanding nothing because 80% of them have had their hearts ripped out, and the other 20% are ready to jump on those who do dare to demand better.

The only thing this club has left is one game a season when we can get to nearly 20k and invoke the spirit of the times under Hughes, Souness, Dagliesh, and Bowyer is trampling all over that. There is no pride, we don't take the game to the opposition, there is no tubthumping, no emotion, just placid, robotic, going through the motions. Keep it tight and try to nick one, then bemoan misses or mistakes which take the spotlight away from the fact that the tactics were wrong - again.

If he had any pride, he would speak to the Raos and hand his notice in, or ask to be moved into the development part of the club, explain to them what needs to happen, and the fact that they need to go out and bring in the best manager that their £1m/plus per month losses can buy. They seem to listen to him, it's about time he did the right thing.

Was the Rovers fan you wanted to punch devilishly handsome? Quite a good chance it was me. I was ranting all the way up Bolton Road.

[TeamGB-11]

I honestly long for sh*t hoofball football and results. I'm tired of people using the "we're playing well" excuse as we continue to chuck points away. Give me a dull 90 mins and 1-0 win any day of the week.

I long for BSA, but beg to differ with the view his football was all longball stuff. Hes far more intelligent than that..

[Stuart]

Was the Rovers fan you wanted to punch devilishly handsome? Quite a good chance it was me. I was ranting all the way up Bolton Road.

No idea pal. He really got my goat though.

Wrong time to be blaming the fans so soon after watching our proud club stamped on by that lot.

[Husky]

Listen up. Like two years ago when (almost) everyone went balistic after a defeat at home...........we were unluckey to lose.

But again, how many times can a team be unlucky before you have to say actually it's not luck..............it's @#/? trainng, @#/? finishing, @#/? defending sht tactics etc.. We've been unlucky in 12 games out of 14 lready this season. TOTAL BULLSHIT!

I'm currently thousands of miles away, it's like England doesn't exist when I leave the foreigner bar or internet............so god knows how some of you guys must be feeling (the Rovers Fan @#/? aside - as they are all a disgrace to the club).

Having said that, we were unlucky to lose

Anyway, @#/? it I'm off to the coast in shorts and t shirt. @#/? bowyer and @#/? the keany @#/? football.

[mustard]

I long for BSA, but beg to differ with the view his football was all longball stuff. Hes far more intelligent than that..

I personally wouldn't call it hoofball either and agree with you. Just stating I'd much rather see the dullest football on earth if it meant results.

[Leonard Venkhater]

Aside from that penultimate quote they could all have come out of the mouth of Kean.

Just pulling at that thread though for a minute...

"there does come a point when we can't keep telling them 'well done for the performance levels'"

What exactly is Bowyer going to do about it? He's right. Performance levels are difficult to fault. The players seem to give their all so he is clearly like and the players are of the right mentality. There don't seem to be any bad eggs but by the same token, nobody is demanding better. The board aren't demanding better from Bowyer so he can continue to do the same things over and over without recourse. The owners aren't demanding better from the board because they haven't given them the authority to act in the best interests of the club, they are seemingly only there to do the bidding of clueless buffoons who don't care about relegation, or promotion, or local rivalries, or pride, or any of the things that are important to the every other football league club.

I walked out of the ground listening to some young lad effing and jeffing about how Rovers fans were passionless (he actually used a different word that rhymes with fight) and it made me really angry. I wanted to punch this arrogant Johnny-come-lately in the mouth but the more I walked, and simmered, the more I thought he is right. Even the fans aren't demanding better. The are demanding nothing because 80% of them have had their hearts ripped out, and the other 20% are ready to jump on those who do dare to demand better.

The only thing this club has left is one game a season when we can get to nearly 20k and invoke the spirit of the times under Hughes, Souness, Dagliesh, and Bowyer is trampling all over that. There is no pride, we don't take the game to the opposition, there is no tubthumping, no emotion, just placid, robotic, going through the motions. Keep it tight and try to nick one, then bemoan misses or mistakes which take the spotlight away from the fact that the tactics were wrong - again.

If he had any pride, he would speak to the Raos and hand his notice in, or ask to be moved into the development part of the club, explain to them what needs to happen, and the fact that they need to go out and bring in the best manager that their £1m/plus per month losses can buy. They seem to listen to him, it's about time he did the right thing.

I feel your pain, Stuart. My own passion has morphed into cold rage.I have no faith in manager or board.It is turning me into a poor man's Albert Camus.

There is no point.

That said, we should have won, but I have read the script many times before. Keep missing chances and you get punished. The players knew it, the crowd knew it and I am damned sure the TV pundits will have said it too..

.As for 5 Live's Tony Livesey,who says he cant't even speak Tony Blackburn's name, I say that is because Jimmy Savile is his Dad!

[Stuart]

Here you go, Venkys. This is what you've reduced our club to...

Besides making us a laughing stock, Desai, you and your brothers are the BEST THING to have happened in 36 years of Rovers history...

...to Burnley FC.

[TeamGB-11]

I think there's a good chance bowyer won't Dodge the bullet this time.. Just a feeling..

[mustard]

No idea pal. He really got my goat though.

Wrong time to be blaming the fans so soon after watching our proud club stamped on by that lot.

I had a few fans give me grief for questioning Bowyer so I was riled. It was aimed at the fans who are happy with what they are witnessing at present. Whilst I can understand the apathy of the fans, it kills me to hear the "meh, he's doing his best, we are where we are" BS that I heard peddled by a select few at Ewood today.

[Mike Graham]

ONLY 15,000 ROVERS FANS ON !! FFS

WE COULD ONLY MANAGE 3,000 MORE THAN THE HOME GAME V CHARLTON.

JUST SHOWS HOW FAR WE HAVE SLUMPED AND HOW MANY HAVE WALKED AWAY FROM EWOOD.

[Mercer]

Just got back and thoroughly enjoyed the occasion but obviously not the result.

Cracking atmosphere with great vocal support for both teams.

Burnley's goal killed the crowd and I thought it knocked the stuffing out of our lads.

Yes, we had more chances but if you don't take them.......there was an air of inevitability about Burnley's goal.

With half an hour to go, Henley should have been on at right back and Marshall pushed further forward - he was terrorising Burnley.

Bowyer's lack of imagination and limited use of subs is terrifying. I think he's a man way out of his depth and someone needs to put him out of his misery. We are in big trouble unless something changes quickly.

[TeamGB-11]

I personally wouldn't call it hoofball either and agree with you. Just stating I'd much rather see the dullest football on earth if it meant results.

Neil Warnock? Gary megson? Paul Lambert? I'd settle for any of them right now..

[Leonard Venkhater]

Here you go, Venkys. This is what you've reduced our club to...

Besides making us a laughing stock, Desai, you and your brothers are the BEST THING to have happened in 36 years of Rovers history...

...to Burnley FC.

I wish all the Venky's were.....