[Archived] News Article -> 2012/13 Match Report: Blackpool 2 Rovers 0

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Blackpool	(1) 2 – 0 (0)	Blackburn Rovers
Thomas 22, Broadfoot 81
Referee: G. Scott		Attendance: 15,907

Six months ago Shebby Singh arrived in Blackburn to embark upon a charm offensive and engage with the increasingly disillusioned fanbase at Ewood Park. Question and answer sessions, endless meetings, radio and press interviews — indeed, at every opportunity Shebby has been ready with a quip in a bid to win the fans around to the Venky's brand.

There can be no doubt that he has enjoyed some success over the past few months and massaging bruised egos has proved popular in certain quarters, whilst the rows upon row of empty seats at Ewood Park suggest many fans have not fallen for the soft soap approach.

Fast forward six months to a far from festive Bloomfield Road and the deafening chants of "Venky's Out" and "Shebby Out" would suggest that the charm offensive has been derailed. Certainly the cries of "Shebby is a ******" left no one in any doubt about the esteem in which Venky's global advisor is now held amongst the Ewood faithful. To quote Leonard Cohen:

So the great affair is over but whoever would have guessed
It would leave us all so vacant and so deeply unimpressed

Nine games into the reign of Henning Berg and already the alarm bells are ringing. Many of us who have had the misfortune to witness every game since the opening day at Portman Road have never been convinced about the strength of the squad and one suspects that Berg is rapidly coming to the same conclusions.

After 22 matches the Rovers find themselves seven points adrift of the final play-off place — not the automatic places which Shebby said was the minimum required, but seven points adrift of sixth place. Whilst relegation might not yet be a major concern — due more to the failings of others than anything that the Rovers might do to determine their destiny — the reality is that mid-table mediocrity seems a nailed-on certainty for this season.

This is a club in crisis — a crisis which began the moment the Rao family walked through the door and took the advice of people who had little or no understanding about a small-town club in East Lancashire and what made it tick.

However, like them or loathe them — and I would suggest that the latter is how the majority of the Rovers fans feel — Venky's are in charge and they need to start making some decisions for themselves. The position of the manager and the backroom staff needs to be clarified. When he was appointed, it was quoted that promotion was the maximum and the minimum required. Clearly that is unlikely to happen barring a miracle in the second half of the season, for not only would the Rovers have to embark on an unlikely winning streak, but an ever-growing number of clubs who are now above us would have to go on a losing run.

If Berg is to be retained, will he be given money to spend in January? On the other hand, if he is to be jettisoned at the end of the season if we fail to win promotion, is there any point in giving him money to spend in January? Similarly with the backroom staff: if Berg is being retained for next season irrespective of the final position this campaign, does he bring in new staff? If his own future is in doubt, will the owners allow him to make changes now? Already this week our preparations for the Blackpool match were undermined by reports of the imminent replacement of the backroom staff before Berg came out to deny them and stress that he, and he alone, would make those decisions. Sadly, the indecision which has blighted this club for the past two years appears to show no signs of being abated.

As for the game itself, what can one say? Think of the worst performance this season and multiply it tenfold and you have some idea of just how abysmal this performance was, particularly in the second half.

Pre-match the major talking point was the axing of Paul Robinson in favour of young Jake Kean. Whilst regular watchers of reserve team football will know of Kean's potential, the decision to drop the experienced Robinson came as a shock and surely places a huge question mark over his Ewood future. Other changes saw Gael Givet, Simon Vukcevic and Colin Kazim-Richards return to the starting eleven, while Grant Hanley joined Robinson on the bench. Illness and injury meant that the Rovers were without Markus Olsson, Mauro Formica and Danny Murphy.

On a pitch that badly cut up, neither side looked impressive in the opening stages. The better chances fell to the Rovers, but once again we failed to take them. For the first time this season the Rovers looked to line up in a genuine 4-4-2 formation and as early as the second minute a long throw from Kazim-Richards enabled Vukcevic to blaze an effort over the bar. Kazim-Richards was again the cause of problems for the home defence when he played in Jordan Rhodes, who closed in on goal before a superb last-ditch tackle by Craig Cathcart denied him the opportunity to give the Rovers the lead. Matt Gilks was definitely the busier of the two 'keepers in the opening stages and he made decent saves to keep out further efforts from Vukcevic and Rhodes.

However, the overall quality of the football on view was desperately poor with far too many passes going astray.

The Rovers were undone after 22 minutes when a routine cross from Nathan Delfouneso enabled Wes Thomas to glance a header past Kean into the corner of the net. Whilst no blame could be attached to the young 'keeper, questions must be asked of a defence that allowed an opponent the time and space to head home in front of goal. Marking, it would seem, continues to be a concept which isn't covered in the Rovers' coaching manual.

The Rovers huffed and puffed for the remainder of the half but rarely looked like getting back on level terms. Dickson Etuhu had an effort go wide and Vukcevic, undoubtedly the pick of the Rovers team along with Kazim-Richards in the first half, was unfortunate to see an effort beat Gilks but hit the post and rebound to safety.

The less said about the second forty-five minutes, the better. Blackpool adjusted their shape slightly and completely overwhelmed the Rovers, who struggled to make any impression on the game. Vukcevic and Kazim-Richards saw little of the ball and thus were unable to exert the same influence on the game as they had in the first half. Jordan Rhodes once again demonstrated that if he is not fed the ball in the area, his contribution to the team is negligible. The midfield duo of Jason Lowe and Etuhu offered nothing in terms of going forward and not much more in terms of defending. The statuesque Etuhu looks completely bewildered by it all, while Lowe runs around expending energy but achieving very little.

Blackpool, although looking far from impressive, stepped up a gear after the interval and began to cause the Rovers a number of problems. The highly-rated Tom Ince and Delfouneso showed plenty of pace and trickery down the flanks, which nullified the attacking threat that Adam Henley and Martin Olsson could bring to the Rovers' play. Indeed, both young full-backs struggled to contain their opponents.

Kean was called into action to save bravely as Ince ran through on goal and he then tipped a free-kick from Harris wide as he did his best to prevent the home side from increasing their lead. However, after 81 minutes the inevitable happened with Blackpool scoring their second goal courtesy of defender Kirk Broadfoot. Once again, the goal was the result of sloppy marking which allowed Broadfoot to storm into the area to meet a right-wing corner and find the back of the net with a powerful header.

Givet had an effort ruled out for offside and Rochina managed to find row "Z" with a wayward effort, but in truth the Rovers were a well-beaten side by this stage. Indeed, Dann almost increased the lead for the home side when he headed the ball against his own post.

There is little new that I can add with regard to assessing the contribution of the various players. Jake Kean did as well as anyone could expect coming into a struggling side which is incapable of defending. Givet looked a little rusty, as one might have expected after his lengthy exile from first-team duty, while Dann endured another difficult afternoon in the centre of the defence. Both full-backs struggled to make an impact on the game in an attacking sense and both were fully stretched trying to keep tabs on Ince and Delfouneso.

In midfield, apart from Simon Vukcevic, the Rovers struggled to make any impression. King ran into trouble far too often and his passing was not great. Jason Lowe and Dickson Etuhu were simply overwhelmed in the second half and were unable to stem the tide as Blackpool came forward with more purpose. Once again, the distribution from both Lowe and Etuhu was poor and both are prone to giving away endless free-kicks in dangerous positions.

Vukcevic looked the one player likely to do something and was unfortunate on a couple of occasions not to find the back of the net. However, in the second half he was starved of the ball, but it was still a surprise when he was withdrawn in favour of Ruben Rochina. Once again, Rochina offered a few tricks and flicks in non-dangerous areas but offered little in terms of an attacking contribution and, like so many of his colleagues, he seemed to have a knack of finding a tangerine shirt with too many of his passes.

In attack Colin Kazim-Richards was the pick of the twin strike force. The Championship requires physique as well as skill and Kazim-Richards caused the home side problems in the first half with his ability to shield the ball and play in other colleagues — something which Rhodes is unable to do. However, like Vukcevic, he found himself struggling to get possession in the second half and faded from the picture. Jordan Rhodes was again disappointing playing alongside Kazim-Richards. His lack of pace is a worry as he is unable to get away from defenders when the ball is played long. He is a player who requires a particular type of service and, sadly, the Rovers are not a team that is able to provide that service. At £8 million he looks overpriced and one cannot help but feel that the money might have been better spent on two or three other players who might have made more of an all-round contribution to the team. Rhodes is a goalscorer but is very much the icing on the cake and at the moment the Rovers are a club that not only don't have a cake but seem to be lacking the basic ingredients to make one!

One cannot help but feel sorry for Henning Berg within the present set-up. When he first arrived, one couldn't help but be impressed with the way in which he seemed to have galvanised the team in terms of performance if not results. However, with each passing week he seems more and more weighed down with the burdens that come with working with Shebby and for Venky's. Sections of the fanbase are clearly becoming increasingly disenchanted with his reign and the honeymoon period that all new managers enjoy is well and truly over.

Quite where the Rovers go from here I really wouldn't like to say. Indeed, for the first time in over 50 years of supporting the club I'm sad to say that I'm beginning not to care. The greatest danger to the future well-being of the club is not the infighting among the various supporter groups but the growing indifference among the overwhelming majority of the fanbase to the plight of the club. What is clear is that the owners, the global advisor, the North End duo in the boardroom and the newly installed manager are all struggling to prevent the club becoming increasingly irrelevant to the football-loving public of Blackburn.

It would appear the vast majority of supporters are happy to turn their backs on the grim reality of the Rovers of today and wallow in the memories of happier times that Jack and the Walker Trust provided in the past. After this woeful performance at Bloomfield Road one suspects that many more will be taking that view in the coming weeks.

Teams

Blackpool

Matthew Gilks; Alex Baptiste, Kirk Broadfoot, Craig Cathcart, Bob Harris; Isaiah Osbourne, Tiago Gomes, Angel Martinez, Nathan Delfouneso; Wes Thomas (Gary Taylor-Fletcher 69), Thomas Ince (Nouha Dicko 82)
Subs not used: Mark Halstead (gk), Neal Eardley, Kevin Phillips, Alberto Noguera, Gerardo Bruna
Manager: Michael Appleton

Blackburn Rovers

Jake Kean; Adam Henley, Scott Dann, Gael Givet, Martin Olsson; Joshua King, Jason Lowe, Dickson Etuhu, Simon Vukcevic (Ruben Rochina 74); Colin Kazim-Richards, Jordan Rhodes
Subs not used: Paul Robinson (gk), Bruno Ribeiro, Grant Hanley, David Dunn, Morten Gamst Pedersen, Diogo Rosado
Manager: Henning Berg

Bookings

Blackpool – None

Blackburn Rovers – Joshua King

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