v Chelsea (a) - 1/11/23 - Carabao Cup

[bazza]

If Brittain plays RB and JRC plays in front of him on Sunday they can swap positions throughout the game thereby confusing the Norwich defence.

[K-Hod]

I’m willing to be patient with Wahlstedt- new club, new country, etc.

But, he needs to cut out these errors and make a few adjustments, sharpish.

You’d hope our GK coach thst divides opinion (who must be the only GK coach that does so), has noticed this and is working on the training pitch with him.

[tomphil]

I knew the clamour for Leo over Pears would go pretty much the same way he's just another rookie keeper in this league when all is said and done.

Seems young keepers now have to be a min 6'3" and a maximum 11 stone wet through they are all so weak and the emphasis on playing from the back over rules the basics a solid goalkeeping.

He needs time but basic errors are nothing to do with new leagues and new countries however this is the life of a development squad, they have to develop then we can sell them for 2.5 million when we are desperate for cash.

[LeftWinger]

58 minutes ago, bazza said:

If Brittain plays RB and JRC plays in front of him on Sunday they can swap positions throughout the game thereby confusing the Norwich defence.

We should attempt to confuse their keeper by having a shot every now and again. 

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

My thoughts are with Abbey..be scratching like a Rabid Dog!

[Torgeir]

1 hour ago, K-Hod said:

I’m willing to be patient with Wahlstedt- new club, new country, etc.

But, he needs to cut out these errors and make a few adjustments, sharpish.

You’d hope our GK coach thst divides opinion (who must be the only GK coach that does so), has noticed this and is working on the training pitch with him.

One thing with Wahlstedt is he stands too close to his line when we're attacking. When teams are hitting us on the break he's on the backfoot and it should be an easy fix to get him sweeping and covering a larger area behind our relatively slow defenders.

 

He's made a few mistakes, but also a lot of good saves. Think he's better than Pears at least, but not at Kaminski's level (yet?).

[Torgeir]

16 hours ago, jim mk2 said:

Not a bad night, huge gulf in class, skill and strength but Rovers gave a good account of themselves. Two silly, soft goals given away and Leonard and Siggurdson should have scored but they are the differences that big money buys. The Rovers support was excellent as always 

A few observations 

Harry Pickering will have nightmares about Raheem Sterling. I’ve not seen a player given the run around like that for a long time. Otherwise the Rovers defence played well, Brittains gaffe for the 2nd notwithstanding

We need another goalkeeper. The lad inspires no confidence whatsoever and he’s going to cost us alot of points this season.

I didn’t understand the subs. Garret looked out of his depth so why did he stay on? Ennis is embarrassingly awful and one of those players you wonder how he became a pro.

The standout for me was the difference kn physicality between the teams. Chelsea were big and strong and some of our lot are like schoolboys in comparison 

 

 

Really mature performance from Leonard. I'd say based on that performance he'll come good and bang goals in for fun within a couple of years. 

Markanday let him leave to League 1, get Buckley back in to fill in at right back so Brittain can stay higher up on the pitch. Dolan too can leave, Moran is better, as is Arnor. 

Hill is quality, Motm for me. 

[ABBEY]

1 hour ago, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

My thoughts are with Abbey..be scratching like a Rabid Dog!

No itching ha ..sacked breaky off there 

[philipl]

3 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

Indeed, and also a clear foul on Sterling by Travis.

Not on the slomo playback- Trav gets the ball so corner was a correct call

[JohnD]

Player ratings from the Times fwiw -

Blackburn (4-3-3): L Wahlstedt 5 — C Brittain 5, H Carter 5 (S Wharton 61, 6), J Hill 6, H Pickering 6 — A Wharton 7, L Travis 5, J Garrett 6 — D Markanday 6 (T Dolan 61, 6), A Moran 7 (A Sigurdsson), H Leonard 6 (N Ennis 74). Booked Pickering, Sigurdsson

[tomphil]

Seems the Times weren't very impressed with us there they obviously don't mark for effort or make allowances for the monumental gulf in class and value.

Clueless in other words.

[wilsdenrover]

1 hour ago, JohnD said:

Player ratings from the Times fwiw -

Blackburn (4-3-3): L Wahlstedt 5 — C Brittain 5, H Carter 5 (S Wharton 61, 6), J Hill 6, H Pickering 6 — A Wharton 7, L Travis 5, J Garrett 6 — D Markanday 6 (T Dolan 61, 6), A Moran 7 (A Sigurdsson), H Leonard 6 (N Ennis 74). Booked Pickering, Sigurdsson

So a mid table Championship team playing away from home averaged under 6/10 and yet Chelsea could only win by two. 🤔

 

Edited November 2, 2023 by wilsdenrover

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

The Guardian had a decent report in todays paper.

[47er]

7 hours ago, neophox said:

Kaminski had some stunning blunders too...it's just that Pears has been mega blunders. Still think Wahlstedt will come great.

That's a big call right now.....

[rigger]

24 minutes ago, 47er said:

That's a big call right now.....

It's the hope that kills.

[chaddyrovers]

11 hours ago, jim mk2 said:

Our group was right behind the goal. He didn’t need to lace the ball, it just needed a left foot side foot into the corner but he couldn’t even test the keeper. His age is irrelevant, it was a bad miss and he misses  a lot

Of course is age us relevant cos he is learning and developing his game, finishing. He's around 20 years old and currently our first choice striker. He is 6 years of his peak. If we continue to develope him we will have a very good striker there. He was gutted not to score yesterday or on Saturday. 

His movement is good and under JDT his finishing will come no doubt. 

[den]

1 minute ago, chaddyrovers said:

Of course is age us relevant cos he is learning and developing his game, finishing. He's around 20 years old and currently our first choice striker. He is 6 years of his peak. If we continue to develope him we will have a very good striker there. He was gutted not to score yesterday or on Saturday. 

His movement is good and under JDT his finishing will come no doubt. 

At 20 years old a striker should be ready for the first team.

[grizfoot]

I must be a little mad like any football fan traveling such a distance on a midweek, setting off at lunch time not getting back till gone three. All in the hope, the dream of another memorable night like in Leicester, like at West Ham's rented Olympic Bowl.  Only this one would be a magnitude or two up, to find one on a similar scale you'd have to hark back to 2013 when a Michael Appleton led Rovers side won at The Emirates with Colin Kazim-Richards bagging the winner.

As if jolted by our third kit, images of playing Chelsea past flashed up in my mind. Mourinho grey-coated, Hughes grey-haired prowling the touchline. Back when a player nicknamed 'The Axe' was allowed to live up to his nickname. Back when players wore baggy shirts, Back when you could name the Chelsea one to eleven and know each one of them had genuine class. Back when we could bring Tugay off the bench for the last twenty minutes to see out games. Back when we got under the noses of the supposed called Premier League elite, yes we might not have always won but we nearly always give them a game, especially at Ewood. Sent many multimillion pounds worth of footballers and their managers back home to London like a group of sulky children who've just been told the Pleasure Beach is shut. Picture Big Sam chewing gum, wry smile, a looming spectre of a lost decade of us not being able to even play games at places like Stamford Bridge.

As for the actual match itself. The announcement of the teams, the fact Chelsea had gone more or less full strength and we had strung the best team together JDT felt he could, easily five or six short of our very best team. Set it up for an even more difficult task. The approach and message was clear, five across midfield, one up front, try and play but keep things tight and maybe we can get more adventurous as the game wears on. I don't think the endeavour was ever in question. But Chelsea passed the ball around well, as you would hope of a team that cost a king's ransom to assemble. Yet in front of goal they weren't particularly great, they squandered plenty of good chances, a thing to give hope to a team chasing an unlikely victory. 

Then came the individual errors that led to the goals.  Leo not-any-better-than-Pears-no-matter-how-hard-we-all-try-to-wish Wahlstedt flapping one down into the middle of the box for some defender, fittingly named like a French supervillain, to slot home and dash our hopes. Perhaps unfair to think such a thing but you'd never have seen Brad Friedel do that now would you? not in a thousand years.  Second Half was much the same as the first, on the back foot. Then here it was, a chance. A good chance at that. One long ball over the top, a glitch in the blockchain, and we could all dream again if only for a few seconds. Again maybe unfairly my mind flashed back, a Bellamy or a Benni McCarthy would have slotted that one away in their sleep probably. Why perhaps even Shefki Kuqi or Jason Roberts might have hit the target. That being said perhaps I do Leonard a little bit of disservice as it wasn't by any means the easiest of chances, but on nights like this those are the ones that need to go in. I do like Leonard as a player, shows plenty of good traits of an old-fashioned no.9. Keeps getting in good positions, hopefully with more time and experience he'll be putting away more of those types of chances.

Then the second error, Brittian playing a sloppy pass into midfield that was intercepted, whilst not completely gifting them a goal it did offer up a very presentable chance that a player of Sterling's quality was only too happy to take. Not to sound like a broken record but I thought again, perhaps unfairly, I can't imagine Lucas Neill or Brett Emerton ever playing a ball like that. From that point on the game kind of petered out, although Sigurdsson really should have at least given us all goal to celebrate deep into stoppage time, the only consolation is that it would surely have only been a consolation by that point anyway. 

Perhaps rather forlornly then this fixture only cemented one thing in my mind, and that is the chasm between clubs like ours and Chelsea nowadays, the knowledge of how much we have fallen and how far off our team of today is from even our mid-table scrapping Premier League sides of years gone by let alone those lucky enough to remember the heights of the mid-nineties. Yet if there's one thing to be proud of. One thing that remains a constant, it is the fantastic support. What else can you feel but immense pride as the Rovers fan belt out a rendition of "There's Only One Jack Walker" forth into the hushed backdrop of Stamford Bridge. Amidst the epicentre of London's wealth and at the very birthplace were all this modern day mega rich football owners began it seemed a more hauntingly poignant tribute than ever before.

Edited November 2, 2023 by grizfoot

[RoversTilliDie]

We gave a good account of ourselves against Chelsea, it should up our game against Norwich after playing Chelsea. I bet we're regretting selling Kaminski after the errors we've  seen from Pears and Waldsted. Personally I would bring Pears back against Norwich. Let's hope our walking wounded are back soon to strengthen Rovers squad soon.

[jim mk2]

35 minutes ago, grizfoot said:

I must be a little mad like any football fan traveling such a distance on a midweek, setting off at lunch time not getting back till gone three. All in the hope, the dream of another memorable night like in Leicester, like at West Ham's rented Olympic Bowl.  Only this one would be a magnitude or two up, to find one on a similar scale you'd have to hark back to 2013 when a Michael Appleton led Rovers side won at The Emirates with Colin Kazim-Richards bagging the winner.

As if jolted by our third kit, images of playing Chelsea past flashed up in my mind. Mourinho grey-coated, Hughes grey-haired prowling the touchline. Back when a player nicknamed 'The Axe' was allowed to live up to his nickname. Back when players wore baggy shirts, Back when you could name the Chelsea one to eleven and know each one of them had genuine class. Back when we could bring Tugay off the bench for the last twenty minutes to see out games. Back when we got under the noses of the supposed called Premier League elite, yes we might not have always won but we nearly always give them a game, especially at Ewood. Sent many multimillion pounds worth of footballers and their managers back home to London like a group of sulky children who've just been told the Pleasure Beach is shut. Picture Big Sam chewing gum, wry smile, a looming spectre of a lost decade of us not being able to even play games at places like Stamford Bridge.

As for the actual match itself. The announcement of the teams, the fact Chelsea had gone more or less full strength and we had strung the best team together JDT felt he could, easily five or six short of our very best team. Set it up for an even more difficult task. The approach and message was clear, five across midfield, one up front, try and play but keep things tight and maybe we can get more adventurous as the game wears on. I don't think the endeavour was ever in question. But Chelsea passed the ball around well, as you would hope of a team that cost a king's ransom to assemble. Yet in front of goal they weren't particularly great, they squandered plenty of good chances, a thing to give hope to a team chasing an unlikely victory. 

Then came the individual errors that led to the goals.  Leo not-any-better-than-Pears-no-matter-how-hard-we-all-try-to-wish Wahlstedt flapping one down into the middle of the box for some defender, fittingly named like a French supervillain, to slot home and dash our hopes. Perhaps unfair to think such a thing but you'd never have seen Brad Friedel do that now would you? not in a thousand years.  Second Half was much the same as the first, on the back foot. Then here it was, a chance. A good chance at that. One long ball over the top, a glitch in the blockchain, and we could all dream again if only for a few seconds. Again maybe unfairly my mind flashed back, a Bellamy or a Benni McCarthy would have slotted that one away in their sleep probably. Why perhaps even Shefki Kuqi or Jason Roberts might have hit the target. That being said perhaps I do Leonard a little bit of disservice as it wasn't by any means the easiest of chances, but on nights like this those are the ones that need to go in. I do like Leonard as a player, shows plenty of good traits of an old-fashioned no.9. Keeps getting in good positions, hopefully with more time and experience he'll be putting away more of those types of chances.

Then the second error, Brittian playing a sloppy pass into midfield that was intercepted, whilst not completely gifting them a goal it did offer up a very presentable chance that a player of Sterling's quality was only too happy to take. Not to sound like a broken record but I thought again, perhaps unfairly, I can't imagine Lucas Neill or Brett Emerton ever playing a ball like that. From that point on the game kind of petered out, although Sigurdsson really should have at least given us all goal to celebrate deep into stoppage time, the only consolation is that it would surely have only been a consolation by that point anyway. 

Perhaps rather forlornly then this fixture only cemented one thing in my mind, and that is the chasm between clubs like ours and Chelsea nowadays, the knowledge of how much we have fallen and how far off our team of today is from even our mid-table scrapping Premier League sides of years gone by let alone those lucky enough to remember the heights of the mid-nineties. Yet if there's one thing to be proud of. One thing that remains a constant, it is the fantastic support. What else can you feel but immense pride as the Rovers fan belt out a rendition of "There's Only One Jack Walker" forth into the hushed backdrop of Stamford Bridge. Amidst the epicentre of London's wealth and at the very birthplace were all this modern day mega rich football owners began it seemed a more hauntingly poignant tribute than ever before.

 

I don't normally bother with long posts (it's supposed to be a messageboard) but that was a good read - heartfelt for the good old Rovers days and written with a bit of style. Well done

[chaddyrovers]

1 hour ago, den said:

At 20 years old a striker should be ready for the first team.

I never said he wasn't ready for the first team anywhere in my post did I? 

[47er]

35 minutes ago, RoversTilliDie said:

We gave a good account of ourselves against Chelsea, it should up our game against Norwich after playing Chelsea. I bet we're regretting selling Kaminski after the errors we've  seen from Pears and Waldsted. Personally I would bring Pears back against Norwich. Let's hope our walking wounded are back soon to strengthen Rovers squad soon.

I think we regretted selling Kaminski the day it happened. It was purely about Venkys and no money. Endless dilution of the squad for pennies.

How many points will it cost us? How much money will it cost us in the end?

No plan, no future, no hope as things stand

[roversfan99]

A first choice striker who is 6 years from his peak? 

If he is, he will be long gone before his peak anyway. But first choice is somewhat by default due to the fact that the manager doesnt feel (potentially with good reason) that either of the strikers signed in the summer warrant consideration to start games. Thats what you get for peanuts, a totally unfit player and a German 4th division player.

This is why the play offs are a total pipe dream. Leonard has a bit about him, good movement but he is weak, not very quick and his finishing is not up to scratch. He runs through and you expect him to put it wide. Not his fault, we shouldnt be so reliant on him.

[R0verb0y]

33 minutes ago, grizfoot said:

I must be a little mad like any football fan traveling such a distance on a midweek, setting off at lunch time not getting back till gone three. All in the hope, the dream of another memorable night like in Leicester, like at West Ham's rented Olympic Bowl.  Only this one would be a magnitude or two up, to find one on a similar scale you'd have to hark back to 2013 when a Michael Appleton led Rovers side won at The Emirates with Colin Kazim-Richards bagging the winner.

As if jolted by our third kit, images of playing Chelsea past flashed up in my mind. Mourinho grey-coated, Hughes grey-haired prowling the touchline. Back when a player nicknamed 'The Axe' was allowed to live up to his nickname. Back when players wore baggy shirts, Back when you could name the Chelsea one to eleven and know each one of them had genuine class. Back when we could bring Tugay off the bench for the last twenty minutes to see out games. Back when we got under the noses of the supposed called Premier League elite, yes we might not have always won but we nearly always give them a game, especially at Ewood. Sent many multimillion pounds worth of footballers and their managers back home to London like a group of sulky children who've just been told the Pleasure Beach is shut. Picture Big Sam chewing gum, wry smile, a looming spectre of a lost decade of us not being able to even play games at places like Stamford Bridge.

As for the actual match itself. The announcement of the teams, the fact Chelsea had gone more or less full strength and we had strung the best team together JDT felt he could, easily five or six short of our very best team. Set it up for an even more difficult task. The approach and message was clear, five across midfield, one up front, try and play but keep things tight and maybe we can get more adventurous as the game wears on. I don't think the endeavour was ever in question. But Chelsea passed the ball around well, as you would hope of a team that cost a king's ransom to assemble. Yet in front of goal they weren't particularly great, they squandered plenty of good chances, a thing to give hope to a team chasing an unlikely victory. 

Then came the individual errors that led to the goals.  Leo not-any-better-than-Pears-no-matter-how-hard-we-all-try-to-wish Wahlstedt flapping one down into the middle of the box for some defender, fittingly named like a French supervillain, to slot home and dash our hopes. Perhaps unfair to think such a thing but you'd never have seen Brad Friedel do that now would you? not in a thousand years.  Second Half was much the same as the first, on the back foot. Then here it was, a chance. A good chance at that. One long ball over the top, a glitch in the blockchain, and we could all dream again if only for a few seconds. Again maybe unfairly my mind flashed back, a Bellamy or a Benni McCarthy would have slotted that one away in their sleep probably. Why perhaps even Shefki Kuqi or Jason Roberts might have hit the target. That being said perhaps I do Leonard a little bit of disservice as it wasn't by any means the easiest of chances, but on nights like this those are the ones that need to go in. I do like Leonard as a player, shows plenty of good traits of an old-fashioned no.9. Keeps getting in good positions, hopefully with more time and experience he'll be putting away more of those types of chances.

Then the second error, Brittian playing a sloppy pass into midfield that was intercepted, whilst not completely gifting them a goal it did offer up a very presentable chance that a player of Sterling's quality was only too happy to take. Not to sound like a broken record but I thought again, perhaps unfairly, I can't imagine Lucas Neill or Brett Emerton ever playing a ball like that. From that point on the game kind of petered out, although Sigurdsson really should have at least given us all goal to celebrate deep into stoppage time, the only consolation is that it would surely have only been a consolation by that point anyway. 

Perhaps rather forlornly then this fixture only cemented one thing in my mind, and that is the chasm between clubs like ours and Chelsea nowadays, the knowledge of how much we have fallen and how far off our team of today is from even our mid-table scrapping Premier League sides of years gone by let alone those lucky enough to remember the heights of the mid-nineties. Yet if there's one thing to be proud of. One thing that remains a constant, it is the fantastic support. What else can you feel but immense pride as the Rovers fan belt out a rendition of "There's Only One Jack Walker" forth into the hushed backdrop of Stamford Bridge. Amidst the epicentre of London's wealth and at the very birthplace were all this modern day mega rich football owners began it seemed a more hauntingly poignant tribute than ever before.

I've picked this post out; but, really, I could have picked almost any of the posts from all the true fans who can bore their kids and grandchildren with their pride - come on, @grizfoot; you know you were proud to be there, really! - at being there last night.

So what if I can - and do from time to time!! - rattle on about a fortnight on Saturday being the 70th anniversary of the first match I can remember my Dad taking me to sit in the Riverside stand (Mk 1!) to watch a 2 - 2 draw with Fulham?

So what if there's a chasm between Rovers in their Venky-owned era and any team from the top half of the Premier League?

They're still our Venky-owned Rovers and we're - mostly - all proud, especially in the JDT era, of what they're producing. It's just such a pity that there isn't, in this modern era, more reinvestment in the squad. Then we might well, eventually, "punch our weight".

Because of health reasons - I keep failing a fitness test!!😉 - I've been unable to use use my season ticket so far and had feared I was becoming jaded about the Rovers. But thanks to you, @grizfoot and all the others who were so proud and pleased to represent those of us who, for whatever reason, couldn't be there last night, for being there on behalf of those of us less fortunate than you.

Oh, and @jim mk2, it doesn't really matter if some messages are longer than others!!😉🙂

[USABlue]

On 01/11/2023 at 16:22, joey_big_nose said:

Despite the recent misses Im getting more positive about Leonard. Hes making good runs and showing good strength and ability against quality centre backs.  

I think Leonard needs a goal, he needs confidence.  He is doing most things right and with a little more composure we could be talking about a star in the making.  He has the insticts it seems, but god, you have to finish, most times he has already done the hard part.

  We NEED a goalie.  The Swede is not it, I chastised Pears for his punch to the edge of the box to give away a goal Wahlstedts slap was unforgivable, he just palmed it down into the most dangerous part of the pit h at that moment.  2nd goal I don't blame him.  Looks like Leo has great reflexes but not much else to me.  He has a long way to go to be ready for this level.  We clearly missed Sammi's presence.  One last thing, can we please swap Gallaghers, I like theirs better than ours.  A lot.