[Archived] Rovers 1 - 1 West Brom

[Eddie]

I wasn't at the match, but thanks to sky I have seen the extended highlights, and despite all the doom and gloom on the site, I actually thought we looked very good for a first game in the second half. It's true that we didn't create any clear cut chances, but I think that the players get more up to the pace. Anyway, I could take a while to explain why I'm upbeat about things, but really there's no point. Just have to see how performances go over the next few weeks. No point trying to judge a team based on one performance.

Though...if only we'd spent our money like Charlton huh?

[HertsRover]

So far, new season, same old story, and the team were booed by some sections of the crowd as they went off at half time.

Quite a lot of the people around me in the lower blackburn end wernt booing the players. Its was the inept and useless officials we were venting at.

[rover6]

Very disappointed with Matteo. Not impressed with all the free kicks he gave away - including the one leading to the goal, and the pulling of Kanu's shirt getting him a yellow card.

I don't blame the guy - he's a centre back who's trying to play central midfield.

Regulars at the reserves are best placed to comment on this - but don't you think that Ciaran Donnelly or Neil Danns would offer far more in midfield than Gresko ever will? I don't understand why Souness chooses to play our second choice left back in midfield after one decent pre-season performance.

If Thommo's not fit let's give Danns or Donnelly a go - young players with enthusiasm and no shortage of talent. It's a classic case of foreign players blocking the route of youth to the first team. And Gresko isn't even a good foreign player.

[G Somerset Rover]

Not the worst display from Rovers but it has thrown up a few very worrying issues.

1-What is souey planning with his formations and why is he playing people out of positions? Gresko isn't a very good left back, let alone a centre mid. Just stick with 4-4-2 souey, and if De Pedro isn't fit then we'll have to play either Gray, Gallagher, Jansen, Douglas or even Gresko on the left until he's match fit.

2-Creativity. I think that this is going to be a big concern for Rovers this season. Yes Tugay and Fergie do spray the ball around neatly, but I rarely see us creating many chances. I know West Brom defended deeply but if we only had 3 shots on goal against them, think how it'd be against the Gooners.

3-My third point is what someone else has already mentioned, Kamy I think, and that is the lack of pace in the sqaud. Have we actually got 1 fast player in the squad since Duff left? Go through every team in the prem and you can pick out 2-3 pacey players who can get past defenders and CREATE chances for their teams. We have nobody with the pace and skill to take people on. In my opinion Souey must sign either a pacey winger or striker before the deadline (with other quality attributes obviously) otherwise I can see us being in the bottom five for goals scored this season.

On the plus note Yorkey looked very good, and long may this continue. Keep him fit, keep him happy and he could be a very good player for us this season. The only player to outshine him was Kanu, some of that lads skills amaze me! At one point his close control helped him to do about 3 of our players before playing it out wide, sheer quality.

Got tickets for the Saints game on Sat, I just hope Souey can sign somebody this week to bolster the midfield or strikeforce.

Edited August 15, 2004 by Somerset Rover!

[SouthAussieRover]

An excellent result as we are a point closer to safety now.

[ptholt]

Strange how the posts before the game were littered with 3-0, 4-0 + 5-1 etc then the rose tinted rovers glasses fell off when the ref blew the whistle lol.

I posted back at the start of euro 2004 saying i felt we in for another season of struggle, and after seeing highlights of 3 attackers on the pitch not being able to break down what most consider relegation fodder doesn't say much or give any confidence to suggest we will not be fighting bottom third again....

[Wiggy]

As for the rest of the team, I really don't know why souness continues to make such strange decisions with his selections as tactics, but we nearly got caught out again today, and its beginning to push me that bit closer to the 'Souness out' clan.

Yep, I'm also drifting slowly towards this camp. In some respects Souey can do no wrong, his commitment and passion for this football club are exceptional. However, this is the guy who says he has his strongest squad for years, few injury problems and has changed his backroom staff to freshen things up. All of this combined football knowledge has been working for weeks of pre-season to come up with a starting formation that defied belief. What was meant to be going on on the rhs of midfield ( or the lhs for that matter ). To be fair he realised fairly quickly what a pigs ear of a formation he had and several minutes in conference with Tugay but can you think of another premier league manager who would have made this mistake? He has been a great man for this club but tactically he is either naive or taking the wrong advice.

[Simon Says]

Yes, it was a strange team selection.

Yes De Pedro isn't fit. (How do you get match fit without playing games?)

Yes we conceded again from a freekick. (Fergie turned his back )

Yes we passed the ball around well, but with no end product

and

Yes Emerton once again flattered to deceive. Here is a player clearly lacking in confidence.

On the subject of Souness and survival. I saw an interview with Steve Bruce this week on SSN. Now Brum had a good season last year and have spent a bit of money over the summer. Bruce was asked about his teams prospects and he replied "Arsenal, Man U and Chelsea will be in the top 3. Then Liverpool and Newcastle will battle it out for fourth place and the rest of us want to get to 40 points as soon as possible. Survival is the key for all but 5 or 6 clubs"

So Souness is not alone, seems they are all thinking the same way.

[Blackpool_Rover]

I also feel the absence of Flitty was a bonus and am convinced that if he had been playing we would have lost the game.

THANKYOU!!!

Ive been saying this all along. Hes been good for the club in recent years but we have to get rid! He oozes of last season! I hated it when he came on at Bray, looked rubbish! He needs to go.

[Cocker]

Have to go along with pretty much everything Paul has said.

I only got to see the hightlight programme on Sky last night (which is class) however, I was quite confused.

Watched Soccer Saturday yesterday and from the reports coming back from Chris Kamara we hardly touched the ball and it was all Brom however, after sticking the game on last night I couldnt work out what he was talking about. The 50-60 mins of game that I saw Rovers were pretty much on top all along.

They had a lucky free kick (a 5 year old could have buit a better wall with lego)

Emerton looked good on the ball (in my opinion) but someone has got to tell the lad that at the end of a run you are aloud to shoot

As someone has said already, Matteo made to many clumsy errors but I would still start him at the back

Amo - IF YOU PASS BACK TO THE KEEPER THEN MAKE SURE YOU GET THE BALL TO HIM

Stead - dont be to harsh on him. He could have had a couple of good chances but Ped didnt pass

I usually hate Yorke but thought he did well yesterday (could have shot a little more)

My man of the match though was Gray. If Brett needs some lessons in how to run at people and then get it to a man at the end of it then stick him with Gray - first class

If people agree or disagree with the above I dont care - its just good to have a rant every now and then (mainly on a Sunday morning)

[Modi]

First half yesterday we saw the Rovers version of "total football" - players clearly given the instruction play wherever they fancy.

Emerton can't be expected to perform both right back and right midfield, when he struggles to do one job.

Three left footers is nice, but they've got to be able to communicate. Perhaps having three nationalities all jabbering in different languages led to confusion?

Three centre backs only works when you have a formation that requires three centre backs, such as in the second half.

Also like to apologise to Revidge. In the Sporting Lisbon thread he made a comment that I replied thus to....

Do you honestly, even remotely, ... think for one fraction of a second Ferguson-Gresko will be the starting pairing in central midfield against West Brom?

Try as I might, I really can't wriggle out of that one.

Edited August 15, 2004 by Modi

[percy]

After my previous post, which I regret, I'd just like to address the balance and point out that at this moment in time we're sixth!. Back in Europe!

It's early doors but you never know!

But we were 4th at the start of the day, bob !

I've got mixed feelings of disappointment, relief and (slight) optimism after yesterday's game. Before the game I was optimistic about our chances of getting three points given that WBA had their star player, Koumas, unavailable, whilst we almost had a fully fit squad. On reflection after the game, I think that if we can keep playing like we did in the 2nd half we'll be OK this season. I don't want to even try and consider another season of football that we saw in the 1st 45mins.

I spent the first 5mins of the match or so trying to work out who was supposed to be playing where. Fair play to Souness, though, if we can't see these baffling selctions / formations coming, what chance have the oppositon managers got? First game at home, opening day of the season, playing a newly promoted team and we put Gresko and Matteo in central midfield, whilst Tugay's on the bench and Flitcroft doesn't even get in the squad. We knew WBA were going to come to Ewood, try and snatch a goal and then hold on for dear life, so was such a defensively-minded Rovers team neccessary? I'd expect something like that against one the top 5 teams, not against a team we should be looking to take 3 points from.

In contrast to a woeful 1st half, I thought we had a good 2nd half and kept WBA on the back foot, mainly down to Souness putting Tugay and Dickov on the pitch and giving the team more options going forward. I thought Gray, Ferguson, Short and Yorke were our best players, whilst Emerton and De Pedro struggled to do well. Dickov deserves a mention for getting stuck in straight away and being a constant nuisance for the WBA defence. He isn't going to dribble around defenders and hit a 25 yard screamer into the top corner, but his constant harrassment of the WBA defenders put them under pressure, stopped them from doing anything other than clearing the ball back to a blue and white shirt and won us plenty of possession in the final 3rd of the pich. Short played really well and his determination to get onto the cross for the equaliser was superb - we're really going to miss his enthusiasm when he stops playing for the team

Emerton still hasn't regained the confidence he had at the start of last season (I'm a big fan of his, but I can see why other members of this messageboard are fast losing patience with his performances) and De Pedro looked a little out of sorts. He hit some terrible crosses, but hopefully he'll improve when he gets used to the premiership (if Souness can manage to field a balanced team for more than 45mins on a consistent basis).

The ref was terrible and missed some very blatant fouls by their defenders, whilst spending most of the 1st half giving WBA freekicks everytime one of their players fell over or protested about suffering any type of physical contact. I can understand Glenn's point about the half-time booing sounding like it was for the team's performance, but it was only directed at the refereee from around where I was sat. The 2nd half chants of "you don't know what you're doing" and "you're not fit to referee" emphasised that I hope.

This was maybe a disappointing result given the chance we had to take all 3 points, but there was enough in the 2nd half performances of several players to suggest we can still play some decent football if we want to and Souness stops playing silly buggers with the formation / team selections.

Edited August 15, 2004 by percy

[greggyk]

Why are some idiot posters on here saying 'were crap, we couldn’t be WBA'.

Do you honestly think we will be the only team to not beat WBA.

[Tom Pringle]

Greggy, they're almost right so far.

I mean, no one else has beat them..

[greggyk]

True Tom

[Blackpool_Rover]

HAS ANYONE READ THE REPORT IN THE SUNDAY MIRROR!!!?

I feel like grabbing ken lawrence by the throat and strangling him! What does everyone have against us?

His report basically says how bad we are and how we will have the same as last season. Fair enough west brom did well to get a point but im sure he wasnt at the game, it was all rovers 2nd half and we played well. He gave gray a 6! He gave Tugay (who changed the game) a 5!!! He gave ferguson a 5!!!!!!! And gave Yorke a 4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Disgrace

Edited August 15, 2004 by Blackpool_Rover

[American]

How much longer do we have to tolerate this “Survival is the Key” rubbish

If you read some of what Souness has said, he also said that he would like to see us essentially safe after the first half of the season, so we can concentrate on a push from there and not be like last season, where there is desperation at the end.

[Martin]

The first day of the season means very little in terms of the big picture. After 10 games we will have a more accurate reflection of where we will be. 12 months ago everyone thought we were champions league material and Emerton was a world beater. So let's not get carried away either way.

First half we were very poor indeed. I think the manager will admit that the formation contributed greatly towards that.

Second half much better, but still lacked a cutting edge in the final third.

Tugay looked brilliant in the 45 minutes he played, but whether he could sustain that level of play for 90 minutes I have my doubts. Ferguson was a driving force and kept things flowing.

I must give a special mention to Dwight Yorke I thought he was superb yesterday. He worked his socks off despite the shocking service he continues to receive. He can be a top player for us this year.

de Pedro looks fat but technically gifted, so we will have to wait and see.

There is room for everyone to improve, but yesterday was no disaster. West Brom only looked dangerous from set peices. As I say we must push on now.

[Manchester Blue]

HAS ANYONE READ THE REPORT IN THE SUNDAY MIRROR!!!?

I feel like grabbing ken lawrence by the throat and strangling him! What does everyone have against us?

His report basically says how bad we are and how we will have the same as last season. Fair enough west brom did well to get a point but im sure he wasnt at the game, it was all rovers 2nd half and we played well. He gave gray a 6! He gave Tugay (who changed the game) a 5!!! He gave ferguson a 5!!!!!!! And gave Yorke a 4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Disgrace

The ratings he has given to those players shows he either wasn't watching the game or is a pillock. I won't do a match report as it's already been said. I agree with a lot of what's been said already.

I really enjoyed the 2nd half and if people can't take any positives from it then they must have very high expectations or must have spent the 2nd half in the toilets.

However I am worried also because I can't argue with the fact that the game was thrown away with the 1st half selection/formation. We were playing West Brom at home. I wouldn't have played 1 defensive midfielder let alone 2. Kanu apart they were crap and we simply allowed them into the game rather than played them off the park like we should have done.

[percy]

Why are some idiot posters on here saying 'were crap, we couldn’t be WBA'.

Do you honestly think we will be the only team to not beat WBA.

No, I think there'll be a few teams who'll struggle to beat WBA (and Norwich and Palace as well), because they'll play defensively, get men behind the ball and try and make it as hard as possible to play decent, passing football against them.

Do you think as many teams will field as defensive a line-up against them at home, knowing that they're one of the weaker teams in the league, though ? I don't think there will be. Without Koumas and Hughes, there was no need to play such a defensive midfield, we need to take the initiative in our home matches after last season's terrible form at home.

I presume I'm one of the 'idiot posters' you're referring to above. I didn't say we were crap, I was just disappointed because we started the game so negatively. Anyone who saw the 2nd half can see we have the players and ability to play good football and also that we were capable of pinning WBA back in their half time after time whilst pressing for an equaliser / winner. I just wish we'd started the game in that fashion, rather than it taking a WBA goal to get us going. I honestly feel that if we'd set about WBA for a full game rather than for just the 2nd half, we would have created enough oppurtunities to claim 3 points.

We're gonna be up against it this season, so we need to make the most of the chances we get to make sure we don't have another relegation scrap to worry about. I personally think we'll do enough to avoid a repeat of last season. Making the most of our games against the weaker teams will go a long way towards doing that.

Edited August 15, 2004 by percy

[tsnuf]

my alarm failed to get me out of bed this morning, so i only managed to watch the last 30 minutes of the delay match, so heres what i thought of the last 30 minutes..

we were definitely the better team, they barely carried the ball into our half. yorke surprised me with how much he seemed to care about the game.. he was the best player on the pitch for the bit that i saw. i honestly cant say stead or dickov provided any direct goal threat, other than stead's cross, but i'm not worried that this will be the case all season.. matteo was kind of disappointing... and emerton boggles me. he put himself in a good position two or three times, so he was good in that respect... but why didnt he do the easy part and put it in the back of the net? i won't say he doesnt deserve to be in the starting XI until i see thommo get a crack at his spot to compare. i personally thought that our 3-5-2 looked great, but i dont know if it'll hold against a better team

all that being said, i wish i had seen the starting formation (sounds almost comical from how its been described) and i wish i had seen de pedro.. i'll be really disappointed if he flops this season

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

For those of you who don't like negativity look away now!

Ditto.

It was rather like waiting over two months for the opportunity to make mad passionate love for 90 minutes, only to have an unsatisfactory quick fumble.

What a flaccid, limp performance in the first half - too many long balls, posession given away too easily.

Like our venerable senior mod Den, I've got serious doubts about whether we've got enough pace and firepower in our attack.

And have we not learnt anything about giving stupid goals away at set pieces?

We did it time and again last season. Same old story this term - poor defensive wall with players not doing their jobs properly.

Later in the match, some more Keystone Cops defending, this time from Amoruso. We could easily have been 2-0 down after the Italian's lack of concentration with an under-hit backpass.

West Brom will almost certainly be in a relegation battle this year, but at least the WBA board are backing their manager with funds in the transfer market in order to give them a chance of retaining Premiership football.

Megson has so far spent £6m on Jonathan Greening, Darren Purse, Scimeca, Kanu and Kuzsczak, and has reportedly tabled further bids totalling £6.5m on West Ham's Michael Carrick and Anderlecht striker Aruna Dindane.

A possible £12.5m to be spent this summer?

All rather different to the meagre 150 grand we've spent on Paul Dickov. But I guess we've got to 'wee with the willy we've got', as Souness is fond of saying.

At the moment our willy seems to be smaller than a postage stamp. No wonder it was such a limp 1st half performance...

De Pedro had one of the worst debuts I've ever seen.  He doesn't look fit and his crossing was appalling.

Agreed.

Overall summary: CAN AND MUST DO BETTER.

Correct SG.

Edited August 15, 2004 by Anti Euro Smiths Fan

[Robertson]

Just reflected on yesterdays match, was gutted yesterday but am not quite as depressed now!

The result was quite poor, least we did not get beat, but it was the performance that was disappointing especially in the first half. The team line up was all over the place, Gresko in centre midfield??????

De Pedro was short of the pace and Matteo made a few mistakes, noticably for their goal albeit they were lucky with the deflection.

The same old feeling driving home yesterday

The southampton match cannot come soon enough, hopefully Souey will pick a more balanced team and southampton play like they did against villa yesterday. Need those three points as soon as possible!!!!!!

Emerton is class, but why does he not show it???????????

[ABBEY]

HAS ANYONE READ THE REPORT IN THE SUNDAY MIRROR!!!?

I feel like grabbing ken lawrence by the throat and strangling him! What does everyone have against us?

His report basically says how bad we are and how we will have the same as last season. Fair enough west brom did well to get a point but im sure he wasnt at the game, it was all rovers 2nd half and we played well. He gave gray a 6! He gave Tugay (who changed the game) a 5!!! He gave ferguson a 5!!!!!!! And gave Yorke a 4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Disgrace

and it was on the back page of the footy bit along side the jocks and non league!!!!

[American]

West Brom is not as bad as they were a couple years back, and considering our home form of last season and our history against the "lesser" teams in the last few seasons, a draw is not the end all.

Also, if you look at the opening match of last season, Portsmouth beat Villa, and the season didn't end too bad for Villa.