[Archived] Blackburn Rovers 1 Vs 0 Portsmouth

[ihateburnley]

Souness - you're a disgrace. Thanks for the "team" you left behind.

Same players - different team. Jansen - 5th choice striker - advised to go find another club - scored the winner (played left wing (how revolutionary - left footed attacker at left attacking midfield) to begin with - then CF)

Our defence was better organised by the way.

This is the start of something better. It'll take time. Hughesy will have to get the best out of a bad bunch I'm afraid. He'll have a few quid to spend in January, probably not a fortune, just the money saved (from the inevitable sacking that didn't happen) and a few quid saved in wages from Cole and Yorke.

G. Souness - the luckiest man in football. I promise not to mention his name ever again on this messageboard. He doesn't deserve it.

Hughesy!!

A disgrace? That's a bit harsh and unwaranted as far as I'm concerned.

Souness did better than all of us expected. Don't forget he took over and we were in the bottom half of Div1! A promotion, CUP WIN, and two European qualifications are hardly a disgace for a pretty small town club such as ourselves!

OK the way he left us was a bit sh!tty, but if you think we are better than a bottom half of the Premiership team, you're wrong. Even Hughes said that his aim is to take us to the top of the second tier of the Premiership.

[Maverick]

Did not see the game, but from what I have heard we had about 15 corner kicks in todays game without really anything out of them. I saw the Newcastle game and the corners in that game was bad. Don't we train corner kicks? It should be a great goal scoring situation.

[bazza]

Oh how sweet, how intoxicating, how wonderful was that breath of fresh air that blew across Ewood Park today.

What a change in spirit! I have suddenly become an optimist.

Sparky has his work cut out. But, oh, the signs of what is to come!

[bob fleming]

A disgrace? That's a bit harsh and unwaranted as far as I'm concerned.

Souness did better than all of us expected. Don't forget he took over and we were in the bottom half of Div1! A promotion, CUP WIN, and two European qualifications are hardly a disgace for a pretty small town club such as ourselves!

OK the way he left us was a bit sh!tty, but if you think we are better than a bottom half of the Premiership team, you're wrong. Even Hughes said that his aim is to take us to the top of the second tier of the Premiership.

If you think we can't do better than a bottom half of the Premiership team then you're wrong as well. I'd guess that the "Top of the second tier" starts at 5th - 7th?. It'll take time though - due to the rubbish that the other fella left behind.

I take it your over looking the fact that our last manager told Jansen to go find another club? That his time here was over? That basically he would never make it at the highest level?

"Souness did better than all of us expected" - did he?.

"pretty small town club" - in your eyes maybe - clearly not in Mark Hughes'. I doubt he'd have left Wales to come to a "pretty small town club".

"OK the way he left us was a bit sh!tty" - half of me says that I wished he'd stayed - and got the sack. But then the other half knows that it saved us a small fortune.

Hughes, and his team, will turn this club around.

Sure I'll never forget promotion, nor the Cup win (fantastic days) - but don't go telling me that's our lot. We can do better - we can certainly play better and with more passion and imore deas than the last 12 months have thrown up.

(The Cup win and a Euro Qualification go hand in hand BTW - it was unavoidable)

[Alan75]

Dont know if its been posted and I havent found any link but did anyone hear Hughes interview about Matt after the game. It went somethink like.

Matt needed his confidence building, I gave him some TLC and a shoulder to rest on.

Now that is what I call man management.

[accyrover]

Dont know if its been posted and I havent found any link but did anyone hear Hughes interview about Matt after the game. It went somethink like.

Matt needed his confidence building, I gave him some TLC and a shoulder to rest on.

Now that is what I call man management.

Something a certain Mr Souness has an unfortunate lack of. Just ask Andy Cole, Andy Todd, Michael Gray etc etc

Accyrover

[accyrover]

It went mental where I was sat in the Blackburn End lower when Matt scored. What a great moment for the lad.

All in all pretty happy today. Abysmal first half, very encouraging second half.

One thing I have to say is Brett Emerton. What the hell did Hughes say to him at half time ? The guy was possessed second half and looked every inch a world beater. Definately a confidence player and obviously a certain Scotsman knocked all that out of him. Well done to Mark Hughes - whatever he said obviously worked.

Dicov was excellent, Stead looks like he desperately needs a goal, Matteo had a half decent game for once. Amo was solid, Gray threatening coming forward and very impressed with Jay Bothroyd.

All in all a good day. I've had a few drinks for the lads tonight.

Final word for Mark Hughes, well done Sparky. you're a hero already.

Just remember, one swallow doesn't make a summer....but it bloody helps !

Accyrover

Edited September 18, 2004 by accyrover

[accyrover]

Souness - you're a disgrace. Thanks for the "team" you left behind.

Same players - different team. Jansen - 5th choice striker - advised to go find another club - scored the winner (played left wing (how revolutionary - left footed attacker at left attacking midfield) to begin with - then CF)

Our defence was better organised by the way.

This is the start of something better. It'll take time. Hughesy will have to get the best out of a bad bunch I'm afraid. He'll have a few quid to spend in January, probably not a fortune, just the money saved (from the inevitable sacking that didn't happen) and a few quid saved in wages from Cole and Yorke.

G. Souness - the luckiest man in football. I promise not to mention his name ever again on this messageboard. He doesn't deserve it.

Hughesy!!

Couldn't have put it better myself Bob

Accyrover

[1864roverite]

and the sun shines on the righteous

[samtheozzy]

YES! I don't wish to harp on the obvious shortcomings of our play today (plenty of corners, occasional unpunished defensive lapses, non-threatening starting forwards). Phrase of the day was "win at all costs" and we damn well did it!

Matt jansen scored as well, what a comeback.

[sumps]

Extremely pleased with the win and especially with Jansen scoring. That goal and his goal against Liverpool show he still has the class to make it back to his old form. Good ridance to Souness if he told Jansen to find another club.

[Oklahoma]

Two great comebacks...

Jansen might be in the right path.

Hughes is the right man for us!

[Quack]

Brad was very lucky - MOTD showed it was a clear penalty towards to the end for his clumsy challenge - oh well, I am not complaining. Bring on AFCB - will be very interesting to see who plays.

[samtheozzy]

Could someone comment on how Bothroyd played today. i don't have pay-tv so i can only go on what was said on the radio broadcast. By all accounts he did pretty well but in the euphoria surrounding Jansen's strike it seems Bothroyds cameo today has gone unnoticed.

[92er]

Read the earlier posts-he did quite well.

Matteo was also lucky that his mistake didn't lead to a goal. Amuroso-who apparently along with Emerton and Ferguson are the current highest earners-did not make a mistake that should have lead to a goal, which in my opinion is unusual.

I'm pleased for Jansen. But I think it's important we don't get over excited with the result as Portsmouth should have had a penalty and should have scored at least 2 goals, didn't force Brad to make a save.

[Eddie]

This is why football fans always annoy me.

If you lose, they always find chances you should have scored, and disregard any other chances the opposition had.

If you win, they always find chances the opposition should have scored, and disregard any other chances that you yourselves had.

In this case, we ignore the fact that we went close to scoring on several other occasions, and choose instead to say that the score should have been 3-1 to them. Where is the logic in that? We took a chance, they didn't, that's a pretty important part of the match, and so we won. Maybe they should have had a penalty, but we should have had about 50 between now and when we last had one, and just think back to the Southampton game, we deserve to get some luck, we have a lot more to come until it balances itself out.

[tcj_jones]

Just got home after my 6 hour journey from Ewood so I shall leave my post till thoughts till tomorow. However, I will say that I Hughes has brought something new to the club - ATTACKING, POSITIVE FOOTBAL!!

[Scotty]

New manager, new coach, new Moorings. It was a new dawn for me today and boy was I looking forward to it. So, it was a complete surprise to find out that the same team was starting that had performed so pathetically up at Newcastle. Oh well, I'm sure Hughesy had a plan.

We started off poorly and didn't get any better throughout the first half. It was like Souness had never left. We had lots of possession but failed to threaten a poor Portsmouth team, in fact, Portsmouth should have gone in at half time in front.

Berkovich was injured and substitued on about the half hour mark and was replaced by Stone. Suddenly Pompey looked more solid, had a bit more steel in their midfield, and had much more purpose going forward. They bossed the last 15 minutes of the half and should have scored when Fuller barged through Gray and Matteo to leave himself one-on-one with Friedel. Thankfully he hit the outside of the post.

We came out in the second half and were simply unrecognisable. All of a sudden we had drive, passion, determination, and no small amont of skill. We pushed up the field a good 15 - 20 yards as a unit and pinned Portsmouth into their own half. The likes of Emerton, Gray and Dickov were driving forward and running at players, something it seemed they hadn't even thought about in the first half.

The real catalyst though was Mark Hughes's first tactical substitution as a Rovers manager (Amoruso had replaced Short earlier but that was forced by an injury). Off came the totally ineffective Pedersen and on came Matt Jansen. I'm not sure if I've ever seen a Rovers player receive a better reception.

Rovers continued to press, winning numerous corners and free-kicks in dangerous positions but failing to convert them. But there was something funny in the air - a strange, almost intangible feeling - was it hope? Whereas the crowd may have been discouraged in the past by our failure to turn possession into goals, this time we just roared the team on. Boy did it work. We just battered and battered Portsmouth into submission.

Neill picked the ball up in his own half and drove at the heart of Portsmouth's defence. Fourty yards out he hit a perfectly weighted ball towards Matt Jansen's right foot on the edge of the Pompey area. Jansen controlled the ball, rolled it onto his favoured left foot all in one movement, stumbled, got up, and then belted an unstoppable shot into the corner of the net. The crowd went fecking mental.

We looked world-beaters after that. Boothroyd look a class above any of our other forwards. He ran at defenders with real pace and power and actually had the confidence to shoot. We started playing screen passes with the forwards on the edge of Pompey's box and we actually had players running onto them. Instead of hanging on for a win we looked like we'd score again. We pi55ed all over Portsmouth in that second half.

We shouldn't get carried away though. We could easily have been 2 down before we scored. I mentioned Fuller's chance earlier but I didn't mention the time in the second half when Yakubu just barged past a hapless Matteo and blazed over when it seemed easier to score. Pompey also had a good shout for a penalty near the end when Friedel appeared to bundle over Fuller. Still, who gives a ...

I thought Dickov was lively and gave the Portsmouth defenders no respite. Emerton was inspirational in the second half, running from deep, taking people on, driving to the heart of the defence, unlucky not to score. Yes Emerton! Ferguson passed the ball superbly throughout. He's not as mobile as I'd thought he'd be but he's fantastically cultured in midfield. He looked class today. Flitcroft got stuck in and gave their midfield no time at all. Gray had a great second half. Bothroyd looked genuinely class when he came on.

Negatives? Pedersen was awful again. Terrible, shocking, pi55-poor. He's young, it's a new league, he'll need time etc.....@#/?, he's not up to it at the moment. He should be dropped until he is. Neill gave the ball away constantly. We need a new right back to pressurise Neill because I think he's become complacent. Stead didn't look sharp today - he'll struggle to get back into the team now I'd say. Matteo made a couple of glaring mistakes that could have cost goals.

Portsmouth were poor today and so were we in the first half. We improved massively in the second half thanks to some good substitutions and a bit of luck, but don't think we're world-beaters all of a sudden. We're not. But there is a sense of hope now - something that has missing for some time at Ewood.

[American]

Just remember, one swallow doesn't make a summer....

Depends who the woman is...

[emerton]

Could someone comment on how Bothroyd played today. i don't have pay-tv so i can only go on what was said on the radio broadcast. By all accounts he did pretty well but in the euphoria surrounding Jansen's strike it seems Bothroyds cameo today has gone unnoticed.

came on as a 65th min sub and i thought he did extremely well for his short cameo.

had some nice turns, held the ball up well and hit some nice shots with power.

very impressed by his performance

[bubblerrovers]

At last i feel good after 5pm on a sat what an unusual feeling!!! Really interested to see who plays up front as all have could have a decent shout to be included

[philipl]

We don't have Bournemouth thread but I'd hope that Hughes starts with Matty, Stead and MGP.

All three need the confidence the start will give them. Matty to carry on where he left off on Saturday (how often did Souey fail to persist with him when he showed signs of recovery in the past?).

Stead just needs a goal= I agree his place is at risk if he doesn't get the boost of scoring quickly and that would be a shame because he would then no make the u-21 international at Ewood.

MGP will be playing against a level of opposition which at least will only be a bit better than he was used to facing in Norway so hopefully he can bring his Tromso form back for this game to kick start his Ewood career (shame he skied that chance against Man U).

Have to say Saturday's crowd against Pompey was two thousand less than my worst projection. What's going on with our "support"?

No doubt the Bournemouth attendance will be sub 10,000 despite reduced prices, new optimism and the new gaffer who deserves full support.

[mattyc2422]

We love Matty Jansen!

Great to have him back, and great to see Mark Hughes on the sidelines.

So much positivity around here!

[pg]

So does this mean that Hughes has slayed Emerton's touch-line monster?

[Paul]

Aye, I had a tear in my eye when he scored today

Me too....just so pleased for Matt. Lets hope he plays on Wednesday and gets three.

Paul, you two faced sun of a ........, I remember talking to you about Matty on the last game of the season last year and you said that he was finished and there was no way back.

Anyway, your foregiven today cos I dont care

Quite right, I did think he was finished and realistically so did half the board. That doesn't stop me being pleased fro him and Rovers, or does it?

Just a word of warning though one goal doesn't make a season. Matt may have been told to drop back in the last ten minutes but I thought he looked very, very tired after just 30 minutes or so on the pitch. I'm very pleased he got the chance but he still has a long, long way to go.