[Archived] Rovers 0 V 4 Middlesbrough review

[RevidgeBlue]

First post in a while. been exceptionally busy.

First off perhaps it is unwise to read too much into the size of Saturday's scoreline, there didn't look to be anything much between the sides until the sending off and had Tugay stayed on the outcome might have been very different.

Nevertheless that doesn't hide the glaring deficiencies within the team. We are displaying the classic relegation characteristic of being unable to score goals whilst conceding them by the bucketload.

Very little of this can be attributed to Hughes. Souness left us miles down a very smelly creek without a paddle and we are suffering extremely badly from his previous decisions.

Neill: can not defend, very little positional sense. Always thought he looks more like a midfielder.

Amoruso: even less positional sense, no pace to speak of, and no reading of the game to get over that handicap. Arguably the worst defender I have seen in a Rovers shirt considering the level he is meant to be playing at.

Matteo: Very poor thus far

Gresko: £2m down the pan

Di Pedro: Not fit enough for this level of football when he arrived, I've heard he's homesick, will we see him again?

Gamst Pedersen: Seemed to be signed as an afterthought when Di Pedro plainly wasn't up to it. Hasn't really shone on the limited evidence to date. Will Hughes rate him or is it another £2m wasted?

However our biggest problem lies up front. Souness's act of lunacy in releasing Cole for nothing means we have SIX (yes SIX) strikers (Dickov Stead Boothroyd Gallagher Djorkaeff and Jansen) none of whom currently look capable of notching five goals a season let alone ten. I almost think that if you give a proven goalscorer like Cole away for nothing you deserve what's coming to you and IMO that particular transaction should have been blocked at boardroom level regardless of the history between Souness and Cole.

Nevertheless I don't think it's all bad. If Souness had still been in charge there would be no hope. In the short time Hughes has been here there have been encouraging signs the team are at least trying to start to play football and pass the ball on the ground. Whilst the results haven't reflected this yet If Hughes can keep us up this season the future may well be a lot brighter.

He will have his work cut out considering the crapola left by Souness though. The Board may have to bite the bullet and invest in an uncompromising centre half and proven scorer in January if they wish to retain Premiership status.

[trueblue]

Welcome back Rev

Oh yeah.. sorry I made you jump out of your skin on the concourse at half time mate

[broadsword]

Amoruso: even less positional sense, no pace to speak of, and no reading of the game to get over that handicap. Arguably the worst defender I have seen in a Rovers shirt considering the level he is meant to be playing at.

No-one can be worse than Peacock, no-one!

[chris]

Amoruso: even less positional sense, no pace to speak of, and no reading of the game to get over that handicap. Arguably the worst defender I have  seen in a Rovers shirt considering the level he is meant to be playing at.

No-one can be worse than Peacock, no-one!

Dailly, mainly when you consider the price tag of 5.4 million as well, I hated that Bloke and even now West Ham fans boo him

[roversfan1]

Dailly, mainly when you consider the price tag of 5.4 million as well, I hated that Bloke and even now West Ham fans boo him

Amen to that ! The landlord of my local is a Hammers fan and he has a different 4 letter name for Dailly

Although surely Simon Greyson is going to get a nomination for this particular award ...

[bellamy11]

Good points Rev. The only one I'll disagree with is how good it is that we're passing the ball about under Hughes. Most Premiership teams put us to shame in the passing stakes. We're ok bobbing it about in midfield (this is when Tugay si playing well, remember), but the killer pass eludes us. Players like Neill look only capable of completing about 50% of the passes he makes.

If we need to stay up then we don't want to play into the hands of other teams by trying to beat them at their own game and trying to play pretty football. I think Hughes will need to bring in some strong scrappers at the back and a big lump up front. I don't want to see it from an entertainment point of view, but quite frankly we're too lightweight, and given a choice between relegation playing neat passes and survival rolling our sleeves up then I'll take survival.

[Flopsy]

Play Lucas CM along side Barry and play Reid at RB

or play a 3-5-2 formation

[den]

Also well done ref , you won Boro the game i'm your proud.

No he didn't. Tugay went through the back of the player with both feet. As he was already on a yellow he should have showed a bit more common sense, especially as he was challenging for a nothing ball in the middle of the pitch. The second yellow was fully justified (whatever your opinion of the first) and Tugay knew it. The players on the pitch lost us the match today, not the ref, the fans, lady sodding luck or anyone else, and to say otherwise is scapegoating plain and simple.

Franny Jeffers has just deliberately handled the ball, much like Tugay did last week. Hand up in the air and took the ball with him. He followed that up within a couple of minutes, by a reckless challenge on a Liverpool defender.

His punishment? a yellow card for the foul.

[Modi]

Also well done ref , you won Boro the game i'm your proud.

No he didn't. Tugay went through the back of the player with both feet. As he was already on a yellow he should have showed a bit more common sense, especially as he was challenging for a nothing ball in the middle of the pitch. The second yellow was fully justified (whatever your opinion of the first) and Tugay knew it. The players on the pitch lost us the match today, not the ref, the fans, lady sodding luck or anyone else, and to say otherwise is scapegoating plain and simple.

Franny Jeffers has just deliberately handled the ball, much like Tugay did last week. Hand up in the air and took the ball with him. He followed that up within a couple of minutes, by a reckless challenge on a Liverpool defender.

His punishment? a yellow card for the foul.

But when Toogs got the yellow card, the ref pointed to four other areas of the pitch suggesting it was his 4th minor offence.

Then again, he could have been pointing to other blue-and-white halves saying you play for that team.

[G Somerset Rover]

Worse is to come no doubt.

Your damn right, when Duff scores Chelseas 7th next week in the 90th and kisses his badge.

I wasn't far off!

[The1mattjansen]

Also well done ref , you won Boro the game i'm your proud.

No he didn't. Tugay went through the back of the player with both feet. As he was already on a yellow he should have showed a bit more common sense, especially as he was challenging for a nothing ball in the middle of the pitch. The second yellow was fully justified (whatever your opinion of the first) and Tugay knew it. The players on the pitch lost us the match today, not the ref, the fans, lady sodding luck or anyone else, and to say otherwise is scapegoating plain and simple.

Franny Jeffers has just deliberately handled the ball, much like Tugay did last week. Hand up in the air and took the ball with him. He followed that up within a couple of minutes, by a reckless challenge on a Liverpool defender.

His punishment? a yellow card for the foul.

But when Toogs got the yellow card, the ref pointed to four other areas of the pitch suggesting it was his 4th minor offence.

Then again, he could have been pointing to other blue-and-white halves saying you play for that team.

I'll give you that one!

[waggy]

reading through this thread,i have come to one conclusion,we as fans have become less tolerent