[Archived] Rovers 0 Everton 0

[philipl]

Just watched it right the way through in the Scots bar- interestingly, nobody was watching the Mancs being shown at trhe other end of the bar.

So what do we take from this?

- we more than matched Everton who were at full strength and played as well as they normally do and have won a lot more than 50% of their games thus far.

- in the first half five midfield passes were given away setting up Everton attacks, in the second half those sloppy balls were no longer being given away.

- Mike Halsey is not a Premier class ref despite being a likeable character: there were 15 seriously bad decisions which could have changed the result

- Everton's free kick in the second half wasn't, Dickov's penalty was; other reffing bloopers were his failure to make several bookings and if Todd's rugby/american football full length diving body check on Cahill wasn't deserving of a red card....

- We had 13 set pieces in the Everton half, twelve were played so badly by the Rovers that they were complete and utter disgraces.

- Neill, Reid, Ferguson looked class and Emerton is capable of ripping teams apart if only he can get rid of his Souness-induced fear of taking the opposition on.

- Gallagher was carelessly off side for the original shot (fool) so cost himself the goal.

All credit to Sparky- he came through the trial by Moyes very well indeed. The Rovers looked the part everywhere except upfront where a collective fear seemed to have siezed the team until the last five minutes. There were four great shooting chances in the first ten minutes and all of them were passed away- literally.

Bothroyd still does not convince me and the day Emerton finds his crossing boots we will stick five past someone. However, I have changed my mind about signing priorities and a striker has gone on the letter to Father Christmas.

Make no mistake- this was a good point earned, Everton are not about to self-destruct and we are steadily going in the right direction. More so than Norwich, Southampton and West Brom...

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Only 17,000 Rovers fans!?

[Dan Furness]

Just watched it right the way through in the Scots bar- interestingly, nobody was watching the Mancs being shown at trhe other end of the bar.

So what do we take from this?

- we more than matched Everton who were at full strength and played as well as they normally do and have won a lot more than 50% of their games thus far.

- in the first half five midfield passes were given away setting up Everton attacks, in the second half those sloppy balls were no longer being given away.

- Mike Halsey is not a Premier class ref despite being a likeable character: there were 15 seriously bad decisions which could have changed the result

- Everton's free kick in the second half wasn't, Dickov's penalty was; other reffing bloopers were his failure to make several bookings and if Todd's rugby/american football full length diving body check on Cahill wasn't deserving of a red card....

- We had 13 set pieces in the Everton half, twelve were played so badly by the Rovers that they were complete and utter disgraces.

- Neill, Reid, Ferguson looked class and Emerton is capable of ripping teams apart if only he can get rid of his Souness-induced fear of taking the opposition on.

- Gallagher was carelessly off side for the original shot (fool) so cost himself the goal.

All credit to Sparky- he came through the trial by Moyes very well indeed. The Rovers looked the part everywhere except upfront where a collective fear seemed to have siezed the team until the last five minutes. There were four great shooting chances in the first ten minutes and all of them were passed away- literally.

Bothroyd still does not convince me and the day Emerton finds his crossing boots we will stick five past someone. However, I have changed my mind about signing priorities and a striker has gone on the letter to Father Christmas.

Make no mistake- this was a good point earned, Everton are not about to self-destruct and we are steadily going in the right direction. More so than Norwich, Southampton and West Brom...

Id be intrigued to know how anyone was watching the Mancs in a game that kicked off 2 hours after ours

where you get your gear mate?

[Dan Furness]

Just watched it right the way through in the Scots bar- interestingly, nobody was watching the Mancs being shown at trhe other end of the bar.

So what do we take from this?

- we more than matched Everton who were at full strength and played as well as they normally do and have won a lot more than 50% of their games thus far.

- in the first half five midfield passes were given away setting up Everton attacks, in the second half those sloppy balls were no longer being given away.

- Mike Halsey is not a Premier class ref despite being a likeable character: there were 15 seriously bad decisions which could have changed the result

- Everton's free kick in the second half wasn't, Dickov's penalty was; other reffing bloopers were his failure to make several bookings and if Todd's rugby/american football full length diving body check on Cahill wasn't deserving of a red card....

- We had 13 set pieces in the Everton half, twelve were played so badly by the Rovers that they were complete and utter disgraces.

- Neill, Reid, Ferguson looked class and Emerton is capable of ripping teams apart if only he can get rid of his Souness-induced fear of taking the opposition on.

- Gallagher was carelessly off side for the original shot (fool) so cost himself the goal.

All credit to Sparky- he came through the trial by Moyes very well indeed. The Rovers looked the part everywhere except upfront where a collective fear seemed to have siezed the team until the last five minutes. There were four great shooting chances in the first ten minutes and all of them were passed away- literally.

Bothroyd still does not convince me and the day Emerton finds his crossing boots we will stick five past someone. However, I have changed my mind about signing priorities and a striker has gone on the letter to Father Christmas.

Make no mistake- this was a good point earned, Everton are not about to self-destruct and we are steadily going in the right direction. More so than Norwich, Southampton and West Brom...

Again, I argue...

If you watch the Todd replay you can clearly see him going for the header but he used his arms to get the leverage to do so. Honestly, watch

[philipl]

The advert outside the bar gave our game and the Mancs game- another game was being shown (the arab channels always carry a different game from Channel+) and I had assumed that was it.

Header?!? Come on the ball was on the ground and Todd dived across Cahill's midriff to check him. He "bought" the card as they say because we were completely open if he hadn't stopped Cahill. That was certainly how the Sky commentators read it. You're talking about a different incident as Todd's arms were not being used for the body check.

Not surprised there were only 17,000 Rovers fans- on TV, large areas of the Blackburn End looked empty

Edited December 18, 2004 by philipl

[Bobby G]

where are we gonna pick up 3 points from,if all we are getting is 1 point?

at least we played well and got a good one point,that will be a good consolation at the end of the season,if we go down.

1 point gained

15 points gained this season i guess,not 39 points lost.

[waggy]

very heartened by a great display,we could and should have won,played the 2nd in the table off the park,did they have a chance,roll on jan-###### palarse have just scored-but up 2 places today

[SAS]

Did we stop everton from playing or did they have a bad day.

Either way everton hardly had a meaningful attack. We could very well have won at the end but it wasnt to be. No complaints at getting a point from 2nd place.

[1864roverite]

Back home and a little ill so no drinkies at the blues bar tonight !

Rovers today have shown some definitives in their display. Some may say it was a negative performance but I dont think so.

It is clear that Rovers have worked hard on the art on defending, although I do wish that this message can be forwarded to Dom Matteo, although today his only negatives were his very poor distribution.

It is evidently clear that Rovers have the ability to mess it rough when required, controlled aggression was in abundance today, from the imp that is Dickov to the battling Ferguson and Flitcroft.

It is certain that Jay Bothroyd has been to the same finishing school as Emeeeele 'eskey. How can anyone, 6ft 3 or more and steadily built, fall to the floor on so many occasions is beyond me.

Today should have yielded 3 points, although slightly unhappy we didnt get the 3 points I am definitely happy with the way we played. Everton have a very formidable formation, 5 across the middle does not allow the opposition midfield time to think when playing 4-4-2. Rovers however compared favourably with their aggressive nature. This I think upset the Toffees and knocked them cleanly out of the strutting style.

It is surely not going to be long before Rovers put everything together and really give a team a pasting. I hope that it is Newcastle on Boxing Day and not only just as it is Sourness and co returning to Ewood.

My slight disappointment is that we didnt see a front line substitution 10 minutes earlier. I firmly believe that Gallagher and Stead should have been on after 75 mins and that might just have made the difference.

My ratings

Brad - 8 - hardly tested and appeared a bit more confident in the defence in front of him.

Neill - 7 - steady performance and put himself about.

Short - 6 - coped well until injured.

Matteo - 5 - what is it about this lad. He cannot pass to save his life. i counted at least 16 passes where he gave the ball away.

Todd - 8 - another fine performance. solid and dependable and even outjumped ferguson on several occasions.

Nissa (on for Short) - 7 - a steady performance with no frills.

Flitfroft - 7 - typical battling performance and really upset Graveson and Carsley, not to mention the ref, Cahill,ferguson,mcfadyn,stubbs and the rest !

Ferguson - 7 - probing perfrmance and battled well alongside Flitcroft. Not enough time for productivity due to the five man wall in front of him.

Reid - 7 - another solid effort from this player who is growing in confidence in each game.

Emerton - 7 - my only criticism is his deleivery from dead ball situations. Very unlucky with that effort in the 91st minute.

Dickov - 7 - typical gritty performance. Got right up everyones nose.

Bothroyd - 6 - for a big man falls over too easily and needs to think about the team more.

subs

Gallagher - not enough time to impress but should the goal have stood. I couldnt really see if he was offside or not and the tv tonight will be interesting.

Tactics - spot on. Destroyed Evertons usual overriding and overpowering style of play. Limited them to 1 shot on target and there are not many teams who have done that this season.

ref - 4 - too picky and gave Everton far too many 50-50 decisions.

Home fans - very disappointing turn out but it is the weekend before Christmas and crowds are always historically low. Good ovation for Bent, it wasnt his fault Sourness sold him was it ?

Everton fans - for 7.5k of them, all I heard was Everton Everton, etc on 3 occasions during the match. Poor IMO for such a large following.

So tonight its another point in the bag, the other teams around us have all floundered and conceded a number of goals in the process. Rovers move up and out of the bottom 3, teams around us all now have a similar if not worse goal difference. So are we having a Happy Christmas ?

It does look positive, or even slightly better than a few weeks ago. The team are NOT conceding and are NOT losing. My New Years wish is that we get a solid midfielder and another defender, dare I wish for a striker as well. Rovers do need firepower if only a seasoned traveller/journeyman, maybe even someone who just wants football and can be a loanee.

Finally, I would just like to give every member my Best Wishes for the Festive period. May everyones Christmas wishes come true and lets hope that we can all celebrate in style on Boxing Day.

Regards

[grizfoot]

Gallagher - not enough time to impress but should the goal have stood. I couldnt really see if he was offside or not and the tv tonight will be interesting.

He was offsie i'm afraid

If he'd of just held his run for a couple more seconds we'd be celebrating a win.

[Shevchenko]

Gallagher - not enough time to impress but should the goal have stood. I couldnt really see if he was offside or not and the tv tonight will be interesting.

Unfortunatly he was definitely a yard or two offside as the shot came in. He was just a tad bit to eager to beat the defenders to the rebound.

[rover6]

Fairly good point, but I'd have liked Hughes to have gone for broke at the end with Stead on and maybe MGP. After all risking losing a point isn't the end of the world because we need 3 pts' to get out of trouble.

[waggy]

was very dissapointed that gally and stead did not get a run today,at halftime my dad said the front 2 had offered very little which i agreed with,and if the spuds game was anything to go by a substitution had to happen,gally got 11 minutes and scored in that time,alas offside.

i reckon if hughesy thinks boothroyd and dickov are our best 2 strikers we have problems,but with 4 games coming quick and fast i reckon all the strikers will appear and hopefully the stead-gally partnership will previal.

had time too think about the game,how are everton 2nd

[frosty]

Pleased we drew with title contenders and 2nd in the league but we could have easy won it and we couldnt find the final ball and finish.

[adopted scouser]

had time too think about the game,how are everton 2nd

Throughout the season they have had more success than all of the clubs beneath them in the table, simple really.

Friends and neighbours have all agreed that we should have taken all three points - which was nice.

The notoriously biased Radio City commentary team wanted the final whistle to be blown at the beginning of half time - which was encouraging.

[colin]

Good comment 1864, that just about sums up my view too.

How many fouls were there in this game? Everrton have reverted back to "The Dogs Of War" style rather than the "School Of Science." They did every trick in the book today. It was a minor miracle that there were only two yellow cards. I was sure that there would be a few reds, especially when Drunken Furguson came on and was marked by Angry Todd

Just as an aside, for those of you who didn't see the game, Mark Halsey made a very strange decision (although probably technically correct.)

We have recently started to have several footballs in the ground so that play can start quickly after a hoof to row Z.

Play was in midfield when an extra ball rolled from The Riverside about 0.5m inside the line at The Blackburn End towards the Jack Walker Stand. Brad could have tapped it out of play in a second but Halsey blew up for a drop-ball in the centre circle, went over to the dug-out, presumably to tell off Rovers for the error. He then seemed to instruct the Everton player to hoof the ball from the drop-kick back to Brad, which duely occurred.

Bizarre! Anyone else have a different view on this?

Give it a couple of years and it'll be on "what happened next"

[Gav]

Everton: possibly the worse side to visit Ewood this season?

Real Madrid: just scored the winner after 92mins having been behind twice????

Everton: 40% of the gate today if we're to believe the away side’s websites? Worst support I’ve ever seen for the numbers involved.

Blackburn Rovers: Crying out for a creative player to supply the front men.

Steve Bruce: BIG BABY AND A COMPLETE TOSSER AFTER THE DICKOV STORY.

GAV: ###### up and ever the optimist despite spending 5 days a week in the land that time forgot.

Happy Christmas.

[adopted scouser]

Aren't Rovers the worse side to visit Ewood this season ?

Agree with you about Bumley. I had to go there last week, then to get to 'Nelson' I had to drive through a 'Brierfield'.

Deary me

[stuwilky]

Just as an aside, for those of you who didn't see the game, Mark Halsey made a very strange decision (although probably technically correct.)

We have recently started to have several footballs in the ground so that play can start quickly after a hoof to row Z.

Play was in midfield when an extra ball rolled from The Riverside about 0.5m inside the line at The Blackburn End towards the Jack Walker Stand. Brad could have tapped it out of play in a second but Halsey blew up for a drop-ball in the centre circle, went over to the dug-out, presumably to tell off Rovers for the error. He then seemed to instruct the Everton player to hoof the ball from the drop-kick back to Brad, which duely occurred.

I am not surpried to report that as far as I am aware it was not technically correct.

The drop ball appeared that it was going to be contested with angry graveson wanting to be involved. Then the referee clearly indicated that the ball was to be returned to us. Not allowed mr Halsey, they must choose to do that.

[chris]

Blackburn Rovers: Crying out for a creative player to supply the front men.

you are not going to believe this, but some other teams in the Premier League have strikers that can actually score from outside of the 6 yard box

[Quack]

1864's summary is good, I came away pondering how Everton are 2nd and we are flirting with relegation - they had one meaningful attempt on goal, tried to kick Rovers into next week and their 2 shaven headed midfield generals were runing round more like plucked turkeys than supposed accomplished footballers. Cahill was poor,Bent had no service and was Kilbane on the pitch?

Positives for Rovers - Emerton took the Pis out of Stone down the left, Todd and Nissa looked assured even against the lumbering Hulk Ferguson, Flitcroft brought some steel into midfield and Brad seemed to more in charge of his box than of late.

However - still not convinced that Dickov / Bothroyd will score enough to make us safe before the trip to Spuds and there still seemed to be a lack of conviction in the midfield when it came to taking on a Toffee - too often they ran square or passed backwards. Still I am reasonably happy tonight with other results going in our favour.

I am looking forward to the Barcodes and we have to go to the Breezeblock with increased hope - their form has been worse than ours recently.

[krislu]

still not convinced that Dickov / Bothroyd will score enough

They wouldnt even score enough for a div.1 side! Bothroyd is imo the worst striker we have had since A.Ward, and dickov aint a goalscorer.

We need two new quality strikers, and I have no idea where we could find them. Bothroyd should be sent back to Italy at the end of the season, while Dickov could be a part of the Savage deal.

[bazza]

The referee had a poor game, letting lots of questionable challanges go with no yellow cards.

The ref had a good game. Two physical teams were allowed to go at each other without (as it turned out) a lot of malice.

I hate refs who want to card every tackle.

[chris]

still not convinced that Dickov / Bothroyd will score enough

They wouldnt even score enough for a div.1 side! Bothroyd is imo the worst striker we have had since A.Ward, and dickov aint a goalscorer.

We need two new quality strikers, and I have no idea where we could find them. Bothroyd should be sent back to Italy at the end of the season, while Dickov could be a part of the Savage deal.

I have to agree, its just shocking really, and a real shame because we had a good partnership towards the end of last year, really its Souness's fault, but we are really paying the price.

although I do think they probably are good enough for div1 I think Dickov scored quite a few in div 1 when Foxes went up, and Jay would probably build his confidence up.

[Paul]

As solid a performance as you could get this season,if only we could turn these draws into wins!.Surprised at Everton who offered little to be honest,infact they were poor.

We don't have the strikers to do that. I do not understand why Gallagher only got 7 minutes today. Jay did very little in the game and against a sterile Everton tean an imaginative player like Gally would have caused real problems.