[Archived] Bully Boys 3 Norwich 0

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

SUPER! SMASHING!!! GREAT!!

Solid team performance by all concerned,Pedersen well deserving of both man of the match awards.What can be said about wee Dickov other than inspirational.

Play like that again next Sunday lads and you'll be kings for the day

[S15]

The Hughes being tactically inept I think we're answered today.

Inexperienced yes, but atleast he doesn't have this ego pride like Souness and changed things.

Dickov, 9 goals now, one less than Cole got in the whole of last season...

Left back, Central Midefielder and a Striker (maybe two, Big Dunc on a free anyone?) in the summer please, and roll on next season.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

That exact team and formation MUST be played against 'them' come next Sunday.

[grizfoot]

3-0 to the Bully Boys

[frosty]

Great win. Pedersen well deserved his MOM award, his corners are amazing!Great goals as well

[roversWASmylife]

Great win.

For the first time in ages, I enjoyed myself with twenty odd minutes to go.

We played well, solid look about the team.

I felt confident after hearing the team news, in that Neill and Matteo had been dropped after last week, especially Matteo.

Nissa played well, Nelsen looks a great bit of business.

Todd was solid as a rock, Savage and Dickov worked hard once again.

MGP looks to be gaining more and more confidence each game.

Good to see Tugay back.

Both us and Burnley have won today, both going into next week's derby with confidence.

I sense a real battle next week, I just wonder if Reid might partner Savage to start off with.

Blackburn 3-0 Norwich

[modes98]

That exact team and formation MUST be played against 'them' come next Sunday.

Mokoena out and lucas in at RB! is the only change to the starting line up i would make!

From whats been said moko looked not very good at CB and Nelson was awesome!

[SD4E]

fantastic win, really does take a bit of the pressure off. and what a refreshing change for us to actually look dangerous from corners!

MGP really can whip the ball across, and to me looks better every game. Emerton was dissapointing, but hes still worth a start at turf morgue.

[DanLad]

Great win. Pedersen well deserved his MOM award, his corners are amazing!Great goals as well

I think Savage was taking the corners, but after MGP had nearly scored from the free kick Sav was obviously impressed with how he could strike a dead ball. He immediately beckoned to MGP to take the corner. No needless pride from Sav. If he thinks another player can take a better corner he gracefully bows out.

From then on MGP would look to check with Sav who was taking the corners and he got his answer when Sav was readying his run into the box!

Tugay had one of his better games and deserves a pat on the back. Great ball for MGP's goal. Fabulous cushioned header to take the ball past the FB and a nice strike.

Good game from MGP:-) Sav put himself about and battled through when he hurt his groin. I hope he's OK for next week.

4-4-2 looked good again. Nice to see Gally get a run out. He worked hard and is a very intelligent footballer. Nice passer.

Emerton had a poor game and I was pleased to see Reid come on. Reid is starting to look like a solid Premiership player IMO.

Nelsen deserves special credit. Good at FB, fabulous at centre half. Great reader of the game, can cover the ground, positions himself well, gets stuck in and has a lot of poise. In fact the back four looked a strong Premiership outfit! Lucas and Matteo will have their work cut out to get back in.

Hell,it's nice to get 3 goals and, more importantly, 3 points! :-)

[rover6]

Fantastic that MGP is now showing Rovers his potential. With him and Emerton out wide we have the balance that we haven't had since Duff and Gillespie were on the flanks.

Hughes seems really keen on Mokoena - hence dropping Nisse for the Cardiff game - but after today's half-time subbing I doubt he'll start versus Burnley.

[RoyRover]

A great win, that eases our relegation fears somewhat. The fact that we scored three goals can only do the teams confidence the world of good and sets us up nicely for next weeks show down. I was glad to see Johansson starting at left back, hopefully Hughes will stick with him there, because he has done more to deserve a place in the team than Dominic Matteo. It's good to hear that Pedersen had a good game, because recently he has seemed pretty poor. I would like to see Reid start more often and if Emerton isn't performing, then Reid is definately good enough now. Role on next week! Is it on TV?

[greggyk]

Got to remember, that Neill,Emo and Mokoena only arrived back in England on Friday morning.

Oh and, NIGEL WORTHINGTON,DELIA SMITH, NORWICH SUPPORTERS,

ARE YOU LISTENING?

YOUR BOYS TOOK ONE HELL OF A BEATING.............

Edited February 12, 2005 by greggyk

[krislu]

Having seen the match on telly, I totally agree with this "Our Rating" that is (mokoena 5 and rightly so)

It was a good game of football, but to be honest we were lucky to get away with a 3-0 victory. I have never seen such poor finishing as the rubbish shown by the Norwich forwards..!

Mokoena looked like a schoolboy defender today and I dont think he won any headers, but as greggyk said he just came back yesterday. Savage looks very solid, loads of running and he will be a great player for us without doubt.

Still a bit worried about our defense, looked very poor and nervous in the first half although much better in the second when Nelson played centre, and lucas on the right. Should start like that against Burnley.

Gamst Pedersen looks to get better and better, and my GOD can he swing in those corners from the right! We may have one of the best corner takers in the PL now, and with a bit of luck tugay would have scored from a MGP corner also.

Dickov also deserves to be mention, great run to get on the end of MGP's corner, and a good second goal aswell. Btw, Green in the England squad

Anyway, great to finally score some goals again, it was just what we needed after all the recent "trash" being written about Rovers. Hope to see another performance like this when we take on Burnley next week!

Have a good weekend everyone, I for one surely will

Edited February 12, 2005 by krislu

[Bobby G]

Great win,I wouldnt call it a great performance cause Norwich were a first division side today.We performed extremely well though.On a different day against a better team,I fear we wouldnt have scored a goal though despite our good play.

MGP was brilliant especially in the first half,Tugay deserves a shout,Savage again was great,Barry who?Nelsons sliding tackles are becoming a bit of a trademark!Great free transfer he was!

Thats a bit of breathing space with Norwich.

Now if we pick up a couple of points from the tough run we have coming up,we will be really happy!

[andy82]

Btw, Green in the England squad

yes io thought that. then i remembered my team has Kahn and Lehman in goal

[BRFC4EVA]

Btw, Green in the England squad 

yes io thought that. then i remembered my team has Kahn and Lehman in goal

Tell you what though, to be fair, Green made an incredible double save from i think first reid and then gally about 10mins or so from time. Superb from him although he had already balls'ed it up earlier lol

[Jan]

Savage took the corners from the left (in-swingers generally), MGP from the right (both as you look at the goal from the centre of the pitch)

Tugay still passed to his imaginary friend (usually wearing Yellow and Green) more than he managed to pass to a Rovers player. Mokoena was getting whacked by Ashton all sides up- although not a great player he is a BIG bloke (Ashton).

Nelsen is great. Todd is god- he nearly scored with a fantastic shot! Hopefully Matteo was dropped, but I'm afraid I think he's injured (or suspended). Savage is also fantastic- what we now have is leaders in both the back line and midfield (actually on today's showing at least 2 in the back line!)

I was in hospitality today, when something interesting happened. The SQUAD (ie everyone who can currently walk) came out to warm down after the match- in two groups- ones who played and ones who were either on the bench or just in the squad.

It was strange. we had the team who'd just played warming down, while the likes of Short, Flitcroft, Jansen, Douglas etc effectively warmed up! Also- unfortunately- Amauselessb*stard was in that group which I guess means he's back to fitness. (By the way- Matteo wasn't there- hence my injury assumptiom)

[USABlue]

Could anyone pull up the old Nelsen thread so the doubters can eat some pie of the humble kind. My biggest worry from this result is... after every good showing, in a must win game..... we suffer a let down and we all know who is next. I said I would take these three points over a win against the clarrots but now we have the three points someone please tell God I was joking.

Oh BTW I almost forgot, that Dickov is a real waste of space isn't he?

Edited February 12, 2005 by USABlue

[jim mk2]

Anyone know why Mokoena was subbed (other than always getting in the way of Todd) ?

Nelsen is a great discovery - a right back who can actually defend and play centre half to boot. Bye bye Lucas.

As Jan said, we have leaders all over the pitch now. Friedel, Todd, Nelsen and Savage (who had an excellent game).

Pedersen will be a special player in 12 months or so - but he ain't a left winger. I'd like to see him play down the middle where his skills would be more effective. The lad can head a ball too.

Norwich should have scored at least two in the first half but after Bolton and Chelsea we deserve a change of luck.

Hurrah for Robert Green ! You made my day.

PS: I know it was a rotten day but the attendance looked poor.

[youandwhosearmy]

Got to remember, that Neill,Emo and Mokoena only arrived back in England on Friday morning.

Oh and, NIGEL WORTHINGTON,DELIA SMITH, NORWICH SUPPORTERS,

ARE YOU LISTENING?

YOUR BOYS TOOK ONE HELL OF A BEATING.............

dont forget alan partridge

[Scotty]

Interesting team news today. I knew we'd switch to 4-4-2 but to see Gallagher come in to play with Dickov and Neill dropped for Nelsen was a surprise. No problem with dropping Neill but where's Stead? In addition, Nissa came in for the presumably injured Matteo.

We rode our luck in the first half. We started sluggishly and Norwich were probably the better team in the first 20 minutes or so. They actually managed to string 3 or 4 passes together whereas we couldn't find a shirt. Huckerby was given a gilt-edged chance by our defence - fortunately he blazed his shot miles over. We were struggling then but, against the run of play, we scored!

A cross-field ball from the right-back (Nelsen) - a tactic we've started using in the last few matches - found Pedersen on the left-wing. He nodded the ball past his too tight full-back and smashed the ball into the net with his wrong foot. Norwich's keeper Green perhaps should have saved it at his near post but our Morten hit it well.

Despite the goal we still looked nervy and disorganised in defence and Norwich created a couple of clear-cut chances that they manged to miss. First Huckerby found himself clear on the left and his low cross was miss-hit by Brennan. Then Ashton was played clean through and his shot was well saved by Friedel.

We reacted by scoring again. Pedersen took a free-kick about 25 yards out and Green made a good save to push it out for a corner. MGP curled the corner in towards the goal and Dickov met the cross with the deftest of near-post headers to score. Great goal for us - terrible goal to concede from a Norwich viewpoint.

2-0 at half-time and I'm not sure we really deserved it. We looked nervy at times and Norwich probably had better chances than us. Still, we scored and they didn't.

Neill came on for Mokonena at the start of the second half meaning Nelsen moved inside to centre-half and Neill played at right-back.

We totally controlled the second half. It was men against boys. Give our team confidence and we're so much better than our league position shows. Norwich just failed to compete and our midfield started looking like the Harlem Globetrotters at times. A poor ball by Ashton went straight to Thompson who fed Gallagher, who laid it off to Dickov, who hit a decent shot straight at Green, who threw the ball in the net!

It could have been any score after that. Todd, Reid, Gallagher, Tugay (twice), and Savage all had chances to increase the lead but failed to do so. No-one cared.

Fridel had a quiet game, made one good save, and his "fundamentals" seemed ok to me. No doubt someone will be on here soon though to blame him for the third-world debt or the continuing troubles in Iraq...or something.

Our defence was all over the place in the first half. I really want to like Mokoena - he's got pace, he's enthusiastic, he's athletic, he's committed, but he lacks composure. He's still young but he seems too nervy to play in the centre of our defence at the moment. He needs a commanding centre-half next to him and Todd really isn't that. Mokoena and Nelsen may work, Mokoena and Todd doesn't.

Nelsen at right-back didn't really work. He can get away with it away from home because he doesn't have to use the ball as much but today he did and he used it badly. He looked top quality at centre-half in the second half - him and Todd have got to be given time to form a partnership because they look really good together at the moment.

Nissa looked as good defensively as Matteo does, but looked a lot better going forward. Nissa must keep his position.

We won the game today in midfield. Tugay was fantastic. I've said before that if you give Tugay time and space to play he's one of the best passing midfielders in the country. Norwich closed him down in the first half but left him alone in the second. As a result, Tugay was ok in the first-half and classy in the second. He passed as well as any of our players have done this season and formed a good combination with Savage. Can he still do it against a competetive midfield? I guess we'll see next week.

Emerton was poor by his standards this season but I guess he's got the internationals as an excuse. MGP was excellent. He'd done nothing for twenty minutes before he won a header on the left, beat his full-back to the bouncing ball, and lashed the ball into the net with his right (wrong) foot. After that he was a man inspired. His corner created our second goal, but it was his free-kick that created the corner in the first place. He looked confident in possession, his set-pieces were a threat the whole game, and he's certainly got an eye for goal. The problem he may have now is that the whole Premiership will know about him. Can he adapt?

A tribute to Robbie Savage. He wasn't fit when he started. After about ten minutes he went in for a tackle that obviously caused him pain - and he was less fit after that. At times in the second half he looked like he could hardly walk let alone run, yet he still managed to run the midfield for the whole time he was on the pitch. What a player we've got. The man may not win friends but he's a real winner and his commitment is second to none. I'm genuinely proud to see him in the shirt. The guy's class. Man of the match for me.

We were poor up front. Gallagher didn't do much all game apart from a late chance and Dickov wasn't much better. Both forwards failed to hold the ball up or link up play together until the latter stages - yet Dickov scored twice so how can you slag him off?

We won today which was great but we shouldn't get too carried away. Norwich could, and should, have been ahead in the first half and it was only the difference in finishing that separated the teams at half-time. We controlled the second-half though and looked a class above Norwich.

Which is why I think we'll stay up. We can battkle when we have to, we can fight with the best, but we can also out-football the likes of Norwich. We'll be fine - bring on the Dingles.

[thenodrog]

Pretty good summary scotty. I'm suprised nobody's mentioned Lucas Neils tackle on Huckerby. Watching from the middle of the Riverside I was amazed that he was not given a straight red. Credit also to Huck for not making a bigger meal of it.

[Ste B]

Was that with about 15 mins to go ??? I thought he was lucky, but the ref was lenient througout, and technicall could have done the same for a push on sav during the second half.

[Ste B]

Anyone know why Mokoena was subbed (other than always getting in the way of Todd) ?

Yes.. Hughes was on Radio Lancs and apparently, because of the SA v Convict friendly in Durban, he had decided to give Aaron and Neill a half each.

Neither impressed, but the LORD Nelsen gets better every game.

[Paul]

Enjoyed my Saturday afternoon and this was a brilliant result but can't help thinking some folk are getting carried away. Radio Rovers, some callers to the station and others are describing this as a fantastic performance. The team played well, everyone did their jobs properly to overcome a very poor Norwich team that had given up for most of the second half.

MGP, Tugay, Nelsen, Savage, Todd, Nissa had very good games. The pairing of Nelsen and Todd has to be our first choice for the rest of the season. Freidel kept us in the game early on with a couple of good saves. Dickov took his two goals well but I didn't think his overall contribution too impressive. Emerton seemed to be wandering all over the place and it's probably best to give him the benefit of the doubt. Mokoena, I like him, he sounds really enthusiastic when interviewed, but I feel his position is defensive midfield and not centre-half. Neil was OK but lucky to stay on the pitch - both he and Huckerby realised it was not a bad tackle but it looked awful from a distance and the referee might easily have shown the red card. Gally was OK but I felt he was missing for long periods and when he did pop up it wasn't for an inspired moment or two!

The performance we saw yesterday is the type the players are paid to give, keep it up and we will do well, might even see a few more bums on seats. I'm delighted by the result but think to describe this as a fantastic performance is getting carried away with the defeat of a very, very poor Norwich side. Do it at Everton or against Arsenal and then we can start the real praise.

Seeing several of the players coming to the BBE and applauding the crowd plus the apparent team spirit was perhaps the most important aspect of the afternoon.