[Archived] The FA Cup.Quarter Final Match Reaction

[tcj_jones]

I've got to admit that I thought De Vries looked a good player - I thought he had great ball control, good first touch and huge presence. Given he did little or nothing today but he was left totally isolated.

[joey_big_nose]

I watched the Newcastle game and I reckon they are very beatable. They leave gaps all over the central midfield and play with a huge amount of width looking for crosses. We are set up to deal with that kind of play well- they just cannot really hurt a team through the middle in my opinion. Their defence is also weak so we could trouble them. If we draw them I think we might have as good a chance as 50-50

Arsenal I can see us beating if they do not find their feet, but they have a whole month to do that! If Sol and Gilberto come back and Viera finds his form it will be a near impossible task.

Man United have looked invincible in the FA cup the best thing that could happen if we draw them is Ferdinand, Rooney and Ronaldo getting injured but even then we would only have a small chance.

We have done well to get this far, to go ay further would be terriffic. I hope Hughes can pull it out of the bag!

[vindaloobob]

“it is debatable whether Blackburn did enough to win the match.”

I would say that scoring one more goal than the opposition is doing enough to win a match.

[DanLad]

I've got to admit that I thought De Vries looked a good player - I thought he had great ball control, good first touch and huge presence. Given he did little or nothing today but he was left totally isolated.

I agree that he did little or nothing. I can't particularly remember him winning anything and all I recall is him desperately trying to grapple Nelsen as our Kiwi superstar headed the ball away.

[philipl]

A pretty fair Leicester view of the game.

[rover6]

It's fantastic that we're in the semis but I can't help but be concerned about how we've struggled against two frankly mediocre, verging on rubbish, Championship sides.

We seem to lack the poise and passing fluidity which will be essential if we have any hopes of getting to the final. However, with Ferguson gone and Tugay flagging - do we have anyone to prompt a passing game in the middle of the park?

Nonetheless, Hughes deserves praise for getting us this far. I feel sorry for Leicester - what a sickening way to lose.

Going to have to take issue with that. Sickening way to lose? Leicester deserved nothing, zilch, nil from this game. The Leicester defender goes to ground to play the ball in the box and brings down MGP, he gets up tries to step/jump over the defender who brings him down again. This was a nailed on, bang to rights penalty, it's in the rules so they lost. Leicester showed the attacking ambition of a road-kill. They deserved to lose and it would have been a travesty if this had been a draw.

Not a great performance I agree but then the opposition chose to defend with 11 men and play the entire game in their half. This is how you lose games of football. Leicester did not create a single chance, it was 30 minutes before Friedel touched the ball.......and we have to feel sorry for them?

Rovers haven't put in great performances in the cup? I'd argue with that. Against Burnley (twice), Leicester and to a lesser extent Colchester, we were asked to play against teams with only one intention - stop us scoring and hope they can nick one. In each game Rovers did not make mistakes, concentrated hard, took the game to the opposition for 90 minutes and WON. Burnley created four chances in two games, Leicester none at all today - they where there to be beaten.

What else are the team supposed to do? Arsenal, Chelsea, Man Utd etc all struggle to beat teams who are determined not to lose. Look at the game against Chelsea at Ewood, we made them look very, very average as we tried to avoid losing first and foremost.

I'm delighted with the whole team, I feel they are playing for the club and the fans. It's not the greatest football, but it is WINNING football. Given our current squad I'll settle for that.

Would we rather have four wins and a draw out of five or the gutless stuff Souness gave us? You choice, I know who I want to support.

Totally agree with that great post. As I pointed out, had that been one of the big teams they would have been praised for their professionalism of their performance and overcoming a tricky tie, for us, it's that we were crap.

Fair enough, Paul. I'm not suggesting we should all feel apologetic for Leicester - but I just instinctively empathised with their fans, at the same time as experiencing the euphoria of victory. It must be a few of our own 'sickening blows' - Claus Jensen after Friedel equalised or Glen Johnson after Gally equalised or Saha handball for Man U this season coming back to haunt me.

You can't really criticize Levein's tactics because the talent he has at his disposal makes a mockery of the word. I mean - Dabizas and Dublin at the back - you'd get more pace from an Amorusomobile. And Hughes has indulged in regressive tactics this season, namely against Chelsea - albeit we did occasionally try to attack.

Bring on Newcastle and let's make it 'Corrado Grabbi' day. Although we will have to substantially up the performance level if we want the smug smile on Souey's face to follow his tache.

Edited March 13, 2005 by rover6

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

WE'RE ALL GOING TO CARDIFF ......after a hell of a lot of huffing and puffing!!.Why in gods name didn't we start with two strikers up front I'll never know,Leicester offered very little as an attacking force.

Awful performance played infront of a strangely subdued and dare I say even passionless home crowd at times.

Only 15,000 home supporters....you can all come out to play now Rovers 'fans' we're in the semi-final now

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

1960...

John F. Kennedy is elected as America's youngest ever President and Blackburn reach the last four of the FA Cup, meeting Sheffield Wednesday in a semi-final at Maine Road.

Back then we had played Sunderland (away), Blackpool, Spurs (away) and Burnley (away) before the encounter with Sheffield Wednesday.

It was to be our last semi-final for 45 years.

Also in 1960, the publication of "Lady Chatterley's Lover" causes a national scandal in Britain, shocking the country with it's four-letter words and a male lover who was actually working class...

An obscenity trial followed, with prosecutors arguing that the book was sexually explicit. For 70 minutes today, some of our football verged on the obscene too. I was disgusted to see such sloppy passing and a chronic lack of imagination from our players. Time and again we played the wrong pass - into blind alleys.

I thought Thompson had a shocking game, we hardly saw anything of Steven Reid and overall our five-man midfield was desperately poor, with Dickov isolated on his own up front. After Pederson's free-kick hit the post in the first couple of minutes, we virtually created nothing until our disallowed goal in the second half.

Don Howe once said "If you're not playing well, then nine times out of ten it's down to the midfield."

Our midfield today was lacklustre and insipid and we didn't stretch Leicester at all down the flanks until the erratic Emerton came on - and actually got behind the opposition defence for a change. For most of the match, it was frankly a diabolical and embarrassing spectacle. We gave the ball away with alarming regularity, with Todd, Neill and Thompson being particularly guilty in this respect.

But as the old cliche says: "It's the result that counts at the end of the day."

Dickov's penalty brought a huge sense of relief.

I would have prefered our semi-final this year to be played at a traditional English venue rather than Cardiff, but the FA, who take a chunk out of the gate receipts for semi-finals, are looking to maximise their revenue at every opportunity. 40,000 fans at Villa Park isn't a big enough pay day for them.

The Semi-Final gate receipts are split evenly between the four competing clubs. The four clubs get 65% of the combined gate receipts to be divided equally. After a payment is made to the staging venue, the FA gets the rest of the money. That's why they want this years semi-finals to be staged at Cardiff.

Don't believe the spin and b*llocks that you hear from the FA about them "wanting to allow as many fans to attend as possible."

The FA doesn't give a damn about the history and tradition of the FA Cup. From next season, English sides playing in the Uefa Cup will not play replays in the 5th or 6th round of the FA Cup. Champions League teams will not have to play sixth-round replays.

One rule for the bigger teams and another rule for the rest. It's sickening. And the FA, by staging the semi-finals at Cardiff, have proved that they're a greedy bunch of b*stards who are willing to trample on the tradition of the FA Cup in order to get their hands on more revenue.

I remember seeing something a year or 2 back that Leicester City FC was going to change their name to Leicester Fosse. What ever happened with that?

What happened American was that there was a half-time poll at the Walkers Stadium among Leicester fans - and they voted against the name change.

Early indications from an internet poll had suggested that a majority was in favour of changing the name to Leicester Fosse. The local press though ran a campaign against it, and people became suspicious of the name change. Leicester Fosse was the original name of the club - named after a Roman Road near the club called the Fosse Way. After the 1st World War, the club's name changed to Leicester City.

Understandably perhaps, beer-bellied fans who had "Leicester City" tattooed on their arms, alongside "City forever" inscribed indelibly on various parts of their anatomies, wanted to keep the name Leicester City.

Opponents of the name change argued that "Fosse" was a silly name, which would open them up to ridicule.

Those in favour of the name change felt that Fosse would give them a unique sense of identity. (City is a name that about 15 other clubs in the League have got.) They argued that like Sheffield Wednesday, Tottenham Hotspur, Nottingham Forest etc. "Fosse" would give them more of a unique football name.

In the end, the fans voted against it in a half-time poll.

Today, Leicester tried to reach their first FA Cup semi-final for 23 years by playing a negative and defensive brand of football. Ultimately their tactics didn't work. It was up to us to break them down, and for 82 minutes we huffed and puffed without any real quality.

Going back to 1960 again, there's a passage in that infamous novel which tells of how the gamekeeper, Oliver Mellors, approaches Lady Chatterley from behind "and short and sharp, he took her..."

Today the football we saw was also fairly brutal and ugly. It lacked the beauty and romance that I like to see, but in the end we shafted Leicester.

I'm grateful for the victory and will look forward to the semi-final - even though it's being played at the wrong venue....

Edited March 13, 2005 by Anti Euro Smiths Fan

[roversWASmylife]

Sour grapes.

Leicester came to frustrate us and that's what they did for a good length of the game. They didn't look particuarly good to be honest, they either hoofed it up to De Vries, or on the counter attack.

It was a penalty, if Leicester had it up the other end they'd be appealling for it.

Leicester were lucky not to be 1-0 down before if Barry had played advantage to allow MGP to score.

That's life.

[rover6]

This is going to rile a few people but imo Pedersen dived.

I originally thought it was a definite penalty in real time but having watched the incident numerous times on the bbc highlights they have on their website, after riding the initial challenge, MGP seems to flop to the floor without being seriously inhibited by Kenton.

Now, I'm only looking at it from one camera angle - so perhaps not conclusive, but my honest opinion is that it wasn't a pen. Having realised that he might struggle to reach the ball, with Kenton decumbent, MGP topples over without help from the defender. Or that's what it looks to me.

Take a look for yourself (link on top right)

However, what they don't show is the other pen we could have had and the goal that wasn't but probably should've been.

Edited March 13, 2005 by rover6

[Manchester Blue]

Just showed it on Sky as part of Andy Gray's round up and he said it was definitely a penalty. Not really sure how you can complain the more I see it, the only thing is that Pedersen tried to keep his feet but the back heel did the defender easily and he had already committed himself.

[Eddie]

We all know what your favourite book is now. Bit of a fantasy eh?

[Eddie]

This is going to rile a few people but imo Pedersen dived.

I originally thought it was a definite penalty in real time but having watched the incident numerous times on the bbc highlights they have on their website, after riding the initial challenge, MGP seems to flop to the floor without being seriously inhibited by Kenton.

Now, I'm only looking at it from one camera angle - so perhaps not conclusive, but my honest opinion is that it wasn't a pen. Having realised that he might struggle to reach the ball, with Kenton decumbent, MGP topples over without help from the defender. Or that's what it looks to me.

Take a look for yourself (link on top right)

However, what they don't show is the other pen we could have had and the goal that wasn't but probably should've been.

Did he make a meal of it? Perhaps. Certainly didn't dive. In the first place his challenge is a foul as he gets a good piece of MGP who doesn't go down so would never get the penalty, there is then a second foul as Pedersen turns around but finds his way totally blocked by Kenton. Both parts of the incidents are fouls, it was a fully deserved penalty.

Neill's on the other hand certainly wasn't, it was a minor pull back but if they gave those they would be calling fouls every 30 seconds, he simply was actually well challenged from behind if you look and so ends up not getting any true contact on the ball.

[grizfoot]

*cough* sore loser *cough*

Edited March 13, 2005 by grizfoot

[LeChuck]

Barring some crunching tackles and appalling refeering, this is a game that will be quickly forgotten.

Deciding to start with 4-5-1 was a mistake, we were painfully toothless going forward. We dominated possession but this was largely due to a string of passes constantly revolving around a Todd/Nelsen/Mokoena triangle. It's nice to see us not hoofing the ball forward anymore and it's certainly a good platform to build from in the future...but at the moment it's not working, we don't have a striker capable of playing effectively on his own and the midfielders (MGP aside) don't threaten goal enough.

The game took a drastic turn for the better when Stead was introduced, the game looked far more open. Leicester saw more of the ball but we looked far more likely to score. If Savage was playing then I don't think Leicester would have come into it as much as they did...it's just that Reid was virtually none-existent and Flitty isn't up to a whole lot anymore (except fouling people).

Thommo seemed to come alive when moved into the middle and Neill decided to bomb on more once Emerton was brought onto the right. Nelsen was superb in defence and Todd was his usual reliable self...these two are the reason why I believe 4-5-1 is not necessary against sides who aren't top 4 Premiership material, it would be understandable if it was the centre of defence of the late Souness era.

Overall a win was a fair result, Leicester did little apart from try to out-Blackburn...sorry, out-bully us. Nelsen had their big lump of a striker in his pocket all game and MGP threatened to provide the goal-scoring spark on several occassions.

Also, a special mention for Neal Barry who...despite giving us a penalty...is an incompetent turd.

Edited March 13, 2005 by LeChuck

[S15]

Who cares

[AlanK]

imo Pedersen dived.

You just can`t help yourself can you.

You really are a tit.

Why don`t you eff off little dingle girl.

[AxesFirstTouch]

This is going to rile a few people but imo Pedersen dived.

I originally thought it was a definite penalty in real time but having watched the incident numerous times on the bbc highlights they have on their website, after riding the initial challenge, MGP seems to flop to the floor without being seriously inhibited by Kenton.

Now, I'm only looking at it from one camera angle - so perhaps not conclusive, but my honest opinion is that it wasn't a pen. Having realised that he might struggle to reach the ball, with Kenton decumbent, MGP topples over without help from the defender. Or that's what it looks to me.

Take a look for yourself (link on top right)

However, what they don't show is the other pen we could have had and the goal that wasn't but probably should've been.

Cant someone ban this absolute FOOL. All it does is spout crap to get peoples backs up.

[den]

I think Rover6 has been reading this

[den]

Can we keep the post match reaction on the Leicester preview/review topic, please.

[Look4Me]

Hehe...you just have to know he's really serious when this is what he saw in the situation: "And so it was when some anonymous Rover got into the box, took the ball to the bye line but was dispossessed by Kenton with an excellent tackle"

Like he was even close to the ball...one of the clearer penalties you'll see..

[broadsword]

I think Rover6 has been reading this

AESF must have a Leicester-supporting twin!

[Laurence]

Terrible performance - very happy to be in the semis, very unhappy at the way we did it (and yes I know Leicester put ten behind the ball blah, blah etc...). Felt pretty pi**ed-off at full time that we couldn't put them away properly.

Oh and can anyone suggets a tackling summer school for Emerton to be sent to once this season is over? - not impressed.

[Paul]

Levein, whose Coca-Cola Championship side deserved a replay from what was a dour tie, said: “I am sick.

“If we had lost to a team who had outplayed us and had scored three or four goals then you would say to yourself that you weren’t good enough.

Craig Levein interview in The Guardian Saturday

If we can start well, make the game a little bit messy, and such like, we can bring them down to our level.

'If we get outplayed, fine. But I would hate to think for a second that we were outfought or outrun. We have to be prepared for a competitive cup tie. I don't know how the match is going to pan out, they've got some very good players in their team. But we're certainly not going up there to be bullied

Now Craig who do you think should take responsibility for your defeat today? Did you actually plan to win this game or did you just want to "bring them down to our level" ?

[frosty]

Boring match. Not bothered, though.

As long as we won!