West Brom 2-0 rovers. Match review

[joey_big_nose]

Hansn't anybody considered how tired our side must be? We played a hectic, full on game on Wedensday and played two more games than WBA over the last month (LC Semis).

Plus we are missing our best player and a striker better than what is available.

And we were playing away from home at a side who are not bad.

You have to be realistic, we are not Chelsea and consistently demolish every side we play. WE HAVE PLAYED EXCELLENTLY FOR AN INCREDIBLE EIGHT GAME RUN. Things come to an end.

We will regroup and do our best at Everton but to be fair we won't be favourites going into that either. Away from home, good side, and they are on a good run. I definatley think we CAN beat them but I think it is totally unfair on the side to EXPECT to beat them.

Rev's goal of a two wins and a loss out of every three games is a little optimistic. If we keep up our current perforemance of about 1.5points a game that will do me, indeed that should be enough to get us into Europe.

[dillo_dillo]

Poor, poor, poor....

Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy....

Poor ball control, missed pass...

I thought they awoke by Campbell's score, but nobody got up until end of the game.

I was gawking at the TV .

It's ludicrous !!

[johnny boy]

Hang over from Wednesday?

We were very poor today, we looked tired especially Pedersen who I thought looked knackered. Our defending in the first half was dire to say the least. We have had a lot of games recently and it is bound to take it out of the players.

Don't blame Kuqi, he was no worse then anyone else today, apart from Bentley looked sharp but he had few chances. I don't see how having a better striker would have helped in a performance of this dire quality.

Better result next Saturday? I hope so.

[Bobby G]

Utter rubbish! But how many times have we followed up a brilliant performance to throw it all away against a weaker side!

Tugay was ridicoulusly poor in the first half.

We have a difficult game next weekend and with West Ham winning, the UEFA hunt is tighter than ever.

Id start Sinama next week with Bentley who is looking like our classiest player these days. MGP was not involved at all in the second half.

Bellamy where art thou!!?!?!!?!?

[heapbag]

Honestly, if we had won more games I would have thought Henry and Poll were on our side. I think we as a collective can be very, very proud of what we have done. In some respects I would have been more upset if we lost to a proper team as that would have shown we are not of a certain quality. The fact that we have lost to a crap team just shows that our lack of depth made up susceptible to fatigue. I don't feel any particular shame or sadness over that.

However I would like to think that Hughes would have have played that little bit of coverage that we do have this particular moment in time such as Gresko and Matteo. Now you might think that daft but others deserve a run if only to

a) give those those played a bit of a rest and to:

give that infectious quality of winning a chance to rub off on others

otherwise you have to be proud as they have played with something superlative these past few games. I'll say this much, I wasn't around during the league winning year but I was witness to our 6th place finish during the 02/03 season. If and when we achieve higher than that this season I will count this as truly a team that did the most for the least.

[philipl]

Glad that there is more balance in the posts.

Agree that Hughes must have called something wrong in the approach to this game but it sounds like half the side were only at 75% and against a Baggies side who would have been told; "lose this and we're back in the relegation places", we needed to be more like 90%+.

If Hughes had made more changes, it would not have been showing much faith in the squad which did so well against the Mancs. He knew they were dog tired- tough call for him.

Aren't Gresko and Matteo both still injured?

[Paul]

o  The Hawthorns support and match day experience showed-up Ewood's poor effort. From the supporters themselves, to the PA announcer - we are not on the same level as a club like WBA. I find that terribly sad. 

381925[/snapback]

Now that's interesting. It's rare for us to go away but boosted by Wednesday and in need of more footie (that's what a good win does for you) we decided at the last moment to set off for The Hawthorns. This morning I've e-mailed WBA to complain about the match-day experience.

I appreciate what the announcer was trying to do; I applaud his efforts and the principle behind it, BUT it was unbelievably loud. I sat with Ricky and Linda, behind us was Neil, all people I would liked to have talked with but the noise levels from the tannoy were such that any conversation below shouting level was impossible. So for intent WBA get 9/10, for implementation they get 1/10. I won't be going back to WBA unless the match is absolutely crucial simply because of the tannoy. Silly? Maybe but it made a big difference to my day out. Aplogies to anyone I ignored, I couldn't hear a frigging thing.

Secondly, my son is disabled, walking a distance can be a slow and painful process for Tom. We parked near the BP garage on the motorway side, just a good distance for Tom. Leaving the ground the stewards refused to allow us to turn right through the gates. We had to follow everyone else making the walk 45 minutes instead of the 10 it was to get in. As Tom gets tired he just gets slower and slower! I know the reasoning but a 50+, disabled lad and flask are hardly a threat to the local casuals!

So our match-day experience at The Hawtorns was poor and if I was a casual Midlands based fan it wouldn't be top of my list. Nice little ground though

[Paul]

As for the game? Not as bad as people are making out, much of what has been said is probably born out of frustration. WBA did not look as poor as their position suggests and I don't think they will go down. The bottom four lost so this was a crucial win for the baggies.

First half we were average to poor, not much was working for us and with 2-3 players, notably Tugay, in poor form it was tough for the rest of the team to get going. Second half we played far better but to be honest lacked any real cutting edge. Defensively I thought we were OK, Gray and Nelsen both had good games, especially Nelsen who made excellent interceptions and tackles in the second half. Neil looked dodgy at moments in the first half but settled down after twenty minutes or so. Todd was OK, not outstanding but did little wrong.

Tugay was very poor, perhaps one of his worst 45 minutes for us. Judged on this game you'd have to wonder if he'll get a new deal in the summer. Reid had a poor second half after Tugs went off, far too many side-ways passes and caught with the ball 5-6 times. MGP did little but popped in some good crosses when he had the ball, which is what I've come to expect from him of late.

Disappointed we lost but that's football, the performance was not as bas as many have made out. The biggest disappointment being the confidence which flowed through the whole side on Wednesday just wasn't there on Saturday. Why?

I do like looking around our team and being struck by how young they are.

[Bobby G]

Young...

Friedel, Gray, Todd, Tugay, and Savage were all on the wrong side of 30.

Nelsen (27-28), and Kuqi (29.5) are approaching 30.

But other than that, yep!

[Paul]

MGP, Reid, Bentley, Pongolle, Emerton, Peter, Mokoena

Nelsen - when I was 27, 30 looked a long way off

[RoyRover]

A very disappointing result to say the least, which takes the gloss off Wednesday's win in some ways. We have been on a great run and it had to come to end at some point, it is just a shame that had to be in this manner. I agree with people who say that the team must be knackered, because they have played a lot of football of late and it seemed like it caught up with them. A full week without a game should be enough time for the players to recharge, because they will have to be ready for a big game from Everton. I think yesterday highlighted in some respect the dangers of qualifing for Europe. We don't have a big enough squad to cope with all the games that would entail, forgetting what happens on the domestic front. Hughes would have to bring in four or five bodies for the team to be able to sustain a challenge in all competitions.

[Ozz]

How quiet was the M6 yesterday? Not one hold up there and back

Parked near the ground, and asked two security chaps if there was any where safe for a drink.

We ended up in the New Navigation. I would hate to have seen the old one. I really thought it was a derelict building, until I saw someone actually drinking inside.

All the pubs in Smethick appear to be run by Sikhs. The landord of the New Navigation was called Suhkdeep Singh.

After ordering two pints in abroad Chorley accent, a young lad, son of Mr Singh then asked me if I wanted to buy a raffle ticket, first prize an Albion rain jacket.After declining, he asked again and suggested I may want to rethink this if I wanted to leave with my legs intact!

Anyway, number 41 won, so no problem.

Paul, the PA man-surely he was a kids entertainer during the week, "Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, lets have a big hand for BaggieBird there."

Anyone who hasn't been to The Hawthorns, the side that the camera is one is smaller than the Riverside. Makes the ground look big on telly. Now theres a thought...

Thought about going for a pint in Handsworth after the match, but settled for listening to Steel Pulse in the car back to Chorley.

[G Somerset Rover]

It amazes me how fickle we all are with regards to Tugay. I admit...I'm one of these people myself. One week he's strolling into our "legends" category, the next week he's a "liability" who shouldn't get a new deal!!! For me lets remember the good times if he does go in the summer.

Edited February 5, 2006 by Somerset Rover!

[joey_big_nose]

After declining, he asked again and suggested I may want to rethink this if I wanted to leave with my legs intact!

381995[/snapback]

Were you actually threatened into buying a raffle ticket?!

[ihateburnley]

It amazes me how fickle we all are with regards to Tugay. I admit...I'm one of these people myself. One week he's strolling into our "legends" category, the next week he's a "liability" who shouldn't get a new deal!!! For me lets remember the good times if he does go in the summer.

381996[/snapback]

Nah I just think he had a bad day meself. For me, he had all the right ideas, and his vision was as fantastic as ever. He just looked jaded (as did the rest of the team) and that results in sloppy passes and being caught in possession.

Anyway, I just think that we are far higher than any of would have predicted at the start of the season, never mind if we knew Bellamy was going to be injured for 3/4 of the season! We had a bad day - let's just move on because I'm sure Hughes will be scrutinising every single aspect of the performance at the Hawthorns.

[ihateburnley]

Now that's interesting. It's rare for us to go away but boosted by Wednesday and in need of more footie (that's what a good win does for you) we decided at the last moment to set off for The Hawthorns. This morning I've e-mailed WBA to complain about the match-day experience.

I appreciate what the announcer was trying to do; I applaud his efforts and the principle behind it, BUT it was unbelievably loud. I sat with Ricky and Linda, behind us was Neil, all people I would liked to have talked with but the noise levels from the tannoy were such that any conversation below shouting level was impossible. So for intent WBA get 9/10, for implementation they get 1/10. I won't be going back to WBA unless the match is absolutely crucial simply because of the tannoy. Silly? Maybe but it made a big difference to my day out. Aplogies to anyone I ignored, I couldn't hear a frigging thing.

Secondly, my son is disabled, walking a distance can be a slow and painful process for Tom. We parked near the BP garage on the motorway side, just a good distance for Tom. Leaving the ground the stewards refused to allow us to turn right through the gates. We had to follow everyone else making the walk 45 minutes instead of the 10 it was to get in. As Tom gets tired he just gets slower and slower! I know the reasoning but a 50+, disabled lad and flask are hardly a threat to the local casuals!

So our match-day experience at The Hawtorns was poor and if I was a casual Midlands based fan it wouldn't be top of my list. Nice little ground though

381970[/snapback]

Right, sorry to hear that Paul. I don't appear to have the same issues when going to an away game as yourself - I just thought in general that a packed Hawthorns seemed a lot more buzzing than a packed Ewood (if I can remember that far back).

As for the noise level, your comments surprise me. Now I haven't been to many games this season due to work, but the the tannoy at Ewood always seem excruciatingly loud. Now perhaps this depends on where you sit, but I tend to vary my seating arrangements for home games and have found this to be the case in most positions.

I think the 'corners' at stadiums such as The Hawthorns, St Andrew's, St James' etc have a positive effect on the atmosphere, but as far as Premiership grounds go ours has got to be one of the worst. Middlesborough and Fulham seem to have poor support, but it baffles me when clubs such as Bolton, WBA and Portsmouth seem to have more vocal and maybe even more passionate support than us.

[Ozz]

Were you actually threatened into buying a raffle ticket?!

382000[/snapback]

It was implied that it was obligatory!

[roversWASmylife]

First league defeat in 2006.

We're all dissapointed, we didn't play well enough to get a draw. Fair play to West Brom, they were more up for it and deserved their win.

Overall, we were poor, gave the ball away too often, not enough width, no creativity and not much pace upfront.

Someone else mentioned we might be tired, this might be a point, Rovers have played a lot of games recently.

But, I'm still not complaining about the start to 2006. The way we lost was dissapointing but I'm still confident that we can got to Everton and win there.

[USABlue]

Brom 0 - Rovers 2.

Reid and Tugay

Come on - if the team are being optimistic all of a sudden, the least we can do is the same.

381772[/snapback]

But we are Rovers fans, we've been here before, many many times.

Heard word Pongo may be ill for todays game.

381776[/snapback]

Hate to say I told you so but......

[SouthAussieRover]

I blame Paul

[thenodrog]

Now we've done damned well and exceeded all expectations since November but I do sometimes think that the meaness in conceding goals that we displayed last season had plenty going for it in certain circumstances. I dont want to be labelled a 'tinkerman' but at the start of the season I suggested 4-5-1 with the Axe instead of Tugay as an away option changing to 4-4-2 simply by swopping those two and bringing on another striker should the situation require it. The amount of goals against in the last few games does add some weight to using these tactics.

[Fife Rover]

OK I only saw it on Football First but what I did see told me two things:

1) That Robson had done his homework on us. WBA came out of the traps fighting from the first whistle and really closed Rovers down. They never let us get a sniff of it in midfield and with Tugay and Savage both having an off-day we were stuffed from the start.

2) The whole team was showing signs of fatigue after their efforts in the Man U. match. We were all well off the pace and second to almost every loose ball. The defence in particular was IMO showing distress signals. Only Nelson looked up for it, and even he was slower than usual to react at crucial times.

It is pointless and unfair to have a go at the players on this occasion. Let's see what they do after a full week's rest against Everton. Oh ye of little faith!

[JAL]

Mark Hughes must take the blame for the WBA performance, how can he pick Tugay after his last three or four casual lacklustre performances to play against a newcomer (Quashie) and a team fighting for survival.

Hughes needs to have a rethink about signing Tugay for one more season because the Turk after some terrific performances is not pulling his weight anymore we cant afford that to continue.

As for kUQI, hes another one Rovers are carrying at the moment but due to injuries he has to start . I think players such as Gray and Todd have made plenty of mistakes or defensive errors in recent games which have led to goals being conceded.

Watching the goals conceded at West Brom we should be saying Taxi for Todd, Tugay and Gray simply not good enough. Come on

[greggyk]

Worst performance I've seen since we've come back up. There is no way Im going to the Everton game after wasting my money on that ######. Pathetic! None of them even tried, no one!

[Ozz]

We've lost three of our last four matches. Let 11 goals in.