[Archived] Rovers V Coventry Fa Cup (replay) Preview

[Brfcrule1]

after that have to agree with most on here disappointed to lose tonight but in the grande scheme of things the last thing we need is people losing their livelihoods and the priority has to remain the league also this game will give the perfect opportunity for Sam to assess the squad in full and after tonight's showing I think 90% of that squad will either be sold as quite clearly they are not good enough I mean after the final whistle my first thoughts were unable to outclass an average championship side but in the grand scheme of things it is not too much of a disaster as the Hull game is a 6 pointer and one we need to win anyone know how serious a knock Santa has got will he be fit for Sunday?

[thenodrog]

My Last year as a season ticket holder the club not getting anymore money out of me unless there are some big changes at the club. I will let John Williams know exactly what I think.

[Dan]

Please please can we never play Roberts again. He is @#/?. He has already cost us too many points missing sitters. Why on earth we let Derbyshire go and kept him, god only knows. Play Samba upfront instead of him if we get desperate, infact play Mokoena up front, he can't be too much worse.

[modes98]

Poor team = Poor result

There was little or no understanding between the players on the pitch. Olsson and Simpson were awful, no marking and allowing players to take them on. Tugay and Mokoena played as you would expect but allowed for the central midfield to be run entirely be by coventry. Samba was the only bright light for me, he was immense.

Villaneuva may aswell have not been on the pitch. Treacy showed flashes of what he should do, mixed in with nothingness.

Benni did his best but had little to work off. Roberts worked the channels well but was found out against his CB.

I hope it was worth sacrificing this game for Hull and 3 points is a must. I think a good first team performance and a healthy win would have lead on nicely into Sunday, but by the same token I can see the reasoning behind dropping 11 players.

[rovgers]

My Last year as a season ticket holder the club not getting anymore money out of me unless there are some big changes at the club. I will let John Williams know exactly what I think.

Spoken like a true glory hunter, I suppose you'll only support rovers if there in the premiership. I suppose if they do go down you can watch another premier team.

Poor team = Poor result

A team that finished 7th in the premier + a team fighting relegation in the championship = 4-1 defeat

[RevidgeBlue]

A team that finished 7th in the premier + a team fighting relegation in the championship = 4-1 defeat

That wasn't the team that eventually finished seventh, it was a particularly understrength side.

Which makes tonight all the more unforgiveable. We should have learnt our leson and shouldn't have allowed the same thing to happen twice, somehow got of jail at Ewood, but still blew it for a second year running having been gifted an undeserved second chance.

[Hughesy]

His last season? Because of what?

What a 1st class prick. The club doesnt need fans like you anyway mate - true fans only please. When did you start supporting rovers, 95??

Go to Old Trafford if you want your team to win most weeks and everything to be rosy, signing top stars on 100k a week! Oh sorry I forgot, they have £800m of debt!!

[BRFC1995]

quite honestly the least dissapointed i have ever been after a defeat, give a monkeys about the cup we'd be out against chelsea anyway......no arteta style injuries to the half decent players we have and roll on hull

[RevidgeBlue]

His last season? Because of what?

What a 1st class prick. The club doesnt need fans like you anyway mate - true fans only please. When did you start supporting rovers, 95??

Go to Old Trafford if you want your team to win most weeks and everything to be rosy, signing top stars on 100k a week! Oh sorry I forgot, they have £800m of debt!!

Don't be silly Hughesey, we need as many supporters as we can get from anywhere whether they attend one, five or thirty eight games a season.

Or whether their opinion differs to yours.

[rovgers]

That wasn't the team that eventually finished seventh, it was a particularly understrength side.

Which makes tonight all the more unforgiveable. We should have learnt our leson and shouldn't have allowed the same thing to happen twice, somehow got of jail at Ewood, but still blew it for a second year running having been gifted an undeserved second chance.

Last year we didn't have to worry about resting players to play in relegation six pointers and last seasons coventry side were a lot worse then the side this season!!

I know that there was a lot of disappointed people on here last year but there wasn't as many people spitting their dummies out as there as been tonight!

[1864roverite]

Just arrived back from Coventry.

What a fantasic stadium the Ricoh arena is, great atmosphere and decent parking.

Rovers were in control in the first 45 and never in it in the second half.

Brfown is to blame for the goal, not commanding his 6 yard box but he absolved himself with 2 saves.

Treacy useless, was Benni McCarthy playing ? Carlos non existant after 1 minute 12 seconds when he missed a sitter. Tugay over worked.

Best player by a mile was The Axe.

Best thing of the night ? Meeting a fit and well Jordan.

###### of big time but at least its the bad performance out of the way before sunday.

[rovgers]

Don't be silly Hughesey, we need as many supporters as we can get from anywhere whether they attend one, five or thirty eight games a season.

Or whether their opinion differs to yours.

yes but are these people supporters?

I support Blackburn Rovers whether they're good or bad and not just support the team when they're doing well.

[thenodrog]

What do you mean "if"? We will lose to Hull on Sunday. You mark my words. So start crying and panicking now.

Germany calling............ Germany calling.......

[rovgers]

What do you mean "if"? We will lose to Hull on Sunday. You mark my words. So start crying and panicking now.

I bet your one of those sad people that will be secretly hoping Rovers lose, just so you can come back on here on sunday afternoon and say ' I told you so'!

[Hughesy]

Audio of Sam unhappy

At least if he didnt already he will realise our back-up players are just not good enough

[philipl]

Everyone is bleating on about only Coventry but they are without doubt THE form side of the Championship at present.

When I saw the line-up, I had visions of another 4-1 beating to be honest.

By the sound of things we failed to put the blessed thing in the net when we were on top... again. This defeat happened when Roberts missed the 25th minute sitter at Ewood that would have put us two up in all reality.

At least we have avoided a fixture list which was going to go:

Sat evening Man U A

Tues evening Coventry C A

Sun pm Hull C A

Wed evening Everton H

Sat pm Chelsea H- not now happening

Wed evening Fulham A- this critical match will still be on that Wed because Fulham will be all out to win their QF

Sat pm Arsenal A

[dinglebasher]

Abysmal tonight.

The main concern I have is that it's so easy for teams to work us out. Our only tactic is to come central and chip balls into the strikers. Even when we play with wingers they tend to come inside or their standard of crossing is so pathetic as to be almost laughable. The number of times a cross or corner doesn't beat the first man is a scandal.

Roque scored the majority of his goals last year from good quality crosses, which are now a rarity. All teams have to do is make sure their central defenders get right on the strikers in preparation for the inevitable long ball and don't let them turn. Coventry did that without difficulty tonight - PL teams will also find it easy. Add to that our seemingly non-stop supply of catastrophic defensive errors and the future looks grim.

I don't want to get on the team's back but when you've traipsed all the way down to Coventry to see a performance devoid of creativity, skill or passion it's hard to feel any different.

[thenodrog]

I don't want to get on the team's back but when you've traipsed all the way down to Coventry to see a performance devoid of creativity, skill or passion it's hard to feel any different.

I can well understand that. I feared that and it's why I couldn't be bothered. Hull should be a different proposition though.

[RevidgeBlue]

At least we have avoided a fixture list which was going to go:

Sat evening Man U A

Tues evening Coventry C A

Sun pm Hull C A

Wed evening Everton H

Sat pm Chelsea H- not now happening

Wed evening Fulham A- this critical match will still be on that Wed because Fulham will be all out to win their QF

Sat pm Arsenal A

Errr.......... so what's the difference?

BTW I see that you now hold Roberts rather than Ince solely responsible for everything from Black Death to The Plague but all the players are equally culpable.

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

A look back to the morning of the 11th May 2008, and who would have envisaged the shambles nine months later....

On the morning of the 11th May 2008, many Rovers fans were feeling optimistic about our trip to St Andrews - knowing that a win against a demoralised Birmingham City team struggling near the bottom of the table would have given Rovers a great chance of finishing 6th and qualifying for Europe.

A win against Birmingham would have meant that Aston Villa neeeded to beat West Ham away to pip us for 6th place. (Villa hadn't beaten West Ham away at Upton Park since 1996 and as it happened they would draw 2-2 with the Hammers on the day that we played Birmingham.)

You'd like to think that the Rovers players would have been fully prepared and up for the fight and battle against Birmingham, with so much potentially at stake. As it happened the Rovers players disgraced themselves in a rotten performance at St Andrews, losing 4-1. I'm afraid it's been pretty much downhill ever since.

But just imagine for a moment, if on the morning of that massively important match against Birmingham, I had posted a piece on this website to say:

"We'll lose this match 4-1 with a disgusting performance from the players. Some of them simply won't turn up for it or look bothered. In the summer Mark Hughes will walk out on us to take over from the sacked Sven at Manchester City and Rovers will replace Hughes with a manager from League Two, who doesn't even have a 'B' licence to his name, let alone the full UEFA 'Pro' licence. This new manager from League Two will choose as his right-hand man a Liverpudlian chap with no Premiership experience, who was sacked by Tranmere and Chester."

If I had gone on to say:

"Our new manager from League Two will be a despised and arrogant individual who previously slated Blackburn Rovers when he was a player. The new manager will sell David Bentley without buying a replacement for him on the right-wing and he will also sell Brad Friedel. Next season Rovers will be involved in a massive relegation battle and although the disastrous manager from League Two will be sacked by Christmas, his replacement will be unable to get us out of the bottom three by late February."

If I had gone on:

"The new boss at Rovers who replaces the diabolical manager from League Two will be somebody who was strongly criticised in the final report of the Stevens inquiry, where concerns were expressed at the conflict of interest that existed between the manager's son and himself. Despite huge weaknesses in the Rovers squad becoming apparent to everybody by January 2009 - with Rovers becoming knee-deep in a relegation battle and crying out for new players, particularly in midfield, the one major signing that our new manager will make in this area will be a player who has dragged the game of football into the gutter by spitting in people's faces and later threatens to stab a team-mate at Sunderland."

If I had gone on to say:

"Under the new boss at Ewood, who will replace the disastrous manager from League Two, we will struggle to beat non-League Blyth Spartans in a totally embarrassing performance in the 3rd Round of the FA Cup and Rovers will once again be humiliated in the FA Cup against Coventry for the second season in a row. The new manager will claim that he wants to do well in the FA Cup, while at the same time fielding a team of reserve players, demonstrating both how little he views the competition and also the huge weaknesses in the Rovers squad."

Well if I had posted all that on the morning of the 11th May 2008, I suspect the universal reaction from people on here would have been: "You are completely mad and totally bonkers. You are a lunatic. John Williams would never in a million years appoint a manager from League Two with no coaching qualifications and a right-hand man alongside him with no Premiership experience."

People would have said: "Rovers would never sell David Bentley without at least having a replacement lined up for him first. We're not that stupid and daft. You're not seriously suggesting we'll be humiliated again in the FA Cup against Coventry next season as well. There's no way that Rovers will go from being a club pushing for the top six to a team in the bottom three just a year later. You're forgetting that we've got one of the best chairman in the league in John Williams. Our board would never allow a huge shambles like the one you've predicted to happen."

Well I'm afraid, ladies and gentlemen, that this all has happened - and although some of us did warn that a lack of investment in the January 2008 transfer window was a big mistake which could haunt us in the future, I bet there's hardly anybody reading this website who would have believed that such a big nightmare could have unfolded back on the morning of the 11th May 2008, when we were just one game away from a potential place in Europe.

How has it all gone so dreadfully wrong? In simplistic terms, enormous mistakes have been made both on and off the pitch. Some shockingly bad decisions have resulted in the dreadful mess we find ourselves in now. A lack of investment, together with a lack of basic common sense when appointing a manager from League Two last summer have been major factors. Not that Big Sam is the Messiah with the magic wand either. I'm afraid that as we've seen tonight at the Ricoh arena, Mr Allardyce has deficiencies too in terms of tactics and team selection.

This season is turning into a complete and utter nightmare. Unfortuately it's not a nightmare that I'm going to wake up from....

[JAL]

The wingers were are a disgrace Treacy and Villaneuva. Tugay wanted two touches too many probably because the forwards were static and the wide men useless.

The full backs have no quality Olsson and Simpson, Zurab was very poor in the second half and Warnock and Cruz didnt look like they wanted to be on the pitch overall very worrying coming off the Man U display.

Coventry are nothing special yet the had a desire and hunger that was seriously lacking in Rovers.

Cup final on Sunday hope theres more desire shown from the Rovers team than there was tonight very disappointing.

[RevidgeBlue]

Harsh on Allardyce AESF, the rot had started to set in well before the morning of that Birmingham game.

Hughes had undoubtedly already decided to move on at the earliest opportunity, and a whole bunch of players with substantial pay rises already in the bag seemingly didn't fancy playing all those nasty extra games in the UEFA Cup too much.

The common theme underpinning all our subsequent problems is the lack of investment in the squad by the owners since probably around the time Duff was sold.

[Presty On Tour]

It's very sad how the desire to win a domestic cup in recent years has declined so rapidly.

As a kid, i had dreams of playing in a cup final at Wembley. Now I can only dream of realistically going as a fan but after that shower tonight, it's makes me feel sick.

Money has changed football for the worst. It's all about staying in the league or we are finished as a top flight club. The risk of being relegated with the stakes so high are unthinkable. The club and the manager knows this and it then mentally filters down to the players.

Yes we played the reserves tonight but where was the passion and fight. Coventry wanted it more and succeeded to get the victory.

The game against Hull is our cup final. Anything other than a win will be a bad result in our position. The players have been wrapped in cotton wool for 8 days, should have a plan and be on a mission to get the job done.

There can be no excuses come Sunday evening.

[philipl]

Errr.......... so what's the difference?

BTW I see that you now hold Roberts rather than Ince solely responsible for everything from Black Death to The Plague but all the players are equally culpable.

Sorry Rev, of course there is no difference to our fixture list- we ARE playing Chelsea at home in the Quarter Finals WOOHOO.

No only pointing out Roberts has missed a few sitters that have cost us.

Ince of course is responsible for everything from Black Death to The Plague- glad we agree on that.

[RevidgeBlue]

Coventry are nothing special yet the had a desire and hunger that was seriously lacking in Rovers.

That's the main worry, the second half of the ManUre game apart, can anyone say that that sort of desire and hunger has been evident within the squad at Ewood - even after Sam took over, and whether it be the first choice eleven or "the reserves?"

I can't say I've noticed it.

Sorry Rev, of course there is no difference to our fixture list- we ARE playing Chelsea at home in the Quarter Finals WOOHOO.

What difference is playing or not playing Chelsea going to make to our season?

Seriously?