[Archived] Rovers V Stoke

[RibbleValleyRover]

I agree that we need to get rid of Roberts, Pedersen and Diouf. The sooner the better. Young players with some hustle and heart (and, hopefully, low price tags) are what is needed.

But what is the basis of your statement that "Sam doesn't have the balls to get rid of these players"? I don't know the man, but it doesn't look to me that Sam is lacking in the spine department.

Perhaps i am being harsh, but when you look at some of the players playing at the moment you have to wonder why some of them are starting games, Roberts, Diouf and Andrews have been average a lot of the time and yet they keep their places, Diouf especially.

[imy9]

4 points from 9 with our manager not in the dug out, it does make a massive difference.

[sweet]

I agree that we need to get rid of Roberts, Pedersen and Diouf. The sooner the better. Young players with some hustle and heart (and, hopefully, low price tags) are what is needed.

But what is the basis of your statement that "Sam doesn't have the balls to get rid of these players"? I don't know the man, but it doesn't look to me that Sam is lacking in the spine department.

I was of the opinion that with the signings of Hoilett, Kalinic & Van Heerden, we were adding some players with 'hustle and heart'. But what has become of that? On the face of it, the only 'real' summer signing we have made is chimbonda. And the that raises the question - why the hell 2 other right backs were signed? All of our budget has apparently gone on benchwarmers, picking up god knows what in terms of wages and transfer fee's.

[DE.]

I was of the opinion that with the signings of Hoilett, Kalinic & Van Heerden, we were adding some players with 'hustle and heart'. But what has become of that? On the face of it, the only 'real' summer signing we have made is chimbonda. And the that raises the question - why the hell 2 other right backs were signed? All of out budget has apparently gone on benchwarmers, picking up god knows what is terms of wages and transfer fee's.

N'Zonzi?

[RibbleValleyRover]

Van Heerden

Who is that? On a serious note I saw a few international performances of Van Heerden and he looked a tricky player with some skill, surely its worth giving him a go in this team when you consider how lacking we are on the wings.

[Majiball]

Maj I'm starting to seriously think that Kalinic isn't rated by the staff too. Something's up..yeah he needs time to settle, but if we can't throw him on when we can't hit a barn door at home to Stoke then when can we?

Very dissapointed again.

Its doing my head in, why Roberts was brought on I don't know. Kali and Di Santo scream of being a good partnership with their qualities but as alway we persevere with players who have proved time and time again to not be up to scratch.

Its no wonder the like of Junior want out, it seems you have to have failed for 3 years or so before you get dropped. Kali shows more effort and heart than Roberts when on and gets on with it without all the moaning and groaning. If I was him I'd be going in and saying I'm ready play me or sell me. 6 months now and he's still not playing its beyond a joke and I'm beginning to lose faith in some of the poeple we have behind the scenes at the club if they still haven't gotten him ready.

[sweet]

N'Zonzi?

Of course! My bad, but I think my point still stands.

[Plastic Head]

Weren't Big Bucks and Denman fantastic at Newbury.

[bubblerrovers]

Can everyone wake up and smell the coffee??

We all know without investment Blackburn will get relegated, Stoke have spent millions more than us and have a much better squad, that can be said for most teams in the premiership.

Guys we have a poor team, and even poorer squad, We have to make every signing work or we die, Sadly Sam blew £6million on a player who is a million miles away from being a premiership footballer. Without money i think everyone needs to lower there expectations. I think we'll be safe this year but we're on the slide

[Tom]

Terrible stuff, no excuse to play teams like Stoke at home and sit back like we did.

Was Andrews injured? He was doing OK certainly no worse than others. Di Santo should have scored no doubt about it, no excuses for not taking chances like that, also why can Samba not hit the target with a header surely it should be a speciality.

Diouf was as awful as predicted but Emerton was a class above the rest of ou players, the only one with any drive it seemed.

Shocking team selection and a shocking performance, for the first time I can remember I'm starting to feel uninterested and bored with this and although I'm not a Sam hater nor would I say get rid of him yet I'm quite looking forward to the time when we can have a change in style and approach with a new man in charge.

[Bing]

That was garbage. A complete lack of quality all over the pitch, with the exception of Emerton.

[sweet]

What makes me laugh the most is, we start with one upfront. With no doubt, all intention of playing well with this set up and winning/drawing the match, so therefore plan on keeping this system. Yet have 3! strikers on the bench. What the hell is that all about? When hoillet was in favour, it could be considered 4 strikers.

[Doogs]

More tripe and one up front again. Its so bloody boring. I think the time is coming when i would rather be at work than watch this crap week after week.

[Plastic Head]

A terrible game bereft of skill but at least a few chances as the game went on. Both sides could have won it but a draw was fair.

If Stoke had attacked in the first half like they did the second they would have surely have won, so awful were we before the break.

A dreadful team selection and tactics yet again.

Robinson. One really good save. 7/10

Chimney Bob. Did well but didn't quite come off going forward. 6.5/10

Givet. I'm beginning to think he isn't a long term answer at full back, but did well enough defensively. 6/10

Nelsen. Solid. 7/10

Samba. If there was a MOTM he was it. 7.5/10

N'Zonners. Didn't do enough going forward. 6/10

F*****G Andrews. Minus infinity/10.

Emerton. One of the better ones.6.5/10

Diouf. Tried but failed. Again and again. 3/10

Dunn. It was only a matter of time. 6/10

Di Santo. Missed an early chance again and generally struggled against a solid defence. 5/10

Roberts. Tried. 6/10

Grella. A massive improvement on the player he replaced. 6.5/10

Pederesen. Actually quite a bright 10 minutes. 6.5/10.

Stoke have had a lot of lucky 1-0s over the last few years and at least that didn't happen.

Hopefully Satans Spawn will not be seen at Ewood again after an indescribable performance.

[Quack]

Please do not wait up for match of the day - take the dog out, go to the pub, watch I'm a celeb or buy a curry instead. That turgid serving of complete and utter dross will be on for no more than 10 seconds and no doubt the pundits will have some rather painful but true observations to make.

Only bright point - the ref's high vis pink shirt !

[Steve Moss]

Isnt it about time the FA had a serious look at linesmen, ok the ref can miss penalty incidents but its cheating when a liesman does not give a penalty for a two handed shove that he can not possibly have missed.I'm f-in mad that they get away with no blame whatsoever.

I only referee up to the U14 level, so my knowledge is understanably limited or not on point. However, other than offsides and the direction to restart play, the linesmen's duties are supposedly established by the referee at their pre-game conference.

Perhaps i am being harsh, but when you look at some of the players playing at the moment you have to wonder why some of them are starting games, Roberts, Diouf and Andrews have been average a lot of the time and yet they keep their places, Diouf especially.

Maybe Sam's giving them chances to prove themselves before being put up for auction?

I was of the opinion that with the signings of Hoilett, Kalinic & Van Heerden, we were adding some players with 'hustle and heart'. But what has become of that? On the face of it, the only 'real' summer signing we have made is chimbonda. And the that raises the question - why the hell 2 other right backs were signed? All of our budget has apparently gone on benchwarmers, picking up god knows what in terms of wages and transfer fee's.

N'Zoni and Jacobsen were two other decent signings.

As to Hoilett, Kalinic & Van Heerden, Sam is on record that he doesn't like to hurry the youngsters along. He wants them trained up, strong, fit and gradually introduced to the EPL version of the game. Hiolett put the kabosh on part of his plan. Kalinic is coming along very well, IMO. I have no idea as to Van Heerden.

What makes me laugh the most is, we start with one upfront. With no doubt, all intention of playing well with this set up and winning/drawing the match, so therefore plan on keeping this system. Yet have 3! strikers on the bench. What the hell is that all about? When hoillet was in favour, it could be considered 4 strikers.

Maybe the additional strikers on the bench was to keep the option of switching to a 4-3-3 open. Too bad McDonald's nerve went and he elected to settle for a draw. This shounds like excuses, to me: http://www.rovers.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10303~1888945,00.html

[sambo]

Diouf is such a bad player, every bloody week it is tripe. Yet people still scream "Diouuuuf" like he's some sort of God.

[den]

We have no chance of improving with the continued use of Andrews and Grella. These two are taking on the most important roles in a team. It's a toss up which one is the worst.

[Hasta]

Weren't Big Bucks and Denman fantastic at Newbury.

Yep. I missed the game today to go down to Newbury.

Denmans Hennesey win was awesome - it will go down a small chink of sporting history.

I had slight pangs of guilt this morning for missing a home game to be down here. It sounds like I've had a far better day than most.

[bigbrandjohn]

Actually i am not sure what to think. We sign four players who are absolutely not featuring in the team including a Spanish superhero. We have gone from one up front to two up front to one up front. Our most prolific goal scorer however lazy is not featuring. I think the one thing we need more than anything is a strategy that is consistent and transparent so whether it works or not we all understand.

Surely we bought players to play unless they are not good enough. Surely 2 up front at home and one up front away kind of makes sense. A settled back line would be handy and the role of our midfield would also be helpful. I would play Benni every game until January and then keep him or sell him. Use Di Santo or Kalinic with him as a target man (SAS ?)

[G Somerset Rover]

McDondald making out on sky sports like we've just kept Barcelona at bay for 90 minutes. Blimmin heck.

[Exiled_Rover]

We have no chance of improving with the continued use of Andrews and Grella. These two are taking on the most important roles in a team. It's a toss up which one is the worst.

Really, Den? Are we watching the same team? Grella added a touch of class when he came on. If he could stay fit he'd vastly improve our pathetic midfield.

[den]

McDondald making out on sky sports like we've just kept Barcelona at bay for 90 minutes. Blimmin heck.

To be fair and I'm not excusing the performance here, but the team only got home in the early hours of Thursday morning, after playing Sunday as well. To then face a big, fit, hard working Stoke side isn't as easy as some of us would think.

[ABBEY]

Whoever picked that team wants a JW bollickin ....pathetic that we are scared to try and win from the start .major grumbling from the fans emphasised by thousands leaving early.imy you may think its good enough but its not.they missed five sitters and us three.pathetic showing today .

[RovertheHill]

What a day. Even 2 free pies wouldn't have made up for that. We started 4-5-1 and made no impression whatsoever. Even the BBE couldn't be *rsed with anything more than a half-hearted chant of 4-4-2. You can blame me for Dunn. Put him in my FF team and then he hobbles off. Still, at least we then went 4-4-2 and immediately made no impression whatsoever. Keith had obviously decided that today, Matthew, he was going to be Glenn Hoddle. His first pass was a chip of such sublime skill and deft touch to put Di Santo through on goal that for a moment I thought he'd been kidding us all this time. Then he started spraying 20, 30, 40 and 50 yard passes all over the park. Unfortunately, not to any Rovers players. Then he went missing in action, never to be seen again in the game. In the second half Grella took his place. The boy is slower than me coming back from the concourse with two cups of coffee. Di Santo needs to stay away from Roberts in training because neither of them can score one on one. I want to see hoofball too, because this passing and keeping it nonsense is really, really boring