[Archived] Villa Semi Final 2Nd Leg

[Kelbo]

Go buy a dummies book on football.

When you are 2-0 up and find yourself 5-2 down you cannot blame anyone but YOURSELF.

Goodbye.

What a silly post!!

Get back to making Beans!!!

[jonv]

really can't believe we've shipped 6 goals AND scored 4 away from ewood... football really is a crazy game, i really don't even know what to say.

what was the odds on that result??

really pulling my hair out :!:

need time to think about the season ahead, in need of some motivating words of wisdom please, this league/game has been really cruel for the past few years :!:

[imy9]

And we conceded 6 goals. What's your point?

THAT WE WERE 2-2 AT HALF TIME, WE CONCEDED FOUR GOALS WHEN WE PLAYED WITH 10 MEN- THAT IS MY POINT. WE WERE ATTACKING AND TRYING TO SCORE AGAINST A TOP CLASS COUNTER ATTACKING SIDE WITH 10 MEN YOU WILL CONCEDE GOALS.

I'm not. We have nothing to left to play for, and Sam won't be taking these cup-style tactics into the league.

NICO IS LOOKING LIKE A TOP CLASS STRIKER, IT SEEMS WE HAVE SIGNED A NEW WINGER IN OLSSON (A PLAYER WITH PACE), WE SHOULD HAVE GRELLA BACK SOON, REID IS LOOKING BETTER ALL THE TIME AND WE PLAYING DECENT FOOTBALL, LOTS TO LOOK FORWARD TO!

[BRFC4Life]

Need to sort out the defence, but how many times have we said in this season and nothing happens.

Now we see how many changes Sam will make in the next game, probably drop Niko and ollson for andrews and 1 goal wonder di santo. But anyway proud of most of the display tonight. Shouldn't have dropped off after we went 2-0 up, should have pressed forward whilst they were still shell shocked, kept them on the back foot and maybe got a 3rd. Terrible defending for their 2nd goal led to the sending off and it was pretty much all over from then.

[Tom]

I said on the Sam thread we scored 2 goals of genuine quality tonight, Olssons was a brilliant move and amazing finish

[Bobby G]

I thought they were possibly the worst two on the pitch, especially MGP!

Then you watched a different game to us.

MGP's passing and distribution from central midfield was excellent. He was involved in starting most moves.

Emo's drive today was brilliant. He was all over the pitch, especially when he was in central midfield.

[imy9]

I thought they were possibly the worst two on the pitch, especially MGP!

Watch the goals and again and notice how heavily MGP was involved in them, he was a key player tonight IMO.

[promoted2001]

MON ARROGENT BIG HEADED SCROTE

[Kelbo]

Wasn't even on the same pitch for the last goal, what shocking defending.

Oh dear, we had played 50 minutes with ten men, tired but still pushing forward, Kamakaze yes, but what do we do, just defend and bugger all else, the last goal we were buggered for christs sake, give credit where due!

[Inta Beaver]

Pederson, Emerton, Nzonzi/Reid works really well as a midfield 3, l hope he plays them together again.

I can't say how gutted I am, I think they should boot them out of the competion for the pitch invasion! Each fan should be banned and fined £1000 as the signs say by the pitch!!

Ollson was quality tonight, and is great to see Kalinic bag a couple.

[Exiled in Toronto]

Can we kill the notion that we let in 3 more quick goals because we were pushing up. We were not; at that stage the game plan must have been to try and keep it tight and hope to nick one later on. We let in 3 quickies and lost the tie because we are disorganised, and they were all poor goals to concede.

[Tom]

MON still bleating on about Agbonglahors dive in the last game, the guy is a moany git of the highest order, sky dont help though as they told him Sam was moaning about the red card when in fact it was about the first goal

[Mr. E]

And we conceded 6 goals. What's your point?

THAT WE WERE 2-2 AT HALF TIME, WE CONCEDED FOUR GOALS WHEN WE PLAYED WITH 10 MEN- THAT IS MY POINT. WE WERE ATTACKING AND TRYING TO SCORE AGAINST A TOP CLASS COUNTER ATTACKING SIDE WITH 10 MEN YOU WILL CONCEDE GOALS.

I'm not. We have nothing to left to play for, and Sam won't be taking these cup-style tactics into the league.

NICO IS LOOKING LIKE A TOP CLASS STRIKER, IT SEEMS WE HAVE SIGNED A NEW WINGER IN OLSSON (A PLAYER WITH PACE), WE SHOULD HAVE GRELLA BACK SOON, REID IS LOOKING BETTER ALL THE TIME AND WE PLAYING DECENT FOOTBALL, LOTS TO LOOK FORWARD TO!

We are 13 points off 6 place and with no way to achieve anything this season, no matter how good the players perform. As for next season, if Kalinic does establish himself as a Premiership goalscorer, he will leave in the summer. Our one and only shot at glory was this game, and despite what some people call a "spirited display", we once again capitulated and lost any realistic chances of winning the tie way before the final whistle.

Honestly, I'm waiting for someone to explain how this can be perceived as good or hopeful.

[imy9]

Can we kill the notion that we let in 3 more quick goals because we were pushing up. We were not; at that stage the game plan must have been to try and keep it tight and hope to nick one later on. We let in 3 quickies and lost the tie because we are disorganised, and they were all poor goals to concede.

Question- if you play wider (as Villa did in the second half) and go man to man with Rovers what happens? Stupid I know but they have an extra man out there who can find space and can take advantage- as they did, how does that make Rovers disorganised?

Mr E- I wanted to see improvement from last season. We have got younger players in the team who are developing and that is reason for me to be excited for the rest of the season. That and I think we have a got an excellent chance of a top 10 finish is reason enough to be positive and have a goal for the rest of the season. You only have to look at the teams below us and what they have spent to realise that we are punching above our weight.

Finally it was also nice to see Rovers playing football on live TV! At least some peoples perception of us may change to.

[LeftWinger]

Proud Rover tonight. Fantastic effort in the circumstances. Dodgy opener for Villa gave them hope, no complaints with the penalty and sending off, but we kept going and going. Well done lads!

[Kelbo]

Both Majiball and I for a while have said Pederson should be in centre mid, showed it tonight with two great assists, diagonal passing, closing down and link play, everyone laughed, bet they are not laughing now!!!

Poor reffing cost us this game, at 2 - 0 we were pushing for a third, Nelsen is the right side of the man to head the ball but he is fouled, no question, they get a goal back and they from being down go into the ascendency!!

People pay good money to watch football and poor decisisions spoil the game!!

[Muddboy]

I'm very proud of the lads tonight (apart from Samba).

After all the crap we've been served up recently, it was pleasing to see some effort, guile and belief.

I definitely think the ref let Villa back into the game by not giving the foul on Nelsen for the first goal and I'm certain we'd have gone on to win the game if Samba hadn't been so reckless and plumped for an early bath.

I think the initial tactics were right and Olsson and Kalinic deserve special praise for their performances. Excellent throughout and Olsson definitely solves the problem on the left wing.

The most notable outcome from tonight's game is that all of the players that we've labeled as useless pre-madonnas over recent weeks, have actually shown they can still do a job for us when they put their minds to it. So there'll be no excuses in the remaining league games...

[cruz]

Finally for the first time this season Rovers have given me something to be proud of. Every player from the keeper to the subs gave it their all and given a better slice of the luck we'd be booking our tickets for Wembley.

We can pontificate all night about Villa's first goal being a foul. Yes it was but they are the breaks. Sometimes you get them sometimes you don't. Had that goal been disallowed at our end I would have been very aggrieved.

Another big turning point was Samba's poor decision to tackle Agbonlahor, who isn't the best finisher in the world when one on one. Had he stayed on his feet it was 50-50 on whether Gabby would have scored and if he had we would have gone on to win the tie given our superiority with 11 men.

Alas it was not the case and Villa intelligently took full advantage of their extra man by stretching what was before the sending off a superior Rovers midfield and back line.

However even with man disadvantage Rovers still kept looking for goals, even if it was more to do with pride than anything else, and that was the thing that made me feel proud.

We are down and out of the cup but the performance gives us hope that maybe we can push on and get a bit further away from the drop zone, especially away from home.

Lastly I have been far from chuffed with Big Sam this season but tonight I would like to congratulate him on getting his starting line up spot on. We pressed Villa and caused them to be nervous and had the referee and linesman been to specsavers Sam would have masterminded a shock and we'd be going to Wembley now.

UP THE ROVERS

[barry_]

bloody football...

from what I heard on the tv the people who went there sang there hearts out so well done to them.

I think Chimbonda should take a good loom at himself... a journeyman player who let himself and more importantly us tonight with his poor defensive play.

and Nelsen... yes it was a foul but you went over cheaply and cost us dearly.

[philipl]

Great to see Rovers give it a go. Kalinic and Olsson looked class for us.

Yes Villa's goals 1 and 4 were dodgy but we were the beneficiaries of some dodgy reffing decisions at Ewood.

Why are we not at Wembley?

- we were set up wrong first half at Ewood

- we sold them Warnock which wouldn't have been necessary but for Sam's largesse with Salgado

- but ultimately when the ball hit the woodwork for us it stayed out and when it hit the woodwork for them it went in

Oh and Villa are a pretty useful outfit.

Now will MoN play Brad at Wembley?

[Blue blood]

this game show that we needed to go at teams.played fairly well, but two mistakes costs us one from the ref, it was a foul and goal should not have countered and samba mistimed tackle. if you are the last person them yes put the forward under pressure but stay on your feet, if you go to ground, you have to make sure that you get the ball, he do not and off he went.

With slight ammendment sums up my view pretty much. I thought our defending for two of the goals - 3rd & 5th I think - was pretty shambolic. Shocking defending was the main negative from the game. This is hurting us really badly.

Positives include 2 goals from our £6 million man, who is looking more like the real deal than a dud every time he plays. Olsson on the wing is another huge plus. Great goal and great contribution.

Sam got tactics spot on - came out all guns blazing and if not for the two mistakes des mentions I think we would've done it. It's good to see he also realises centre mid - our weakest position imo - needs addressing and has used several combinations to avoid the horrible N'Zonzi-Andrews combo. More positives than negatives imo.

We've got to work on cutting out stupid goals, but at least the midfield looks balanced, we can score, and we played some decent football. More light than shaddows in this one for me. Disappointing but overall the signs are we're progressing.

[RoverRich]

Firstly I just want to say I thought Agbonlahor was a disgrace tonight. Pushing and diving constantly.

Onto Rovers and we did not deserve to concede 6. I don't think we sat too deep after going 2-0 up but we did seem to let Villa come on to us a bit more and stop closing. Their 1st goal should not have stood, it was a terrible decision. The penalty was a bad mistake by Samba and that gifted the game to Villa. However, I thought we still did well. Kalinic was brilliant up front, Olsson was outstanding when attacking and Reid looked useful when he came on. The goal by Olsson was the goal of the night IMO. Brilliant build up play and a fantastic finish. It was also good to see us keep going right until the end irrespective of the score. The 6th was only a result of us going gung ho and trying to score, it was inevitable.

I think Sam got it right tonight. Pedersen worked surprisingly well in the middle and Olsson was a revelation. He got us going at them right from the very start which was exactly what was needed. It was just a case of everything on the pitch going against us. Sam did everything he probably could, it was a poor performance from the referee and a rush of blood from Samba which really cost us. I hope we have the same spirit in the next few games because we can do well playing like that but at the same time keeping 11 men on the pitch.

[yeti-dog]

I thought they were possibly the worst two on the pitch, especially MGP!

B****x...MGP has deserved much of the vitriol he's had recently but tonight he played well.

We lost,Wembley is gone but we put a bloody good shift in and there's much to take from that game.Some of you,namely Abbey(surprise) and El Tombro need to get a reality check.Take that fight into the upcoming games and we'll be fine!

[Exiled in Toronto]

Question- if you play wider (as Villa did in the second half) and go man to man with Rovers what happens? Stupid I know but they have an extra man out there who can find space and can take advantage- as they did, how does that make Rovers disorganised?

We didn't defend a corner, didn't close down a runner/ shooter in the middle (yet again) and played a donkey onside. Nothing to do with being stretched. Their last goal was the only one attributable to pushing up with 10 men

[Tom]

Great to see Rovers give it a go. Kalinic and Olsson looked class for us.

Yes Villa's goals 1 and 4 were dodgy but we were the beneficiaries of some dodgy reffing decisions at Ewood.

Why are we not at Wembley?

- we were set up wrong first half at Ewood

- we sold them Warnock which wouldn't have been necessary but for Sam's largesse with Salgado

- but ultimately when the ball hit the woodwork for us it stayed out and when it hit the woodwork for them it went in

Oh and Villa are a pretty useful outfit.

Now will MoN play Brad at Wembley?

I'd disagree that this point was a deciding factor, apart from his gola Warnock did little over the two ties.

I don't liek Givet at LB but I don't think we've missed Warnock that much so far.