[Archived] GAME THREAD - Bristol City Away 12/13

[Parsonblue]

amazing isnt it!! i knew this would happen, win a couple of games against sub-standard opposition and all is rosy again, bullcrap, the same problems remain, lack of possesion, conceding goals, lucky wins, a good manager would help us to romp this league, kean will barely scrape us into the play-offs, so i guess we are back to square one now, everybody was united against kean against wigan, now its back to trying to arrange protests with apathetic supporters shaking their heads

I'm clearly missing something here. For the past 50+ years that I've been supporting Blackburn Rovers I've always been happy to see us win. Now it appears that showing any expression of happiness at winning a cracking game is deemed to be not the actions of a true supporter. It seems that wanting the team to lose whilst staying away from the game is the way to go. Each to his own I suppose but forgive me if I continue supporting the players that are on the pitch and cheering them on to a win. If you were at Ashton Gate yesterday you would have seen that the supporters were anything but apathetic at the final whistle it was a joy to watch everyone united in celebrating a win!

[Veevs]

I didn't think we played that well at all.. there is one simple fact, and its not down to Keans astute management, we now have 5 strikers who are a cut above championship quality.. Rhodes, CKR, Rochina (its pretty obvious he has had more time on the ball so far), Best, Gomes..

Except for Etuhu are our midfielders really that good? Murphy has no outlets for his passing and we have no pace on the wings. Our defence is as ever leaking goals under Kean. Yet again we had injuries in the first half, and our fittest players by far are two of the new guys in Rhodes and Etuhu.

We still have to play most of the teams that I reckon will give us a run for our money (Cardiff, Forest, Brighton, Blackpool, Bolton, Wolves...) and the league is pretty tight overall with only 3 points between us and 8th and 4 points between us and 13th, it took us until stoppage time to beat a team who are supposed to be a bottom half club, Bristols defending was awful (Rochina was in the middle of the penlaty area unmarked with time to play with the ball a little, Rhodes last goal they backed away from him and gave him time to place an excellent shot).

As I said at the beginning of the season and especially after we got rhodes, we have so many quality players we should be walking the league, with so many quality forwards we are going to be winning games like this (these guys can turn a match if given time on the ball) but our organisation, defending and midfield play is at best bottom 3 premier league standard.

[Stuart]

Yet again we had injuries in the first half, and our fittest players by far are two of the new guys in Rhodes and Etuhu.

It'll be interesting to chart their fitness as they get into Kean's "regime".

[Stand & Deliver]

OH C'MON!!!! "I'd much rather be losing games" Yeah go on beat that Fickleness away!!!!

Nah pal you're missing the point. I love it that were doing well but it's bitter sweet with coco still in charge. No other manager in rovers history has done what he has to the fans. Most fans,myself Included won't ever take to him,not even if he wins the champions league!!

It'll be interesting to chart their fitness as they get into Kean's "regime".

That's one hell of a downward slope. Pretty steep gradient n all that lol

[J*B]

How anyone can go to bed happy with whats going on, with Kean as manager, ill never know.

Agnew wins.

[bazza]

Went to the game today (well its just down the road) and took 10 yr old so for his first real game. He's hopefully a convert to the clause and Dickson is his new hero.

etc.etc.

Thanks, Glosrover for your report on the game; the first from those who were there.

If you can't be happy seeing your club top of the League there is not much point following football. I thought we played some superb stuff at times today with some excellent performances from Gomes, Etuhu and Rhodes in particular. The way the players celebrated with Kean at the end shows that the spirit within the camp looks very good. Perhaps Shebby's attack on the manager and Pedersen has really brought them together. It's early days, but at the moment the signs are very encouraging.

Thanks, Parson. I always appreciate your synopses.

Good posts from ParsonBlue on this thread, financially you would imagine the Club has to go straight back up regardless of whoever is in charge. Should we achieve that with Kean still at the helm I'll be absolutely delighted - whilst possibly remaining ambivalent towards the man himself.

Early days but maybe just maybe things are starting to move back in the right direction..

My thoughts exactly, Revidge.

We are top of the league what more do you want ?

As long as we are winning games I couldnt give a ###### who is our manager to be totally honest !

Agreed!

Steve Kean has admitted (at last) that the defence is poor and needs looking at. Hooray!! Let's hope he does something about it.

I can't wait to get my first glimpse of Rhodes. I've seen what Cecil started; now let's see what Jordan can do.

[jodrell]

Bazza he has been saying for over 12 months that he is going to work on the defense in training, so don't hold your breath.

[Stuart]

Bazza he has been saying for over 12 months that he is going to work on the defense in training, so don't hold your breath.

He meant self defence.

With his bodyguard.

[Salgado Is A Hero]

Anyone want to give some player ratings?

[roversfan99]

Robinson 5 - Can't remember many saves if any. 3 goals conceded.

Orr 5 - Ok, did his job well enough.

Dann 7 - Good winning goal, decent enough but space isn't hard to come by in our defence still. I think that's more the way we are set up.

Givet N/A - Injured.

Markus Olsson 3 - Was being run ragged by Adomah before he went off injured which was a blessing in disguise. Not a left back, and not a very good footballer full stop.

Bruno 4 - Steady but looked scared on the ball and never moved forward. Would rather see Kazim, Simon or Formica here in future.

Etuhu 7 - Bossed the midfield. A real general.

Murphy 6 - Kept things ticking.

Pedersen 3 - Lethargic, sloppy and devoid of creativity.

Gomes 9 - Sublime at times, excellent at linking up with Rhodes or the midfield in equal measure. A step ahead of team mates at time, superb touches and yet another goal.

Rhodes 9 - 2 superb goals although he perhaps should have passed when the keeper had come up! Clinical finishes but i was equally pleased with his hold up play, intelligence, strength and link up with mainly Gomes. The RAG is the best partnership in the league.

Subs:

Martin Olsson 5 - Much more comfortable than his less talented twin and he should have started. Should have prevented their second mind you.

Hanley 6 - Not 100% convinced yet.

Rochina 8 - I thought he had messed it up! Great goal in the end and him coming on for Gomes works well to be fair, he has the spark to attack teams. Should have been played centrally more in the past, I'd start him v Barnsley to rest Nuno.

[Salgado Is A Hero]

Nice one.

Bristol City fans - "Etuhu and Murphy were class in the middle of the park and as you would have realised from the other thread Rhodes was also brilliant. Apart from that the only real standout for me was how much of a better player Martin Olsson was after replacing his brother after about 20 minutes! Bradley Orr was the same player that all City fans know and love. Solid defensively and extremely determined, but a bit of a disaster when it comes to crossing the ball."

"Etuhu was the best player on show and completely dominated our midfield, he was involved in everything. Rhodes is some striker, the best in this division. Your back four, like ours, was very generous but who cares, it's not often you witness a game like that and I would happily pay double the entrance fee to watch a match like that again provided we win the next one ! You will be promoted and if we can find that elusive CB we wont be far behind you, Sam Baldock (the 2nd best striker in this division) will make sure of that!"

"Just thought I'd mention, Robinson looked a bit over weight.

Both wingers didn't look any good, made up numbers and passed it to the central midfielders who bossed it for you guys.

Rochina looked lively when on. Gomes has that natural ability but obviously no pace. Orr made a few mistakes but is decent at this level. Givet didn't look that good before he went off injured, Hanley looked better."

[roversfan99]

It's not necessarily the centre backs, we leaked goals with Samba, Nelsen and Phil Jones.

There is a mentality of fear as soon as we score and we sit back and leak goals, and Kean has not solved this.

Yeah we looked in control in the centre, our wingers provided minimal attacking threat which is a shame as that could provide something new.

Bradley Orr is a good crosser to be fair, got a couple of assists towards the end of last season.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

We don't defend as a team, we aren't a coherent unit off the ball. Not enough of our players are running the hard yards to help teammates in and out of possession. It's the easier part of the game but we really poor at it. It's been our Achilles heel for a while now. Before Kean if I'm being truthful.

[BlueMonday]

I think we all need a little perpective here, yes you can enjoy the win, even I cheered the 4th and 5th goals! but the bigger picture still needs addressing and that is we must get rid of Kean before the club can progress.

A good start to the season should never deflect from the feeling against Wigan at home when we went down, the fanbase was united that night, and a couple of wins in the championship shouldn't gloss over the real issues.

Great win yesterday granted, but this idiot needs to be removed asap.

Kean Out

Bang on! All the Steve Kean and Venky apologists need to get a grip. With a GOOD manager in place we could go up and stay up. Results flatter performances here, and when we get into the slog of winter a lot of our players will need leadership and motivation. Kean aint that man!!

lets look at the big picture.

[CrazyIvan]

This thread is like reading some comedy sketch. We won but you're not allowed to be happy because Kean is still the manager and Venky's are still around doing something evil or something.

Kean is still the manager. No, I don't like it either and I think he is a ###### manager and should have been sacked a very long time ago.

Rovers won an exciting match. I wish I could have been there to see it and celebrate a win. Rovers are top of the league. I wish I could be there and watch them every week because, this might sound perverse, I really enjoyed the football the last time we were in this league. Could I and would I support Blackburn Rovers Football Club if I were in the UK now? Bloody right I would. Anything else is cutting your nose off to spite your face.

Those two things can be separate.

[jim mk2]

We don't defend as a team, we aren't a coherent unit off the ball. Not enough of our players are running the hard yards to help teammates in and out of possession. It's the easier part of the game but we really poor at it. It's been our Achilles heel for a while now. Before Kean if I'm being truthful.

Contradicting yourself - players not running the "hard yards" is the "easier part of the game" . You're right in that not enough Rovers players are doing their defensive duties when we are not in possession but they are not doing those duties because it is hard work. Players generally will do just enough either during a match or in training and our lot give the impression they are coasting most of the time. The top teams all have a tremendous work ethic and work very hard when not in possession to close opponents down whereas Rovers just sit back and invite teams to attack us. The soft goals conceded at Leeds and Bristol in the past 2 weeks were cases in point of Rovers players failing to track back and make challenges.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Contradicting yourself - players not running the "hard yards" is the "easier part of the game" . You're right in that not enough Rovers players are doing their defensive duties when we are not in possession but they are not doing those duties because it is hard work. Players generally will do just enough either during a match or in training and our lot give the impression they are coasting most of the time. The top teams all have a tremendous work ethic and work very hard when not in possession to close opponents down whereas Rovers just sit back and invite teams to attack us. The soft goals conceded at Leeds and Bristol in the past 2 weeks were cases in point of Rovers players failing to track back and make challenges.

What I meant was Jim is that you don't need natural football ability to do the running required.

[Ricky]

Jims hit the nail on the head for me. It's down to the work ethic. The likes of nelsen, Samba, Savage, Bellemy, Jones, etc would run through a brick wall for mark Hughes. Just don't think we have the same determination in this team.

[Kelbo]

Robbie Savage was never a great footballer but he realised what he was really good at and bust a gut to press the ball, win it and make a pass to a player who could play (Tugay in the main) his work ethic protected the defence and more often than not, he pressed the ball high up the park, therefore, if he did give a free kick away, they were not in the more dangerous positions.

One coach used to bellow at me and shout, 'dont foul' in certain areas unless absolutely neccessary!

A little on work ethic here, 90% of football is based on hard work, if you dont put the hard work in, you wont be in the right positions to allow your ability to shine through!!

[RoyRover]

I'm happy that we won again and good to see Rhodes get his first goals and Nuno Gomes and Rochina keep up the good form. The defensive side of things is still a huge worry for me and that's not being churlish toward Kean. By all accounts this was a game we should have won easily, yet still let in three goals, some of our goals should have been defended better and the last two came in injury time. Could it be that the poorer standard of football than we expected could mean that ultimately mean that Kean's well documented inabilities as a manager will prove obsolete, as we have a couple of players with a bit more quality than most of the other teams? I'm doubtful that we can continue to get such luck.

[RevidgeBlue]

I'm clearly missing something here. For the past 50+ years that I've been supporting Blackburn Rovers I've always been happy to see us win. Now it appears that showing any expression of happiness at winning a cracking game is deemed to be not the actions of a true supporter. It seems that wanting the team to lose whilst staying away from the game is the way to go. Each to his own I suppose but forgive me if I continue supporting the players that are on the pitch and cheering them on to a win. If you were at Ashton Gate yesterday you would have seen that the supporters were anything but apathetic at the final whistle it was a joy to watch everyone united in celebrating a win!

Another excellent post Parson.

[RevidgeBlue]

This thread is like reading some comedy sketch. We won but you're not allowed to be happy because Kean is still the manager and Venky's are still around doing something evil or something.

Kean is still the manager. No, I don't like it either and I think he is a ###### manager and should have been sacked a very long time ago.

Rovers won an exciting match. I wish I could have been there to see it and celebrate a win. Rovers are top of the league. I wish I could be there and watch them every week because, this might sound perverse, I really enjoyed the football the last time we were in this league. Could I and would I support Blackburn Rovers Football Club if I were in the UK now? Bloody right I would. Anything else is cutting your nose off to spite your face.

Those two things can be separate.

Also spot on.

Why wouldn't you now want to venture down to Ewood to see Jordan Rhodes can continue in 40 goal a season mode?

I fear like you those that have painted themselves into a corner by vowing never to step foot in Ewood again whilst Kean's in charge etc etc are in danger of cutting off their nose to spite their face now the owners seem to be making more of an effort.

[Mr Cool]

Where any Rao's at the game yesterday?

[Mike Graham]

Where any Rao's at the game yesterday?

Yes, they hide under the names of Braddock and Hesfromburn

[thenodrog]

Contradicting yourself - players not running the "hard yards" is the "easier part of the game" . You're right in that not enough Rovers players are doing their defensive duties when we are not in possession but they are not doing those duties because it is hard work. Players generally will do just enough either during a match or in training and our lot give the impression they are coasting most of the time. The top teams all have a tremendous work ethic and work very hard when not in possession to close opponents down whereas Rovers just sit back and invite teams to attack us. The soft goals conceded at Leeds and Bristol in the past 2 weeks were cases in point of Rovers players failing to track back and make challenges.

Indeed, if we take our minds back to the early days in the Prem our success was built on work ethic throughout the team but most notably from the wingers Ripley and Wilcox. TV pundits commented on it weekly. Whenever our opponents got the ball our players got 'goal side' of their individual opponents immediately. Every successful team sets out by being difficult to score against, Barca's 7 second rule being the epitamy of that.

Now that Hendry is installed I expect that part of the game to be covered but it doesn't appear to have materialised yet.