[Archived] Blackburn Rovers v Liverpool QF Replay - 8th April 2015

[DE.]

The game seemed to open up when we brought on a second striker, and they scored soon after. I can see why GB didn't do a straight swap with Gestede/Rhodes though - if Rudy had picked up an injury in that situation we would have been screwed.

[Proudtobeblue&white]

I was proud of the team tonight - never looked like we were going to get overrun, Willo was excellent & got stuck in. CB's were immense, thought Henley had his best game tonight and didn't let Sterling boss him. Set up like we were never going to get many chances but we created a few, Rudy should have been on 10 mins earlier imo.

But, wasn't meant to be. Great to see Ewood rocking, but they will all disappear for the Forest game!

Fag end of a season....but we'll give it a good go!

[G Somerset Rover]

We are lacking pace.

Tunny in the middle, Taylor (Paul) and someone up front would be fantastic for next season. Currently we have Olsson For next season...and that's it.

Been saying it all season - I reckon a quick half decent player or two in our team would have added another 10 points or so. A must for next season - just absolutely bemused why Bowyer didn't bring anyone in at the start of the season, or before our FFP ban.

[Mercer]

Strange night and opportunity missed.

First half was a non-event bar Rhodes' header which he should have buried. For a cup q/f under lights, Ewood not the cauldron I thought it might be in the first half.

Make no mistake, Liverpool were there for the taking - their fans weren't their usual cocky selves.

Really, think only back five and Williamson came out with credit.

Our big guns (Conway, Marshall, Cairney and Rhodes) didn't fire.

Rhodes limitations shown. Big headed chance missed, chronic lack of pace (couldn't even get round the cart horse Toure - early second half chance) and sleeping for Liverpool goal. M'boro must be breathing sigh of relief.

The dream is over.

Now can we get a 'real' manager.

[USABlue]

Priud of our lads we just looked a little leg weary. Too many injuries and players not back to full fitness. Great effort by Clint at the death but as had been the case all night it just did not bounce for us.

[Mercer]

Priud of our lads we just looked a little leg weary. Too many injuries and players not back to full fitness. Great effort by Clint at the death but as had been the case all night it just did not bounce for us.

The number of injuries suffered this season is unreal.

Another hamstring tonight (Baptiste).

Think our conditioning and medical teams have a lot of questions to answer. We seem to have lost the plot. Need a doc to head it all up who knows what he, or she, is doing.

[jim mk2]

Classic Rovers - just like the 1970s and 1980s when we had a cup game against a "big" club with a full house at Ewood only to lose by the odd goal. Think Soton and Nottm Forest.

We were undone by one moment of class and lack of concentration by our players.

Again, we played too deep, especially in the 2nd half.

I hope I'm worong but Bowyer isn't the manager to get us out of this division, except down to the 3rd division.

Sad night. I was looking forward to a Wembley trip. We need better.

[Gav]

The fans were magnificent, the players huffed and puffed, but we're lacking in several positions, they're just not good enough.

Didn't think I cared all that much, but I'm gutted tonight...

[arbitro]

Disappointed that we didn't use our third substitute as several were clearly struggling. Even at a young age Mahoney could have made a difference by adding some pace. Adam Henley once again was, for me the pick of the bunch. He kept Sterling quiet for most of the game and looked confident. I thought Cairney was far more influential in the middle and we lost a bit of craft and guile when he moved out wide. Defensively we were fine but our general lack of creativity is apparent.

I hope Bowyer plays some of the younger players in the last few games.

[Amo]

Disappointed that we didn't use our third substitute as several were clearly struggling.

Yup, Marshall & Conway had both faded, not that they were on top form to begin with. It wouldn't have hurt to throw on someone like Mahoney to inject some energy as the game fizzled out. Bowyer seems to wanna wrap his young charges in cotton wool, though.

[RevidgeBlue]

Classic Rovers - just like the 1970s and 1980s when we had a cup game against a "big" club with a full house at Ewood only to lose by the odd goal. Think Soton and Nottm Forest.

We were undone by one moment of class and lack of concentration by our players.

Again, we played too deep, especially in the 2nd half.

I hope I'm worong but Bowyer isn't the manager to get us out of this division, except down to the 3rd division.

Sad night. I was looking forward to a Wembley trip. We need better.

My thoughts as well jim. Whilst tonight was a spirited effort in some respects, we saw tonight exactly why we'll never succeed in the League under GB.

I was hoping we'd try and get at them tonight having drawn at Anfield. Instead we lined up like the away side with one up front and left him completely isolated, stood off Liverpool and let them dominate possession. Even after we went a goal down there was no noticeable change to our game plan, indeed we seemed to get even less ambitious and content to keep the score to one until a rousing last 4 minutes of imjury time.

[chaddyrovers]

Very proud of the performance tonight.

Bowyer got his tactics spot on tonight.

Henley was outstanding tonight. Kilgallon was good. Hope he gets a new contract.

Marshall, Cairney and Conway poor tonight

[Mercer]

Very proud of the performance tonight.

Bowyer got his tactics spot on tonight.

Henley was outstanding tonight. Kilgallon was good. Hope he gets a new contract.

We lost !

Should have tried something different with a 3rd sub.

Tactically wanting, again.

[jim mk2]

Very proud of the performance tonight.

Bowyer got his tactics spot on tonight.

Henley was outstanding tonight. Kilgallon was good. Hope he gets a new contract.

Marshall, Cairney and Conway poor tonight

No he didn't. We lost - and looked a verly limited oufit too.

[arbitro]

Very proud of the performance tonight.

Bowyer got his tactics spot on tonight.

Henley was outstanding tonight. Kilgallon was good. Hope he gets a new contract.

Marshall, Cairney and Conway poor tonight

Watching Henley these last few games have reinforced my view that Bowyer isn't up to it. He is clearly our best right back and yet Bowyer has played our best centre back out of position at right back whilst Henley didn't get a chance. Had Baptiste been at centre back all season who knows where we might have been.

[K-Hod]

I don't know what we could have done with a third sub, everyone was injured!!

Throwing the kids in tonight could have destroyed them, the manager can be blamed for a lot of things, but tonight's performance not one of them for me.

What makes me laugh with all these comments about Liverpool 'being there for the taking', bar the early 90s, even when we were in the PL we weren't better than Liverpool and we rarely beat them. Not sure where all this sudden expectation has come from. Liverpool have a far better squad than ours....

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

I think some are being a little harsh on Bowyer - we were down to bare bones tonight. Imagine a fully fit Gestede or King - and the difference it could have made. Tactics weren't bad - and mainly necessitated by the players available.

Thought the defence played well tonight. The midfield played well defensively - but struggled to retain the ball. Williamson was so frustrating - playing excellent one minute and then nearly gifting goals the next,

I think tonight we saw what a motivated Rhodes can do - didn't score - but challenged for absolutely every ball - a stark contrast to some of his half hearted displays this season.

[LDRover]

Adam Henley take a bow - absolutely superb tonight in nullifying Sterling.

A proud night tinged with sadness and disappointment. Disappointment that I feel we missed a trick and left a bit of ambition out there and sadness because it will probably be many years before there's a game of that magnitude at Ewood again.

[Stuart]

Very proud of the performance tonight.

Bowyer got his tactics spot on tonight.

Henley was outstanding tonight. Kilgallon was good. Hope he gets a new contract.

I agree with the pride bit. Those players have everything and but for a mistake could have at least force extra time.

Not sure about the tactics. We played like we did at Anfield for the most part, playing on the break but with no outlet and no pace. Gestede should have started instead of Rhodes for me. It's just not his kind of game. To be fair to Bowyer, I thought he did his best with the cards he was dealt but he played his ace too late.

The final act summed up Bowyer's approach perfectly though. Bowyer wanted him to come forward but stop at the halfway line (why I'll never know). Eastwood misunderstood the signal and/or ignored it and nearly made history. Bowyer's caution is holding us back.

Rovers really need to spend the next few weeks forgetting about results and concentrating on tying some of these players, Kilgallon, Baptiste, Spearing, and hope that we can convince them to play another season under Bowyer - if that is the only option. Play the young lads (personally I'd have gone 3-4-3 during the last 5 minutes and brought Mahoney on) for the last few games and see if they can earn a place in the squad for next season.

[chaddyrovers]

We lost !

Should have tried something different with a 3rd sub.

Tactically wanting, again.

What a load of rubbish mercerman.

Bowyer was positive in his 1st sub. Change formation and went more positive 4-4-2. We caused them problems..

Can't believe how negative you are being.

Rovers gave 100% tonight.

Very proud of Bowyer and the team.

Rovers till I die

[Gav]

Very proud of the performance tonight.

Bowyer got his tactics spot on tonight.

Henley was outstanding tonight. Kilgallon was good. Hope he gets a new contract.

Marshall, Cairney and Conway poor tonight

Sorry Chaddy I thought he got it wrong, we stood off them to much for me.

[Husky]

Putting the support and occasion aside; I was utterly dissapointed, I thought it was a poor effort overall. Liverpool were bad, lets make no bones about that - they were there for the taking tonight - if this is the level of a team that is (lol, not any more but) challenging for the Chumpions league places then they are probably a good example of why the Prem teams that do make the grade are still nowhere near the cream of Europe.

We looked nervy at times, and reverted to type with the sideways and backwards passing - as I said were Liverpool were crap overall but they pressed us well and didn't give us time on the ball so we often got rushed. But we've been saying it for 2 seasons now, we're too slow - no pace again - any team with some pace tonight would have creamed them - some of their defensive players look as stiff as Lady Diana and wouldn't look out of place in an upper table Championship team.

Not seeing Josh 'it's a goal kick' King on the team sheet was quite depressing to be honest - it kind of reminded me of Euro 2004 when Rooney got his toe trodden on and the whole country (including the England players) knew it was the end of their hopes. I guess we can largely blame this defeat on our obviously appalling fitness and conditioning team (seriously what the flying (f)uck is going on there?) - more jobs for the boys - they are incompetent to say the least - too many injuries for far too longer time - it simply can't be down to bad luck any more.

So yeah, we huffed and puffed and the only good thing you can say is that we stayed in the game so we always had some kind of chance. But it's kind of fitting that our best chance of the game fell to out goalkeeper following an injury time throw in. GG was negative to the end.......no Mahoney - what was there to lose at that stage? We hardly looked like scoring for most of the game - Liverpool were poor - there, I said it again, a half decent team would have torn them a new one tonight - It will be a travesty for English football if a team as poor as them go on to lift the cup.

So finally the final nail in our season's coffin - thanks to UEFA's ridiculous rules we manage to spin it out 3 weeks longer, but most of us that have witnessed our league football this season knew it was basically over back in early February.

The cricket season starts on Sunday.............

[Doug]

Unlucky blues, enjoyed the game and thought Mignolet was the far busier keeper. Obviously they had the lions share of possession but we defended well. Special mention for the back four who I thought were excellent. Olsson and Henley looked good and may well be in the shop window now. If only Eastwoods effort had gone in......wow the place would've erupted.

We missed Kings pace so much, and Rudy made a difference when he came on.

Thought Bowyer got the tactics spot on with the players available.

Hope all the extra fans enjoyed game as they certainly added to the atmosphere.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

We lost !

Should have tried something different with a 3rd sub.

Tactically wanting, again.

How much did Liverpool's squad cost ? What division are we in ? Bowyer must have done something right to only be beaten by the odd goal over 180 minutes and when their goal keeper was arguably their key player over both matches.

[Stuart]

Oh and I still hold Mercerman completely responsible for tonight's result. Thanks for cursing us with your arrogance.