Let Down

[Soueys Bluey]

Why is it that Rovers always let the fans down when we really want them to perform, but always seem to do well when we least expect it?

All credit to Celtic, they deserve to go through - but really we should be beating a side like them who really only have one top class player in Larsson.

And what gets me is how we can score home and away against all the top four last season and have already put NINE past Arsenal, Liverpool and Newcastle in the Premiership this season, and struggle to cause Celtic any kind of problems at the back???

[Blue and White]

Celtic are crap. They will lose every single game if they play in the premiership, and I hope they get hammered next round.

We let down England. We lost the Battle of Britain. I just feel so sorry for Souness, to lose against Celtic.  

Johansson must never play for this team again. I don't care if he was unlucky, this is the UEFA cup, you can't just slip like a idiot.

York and Cole were also crap today, Thompson and Duff were good, Friedel was suprisingly bad, and Dunn never even touched the ball.

But we overall didn't have a bad game, created lots of chances, missed every single one. The players need to learn to hit the target, because we've scored only 1 (pathetic) goal in our last 4 games.

[des]

having watched the game on the bbc we need to make some hard decsions some which people on this MB might not like.

If we keep the same team has we have now we will finish top half, GS has stated that we need 2-3 more players to push us up into a top five team so he goes.

We need a tall striker up front who can hold up the ball for us, yoke and cole cannot do this. yoke first touch in this game was bad and he gave the ball away too much.  we need a hartson or sutton type of players and this had ben needed for some time.  All our front players all play in the same way, and whu we palyed long high ball in todays game when there had three tall center halfs I do not know.

Mid field.  Tugay is avery good players, but he cannot track back and has we did not have a holding midfiled  player we were over run.  In the second half we played three at the back and five in the middle,  Keith G need to work on this crosiing for him he gets past poeple but caqnnot cross a ball, so, bye bye.

Dunn a very very good player but thompson is just as good and if we want or need to raise money to buy new players then he would be the one to go  ( I know that he is a very good plyer abd a local lad) but we need to strength othjer areas and this will not be cheap.

We need a world class wing back and a world class center half if we are to push on to the a top three/four side. John Curris did not cut it today short and berg will be leaving next season and as such we need buy a world classcenetr half to play alongside tiny.  This will not be cheap and it might mean that some players who we like and are good might have to move on.

All good sides start from the back and without a good back three/four you are lost.   So its time to buy in jan and let some of the other players who cannot get into the team leave even if its on a free.

So there are go are we brave enough to let some players go to change the team around or are we happy to be a mid table team time will tell

[Guest grahamhowarth]

Outplayed,outsung and out.

[T4E]

Lets not overreact. Celtic played very well tonight. They didn't outplay us contrary to the rubbish bbc commentary, but they did play in a way that we couldn't cope with. They defended superbly and harried us at every moment. Thats life.

As far as Yorke and Cole go - I just believe they cannot play together. It must be Cole and Jansen when possible. Both of their first touches were poor tonight and they either need a good kick up the arse or dropping.

As far as midfield goes - Tugay is a luxury player. Flitcroft, Dunn, Thommo and Duff is the best midfield combination we have, and is good enough for top 6.

Defensively we know we are poor and we need to strengthen but until we do we'll have to struggle on. Nothing new or groundbreaking about or defence has come out of tonight.

Tonight was disappointing but every cloud has a sivler lining. I'd have liked a better performance tonight but I'm not too upset to be going out - the league is important and playing games on a Saturday again will be a better balance for the team.

Where do we go from here? Same place we would've gone had we won - up the league. Tonight changes nothing. We are still a good team.

[Alex Rover]

Jesus, I haven't posted on here for ages.

However,  I still can't even be bothered to go through all the reasons I feel so devastated.

If Souey has the guts we need to drop Cole and Yorke now!

I feel nearly as bad as those Celtic fans that ventured into the Blackburn End and got an absolute pasting after the first goal.  Well I suppose if you're that thick you take your life into your own hands.

[sumps]

Johansson must never play for this team again. I don't care if he was unlucky, this is the UEFA cup, you can't just slip like a idiot.

York and Cole were also crap today, Thompson and Duff were good, Friedel was suprisingly bad, and Dunn never even touched the ball.

where you at the game or even watch it? johannsen had a good game and it was SHORT that slipped. cole immediatly started to look better when jansen came on, admitedly yorke looked like a poor 1st division player. why was friedal 'supprisingly bad'?  larson took his goal well and the 2nd was at point blank range giving friedal no chance!

i can't believe how many part-time supporters we have. if you support blackburn rovers you sit through every game, good or bad, and don't leave FIFTEEN MINUTES early! i feel sorry for the players when they see a less than half empty stadium at the end and hundreds of people leaving so early!

on the whole very dissapointed!

[T4E]

Couldn't agree more Sumps. How demorilising must it be for the lads to see a stream of people leaving 15 minutes from the end of the game.

Blue and Whites comments are pretty poor ones, lets give Celtic some credit at least. As well as we played at theirs, they played well at ours.

[Guest grahamhowarth]

Tugay,whay are you talking about.They totally dominated play in all areas.Sutton ran the entire game and put tugay in his pocket.They simply picked a team to beat us? is that politican spin-they played in a way we couldn't cope with??

Surely in english that translates to they outplayed us?

PS and don't blame it all on the BBC.

[T4E]

Tugay,whay are you talking about.They totally dominated play in all areas.Sutton ran the entire game and put tugay in his pocket.They simply picked a team to beat us? is that politican spin-they played in a way we couldn't cope with??

Surely in english that translates to they outplayed us?

PS and don't blame it all on the BBC.

I didnt say they picked a team to beat us, I said they played in a way they knew they could beat us. Are you going to tell me I'm wrong about that?

As far as outplaying us goes - can't agree. They hardly had the ball. We had the majority of the possesion, and more chances, but Celtic did more with the ball when they had it.

We had most of the ball but we never got going all game thanks to the energy they had, and the way they harried us. They played well, but you couldnt describe the way they played as "outplaying us".

[Ewood Spark]

Completly and utterly humiliated both on and off the pitch -Part 1.

.............Tune in on Sunday for Part 2.

Bloody devastated.

[Hasta]

Where do I start??

First of all I'm fortunate I never stated how well we played in the first leg because I honestly believed Celtic played way below what they could do. I cringed over the last fortnight at the Rovers fans saying we'll hammer you second leg because the chances were that we would not play that well again (we didn't against Villa, Saints) and that Celtic would play better. As with most Rovers fans I believe over the 2 legs we have the better players. However there is something still missing within the club that has led us not to be the team that is best at getting the right result. Credit to Celtic, they came and showed the first leg to be all wrong.Larrson's finish was top class. We've restricted Celtic to giving their star player just 2 chances throughout the 2 games but he's stuck them both in the back of the net. Could we say the same about Cole? In the second half we threw caution to the wind, created nothing and Celtic exposed us at the back.

Beofre the game all the Celtic fans I spoke to on the streets and in the pub were very friendly. Strange how many of them we're from England with English accents but they were still passionate about the club. Every one of them wanted to chat about football and despite their obvious intoxication were a great laugh.

Any complaints?? Yep I've got 2.

1) Sorry lads but that was not the loudest away following I've heard in the Darwen end. Newcastle and especially City (in 2000) were FAR louder.

2) (And probably controversially) Nearly every Celtic fan I spoke to said 'You'll hear us singing songs about supporting the IRA. Don't be offended cos we don't mean anything by it.' We'll dont sing them then. You wouldn't go to brixton and say 'You'll hear us singing songs about supporting the Klu Klux Klan. Don't be offended cos we don't mean anything by it.'

Anyway I'm going away tommorow morning till Sunday night (yep I miss the Everton game   ). However this means I won't have to read the obvious rubbish from Jas and his mates. To the rest of the decent Celtic fans (Pete, SMc & Co) well done lads and good luck.

[T4E]

Completly and utterly humiliated both on and off the pitch -Part 1.

.............Tune in on Sunday for Part 2.

Bloody devastated.

Chin up lad. The league is where it counts. We didnt even expect Europe this season, anything else is a bonus. Don't get me wrong I'm hurting like hell too but there's nowt we can do about it.

Bring on Everton, lets right the ship.

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

If Souey has the guts we need to drop Cole and Yorke now!

Well, I'd certainly drop Yorke to accomodate Jansen, when Matt becomes fully fit.

I thought that Yorke was very poor tonight, in what was an all round bitterly disappointing match.

We had all been eagerly looking forward to this match since a fortnight ago, when we outplayed Celtic away from home.

But how very different this match was - Such a bitter let down.

The eyes of the nation were on Rovers tonight, and the players failed miserably in a pitiful display.

All very sad.

[Andy Kennedys Hairdo]

On the pitch......spineless !!!! David Dunn where is your head at ??

Off the pitch......I've never heard such racist bile and bigoted sh*te in my entire life by fellow Rovers 'fans'. Just as clueless as the muppets on the pitch.

Also off.....but sadly on the pitch.....what was that pr*@k in the Rangers shirt trying to achieve !!!!

All in all a very bleak day for the Rovers. Sort it out Souey !

[Hasta]

Also off.....but sadly on the pitch.....what was that pr*@k in the Rangers shirt trying to achieve !!!!

Forgot about him. What a nob. He embarrased the Rovers fans and got laughed at by the Celtic fnas. Well done mate!!

[Blue and White]

Completly and utterly humiliated both on and off the pitch -Part 1.

.............Tune in on Sunday for Part 2.

Bloody devastated.

Chin up lad. The league is where it counts. We didnt even expect Europe this season, anything else is a bonus. Don't get me wrong I'm hurting like hell too but there's nowt we can do about it.

Bring on Everton, lets right the ship.

We go from Celtic in the UEFA cup to Everton in the Premiership.  

Yes, the league is where it counts, but I can't believe how many people are just listing the UEFA cup as a secondary competiton. It's Europe, the grand stage for all teams. Sure, now we can concentrate on the Premiership but if we continue to miss chances as we have all season long I think we'll have a bit of trouble finishing in the top 6. But if we get some luck infront of goal we can challange for something more. I just wanted a better run in Europe, cause who knows when we'll get to play there again ??

[Guest grahamhowarth]

Blue /white not the old we can now concentrate on the league cliche,a bit tired and outdated ,eh?

[T4E]

Don't get me wrong B&W, Europe is important, but we were never going to win the Uefa Cup this season and the longer we were in it the more our league form would suffer.

Next season and subsequent seasons we will be better equiped for the Uefa Cup, but then we wont qualify for it if we aren't getting results in the league.

As I've said I am gutted after tonight, but I'm trying to stay as positive as I can. We now have a chance to keep our squad fully fit and push on up the league. Our squad is not strong enough to play the amount of games 3 cups and the league will throw at us.

I'm gutted about tonights result, but there's no need to talk about wholesale changes. We are making steady progress on the whole and I'm sure we will continue to do so.

We'll be back, because we are Blackburn Rovers and you cant keep us down.

Forever and Ever................

[T4E]

Blue /white not the old we can now concentrate on the league cliche,a bit tired and outdated ,eh?

Graham, I apologise for trying to turn a negative into a positive. I realise that you are much more averse to being a misery and moaning about this, that and everything.

We had a bad night tonight, but I wont let it get me down. Its all part of the learning experience that you hae to go through to become a good team. You can feel free to stew in your own bitter and negative juices, but don't expect me to join you.

[colin]

Take it on the chin chaps.

We outplayed the in Glasgow, they outplayed us at Blackburn. They scored three goals and we scored none.

Sod it.

[T4E]

If only we could all be so gracious.........

[broadsword]

having watched the game on the bbc we need to make some hard decsions some which people on this MB might not like.

If we keep the same team has we have now we will finish top half, GS has stated that we need 2-3 more players to push us up into a top five team so he goes.

We need a tall striker up front who can hold up the ball for us, yoke and cole cannot do this. yoke first touch in this game was bad and he gave the ball away too much.  we need a hartson or sutton type of players and this had ben needed for some time.  All our front players all play in the same way, and whu we palyed long high ball in todays game when there had three tall center halfs I do not know.

Mid field.  Tugay is avery good players, but he cannot track back and has we did not have a holding midfiled  player we were over run.  In the second half we played three at the back and five in the middle,  Keith G need to work on this crosiing for him he gets past poeple but caqnnot cross a ball, so, bye bye.

Dunn a very very good player but thompson is just as good and if we want or need to raise money to buy new players then he would be the one to go  ( I know that he is a very good plyer abd a local lad) but we need to strength othjer areas and this will not be cheap.

We need a world class wing back and a world class center half if we are to push on to the a top three/four side. John Curris did not cut it today short and berg will be leaving next season and as such we need buy a world classcenetr half to play alongside tiny.  This will not be cheap and it might mean that some players who we like and are good might have to move on.

All good sides start from the back and without a good back three/four you are lost.   So its time to buy in jan and let some of the other players who cannot get into the team leave even if its on a free.

So there are go are we brave enough to let some players go to change the team around or are we happy to be a mid table team time will tell

Some good points there, Des.

Des makes some very good points on the board, but people do tend to ignore him.

For my money, he's right - Souness needs to (and probably will!) have the balls to drop the big name players. Cole and Yorke are used to playing together for Man Utd where the team was so dominant the midfield could camp in the opposition's half for most of the game and give them proper support. Take that away and ... oh dear!

i'm sure Friedel, Thompson and Neill are the only ones who care. As for David Dunn - @#/? off whenever you want mate. If you fancy going South we'll swap you for Beattie!

Well said, Des.

[colin]

If only we could all be so gracious.........

T4E,

I may be just old & mellow enough to know when to sit back and not get upset about a Rovers' result. Probably down to past experience. I've seen worse performances than tonight.

It's not that I don't care, and I certainly don't decry anyone else's reaction.

I didn't mean to sound indifferent about tonight.

If it helps, I did stay to the bitter end and applauded Rovers off the pitch.

[T4E]

If only we could all be so gracious.........

T4E,

I may be just old & mellow enough to know when to sit back and not get upset about a Rovers' result. Probably down to past experience. I've seen worse performances than tonight.

It's not that I don't care, and I certainly don't decry anyone else's reaction.

I didn't mean to sound indifferent about tonight.

If it helps, I did stay to the bitter end and applauded Rovers off the pitch.

Please don't think I was criticising you. In fact I was applauding your ability to give credit where its due. As my other posts have shown, I'm gutted about tonight but we have to be as gracious in defeat as we are in victory.

Celtic did their job well, full credit to them.