Skysports claiming the Final Straw was being booed when he was subbed. How can they be so inaccurate?

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_5811830,00.html

It is no secret that Sam has wanted Benni out. It seems the weight issue is going to be the way of forcing the issue.

Forcing him in for extra training after two games in three days seems excessive even if fitness issues are of concern.

A parting of the ways will probably be best for all concerned to prevent any bad blood developing and causing issues with team morale.

Maybe not - but the last 3 goals have come via Diouf, Pedersen & McCarthy - perhaps Roberts is just thick and doesnt get it?!?!

No just crap!

Sorry but he contributed absolutely zilch today and Pompey and their supporters must now know that...

HE IS AND NEVER WILL BE A PREMIER LEAGUE FOOTBALLER!

I applauded him also but only because he is a decent human being and I felt sorry for him.

Obviously you did not watch the first half yesterday as he was the main reason Dunn was a spectator for the first half. As I commented on the pompey thread earlier today there was one instance in the first half when Dunn was on a run and the Axe committed a foul to prevent a shooting opportunity. Should have been booked. Now compare that with Pompey's goal and wonder if O'Hara would have had as much space if an Axe type player was wearing blue and white.

Rovers tactical change at half time meant that the Axe's contribution faded in the second half.

McCarthy is the best finisher at the club. Even when he was out of sorts last season he still managed 10 goals in 18 starts.

The problem concerns Sam's inflexible attitude towards his formation. Why are Dunn & McCarthy mutually exclusive options?

The problem is Benni is not physically enough and cannot play the lone forward while Sam feels Dunn would neglect the defensive midfield duties needed for a central or wide midfielder so we can't play 4-4-2.

Sam thinks the only solution is to play either off a strong front man.

I felt Benni lost a bit of spark when he didn't didn't get his dream move to Jose Mourinho's Chelsea a few summers ago. He's still one of the most skillful players in the squad but has lacked application at times.

If we were to sell any of our strikers in the January window Benni wouldn't be top of my list.

No but we need to raise money to invest in the squad. Selling Jason would not raise enough money to buy a penny chew.

Other point to bear in mind is that when Benni is in form usually we see the best of other players such as MGP. He draws oppostion defenders and creates space for others. A strong player such as Da Santo with Benni creating space for Dunny to run into the space.

Sam won't allow three forward players with little defensive options though.

Plus with Benni in the team then there is no excuse to sell him in January meaning no cash to spend unless he sells his other saleable assets either Samba or Robinson.

I stand by what I said about Benni but I do appreciate your comment about the midfield. Everybody except the management have seen that weakness for years. Unfortunately we have now in addition developed a weakness up front.

plus our defence is leaking goals so all three areas are weak.

There are a couple of clubs in Spain on this case...and they are both talking about loans.

I think Benni could go on loan because nobody is going to buy him and Sam wants him off the wages.

At the moment the word is out to find two possible new strikers for January. Probably loans too. Somebody has to leave to pay for that.

PS. There is no way in the world that he is going to Portsmouth, by the way.

This does sound logical.

No Iceman he doesn't get caught offside from making runs. He gets caught offside because he is too slow and lazy to get back onside after an attack. There is an answer somewhere but it is not McCarthy. If he does not score you have played with ten men, much like playing with Andrews and perish the thought of having them both on the pitch at once.

Much better to give Kalinic a run to find out if he is ever going to make it. At 20 he will get better. McCarthy will only get fatter, slower and lazier.

Both Jason and Benni are prone to stand still and whinge when a move breaks down and are slow coming back on side, but there are times that Benni is caught off side when trying to pinch a few yards on the last defender.

The problem with this is that the midfield is just a split second slow in picking a pass. It is not a new problem as Andy Cole had the same issue when he was here.

The fact remains that our midfield is just not good enough. But to be fair if any of our midfielders were quick enough to supply that sort of pass they would be at a higher club than us.

http://www.kickoff.com/static/news/article.php?id=12000

Sorry it won't insert the link.

I assume thats benni's agent speaking but it would appear he's not the only one who wants out. They mention the loan and I have to say I hope its not true.

No surprise though is it? He has been trying to leave every time he has not been in the first team

The only way to play Benni is in Dunn's roll and Dunn slots in the the space left by the removal of Keef...!

To play that role you have to move around the pitch and run at people with the ball. Neither of which are Benni's strong points. To get the best out of Benni, he has to be playing off a front man poaching goals.

Could we not send Roberts with Benni's shirt.

News reports that Benni will go on loan to Pompey in the second half of this season.

Do we have a death wish?

It is quite clear that Big Sam has no intention in playing him so we may as well get him of the wage bill.

But I agree to lend a proven goal scorer to one of our relegation rivals does seem a bit silly.

What ever happened to that Roque Santa something, i forget the rest?

It was on Football Focus last Saturday saying he was rejoining City's first team for training last Monday so by now probably injured again.

Statistics eh ?

Anyone on this messageboard could score 3 out of 4 penalties and make his percentage of chances scored look respectable .

?

Which makes Roberts' % even better as he missed his one penalty of the season.

And I wasn't arguing - just pointing out that they all count as chances and are there to be scored or missed.

didn't he mean strikers at other clubs?

Yep misread - Just edited my post. Sorry

Did none of the other strikers take penalties?

Yes they did.

But at the end of the day, a penalty is still a chance that has to be put away, ask Mr. Roberts.

Interesting set of Opta statistics on Sky Sports News just now -

Premier League strikers with more than 5 goals - conversion rate (ie goals / chances)

Tevez 11%

Rooney 14%

Adebayor 18%

Torres 19%

Anelka 21%

Berbatov 21%

D Bent 23%

Roberts 23%

Beattie 23%

McCarthy 28%

Owen 29%

All this proves is the forward play last season was so poor.

The % proves that the two forwards compared favourably, surprising for Roberts as all anyone remembers are his misses of last season.

We need to create more which makes Sam seeing midfield as not a priority seem a bit odd

The fans should never have tolerated him being made captain. Shows what a soft touch this clubs supporters can be.

Yes....we should have took to the streets, demonstrated, rioted. Fans aren't bothered who is captain so long as whoever is gives 100% on the field. Even though Neill wanted to leave he never gave less than 100%.

It is the manager's deceision who he make captain and Hughes thought that Neill was the man for him. As captain he led the team to a European Finsih and cup semis so why should the fans not tolerate him.

Very similar to the way Neill left in fact. I wonder if it's revealed that he's going to double his salary that Ooijer will suddenly become a greedy grabbing barsteward not fit to wear the shirt etc etc.

Neill acted professionally, he never gave any false promise of playing for Rovers the season after. He also told the truth which fans did not like. If Ooijer is going back for double his wages then fair play to him as he has done everything professionally.

I would consider the future to be dependant on certain circumstances but positive remarks from Mr Ooijer. Can't understand this "family club" reference though as the top clubs need a similar atmosphere amongst players/staff to achieve the success they do. Yet do they get bracketed as "family clubs?" Strange though how the LET billboards read "Ooijer-why I'm leaving" like it was some major deal when in reality it isn't. A good performer certainly but it's not like Shearer or Hendry just left is it?

No he has not given any assurances to the fans then bogged off a week later like the two player mentioned.

I admire Benny's ability immensely but the thing that aggravates me is that he is wasting so much potential because of his lazy attitude and unwillingness to sweat blood for the team. Similarly with Berbatov. I sometimes wonder how their team mates react to them privately when they themselves are running themeselves into the ground for the cause week in week out?

If Benni had the work rate to match his ability he would never have been within 50 yards of Ewood's home Dressing Room.

Good for Benni and very solid advice. Lets hope he stays this positive, because a happy positive Benni = GOALS!

Not bad for someone last week was desperate to get away [according to the Daily Mail]

The Mail are saying Benni wants out after being sustituted by Sam when on a hattrick against Stoke.

Well it is the Mail...

Why don't the mail just say 'Every player wants to leave Blackburn' then they can save themselves some column inches

I heard some time ago that RSC also plays well on the right wing, simular to what Davies does at Bolton. If that is the case Bennie up front with Roberts and RSC coming in from the wing, could cause problems for a lot of defences.

The only time we've seen evidence of this was last season against Man. Utd. and it did work very well. But I think that was a case of catching Utd by surprise by playing a 6ft+ forward against a 2'3" left back.

I don't think it would work if surprise element was taken out by playing every week.