thenodrog

Never underestimate the power of Abbeys goatee!

Agreed but as Notlob showed keeping 11 on the pitch is a necessity.

btw blowing my own trumpet here but so many disappointed punters are on here whingeing about the game but the nature of yesterdays game and the way the match panned out was entirely predicatable imo. .......... course if MGP and Dickov had made it 2-0 after 15 mins we would prob have won at a canter and I would not have dug this out.

We are now a team built to give nothing away and to grind out results. Hughes has no choice to do otherwise until he can get more of his type of players in so stop criticising and give credit where credit is due! As for Dickov he is the best person that we have at playing with his back to goal, something which is a total necessity in a 4-5-1 formation. Gally is too weak to perform that role and appears to be well short of bottle for a lad from Glasgow (.......... but then again he's not on his own is he?), Steads second touch is usually a tackle, Bothroyd seems OK with his back to goal but injury and temperament seem to be against him and as for Matt Jansen.... nuff said. So our tactics, especially against stronger teams can only be to defend like fury and hope that Dickov performs well in his main role of winning set pieces in dangerous areas which will allow for MGP and Sav to create something from them.

Its a clash of personalities.....Half the team hate Toshack and Toshack hates half the team! Strange timing how Welsh football is gonna be on its arse again whilst the star over Welsh rugby is rising fast.

I've a feeling that todays game might resemble our stuttering performance v Burnley than last weeks inspirational one v Everton.

Didn't read it but it was obviously written either by an Everton sympathiser or somebody who knows flerk all about football. His task was to compete with their strong midfield and protect the centre halves and Everton simply had no one good enough to compete with him, hence the number and quality of shots on target that Everton had.

Not strictly true Simon. He does mention Hyde's goal against us. But his refusal to say anything more at all after all his daft gobbing off of recent weeks would be comic genius if we all weren't all fully aware of the depth of his bitterness.

Well after 3 moral damaging defeats in a week including one in the league against their biggest local rivals, an inevitable cup defeat by their arch-enemies coupled with a disgraceful debut sending-off for violent conduct after less than 3 minutes by their BIG new signing, and a superb away win for BRFC at high riding Everton, the clampetts cup of woe must be running over! All of a sudden the silence from our freinds in Royston Vasey is deafening! So it's goodnight and God Bless Dingles.......... Luv Rovers

I think Kilbane started it with a couple of tackles that on most days he would receive a booking for.

Hear Hear!

That horrible away bit certainly puts me off going. The view is awful. Combined with crap parking facilities, recent and future FA cup ties and the general malaise and pessimism running through a large part of the population of the town all contributed to the poor attendance. I dont think it will work but if the fans spend the money saved in the shop or better still on a bring-a-friend policy for home games and the position will seem so much better. Two things....... 1. Nice to see a Rovers team play so physically (definitely not dirtily ....something that needs putting on every mboard and web site that can be thought of) and competatively. As GS used to put it "they are proper men" (I bet he is well surprised at how much like his ideal of 'proper man' they have become without him! I have never seen a team in blue and white be so strong and resiliant in tackles and throughout the game even when faced with a team like Everton. In fact its fair to say, and I'm sure that Moyes will agree that we out 'Evertoned' Everton. 2. When in 4-5-1 formation playing ch behind Mokoena must be the easiest job on the park. Whilst he may be prone to rushes of blood at centre half whenplaying deep midfield he protects the defence as well as anybody that I can remember.

I posted this on page 5 of this thread Philip and well before kick off! I dont think its a bad effort at second guessing Hughes mind although I should have mentioned Mokoena by name instead of referring to him as 'another'. Quote "Personally I would favour starting with a 5 man midfield with Pederson playing support to Dickov and Reid coming in for the ineffectual Gallagher to play on the left and another playing deep to nullify the runs of Cahill. With the defence set up to cope with Bents pacy running style. I do suspect that Hughes will maybe have a job for Stead today though. " As for Stead.... a cracking goal which will do him the world of good BUT lets not forget the quality of Reids pass which did not require a touch before Stead kicked it. However all afternoon Stead's second touch was nearly always a tackle. And please rem one swallow does not make a summer.

without Saha's handball during Wiley's ludicrously induced Fergytime at Ewood we would be on 31 points too. Offside goal at Boro........32 Where do you stop Philip?

Logic tells me to go with waggy here. But with the results at Soton and Palace yesterday and viewing our our next few fixtures this match needs to be viewed as one where we could possibly get something from. We all know that despite their lofty position that Everton only have average players who play to a system and who are prepared to sweat blood for the team and their team mates every week. Given the chance nobody in the top half of the table would covet any of their players (poss Cahill) but rather their manager......... and I expect him to only be on the bench again today . With the right tactics and the entire team prepared to match Everton for effort, all our injured players available and whoever plays midfield / forward with Dickov having a stormer we need to view this match as a chance to get closer to the safety target. Everton are cock-a-hoop at the moment and hopefully might just be a little complacent. Personally I would favour starting with a 5 man midfield with Pederson playing support to Dickov and Reid coming in for the ineffectual Gallagher to play on the left and another playing deep to nullify the runs of Cahill. With the defence set up to cope with Bents pacy running style. I do suspect that Hughes will maybe have a job for Stead today though.

Who'd we get as trainer for them? Snow White?

Sad but true Sam. However imo your Modeo is very underpowered with just one low forward gear and six reverse ones!

............... If we survive in the Prem that is. After recent displays by all of our second striikers it makes sense to set up the team like Burnley do with just one striker. We have plenty of spare quality in midfield with Reid, Thompson, Flitty and even Mokoena in a holding role who are all worth a shirt in front of Gallagher imo. Ditto with stead although he seems to have vanished from the face of the earth recently. If as seems likely we are going to offload Stead in the summer to a lower div team is it safe to assume that continuing to play him will trigger some sort of extra payment to Huddersfield or has he simply been caught with his pants down with Hughes daughter / wife / mother? Something must have gone on, and possibly after his omission from the squad last night similarly with Thompson.

Back to square one with his thigh injury it looks like. He kicked the ground within a few minutes of coming on and looked uncomfortable after that. He could be a long time out. What an enigma Bothroyd is, good things one minute and looking a real handful and then doing more than passable impersonations of weebles wobbling (but actually going down) the next. We were crying out for a target man when he came on for the awfully uninspiring and frequently missing Gallagher. He immediately troubled the Burnley centre halves no end and then unbelievably retreated to link man between Dickov and the midfield. A position in which he is patently useless. I assume that this must have been because of his injury, but if not and taking into account the prediliction of certain players to play long balls it is madness to play him behind Dickov. btw I've said before that Jansen is finished but imo he is not yet as written off as Gallagher. A fit Jansen will never be as he once was and will never be good enough at Prem level but he is good enough to keep Gallagher out.

Apart from maybe Joe Jordan, O'Leary and Brian Robson I cannot think of many managers who are 'bland'. Certainly not Big Sam, Arry, Wenger, GS, KK, Dowie etc and even the likes of Moyes, Curbs and Hughes who are quieter types usually have excellent and perceptive points to make in a footballing sense. To compare him with Shanks/Paisley is premature in the extreme, he needs to learn how to lose graciously first and to cope with pressure better. Mourhino also needs to suck up to the press big time now. He has made powerful enemies that will see him off pdq as soon as he shows weakness or vulnerability.

U2? Wimbledon? Thats small beer Tris. What about fans of Daniel O'Donnell..................?

Good post. Exactly the point I was making earlier. Not exactly "rocket science" is it, but then Williams is paid £400,000 plus a year so he must be good at something. Obviously his talents do not include pitching in and operating a kticket booth either. I guess that he is far too busy trying to work out how to attract more supporters and not p1ss regular ones off. Difficult innit?

Chelsea, from the best liked manager in the country to the most despised in a few short months! After the legacy of Ranieri Mourhino now is rapidly on the way to being the most hated manager in the country..................... the old RFW will be seething!

Good result tonight. WBA are history but I think Soton are best equipped of the bottom 4 to come with a late surge. Very imp that we beat them at Ewood.

Get on with it then Paul. I too share your disgust. Maybe a life ban from the site is excessive but it is only a mb after all.