http://www.brfcs.co.uk/mb/index.php?app=blog Community Blog List Syndication Sun, 27 Sep 2009 15:20:46 +0000 admin@brfcs.co.uk (BRFCS.COM) IP.Blog 60

The Roving Eye.......

30th August 2008 - Away to West Ham - Premier League

Well we were really brought down to earth with this result, I didn't want to make a kneejerk reaction so I've waited a while to give my comments on the game.

All in all we were unlucky to lose the game, let alone 4-1.

I was a little surprised to see Grella thrown into the starting lineup, firstly because Mokoena had done quite well so far and secondly because he had barely met the players yet, let alone trained with them.

Grella was booked after about 5 minutes after a poor challenge, he went on to do okay for the rest of the first half before he was subbed, possibly tactical, possibly to stop him getting sent off.

Anyway onto the game, West Ham took the lead after Davenport scored with a header. The majority of fans and pundits put this down to another error from Robinson, now it wasn't the finest pieces of goalkeeping but to me it looked like Samba was marking him and then Nelson joined in, none of them got anywhere near Davenport who then headed past a slightly out of position Robinson. It's hard to know who's mistake it was, did Robinson call for it? If he did then he does have to take a lot of the blame, from what I saw and heard though it didn't look like a call, the defenders have to go for it if they don't get a call. At the end of the day it was an error by someone.

West Ham scored again thanks to Samba slicing it in, was Ashton interfering with play being that close to him? Could have been offside, but probaly not, a poor goal to concede anyway. We got back into it though through Roberts who turned his defender well and finished well with the outside of his boot again after the ball was headed into his path by Grella.

We then lost Roque to what looks like a return of his pre season injury and he was replaced by Derbyshire. Derbyshire immediately had the ball in the back of the net when Samba headed a free kick into his path and Derbs slotted the ball home. The goal was wrongly ruled out for offside and we went into the break 2-1 down when it should have been 2-2.

All in all we did okay first half, the defence looked shakey though and we certainly didn't create a great deal, missing the influence of Dunny, with Emerton and Pedersen not doing a lot on the wings. Steven Reid was his usual below par self. Roque created a half chance when he gave Behrami problems in the box, cutting it back to Roberts who couldn't get a decent shot off, other than that we didn't create a lot.

At halftime we replaced Grella with the much talked about Andrews with Emerton then coming into the middle and Reid going out wide. Soon into the second half Reid took a free kick which was handled by Carlton Cole giving us a definite penalty to the delight of the fans. The delight soon turned to hope when they saw Roberts pick the ball up. His mediocre penalty was saved by Green leaving the score at 2-1 when if a couple of key things had gone our way it could easily have been 3-2 to us.

We created some decent chances at times, Emerton should have scored from a Derbyshire cross, Debyshire himself perhaps could have scored from his one on one albeit a tight angle. Andrews did quite well in midfield to prove some of his doubters wrong initially, it'll be interesting to see if he can maintain his step up. He moved the ball around quite well though and showed a good engine, although nobody stood out in midfield he was one of the better performers. Emerton did okay in the middle but Reid and Pedersen offered little to be quite honest.

One of the bright moments in the second half was Treacey coming on for Pedersen, Treacey showed a willingness to take on players and get some crosss into the box, something we seem to lack from some of our other players.

Robinson didn't have a huge amount to do for most of the game until midway into the second half where he produced two fantastic saves (Two which wasn't repeated on any highlights I saw, the media really do hate Robinson and I beg anyone to prove me otherwise).

The defence was poor, conceding four tells you that straight away, West Ham scored a couple of late ones which flattered them but our defence really had been poor. Sure there were gaps obviously because we were going forward but some of the goals were direct mistakes. Samba sliced one into his own net, then for one of the late goals instead of trying to get back he continually moaned about a free kick decision which they then went to go and score from. Warnock tried a silly turn in his box and got punished. Nelson tried but had his poorest game for a while Ooijer who isn't a right back went missing at times.

In attack Roberts worked as hard as ever but after his penalty miss he really faded from the game, Derbyshire did okay when he came on but no major impact, although his disallowed goal could have changed that. Santa Cruz did okay while on.

All in all I didn't think West Ham were very special and although the score line did flatter them we still lost to them and performed only on par with them at best. Nobody particulary stood out for us, Treacey, Roberts, Andrews, Derbyshire did okay but nothing to write home about.

We now have a break for internationals, hopefully our involved players can come back unscathed, then we can get back to the premier league. Anyone know if Villanueva is off with Chile? Could do with him getting full fit, maybe the match practice might help him.

Ratings (10=Outstanding, 9=Great, 8=Good, 7=Did Well, 6=Okay, 5=Poor, 4=Shocking)

Blackburn Team Performance 5/10

Robinson 6/10
Ooijer 4/10
Nelson 5/10
Samba 4/10
Warnock 4/10
Emerton 5/10
Reid 4/10
Grella 5/10
Pedersen 5/10
Santa Cruz 6/10
Roberts 7/10 (Star man, did well up until his penalty miss.)

Derbyshire 6/10
Andrews 6/10
Treacey 6/10

Scorer: Roberts (Davenport, Samba OG, Bellamy, Cole for West Ham)
]]> Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:07:17 +0000

The Roving Eye.......

27th August 2008 - Away to Grimsby - League Cup 2nd Round

To be quite honest I didn't manage to see the game and have only seen a few highlights so my comments are going to be kept to a minimum.

Obviously a bit of a shock to go behind, I felt perhaps Brown could have done slightly better with the free kick, it seemed to be fairly straight but just caught him off guard, other than that I didn't see enough to note any other negatives.

Plenty of positives coming out though, from all reports Villanueva did well and scored a great goal. Nice to see Derbyshire chipping in with a few goals as well, perhaps pushing him slightly up the pecking order and possibly above McCarthy.

Nice goal by Emerton, I feel though that if we do manage to bring in a right midfielder then his best chance of a regular place in the starting lineup is at right back.

Good to see a few others getting debuts like Judge and Simpson, I'm happy that Ince is willing to give a few of the youngsters a chance.

Good win, dealt with them comfotably after the first minor scare, now we can push on hopefully and get a good home draw in the next round.

Brown
Simpson
Nelson
Khizanishvilli
Treacey
Emerton
Tugay
Mokoena
Pedersen
Villanueva
Derbyshire

Judge
Gallagher
Marshall

Scorers: Villanueva, Derbyshire x 2, Emerton (Newey for Grimsby)]]> Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:41:10 +0000

The Roving Eye.......

23rd August 2008 - Home to Hull City - Premier League

Well after our fantastic start against Everton we were brought back down to earth against Hull. First half we started well and I thought we were on top up until our goal. They obviously immediately equalised and from then on the game went pretty stale. Most of us would have been happy with 4 points from our first two games, however I'm sure we expected the win to be against Hull and the draw against Everton!

So first half I thought we started well, we moved the ball around well and looked to get forward, the majority of positive moves coming from Dunny and then Pedersen at times. Roque seems to be having one of his off days, I'm sure I cursed him by making him captain in my fantasy team, Roberts was working hard as usual. The rest of the team were not really up to much when it came to going forward. Defensively things were okay, Samba and Nelson coped well however Ooijer seemed to drift inside too much and rarely offered anything going forward like he tried to against Everton. Warnock was also having a poor game by his standard, getting caught out now and again but at least he tried to get forward.. Robinson in goal did his job well without having to be outstanding.

Our goal came when Steven Reid played a rare quality ball forward, Hull's offside trap failed and Roberts took it down and finished with style using the outside of his boot. A rare qality finish for Roberts, 1-0 Rovers and everything is looking good!

A few moments later Ooijer is infield at center back talking to Nelson about his suprise that Roberts finished it, meanwhile Garcia trots in towards the backpost unmarked and sends an unstoppable header into the far corner of the net giving Robinson no chance.

So for two weeks in a row we have threw away a lead just before half time, perhaps a sign of concentration?

The second half really wasn't great to watch at all, Dunny went off with what we now know is a knock on his heels and fortunately will only keep him out for a week at most. This however brought on Emerton on to the right midfield with Steven Reid moving inside. This really helped to change Reid's game, he went from doing okay on the right to doing sod all in the center apart from give the ball away. Emerton ran around as usual but no real spark. Pedersen while never playing that well began to fade. Mokoena continued his role in the game, broke up play and just gave it simple, effective but not overly useful, he looked lost whenever he got forward and the balance of the team suffered from it. Roberts continued to bark at the defenders but there was no bite. Roque was a shadow of himself today, a round trip to Pararguay and playing 90 minutes may not wash with some people as an excuse but it surely has to take its toll on you.

Defensively, Robinson did well again whenever called into action, Nelson and Samba were doing alright while both fullbacks just seemed a little offkey.

The main problem is that we never looked like scoring once Dunny came off, he was most of our creative influence in the first half. Tugay came on later on and couldn't create an opening, McCarthy came on as well apparantley although I've yet to see any proof in this rumour.

The longer the game went on the more Hull got behind the ball which you had to expect really, I was surprised Derbyshire wasn't thrown on late in the game as he has popped up with the odd useful goal in the past. Reid and Mokoena certainly isn't a midfield pairing we want to be seeing two often though, not in a game we want to win anyway! We really need to step up at home against these weaker teams, I was a little surprised that despite the winning team it wasn't changed slightly this week. I thought despite his fantastic performance last week Mokoena may come out for either Tugay or perhaps Emerton to try and offer a bit more going forward from the start.

Ratings (10=Outstanding, 9=Great, 8=Good, 7=Did Well, 6=Okay, 5=Poor, 4=Shocking)

Blackburn Team Performance 5/10

Robinson 7/10
Ooijer 4/10
Nelson 6/10
Samba 6/10
Warnock 5/10
Reid 6/10
Dunn 7/10 (Starman despite playing half a game
Mokoena 6/10
Pedersen 6/10
Santa Cruz 5/10
Roberts 6/10

Emerton 6/10
McCarthy 5/10
Tugay 6/10

Scorer: Roberts (Garcia for Hull)

So anyway it was obvious for anyone to see the problems today. Looking on the bright side we have a good week to try and put things right, firstly starting with Grimsby on Wednesday. Although it may not be the strongest opposition (Neither was Hull!), it'll give us a chance for starters to look at Simpson at right back. Ooijer positionally was poor today which is ironic because that's what I was praising him for last week! At center back he is a good player but at right back he is too inconsistent.

Hopefully, fingers crossed we will also get to see Villanueva. Before Roque signed his new contract it was the Villanueva deal that all the Rovers fans had been talking about. We've had mixed views on Ince, majority of transfer dealings and targets, the backroom staff among other things, but we were practically all on board with the Villanueva deal, he really generated a lot of excitement. Now hopefully he has just been getting to match fitness which iw why he wasn't on the bench against Hull. I hope Ince hasn't decided he isn't ready for the premiership! So anyway, hopefully we will see him against Grimsby and he could be the spark, that something different in our midfield that can help unlock teams.

So how else can we put things right over the next month? The transfer window of course. I believe first things first we still need out replacement for Bentley. We need someone there with some quality, someone who can put some great passes and crosses over, or someone who can take on players and get past them, ideally both of those things! A fair few names have been thrown around, the english trio of SWP, Lennon and Pennant all of which people have a differing opinion on would all improve on what we have there at the moment. Reid did okay at Everton and Hull but its not the greatest of opposition. He's been poor for a while and although he does better out there than in the center it definitely is not the solution. The same goes for Everton, he wasn't that great on the right of midfield originally, then he moved to right back for over a year and is completley unused to playing there again.

The big name mentioned is Joaquin, it seems that the facts are quite simple, Valencia need some cash and have to unload some of their assets. We need a right midfielder. The problems with the deal are that we never want to pay over the odds for a player and the fact that Joaquin isn't too keen on leaving spain, especially for us! He has been out of form though, it would be a great signal of intent in some ways to bring him in, he could be an exciting player for us but in my opinion anything over £6 million or so is going to be too much of a gamble. £10 million or so could be suicide.

I know we need to bring in someone, it remains to be seen who.

Other than that anything else would be a bonus in my opinion, Keith Andrews will surely come in before the window closes after all the fuss which I'm fine with, he can't be worse than Steven Reid because it isn't humanly possible and he will probably offer more going forward than Mokoena so already he's ahead of those two against weaker opposition.

Strikers have been mentioned which isn't a bad idea, McCarthy doesn't seem interested what so ever and is overweight, I would honestly rather have Fowler right now. At least he showed the hunger to play for free on trial for about 6 weeks trying to earn a contract. All McCarthy has done for the last 6 weeks is eat pies. So basically if Roque, heaven forbid, was to get injured it would leave us with Roberts, McCarthy, Derbyshire and possibly Fowler. Rigters is out on loan and Gally will probably go out too. Roberts works hard but is no goal machine, Derbyshire is still a bit unproven to be starting regularly but may just need a run in the team. After those two we are stuck with can't run and won't run though so another striker definitely isn't a bad option, get McCarthy out while he can still command a fee.]]> Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:24:41 +0000

The Roving Eye.......

Roque Santa Cruz extends his contract 22/08/2008

Well today's news was music to all Rovers fans ears. We've heard today that Roque has signed a new 4 year contract with the club, keeping him at the club until 2012 when he'll be 31.

This really is the best signing we have made this summer and are likely to make, it puts to bed all of the speculation about him leaving. I'm not sure if there ever was that serious an interest, Villa reportedly were interested but were never likely to match the valuation, RFW came to watch him recentley but up until then has not really shown an interest then of course there ws the Man City saga who even if they had the money in the first place only put in a derogatory offer.

Of course this by no means guarantees he is going to be here in 4 years time as contracts don't mean a great deal these days, but we at least look set to keep him for another year or so at least.

This is a great signal of intent by firstly Roque who is obvously showing a love for the club by wanting to stay and also by Ince and the chairmen stressing that we are going to keep our best players whenever possible. It also sets a fantastic precedent for other players who may be thinking about leaving, it will certainly make them think twice and that perhaps their future may be at Rovers if players with the quality of Santa Cruz are staying.

It was great to see Roque get on the scoresheet last week because we definitely didn't want him to go long without a goal otherwise the media would soon be talking about second season syndrome.

With Roque staying and more players to come in as Ince suggests it is definitely shaping up to be an exciting season, roll on Hull, come on Rovers!!

]]> Fri, 22 Aug 2008 19:06:53 +0000

The Roving Eye.......

Preview of Hull City Game

So first up at home for us this season is the newly promoted Hull City in their first ever season in the top flight.

Everyone has immediately tipped these boys for the drop as soon as they won the playoffs but lets be honest they surprised a few people last week with their opening day victory, not just with the result but with a decent performance too. In all honesty though apart from a few such as Geovanni they lack any real quality. Their main aim will be to chase every ball down, work hard and get bodies behind the ball, looking to maybe nick a goal of a counter attack or a set piece.

It looks as though Emerton has recovered with Vogel and Olsson missing out due to injuries according to the team news so our squad is about as a strong as the Everton game more or less. I wouldn't expect us to make any signings before tomorrow's game, even if we do they would probably have to settle for a place on the bench at best.

I don't want to curse us but if we play half as well as we did against Everton then we should come away with a comfortable victory by a couple of goals, maybe even 3. Ince has hinted that he may indeed make changes even though it was a winning side, depending on what he sees in training this week. Personally I can't see a lot of changes, the same backfour and strikeforce. The midfield I would expect to line up the same apart from perhaps Emerton in for Reid as Reid was doubtful at one stage for the Ireland game in midweek, it may be too much for him to play again on the weekend.

Other than that we may see an appearance for the newboy, Villanueva, I wouldn't expect him to start but against a weaker team at home there surely isn't a better time to introduce him to the fans. I hope he gets at least 20 minutes or so to give us a glimpse of what he can do. If Ince want to go for a more creative option at home I thought he may perhaps swap Tugay for Mokoena but when you think of Mokoena's performance last game and the fact that he allowed others to get forward I think it's hard to see him losing his place.

Should hopefully be a comfortable day for the defence, I don't think Robbo will have a lot to do, so lets just hope he is alert and concentrating if he is indeed called into action.

We all know Roberts will be a handful for their defence allowing Roque to find some space and hopefully get on the score sheet again. You might well see Pedersen pushing slightly further forward as well looking for a goal.

All in all I'm very excited about the game, I don't want to sound too optomistic but it would be great if everything clicked and we gave them a drubbing!]]> Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:02:31 +0000

The Roving Eye.......

16th August 2008 - Away to Everton - Premier League

So today the season kicked off and what a start, 3-2 away to Everton.

A lot was made by the media before the game with their injuries. Let's be honest though there starting eleven was not far away from their strongest eleven, it was mainly the bench that was weak.

Have to say I was very happy with the performance today and the result goes without saying.

The first half we dominated, really should have made the pressure count to go in 2-0 at the break, unfortunately we didn't and a late set piece meant we went in all square. Dunny showed great technique to send the defender the wrong way working it on to his left foot and finished it with a great left footed strike giving the goalkeeper no chance.

Defensively we looked strong, I thought Ooijer was outstanding reading the game, his mental strengths really make up for his lack of pace, he looked especially composed on the ball. Samba had his hands full with the impressive Yakubu but I thought he coped well, Nelson and Warnock were their usual efficient selves.

The midfield looked strong too, Dunny looked to get forward and moved the ball around well. Reid out on the right was keen to get down the wings and put in one of his better perfomances in recent times. Pedersen showed glimpses on the left of his old self. The real star was perhaps Mokoena who broke up a few tackles and used the ball simply and effectively. The Axe played to his strengths in a defensive midfield role and was pretty effective.

Up front Roberts worked hard chasing lost causes, both strikes tracked back well, Roque didn't have a lot of chances early on but did well when needed.

Everton rarely threatened until the late set piece, it wasn't quite the blunder that some people made out but any keeper hates to be beaten at his near post and Robinson should probably have done better. Before that he had made a couple of decent, if somewhat expected saves.

We looked a bit shell shocked at the start of the second half, the ball was played in behind Ooijer who didn't quite have the pace to get back to block the cross which was met by an umarked Yakubu who couldn't miss from a few yards out.

We quickly replied though, a bit of route one stuff but none the less a great ball from Warnock, brought out of the sky by Roque who finished it well to make it 2-2.

Everton came in to it a lot more the second half and the game was more or less even. Yakubu I thought caused a lot of problems again with his strength but Samba and Nelson coped well. Warnock again tried to get forward whenever possible. Dunny faded out of the game a bit as the game went on and despite having a good game perhaps should have been replaced 5 minutes or so earlier. The midfield continued to battle well with the Axe working well again. Roberts and Roque worked their socks off second half to put pressure on the defenders and linked well at times with Pedersen and Reid looking to provide width and switch the ball at times.

Late on Everton brought on their young sub Jose Baxter who looked lively, Robinson got completley caught in no mans land and the youngster should have broken his second Everton record of the day, fortunately for us it was not to be the case.

Then madness happend in the 90th minute, with Pedersen and Dunn departed it was left to Warnock to take a free kick midway in the Everton half, Nelson rose the highest and nearly got his first goal for the club but was denied by Howard, only for Andre Ooijer to smash in rebound and give all the points to Rovers!

All in all it was a great performance, we played good football and were the better team for the majority of the game. Goodison is not one of the easiest places to come to get a result. I honestly thought everyone did well and nobody really stood out as having a shocker of a game. Robinson was perhaps at fault once or twice but his confidence will come. McCarthy was unimpressive in his short outing while the other subs didn't have time to make an impact, nice to see Ince at least giving the youngster a chance though. Shame we didn't get a glimpse of King Carlos.

So Ince has got us off to a great start and hopefully some people will start to get off his back now. As I have said many a time over the last few weeks, judge him on results, right now he has a 100% winning record. In all honesty there was only really positives to take from the game.

Ratings (10=Outstanding, 9=Great, 8=Good, 7=Did Well, 6=Okay, 5=Poor, 4=Shocking)

Blackburn Team Performance 8/10

Robinson 6/10
Ooijer 7/10
Nelson 7/10
Samba 8/10
Warnock 7/10
Reid 7/10
Dunn 8/10
Mokoena 8/10 (Star Man, largely due to the unexpectedness of his performance.)
Pedersen 7/10
Santa Cruz 8/10
Roberts 7/10

McCarthy 5/10
Treacey N/A
Tugay N/A

Scorers: Dunn, Santa Cruz, Ooijer (Cahill, Yakubu for Everton)]]> Sat, 16 Aug 2008 23:03:58 +0000
Rovers started the game clearly on the right foot, and they set the theme to last all the way till the half time break. The passing was tight and sharp, and build up and run ups looking confident and overall just an impressive display. Reid on the wing was surprising and had me almost worried at first, but I was extremely impressed wth the way he was able to control the flow of the play and the accuracy of some of his balls in, especially at a quick pace. Roque had some early chances that just didnt work out and it took a throw right into the deep end to get Robbo awake and into the game with him forced into action early in the 4th min. The corners looked a little better but still leave a little to be desired, perhaps a little more organization and definition. With Rovers comfortably dominating possession, Dunn goal came as a huge morale boost; a deserved reward to the play seen up till that point. The shot was well set up, as well as finished, def a goal that'll be seen on highlights for a while. On the verge of halftime, that goal Everton scored was not only against the run of play, but extremely lucky.

And that Lucky boost carried over into the second half. I was thinking during halftime that Rovers might regret not putting a second goal in to put the game away in the first half, and the first 10-12 min of the second half had me worried Everton would strike to finish us. As play started to settle, and a corner or two, Everton took off on a break that look right out of the training ground. The cross was perfect and the finish matched and there was not much we could do about it. But Warnock, partially responsible for the goal on the break, made up for it in the best way. A pin placed, perfect pass (alliteration much? )to RSC led to him slotting the ball home, leveling the scoreline and bringing some hope back into the hearts of Rovers fans. Play flowed and moved, both sides buildig up but no real threat until the 16 year old Baxter was on the receiving end of a cross from Jagielka. Robbo made a choice early to come and try and meet it, Baxter beat him there but, luckily for us, put it over the bar. Then, in the most dramatic of ways, a free kick played in by Warnock is met with the head of the Admiral. He beats the keeper but not the post however the rebound falls to our dutch striker stopper and he finished remarkably. Not a moment soon to be forgotten I think.


I think the flowing and attacking style of play Rovers played today was great, really something fantastic. Their overall passing game was just a step or four up from the short tiny passes or long balls we were all used to seeing. Everton was not at the strongest today, admittedly, but this confidence boost and first step forward will hopefully spur the club on to keep attacking, scoring and winning.]]> Sat, 16 Aug 2008 17:48:56 +0000

The Roving Eye.......

So the season is upon us so I thought I'd write about my thoughts on the pre season, the manager and basically everything else going on. Probably going to

have a lot to talk about so feel free to comment. I'll be susprised if anyone can be bothered to read it all but if anyone does I'd appreciate their

thoughts.


1. The Manager

We have recently appointed our new manager in Paul Ince, a guy that has had success lower down the leagues but is currently unproven at premiership level.

He's not the first though, in recent times there has been Southgate, Grant and if you cast your mind back there was Arsene Wenger who was a relative unknown.


Alex Ferguson himself was unproven at premiership level, sure he had success in Scotland but that doesn't always guarantee success in England.

It's fair to say Ince wasn't everyone's first choice, I would say on this board its about an even split at the moment with who are happy with him and who are

not. A lot of people seem to be unhappy with him coming from the lower leagues, I think to myself why didn't he fast track himself straight to the

premiership in the first place and then maybe he wouldn't be met with so much negativity. It seems to me that by trying to do things the right way by

starting at the bottom and working your way up he is being unfairly criticised for it. People like Southgate and Coleman among others have come in right at

the top and don't seem to have such a negative backing.


I'm happy to admit that my first choice was Slaven Bilic, my second choice was simply not Steve Mclaren or Sam Allardyce so when Ince was appointed I was

happy. I'm optomistic about him, I think it's good to have a young hungry english manager who can hopefully take this club forward. I for one will at least

be willing to give him the chance, until he's done something wrong or the results aren't coming then sure I'll join in the negativity but not before the pre

season starts.


So what in the eyes of others has he done wrong? Well I'm going to summarise a few of them, now I'm not trying to defend Ince on everything he does but

just offer my opinion on why perhaps he hasn't done a lot wrong.


1.a Backroom Staff

So he's brought in the likes of Ray Mathias and a few others from MK Dons. A lot of people are unhappy about this because they are not used to working with

premiership players, I agree to a point, in an ideal world it would have been great to have top quality backroom staff all over the place but it's not always

possible.


Firstly, Hughes took half of the backroom staff with him to City meaning when Ince took over he was more or less on his own. So let's put that in

perspective, he is new to the premiership and there is around 6-7 weeks before the season starts, he is going to need a lot of help in the backroom to get

things ready for the new season. Everyone else has a headstart on him because they have either been at their clubs for a while or at least in cases like Man

City they have a manager who is used to the premiership and managed a similiar level club before them.


So with that in mind, Ince needs to act quickly and get the staff into help him, he doesn't have a lot of time to start interviewing coaches, staff,

assistant manager. That could take a couple of weeks, in the meantime he is trying to run things by himself! So he does what every manager does, he brings

in people he has worked with before and people he trusts. There is no point bringing in staff if you don't trust their opinion.


He's worked with Mathias and co, they are on the same wavelength and can work as a team to try and bring things forward. He's brought in Winterburn as a

defensive coach which is a fairly original idea and is a good idea, Winterburn was part of one of the best defenses in history. He brought in Eric Steele who

is regarded as one of the best goalkeeping coaches around, unfortunately it's hard to keep hold of people when Man Utd come sniffing. However he has now

brought in a crowd favourite with a good reputation in Bobby Mimms. So it's not like he is bringing in all lower league staff, he just needed people quickly

and people he could trust.


1.b Transfers

Bentley: Now perhaps not many but some have even blamed him for Bentley leaving, anyone that knows anything realises Bentley wanted to go for a long time

before Ince got there. For one this deal was probably out of his hands and at least he did well to get close to £17 million for him.


Friedel: Friedel moved because he was offered a fantastic contract that we couldn't match, Friedel said he was excited about working with Ince and looking

forward to the new season and then went back on his word. Friedel has been a fantastic servant to the club and I'll always be thankful to that but it was

more or less Friedel's decison to go once the offer was on the table.


Villanueva: For a small loan fee of approximately £500,000 Ince has got his hands on a very exciting player, at least from what we've seen on Youtube! From

the looks of him he could be one of the most entertaining players we have had in a long time, I struggle to think of anyone we have had in my lifetime who

could dribble like it looks like he can! For £4 million which is a relatively low fee these days we can sign him up for another 3 years and if he proves to

be a flop we can simply send him on his way at the end of the season with no harm done. That's got to be good business.


Robinson: Who could replace Brad? You're looking at a list of probably ten or so, I'm pretty sure that Buffon, Casillas, Cech, Van Der Sar and co were out of

our budget. We were never going to sign anyone to replace Friedel. What Ince has done though is bring in a regular England international with a vast amount

of premiership experience who has played at the highest level. Now he's been struggling for form and confidence over 12 months or so but that's where the

manager comes in, if he can get the best out of Robinson with the help of Mimms then it could prove to be a real bargain.


Simpson: Ince said a right back was top priority. He's brought one in, that's the short story of it. Firstly I don't think its easy to find quality right

backs at the moment, there are not a great deal around, MON paid £6 million for Luke Young, Ince would have probably been slated if he spent that much on

such a player. People have expressed negativity because it's only a loan signing, but hey at least it's a start, Bentley was originally only a loan signing

which turned out alright. Man Utd fans highly rate him which is probably why RFW didn't want to sell, a lot can change in 12 months though. This lad looks a

bright prospect who possesses a lot of pace, something our defence has lacked in recent times.


Fowler: At the time of writing Fowler hasn't officially signed but it's more or less a done deal. I honestly don't know another free transfer signing that

has caused so much contraversy. Now I'm not going to pretend I'm excited about seeing Fowler play, mainly because he hardly will. With seven substitutes

next season then it will only take a couple of injuries before were getting close to the bare 18. Fowler is going to be 5th choice striker, something most

strikers would not be happy with. He is likely to be mainly on a performance based contract and people like Derbyshire have already expressed a delight in

working and learning from him. If Fowler scores one goal for us it'll be (whatever small amount of wages he is on) money well spent. If he doesn't then I

don't see the big deal as it's a free signing. I just really don't see the big deal about signing a 5th choice backup player on a free transfer.


1.c Transfer Rumours

There has been so much negativity regarding Ince for player he hasn't bought and players he hasn't sold. A lot of which comes from players we have simply

looked at, we haven't even made bids for half of them. Here are a few of them that stand out. What people need to understand is that we have some good

players and its a certainty that other clubs are going to be interested in them, the important thing is that they are still there. The only thing that

surprises me is that there hasn't been more interest in some of our top players.


Roque Santa Cruz: People are moaning about if Ince sells Santa Cruz its curtains for us and what the hell is he thinking if he lets Santa Cruz go. The bottom

line is Ince has confirmed he wants to keep him and Roque himself has confirmed he wants to stay. Blackburn have rejected a derogatory bid from City for

him. That should be the end of it, Roque wants to stay, Ince wants to keep him, that can only be good news from the manager.


Stephen Warnock: Another one met with a lot of negativity similiar to Santa Cruz, again we have rejected several bids, Ince has confirmed he wants to

keep him and Warnock has publicly denied handing in a transfer request. Those are the facts, end of.


Castillo: People were raving about this guy despite never having seen him play, nobody could understand why Ince wasn't signing him. Since then he

had a trial and went back home with no other clubs interested in him, all the hype about him has now died down and we didn't waste millions on a player that
Ince simply decided wasn't good enough.


Anthony Annan: Another player people have raved about despite never/hardly seen him play. We had him on trial and he impressed the club, not

enough for the amount his club wanted for him though. Sure there have been reports of other clubs interested, Racing Santander made a bid which is now

apparantley null and void. Other than that clubs have simply shown an interest in him, no firm bids, if he was that good and at the right price why isn't

everyone making bids left right and center for him? The facts are Blackburn are still in with as much chance of signing him as anyone else if Ince decides

other targets are not available. Again he hasn't made any rash decisions on him.


Keith Bloody Andrews: I don't know where to start with this guy, it seems Ince wants to sign him but not at the price MK Dons are looking for. Okay so

he has played in the lower leagues, however mainly in the championship which people seem to forget. He himself admits that he made mistakes as a young

player and has since learnt from them. Now I don't think Andrews would be a particular good signing but as a squad player he may not be that bad at a price

of around £1 million which is what I guess Ince is hoping to play. Ince knows this player better than any of us. Besides some of our players on current form

like Mokoena and Reid should be playing in lower leagues themselves, Andrews can't be a lot worse than them. I wish this rumour was over with and at least

if we signed him then people would at least have a reason to slate Ince, not simply because were interested in him which is the current scenario.


Again there have been numerous others that have either been rumoured with going or rumoured to have been looked at, players such as Sable, Zigic,

Pennant among many others. Fans have jumped on Ince for more or less every one either with why the hell is he looking at him or why the hell isn't he signing him?

Half of the players we have looked at were just that, looking at them. You don't sign a player without looking at them, ultimately we have signed none of

them as of yet meaning that they were not good enough, how can a manager be slated simply for looking at someone. I guess half of us know all of the

qualities/weaknesses of every player we have looked at, well at least seem to know a lot more than Ince.


1.d Player Reaction

So there was a report about some of the players not being entirely happy with Ince. I myself think they are probably making mountains out of molehills. I'm

sure there were a few unhappy with the training etc, surely that's always going to be the case with the new manager. You often here about problems on the

training ground at other clubs without such a big song and dance being made of it. That seems to have died down a bit now so like I said, maybe there was a

bit of unrest but to me it just sounds like teething problems.


Since then players such as Dunn, Derbyshire, Simpson, Santa Cruz have expessed positive vibes about the club and the manager so maybe it was just a

case of getting used to a new style of training or his sense of humour or something. There have been just as many positive reactions if not more as negative

reactions so I think although there may have been some truth to it, its more a case of the media putting a spin on some things. I myself believe it was

something said by Bentley, who was quoted in the article, who has had nothing positive to mention about the club since he left.

There have been a lot of negative things wrote about the club and the manager, fans have even expessed unhappiness at how Ince has spoke to the press. I

really couldn't care less how he speaks to the press, what they think of him or what they write about him. All I care about is how the players perform on the

pitch which is ultimately what Ince is responsible for. Judge Paul Ince by results.


2. Pre Season

A lot of people have made a big deal about pre season, I honestly don't know what the fuss is about, to me it's just a way for the players to get to fitness

and the new manager to have a look at a few players in different positions, different combinations, different formations etc. The performances may have a

slight importance but the results really don't mean anything.

The only worrying thing I would say is that I think I'm right in saying we didn't keep a clean sheet in pre season. It would have been nice to have got one,

give Robinson a confidence boost but lets be honest, we never once fielded our first choice defence so I don't think that's going to have any major bearing

on things.


The positives from pre season seem to be Pedersen who really shone in some games as well as Dunny I thought. These two look to have stepped things up

so far and hopefully they can take this into the competitive games. It's good to see the likes of Treacey and Judge getting a fair amount of playing time in pre

season, they both did pretty well so hopefully we'll see these guys a bit more frequently this season. The new signings of Robinson and Simpson looked good

in the small amount of time we saw of them. There was a bit of debate about a Robinson 'blunder' it seems now that perhaps it was a badly worded article

and he made some decent saves in some of the games. Simpson in his run out looked to show a lot of energy and could well be a good bit of business for us.


Negatives for me were McCarthy and Steven Reid. McCarthy looks dis interested and about as fit as Fowler, he has great ability but he needs to up his

workrate. I understood it last season after his dream move to Chelsea never materialised and he perhaps lost a bit of determination and ultimately suffered

for it. I hope that this season he can prove a few people wrong and get back to his first season with us, judging on pre season it isn't looking great but

then as I said, pre season games don't have a huge bearing on things for me so we'll wait and see. Ever since Reid's injuries he hasn't looked the same, he's

probably our most physical midfielder, but techincally he has looked poor. His passing at times was decent, at others it was a liability. The only other

negative for me was that it was unfortunate we didn't get to have a look at King Carlos.


3. The Squad


3.a Goalkeepers

As I've discussed we were never going to replace Friedel with someone as good but I feel we've done as well as we could have in Robinson. If he can get

back to his old form he is a fantasic goalkeeper. If the fans get behind him and the defence do their jobs he could be one of our best performers this year. We

still haven't seen Brown in the premiership other than a short appearance so its hard to know what to make of him, when he has featured for the reserves or

in friendlies though he's looked capable of being a good backup keeper. Then there are a fair amount of young keepers at the club, all of whom at some point

have been tipped as having good potential, sure they won't all make it but its good to know there are some keepers at the club for the future.


3.b Defenders

Well with Simpson coming in the defence has been strengthened this year as the rest of them are still there. I believe that Samba, Nelson, Ooijer and

Warnock are top players, although Samba is partial to making the odd blunder or giving away penalties! As long as these guys stay injury free and Simpson gels well

with them we have a decent defence. Ooijer did fantasically well when he played last year so it'll be interesting to see just who lines up in defence.

Warnock being our first choice left back and Nelson being captain puts them in as certainties. I myself would expect Samba to play as well, meaning its

probably between Ooijer and Simpson for right back. With Ince saying he wanted a specialist right back though it looks like it will be Simpson with Ooijer as

first choice backup. In reserve we have Khizanishvilli who has looked decent for us as well as the promising Olsson. I just hope the Mokoena experiment in

defence during pre season showed Ince not to try it again!


3.c Midfielders
This looks to be the place we are most likely to strengthen before the end of the window, we've lost Bentley and brought in Villanueva, numbers wise were

the same but Villanueva plays in a different position. Tugay while still fantastic on the ball is another year older and will be used sparingly. The decison to

give Dunn the vice captaincy looks like he will play the majority of games. Pedersen as I mentioned has done well in pre season and can hopefully get back

to his old form. The loss of Bentley could prove a blessing in disguise if Pedersen can step up. Reid has looked poor and hopefully we can sign better than the

likes of him. I'm not sure if Vogel is fancied by the manager as he didn't feature a great deal in pre season, not sure if he is quite up to this level

anyway from the few games I saw him in last season.


It'll be interesting to see where Villanueva plays this year, he seems to be an attacking midfielder who likes to play in the center who can also play out on

the left. I guess Pedersen is likely to maintain that position so whether or not Villanueva can play in a 4 man midfield I'm not sure. I guess the most

likely option is to play him just behind Santa Cruz in a 5 man midfield but with him unproven at this level we may well need 2 men up front. In a 4 man

midfield you would surely need someone with a fair bit of steel in the middle, perhaps Emerton? Emerton though at the moment looks lined up for the right,

other possible candidates are Derbyshire who looks out of position there and Judge who again is unproven.


It'll be exciting to see the likes of Treacey and Judge getting a chance hopefully this season to see if they can step up to the higher level, Judge for me

looks like a hard worker and is very promising.


3.d Strikers

Well hopefully Fowler can be a regular and get us 20 goals or so this year...... Ok I can't back that one up haha! Anyway in Santa Cruz we have one of our

best strikers for a long time. Hopefully he won't suffer from second season syndrom and can prove to be a real force again, he is vital to any european

ambitions we have.


Alongside him there are plenty of options, not nessicarily great options though! McCarthy looks a shadow of him former self, hopefully he can get the kick up

the backside he needs and could prove a great foil for Santa Cruz if he can get anywhere near his first season form. Roberts works very hard and chases the

defence down but he is no goal scorer and for someone with his physical prescence isn't that good in the air, he's almost a poor man's Heskey. Derbyshire

has been hinted to feature for Ince this year but reading into it I think it will be more of a impact player off the bench or even out wide, whether or not he

can have much of an impact like this remains to be seen. Inside the box to me he looks like a good instinctive finisher, hopefully he can learn perhaps of

Fowler in training and step up a bit this year. Fowler himself I don't expect to see very often except if we have injuries or maybe coming on for a defender

in the lst 5 minutes searching for a goal.


The most exciting option as I mentioned before would be Villanueva but whether or not he is ready to be a key point of the strike force I don't know yet. If

he isn't physically up to the premiership then it will put a lot of pressure on Roque to get the goals.


3.e Improvements

Defensively we look as strong as last year, if not stronger with the addition of Simpson. In midfield we seem to be lacking, we have lost the creativity of

Bentley who provided a lot of chances and goals, we also seem to lack steel in the middle other than the Axe who technically is lacking. Midfield is what we

need to strengthen more than anything else. I'm still hoping we can sign a quality midfielder or two before the end of the transfer window, I would expect at

least one. Depending on the formation Ince uses we may well need a quality striker to play along side Santa Cruz, if he gets the best out of McCarthy then he

could well save the money and use it on other areas.


4. Season Prospects

It's going to be an interesting season, I don't buy what some of the pundits and so called experts are predicting and that we could be involved in a

relegation battle. We have far too much quality to be involved with the likes of Hull, Stoke, West Brom, Bolton and Fulham. We still have a much stronger

team than the likes of West Ham, Wigan and Middlesborough. I still see us getting a minimum of 11th or 12th place with the squad we have now. A few good

signings especially some quality in midfield could see us easily finishing in a similiar position to last season. The likes of Villa,Tottenham and Portsmouth

spending big will make or break our season. These are the teams we will need to compete with if we want to get into the european places. If things don't

quite click then these teams will comfortably finish above us with the likes of City and Everton being either side of us as well.

My gut feeling is that Ince will prove to be a shrewd appointment, he's taking his time over transfers and I think he will pull off at least one more quality

signing and we will be battling it out with the top 8, a great season for us would be 6th, a bad season would be 12th. I can't see us finishing above or

below that this year so we'll wait and see.


Away to Everton is not usually an easy fixture but with their injury problems and no additions to their squad together with the loss of Carsley and Johnson

means there is no better time to play them. I see us getting off to a good start with a 2-1 away win, Roque and Dunny chipping in with the goals.

I really can't wait for the season to start and am very optomistic about the season ahead of us. As I've mentioned in this blog and numerous times on the

board, I urge you all to get behind the manager and the team, support your club! Judge Ince on results not on the gossip you read in the papers!


Arte Et Labore]]> Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:54:16 +0000 Paul Robinson will need to rebuild himself and what coach/ player can do that better than Friedel. If this is the case Paul will be a complete Goalkeeper in a year or two ready to replace Brad in the nets and poss fighting for the England top again. What do you all think.
Long may Brad Friedels days with Rovers reign]]> Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:10:40 +0000
Oh wait….
….there’s nothing.

Well, nothing solid I should say. There’s always the tabloids who claim that our best players will be leaving the club for next to no money, because why would Rovers ever have a player worthy of a high transfer fee. We only have one of the best wingers in the Premiership and one of the highest scoring strikers of the last term. Both of who are already sold to Spurs and linked to Le Arse. All said and done though, that’s the same with our best players every summer, but I still get annoyed with it.

There hasn’t been much transfer gossip about who we will be trying to bring in, but it is reported that Chelsea’s backup keeper Carlo Cudicini is set to be Ince’s first signing. Dumb. Why would we sign someone just as old as Big Brad? I don’t get it. Either way, there hasn’t been anything solid yet on the incoming front and it has to be said that the manager hasn’t even met all of the team yet, so expect any of our moves to till the latter stages of the summer period.

The one positive thing(if you can call it that) is a possible new potential buyer for the club. It was reported in The People on Sunday that businessman Nabeel Chowdery was interested in looking into buying the club. He was quoted as saying that the club was worth about £40million; and while though I don’t know what that really means in actual terms of worth, I know it falls short of the £50 million minimum that it was reported the trustees were looking for.]]> Sat, 05 Jul 2008 14:57:55 +0000