Rovers v West Bromwich Albion - Match Report

I've got mixed feelings of disappointment, relief and (slight) optimism after yesterday's game. Before the game I was optimistic about our chances of getting three points given that WBA had their star player, Koumas, unavailable, whilst we almost had a fully fit squad. On reflection after the game, I think that if we can keep playing like we did in the 2nd half we'll be OK this season. I don't want to even try and consider another season of football that we saw in the 1st 45mins. I spent the first 5mins of the match or so trying to work out who was supposed to be playing where. Fair play to Souness, though, if we can't see these baffling selctions / formations coming, what chance have the oppositon managers got? First game at home, opening day of the season, playing a newly promoted team and we put Gresko and Matteo in central midfield, whilst Tugay's on the bench and Flitcroft doesn't even get in the squad. We knew WBA were going to come to Ewood, try and snatch a goal and then hold on for dear life, so was such a defensively-minded Rovers team neccessary? I'd expect something like that against one the top 5 teams, not against a team we should be looking to take 3 points from. In contrast to a woeful 1st half, I thought we had a good 2nd half and kept WBA on the back foot, mainly down to Souness putting Tugay and Dickov on the pitch and giving the team more options going forward. I thought Gray, Ferguson, Short and Yorke were our best players, whilst Emerton and De Pedro struggled to do well. Dickov deserves a mention for getting stuck in straight away and being a constant nuisance for the WBA defence. He isn't going to dribble around defenders and hit a 25 yard screamer into the top corner, but his constant harrassment of the WBA defenders put them under pressure, stopped them from doing anything other than clearing the ball back to a blue and white shirt and won us plenty of possession in the final 3rd of the pich. Short played really well and his determination to get onto the cross for the equaliser was superb - we're really going to miss his enthusiasm when he stops playing for the team. Emerton still hasn't regained the confidence he had at the start of last season (I'm a big fan of his, but I can see why other members of this messageboard are fast losing patience with his performances) and De Pedro looked a little out of sorts. He hit some terrible crosses, but hopefully he'll improve when he gets used to the premiership (if Souness can manage to field a balanced team for more than 45mins on a consistent basis). The ref was terrible and missed some very blatant fouls by their defenders, whilst spending most of the 1st half giving WBA freekicks everytime one of their players fell over or protested about suffering any type of physical contact. The 2nd half chants of "you don't know what you're doing" and "you're not fit to referee" emphasised that I hope. This was maybe a disappointing result given the chance we had to take all 3 points, but there was enough in the 2nd half performances of several players to suggest we can still play some decent football if we want to and Souness stops playing silly buggers with the formation / team selections. Match report written by Percy

Friedel: Looking to be lacking mobility and couldn’t kick it. That can’t be ideal for a footballer. Blameless for the goal and saved Amo’s blushes. 6/10 Gray: Reasonable performance. Got forward well and put in a couple of crosses 6/10 Short: Good, solid, professional performance. Great run for the goal. Clinical finish with his right ear. 8/10 Amoruso: Did well apart from dodgy backpass but failed to score when my money was on him for first goal. Unacceptable. 1/10 Emerton: For God’s sake shoot....! Or cross….! Or take the full-back on….! Laying it off to Short and making a 3-yard sprint towards goal is not a sound attacking ploy! 4/10 Ferguson: A captain’s performance. Lead by example. If someone takes a free-kick very hard in the direction of your left nipple, correct procedure is to duck away like a nancy and I think he showed the lads how you do it beautifully. 6/10 Gresko: Didn’t do much wrong. Didn’t do much right. Didn’t do much. 6/10 Matteo: Must have very bad breath. Every time he breathed on Kanu, the Nwankwo fell over. 5/10 De Pedro: Emo could have a challenger in the Opta stats for most crosses this season. One was within 20 yards of its target too! Did a nice little thingamyjig over on the right wing at one point. 4/10 Yorke: Worked hard!!!!!! 8/10 Stead: Limited to one half shot on the turn from 30 yards (although he might just have been break-dancing when the ball hit him) and crossed for the goal. 5/10 Tugay: Looked determined when he came on and controlled midfield apart from a couple of wayward passes best summed up by the sky sports commentary : “Tugay, the Turkish midfielder, can pass on a sixpence” as the ball sailed out of play 20 yards ahead of and 10 yards above the nearest Rovers player. Maybe his imaginary friend has put some height on during the close season…? (7/10) Dickov: Did all you could ask of him. Challenged hard. Chased everything. Moaned to the ref. Sat on his arse in the area with his arms spread wide. (7/10) Gallagher: Received the ball. Lost the ball. Chased after the bloke with the ball. Not given much time to impress (6/10) Neill: Superb. Brilliant. Vast improvement on last season. (9/10) Player ratings by NuclearSox

For more discussion about the West Brom game, visit our forums.