The Rovers Return

Coming soon to a cinema near you.

Lots of positives to be taken from an unfortunate defeat at Anfield, with Rovers more than matching Liverpool for the entire game and deserving at least a point.

I’m told even the BBC were saying we gave a good account of ourselves, so if they’re paying us compliments, we must have done alright.

Rafa Benitez proved yet again what a wanker he is with his throwing his toys out of the pram comments after the match. What Rafa can’t handle is the truth.

Yes, Rovers are physical – and should have had two sendings off with N’Zonzi’s stupid push and Chimbonda kicking out, I can accept and admit that – and indeed we were the more physical of the two sides here, we have to be if we are to get anything from games like this. But Liverpool, this season, are not playing pretty football.

Sam was right. Take a side-by-side look at our trips to Anfield last season and on Sunday and you will notice a not so subtle difference in Liverpool’s play. Rafa, who had he not been on such a ridiculously long and large contract would definitely have been sacked by now, is bitter about that.

I guess Barcelona probably wouldn’t model their style of play on the Scousers’ either. Nor would most managers model their behaviour on Rafa, the bitter bitter fat Spanish waiter.

EDIT: Having seen the Prozone analysis of the match, Sam Allardyce discovered that Rovers’ pass completion rate was 75 per cent, just 0.7 per cent behind that of Liverpool. Also, Rovers spent more time in the attacking third of the pitch than Liverpool. So maybe we weren’t much worse than stylish Liverpool after all?

Back to the game, and both Liverpool’s goals were somewhat fortuitous. Gerrard got the run of the ball for the first and so did Torres for the second, although Robinson’s positioning was questionable for that one.

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This is how mental the snow was (courtesy of The Guardian).

It wasn't just raining goals at Ewood.

Also, forgot to give the promised shout out to the lovely Amanda Allen who took my Dad’s seat for this game.

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Givet celebrates scoring the third.

Great performance. Three goals. Another clean sheet. Another win over Owen Coyle. Pride of Lancashire secured. Oh, and big bluddy snow.

It has to be said, in football, days don’t come much more perfect.

Now, we’re 11 points clear of the bottom three. Officially no longer relegation candidates, barring a total disaster, and sitting pretty on 34 points. The only way is up.

As well as scoring three, this was our third clean sheet in a row at home. Fortress Ewood has definitely become very important to us.

Finally, Kalinic got his goal, and it was a great one. Superb ball over the top from Hoilett (who apart from that looked way out of his depth again) before a lovely knock on by Ped and finished, first time, by Niko.

It wasn’t the first time we had it in the back of the net, though. Pedersen seemed to forget it’s football, not throwball (?) and launched a throw in into the far corner. In the Blackburn End, we couldn’t really tell if it had taken a touch en route or not, and when the referee pointed to the centre circle we all thought it had been given as a goal. But, alas, it had not and we all looked stupid after jumping around.

Despite finding the back of the net three times, we still managed to hit the post in a bit of a goalmouth scramble in the first half. I really would like to see the stats for how many times we have hit the woodwork this season. I guarantee it’s a lot. Read more »

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Ron Manager wouldn't be impressed.

Traditional football. Jumpers for goalposts. Kick off at 3pm, on a Saturday. Isn’t it? Well … Err, no.

Once more, the Ewood faithful has to turn out on a day designed for anything but football to support the Rovers in a game that promises little in the way of entertainment.

It’s a slight improvement on the original date, having moved from Monday night, but Saturday would have been better for the fans.

The club, however, and people need to understand how important this factor is, had to keep in mind the £500,000 they receive from ESPN to screen the match live.

Had the game moved to Saturday and not been on telly, we would have missed out on that cash. This is cash the club has budgeted for and, had they lost out on it, would have to make up somewhere else.

As it stands, we still get that money and all things, financially, are as the board expects.

However, as has been said in the Telegraph, the game not being made a Saturday, 3pm kick off, coupled with the Birmingham game moving to a Wednesday night at the end of March, means our next scheduled home game is now against Manchester United on April 10.

Who said TV’s ruining football? Read more »

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The minute's silence for John Taylor.

Before the game, Big Sam said we would go out and take three points for John Taylor. He delivered his promise.

It was a poignant and sombre occasion. On walking into the ground things seemed somewhat downbeat. Quiet. Eerily quiet.

There was a crowd gathered round Jack Walker’s statue. There usually is, made up of fans that don’t go to every game, or those who’ve come from abroad, taking a quick photo as a souvenir. But this was different.

On closer inspection, fans were gathered round a tribute to John. A fitting tribute. Using our biggest ever fan as the base for a tribute to one who lost his life so tragically.

The minute’s silence was almost beautifully observed, apart from one knobhead Hull fan who started singing part way through. I hope he was thrown out or given a good hiding.

As for the match, Rovers won comfortably. Far more comfortably than the 1-0 scoreline suggests.

It was a cracking goal by Martin Olsson. Really well worked. Nicely held up by Kalinic, who played another blinder despite not managing to register on the scoresheet, before Olsson got through, took it right to the byline and finished well. Whether it came off Myhill or not, he had to do well to keep it on the pitch from that angle! Read more »

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"It's a no from me," said Simon

Tonight’s game against Hull represents a real chance to distance ourselves from the relegation dogfight.

Last night was fantastic for Rovers, despite us not playing:

Fulham 3-0 Burnley

City 2-0 Bolton

Pompey 1-1 Sunderland

Wigan 1-1 Stoke

Before these matches I asked, almost identically, for that set of results. The only thing I would have preferred was a Portsmouth win, but never mind.

Those results mean Rovers are seven points clear of West Ham and Wolves, who occupy 18th and 19th. We’re also six clear of Bolton, five of Burnley and four of Wigan, which adds another centimetre to my wry smile. Read more »

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Chris Samba is sent off ... Again.

A dismal result at the Britannia Stadium that brought Rovers and their fans back to earth with a bang.

There was nothing positive to take from this match, our second 3-0 defeat in a visit to the side we defeated 3-0 in Big Sam’s first game in charge.

Shocking defending for Stoke’s goals. All three. They were pathetic.

Chris Samba harshly booked in the first half for putting his arm around someone, resulting in him being sent off in the second half for a second booking.

An absolutely shocking miss from Di Santo that could have levelled things up. With a tall striker like Franco you expect them to be able to use their head and, with such a straightforward opportunity to hit the back of the net, the Argentine continued to show his desperate lack of finishing quality by heading over.

Big Sam, who I hear got some stick from Rovers fans at the end of the game, carries on talking bullshit to the cameras. When your team has played shit, admit it. Don’t come out and blame the ref. By the time Samba got sent off we were already 2-0 down. Read more »

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Givet's shot was handballed on the line by Mark Noble

Before the game, if given the choice of a 0-0 draw or play the game and hope for the best, I’d probably have taken a draw.

Away at West Ham, a draw is not a bad result, especially given our record down there over the past decade.

However, having watched this one, I can’t help but curse another series of missed chances and bad luck.

It wasn’t pretty, as usual, but it was a good Rovers performance. We defended solidly – Samba and Nelsen as solid as ever – and looked more dangerous than West Ham when going forward.

And when Pedersen’s free kick came back off the bar, it was a real sign of things to come. In the second half, a penalty box melee resulted in Mark Noble handballing a Gael Givet shot on the line, although Martin Atkinson deemed it to be legal, followed by a good stop by Robert Green when the ball was sailing into the top corner and a poor effort from Roberts who, having done fantastically well to shake off his defender and get through on goal, made it easy for the keeper to save. Read more »

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Tomorrow’s  match, at which the Rovers Return will be present, is really crucial.

A win for Rovers at Upton Park – which we haven’t achieved since 93/94 – could potentially push us into the top ten (shock horror!) while West Ham are desperate for points as they are currently level on points with the bottom three and only out of the relegation zone on goal difference.

There’s no McCarthy, thank God. I fear if he played he would be guarantee to burst the net with one!

We’re still missing Dunn, which is a blow, as well as Grella (surprised?) and Jacobsen, but Samba should be back in defence.

Hopefully Kalinic will carry his solid recent form into this one and I hope to see Olsson on the left as well, with Pedersen kept in the centre. Since taking Pedersen off the wing, Allardyce seems to have got the Norwegian to recapture some of the form we were used to a while back!

Reckon Sam will stick with Kalinic up front on his own with a fast attacking midfielder (that’ll be Hoilett again then) just behind. Although I’m not sure what role Basturk could be given…

I’ve just noticed the time and realised I have to set off to London in 10 minutes, so this preview is ending prematurely.

Hope to see you at the ground tomorrow!

Come on you Blues.

PS – Don’t forget to send me your tweet match reports. I’ll post them after the game. Tweet to @DanClough87, email roversreturnbrfc@googlemail.com or just leave it as a comment below, but remember to keep them to just 140 characters!

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