I was certain that Rovers had made changes, in personnel and attitude, that would pull them from last year’s 15th place to the top 10 where they belong. After watching the weekend match I’m positive no changes have been made. Even after taking the lead 2-1 on the Saints it was only from 20 minutes of good football. The other 50 minutes that had passed where monotonous. Then when they had the lead they fell apart, and when the match was tied they became just unlucky. This match was a microcosm of the whole of last season and what may be the whole of this season.
Brad Freidl remains a strong link in this squad but he is constantly peppered with close range shots. He may be good but he is human. It’s because he is fronted by a most mediocre defense. They left huge gaps for MF and forwards alike to march through the 18. Reyes and Henry could have field day.
The midfield is where Rovers are the strongest. At one time they had one of the most promising midfield’s in England but when it lost it’s most important components the entire team dropped in performance. The inclusion of Brett Emerton is a good start to bringing this team back to where they belong. The 2.2 million bargain from Feynoord has excellent pursuit of the ball. He has an incredible ability to serve up pinpoint crosses or even deliver a shot. He was once mentioned by Wenger as a target and it’s too bad he made his way to Blackburn instead of Highbury.
Again there is a weak link in the forward category. I do like the 150K that was dished out for Paul Dickov. He scored 11 goals for Leceister and got his first against the Saints. The diminutive, energetic and at times quite annoying, forward has a goal scoring sense to be reckoned. He even scored on the Gunners in the final game of last season.
I believe the Rovers are destined to drop a lot of points to draws. They only play well from behind and seem quite shaky with a lead. 1-1 to WBA in the first match of the season is a fine example. I believe the Gunners can jump out to a quick lead and put this one away early, but than again that may be what they have to do!
5 Responses to “Blackburn Rovers- The beginning of the end?”
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August 24th, 2004 at 1:07 pm
If we are in the mood… this match-up has all the makings of a 3rd staight goal fest for the might Arsenal Football Club.
My questions are: Who Starts? Who is on the bench? Pires has got to start at some point?! doesn’t he? Continue playing Cesc? Pennant or
Van Persie…? does either see the pitch?
Very good problems to have… All things point to another record set by us!
August 24th, 2004 at 1:37 pm
For those unaware their midfield lynchpin & captain Barry Ferguson is suspended for this game as a result of the two yellows he got on Saturday.
Please explain why Blackburn belong higher in the table ? For must of my life they have no been a top flight team so as far as I’m concerned they belong in the Old First Division (Coca Cola Championship).
In truth the League doesn’t lie; you are exactly where you deserve to be.
August 24th, 2004 at 3:03 pm
Dickov is always dangerous for sure, but wasn’t his goal against us the result of a Lehmann gaff? I may be wrong.
Either way, I feel sorry for the net. As their defender Michael Gray puts it, “With them, it seems to be a case of “if you score nine, we’ll score ten”.
August 24th, 2004 at 4:31 pm
news flash from the mirror
this is what morinho said, what do you make of it?
JOSE MOURINHO last night shrugged off criticism of his team’s defensive tactics by asking: What has English football won lately?
Chelsea sit joint top of the Premiership with Arsenal after winning the first two games of the Portuguese manager’s brief reign.
But while the reigning champions thrilled the nation with a five-goal salvo on Sunday, Chelsea have eked out two 1-0 wins based on defensive solidity and organisation with a squad worth over ?200million.
It is a comparison Mourinho believes is unfair after only seven weeks in the job and he insisted he wanted his team to play “beautiful” football.
But first he insisted he wanted to win - and he reckoned teams from this country, including Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal and the national side, had not enjoyed international success in recent years simply because they do not defend well enough.
Speaking before tonight’s game with Crystal Palace, he said: “Football people in England should stop and ask yourselves for what reason English football has not been successful abroad.
“Spanish, Italian and Portuguese clubs have all won UEFA competitions but England can’t do it .
“You have to think the reason the English national team has a top manager and top players and goes to the European Championship and World Cup and can’t win.
“England has wonderful football but when you go outside this country they cannot do it.
“Manchester United was the last one when they won the Champions League in 1999.
“Why is that? You have to think about it because it is not normal.
“My philosophy is the philosophy which gave me six titles at Porto in two years. To win.”
When told Wenger also wanted to win, the manager who has lifted the UEFA Cup and Champions League in the past two seasons retorted: “But he couldn’t win the European championship. No?
“My philosophy is to try and win and at the same time try and play good football. If you ask me if I prefer to win 1-0 or 5-0, I have no doubts.
“I want my team to think collectively. When a team thinks collectively, you have a chance.
“If we can play beautiful, I want to play beautiful, I am not stupid. I want the best. I want to win, I want to score goals, I don’t want to concede goals.
“One day I think it will be possible for us to win the Champions League with Chelsea.”
And though Chelsea finished second last season, Mourinho said his side should not be compared with the team Wenger has been nurturing since 1996.
“When I have a boy of seven years of age and when I have a young human being of seven weeks, the boy of seven years can run, jump, speak, communicate, you can see what he is.
“After seven weeks, when I had my daughter and boy, you just take care of them and try to create conditions for the little baby to grow. So you want to compare a team of seven years with the same manager, with the same spine year after year, with a team with 50 per cent new players, a new manager, new everything?
“You should compare the first two months of Mr Wenger in English football with my first two months.”
But Mourinho added: “At the moment there are two teams - one is from the moon and one is from hell but both have six points.”
August 25th, 2004 at 3:33 am
I think I’d first like to point out that Jose Mourinho, whilst he has done a tremendous feat in winning the UEFA Cup and Champions League in successive years (if only Celtic had scored on that silver goal…), is quite possibly the biggest egotistical ASSCLOWN I’ve ever witnessed in modern sports. He spent the whole summer talking $hit about other teams and how he was going to walk all over them, and now when criticism sets in he pleads for us to “give him a chance?” Hey man, don’t tug on Superman’s cape if you don’t want him to turn around and cold-***** ya.
And whilst Paul Dickov is definitely someone to be wary of, I think Blackburn’s halcyon days are fading fast, and the beginning to this season don’t gimme any indication otherwise. Arsenal set a record in a walk. 4-1.
— Geoff