BFTG - Blackburn

[PieEater]

Well it looks like everyone is scared to start a BFTG tread.

I thought we actually looked pretty decent today, the formation looked like 4321 with the midfield 3 being Chabolah Karacan and HRK who actually looked Ok playing centrally. Mackie offered the most threat from the wings, McCleary seemed to have an off day.

Blackburn are a hard team to break down and seem to play for free kicks and nick something from set pieces. Rhodes was embarrassing with the number of comedy dives he made, unfortunately the ref fell for most of them.

We had decent possession but no real threat. Ake looked good at left back (for Obita a card away from a ban) and I thought Karacan had a pretty decent game and was unlucky to be subbed.

The point pretty well keeps us safe but we'd all of liked to win it, this looked like the majority of the team to start next week and you really can't see anything other than a total tonking in store for us.

[Westwood52]

It wasn't all bad & certainly the horrors of Leeds & Wigan seem now well behind us(.But what happened at BPool ?)

That said our total inability to score when presented with close to a dozen half chances summed up our season-particularly when I thought Blackburn at the end were going to nick a goal.

Feds 6 : Once again little to do-distribution could have been a bit sharper.
Gunts 6: Did not threaten as much in opposition half as he usually does-started badly.
Ake 6: Looked comfortable there, but shouldn't quit his day job in midfield.
Pierce 6: Usual-should have scored.
Hector 7: Looked very comfortable all afternoon.
Chalaboa 7: Close to MOM-looked fit and raring to go.
Karra 6 : Put himself in the frame for Wembley-but probably it has come too early for him.
Macca 6: Started really well good 1st half then tailed off 2nd half.
Mackie 7 : MOM
Kanu 5 : Should really have done better with his chance.
Pog 6 : Laborious but worked hard-occasionally comical.

Norwood 5: Once again his early season form has completely gone.
Appiah 6 : Been a laugh if the keepers rebound had gone in !

Ref: Another load of rubbish-we cannot do without them but the current crop are killing the game.

[arthurfondrelli]

Felt like a pre-season game, in the sense that we were wearing an unusual kit and I would rather be at the pub.

Not a bad performance against a half-arsed Blackburn.

Feds: 7 - nothing to do

Gunter: 7 - tried to get forward
Pearce: 6 - did what was needed
Hector: 6 - same as Pearce
Ake: 8 - excellent in first half, looked comfortable

HRK: 6 - meh, not bad
Chalobah: 7 - nice to have him back
Karacan: 6 - good to see him starting again
McCleary: 6 - looked dangerous but lacked end product

Mackie: 7 - most dangerous forward
Pog: 6 - usual Pog

[marlowuk]

TBF Blackburn haven't lost an away game since 7th Feb (1-0 to Watford) and their only other away loss in 2015 was in January to Derby . So their away form is pretty impressive this year.

I thought we played better today than I have seen us play for some months. There was some delightful passing and movement despite the change in positioning and personnel. McCleary operated on the left and did pretty well if not at his best and Mackie was a constant threat on the right. Ake slotted in at LB in place of Obita and, in my opinion, a lot of the improvement in the side is down to the composure, temperament and skill shown by Ake and Chalobah. They are both so comfortable on the ball that the confidence spreads through the other members of the side. Even Pearce was looking to pass the ball rather than just clear it aimlessly and produced a dream of a through ball to set McCleary on his way in the first half.

That we didn't win comfortably was due to goal shyness and poor crossing. We had 15 corners but only 1 or 2 caused any problems at all in the Blackburn defence. In truth, Eastwood was hardly troubled in the Blackburn goal except for one goalmouth scramble that I can remember. Equally Feds was only really called into action to comfortably palm a Blackburn cross over the bar.

I thought Pog was less effective than he has been recently but HRK had a much better game today and was much more involved both in defence and attack. And a mention for Jem who was solid if unspectacular and didn't seem to shirk any challenges after his horrendous injuries.

So who will lead us out on Saturday? Alex or Jem? I suspect Jem will be on the bench and it would seem harsh for Alex not to lead us out as he has captained us through all the previous rounds.

But we are surely safe now on 47 points. Even if Wigan win all their remaining games they can only amass 48 points. Millwall can reach 51 points maximum.

[blueroyals]

Hal was more effective I agree. But it would have been a different story had we played 4-4-2. A midfield 3 gave him freedom, would like to see it tried out more in the last 4 games.

[3points]

Pretty comfortable draw against a team who clearly had one eye on the beach. But they were well organised and tough to break down. Marshall looks a class player, but Rhodes was pretty much a waste of space.

Thought Gunter was back to his worst today. He just doesn't seem to play well unless McCleary plays in front of him. Wished Mackie had played more centrally but looked like Clarke was experimenting with a 4-1-4-1 formation ahead of next Saturday's game. Mccleary's decision making today was poor and thought Karacan was a bit anonymous really. Outshone in central midfield by HRK

Pog does a lot of work outside the box, but is rarely in it. That's the key difference between Pog and Murray. And very few players gamble to get into the box to get onto the end of crosses. We often have one or maybe two to target. It's been the same all season (and last) and hence the lack of goals.

[bcubed]

Well it looks like everyone is scared to start a BFTG tread.

I thought we actually looked pretty decent today, the formation looked like 4321 with the midfield 3 being Chabolah Karacan and HRK who actually looked Ok playing centrally. Mackie offered the most threat from the wings, McCleary seemed to have an off day.

Blackburn are a hard team to break down and seem to play for free kicks and nick something from set pieces. Rhodes was embarrassing with the number of comedy dives he made, unfortunately the ref fell for most of them.

We had decent possession but no real threat. Ake looked good at left back (for Obita a card away from a ban) and I thought Karacan had a pretty decent game and was unlucky to be subbed.

The point pretty well keeps us safe but we'd all of liked to win it, this looked like the majority of the team to start next week and you really can't see anything other than a total tonking in store for us.

Agree with most of this

Think it was more 4 1 4 1 and as someone else said I thought it was a practice formation for Saturday

McCleary on the left <<<<<<< McCleary on the right

HRK looked at his international best - good movement good first touch and some excellent lay offs

Pog was pretty good too with consistently strong challenges and held up play well, but can't seem to time his jump or a final lunge for the ball to finish off chances (you might say this is quite a flaw!)

[wingnut]

Well it looks like everyone is scared to start a BFTG tread.

I thought we actually looked pretty decent today, the formation looked like 4321 with the midfield 3 being Chabolah Karacan and HRK who actually looked Ok playing centrally. Mackie offered the most threat from the wings, McCleary seemed to have an off day.

Blackburn are a hard team to break down and seem to play for free kicks and nick something from set pieces. Rhodes was embarrassing with the number of comedy dives he made, unfortunately the ref fell for most of them.

We had decent possession but no real threat. Ake looked good at left back (for Obita a card away from a ban) and I thought Karacan had a pretty decent game and was unlucky to be subbed.

The point pretty well keeps us safe but we'd all of liked to win it, this looked like the majority of the team to start next week and you really can't see anything other than a total tonking in store for us.

Can't disagree with any of that.

The only thing I'd add is that for all our hard work we carried so little goal-scoring threat, and that's because we had no one in the 18 yard box when we had the ball out wide.

[3points]

Reckon we should sign Jamie Cureton. Then we would always have someone in the box.

More seriously, that was a key difference between Pog and Murray. Murrays work rate was much lower thN Pog's but he was definitely on the end of more balls into the box

[RG7Fan]

Pog does a lot of work outside the box, but is rarely in it.

Exactly this was quoted on BBCRB, I think it was Ady Williams (could have been Dellor) - said he watched Pog as a player rather than watched the game for the first half. My lad joked that you didn't need to spend that long to spot that!

Actually thought we looked ok today. It was never going to be easy, Blackburn have had a good season (better than ours) and have pushed Liverpool to a Cup replay. We were always going to be a bit cautious given next Saturday, but I felt we deserved a win.

[Platypuss]

Qeuite an enjoyable 0-0. Best thing was we were neat and tidy with zero hoofing.

[blueroyals]

Pog does a lot of work outside the box, but is rarely in it.

Exactly this was quoted on BBCRB, I think it was Ady Williams (could have been Dellor) - said he watched Pog as a player rather than watched the game for the first half. My lad joked that you didn't need to spend that long to spot that!

Actually thought we looked ok today. It was never going to be easy, Blackburn have had a good season (better than ours) and have pushed Liverpool to a Cup replay. We were always going to be a bit cautious given next Saturday, but I felt we deserved a win.

And it's something that Steve Clarke agreed with after the game. It's a fundamental flaw and time we got rid of him/stopped playing him.

Pog was pretty good too with consistently strong challenges and held up play well

I wish people would stop with this rubbish. He's a striker - "strong challenges" does not make a strikers performance good. Goals and shots on target do. Pog had neither today. It was a poor performance.

[AthleticoSpizz]

7 for Mackie, worked his butt off.

6's all round for the rest.

Thought Ake did a decent enough job, thought Appiah's cameo showed more enthusiasm to chase down the ball for a goal than what Blackburn would've wanted at that stage of the game...Pearcy looked suspect with one or two of his headed clearance/placements.

One of the slightly better 0-0's (if not a tad boring and predictable in certain passages of the game)

We are safe now

[3points]

I would have like to see Appiah get some time playing up top with Pog. And Mackie should have played through the middle from the start.

[RG7Fan]

Pog does a lot of work outside the box, but is rarely in it.

Exactly this was quoted on BBCRB, I think it was Ady Williams (could have been Dellor) - said he watched Pog as a player rather than watched the game for the first half. My lad joked that you didn't need to spend that long to spot that!

Actually thought we looked ok today. It was never going to be easy, Blackburn have had a good season (better than ours) and have pushed Liverpool to a Cup replay. We were always going to be a bit cautious given next Saturday, but I felt we deserved a win.

And it's something that Steve Clarke agreed with after the game. It's a fundamental flaw and time we got rid of him/stopped playing him.

Pog was pretty good too with consistently strong challenges and held up play well

I wish people would stop with this rubbish. He's a striker - "strong challenges" does not make a strikers performance good. Goals and shots on target do. Pog had neither today. It was a poor performance.

Certainly I think Pog has been a much better player under Clarke than under Adkins (Murray leaving probably helped as well) but he still lacks the killer finish in my view. Alf had it (to a certain extent), but we really are missing a complement of top strikers, although I think Mackie is / can be dangerous up there (certainly recently).

As for next Saturday - who knows. Its a Cup game - 90 mins - anything possible ...

[Nameless]

I wish people would stop with this rubbish. He's a striker - "strong challenges" does not make a strikers performance good. Goals and shots on target do. Pog had neither today. It was a poor performance.

Have to disagree.
He's one member of a team. He contributes to the team and his contributions have improved hugely this year. To simply write those off because he is a striker is crazy. Presumably Ian Harte's goals were irrelevant because he was a defender ?
Obviously we need him to score more, but his all round contribution is also important.
There have been some very high profile examples of strikers who scored few goals but were highly regarded....

[3points]

Its a decent point. People complain about a lack of goals from our strikers, but they haven't had much support from the midfield or defenders. Morrison, Gorkss, Harte, Shorey all contributed goals (and Pearce) in previous seasons. Mcclearys goals have dried up, as have those from HRK.

Midfielders and defenders aren't gambling to get in the box, they are playing with fear and not freedom, and don't want to be caught out of position. You can see when a full back breaks forward, one of the midfielders sits in and covers. While this is great defensive form and helps keep us tighter at the back, it does nothing for our goal scoring.

At the start of this season under Adkins it felt like we were often playing a 4-2-4 formation and without a proper defensive midfielder in the team, and hence we conceded lots of goals. But we also looked more of an attacking threat too. It seems we can't have it both ways with the squad we've currently got.

[ladida_gunner_graham]

Best thing was we were neat and tidy with zero hoofing.

+1 for the hoofing comment, totally agree. Midfield showed for the ball, so the defence could play simple passes and build comfortably from the back. Some decent football today, with almost everyone contributing something. Pearce had his best passing game for a long time. Obita can learn from Ake that simple precise passes are better than lofted, aimless balls which he does a little too often for my liking.

Bournemouth will be a different test, they've something to play for.....but if we can bare some teeth up front, some reason for optimism.

[Snowball]

Enjoyed this one a lot.

For the first half hour I was thinking Karacan-Chalobah for MotM
but Mackie just kept doing it, had a great game and in the end
was clear MotM for me.

Thought Karacan-Chalobah worked very well indeed, and I would play it
again Tuesday. Prefer Jem on this form to Williams, but players coming back
often do well for a game on adrenaline alone.

The two Chelsea players make a huge difference to the side. They are class, calm,
and know that a five yard pass can be just as good as a forty yard diagonal.

Ake at left-back was excellent.

Though Pogrebnyak worked hard I thought his touch was off all of the first
half (nothing stuck) and part of the second.

HRK was solid, McCleary not at the very top of his game.

Feds good, CBs good, Gunter OK.

Appiah as sub was interesting (I would have liked him to get 30 minutes)

He is VERY fast, and we need someone with that kind of speed.

Pog is too deep. If he wants to play as a number 10, who leads the line?

[AthleticoSpizz]

Pretty much a +1