| Blackburn Reflection 17:41 - Feb 14 with 17987 views | bluenwhite10 |
A really bad performance against a really poor side.
Started well and played some lovely football for the 1st 10-15 mins, maybe overplayed a bit for the perfect goal, but unfortunately it is a 90mins games and the rest was poor.
All the goals came from mistakes and poor goals to let in.
Saito, Dunne, very poor, with Bennie looking maybe unfairly out of his depth, but the injury crisis dictates the options and the line up and the changes as the bench looked weak today.
Ending up with a midfield 4 of Vale, Smyth, Morgan, Saito is not going to win you games but it is what it is.
Surprised Stephen did not change it earlier, by bringing in Kolli earlier and go for 2 up to top.
Smyth needs to stop giving away cheap fouls.
Another strange one today was against Coventry when they had a corner we kept 3 up, but when we went 3-1 down we brought everybody back which baffled me a bit
In summary poor performance and a missed opportunity to push for the play offs against a really poor side.
Hope Madsen injury is not serious as that will be a massive miss as most good things go through him.
MOM …can’t honestly pick one.
Up the R’s |  | | |  |
| Blackburn Reflection on 08:45 - Feb 15 with 1786 views | dmm |
It's the wild inconsistency that gets me. Two weeks ago we played well and beat the top team. Yesterday we were dreadful and lost to one of the worst teams in the league.
It's been a season of ups and downs - more so than usual - and I don't see it changing much before the campaign is done. I'm just hoping it will provide the lessons needed in how to play Championship football better for players and manager alike. |  | | |
| Blackburn Reflection on 08:50 - Feb 15 with 1770 views | Mr_Beef |
| Blackburn Reflection on 08:45 - Feb 15 by dmm |
It's the wild inconsistency that gets me. Two weeks ago we played well and beat the top team. Yesterday we were dreadful and lost to one of the worst teams in the league.
It's been a season of ups and downs - more so than usual - and I don't see it changing much before the campaign is done. I'm just hoping it will provide the lessons needed in how to play Championship football better for players and manager alike. |
That's the Championship unfortunately. And as good as the Coventry performance was, they've only won two of their last nine games, and none away since November. |  | | |
| Blackburn Reflection on 08:57 - Feb 15 with 1718 views | TK1 |
| Blackburn Reflection on 23:55 - Feb 14 by Wegerles_Stairs |
Does anyone know what Stephan's philosophy is? We're two-thirds of the way through the season and I couldn't say what our style of play is. There's those dreary 0-0 draws away from home and then there's games like today where most of the match we boot it up towards Kone (or Dunne if it's a set piece). Again, we had more of the possession today and lost. I get we have injuries but you'd hope we at least had a clearly delineated style of play which players could slot into. |
It's a very similar 'philosophy' that Cifuentes had at QPR: try as best you can to get some points with the few players available, given their strengths and conflicting, myriad limitations.
It's hard to have a philosophy, I imagine, when for example you only have centre backs recruited to play right back and dozens of tiny wingers but only Saito, Bennie and Smyth fit, a trio who are a mixture of flimsy, frustrating and fancy.
I guess one of the main philosophies that both managers shared is: get Chair fit. Another I imagine is 'why have we only got one fit centre forward?' My philosophy might have been don't loan Sam Field to a rival in case of injuries.
Yesterday, QPR had a £4.5m CB playing RB, a £3.5m LW and a £4.5m CF. Plus think of all that money in the treatment room. And yet...they look at bad as at any time over that last decade, other than the Ainsworth blip. Certainly last February's QPR might have given yesterday's a bit of a doing.
I think from the start Stephan's style of play has been get to 50 points. Because if he really watched all of last year's games, he knows this club and what it's capable of. Those away 0-0s are minor feats of excellence. |  | | |
| Blackburn Reflection on 09:03 - Feb 15 with 1672 views | bosh67 |
| Blackburn Reflection on 08:45 - Feb 15 by dmm |
It's the wild inconsistency that gets me. Two weeks ago we played well and beat the top team. Yesterday we were dreadful and lost to one of the worst teams in the league.
It's been a season of ups and downs - more so than usual - and I don't see it changing much before the campaign is done. I'm just hoping it will provide the lessons needed in how to play Championship football better for players and manager alike. |
Sadly the wild consistency has dogged us for the last 5-6 years. It doesn't seem to matter who the manager is, who the players are, we just seem to have this in our DNA at the moment.
Yes, the Championship has always been like this but if we ever aspire to be a team even cementing a place in the top ten, then we have to find a way. It hasn't helped losing the likes of Burrell (who really was a linchpin for us this season), Chair, JCS (so often), Poku, now Dembele, Varane and possibly now Madsen for a few weeks.
However, perhaps the players in some ways need a reality check. I am sure they all want to play at a higher level and have ambition. To do that you have to be more consistent week in week out because the likelihood of you moving on to better things when you are part of a team that struggles to put 2-3 results together means it is unlikely that your ambitions will be realised. The players, when they step over the white lines to play have to be more consistent mentally and physically. |  |
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| Blackburn Reflection on 09:05 - Feb 15 with 1661 views | nix |
| Blackburn Reflection on 07:50 - Feb 15 by BrianMcCarthy |
"I did think we would have been better starting with Ronnie at CB because Cook had had several gruelling matches and is less good at playing out from the back. I think we did look better for the change."
This is the interesting thing from yesterday for me too, Nix.
Did we deliberately change our tactics to split the centre-backs, pushing them wide and pushing the full-backs up to give us some more width and some more threat?
If so, it certainly didn't seem to suit Cook, taking him away from his normal game of low-block head and tackle. He seemed uncertain yesterday. He was barged out of the way with uncharacteristic ease, forcing Walsh to alertly bail him out. Then he was caught ball-watching for their second (perhaps because we were playing split centre-backs and he was momentarily unsure of his positioning).
Again, if it was a deliberate tactic, then I can see why we went for it. We do need to tweak tactics so we create more (or better) chances. And we did dominate the first half in certain ways.
I'm just not sure that it suited Cook. |
Maybe it was a deliberate tactic Brian. I just thought it was one match too many and he needed resting. Because it’s really hard to defend nil match after match which our CBs had been doing. And because it seemed to me a bit of a weakness BRs had seen in us that they could exploit because right from the beginning of the match they played that ball time after time. I didn’t really notice the FBs being particularly involved in attacks so if they did do it it wasn’t a desperately successful tactic.. maybe it would work better with Mbengue’s pace. I also thought we looked more solid when Saito was taken off and Smyth was helping out on the left and made a number of decent blocks and tackles and crucially didn’t give the ball away in dangerous areas.
But what I did also notice was the difference between our chances and theirs. When we shot it was always in a crowded penalty area and I’m remembering we had a lot of blocked shots. They had practically one on ones with the goalkeeper for their chances. That suggests we need more pace and we need to move the ball quicker.
I also remember a number of times over the years when we have a decent system in the Championship managers can tend to flog that to death - don’t change a successful approach etc. But then other managers study how to neutralise it and exploit it. So to some extent you have ro change it up from time to time. Particularly remember it happening to Warbs one season and we played someone who had worked us out and every team after that adopted the same tactics and he never really adapted to it.
I recently saw an interview with a Championship manager who was asked the difference between managing in the Championship and League1. He said that it’s the speed with which you have to adapt to the opposition, so if things aren’t working well you have to change it up even mid-match, let alone match to match.
I think calling for JS to go is ridiculous: he’s done some good things as well as bad, he’s got ridiculous numbers of injuries and it’s his first season in the Championship. However he does need to improve his in-game management to change things up earlier. I would have taken Saito off earlier for instance as it obviously wasn’t working for him. I know we don’t have many options atm up front but even putting Esquerdinha higher up the pitch would’ve been a better option. I was a big fan of his last season as he really got stuck in to the defensive side as well as being decisive up front but he’s a cardboard cut out of his last season’s form. He also needs to change it up a bit and not always do the run to the baseline and cutback as it’s not working for him.
Those are my thoughts rightly or wrongly! [Post edited 15 Feb 9:07]
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| Blackburn Reflection on 09:26 - Feb 15 with 1577 views | BrianMcCarthy |
Good stuff, Nix. Agree with all of that.
I might actually watch that game again.
Then again I've had seven Lemsips this weekend, so I may be delirious. |  |
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| Blackburn Reflection on 09:39 - Feb 15 with 1535 views | Burnleyhoop |
| Blackburn Reflection on 19:48 - Feb 14 by Paddyhoops |
That third goal, where the smallest man on the pitch had a free header and Vale’s corner in the second half summed up the day .
Abysmal second half . Another opportunity to get closer to the top six six pissed away .
Depressing. |
That “smallest man on the pitch” just happened to be the best player on the pitch by a country mile. His pass for the first goal was sublime and undefendable.
Massively surprised by Blackburn, they looked stronger, well drilled and definitely up for a battle to avoid relegation. By no means the worst team we have seen at our place this season.
Anyone thinking we are good enough for a play off push with our current line up is kidding themselves. If we don’t get a few players back soon, we will continue to slide further down the table. Letting Field go was not a good decision.
I like Vale, technically good, but very rarely seems to get on the ball, so his touch percentage must be well below average for someone playing in his position. | | | |
| Blackburn Reflection on 09:49 - Feb 15 with 1500 views | R_from_afar |
| Blackburn Reflection on 21:37 - Feb 14 by Paddyhoops |
Spot on Ted . He’s our only fit out and out striker and is being flogged to death at the moment.
He wasn’t great today but I still think he’ll end up with 10 goals or more .
Not bad for his first season .
He got little or no service today . |
If Kolli were given more minutes:
- Kolli might develop as a player
- We wouldn't have to flog Kone to death.
I'm not saying that Kolli will score vast numbers of goals straight away, mind. I wish!
For some reason, we don't want to try this.  |  |
| "Things had started becoming increasingly desperate at Loftus Road but QPR have been handed a massive lifeline and the place has absolutely erupted. it's carnage. It's bedlam. It's 1-1." |
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| Blackburn Reflection on 09:50 - Feb 15 with 1492 views | PastCaringNW2 |
Sometimes it's the most obvious thing that changes the momentum in a game. The left side of the defence didn't have its best game and both of them looked overworked and running on fumes and the 2nd balls simply weren't falling for our forwards (not for the first time this season) . We were going ok in terms of getting forward but then their second goal killed the team's confidence and crushed the crowd. JU is an odd place to sit in terms of the acoustics but from our perspective it was the quietest I can remember the stadium in a long time with a game more or less in the balance. I don't see it as being any better or worse than that. Certainly doesn't compare with some of the home capitulations of recent seasons.
And the sheer number of injuries to midfield players means that either you start with a couple of wild cards whose games are hard to predict and could contribute a performance earning a 4 or an 8 on any given day (I would put Walsh, Vale and Bennie in that category) or the bench is all prospects with very little chance of you changing the momentum beyond having some fresh legs running about.
My one complaint is that when the manager makes subs in bunches the sense of team shape seems to go out of the window for at least 10 - 15 minutes. They really missed Field as a potential sub yesterday. Not that he is a game-changer but he doesn't need to be told what his core responsibilities are as a CM player. The more subs we made the less grip we seemed to have in that area in particular. Soft centred does not come close to describing it.
I would have been tempted to bring JCS on and put Ronnie and Mbengue in CM just for the solidity. Which is probably why I am not a coach. |  | | |
| Blackburn Reflection on 10:14 - Feb 15 with 1381 views | nix |
| Blackburn Reflection on 09:26 - Feb 15 by BrianMcCarthy |
Good stuff, Nix. Agree with all of that.
I might actually watch that game again.
Then again I've had seven Lemsips this weekend, so I may be delirious. |
I think you’d need to be Brian to watch that match again….
Hope the cold situation improves! | | | |
| Blackburn Reflection on 10:41 - Feb 15 with 1325 views | nadera78 |
On a really basic level, putting formations and tactics and substitutions to one side, that felt like a game between a team that expected to win and a team that wanted to win. | | | |
| Blackburn Reflection on 11:03 - Feb 15 with 1260 views | TacticalR |
Perhaps a warning sign from this week's oppo profile was that when Blackburn had a hot streak in October, winning against Southampton, Leicester, Bristol and Preston, three of those four wins were away. |  |
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| Blackburn Reflection on 11:17 - Feb 15 with 1222 views | Wilkinswatercarrier |
| Blackburn Reflection on 08:45 - Feb 15 by dmm |
It's the wild inconsistency that gets me. Two weeks ago we played well and beat the top team. Yesterday we were dreadful and lost to one of the worst teams in the league.
It's been a season of ups and downs - more so than usual - and I don't see it changing much before the campaign is done. I'm just hoping it will provide the lessons needed in how to play Championship football better for players and manager alike. |
Is that because of the young age of the squad? | |
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| Blackburn Reflection on 11:18 - Feb 15 with 1217 views | NorthantsHoop |
To be honest I thought Blackburn were pretty decent yesterday, they were tactically and physically stronger than us. Watching them line up in the 2nd half they basically had all 6ft plus players in the whole team against our midgets. Our recruitment still lacks the height and strength needed to be really serious contenders in this division. |  | | |
| Blackburn Reflection on 11:19 - Feb 15 with 1201 views | nix |
| Blackburn Reflection on 11:17 - Feb 15 by Wilkinswatercarrier |
Is that because of the young age of the squad? |
That’s pretty likely. Well inexperience more than age though there’s an obvious correlation. | | | |
| Blackburn Reflection on 11:39 - Feb 15 with 1117 views | BklynRanger |
| Blackburn Reflection on 11:18 - Feb 15 by NorthantsHoop |
To be honest I thought Blackburn were pretty decent yesterday, they were tactically and physically stronger than us. Watching them line up in the 2nd half they basically had all 6ft plus players in the whole team against our midgets. Our recruitment still lacks the height and strength needed to be really serious contenders in this division. |
I thought they were rubbish, but not as bad as our defending, or as tentative and disjointed as our attacking - again. The team started off pretty well but even during those periods it looked like a shot might have been on for Vale on one or two occasions, but he lays it out wide to try to get round the back. More aggression, more intensity please, all of you.
Plenty of others were at fault too and Koki, apart from one good goal, kept trying to do the same things that you could see were triggers for the opposition. The tackle for their second goal he, and we, played right into their hands, what a gift - and Cook's lambasting him afterwards but what were you and your fellow immovable object beside you doing to cover? The third goal - where the fcuk is the marking? Nobody even near him.
This all probably belongs on the 'Done' thread really. It didn't feel anywhere near as painful to me as the Wrexham loss - it was more of a familiar old feeling of a team that isn't going anywhere this season. Call me short of vision but I'm just hoping for some better weather and a handful of decent home performances between now and the end of the season, in between whatever that was yesterday. |  | | |
| Blackburn Reflection on 11:40 - Feb 15 with 1113 views | dmm |
| Blackburn Reflection on 11:17 - Feb 15 by Wilkinswatercarrier |
Is that because of the young age of the squad? |
As nix says, it'll be a factor I'm sure, as will Stephan's lack of experience of the Championship, and of course injuries. However, none of these issues are unusual for most teams to face every season. It just feels to me the ups and downs have been more pronounced this year. | | | |
| Blackburn Reflection on 11:52 - Feb 15 with 1078 views | terryb |
I couldn't tell from the Upper Loft, but I'm told that the Hayden caution yesterday was bordering on being a sending off. What are the views of those of you that were closer to the "challenge"?
As far as the match went yesterday, I assume we were surprised that Blackburn played the ball on the ground rather than to our defensive strengths. The game also highlighted (again) that we don't have a wide player above mid Championship standard. I'm not including Chair in this as he is a very different type of player to the others.
The biggest problem to me though, is that we gave the same "performance" as we have against all the teams near the bottom of the league. Is this because we're not good enough to impose ourselves on them? Or because we think we think we can beat them with minimal effort?
I do expect that we will perform better in the next few games than yesterday as they are against better teams! | | | |
| Blackburn Reflection on 11:55 - Feb 15 with 1067 views | BrianMcCarthy |
| Blackburn Reflection on 10:14 - Feb 15 by nix |
I think you’d need to be Brian to watch that match again….
Hope the cold situation improves! |
Thanks Nix.
Another question for you, and for you all - did Madsen start out further forward than normal yesterday?
I wasn't sure if he did, but wondered as he got on a lot of ball in that leftish-8 position (and did a lot of fine work there), and wasn't as quick to get back in beside Hayden when we lost it. | |
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| Blackburn Reflection on 12:32 - Feb 15 with 996 views | nix |
| Blackburn Reflection on 11:55 - Feb 15 by BrianMcCarthy |
Thanks Nix.
Another question for you, and for you all - did Madsen start out further forward than normal yesterday?
I wasn't sure if he did, but wondered as he got on a lot of ball in that leftish-8 position (and did a lot of fine work there), and wasn't as quick to get back in beside Hayden when we lost it. |
He did seem higher up the pitch on the left more often than usual I do remember one ball in that he played to Saito who over hit it to the by-line. Saito did that three or four times but I’m not if all of the balls threaded into him were from Madsen.
But yes that would have left a bit of a hole behind him. But I do remember at least one of the goals we gave away he was behind Saito when Saito gave the ball away because he pointedly ignored him when he walked past him for the re-start. | | | |
| Blackburn Reflection on 12:38 - Feb 15 with 982 views | BrianMcCarthy |
| Blackburn Reflection on 12:32 - Feb 15 by nix |
He did seem higher up the pitch on the left more often than usual I do remember one ball in that he played to Saito who over hit it to the by-line. Saito did that three or four times but I’m not if all of the balls threaded into him were from Madsen.
But yes that would have left a bit of a hole behind him. But I do remember at least one of the goals we gave away he was behind Saito when Saito gave the ball away because he pointedly ignored him when he walked past him for the re-start. |
Ya, I remember that :) | |
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| Blackburn Reflection on 12:45 - Feb 15 with 940 views | Third_Division_South |
Attitude lost us the game yesterday. You could see from the start that our players thought they just had to turn up and they’d win. When Blackburn scored I thought it would be the wake up call they needed to up their game and when we scored I thought we’d now go on and up our intensity and win. Instead we went back to ambling about again. It’s all very well getting up for games against Coventry and Leicester but our attitude and results against the bottom teams is appalling. | | | |
| Blackburn Reflection on 12:51 - Feb 15 with 904 views | Wegerles_Stairs |
| Blackburn Reflection on 12:45 - Feb 15 by Third_Division_South |
Attitude lost us the game yesterday. You could see from the start that our players thought they just had to turn up and they’d win. When Blackburn scored I thought it would be the wake up call they needed to up their game and when we scored I thought we’d now go on and up our intensity and win. Instead we went back to ambling about again. It’s all very well getting up for games against Coventry and Leicester but our attitude and results against the bottom teams is appalling. |
Spot on. Clive has mentioned this before but if your best performance of the season is one half against your former manager because you wanted to prove a point, maybe you need to look in the mirror.
Blackburn totally deserved that yesterday. Clearly fighting for their lives and were first to most things. | | | |
| Blackburn Reflection on 13:21 - Feb 15 with 808 views | Wilkinswatercarrier |
| Blackburn Reflection on 11:55 - Feb 15 by BrianMcCarthy |
Thanks Nix.
Another question for you, and for you all - did Madsen start out further forward than normal yesterday?
I wasn't sure if he did, but wondered as he got on a lot of ball in that leftish-8 position (and did a lot of fine work there), and wasn't as quick to get back in beside Hayden when we lost it. |
There were big gaps all over the pitch that perhaps aren't evident on TV. There were a couple of times, before the first Blackburn goal, that they could of slipped the ball through between RND and Cook, but took the wrong option.
Blackburn definitely targeted our left hand side. | |
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| Blackburn Reflection on 13:31 - Feb 15 with 768 views | BrianMcCarthy |
| Blackburn Reflection on 13:21 - Feb 15 by Wilkinswatercarrier |
There were big gaps all over the pitch that perhaps aren't evident on TV. There were a couple of times, before the first Blackburn goal, that they could of slipped the ball through between RND and Cook, but took the wrong option.
Blackburn definitely targeted our left hand side. |
Thanks Wilks. | |
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