Blackburn - Two Worrying Thoughts

[Chivs]

Well, what a game! It's a long time I've come away from a game we've lost and thought "That was enjoyable".

Blackburn are a good team but make no mistake, we made them look better than they are.

Two things concerned me about yesterday's game that could have long term effects.

Firstly, the centre back issue. No, I'm not going to reiterate that we need one (actually I think we need two). My concern is that Delboy has made Fontaine his captain. Fontaine is two years past his best. This doesn't make him a bad player. He's a jobbing Championship defender. He can't pass and his choice of tackling is suspect but nevertheless he isn't someone who we need to replace necessarily (leaving aside his abject performance yesterday). I do wonder though why Fontaine is captain? It suggests that Delboy thinks he is going to base his team around him. This is a worry when Fontaine should be a willing backup to a decent centre back.

My second concern is the tactics employed. For the entire second half Blackburn's midfield had the freedom of the park. Etuhu and Murphy are good players but it seemed that we made no attempt to stop Murphy (in particular) from influencing the game. Similarly, Robinson constantly targeted Foster's weakness in the air. Not once did Foster win the ball from a header. Why was there no reaction from our team, both players and management? Or did they react and it didn't work?

The Blackburn fan on here claimed that Kean's tactics were non-existent. Well it seemed to me that Delboy didn't do anything to affect the game.

My ratings for our players:

Heaton - 6 - somewhat harsh as he didn't really do anything wrong except concede 5!

Cunningham - 6 - disappeared for most of the second half

Carey - 5 - beginning to show his age especially against pace

Fontaine - 3 - grim, grim and grim performance

Foster - 5 - got caught out a couple of times

Woolford - 6 - fairly anonymous

Pearson - 6 - did some good work not least a good goal but went absent for much of the second half

Skuse - 6 - see Pearson!

Adomah - 8 - good old Albert is back with some sublime footwork for the second goal. Still needs to learn to track back

Stead - 5 - awful lack of movement. Playing on borrowed time

Taylor - 6 - not much better than Stead

[MichaelRobartes]

A bit harsh on Taylor I think (the description, not the rating) he won a lot of his battles (particularly impressive given the constant pushing and pulling) only to find that Stead was miles away from him. I'd certainly go with Baldock and Taylor for the next match. For all our frailties at the back it was a game that I thoroughly enjoyed. I thought all three of our subs were the right calls, though I'd have been tempted to bring on Baldock and Anderson for Stead and Woolford earlier.

[Ron]

Stead on borrowed time? What?

[Youngish]

Agree re: Stead. A limited player who gets in the team because of his work rate, which, whilst nice to see, is often not enough. In Davies we have someone with a lot of quality on the ball and in Baldock we finally have someone with quality off it (and he's not bad with the ball either), and these should be our starting 2 in my opinion. I like Taylor but he was pretty absent for much of yesterday and would be a useful sub for Peterborough. l

[Chivs]

Stead on borrowed time? What?

He wouldn't be playing for us much more this season.

[BigTone]

Well, what a game! It's a long time I've come away from a game we've lost and thought "That was enjoyable".

Blackburn are a good team but make no mistake, we made them look better than they are.

Two things concerned me about yesterday's game that could have long term effects.

Firstly, the centre back issue. No, I'm not going to reiterate that we need one (actually I think we need two). My concern is that Delboy has made Fontaine his captain. Fontaine is two years past his best. This doesn't make him a bad player. He's a jobbing Championship defender. He can't pass and his choice of tackling is suspect but nevertheless he isn't someone who we need to replace necessarily (leaving aside his abject performance yesterday). I do wonder though why Fontaine is captain? It suggests that Delboy thinks he is going to base his team around him. This is a worry when Fontaine should be a willing backup to a decent centre back.

My second concern is the tactics employed. For the entire second half Blackburn's midfield had the freedom of the park. Etuhu and Murphy are good players but it seemed that we made no attempt to stop Murphy (in particular) from influencing the game. Similarly, Robinson constantly targeted Foster's weakness in the air. Not once did Foster win the ball from a header. Why was there no reaction from our team, both players and management? Or did they react and it didn't work?

The Blackburn fan on here claimed that Kean's tactics were non-existent. Well it seemed to me that Delboy didn't do anything to affect the game.

My ratings for our players:

Heaton - 6 - somewhat harsh as he didn't really do anything wrong except concede 5!

Cunningham - 6 - disappeared for most of the second half

Carey - 5 - beginning to show his age especially against pace

Fontaine - 3 - grim, grim and grim performance

Foster - 5 - got caught out a couple of times

Woolford - 6 - fairly anonymous

Pearson - 6 - did some good work not least a good goal but went absent for much of the second half

Skuse - 6 - see Pearson!

Adomah - 8 - good old Albert is back with some sublime footwork for the second goal. Still needs to learn to track back

Stead - 5 - awful lack of movement. Playing on borrowed time

Taylor - 6 - not much better than Stead

Sorry mate but I was obviously at a different game. I thought Taylor had a good game. Cunningham I thought was class. Stead....lack of movement / borrowed time ? FFS what planet do you live in? Not one player went missing in the second half which was the biggest plus for me. A defeat for me that will kickstart our season for the better.

[Andy082005]

Stead on borrowed time? What?

To be fair, Davies looks a far better player

[Ron]

He wouldn't be playing for us much more this season.

Stead is a different player to any of the other three strikers who I think will feature heavily. To claim he is in some way deficient is ridiculous, he's a good player and he'll be a part of the squad regularly. Less than three weeks ago we seemingly couldn't get enough of him.

[slartibartfast]

If you enjoyed the game with those marks you'd have to slip into minus territory for some of last years defeats !

[Alex_BCFC]

Very harsh assessment. Cunningham hardly put a foot wrong all game.

[TinnionForEngland]

Very harsh assessment. Cunningham hardly put a foot wrong all game.

I fancy he hasn't put a foot wrong all season - great player.

[Pickle Rick]

On a bright side of things, probs not going to see Blackburn concede three goals in a game this season.

On the reality side of things, Fontaine is too inconsistant, like a better version of Nyatanga. We need two better centre backs.

With another CB, I think we'll be comfortable this season, we have a lot of goals in us now and its shown already!

18/19 goals at home and 11 were ours, great entertainment so far.

Don't think we'll see too many teams with as much quality they had, especially in the middle of the park. Luckilly, not all of their players were as good, such as Gamst Pederson - what a shadow of player he was compared to a few seasons ago.

[NOTR]

Good old fashioned end to end,toe to toe,try to out score the the opposition game,loved it,worrying thoughts ,not from me(well apart from the need for a CB).

[bearded_red]

It can't be denied that Stead has now had two very poor games on the bounce and if I were picking the team for Tuesday I would certainly go for Taylor and Baldock, but to even suggest that he is 'playing on borrowed time' is simply ridiculous. He is a good player who will almost definitely play a very large part for us this season.

As I suspected leaving the game yesterday Fontaine has predictably receieved over the top criticism after his performance yesterday. He was dreadful, that is clear to anyone who was at Ashton Gate, but to suggest he is past his best, should be nothing more than a squad player or whatever else has been chucked at him over the last twenty four hours is simply absurd. Again, he is a good player (one of our most important) and I'm sure he will put yesterday's horror show behind him soon enough. As everyone knows, we do have a lack of a dominating first ball centre half and that coupled with Fontaine's appalling display is not what the doctor ordered when facing arguably the best team in the division.

Genuinely can't believe anybody can even attempt to try and criticise Cunningham. He, again, didn't put a foot wrong all afternoon.

At times yesterday Blackburn showed everyone that they are a much better team than us, but I found our attempt to go and have a game with them extremely encouraging. In seasons gone by we would have sacrificed one of our forwards and attempted to pack the midfield and spend the entire game simply trying to stifle the oppostion. Had we done this yesterday we may have earned a point or even stolen three, but it is much more likely we would have been outclassed anyway and Blackburn would have gone home 1/2-0 winners. As it was we gave it a good go and at times played some extremely exciting football. It reminded me of the game we drew against West Brom after we had been promoted in the way we didn't seem to worry about how good they were and simply tried to play our game. Although we obviously defended much better that night!

In reality it isn't games against opposition such as Blackburn that will decide what kind of season we have. The two games we play in the next 6 days are much more important and if we can eradicate the sloppy errors we made yesterday we are more than good enough to win those two games. The result yesterday will then more or less be forgotten other than the fact we all witnessed a very entertaining game of football.

[Chivs]

Stead is a different player to any of the other three strikers who I think will feature heavily. To claim he is in some way deficient is ridiculous, he's a good player and he'll be a part of the squad regularly. Less than three weeks ago we seemingly couldn't get enough of him.

Stead is an older (presumably more expensive) version of Taylor. His only deficiencies are 1) total lack of pace, 2) no effective movement, 3) doesn't score enough goals. "we"? Perhaps I wasn't part of "we".

[Tugay1875]

On a bright side of things, probs not going to see Blackburn concede three goals in a game this season.

On the reality side of things, Fontaine is too inconsistant, like a better version of Nyatanga. We need two better centre backs.

With another CB, I think we'll be comfortable this season, we have a lot of goals in us now and its shown already!

18/19 goals at home and 11 were ours, great entertainment so far.

Don't think we'll see too many teams with as much quality they had, especially in the middle of the park. Luckilly, not all of their players were as good, such as Gamst Pederson - what a shadow of player he was compared to a few seasons ago.

Maybe not 3 goals but we do concede all the time, it's the main problem with Kean.....although we did concede 3 to Leeds in the game before.

Didn't get to see the game as I no longer live in Bristol or on the mainland but it sounded like a cracking game of football from Soccer Saturday and reading our forums....when our 4th goal went in I danced around my living room for the first time watching a Blackburn game in ages.

Pedersen is nowhere near the level he was from around 2005 to 07...although if he had continued that sort of form he'd be long gone.....barring a good season in CM a couple of years ago he's not the same player at all......many wouldn't have him in their first 11 and the ones that do say it's because of his experience and set pieces.

Some great goals scored as well from both teams.......I've seen the Jordan Rhodes thread but what do your fans think of our other players' performances? Would be interesting to hear things from a different perspective although I know most fans just concentrate on their own players.

And what did you lot make of our fans who were there? Quite a few only go to away games now so they don't give any money to our owners.

[marcofisher]

I just generally think Taylor is the generally better big-target man player, Stead just seems so much more flimsy where Taylor never seems to get pushed around and always seems to hold the ball up so much better, maybe Stead is very slightly better on the ball but it seems stupid because he has not got much pace, meaning if they both start neither of our front two can stretch the centre backs particularly! If we had Baldock or Davies who both seem much livelier and pacier running off Taylor, we would score much more goals. Lots of our goals have been coming from the wings because we are holding the ball up an Adomah and Woolford have been making excellent runs and have been laying it off/scoring! If we had Taylor and Baldock i feel we would have the same but with Baldock as well, so we'd have Baldock Woolford, and Adomah running off Taylor who will hold the ball up and have plenty of options to aid the attack, as well as being able to score a few himself!

[bearded_red]

Some great goals scored as well from both teams.......I've seen the Jordan Rhodes thread but what do your fans think of our other players' performances? Would be interesting to hear things from a different perspective although I know most fans just concentrate on their own players.

Etuhu and Murphy were class in the middle of the park and as you would have realised from the other thread Rhodes was also brilliant. Apart from that the only real standout for me was how much of a better player Martin Olsson was after replacing his brother after about 20 minutes! Bradley Orr was the same player that all City fans know and love. Solid defensively and extremely determined, but a bit of a disaster when it comes to crossing the ball.

[Ron]

Stead is an older (presumably more expensive) version of Taylor. His only deficiencies are 1) total lack of pace, 2) no effective movement, 3) doesn't score enough goals. "we"? Perhaps I wasn't part of "we".

You're confusing two things. Stead is not fast, that doesn't constitute 'total lack of pace'. His movement has done enough to get him a strike record of better than one in three in games he's started. Stead is a different player to Taylor, a large part of Stead's game is down to workrate. It's very easy and fairly ignorant to overlook this as unimportant. Workrate without ability is relatively useless of course, but then what exactly are you expecting if 16 goals in 45 starts isn't enough to satisfy you?

Furthermore, he makes goals as well as scores them. He's made as many as anyone else for us this season, and only Albert made more in 10/11.

[OldlandReddies]

Maybe not 3 goals but we do concede all the time, it's the main problem with Kean.....although we did concede 3 to Leeds in the game before.

Didn't get to see the game as I no longer live in Bristol or on the mainland but it sounded like a cracking game of football from Soccer Saturday and reading our forums....when our 4th goal went in I danced around my living room for the first time watching a Blackburn game in ages.

Pedersen is nowhere near the level he was from around 2005 to 07...although if he had continued that sort of form he'd be long gone.....barring a good season in CM a couple of years ago he's not the same player at all......many wouldn't have him in their first 11 and the ones that do say it's because of his experience and set pieces.

Some great goals scored as well from both teams.......I've seen the Jordan Rhodes thread but what do your fans think of our other players' performances? Would be interesting to hear things from a different perspective although I know most fans just concentrate on their own players.

And what did you lot make of our fans who were there? Quite a few only go to away games now so they don't give any money to our owners.

Etuhu was the best player on show and completely dominated our midfield, he was involved in everything. Rhodes is some striker, the best in this division. Your back four, like ours, was very generous but who cares, it's not often you witness a game like that and I would happily pay double the entrance fee to watch a match like that again provided we win the next one ! You will be promoted and if we can find that elusive CB we wont be far behind you, Sam Baldock (the 2nd best striker in this division) will make sure of that !

[RedorDead BCFC]

I would go with Taylor Baldock up front with Davies in midfield in place of Pearson, not because I'm anti Pearson but I think Davies is a better option and stronger in the challenge to Pearson.

Against Barnsley he missed a few but did get into the positions in first place, plus it might of been lucky but looks like he can take a free kick.

Plus I agree with a few on here Murphy and Etuhu were class in the midfield for Rovers

[Nibor]

I find it hard to believe people think Taylor's anywhere near the player Stead is in any aspect of the game. Maybe he will be one day but for me Stead is head and shoulders above him at just about everything right now. Yes, Stead didn't have a good second half yesterday, but I thought in the first half he linked play exceptionally well, played Albert in numerous times and kept the ball under pressure a whole lot. We should be starting Stead and Baldock, because Stead's the ideal provider for someone who makes the kind of runs Baldock does.

[Pickle Rick]

Etuhu and Murphy were class in the middle of the park and as you would have realised from the other thread Rhodes was also brilliant. Apart from that the only real standout for me was how much of a better player Martin Olsson was after replacing his brother after about 20 minutes! Bradley Orr was the same player that all City fans know and love. Solid defensively and extremely determined, but a bit of a disaster when it comes to crossing the ball.

Tugay1875, I agree with the qouted post.

4 really good players. Just thought I'd mention, Robinson looked a bit over weight.

Both wingers didn't look any good, made up numbers and passed it to the central midfielders who bossed it for you guys.

Rochina looked lively when on. Gomes has that natural ability but obviously no pace. Orr made a few mistakes but is decent at this level. Givet didn't look that good before he went off injured, Hanley looked better.

[redcherryberry]

I find it hard to believe people think Taylor's anywhere near the player Stead is in any aspect of the game. Maybe he will be one day but for me Stead is head and shoulders above him at just about everything right now. Yes, Stead didn't have a good second half yesterday, but I thought in the first half he linked play exceptionally well, played Albert in numerous times and kept the ball under pressure a whole lot. We should be starting Stead and Baldock, because Stead's the ideal provider for someone who makes the kind of runs Baldock does.

Agree with this. Stead & Baldock could be a dream partnership given time.

For me Stead was trying far too hard to impress against his old club yesterday. He was forcing his play and in turn nothing was coming off for him. Shame cos he looked sharp first 15/20.

I like Taylor but Stead is head and shoulders above him at the minute and got that extra nous Taylor yet aint got. JS is also only one of a couple of players in our squad with a football brain.

When fit he should play.

[Pickle Rick]

Maybe not 3 goals but we do concede all the time, it's the main problem with Kean.....although we did concede 3 to Leeds in the game before.

Didn't get to see the game as I no longer live in Bristol or on the mainland but it sounded like a cracking game of football from Soccer Saturday and reading our forums....when our 4th goal went in I danced around my living room for the first time watching a Blackburn game in ages.

Pedersen is nowhere near the level he was from around 2005 to 07...although if he had continued that sort of form he'd be long gone.....barring a good season in CM a couple of years ago he's not the same player at all......many wouldn't have him in their first 11 and the ones that do say it's because of his experience and set pieces.

Some great goals scored as well from both teams.......I've seen the Jordan Rhodes thread but what do your fans think of our other players' performances? Would be interesting to hear things from a different perspective although I know most fans just concentrate on their own players.

And what did you lot make of our fans who were there? Quite a few only go to away games now so they don't give any money to our owners.

You got much to send our way about our team performance or about certian players?

Or are your fans only moaning about conceding three, Steve Kean and the Venky's?

Steve Kean after the game : "But tonight we can enjoy an excellent win over a very good Bristol City team, who will take a lot of points home and away this season."

[mjallen]

I thought Davies look really good with Baldock. Also thought that, despite playing a lot of good football, we also played a massive amount of long balls up to Stead and Taylor ((first 60 mins) and for the most part it was in vain. Felt we were trying to wear their defence down but went down 2-1 before Baldock and Davies came on and also they had 3 physical CB's (one of them going off).

Think that Foster gets too much stick. Cunningham, Foster and Wilson are lightyears better than what we have had the last couple of seasons.

[Chivs]

You're confusing two things. Stead is not fast, that doesn't constitute 'total lack of pace'. His movement has done enough to get him a strike record of better than one in three in games he's started. Stead is a different player to Taylor, a large part of Stead's game is down to workrate. It's very easy and fairly ignorant to overlook this as unimportant. Workrate without ability is relatively useless of course, but then what exactly are you expecting if 16 goals in 45 starts isn't enough to satisfy you?

Furthermore, he makes goals as well as scores them. He's made as many as anyone else for us this season, and only Albert made more in 10/11.

What am I confused about? He isn't fast not meaning he has no pace. Yep, I'm confused. I must admit your statistics just don't chime with my perception. Has he really got a 1 in 3 strike rate?

I find it hard to believe people think Taylor's anywhere near the player Stead is in any aspect of the game. Maybe he will be one day but for me Stead is head and shoulders above him at just about everything right now. Yes, Stead didn't have a good second half yesterday, but I thought in the first half he linked play exceptionally well, played Albert in numerous times and kept the ball under pressure a whole lot. We should be starting Stead and Baldock, because Stead's the ideal provider for someone who makes the kind of runs Baldock does.

Stead is no good in the air. He constantly gets out jumped and then raises his arms in a hissy fit whilst the ref waves play on. Stead also gets pushed off the ball far too easily. Taylor is better in both respects. Having said that, I agree that Stead is a better player than Taylor at the moment

I'd start with Davies and Baldock on Tuesday with Stead and Pitman as subs.

I guess my real point is this. Would you be happy to see Stead bought on as a sub if we are 0-1 down on Tuesday? It wouldn't float my boat.

I'd prefer Pitman or Baldock to be coming on.

[Tugay1875]

You got much to send our way about our team performance or about certian players?

Or are your fans only moaning about conceding three, Steve Kean and the Venky's?

Steve Kean after the game : "But tonight we can enjoy an excellent win over a very good Bristol City team, who will take a lot of points home and away this season."

Mostly about defending badly and Adomah.....we were glad Marcus Olsson had to be taken off.

Not all of our fans constantly moan....a fair few managed to enjoy the game and the win despite Kean still not knowing how to get us defensively organised....most are aware winning 4-3 and that all the time won't last and in the Prem it most certainly didn't.

There's strong feelings of apathy at the moment about our situation despite Kean's comments of it being "exciting times for the club".....a lot are fed up and feel helpless in trying to change it for the better.

i think that's all 3 away games now he's said things like not many will take points here (you, Leeds and Ipswich)......it wouldn't surprise me if he does it at every away game....I'm just surprised he hasn't mentioned the win at Old Trafford yet, like every interview in the 2nd half of last season.

[Ron]

What am I confused about? He isn't fast not meaning he has no pace. Yep, I'm confused. I must admit your statistics just don't chime with my perception.

In games he's started he has 16 in 45. He's never scored for us off the bench. That's no major concern for me since he should be starting anyway. If you've ever seen him chasing down lost causes which he does constantly, as is his high workrate and commitment, I'm staggered you have come to the conclusion he has 'no pace'. Confusion seemed a more logical answer.

[Swede]

Well, what a game! It's a long time I've come away from a game we've lost and thought "That was enjoyable".

Blackburn are a good team but make no mistake, we made them look better than they are.

Two things concerned me about yesterday's game that could have long term effects.

Firstly, the centre back issue. No, I'm not going to reiterate that we need one (actually I think we need two). My concern is that Delboy has made Fontaine his captain. Fontaine is two years past his best. This doesn't make him a bad player. He's a jobbing Championship defender. He can't pass and his choice of tackling is suspect but nevertheless he isn't someone who we need to replace necessarily (leaving aside his abject performance yesterday). I do wonder though why Fontaine is captain? It suggests that Delboy thinks he is going to base his team around him. This is a worry when Fontaine should be a willing backup to a decent centre back.

My second concern is the tactics employed. For the entire second half Blackburn's midfield had the freedom of the park. Etuhu and Murphy are good players but it seemed that we made no attempt to stop Murphy (in particular) from influencing the game. Similarly, Robinson constantly targeted Foster's weakness in the air. Not once did Foster win the ball from a header. Why was there no reaction from our team, both players and management? Or did they react and it didn't work?

The Blackburn fan on here claimed that Kean's tactics were non-existent. Well it seemed to me that Delboy didn't do anything to affect the game.

My ratings for our players:

Heaton - 6 - somewhat harsh as he didn't really do anything wrong except concede 5!

Cunningham - 6 - disappeared for most of the second half

Carey - 5 - beginning to show his age especially against pace

Fontaine - 3 - grim, grim and grim performance

Foster - 5 - got caught out a couple of times

Woolford - 6 - fairly anonymous

Pearson - 6 - did some good work not least a good goal but went absent for much of the second half

Skuse - 6 - see Pearson!

Adomah - 8 - good old Albert is back with some sublime footwork for the second goal. Still needs to learn to track back

Stead - 5 - awful lack of movement. Playing on borrowed time

Taylor - 6 - not much better than Stead

I must have been at a different game to you.

My ratings, and don't forget we were playing an ex Premier league team of long standing

Heaton: 8. Alert. Distribution good. Commanding.

Foster: 8. Quick. Some good inter play with Adomah.

Cunningham: 8. Intelligent, quick, could prove to be our best value buy this season.

Carey:7. Gave 100% but caught out late on.

Fontaine: 7.Unfortunate slip for their first goal.

Adomah:9. Back to his tantalizing best. His quick feet for the 2nd goal in beating 2 before crossing war sensational. Gave his all.

Skuse:9. Player of the season. worked tirelessly, always probing.

Pearson:8. Took his goal well. Adapting his game to playing inside. A midfield player who scores goals, un heard of at City. Coped well against high class International opposition.

Wolford:7. Has set high standards this season, but not his best game on Saturday.

Stead:7.Worked hard for little reward.

Taylor:8.Held up the ball well and is showing more maturity with games.

Subs:

Baldock:8. Very quick, Great running off the ball. Took his goal brilliantly.

Davis: 7.Unlucky not to get more game time. Created a chance out of nothing suggesting that there is a lot more to come .

Anderson:5. He struggled.