Back from the Game Thread - Blackpool (H)

[Southbank Old Boy]

A good win yesterday, without a doubt a massive weight off the shoulders of everyone at the club

We played pretty well as well against a side who, like Leicester, came here on a pretty good run and right up there in the table. We took both teams apart at times and if only we had a half decent forward to get on the end of things we could have won by more

We still looked very shaky at the back at times. People are rightly praising Tabb for his hardwork, consitency and versatility, but he still looked a bit lost at times at right back, although still a massive improvement on Cummings. It was back to the walls stuff at times and I think its always hard to defend when a good attacking team like Blackpool throw the proverbial kitchen sink at you, but we still need to tighten up a bit

Howard still doesnt impress me, but the shape and style of the side yesterday is what i was expecting from BR, so things are looking much better than 3 or 4 weeks ago

CRedit to SJM here too, personally I think he did the right thing standing by rodgers when others were calling for his head, and i hope this isnt a false dawn so that it proves sacking the manager after such a massive upheaval and all the change we went through isnt the thing to do when you think you have the right man for the long term

[bcubed]

A deserved win an all in all and a decent performance although I felt that we lost our way in the middle of the first half after such a bright opening. Reverting to 4-5-1 was a curious choice by Rodgers but fair play we won the game and as someone had already mentioned it did give an opportunity to Sigurdsson to play in the centre again as he is no winger. I felt that selecting 3 sort of 'attacking' central midfielders was a brave move, I think perhaps if we are going to go 4-5-1 again I might prefer Karacan to Howard in that formation.

Two goals were well created and Marek had a hand in them both, which is fortunate for him as I felt he had an all round mediocre game and gave tha ball away far too often. He is clearly a talented footballer, but I still wonder whether he is particularly suited to the blood-and-guts of english football. That said he is clearly one of our most talented players and deserves to start for that reason alone. I am still very concerned about our striking options; Church was withdrawn injured, we already have Hunt out and Long is nursing an injury. I am not hugely convinced about the quality of Rasiak's all round game but again fair play, he won't miss a free header from 5 yards out!

A run of games now against sides in the bottom half gives us an opportunity to pull away from a scrap at the bottom which we do not want to be involved in. Whether we are turning the corner remains to be seen, but Brendan Rodgers should celebrate evenings like last night because he has taken a good deal of stick and perhaps deserved a break and a bit of luck (ie. Blackpool hitting the post with a clear cut chance and then the ropey defending in injury time going unpunished).

looked more like 4 4 1 1 to me with Gylfi just behind Church
Worked well for 20 minutes anyway

[Mr Controversial]

even a broken clock is right twice a day..

Amazing how many people I have spoken to now think RFC will go on a long winning run....

Pah - a good win yesterday I will agree with - RFC turning the corner I dont.

[Compo's Hat]

Good Lord, finally a home win and some of you have gone into dream land with hopes of a long unbeaten run. I'm glad to see some of you smiling and cheering and i'm sure some of you had a good night but please pinch yourself now because this should of been a draw.

We started well again but as the half went on you could sense Blackpool coming back into it and by the end Burgess had all the time in the world to score. McAnuff was Reading's best player although he does take too long on the ball sometimes when a quick, early cross like for when we scored would be better. I thought Euell was just as good on the other side for Blackpool, still has quality in him from his Premiership days and is probably a main reason as to why Blackpool are doing so well.

As has been said previously, the defence is still a concern. Better finishing would of nicked a point at the death. We desperately need a striker (STILL!) if we are to get out of this mess.

But seriously, well done RFC. You've lifted a weight off your shoulders and a better week will be had by all. I still have major concerns about the team i love but i'll enjoy this week. For what it's worth i think we'll beat Derby (thought that even before yesterday) but DON'T get carried away if we do!!!

[Wimb]

Can't add much more to what's been said but feck me did it feel good walking out the ground on Saturday, I didn't even notice the rain

The defence did worry me a tad late on, I'd rather BR took a long term view and put Mills in for Ivar but then again a steady experienced head has it's place in the team.

Not getting carried away but we've got something of a starting block now, it''s a case of cementing our home form now. Even if we lose to Derby I won't mind as long as we get all 3 vs Palace.

[Ryn]

Most of my thoughts have been covered here already; I was very impressed with McAnuff and Tabb, thought Marek had a pretty decent game, Gylfi did well once he found his role. Church was absolute mince, worse than Fozzy in that he's offside as much but doesn't score any goals.

I am not convinced by Howard either, he would probably be a shoe in if we didn't already have Marek and Gylfi who play the same role. I would much rather see a hard tackling holding midfielder played with Marek in the middle, Cisse or Karacan I suppose, or Gunnar for 60 minutes.

The centre back pairing of Ivar and Pearce is suicide. There is not a jot of pace between them, Blackpool played the ball through them on a fair few occasions, neither of them has the pace to pick it up. I remain unconvinced that Pearce is a player for the future, he might be better off being moved on to a league 1 club at the end of the season (assuming we're not in league 1 ourselves). Ryan Bertrand is a class apart, looked great today going forward and supporting McAnuff for his runs.

Overall another strong attacking performance, the players now look really up for getting forward and scoring goals. Just a shame that the only decent fit striker we have now is Rasiak, he really needs a good poacher to play up there with him, guess this might be Gylfi if we have to revert to a 4-4-2, but Brendan is likely to stick to his 4-5-1 up at Derby with Rasiak up there on his tod.

I wonder how much Spurs will want for Defoe in the January transfer window

[Gordons Cumming]

I don't know about anyone else but I didn't have the euphoric feeling I expected from our first win at home for ages.

Relief was all I could muster.....................

Desensitized with failure I guess.

[RoyalBlue]

Two goals were well created and Marek had a hand in them both, which is fortunate for him as I felt he had an all round mediocre game and gave tha ball away far too often. He is clearly a talented footballer, but I still wonder whether he is particularly suited to the blood-and-guts of english football. That said he is clearly one of our most talented players and deserves to start for that reason alone.

I really don't get this criticism of Marek's game on Saturday (and FS is by no means the only one to hold this view).

Maybe he's suffering from the Caskey syndrome (without the weight criticisms) of making what he does look so easy that people often don't spot it. Throughout game he showed great ball control, vision and passing. On at least two other occasions he set players up with gilt edge chances (Church in the first half and Robson-Kanu in the second) with absolutely superb defence splitting passes, the first of which few players at this level would even have spotted, let alone completed. He was also dropping some great diagonal passes into the path of our wide men.

Maybe it is that fans find it very difficult to accept players who aren't in the blood-and-guts mould. Marek is not but he was getting plenty of challenges in on Saturday without dangling his foot in and giving away the silly freekicks he has understandably been criticised for in the past. The booking at the end was for a deliberate, rather than clumsy foul, committed for the team to prevent a dangerous looking breakaway (so yes, cheating!).

However, regardless of the differing views on his overall performance, a hand in setting up both goals alone justifies his inclusion in the team as FS acknowledges.

[CMRoyal]

Interesting to note also that Marek is starting to "direct" games the way he ought to be - at least a couple of times I saw him pointing out to McAnuff where to run to so he could pass it to him.

Once they've played together enough so that that sort of understanding comes automatically that can only be a good thing.

Also good to see The Sig playing in the middle - he was always wasted on the wing.

Just wondering here....but would people rather we stuck with 4-3-3 with Sig playing centrally, or returned to 4-4-2 with Sig out left, because there's no way we can have a Sig/Marek central pairing on their own.

I like what we have now, which is really more of a 4-2-3-1 than a 4-3-3. That's central to BR's footballing philosophy, and when we play it properly (with two wingers) it works fine for me.

+1 with bells on. It also means that during Marek's injury periods (to which he's prone) The Sig doesn't have to adapt so much to playing centrally. Jem can slot in with Howard and Sig perfectly well. Poor old Cisse - he's done nothing wrong but just doesn't have the Rodgers "DNA".

[brendywendy]

even a broken clock is right twice a day..

Amazing how many people I have spoken to now think RFC will go on a long winning run....

Pah - a good win yesterday I will agree with - RFC turning the corner I dont.

cheer up!

[Wimb]

Two goals were well created and Marek had a hand in them both, which is fortunate for him as I felt he had an all round mediocre game and gave tha ball away far too often. He is clearly a talented footballer, but I still wonder whether he is particularly suited to the blood-and-guts of english football. That said he is clearly one of our most talented players and deserves to start for that reason alone.

I really don't get this criticism of Marek's game on Saturday (and FS is by no means the only one to hold this view).

Maybe he's suffering from the Caskey syndrome (without the weight criticisms) of making what he does look so easy that people often don't spot it. Throughout game he showed great ball control, vision and passing. On at least two other occasions he set players up with gilt edge chances (Church in the first half and Robson-Kanu in the second) with absolutely superb defence splitting passes, the first of which few players at this level would even have spotted, let alone completed. He was also dropping some great diagonal passes into the path of our wide men.

Maybe it is that fans find it very difficult to accept players who aren't in the blood-and-guts mould. Marek is not but he was getting plenty of challenges in on Saturday without dangling his foot in and giving away the silly freekicks he has understandably been criticised for in the past. The booking at the end was for a deliberate, rather than clumsy foul, committed for the team to prevent a dangerous looking breakaway (so yes, cheating!).

However, regardless of the differing views on his overall performance, a hand in setting up both goals alone justifies his inclusion in the team as FS acknowledges.

I believe it's more to do with the fact that Marek's errors tend to be as big as the chances he creates. He had a big hand in their goal on Saturday and there are other examples such as Brum last year I believe and Peterboro' this year where he's had a big hand in an oppossition goal through his mistakes.

I think Marek is one of the best players at this club but I suppose one of the only reasons he's with us rather then a top European side is the fact that he does have this weakness to his game.

[CMRoyal]

Two goals were well created and Marek had a hand in them both, which is fortunate for him as I felt he had an all round mediocre game and gave tha ball away far too often. He is clearly a talented footballer, but I still wonder whether he is particularly suited to the blood-and-guts of english football. That said he is clearly one of our most talented players and deserves to start for that reason alone.

I really don't get this criticism of Marek's game on Saturday (and FS is by no means the only one to hold this view).

Maybe he's suffering from the Caskey syndrome (without the weight criticisms) of making what he does look so easy that people often don't spot it. Throughout game he showed great ball control, vision and passing. On at least two other occasions he set players up with gilt edge chances (Church in the first half and Robson-Kanu in the second) with absolutely superb defence splitting passes, the first of which few players at this level would even have spotted, let alone completed. He was also dropping some great diagonal passes into the path of our wide men.

Maybe it is that fans find it very difficult to accept players who aren't in the blood-and-guts mould. Marek is not but he was getting plenty of challenges in on Saturday without dangling his foot in and giving away the silly freekicks he has understandably been criticised for in the past. The booking at the end was for a deliberate, rather than clumsy foul, committed for the team to prevent a dangerous looking breakaway (so yes, cheating!).

However, regardless of the differing views on his overall performance, a hand in setting up both goals alone justifies his inclusion in the team as FS acknowledges.

I believe it's more to do with the fact that Marek's errors tend to be as big as the chances he creates. He had a big hand in their goal on Saturday and there are other examples such as Brum last year I believe and Peterboro' this year where he's had a big hand in an oppossition goal through his mistakes.

I think Marek is one of the best players at this club but I suppose one of the only reasons he's with us rather then a top European side is the fact that he does have this weakness to his game.

I think it's his lack of pace that keeps him at our level. And I still think people are harsh in their judgement of his role in that Posh goal. He lost the ball on the edge of their area.

[yappy]

Most of my views have already been covered, but just a few comments on a few players.

Tabb: No offence to him, he is doing very well considering he is out of position. He works very hard, and he is not scared to get stuck in, but defensively he is lacking. Best we've got at the moment, but no chance he is a long term solution.

Howard: Don't understand the stick he's getting. Great movement, always wanting the ball, plenty of short neat passes. Need someone like him if were going to play Marek.

Matejovsky: His passing was excellent, can't fault him for loose passes on Saturday but his refusal to put a foot in can be costly. Near the end of the game the ball was moving around the edge of the area and he was clear favourite for the ball, however the Blackpool player just nudged right past him and almost scored.

Church: Lots of effort, but he doesn't suit the lone striker role IMO. Not quite physical enough, and not quite clinical enough just yet.

Ivar/Pearce: Don't want to point a finger, because I'm not sure where the problem lies, but there is a real problem with them two at the back. Absolutely dominated the game really, but we looked incredibly vunerable from counter attacks. Anyone know where O'Dea was Saturday? IIRC he wasn't even on the bench?

McAnuff: Class.

[Silver Fox]

Well I was chuffed to bits with this, a really good performance and a thoroughly deserved win against a team who were in the top 6, which says a lot about the quality of this year's championship. Don't do ratings but thought Tabb was excellent, McAnuff has received deserved praise and our central midfield were average (Magic) and poor (Howard) respecively. Nobody really seems to have given too much love to Prince Hal who gave us a threat down both wings, now when did I see us playing like that before?

Finally, good (and incredibly predictable) to see that this wasn't good enough for all the moaning pcunts, lets hope you remain unsatisfied with wins for a while yet

[bcubed]

I don't know about anyone else but I didn't have the euphoric feeling I expected from our first win at home for ages.

Relief was all I could muster.....................

Desensitized with failure I guess.

Certainly there was relief at the final whistle but leaving the ground I definitely felt a touch of euphoria and it seemed widespread, as people were singing and shouting on their way home. I can't remember such an atmosphere since we were on our way up to the Premier League.

[Royal Lady]

We LOL'ed when a Blackpool fan shouted to us as we walked around the ground "You're still bottom" - I pointed out that we weren't bottom in the first place! He must have been really hurting...

[LoyalRoyalFan]

I can see us being undone in future games, if Howard and Matejovsky both stay in the side.
We need a tackling midfielder. Therefore, either Karacan or Cisse must come in.

[brendywendy]

We LOL'ed when a Blackpool fan shouted to us as we walked around the ground "You're still bottom" - I pointed out that we weren't bottom in the first place! He must have been really hurting...

what a feckin eedjit

[ZacNaloen]

I can see us being undone in future games, if Howard and Matejovsky both stay in the side.
We need a tackling midfielder. Therefore, either Karacan or Cisse must come in.

We seem to be doing a decent enough job of getting the ball back by pressuring sides until they cock up a pass, against a good passing team that is ready for that we will obviously struggle and it does mean that a good move will eventually expose us. But against most in the league it should do the job.

[Sun Tzu]

I can see us being undone in future games, if Howard and Matejovsky both stay in the side.
We need a tackling midfielder. Therefore, either Karacan or Cisse must come in.

On th eother hand I can see us giving one or two sides a real thumping.

That's football for you though.