Blackburn (H) - Back from the game

[Sutekh]

Second game this season v Blackburn where we've been stitched up by terrible officials

Today's game not helped by the lack of tempo and all round hoof ball. Both teams were pretty dire in terms of creativity though so a draw would have been the right result.

[winchester_royal]

Christ, can't blame Gunts for that. Nearly stopped the goal twice after Jobi sold him short with a pass, then finished off the move nicely.

Fair enough, will watch it again later. It wasn't an out-and-out mistake as such, but he had chance to save us. And didn't manage it. 'Nearly' won the ball. 'Nearly' football, sums us up under Adkins.

Record when conceding first under Adkins:

W 1 D 2 L 17

Overall record under Adkins:

W 15 D 10 L 17

In terms of the money we must have spent in paying off the previous manager and signing this bloke up, Adkins is probably the worst signing we've ever made

Yep, especially when you consider the unimaginative tripe served up today was no different to the bad days under McD.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Anyone else got that fcuking annoying Blackburn song stuck in their head?

[MmmMonsterMunch]

Record when conceding first under Adkins:

W 1 D 2 L 17

This does concern me but still think Adkins is doing ok overall. I don't think anyone else would have us much further up the table. This league is a grind & difficult to get out of.

I think a ball playing centre half with a bit of pace would make a big difference & that would be my number one priority in the summer.

Get rid of Bridge, Drenthe & Kelly & hopefully Adkins can get someone in. I don't want to be too harsh on the players but Pearce got the runaround big time today & I'm not sure you can blame Adkins for that.

Danny Williams though - what a revelation he is! And I also thought Guthrie looked decent when he came on. I suspect he will replace Akpan for the next game.

[Rax]

I do wonder whether the worst legacy Anton/TSI have left is the harsh sacking of BMCD - I am warming a little to Adkins but would the previous incumbent have done better with the resources available.

[LoyalRoyalFan]

What is with the change in playing style? First of all we bore witness to relentless passing, and now we have hit the other extreme which is relentless diagonal balls.

[royalgrumpy]

Far too much moaning from us about bad officials. Everyone gets them, deal with it! Our biggest problem is we are still far too nice and far too honest in our approach. In the Premier League we were on the end of gamesmanship almost every week, and this season several times already, yet we stand there and let it happen. McAnuff stopping play today when we were on the break. It's the refs decision to decide if the game should be stopped, not the players, but he walked with the ball for what felt like 20 seconds, the fans baiting him because he should have played on, and then he put it out and shrugged his shoulders - and that's the captain // Mr Nice Guy McAnuff. What happened in the second half when they should have returned the ball to us? Did they? No, and then both the fans and the players felt hard done by! That guy who rolled around for 5 minutes until the stretcher came out, then jumped to his feet and when called back on got straight to a jog and 15 seconds later a sprint!! Gamesmanship is wrong, but it happens far too often and we are far too soft and honest for our own good. It's time to play equally as dirty. If you're nice, you get rolled over!

[Four Of Clubs]

Christ, can't blame Gunts for that. Nearly stopped the goal twice after Jobi sold him short with a pass, then finished off the move nicely.

+1

...generally encompassed Jobi's sadly feeble contribution overall today - feel for the guy but he's a 'confidence diva' - something goes bad for him early on and everything he tries to make up for it later - just seems to makes things worse.

Thought Gunts nearly performed two miracles to try and prevent the goal , once he'd been sold short and left three (?) on one ......

.....AND from my vantage point (top of North Stand ) looked as if HE was fouled when nicking the ball off of the forward before it was moved wide left.

In desperation - I initially thought his third active involvement appeared to flick the ball past Alex McC but maybe he was still down and it was Jobi sliding in?

Beeb have given the goal to Conway but suggest it may well have gone in via McAnuff

Rhodes fed Conway after winning the ball from Kaspars Gorkss. The Scot's low cross-shot appeared to be heading wide but took a generous deflection off McAnuff on its way past McCarthy.

[sandman]

Record when conceding first under Adkins:

W 1 D 2 L 17

This does concern me but still think Adkins is doing ok overall. I don't think anyone else would have us much further up the table. This league is a grind & difficult to get out of.

I think a ball playing centre half with a bit of pace would make a big difference & that would be my number one priority in the summer.

Get rid of Bridge, Drenthe & Kelly & hopefully Adkins can get someone in. I don't want to be too harsh on the players but Pearce got the runaround big time today & I'm not sure you can blame Adkins for that.

Danny Williams though - what a revelation he is! And I also thought Guthrie looked decent when he came on. I suspect he will replace Akpan for the next game.

He was shite. First thing he did was look around bewildered with no idea where the ball was, made a awful tackle which resulted in a Blackburn free kick and once again "our only Premier League quality midfielder" ©the official Danny Guthrie fan club created zilch. One of the reasons I wouldn't be overly upset if we don't make/go up through the play-offs is that we just may get rid of Guthrie, although God knows who would take him.

Unfortunately I also suspect he will be back in next week but that would say more about our manager than the player himself.

[peterroyal76]

I thought Guthrie played well when he came on today.

[windermere_royal]

I thought Guthrie played well when he came on today.

Shame about the hair though

[urz13]

Record when conceding first under Adkins:

W 1 D 2 L 17

I think a ball playing centre half with a bit of pace would make a big difference & that would be my number one priority in the summer.

We had one - but we sold him to Crystal Palace.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

I thought Guthrie played well when he came on today.

Yep me too. Looked composed on the ball, couple of great corners & some decent passes. Akpan has done ok though but would rather see Guthrie back now.

[bobby1413]

In all aspects it was a pretty poor day.

- McAnuff kicking the ball out - agree, he shouldn't have done that. I'm well up for sportsmanship but I don't think that extends to stopping when a player or two goes down. Play to the refs whistle.

- That free kick between McAnuff and Drenthe was abysmal. It was just terrible and I think there was another one where we just wasted the chance for a shot at goal by messing around too much.

- Y25 stewards. They relaxed for a long time with standing (didn't they?) so why in the last 2-3 games have they got worse, and today was the worst example. It's distracting as you just get about 10 orange jackets and everyone staring at them and not the game. Ignoring it is a fruitless exercise - particularly as it was more interesting watching them than the actual game.

- Drenthe's skill level looks really high, and in fact he did influence the game and I thought he did really well.

- Thought Gorkss was good too, a few errors but on the whole cleared every ball by proactively moving forward towards it, beating the attacking player.

- Guthrie - don't really rate him at all

...

The Long balls and fancy football has stop. I saw numerous examples of players whacking the ball 50 yards across the pitch, or up it. Sometimes it reached that player, but keep the ball on the ground!!!!. Simple football is most effective. A good example is Barcelona or Bayern Munich. They do NOTHING fancy. It's just pass after pass, popping it around player-to-player.

So frustrating seeing a fantastic win away at QPR and then losing today. Especially as QPR lost again, and Forest. Also frustrating how we inconsistent we are, playing amazingly one week, then losing at home against Sheffield Wednesday, or Wigan, etc...

[EarleyRoyal16]

Awful performance and awful officiating.

Pearce and McAnuff the highlights of the shit.

Jobi's 'header' back to Gunter which ultimately led to their goal was comical. Also his 'shot' in the first half which gracefully fell to Robinson's hands.

It's a shame cause I do want to like Pearce but I'm scared every time the balls at his feet, and he gets beaten for pace time and time again.

[EarleyRoyal16]

Also, why did the stewards throw their toys out the pram about standing today? They've been fine with it nearly all season, now they kick out(?) two people today for standing, what's the problem?

[MmmMonsterMunch]

He was shite. First thing he did was look around bewildered with no idea where the ball was, made a awful tackle which resulted in a Blackburn free kick and once again "our only Premier League quality midfielder" ©the official Danny Guthrie fan club created zilch. One of the reasons I wouldn't be overly upset if we don't make/go up through the play-offs is that we just may get rid of Guthrie, although God knows who would take him.

Unfortunately I also suspect he will be back in next week but that would say more about our manager than the player himself.

Sorry Sandman but your one eyed view of Guthrie is the only comment that should be laughed at. Plenty of others think Guthrie did well today & looked sharp. Guthrie>>>>>>Akpan IMO. Worth noting that Williams was decent throughout & this whole Williams can't play with Guthrie thing is a load of nonsense.

[LoyalRoyalFan]

Also, why did the stewards throw their toys out the pram about standing today? They've been fine with it nearly all season, now they kick out(?) two people today for standing, what's the problem?

Because the club will face sanctions if it continues to allow fans to break the law.

[P!ssed Off]

- Y25 stewards. They relaxed for a long time with standing (didn't they?) so why in the last 2-3 games have they got worse, and today was the worst example. It's distracting as you just get about 10 orange jackets and everyone staring at them and not the game. Ignoring it is a fruitless exercise - particularly as it was more interesting watching them than the actual game.

It was distracting just seeing it all going on from the West Stand.
Surely the blokes that got taken out did something worse than just standing up? Anyone know what that was about?

[1871 not 1998]

I thought Guthrie played well when he came on today.

As a sweeper, yes. If he could just play a little higher up the pitch though..