BFTG - Blackburn Home

[Nameless]

No way would West Ham sell Oxford
No way would Oxford join us
He'll be a target for all the top teams in Europe.
Our best option would be a season long loan but I would suspect he would demand a written guarantee of a starting place in every game.

[Royal Tezza]

Decent performance, thought Blackburn very poor in the 1st half. Decent noise from Y25/6 but agreed with others on the attendance. Just a thought, what's going on with the car parking situation lately? Could that be putting people off? I arrived at the Holiday Inn at about 7:30pm and it was very nearly full. I remember the days when we didnt even have to park on the grass for sellout games. Is there still barely anywhere nearby to park

On the flipside, I travelled (from SW London) for the Newcastle game via train and didn't get home until 1am due to the oxf*rd ridicuously shit bollocks slow shuttle buses to town - waiting for an hour in the rain when you have work in the morning is not the one. Seriously wished I'd left 5 minutes early but I don't really believe thats the best thing to support the team either.

Is the transport situation likely to get better in the near future? Seems like a seriously retrograde step from 5-10 years ago. I don't blame some fans not being arsed midweek when it may not be possible to avoid the pre-game rush

[Forbury Lion]

No way would West Ham sell Oxford
No way would Oxford join us
He'll be a target for all the top teams in Europe.
Our best option would be a season long loan but I would suspect he would demand a written guarantee of a starting place in every game.

I expect he insist on negotiations taking place over twitter as well.

[Brum Royal]

First game since Birmingham away for me. We've improved considerably since then.

First half passing was incisive and at a really good tempo for the most part and we looked really dangerous whilst doing it. The second goal in particular was a great example of how dangerous we can be when we really click. The half time subs made a real difference for Blackburn and they looked a different team for the first 20 minutes second half with the lively Joao up top and Emnes causing problems playing off the front man. Blackburn were good value for getting at least one goal back and it really was an excellent save from AAH (to keep it 2-0 at the time). The third goal settled us and forced Blackburn to open up even more towards the end and we could have added another three goals in the last ten minutes with better control and/or finishing.

AAH excellent save, generally solid with his hands (although looked like he made a real hash of dealing with the goal ruled out just before the break). Kicking a bit erratic second half.
Gunter, typical performance, good going forward, gives the winger a bit too much room though.
I've been critical of Blackett in most games I've seen him play, but last night was by far the best I've seen him (backing up a good performance v Leeds as well). Great cross for the opener too. Hopefully he's coming good just at the right time.
Moore and Oxford I thought were outstanding pretty much throughout. Oxford will have learned a lot from that period of 20 minutes against Joao just after half time.
Kelly, all action game again, gets better and better
Swift, link up play was good, great cross for Kermit's second, should have got one himself at the end with a bit more composure
Mutch, a good link up in the build up to our second aside, I thought he was a bit of a passenger - looked quite slow, gave the ball away a bit cheaply (first half). Looked better second half admittedly.
Beerens, solid if unspectacular
Popa, lots of running and time on the ball, didn't create a lot individually but kept things ticking over down the wing
Kermit was immense last night, goals aside, and real quality at both ends of the pitch.

GMac, goal aside didn't have a great game
Ilori, good to see him back again
Williams, considering he looked like he was struggling at the end of the warm up, delivered an all action performance that was key to us wrestling back control of the central midfield midway through the second half. We looked a lot better after he came on.

Ref, overall pretty good I thought, let the game flow and allowed a bit of physicality that a good game needs.

[BR0B0T]

Have to say I'm surprised by the poor attendance (but also a little surprised Leeds sold out)

Our midweek games generally seem to be poorly supported - difficult to understand why.

That's the one disappointment from the game

Normally 10 of us go.... with only 4 of us there.... kids don't go to midweek games unless holiday others had work commitments

plastics

[Winston Smith]

Have to say I'm surprised by the poor attendance

I didn't think it was poor, wasn't far off standard for us maybe?

last 3 home midweek attendance figures:

Newcastle 23,121
Brentford 15,710
Fulham 16,012


Newcastle was obv always going to be high, I would say Blackburn fits in with the other 2.

[bracksroyal10]

Surprisingly easy game 1st half, I thought Blackburn would be up for this. Agree with Stam's comments in his post match interview poor for the majority of the second half.

Individual Positives:
Gunter looks a different player since the Leeds game, passes into the opposition half have all been in the right areas and he seems to be offering more going forward too. Great to see him full of confidence.

Yann the poor man's Drogba - On fire and gives everything to the cause

Blackett - Solid performance .. Giggs inspired for his assist

Tiago - Another defensive option to keep things fresh

Individual Negs:
Popa - Final ball is poor and needs work on the training ground
GMAC - Seems to be lacking a little bit of confidence despite his goal

Also for me I haven't really worked out what Jordan Mutch is about, was ok last night but still some clumsy moments with tackles and on the ball. Unsure as to what he gives us that we didn't have prior to his arrival.

[CountryRoyal]

I thought it was a thoroughly competent and comfortable performance. Just miles better than the opposition who amply demonstrated why they are religation candidates. Their goal was a worldy though which I and a few others around me applauded.

It wasn't as good as Leeds but it didn't need to be, and it is worlds apart from how we've been playing for the majority of the seasons. Fast tempo, great movement and just a bit brighter.

Thought everyone was good, obviously Kermorgant goes without saying, but special mention to Blackett who was excellent. Popa was lively too, really like him and glad Ilori is back.

Happy days.

[genome]

Attendance-wise, remember with the Newcastle/Fulham/Brentford games the away fans took between 2,000 and 4,000. Blackburn took 500 ish.

There was a ticket incentive (£5) for those who went to the Leeds game, so I think the home end was fuller than usual but it was offset by the away fans.

[OLLIE KEARNS]

Very good first half with two excellent goals. The Blackburn formation change was always going to open the game up in the second half and it could easily have finished 6-2. Going ahead against sides will eventually draw them out allowing us to create chances so the only worry would be that we didn't take them last night. On that note McClearly may have given the funniest 20 minute performance I've ever seen from a Pro. That shank near the end was hilarious
Aside from that I thought Liam Moore reached a new level last night and Blackett is improving by the game. He has only played 50 games as a Pro so there is likely to be much more to come over time.
Lastly, I'm pretty sure the ever growing parking issues are impacting attendances slowly but surely. It can really be a pain nowadays, especially at evening games. Has anyone fallen foul of the 2 hour Costco cameras as yet ? Or are they like one of those dummy speed cameras with no film loaded ?

[Hound]

Any ideas why they started with both Joao and Emnes on the bench? Confused me that - those were the two I thought would give us most problems.

Re: the attendance - Fulham, Brentford and last night all disappointingly poor. Really should be getting 20k for all of those.

[genome]

Is Oxford an option to buy at the end of the season?

No chance

[Lower West]

Lastly, I'm pretty sure the ever growing parking issues are impacting attendances slowly but surely. It can really be a pain nowadays, especially at evening games. Has anyone fallen foul of the 2 hour Costco cameras as yet ? Or are they like one of those dummy speed cameras with no film loaded ?

I've always parked a distance from the ground and walked. After the game means there's no waiting around either.

[BR2]

Not sure why people are worried about attendances-as we are on our way to the Premier League every game will be sold out and then the receipts for attendances is massively outweighed by the TV money.
It might affect the atmosphere a bit but I expect the Rotherham and Wigan games to be nearly sold out for the home crowd as will the home play-off game.

As for last night you can see why Blackburn are where they are as they let us put in the two crosses for the headed goals without a semblance of a challenge and throughout that first half we had masses of room in midfield where the hopeless Akpan did his usual.....nothing.
The headed goals brought back memories of Senior, Quinn, Kitson et al.
I just wish now we could go straight to the play-offs .

[Forbury Lion]

Decent performance, thought Blackburn very poor in the 1st half. Decent noise from Y25/6 but agreed with others on the attendance. Just a thought, what's going on with the car parking situation lately? Could that be putting people off? I arrived at the Holiday Inn at about 7:30pm and it was very nearly full. I remember the days when we didnt even have to park on the grass for sellout games. Is there still barely anywhere nearby to park

See Club Policies http://hobnob.royals.org/forum/viewtopi ... 2&t=135810
Madejski Stadium car park now closes 30 mins before kick off which probably affected those who struggle to leave work and get to the Mad Stad for 7:30pm, That and the story on getreading.co.uk about cars in Whitley being vandalised during the Leeds game may have led to more demand for the Holiday Inn spots.

[No Fixed Abode]

Decent performance, thought Blackburn very poor in the 1st half. Decent noise from Y25/6 but agreed with others on the attendance. Just a thought, what's going on with the car parking situation lately? Could that be putting people off? I arrived at the Holiday Inn at about 7:30pm and it was very nearly full. I remember the days when we didnt even have to park on the grass for sellout games. Is there still barely anywhere nearby to park

See Club Policies http://hobnob.royals.org/forum/viewtopi ... 2&t=135810
Madejski Stadium car park now closes 30 mins before kick off which probably affected those who struggle to leave work and get to the Mad Stad for 7:30pm, That and the story on getreading.co.uk about cars in Whitley being vandalised during the Leeds game may have led to more demand for the Holiday Inn spots.

I thought the club backtracked on the 30 mins before KO shenanigans? Well according to the car park thread on Club Policies they have.

[Top Flight]

Yes. I love a headed goal. There is nothing more beautiful in football than to see a wonderful cross into the box met with a thumping header to send the ball flying past the keeper into a bulging net.

[Nomad_Royal]

Decent performance, thought Blackburn very poor in the 1st half. Decent noise from Y25/6 but agreed with others on the attendance. Just a thought, what's going on with the car parking situation lately? Could that be putting people off? I arrived at the Holiday Inn at about 7:30pm and it was very nearly full. I remember the days when we didnt even have to park on the grass for sellout games. Is there still barely anywhere nearby to park

See Club Policies http://hobnob.royals.org/forum/viewtopi ... 2&t=135810
Madejski Stadium car park now closes 30 mins before kick off which probably affected those who struggle to leave work and get to the Mad Stad for 7:30pm, That and the story on getreading.co.uk about cars in Whitley being vandalised during the Leeds game may have led to more demand for the Holiday Inn spots.

I thought the club backtracked on the 30 mins before KO shenanigans? Well according to the car park thread on Club Policies they have.

They have, and informed all car park ticket holders by letter.

[Silver Fox]

pcunt

[CountryRoyal]

Yes. I love a headed goal. There is nothing more beautiful in football than to see a wonderful cross into the box met with a thumping header to send the ball flying past the keeper into a bulging net.

30 yard top corner screamers, perfectly connection bicycle kicks, goals with slick passing one touch moves, huge crunching tackles, the new blonde steward in Y26...

Can think of a lot of things in football more beautiful than a headed goal.