The Rovers Return

Carling Cup round four. I was personally hoping for a home draw against Burnley but it wasn’t to be…

Rovers have been drawn to play Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. Another crap draw for us… However, one thing did catch my eye:

Chelsea v Burnley

Man Utd v QPR.

Well well well, who’d have thought it? The two biggest teams left in the hat kept apart and drawn against lower league opposition.

Now I’m not one for accusing anyone of anything… BUT COME ON IT MUST BE BLUDDY FIXED!!

A special club. That’s what Newcastle United is. There’s something in the water up there, it makes football in the north east just that bit better than everywhere else.

I jest, of course. I love seeing Newcastle having problems, mainly because of how they have an inflated sense of their own right to be successful. A big city like Newcastle should surely be challenging for world domination..?

As Martin Samuels said in January, Newcastle, you are not special!

Now then, onto today’s game. Newcastle have just appointed a new manager. A manager without any credentials whatsoever. A manager who has been out of the game since December 2004, when he left Nottingham Forest. A manager who, I believe, has a good chance of taking the Magpies down…

Rovers will not be playing against Kinnear, it will be Chris Hughton’s last game as caretaker with Kinnear sitting in the stands. However, I remain confident of victory in the north east.

Anyone who saw the cup match on Wednesday night will agree, Newcastle look rundown. Their dejected fan-base are not happy, the team looks poor and I can’t see any road back for them.

I’m going to stick my neck out and say we’re going to see the first flash of brilliance from a Rovers side under Ince. We were promised a new brand of flowing, attractive football when the Guvnor took charge. Today we will get that and it will see us through to a 3-0 victory!

- Rovers await results of Robbo calf scan Lancashire Telegraph

- Ince praises Fowler and Tugay SSN

- Moyes accepts fans jeers Daily Mail

-Delight for injury plagued Olsson Official site

Rovers ran out narrow winners in this game in which Everton never looked like threatening and the margin could have been more.

Martin Olsson’s first goal for the club after 10 minutes sees Rovers into the last sixteen of the competition and gave Paul Ince back to back home wins for the first time in his Premier League managerial career.

Here’s my conclusions on last night’s action:

1. It is possible to limp off injured having actually done nothing at all… A la Paul Robinson. Confused? So was half of Blackburn!

2. The bookies will have done well, I think I’d have been naming coaching staff and ballboys to score before I got to Olsson! Read more »

- Fowler could start against Everton Lancashire Telegraph

- Ince admits concerns Daily Telegraph

- Derbs knocking on first team door Official site

Rovers take on the Toffees tonight in a repeat of the opening Premier League fixture, this time in the League Cup.

Set up after a 4-1 thumping of League Two Grimsby, Rovers will know this is a game we should win. The Carling Cup is a competition that clubs like us look to as a possible route into Europe, a competition we indeed won only a few short years ago.

Everton are looking a bit troubled this season, having spent the last few years enjoying success under the excellent stewardship of David Moyes, they have started slowly and were on the end of that opening day shock at the hands of the Rovers!

Hopefully the game will see Carlos Villanueva given some more action, as well as maybe a few of the other fringe players like Simpson and of course Saturday’s goal hero Matt Derbyshire who surely deserves a start. Read more »

Sorry for the lapse folks. I have been without Internet for almost a month but should be back on for good now.

- Simpson praises Winterburn Official site

- Gallagher in Norway rejection Plymouth Herald

- Villanueva could sign for £5 million Daily Mail

- Rovers miss out on Espanyol star Goal.com

- Bunn excited about working with Robbo official site

- McCarthy to miss South Africa international South African Star

- Derbyshire an influence in Gallagher’s Plymouth move Plymouth Herald

The Daily Telegraph reports that a Rovers coach is using a new method of coaching that could produce a higher quality of England youngsters in the future.

Charlie Jackson, technical skills coach at Rovers, has developed a matrix system where the kids in his training sessions teach themselves, with the coach more of a passive observer.

He tells the Telegraph:

“It’s peer-led, by the players, not by a bully coach or parent,’’ says Charlie Jackson, the brains behind Matrix and the advanced technical skills coach at Blackburn Rovers’ academy after seven years working with Manchester United’s kids. “Parents are pushing them the wrong way, turning every game into a cup final. Some old-school coaches just want steel and grit but that has got England nowhere.”

“The children have to work things out: open the body up, twist and turn, make a decision on how you receive the ball. You have six parts of the foot to receive the ball. How you do it is up to you. This is a classroom with no roof and no walls. They do Matrix at Blackburn and it’s paying dividends there.”

Read the full story here

Manchester City and Manchester United have been forced to splash a combined £62.5 million on their second choice signings.

Having been rejected in their efforts to sign Roque from the Rovers, City have signed Robinho for £32.5 million while United have plumbed for Spurs’ Berbatov for £30 million.

These whopping sums of money may have been saved had Roque have taken the decision to become yet another wantaway star sucked in by the lure of the big money clubs, but instead he chose to pen a four year deal at Ewood.

Both City and United had expressed a huge desire to sign the Paraguayan who has been a massive success for Rovers.

All this talk of money begs the question… How much is Roque Santa Cruz worth? Read more »