Benni McCarthy looks set for West Ham

EDIT: BENNI MCCARTHY HAS NOW APPARENTLY AGREED PERSONAL TERMS WITH WEST HAM

It’s been an extremely quiet transfer window so far. Not just at Rovers, but across the Premier League as a whole.

But a few snippets of speculation have emerged recently as the window enters its final week.

It was always expected to be pretty movement-free, particularly at Ewood, where no secret’s been made of the fact that funds are tight and Big Sam has to sell before he can even think about buying.

The only deals that have gone through are those of youth players Andy Haworth (Rochdale) and Marcus Marshall and Gavin Gunning (Rotherham) who have all gone out on loan.

Rovers have been linked quite regularly with Eidur Gudjohnsen and  Valdiray Basturk (Daily Mail) throughout the window. But no move is likely unless certain players leave the club.

McCarthy is being linked with a move to West Ham as new owners Gold and Sullivan look to strengthen the Hammers’ squad. Alan Nixon wrote in The Mirror that he may have to go on loan until his contract with Rovers finishes in 18 months as his recent lack of international caps means he would not get a new work permit.

His strike partner and bezzie mate Jason Roberts, who is apparently back in contention for Wednesday’s clash with Wigan, is being lined up by Wolves, who have missed out on James Beattie.

Meanwhile, in a piece of speculation I’ve not come across until today, north east paper The Sunday Sun reports that Newcastle want Keith Andrews but Big Sam, instead of money, has told them they will have to give us Alan Smith, who Allardyce paid £6-million for in his time at Newcastle, in exchange.

Can’t say I’m sure how much there is in any of these suggestions. It’s certain that Benni Mac wants out and, if the deal was right for Rovers, Big Sam would let him leave. Unfortunately, despite being one of our more technically gifted players, McCarthy has made no secret of his desire to leave. This desire will not be doing dressing room harmony any favours and  getting him off the wage bill will be a big boost to finances.

Can’t say I’d be too sad to see Roberts go. As long as his departure paved the way for a replacement. He’s had a decent career at Rovers but has not been at his best this season and the fans are starting to criticise him. I feel if an offer did come in it would do us no harm to let him leave.

As for Andrews, I still rate the midfielder. His dogged style may not be pleasing on the eye, but he has a determination and a never-say-die attitude that we need to beef up the centre of the park. Since Robbie Savage left, we’ve missed someone with the fighting spirit in midfield. However, on a personal level for Andrews, the move would be a good thing. He’s been unfairly vilified by Rovers fans who were straight on his back before he’d even kicked a ball, just because he used to play at a lower level. A fresh start could be the right answer for Andrews, who certainly does not deserve booing when he comes on as a substitute.

On the incoming front, as is often the case, anyone who has previously played for Allardyce has been linked with the club at some point, and sometimes you feel the press looks for people in a situation they could move on from and trace back their ex-managers.

In this case, Eidur Gudjohnsen is unhappy at Monaco, what better way to revive his career than to team up with the gaffer that made his career in the first place? He’s on a good wage a week at Monaco, which means he would probably have to take a pay cut.

Alan Smith is, apparently, admired by Allardyce, however, as with Gudjohnsen, he’s on a massive salary – apparently about £60,000 a week – which I would be surprised to see Rovers match.

As for Basturk, I know nothing about him apart from he’s a Turkish midfielder. We could do with a bit more creativity and the Stuttgart player, who has 49 international caps, may be the answer. I do not know.

There’s only one more week for Sam to act and I reckon he’d be happy if there was no transfer activity whatsoever, so it’ll be interesting to see what the squad looks like come February 1.

McCarthy celebrates giving Rovers the lead at Wigan.

It’s not been a festive period full of cheer for the Rovers faithful. More a dreaded sense of uncertainty as Rovers bumbled their way through a month that should have been so much more successful.

2-0 defeat at home against Spurs – a game I was 40 minutes late for due to the previous nights festivities in Scunthorpe – was a game we didn’t deserve to lose. Spurs did what we can’t do and took their chances.

Wigan away on Boxing Day was a lot of fun until the match. I went on the coach with the Darwen Blues from the Craven Heifer – cheers guys – and, full of beer and festive cheer, watched a drab encounter between two poor sides.

We should have won, but our inability to convert chances into goals cost us dear as we left the DW Stadium with just a point.

I couldn’t get to the Sunderland match as I was stuck at work, and I haven’t seen the highlights, but from the radio commentary I listened to we should have won this one as well. An awful first half, from both sides it would appear, followed by a half of yet more missed Rovers chances while Sunderland took theirs. Luckily, we were able to take two of our chances to avoid a second consecutive home defeat.

Sticking my ‘glass half full’ hat on, which I’ve noticed fewer and fewer Rovers fans doing these past couple of weeks, and you can tell we’re going through a bad spell, which would suggest we can come out the other end and get back to winning ways.

The reason for my optimism is the glaringly obvious pieces of bad luck that, on another day, might not have happened.

I refer you to three instances in particular, one in each of these games that could well have won us a further five points:

1) Spurs away. Benni McCarthy hits the post with the score at 0-1. Had it gone in, we could have taken at least a point, maybe the momentum would have even saw us snatch a winner.

2) Wigan away. Chris Kirkland pulls of a super save to deny a sublime overhead kick from Benni McCarthy. The goal would have put us back in front and, at 2-1, I could not have seen us losing at Wigan.

3) Sunderland. Another shot hits the woodwork as Chris Samba’s effort goes out off the outside of the post. The goal would have put us 3-2 up in a second half we were well on top of.

January is a massive month for Rovers. There could be a lot of transfer movement with the club admitting that, to buy, Rovers will have to sell in the transfer window. James Beattie has been linked and, if we can get shut of a couple of squad players, he would be perfect for Rovers.

It could be a busy one for Big Sam!

Benni McCarthy scores against Bolton at Ewood in January.

As we continue to run, as fast as we can, from the perilous month that was October, tomorrow’s televised derby at Bolton is absolutely huge.

As well as local bragging rights, this match represents a real opportunity for us to take massive strides towards a safe position in the league.

Three points will see us rise from 15th (we’ve dropped a place today by not playing) to 11th, level on points with Stoke, who we see at Ewood next weekend.

On the flip side, a win for Bolton would see them move above us by a point, Rovers dropping to 16th in the table, just two points above the relegation zone – but let’s not think about that!

The form book reflects very favourably on us. Unbeaten in five against the Wanderers, and unbeaten since the last eight visits to the Breezeblock…

It’s also, apparently, Benni McCarthy’s favourite game. He’s scored five for us against Bolton, more than against any other club!

It will be interesting to see what system we play with Neil McDonald in charge. I’d like to see us drop the one up front, stick Benni and Roberts up there in a four-four-two, leaving Dunny in a free role in midfield.

Vince Grella could be back and, with question marks over Keith Andrews who played all match for Ireland on Wednesday, he may get a chance to play.

I’d like to see Emerton stay in the team as well, he looked excellent against Portsmouth and, on his day, can be a real handful.

This game represents a real opportunity for us to end our dismal away run. Ten defeats on the bounce is awful. There should be a good Rovers following at just £15 a ticket, so hopefully we’ll add to an electric atmosphere.

Come on you Blues!

Jason Roberts slots home Rovers' third.

Credit where it’s due. I, along with a large majority of Rovers fans, was having a right go at Sam Allardyce while huddling for warmth at half time at Ewood on Saturday.

One up front and 1-0 down while playing absolutely terribly, things were looking bleak.

Then Big Sam made one of the most attacking tactical changes he’s probably ever made. Removing the very much below par Pedersen and Diouf and throwing on Jason Roberts and Benni McCarthy proved to be a master stroke as Rovers dominated the second half having been extremely poor in the first.

Jason Roberts has come in for plenty of stick this season and he answered his critics in the best possible way. Yes, they were easy finishes, but he got himself into the right positions to give Rovers the equaliser and then sealed the win with the third after a wonderful link up with Benni.

McCarthy was also solid. Recent speculation over his future saw the Rovers fans chanting his name and he made a big difference to the game in the second half.

Unfortunately for Rovers at the moment there seems to be some flaws in our game plan.

The one up front with Dunny in the hole worked wonders against Burnley, Wolves and Villa. But the whole system relies on David Dunn putting in a good performance.

In the first half, Dunny wasn’t playing to his best, and that left Di Santo stranded on his own up front with no chance of a chance on goal.

There was little invention. With the ball constantly going from full back to centre back and then out to the other centre back, before finding it’s way back across, until a Portsmouth attacker put some pressure on and the ball was hoofed up field to little effect.

Then there’s the lack of closing down when the opposition advance. We didn’t learn our lesson from Robbie Blake’s stunner for Burnley and O’Hara made us pay with Portsmouth’s opener.

Very much a half to forget, and probably the worst Rovers half in a long while.

The second half was much better. Rovers actually went at Portsmouth and it paid dividends. With more than one striker on the pitch, Franco Di Santo was able to put himself about a bit more as he wasn’t on his own. And Dunny dropping back into midfield also seemed to work as he performed much better in the second half.

The battle of the England hopefuls was played out between Robbo and David ‘Calamity’ James, but neither came out particularly shining. Apart from the goal, Robbo had little to do, although he did fumble a long range effort in the second half when the slippery ball appeared to slip through his hands, but luckily for him it didn’t squeeze through into the net!

David James showed how he is definitely not England’s number one. His kicking in particular looking very poor.

All in all a good, and extremely vital, win for Rovers against a Portsmouth team that certainly doesn’t deserve to be bottom of the league.

The win lifted Rovers five places in the league to 13th, although we  have since dropped a place after Everton’s win over West Ham.

It also continued our fine home form. Four league wins in a row at Ewood, five in all competitions. It’s vital that we keep up that solid home form and make Ewood a place that opposing teams will look forward to with trepidation.

That said, we’ve got two away games coming up that could hopefully see us break the away duck. Bolton away in a fortnight is another massive game for Rovers. A perfect chance to turn our away fortunes around against a team that really isn’t that good!

Three points clear of the relegation zone, we can now look forward to the international break safe in the knowledge that we are no longer in the bottom three. A real weight off our shoulders!

Benni McCarthy could be heading for the exit.

I like Benni McCarthy, but I do think he’s past his best. Unfortunately, when Franco Di Santo leaves, he’s about the best we’ve got, unless Nikola Kalinic turns out to be any good…

In spite of this, it appears Big Sam doesn’t rate him and will allow him to leave in January, that’s if anyone will stump up the £3.5m we want for him!

I don’t mind him going. He deserves first team football and he’s not looking likely to get that at Ewood. However, I don’t him to end up at Burnley, Bolton or Wigan.

As long as he disappears to a side that doesn’t have any local rivalry with Rovers, I’ll be satisfied. Hopefully Sam will be able to use the cash to bring in some sort of replacement, which we will definitely need if Di Santo does go back to Chelsea.

In other. slightly more distressing news. As Aston Villa continue to prove they aren’t actually that great yet, they threw away another game in the dying moments, losing 2-1 to West Ham at Upton Park.

That result sees The Irons climb out of the relegation zone and above us in the table, pushing us down to 18th!

This adds to the importance of Pompey on Saturday. Three points are desperately needed!

Michel Salgado celebrates his first goal for Rovers.

Headline copyright Richard Boardman (2009)

Rovers showed their class by brushing aside Championship strugglers Peterborough to avoid any cup embarrassment and progress through to the League Cup quarter finals.

Despite having players quarantined because of the swine flu illness that swept through the side, goals from Pedersen, Reid, Salgado, McCarthy and Kalinic ensured an entertaining cup tie ended in success for Rovers.

It’s great to see all of those names on the scoresheet.

Pedersen finally reminding us what he’s capable of from a dead ball situation. Reidy grabbing himself one, despite it being a penalty, after all that has been said in the press recently. Salgado has been far from impressive so far, but his goal that restored Rovers lead after we’d been pegged back twice was a lovely finish from a tight angle. Benni hasn’t featured much this season but his goal showed he’s still got the finishing touch. While £6-million future of Croatian football Nikola Kalinic finally got on the scoresheet (yes, another penalty) which should work wonders for his confidence!

It was also good to throw all those smug comments from Fergie Jnr well-and-truly back in his face.

On top of that, Sam was able to run the rule over a number of fringe players, whether he wanted to or not. Jason Brown, Michel Salgado, Phil Jones, Martin Olsson, Junior Hoilett, Brett Emerton, Steven Reid, Benni McCarthy and Nikola Kalinic all started the game.

I think the game was especially well summed up by The Times’s Tony Barrett:

When you have defied a bitterly cold Lancashire evening and a swine flu scare to attend a Carling Cup tie, the least you deserve is to be entertained, and the 8,419 hardy souls present at Ewood Park last night could not complain on that score.

Seven goals, two penalties and a sending-off were the edited highlights. Throw in one of the misses of this or any other season and a chant to live long in the memory — “Five-two and we’ve got the flu” — and it is hard to imagine anyone asking for more.

On to the next round and, unless Scunthorpe United pull of a major shock at the City of Manchester Stadium, there will be no non-Premiership clubs left in the competition. Assuming that’s the case, the best we can hope for is a home tie against Portsmouth I reckon.

Having said that, we’ll probably get Manchester United away.

One thing is certain about the quarter final draw. I’m willing to place a large bet on Manchester United, Chelsea (who will beat Bolton tonight) and the winner of Arsenal v Liverpool all avoiding each other in the draw for the next round!

Benni McCarthy could return.

Rovers travel to Everton needing an away win against a side that has struggled so far this season.

Only one win on the board for the Toffees means David Moyes’ side will be going all out for victory against a Rovers team that is seen to be struggling, purely based on results, and not performances.

This could give us a bit of an advantage. A home game against us is ideal for Everton. A game they really should win, is what they will be saying, but we could give them a surprise.

The omens are alright for Rovers. Even Paul Ince managed a win at Goodison, a 3-2 victory on the opening day last season, capped by a last minute winner from Andre Ooijer. We want a defender’s influence today, and if Lars Jacobsen can continue his superb start to life at Rovers, then a goal against the club that let us have him would be the cherry on the cake!

I’m not sure when the last time I was able to say this was, but Rovers are at full strength! Unbelieveable. With Benni and N’Zonzi back from injury, Big Sam has a full strength squad to choose from. It will be interesting to see if he sticks with one up front…

Sam’s recently come out and said that he wants to ditch the scrappy long ball style that teams under his management become accustomed to, I wait to see if that’s true, but we do have the players capable of playing attractive football.

Looking at Everton and Phil Neville’s missing, while Lucas ‘One Greedy Bastard’ Neill is unlikely to figure. Good.

Departing at 15:00 AM

One thing I forgot to mention in the Wolves write-up – referees. We’ve had some bad ‘uns so far this season. Steve Bennett was the worst I think we’ve seen. He made some ridiculous decisions that really wound up the Rovers fans. The icing came though when the linesman flagged for offside, from a throw-in. More should have been made of this, as if the linesman is actually getting the rules wrong, it means bad times. At least Bennett was bright enough not to blow the whistle for that one.

Anyway, it’s nearly kick off. I’m not at the game unfortunately due to my being absolutely skint, though I am looking forward to Forest on Tuesday night. On that note, anyone wanting to get a coach to Forest, you can hop on the Ewood Blues coach for £17, although it doesn’t leave until 15 in the morning… (see picture)

To a man, everybody at Ewood Park can take some credit for today’s vital win over Wigan.

In defence, Paul Robinson was unbeatable. An absolute wall in the Rovers goal. I saw some stupid article, probably written by some twat from America who’s never actually witnessed a real football match, which ranked Robbo as the third worst signing this season, he has surely answered any critics today, and with the England goalkeeping situation as it is he’s surely worth a chance, isn’t he? Very unlucky not to get Sky Sports’ man of the match in my opinion, although McCarthy did play well!

The rest of the defence was very solid. Givet and Nelsen never lost anything, Ooijer and Warnock at full back as reliable as ever. Special mention must go to Nelsen for scoring the best goal I have ever seen… What a time to score your first goal for the club!

We won the midfield battle. Diouf was exceptional down the right. I was dubious about the Senegalese midfielder when we initially signed him, but he really has shown his qualities and looks extremely dangerous every time he gets the ball. Pedersen looked about as good as I’ve seen him in a year while Tugay’s passing and Dunn’s energy kept us on top.

Samba was as solid as ever, despite not scoring he was involved in both goals, blocking Wigan keeper Chris Kirkland to provide McCarthy and Nelsen with perfect scoring opportunity’s. McCarthy scored the opener and set up the second. His cross was an absolute peach, keeping reasonably low and maintaining zip it was just begging for slight nod, and that’s exactly what the Admiral did. Who better to score the winner than the captain?

However, and this is where my headline comes in, the fans really answered Big Sam and Ryan Nelsen’s rallying cries. Turning up in numbers and singing their hearts out for 90 minutes. I’m gutted I wasn’t one of those 25,000-odd fans who really did their part in a fantastic day. It’s really good to see a club initiative pay off like this, going to show we really do have a board that has the fans’ interests at heart!

As I write I’ve just seen the league table on MOTD 2 and would like to point out IT IS WRONG. The league table shown had not been updated since last night and we are now 15th, on 37 points, six points clear of Boro in 18th and seven clear of Alan Shearer’s Newcastle, who take on Portsmouth tomorrow in an absolutely vital clash which could all but seal their fate!

Today was fantastic. When we play like that we show we really are capable of a much higher league position and, pretty confident of survival, I am beginning to look forward to next season.

Results today have gone our way and the onus is now on ourselves to go out and win tomorrow, a result which I reckon would all but guarantee our safety.

West Brom’s 3-0 win over Sunderland gives them a glimmer of hope, but I can’t see them making up the remaining six points between us, what that win does do is drag Sunderland right back into the mire.

Hull were beaten 3-1 at home by Liverpool meaning we move above them on goal difference without even playing.

There’s still a three point gap between us and Middlesbrough (in 18th) which I don’t foresee being reduced with Gareth Southgate’s side taking on Arsenal tomorrow.

If that does happen, a win over the Latics would move us six points clear of relegation with only four games left to play!

Newcastle take on Portsmouth on Monday and that game is a crucial one, a Newcastle defeat would be a massive blow to their survival hopes, Portsmouth, I feel, are just about out of it.

The history books read in our favour, this will be only our fourth visit from Wigan. In those previous three games we have won twice and drawn one.

However, our injury crisis continues. Santa Cruz and Roberts are both to miss out. Surely that means Samba will partner Benni McCarthy up front, assuming Big Sam goes with a positive, two up front, formation he should do in this game. Hopefully he’ll do away with playing Samba as a lone striker.

He does have other options up front though. Assuming McCarthy is guarenteed a place in the starting line up as our only out and out striker, Pedersen could be employed as a striker with Dunn on the left, or Diouf could also move up front, although I much prefer to see Diouf racing down the wings. Villanueva is also an option for Sam, although his Ewood future is in serious doubt right now.

Hopefully there should be a bumper crowd, with the three for £20 unreserved Darwen End tickets reportedly having sold really well. I hear more than 3,000 have gone, while the board are doing their best to fill the rest of the ground with tickets being flogged for just £15. Compare that to the £44 tickets for our trip to Stamford Bridge to take on Chelsea… (Unfortunately this blogger will be missing the game – bluddy work)

Wigan are out of form and there for the taking. Despite our side being extremely weakened at present, we really should win this game.

In other news, just heard Spurs are 2-0 up at Old Trafford! What a result that would be! Merseyside will be bouncing tonight if that stays the same!

As I said in my previous post, I wasn’t expecting anything in terms of a result, but when we just turn up and allow ourselves to get pasted like that it really annoys me.

Samba up front was the best player for us, although as he was on his own it was impossible for him to do anything. I have no idea what Benni McCarthy has done but Sam seems to have fallen out with him.

If it was up to me yesterday, the South African would have been introduced at half time to replace a midfielder (preferably Treacy with Dunn pushing out to the left hand side) to give us a chance of scoring, which would have put some pressure on the home side.

Outside of Rovers I got the impression yesterday we were never supposed to surprise our hosts and take anything. Indeed, if we had, we’d have spoiled their Hillsborough memorial.

This may sound harsh but the Scousers do like to revel in everybody’s sympathy when it comes to this time of year, and if we came in and nicked a result it would have been what nobody wanted on the 20th anniversary of the disaster.

On a Hillsborough note, it was nice to see Scouser Stephen Warnock present a memorial gift to the Kop End prior to kick off. Moments like that really sum up the true spirit of the game, where things like that transcend the hatred and fury shown vented towards the opposition fans on the terraces.

Not much to say about the match. Torres’ goal was outstanding. His second annoyed me as I can’t see how Chris Samba, at 20 feet tall, can be beaten in the air… The third was an excellent finish, I don’t care what Andy ‘I’m the God of football’ Gray says on Sky (he’s a right twat) about Robinson needing to do better. Yes, he was beaten at his near post, but I doubt many keepers would have kept out that strike.

The third goal was shite defending, and for Ngog to score against us is just embarrassing!

In the end, we should have lost by double figures. The 4-0 scoreline does nothing for our steadily recovering goal difference, and other results really went against us.

Still, four points off the drop our safety is well and truly in our own hands.

We are level on points with Portsmouth, who we are still to meet at Ewood, and Hull, with Stoke just two points ahead who we take on at the Britannia Stadium next week.

One thing’s for sure, we could really do with Santa Cruz back!