I've just made this point on another thread but I think it's worth repeating because alot of fans will be spoiling to have a go at kean if anything goes wrong at Sunderland next week.
Sunderland are a good team under normal circumstances without adding to the mix that they are desperate for a win and will have a full house to celebrate the arrival of o'neill. it's is unfortunate that we have run into sunderland at this time, IMO it is the worst time to play them.
I didn't even think they played that bad yesterday. If larsson hadn't 'won' the penalty, the wolves crowd wouldn't have got going and the game would have fizzled out into a 1-0 win.
I noticed in particular that they are very good on the counter - the richardson goal is evidence of this and if bendtner got his head up they could have scored another from this type of counter attack.
All in all it will be very tough next sunday. I pray that most of you are realistic enough to see that under hughes or sam we would be unlikely to get anything from the game (remember when west ham were desperate for a win in front of the sky cameras in 2006? they were a poor side but beat us 2-1 under hughes).
Please remember that bolton and west brom are on the horizon. If we perform like we did on saturday I think we will have racked up some points nicely before christmas.
Oh yeah, before I forget...kean out, obviously...
Not getting carried away...
posted on 5/12/11
Wow - we can't look at individual games like this. Yes we could win/lose any individual game. Thus beating Arsenal WAS an achievement. Losing to Wolves WAS unacceptable. Together they're ok. If you take any game you could identify why we should or shouldn't win that game.
The sum total of Kean's tenure is poor and it is likely that we would be better off under Sam who had the ability to string a sequence of results together and get unexpected results anywhere else.
3 points against Bolton - possible but their run has to end too and they have some okish players. Coupled with the fact they have an ok record against us - I wouldn't be so sure.
And West Brom are a much differet prospect from when Kean last met them when they were in constant disarray and we got two of Kean's seven wins...
posted on 5/12/11
The win against Arsenal - yes, it was an achievement but at the same time we can bear in mind that Arsenal were in turmoil at time.
The loss to Wolves unacceptable? I disagree. Typically we've never performed well on the opening day in recent years...maulings away to portsmouth and west ham (not great teams) under hughes spring to mind.
posted on 5/12/11
Ok wow, I do not agree with everything you say generally but a good article and well constructed so you can have 4 stars
Your point about Sunderland is valid, but we should be able to beat them, we shouldn't just be looking for results against three teams that gets us a massive 18 points, We have to get results from other teams too, A draw is absolute minimum we should expect.
West Ham have always been somewhat of a bogey team for t'rovers, I'm not a big believer in luck or fate, but for some reason we usually struggle against them, but valid stat.
Another valid stat is we have never lost by more than a Goal against Sunderland in 11 games pre SK, SK lost our last meeting 3-0
A chequered history of 5 draws 4 wins 2 losses
posted on 5/12/11
Stat Fans:
Steve Kean has never managed a run of 2 wins on the bounce.
posted on 5/12/11
yes MJ. In fact we've done well against the north-east clubs in general until recently. Our loss against newcastle was the first since 2004 i think just after souness left. but all runs have to come to an end.
I'm just not getting my hopes up for sunday and that more pressure isn't heaped on kean if we do lose.
posted on 5/12/11
Not unacceptable? Really - I was severely disappointed by the owners and Kean's lack of activity going into our opening games. their poor performance in the transfer market lead to us starting with a poor inexperienced defense. as a result, we got taken apart. Poor ownership and management.
You could make an excuse for each game - the in ratio is not high enough.
posted on 5/12/11
Stat Fans:
Steve Kean steered Rovers to the worst start to a season for 60 years
posted on 5/12/11
Stat Fans:
14 Games = 42 points available
10 taken = 23%
end of season predictor = 26 points
(Up 7 points at end of season on 13 game stats)
posted on 5/12/11
At least your accepting and taking other peoples opinion on bored Wow that's a step forward.
Now for Kean
posted on 5/12/11
If more pressure is heaped on Kean it won't be because we lost away to Sunderland, maybe because of the countless games we've been 'unlucky' in before it. Besides, he shouldn't talk himself up as much as he does thus inviting more pressure when he's still unproven.
Thought of the day, Kean took over & claimed top 5 quality. A year later, he claims he's been a success because the squad is more valuable than 6 months ago. He's now aiming for top 10.
If it was just about results I honestly wouldn't dislike him.