Speaking in the pubs before the game on Saturday afternoon I got the feeling that most of the fans were nervous about this game. It was a hard one to predict and not many people knew if we were capable of beating Blackburn for another vital three points at home. One thing that led to this confusion and uncertainty of the result, was Sunderland grabbing a late equaliser against the smog’s, and Blackburn’s run of form of late being poor but then destroying a poor Brum last game to leave us unsure of how things will pan out.
Mark Hughes is another manager who visits the SoL with a great building reputation as a manager who has moulded his own style and demands into his squad and will be around for many years to come influencing the Premiership with his ideas and mentality. It seems every game the managers are compared against each other, and for Keano being a massive figurehead in this great league, he is compared to his old team mate, to see which Manchester United great will prevail.
Walking into the Stadium at 2.58pm I checked the squad on the screens in the concourse and Keane had selected the exact team to what I would have played. Roy even went one better by dropping the out of favour Halford and brought in Ian Harte for his first role on the bench. Nozza returned in his Halford’s absence and Miller was introduced into the midfield after his stunner last minute at the Riverside for Etuhu.
The key battle was always going to be between Samba and Jones, both their sheer height and physical presence was easy to identify from the very first pass towards the T&T striker. Unfortunately, Samba won this battle hands down and proved to be one of the most accomplished centre halves I have witnessed at our own ground. It is easy to say “Aye he is only marking Jones” but people only two weeks ago were saying how neat and tidy Jones played against Reading, the difference is Blackburn’s defence is much better than our last home game opponents. Pompey scoring an amazing seven goals just proves this fact!
The service to our strikers was poor all game and this game completely highlighted how we are sorely missing out and out wingers who can deliver any decent balls into the box. We created much more crossing opportunities and corners than Blackburn did but we did not trouble Brad Friedel until Leadbitter scored the consolation at the death of the game. Once we get Edwards and Richardson back into the swing of games, and the pace of the Premiership, we will be able to at least work the keeper on a much more frequent basis.
It was a shame as I really feel we threw at least a point away today with sloppy defending (similar to McCarthy era a few seasons back) and only a few players showing their commitment throughout the game. If we had switched on for at least the 2nd goal we conceded we could have grabbed a later point at least yesterday. It is another learning curve for our players but it is going to be a harsh lesson to take to the Emirates with the Gunners in red hot form at the moment.
Danny Collins and Liam Miller were the two Sunderland players who shone all game and it will be difficult for Harte to break into the team as it appears Collins is playing every game as though it is his last, by working 100%, which is great to see from a player who was not well rated only a few months back.
We started brightly enough with some good moves and tidy passing to break down a stubborn Rovers defence, a few nice flicks from Jones led to Chopra being put through a few times but he failed to beat the offside trap for most of these half chances we managed to create. We were also turned down for a penalty appeal in the 1st half as Chops again raced clean through and seemed to get a touch of the ball before Friedel brought him down. Chops seemed adamant that he was fouled by the Yank but the referee was having nothing to do with the debatable decision.
Sunderland completely failed to carry any of their positive momentum into the second half, which allowed Blackburn the time to dominate the midfield and find space that Sunderland, were allowing them to play into. Their goal came as the entire Sunderland defence backed away to allow ‘Santa’ Cruz a ‘gift’ to have a free shot that was closed down by Higginbotham only to see the ex/current England player Bentley smash home for their opening goal. It seemed to be coming as we failed to make any decent attempts on target.
Before we were allowed to throw foul language and our disgust at the players for allowing that easy goal we went straight back to the olden days and conceded another within a minute. A shit back-pass from Higginbotham allowed Gordon to make a great important save but the blushes were not spared as the ball was crossed into Santa Cruz who smashed home for their second and ultimately their winner. As MarcoPaul said it was two minutes of madness that if we managed to cut out we could have got a point rather than none and a bad hangover before the trip down south to Arsenal.
All in all a very poor game that was ruined by a few mistakes at the back, we need Chopra to find his early season form for us to have a chance of scoring goals and we need Jones to perform a lot better than he did today otherwise it will be a hard struggle come May 2008.
MOM – Danny Collins, but Samba deserves everything for his performance yesterday, outstanding defending.
