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Another of Blackburn’s undercover fans – DodgyGambit* is the only name we have for him – has taken time off from celebrating last night’s victory to preview Saturday’s Premier League clash. Then, as he says, Rovers will start with a stronger side than for the Carling Cup tie. It is a wide-ranging, fascinating addition to the Who Are They? series – and also presents a welcome spot of balance. DG – who owns the Blackburn Rovers Spammers site – sharply contradicts Vinjay’s scathing (yes, still scathing despite being toned down by Salut! Sunderland) assessment of Roy Keane….

Sunderland vs Blackburn a fixture being played twice over the space of 4 days, you would think both teams would know each other quite well after a taster last night in the Carling Cup but I very much doubt the Premier League game on Saturday will be similar. Blackburn had rested most of their 1st team attacking options with pretty much a reserve side in midfield and up front.

The game itself was dominated by Sunderland and it seemed like one way traffic. Kenwyne Jones started surprisingly as he was ruled out before the game, and it was he who came closest in the first half after headering the ball onto the bar.

Second half Sunderland continued to dominate but were inevitably sucker-punched. Roque Santa Cruz made a return from a three-week lay-off and within two minutes of coming on he scored to give Rovers a 1-0 lead.

The lead was doubled after five minutes when Derbyshire crossed the ball and Bardsley deflected the save into his own goal. Within a minute of scoring the second goal Rovers conceded a goal, Kenwyne Jones with a shot from outside the box. Sunderland continued to dominate but could not level up the game.

Think Sunderland showed a lot of grit and determination but lacked the killer punch…something Rovers have been found guilty of in the last few games. Rovers only having two shots on goal in the game.

The game on Saturday see’s former Man Utd stars Paul Ince and Roy Keane come head to head in the League. Both have respect for each other http://blackburnroversspam.forumsmotion.com/rovers-latest-news-f1/paul-ince-keane-s-driven-me-on-t298.htm and both agree that the League game is more important than the Cup game. So all reference to the game on Wednesday will be forgotten about. Although it will give Blackburn more confidence and Sunderland the urge to banish memories of a game they dominated only to lose.

Both Managers seem to be under pressure in recent matches after having played well but ending up dropping points to other teams. This game will be massive in the sense that 3 points could shoot them into top 10 or a loss could put them into a relegation dogfight.

As a Rovers fan I would firstly like to say that Roy Keane has done a fantastic job at Sunderland with the backing of Niall Quinn. I never thought as a manager he would keep his cool, most managers would berate the ref for incorrect decisions but Keane seems to just move on and concentrate on the next game. Rovers fans respect him as a player and manager and do not believe the ‘thug’ tag given to him by other Rovers fans (or fan) represent the whole Blackburn fan base.

The calls for Paul Ince and Roy Keane to be sacked are ludicrous, a team can only see a realistic aim by the end of December when half the games have been played. At that point it can be seen whether you will be in the top 10 or bottom 10.

I expect a fast paced game with plenty of bookings and the game won by the odd goal.

On Saturday I would expect Blackburn to have the following line-up

Robinson, Simpson, Khizanishvilli/Samba, Nelsen, Olsson, Warnock, Mokoena, Villanueva, Pedersen, Santa, Benni.

And now your questions…..

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So the first part of our little battle with Blackburn Rovers is over. We are out of the Carling Cup. Evidence, to Pete Sixsmith in his verdict at Sixer’s Sevens, that the alarm bells really are clanging now. Read the match thread at the Rovers site BRFCS, however, and you get the impression that we were overwhelmingly on top until they scored against the run of play, and then again with a sloppy own goal. And I’d posted a message there earlier, saying they could have the cup game if we could grab six points from Saturday and Boxing Day. Roy Keane put out a strong side (including a reassuringly fit Kenwyne Jones) Rovers fielded some squad players, so the defeat cannot be dismissed. But with the greatest of respect to the Carling Cup, what really matters after the disappointments of last weekend left us languishing in second bottom place, is the Premier. Suddenly, we are in desperate need of points. Pete takes up the theme….

Another disappointing time at the Stadium of Light. Not much light shining on us at the moment as we look to pull ourselves out of a slump which threatens to put us back into the recent dark ages of lengthy relegation struggles and kick and rush football.

Looking for positives, at least we didn’t have to go to extra time and penalties so we were home before the witching hour. Kenwyne looked sharper as the game went on and took his goal well, while Jordan Henderson did not appear out of place in the midfield.

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In the first part of this contribution to our Who Are They? series, Vinjay, owner of the Rovers fan site brfcattitude.com, told us of his intense dislike of Roy Keane. And he hasn’t finished, as you will see when you read on. His loathing for our manager is such that he wishes failure on Sunderland AFC. Don’t blame Salut! Sunderland. We only asked the questions..it may be part of Vinjay’s punishment that whenever we try to click on his site, it switches after a split second to something about Fat Boy Slim, who is not known to have played for Rovers……

What did you think of our respective clubs’ prospects before the season started? Have the first few games altered your thoughts?

I fully expect BRFC to be in contention for the European places again. Many fans have been brainwashed by the arrogance of Leslie Hughes and believe he is fully responsible for three top 10 finishes in succession. That’s what he would lead you to believe. The players will hopefully prove that they were the ones who finished in the top 10 and will do so again.
Sunderland I would like to see fail in their goals though nothing personal against the club, just the current manager. I have absolutely no respect for your manager and his past actions. Deliberately (setting out to injure Alf-Inge Haaland) isn’t the act of a decent individual. I expect Sunderland to come close to a top half finish but maybe just narrowly missing out. If Portsmouth can reach a final there’s no reason why Sunderland can’t though hopefully not at the expense of BRFC’s league cup ambitions. The league cup means a lot to this club and I see the LC fixture as slightly more important than the league one.

When did you last see SAFC v Rovers home or away, and what
happened? Any other memorable games between us?

That would be the 1-0 win over Sunderland at Ewood last season. I enjoyed beating Keane and that’s what it was about for me, not beating Sunderland. Enjoyed it almost as much as beating Sven Liar Eriksson. That would be a reference to 1996 when Eriksson lied about becoming BRFC manager (seems a harsh use of the verb – ed!). There was the 0-0 draw at the beginning of the 2002-2003 season which saw Dwight Yorke/Andy Cole partnership reunited. Probably set the tone that they weren’t going to live up to the standards they had previously met elsewhere. Also that awful 3-0 defeat on Boxing day when Niall Quinn was very dominant and scored a couple of goals if I recall correctly.

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Despair, anger, fear. All emotions are possible after the heartbreaking defeat against Portsmouth, a result all the more sickening because we looked like adding to our early lead three times before the interval. Pete Sixsmith seeks to steady the nerves, and remains optimistic that we will haul ourselves out of trouble…..

The first thing to do is not to panic. There is no need for it. We have the players to win a couple of games and go shooting up the league. We are a better team than West Brom, we are not in serious financial trouble like West Ham and Portsmouth, unlike Fulham and Wigan we have a large fan base, unlike Bolton, we respect our manager and unlike Newcastle we have stability behind the scenes.

I have to say that none of these thoughts entered my mind on the walk back to the car on Saturday. If I had had a full set of teeth I would have been grinding them in anger and frustration at a totally avoidable, potentially damaging defeat.

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When I think of Sunderland, the prominent memory would be the outstanding 4-4 draw against Charlton.

Unlike the cowardly Nicolas Anelka in last season’s European Cup Final, Michael Gray (who later played for Rovers and is pictured courtesy of A Love Supreme) has never been labelled as a world class European striker.

I recall watching him step up and correctly predicting he would fail with the kick and subsequently that happened. I felt sorry for Sunderland and neither club deserved to lose that game. I have a mental image right now of Alan Curbishley celebrating their win. I think that’s the only notable thing the overrated Curbishley has ever won. I’m sure older BRFC fans felt more sympathy having experienced great trauma in the playoffs prior to the birth of the “new Blackburn Rovers” and Jack Walker’s funding.

In the same season BRFC had an outstanding start with brilliant football being played and were in the top three up until around February.

Then a combination of training methods tiredness and Alan Fettis (absolutely dreadful goalkeeper who put in several disastrous performances in the second half of 97-98 saw a downturn into sixth place. Even so, it is still my favourite season as well as my first.

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It is all my fault. At half time, I wrote: “Could be four up. Don’t blow it!”

And all too soon, passing became poorer and, over and again, we surrendered possession cheaply and dangerously.

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There are few occasions when I have been embarrassed to be a Sunderland supporter.

I am not talking about performances on the field. Though it matters a great deal to me how we play, it doesn’t affect my passion for the club or the pride I take in having followed them since the days of Clough and Hurley.

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