Blackburn 1 Wolves 2 (Afobe & Diego Edwardona): The Verdict

[SouthWestWolf]

Good to start the season with a win however it comes, and glad Benik is already off the mark.

 

[thehistorymakers]

Any links to the goals? please.

 

[Tredman]

Any links to the goal? please.

Whoa, let's not be encouraging cross-border piracy

 

[The Bear]

Phew! Top day in the sun - shame the football didn't match it! We struggled to shake off pre season, with Blackburn coming out of the gates quickly.

Edwards motm, but in no way shape or form should he be our left sided midfielder!

Good, if slightly lucky, win!

Absolutely. Edwards was my MOTM too over Afobe and Iorfa who was immense again from RB. Fuck knows what game Spiers was watching. Stearman and Coady were ok nothing more.

As for Ojo's yellow for diving well it was an absolutely disgraceful decision. It was never a dive in a million years. He knocked it past the defender and tried to sprint onto it. The defender came across and wiped out the ball and the player. Probably got the ball first as it went off in the direction of the tackle, so not a penalty, but Ojo couldn't do anything but fall over the defender's tackle. The ref gave all but one of the 50-50s their way as well so he didn't really give us much and that dive decision really took the biscuit.

I couldn't tell if they should have a penalty or not. Bowyer on BBC Lancashire after the game said it was, but from my view it looked like he jumped over our challenge and went over. I'd need to see it again though.

As for the match, well the first 20 mins they were well on top. We couldn't keep the ball and sloppily gave it away twice through Hause. Rhodes hit the post and Marshall or possibly Conway shot wide. Another chance was a free header 10 yards out which Ikeme tipped over after neither CB even jumped for it.

Once we weathered that first 20 mins we got control of the ball, stopped giving it away, but still really didn't show much attacking prowess other than keeping possession. In fact our goal was our first shot on target and I think the first time one of our forwards touched the ball in their box. Lovely cushioned header from Edwards and a nice finish with the outside of the boot from Big Bad Benik.

Their goal was completely against the run of play too. Stears blocked Conway's shot and it looped right up and over a stranded Ikeme who couldn't get back in time to tip it over. After having just seen it again on SSN maybe he could have got back slightly quicker and done a bit better, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

Second half we started as we left off and completely controlled possession and stopped them playing. We still didn't really offer that much going forward other than the odd ball down the channel for Dicko, Iorfa or Golbourne. Edwards' header definitely looked like it flicked off his hand but it never looked in any way deliberate, just his arm outstretched balancing as he ducked forward for the header.

The last 15 mins their big black sub Koita came on in the centre for them and he really got them in the game. He reminded me of Chris Samba from a distance and he had a couple of long range efforts, one of which Ikeme just tipped wide. They had a couple of corners and a bit of late pressure resulting in a header going just wide, but other than that they offered no threat.

We thoroughly deserved to win the match after we dominated possession for 70 mins of the 90. If they'd have taken one of their early chances maybe things would have been different but they didn't and we're left ruing a handball and a penalty not given.

MOTM was between Afobe, Edwards and Iorfa. Iorfa had a great game but visibly tired and got very sloppy in the last 15 mins getting booked and giving away free kicks. Afobe had a decent game getting his goal and dropping very deep regularly to get on the ball. Edwards also had a decent game though and even though he had a quiet last 15 mins he scored and assisted so my vote goes to him.

I thought Ojo could have come on a bit earlier than he did. ALF fair enough. Ojo barely touched the ball other than his breakaway penalty shout which he was booked for disgracefully.

All in all a good first game and win, if a sluggish start. We'll need to come out of the traps better than that next week.

 

[SSB]

Great day in the sun. Good to see old friends and a win to boot.

This Ch5 program is already all over the place.

 

[Freddeno]

Cheers for that report Bear

 

[YoungWolf]

Cheers Bear. I actually think Ikeme should do better for the goal once he's recovered, luckily it didn't effect the result.

Weird how Edwards doesn't celebrate! Makes it obvious!

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Yeah Ikeme definitely should have done better. Not an out and out howler but having made the ground (and quite comfortably too) he should have made a better effort of knocking it over the bar.

Lovely finish by Benik. Amazed the referee didn't disallow Edwards' goal.

 

[Kenny]

Clear as day handball. Staggering that ref allowed it. Edwards knew it had hit his hand and by the looks of it didn't celebrate as he expected it to be ruled out.

 

[ROVERT47]

It' was pretty obvious Dave was waiting for the Ref to blow but hey, some you win some you don't.

 

[Freddeno]

Not as bad as gods hand..dangerous dave is honest

 

[Alan]

We had our share of rotten decisions going against us last season, so I guess Davey's goal is a bit karmic from that perspective.

I'd be right fucking pissed if I was a B'burn supporter but that's just the way things go sometimes.

 

[thehistorymakers]

Whoa, let's not be encouraging cross-border piracy

hahaha

 

[Dublin Drummer Wolf]

Good start, always nice to beat Blackburn.

I'm delighted the football is back on, really enjoyed MOTD just now

 

[Lycan]

Ikeme - 6 - Made a couple of quality saves and took the pressure off with a few good catches when Blackburn were pressing for an equaliser at the end. His kicking was a bit dodgy though and he's made a right mess of their goal. There's no need to be diving so early, he's not being pressured by any Blackburn forwards and what is he even trying to do when he flaps at it? Push it over the bar?

Iorfa - 6.5 - A bit like Ikeme, there were a few moments of genuine quality mixed in with some very clumsy play. He had their entire left side on toast when he got forward, he's drastically improved his dribbling and crossing in pre-season, he whips the ball in low and at pace which will be perfect with the strikers we have. He'll get more than a few assists this season. He easily could've had two today, once in the first half when he squared for Dicko who hit the post (I think, could've been a save) and again in the second half when Afobe really should've scored. He gave the ball away cheaply a few times in the first half though and got caught badly out of position twice in the second. Normally not a problem for him as he has the pace to get back but he ended up lunging in and giving away silly free kicks.

Stearman - 7.5 - Rock solid. Won everything in the air, calm in possession and helped Hause through a tough game. Didn't have a massive amount to do himself as Blackburn were clearly trying to target Hause but he kept us organised and stood tall at the death when Blackburn were throwing everything at us.

Hause - 6 - Shaky start, a bit too casual in possession for my liking and in the first 20 minutes he was clearly outmatched by Jordan Rhodes. It was a really interesting battle between the two all game which Hause grew into as the game progressed. He made some BIG headers at the end under a lot of pressure which atoned for his sloppy start to the game.

Golbourne - 6 - Got up and down his line well but he simply can't cross a ball. He could get away with it to an extent when he had Sako in front of him but in this formation he saw quite a lot of the ball in dangerous areas and just didn't know what to do with it. Defensively he was sound, don't think there was ever much of a threat down his side.

Coady - 7.5 - Impressive debut. Works hard, backs himself in a 50/50 and keeps possession well under pressure. I'm a big fan of his already and you can already see how the crowd have taken to him.

McDonald - 6.5 - Looked like he was going through the motions a bit and never really grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck like he can do. Not a great deal to say about his performance tbh, he was outshone by Coady in the middle and never really put himself in the position to make a real difference. Didn't do anything wrong though so maybe I'm being overly harsh.

Henry - 7 - Had a really good game without really getting into a full flow. He drifts around and picks up some great positions in this formation, if we stick with it he'll have a lot of joy this season as I feel it plays to his strengths perfectly. Lots of opportunity to shoot from range, drift past defenders inside or play through balls without asking him to beat his man on the outside. He had a few moments of sheer class, some lovely interplay with Edwards/Afobe and hit the bar with a long range curler after leaving two Rovers midfielders for dead.

Edwards - 8.5 MOTM - An easy choice for MOTM but weirdly I still felt that his inclusion was to the detriment of the overall team performance. He linked up really well with his team mates, played some lovely one-twos and flicks, set up one goal and scored another (with his hand). All that on top of his usual high work rate and tenacity. The formation is very strange though, and it lead to long periods of Blackburn possession. Kenny wants it to be fluid but right now it's more disjointed than anything. Maybe it'll improve as they learn the system and make small adjustments.

Afobe - 8 - What a finish. There's nobody in this league as good as he is one-on-one with the keeper. Dropped deep, linked up well with Henry & Edwards yet still managed to be a threat in behind the defence. Should've scored from Iorfa's cross in the second half.

Dicko - 7 - Not his greatest game but he was a real handful for the Blackburn defence all day. So hard to shake off the ball.

Kenny called the formation today a diamond but to me it looked more like this.

Ikeme

Iorfa Stearman Hause Golbourne

Coady McDonald

Henry Edwards

Afobe Dicko​

ALF - Looked good when he came on. Put a lot of effort in.

Ojo - Should've squared it for ALF when we broke away at the end, tried to go on his own and got booked for diving. Hard to tell if he did dive from my angle so I'll leave that one to people who had a better view/have seen highlights.

Doherty - Not on for long.

 

[Tony Towner]

Just seen the highlights, very disappointed with Edwards after the first goal, Afobe wanted to boogie and he just wasn't up for it. Always said we'd miss Sako

 

[YoungWolf]

We completed the most passes in the division yesterday - did it seem like it?

 

[Lycan]

We completed the most passes in the division yesterday - did it seem like it?

There was a lot of fairly toothless possession from both teams, it wasn't a great game tbh. The 4 midfielders + Afobe kept possession well but it is slightly surprising I suppose.

 

[Norman Deeley]

We completed the most passes in the division yesterday - did it seem like it?

Yep - @champstat on Twitter has us with the most at 473 and Ipswich with the least at 218

 

[Lycan]

How many did Blackburn have?