[jjamez]

                                                             Vs
               


Saturday sees us enter december and officially enter winter, although that could be any time of the year in england! More importantly, december sees Mr S. Claus fire up his elves as they start preparing gifts for the big day. Hopefully there is an early delivery this weekend and town receive a nice gift of a few goals scored, a clean sheet and the three points, naturally.

Its fair to say that november is a month that town players and fans alike will want to cast into the far distant past, never to be spoken about again. For those of you that have had your head in the sand for the last month and a bit, its safe to say, it has been a wee bit of a let down, goals conceeded, poor performances, places dropped in the league and performances different to that of which we saw at the start of the season. December on the other hand sees games come thick and fast, the perfect chance to restore form and confidence and fire up the old engine once again. The side are currently sitting in 6th but that could all change saturday night, however, a few good results and we will be back fighting once again and undoubtably the feel good factor will ring around the ground louder than the festive feelings.

The last time the two sides met at Ewood Park, town ran out 2-0 winners thanks to goals from nahki wells and an own goal from former leeds defender Matt Kilgallon. What town fans would give to have that result once again, it is certainly something that is required, not to save the season, but just to restart the season and hopefully get it back on track.



So what has changed since the last time the sides met? well in towns case, a bit of an overhaul of the side happened with a fair number of players who started that game no longer at the side, including lynch, skippy and steer. Following that a far more positive atmosphere surrounded the club, cheap season tickets, more of the south stand and off course that good start we got off to, which now seems so far away, but still we are way above our preseason expectations.

or

Blackburn have seen a new name on the managers door, with paul lambert leaving at the end of the season and being replaced by owen coyle fresh from his rather unspectacular american road trip, who must be getting to a stage where he will struggle to get a job in english football, should he fail at blackburn, however, what constitutes failure at blackburn is another question, a club with a bit of history, but has fallen apart under this regime and therefore should probably aim to consolidate and try to rebuild.
in terms of players that have joined this season, Blackburn made a handfull of permanent signings, mainly on free transfers, with derrick williams being the only one to cost a fee from bristol city.


Other players to join the club include former sunderland striker and a player who probably hasnt lived up to his potential in danny graham, another who probably fits the same billing in anthony stokes as well as former manchester united icon (joking) in the form of wes brown.



other players to join the club on free transfers are liam feeney from bolton, charlie mulgrew from celtic and former brighton defender gordon greer.

the club also were rather active in the loan market, bringing marvin emnes in from swansea, jack byrne from man city, stephen hendrie (unfortunately not the snooker player) and martin samuelsen (who has since returned) both from west ham. Tommie hoban and sam gallagher are the other two players to join on loan, gallagher being a player that town may have looked at, although doubts about his prolonged fitness will always cause teams to doubt him.


In terms of outgoings, there was a rather extensive list. some of the notable names include scottish international grant hanley who left for the rafalution in newcastle, irish center half shane duffy also left, but he went south down to brighton. Former town player simon eastwood was released and has since joined oxford. other names include nathan delfouneso, matt kilgallon and paul mersons favourite cinamon jackson.

So what else is there to say about blackburn rovers this season? well, a few weeks ago there was not a lot to write home about. it took the side until mid september for their first league win and fans were already showing discontent at owen coyle's side and the fear of dropping down to league one was very much a possibility. However, the last month and a bit havent really seen much of a change as such, but it has seen a few more points being picked up. It is worth pointing out that the last two games have yielded more positive results with the side emerging victorious against brentford and table toppers newcastle, which is something town fans can take solace in as our recent run can happen to anyone in the top six, ask norwich or even newcastle when they started this campaign. Goals are usually found in the form of sam gallagher and danny graham, as expected, but they do have a few decent set piece takers in craig conway and charlie mulgrew, so it is fair to think that they may be targeting a percieved weakness of towns, one that we still have to sort out, but there should be chances should we decide to attack and actually shoot properly this time, not walking the ball in....

Ones to watch...

He's been mentioned before but sam gallagher will have to be watched, he's a big lad and not the slowest man going, he's come through the much admired saints academy, so liverpool will have extensive knowledge over him, but we cannot afford to give him too many sights on goal.

It could be a battle of the Lowes or Lovers on saturday too with huddersfields chris coming up against blackburns jason, jason will either slot in a right back or be deployed in midfield. maybe not a key player, but more of a hogg-esque player and will look to break play up more than anything else. hopefully we dont get a lovers triangle with mooy...


he may be ruled out for saturdays game, but he could still make it and he's a player that i would like to see in a town shirt due to his versitility and his creative nature. ben marshall is a player that can easily pick sides apart on his day and if given the space his crosses could really hurt town, as could craig conways, the only saving grace is that neither are blessed with electric pace and rely more on their mental play.



Played for both...

we'll start with the prodigal son. Jon stead had a sudden rise to fame when he went from a failing winger under mick wadsworth in that dreaded season, to prolific scorer under peter jackson in what is now league 2. this earned him a move to blackburn in what was probably a very good deal for town considering the trouble that we had been in. his career started brightly at blackburn which saw him earn call ups to the england under 21 setup, but that soon petered out and he moved on to sunderland and eventually turned out for sides such as ipswich, sheffield united, coventry and bristol city before coming back for a second spell at town. unfortunately for him, his second spell didnt live up to expectations and he has since moved on to notts county in league 2 where he once again started scoring goals.


former goalkeeper simon eastwood turned out for both. maybe a little unfortunate at town, was long time understudy to matt glennon, but once he got his chance, he soon found himself on the physios bench. he would rarely see anything else having numerous injuries. it did allow town to throw alex smithies in at the deep end, but for eastwood it saw him fall out of professional football altogether, he went to play for halifax and found himself back in the leagues more by luck, earning a contract at beleagured portsmouth. the rest is history as he went onto rovers before moving back to oxford.


Another name to have represented both comes in the form of elliott ward, town had him onloan for a while from bournemouth, he joined blackburn last season, but has struggled with injuries

Now there may be others from a bit further back, but i'll let you guys think of them, i'm struggling a little bit


nope, cant think of anyone.


anyways moooving on.

where to drink.

last time i went, there was a few run down pubs in the area but how friendly they are towards away fans i'm not too sure. town fans that i know who are going are having a few to drink in mancland before going onwards to the ground. i'm sure if anyone on here is going, your nose will sniff out what will probably be a naff pint at not so naff prices...

how to get there.
the jjnav is out here and its safe to say it doesnt really know. the easiest route will be to go on the m62 to bury, before moving onto the m66 and the m65, before entering a housing estate with fairly limited parking. other routes are to go on the m62 and m60 towards bolton before eventually doubling back on yourself. that route however has roadworks, but then again where in england doesnt? the final route is m62 on to the m60, then m61 before going east on the m65.

it may be safer to use a proper sat nav  but the parking will be rather poor.

if you want to go by train, then god bless you. basically go to manchester and then head to blackburn and walk down. thats all i can tell you. but at least there is scope to drink  

if you are mad and want to walk. set off just after dawn and you'll make it in good time. set off straight after full time and you may make it back in time for work on monday. but why would you do that?

early team news

town are without mark hudson for 2-3 weeks with a hammy that he picked up on monday. failed attempt to get christmas off me thinks. also out of saturdays game is sean scannell with an ankle injury also picked up on monday, he's out until january and has got christmas off, credit to him for playing through it on monday but surely he has aggrivated it? joe lolley remains out, we probably wont see him until next year, but he is set to rejoin training shortly. tommy smith is suspended so he misses out, meaning martin cranie will make his first league start of the season. jack payne has also started training and could be in the squad on saturday.

with the injuries and suspensions we have, i would expect to see dean whitehead start in some way or form, probably at the expense of hogg. he seems to be the guy who gets the armband usually. otherwise i would chose hogg as captain but herr waggers may have other ideas. I would expect two other changes to the back four if we go with one, schindler and hefele should come in for stankovic and hudson. nahki will probably come in for scanz with kach moving out wide, mooy may move further up the field to allow for billing to come into the midfield. but maybe we will be surprised with a brand new formation?

As for blackburn, ben marshall is one doubt (edit he's suspended so he's out, aint changing the thread), as is adam henley. gallagher is expected to be fit, whilst danny guthrie, gordon greer and darragh lenihan all returning to training this week and could all feature.

so who will win? mr owen coyle i am or the terriers identity?

as they say in germany 'zu dir hinüber*'  

disclaimer- they may or may not say it, but google does  

[Lord Snooty]

Nice one, jjamez.

I'd forgotten we won there last season. Its always been a place we never win at, but now we have, let's do it again.

The Hef has to come back. Stankovic stunk on Monday. Hope Crainie can regain the form of mid way through last season when he had a run of games and looked half decent. Will probably look like somebody who hasn't played all season though. Schmitt will be missed. Not for his defensive play, but for his attacking. He's got a good knack of sneaking into the box unnoticed.
Kachunga up front for me with Wells back on the bench. Maybe a start for Bunny for Scanz.

[SHEP_HTAFC]

Great thread jjamez

I can't predict anything other than a Blackburn win here. All our injuries and suspensions, our lack of form, and Blackburn suddenly hitting form all points to us getting beat.
Hope I'm wrong.
These are the games where Wagner must plan for a different approach. Blackburn will definitely let us have most of the possession, as they know our weak link is set pieces and quick breaks. This is where we need to move the ball quicker and with more purpose.
Get it forward instead of this bloody passing between defenders in our own half.

Come on Town.......surprise me and get a win !!!!

[theo_luddite]

Good read jjamez!!

Always seems to be the case that struggling teams come to life again just as they are playing us. A repeat of last season will be more than welcome and overdue after last month. There's a few pubs in the Town centre not far from the station (usual suspects included). Some fans also get off the trains in Darwin. It's a fair hike from either station to the ground but there are buses to the ground along the Darwin road. There's also a local train station (Mill Hill) that's a bit closer to the ground but only accessible from Blackburn station and only one train an hour (there's two after the match to get you back at 17:28 and 17:49). I walked back to Blackburn station before any of the buses left the ground and got through the traffic the last time I went and would likely do the same based on those train times but allow yourself at least half an hour's hiking time unless you're an olympic type walker. Traffic might not be quite so busy this time. Otherwise share a cab.

[SHEP_HTAFC]

Some decent match facts from the BBC website
Blackburn have failed to score in their last three home league games against Huddersfield. They have never gone four home games without a goal against a single opponent in their 128-year Football League history.

The Terriers' 2-0 win at Ewood in April was the first time Huddersfield had scored there in six league visits.

Rovers have scored the most own goals in the Championship this season (three).

Huddersfield have conceded the most goals from set-pieces (excluding penalties) in the Championship this season (11).

Rovers, unbeaten in their last four league matches at Ewood Park, come into the game on the back of a 1-0 away win at leaders Newcastle.

The Terriers' Aaron Mooy is the only player to have made 1000-plus successful passes in the Championship this season (1089).

[Lord Snooty]

That's a reight stat, Shep. The one about them never going four games against same opponent without scoring. Who thinks up these things?

---

Wigan had never scored a league goal at our new stadium until Monday night. All these records have to go sometime so here's hoping for a clean sheet tomorrow.

[sloppyattheback]

Watched the highlights this afty from Mondays game and we didnt offensively do too bad, commentators comments fair, 2 bad pen decisions didnt go our way awful positioning for their 2 goals, on another night we might have had a couple go in early doors and we'd all have a spring in our step.

Bit deflated after another defeat against a team well down the table, but we cant afford to concede easy goals to a rejuvinated Blackburn tomorrow expect a real nip n tuck game and hoping for some points, any on the score board come 4.55pm

Will drag myself up the M6 to this one again simply bored of going to their souless stadium but a big month and Town need the support cos I fear a few wont bother making the trip after the last few weeks results.

[Lord Snooty]

The standard of refereeing in this league really is getting worse. Have you seen this clown in the Forest/Newcastle match? Appalling.

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I mean look at the two penalties given and the two we didn't get on Monday. Unbelievable!

[theo_luddite]

Thought the same myself Snoots. No consistency from match to match or even in a match.

[themaclad]

Just beat the plastic barstewards