How Blackburn Rovers won the 1994/1995 Premier League - A Tactical Analysis...

[Raees]

Dalglish's side set up in a old school 4-4-2 but it was quite different to the enthralling Manchester United model with audacious wing play and a silky player featuring as part of the attacking duo - his Blackburn was tenacious throughout the side although his flanks did have some quality in terms of delivery from wide positions.

Key players included the likes of Tim Flower - a colossus between the sticks, Colin Hendry, the underrated Scot who also won a treble with Rangers in 1999, the silky Graeme Le Saux who operated as a playmaker from the full back position, Tim Sherwood - yes Tim fecking Sherwood > Zidane, and the deadly duo up front Shearer and Sutton.

Thoughts on how good this side was? How dangerous was Shearer in this phase and how high would you rate him amongst the striking greats based on this period of his game?

 

[Buchan]

1. Blackburn were a solid, unremarkable side who just happened to have a remarkable striker in Shearer. (Their squad had plenty of experienced pros, to be fair, but nothing about the team or its tactics were particularly exciting.) Shearer’s season that year, individually, is amongst the greatest the English top flight has ever seen.
2. Jack Walker’s investment in Blackburn made them a sugar-daddy club before sugar-daddy clubs were even a thing. The fact they faded into obscurity supremely quickly after winning the league tells you all you need to know about the club and their ‘perfect storm’ title win.
3. They only won two of their final six league games (losing three). It is unfathomable how we didn’t capitalise and usurp them at the top of the table at the culmination of the season. They literally fell over the line.
4. United should have won the title regardless. We beat Blackburn both home and away that season and played the better football throughout the campaign, albeit maybe not as fluid and ruthless as we had been in the previous two seasons. Our goal difference was superior to Blackburn’s and we also lost less games.
5. Cantona’s suspension had the greatest impact on that season’s title race (Cantona scored in both wins that season v Blackburn and his loss to United was a seismic blow).
6. United lost the FA Cup Final to Everton the following week to cap off a miserable season’s end. We were perilously close to doing the Double two years running. The squad needed refreshing - which Ferguson duly did - and maybe the 1994/95 season was that particular squad’s last hurrah after 3-4 years of competing for honours.
7. Blackburn, to their credit, capitalised on a rival in somewhat of a transition and got the job done in the end. I don’t feel, however, they deserve to be placed in the upper echelons in the pantheon of league winners.

 

[GlasgowCeltic]

Never heard Tim Flowers described as a colossus before

 

[Gio]

Credit to Dalglish because he got a lot of players working to their strengths. Hendry and Le Saux were pretty much the best in their position that season. But it was the quality of the strike partnership that bullied the league and really made the difference. Sutton was in his element with that direct style of football and a tremendous strike partner for any centre-forward. Shearer was in his absolute prime, when he still had the pace to threaten over the shoulder, but if you backed off he could score from distance, while both of them were as good as it gets in attacking crosses into the penalty box.

 

[Xeno]

1. The fact they faded into obscurity supremely quickly after winning the league tells you all you need to know about the club and their ‘perfect storm’ title win.

Also Liverpool this year

 

[youngrell]

Hated Shearer around this time, because he was absolutely lethal. Seemed like he scored in very game and could score from anywhere too.

They had a strong team, not too many stand out individuals but very good as a collective. Leicester in 15/16 reminded me of them, actually. You could pretty much pick the side yourself most weeks.

 

[acnumber9]

They had Alan Shearer. Tactical analysis complete.

 

[clarkydaz]

Sutton was £5m at the time, i couldnt fathom that type of money

 

[Gary_Walsh_Nou_Camp_Hell]

They won the league because Eric was suspended from mid Feb.

 

[TheReligion]

We lost the league rather than them winning it.

 

[Baneofthegame]

Still can’t believe we didn’t beat West Ham, my father was happy.

 

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

They weren’t all that. They had a lot of luck & we fecked up. Cantona being out was huge.

 

[TheReligion]

Still can’t believe we didn’t beat West Ham, my father was happy.

I seem to remember us missing a hat full although I was very young at the time! Just wouldn't go in. Liverpool did Blackburn over for us too.

 

[FujiVice]

We lost the league by one point and drew loads of games 0-0 during that period. Had Cantona not been suspended and Kanchelskis walked out because his Russian mafia agents told him to down tools, we'd have gotten the extra point to win us the league.

Everyone who blames Andy Cole for that West Ham came seem to forget his goals against Leicester, Coventry and Southampton in the lead up to actually keep us in it.

 

[GueRed]

1. The SAS.

People forget Shearer was World Class in his Blackburn days. fecking animal.

2. Cantona's suspension.

Remember we only lost the league by a point. Some of those drawn mathces in the final stretch easily would've turned into victories If Cantona was involved.

 

[MrMarcello]

It happened before English football was regularly available in the US and I never saw the match or highlights, but didn't Cole miss a couple glorious chances late on on the final matchday that would have won the match and title?

 

[GueRed]

Dalglish's side set up in a old school 4-4-2 but it was quite different to the enthralling Manchester United model with audacious wing play and a silky player featuring as part of the attacking duo - his Blackburn was tenacious throughout the side although his flanks did have some quality in terms of delivery from wide positions.

Key players included the likes of Tim Flower - a colossus between the sticks, Colin Hendry, the underrated Scot who also won a treble with Rangers in 1999, the silky Graeme Le Saux who operated as a playmaker from the full back position, Tim Sherwood - yes Tim fecking Sherwood > Zidane, and the deadly duo up front Shearer and Sutton.

Thoughts on how good this side was? How dangerous was Shearer in this phase and how high would you rate him amongst the striking greats based on this period of his game?

Pre 1998 in his explosive prime Shearer was World Class no question.

If we got him in 1996 i'm convinced with that midfield behind him we would've won the European Cup a season or two earlier han w did.

 

[GueRed]

It happened before English football was regularly available in the US and I never saw the match or highlights, but didn't Cole miss a couple glorious chances late on on the final matchday that would have won the match and title?

Their keeper Miklosko made some good saves in that game tbf. Nothing was gonna get past him...he was possessed. And the West Ham fans were loving it, cnuts.
That said an Alan Shearer or world class Striker (Eric Cantona!) at the time would've buried at least one of the chances.

But yes Cole was made scapegoat that summer in the media and it took a while for all United fans to take to him after that.

Thankfully he got his redemption in '99 with the winner on the final day against Spurs

 

[decorativeed]

They won the league because Eric was suspended from mid Feb.

That plus the fact that Giggs and Kanchelskis missed loads of games through injury at the end of that season.

 

[Irwin99]

Finished 7th the following year, right? Something like that anyway. Faded badly after success.

 

[RUCK4444]

Pre 1998 in his explosive prime Shearer was World Class no question.

If we got him in 1996 i'm convinced with that midfield behind him we would've won the European Cup a season or two earlier han w did.

Yeah I’ve always said the same as the bolded. I work with a Geordie who idolises him and he agrees.

Shearer and Gazza are the two that got away. What they could have become here eh.

 

[decorativeed]

It happened before English football was regularly available in the US and I never saw the match or highlights, but didn't Cole miss a couple glorious chances late on on the final matchday that would have won the match and title?

I rewatched that match in its entirity recently, as I never thought that characterisation of the game matched my memory. I was right. Cole had a couple of chances, not sitters by any means, and the same was true of others such as Paul Ince. Their keeper just played the game of his life, and we were a weakened side with our other top scorers (Cantona, Giggs, Kanchelskis) missing through suspension and injury.

 

[Gary_Walsh_Nou_Camp_Hell]

That plus the fact that Giggs and Kanchelskis missed loads of games through injury at the end of that season.

That didn't help. But Cantona plays that run in we win the league and not on the last day either, it would have been comfortable.

 

[Lay]

The fact they lost at Liverpool whilst we toiled against West Ham still irks me

 

[Aboutreika18]

We beat them home and away but only because Blackburn got some awful decisions given against them in both games.

A penalty given for a supposed foul that wasn't a foul and took place outside the area anyway by Berg, who got sent off in the first game and Sherwood's late equaliser in the Old Trafford was chalked off harshly for a supposed shove by Shearer.

 

[golden_blunder]

They won the league, fair play to them. Shearer was unplayable that year

 

[RooneyLegend]

They won the league because Eric was suspended from mid Feb.

It really is this simple.

 

[Demyanenko_square_jaw]

I watched them in their champions league campaign where they were in the same group as Spartak and remember being very surprised at how lacking in technique and basic tactically they were, outplayed or struggling to create anything for large parts of almost every game. Shearer was wasteful and unimpressive. In retrospect the form that won them the league was long gone, but i didn't know that at the time.

The spartak team from that era along with lobanovsky's final Kyiv team was probably the last time an ex-ussr team was offering innovative tactical ideas in certain areas at CL level. In the games with Blackburn their ideas in possession looked at least a generation ahead of the opposition, with the short passing midfield techno-midgets and very good on the ball, aggressive cb's running riot despite a bad quality winter pitch that should have favoured Blackburn's tactics.

That was also the game where Batty and Le Saux had to be seperated.

 

[Pow]

Was this shearer pre injury ?

 

[Hoof the ball]

Tactical analysis on why Blackburn won the league in 94/95.

Eric was at home.

We'd be champions long before needing to get a result vs. West Ham on the final day, no doubt about that.

 

[Alive and Kicking]

People did vilify Cole as if he'd missed Torres-like open net chances. He shot towards goal, the keeper was having nothing of it. Credit has to go to Miklosko, especially as he (and the entire West Ham team) were doing it for the glory.

Personally, I'm happy with the 1990's Premier League history as it is. If the timeline is altered so that Cantona plays the season and the league is won, then it could mean Newcastle are successful the following season. Shearer may have never won a league title and therefore not one piece of silverware in his cabinet. Cantona's banning incident is sheened in iconography, we wouldn't want that lost.

That said, Blackburn were damn lucky. Their poor form in the following season had actually begun in the final eight game run-in. Two games earlier and their moment at the top wouldn't have happened.

 

[GueRed]

Was this shearer pre injury ?

He did his knee ligaments in 1992.

And his ankle ligaments in 1997.

So it was in between those two huge injuries.

For me physically he wasnt the same world class player after 1997

 

[SCP]

He did his knee ligaments in 1992.

And his ankle ligaments in 1997.

So it was in between those two huge injuries.

For me physically he wasnt the same world class player after 1997

Euro 96 probably him and Klinsmann were the best 2 strikers of the tournament.

 

[Oranges038]

1. Jack's Money
2. Alan Shearer scored with nearly every kick
3. Eric Cantona was suspended
4. West F%@king Ham and Andy Cole missing sitters.

 

[Caesar2290]

We lost the league by one point and drew loads of games 0-0 during that period. Had Cantona not been suspended and Kanchelskis walked out because his Russian mafia agents told him to down tools, we'd have gotten the extra point to win us the league.

Everyone who blames Andy Cole for that West Ham came seem to forget his goals against Leicester, Coventry and Southampton in the lead up to actually keep us in it.

I keep hearing about this, but what is the story behind it? Did he really do a Tevez on us and just left mid season or what happened?

 

[stevoc]

I keep hearing about this, but what is the story behind it? Did he really do a Tevez on us and just left mid season or what happened?

It's a bit of a mad story involving Bribes, bombs, fraud, faked injuries and a murder.

https://www.planetfootball.com/nostalgia/incredible-story-andrei-kanchelskis-time-england/

 

[FujiVice]

Kanchelskis was our leading goalscorer and was shitting on left backs and centre halves by seemingly cutting on the inside and doing whatever he wanted. A forgotten man these days, but genuinely as good as anyone in the country at the time. Him not wanting to play anymore was as big a blow as losing Cantona. Losing one hurts, losing both is quite amazing that we remained in it until the end of the season.

 

[Tarrou]

Kanchelskis was our leading goalscorer and was shitting on left backs and centre halves by seemingly cutting on the inside and doing whatever he wanted. A forgotten man these days, but genuinely as good as anyone in the country at the time. Him not wanting to play anymore was as big a blow as losing Cantona. Losing one hurts, losing both is quite amazing that we remained in it until the end of the season.

He didn't want to play? I thought he was injured.

 

[Lay]

I watched them in their champions league campaign where they were in the same group as Spartak and remember being very surprised at how lacking in technique and basic tactically they were, outplayed or struggling to create anything for large parts of almost every game. Shearer was wasteful and unimpressive. In retrospect the form that won them the league was long gone, but i didn't know that at the time.

The spartak team from that era along with lobanovsky's final Kyiv team was probably the last time an ex-ussr team was offering innovative tactical ideas in certain areas at CL level. In the games with Blackburn their ideas in possession looked at least a generation ahead of the opposition, with the short passing midfield techno-midgets and very good on the ball, aggressive cb's running riot despite a bad quality winter pitch that should have favoured Blackburn's tactics.

That was also the game where Batty and Le Saux had to be seperated.

I remember watching them and feeling bitter that we weren't in the CL as we would have fared a lot better. Blackburn had a pretty decent group but were below the standard required. A really bog standard European outfit.

 

[FujiVice]

He didn't want to play? I thought he was injured.

He told Ferguson he wanted to leave early in 1995. There was a big falling out around the time of the Everton game, if I remember. Ferguson said in his book he doesnt blame the player, especially considering how his career panned out. Kanchelskis career was ruined by former clubs having a stake in any transfer fee, his agents and the Russian mafia. Unreal talent, completely stabotaged.