I once spoke to Claire Tomlinson at Stamford Bridge.

Is frustration at getting beat a bad thing then? I'd be more concerned if he sat forlorn in the dugout like Sven and let Bowen look frustrated.

Pretty unbelievable reaction here. We played fairly well yesterday, we could've easily scored a couple before Shearer's freekick, and if Lucas hadn't been so stupid to give that chance away, I very much doubt Newcastle would've scored. Hughes came in with a team leaking goals, first objective was obviously to tighten things up. He did that well, and is now looking to even things out in the forward department. Bellamy and Bentley are very positive signings, and he has turned MGP into a completely new player. The defence has been chopped and changed all season (mainly due to suspension), so has not had a chance to settle. Once it does, Hughes will have a solid platform to build from and I'm sure will start to be more adventurous in his midfield and forward selections/tactics. The guy has had a great first year in charge, yet people are still judging on the most recent result. It never ceases to amaze me on this messageboard how otherwise very intelligent people can be reduced to such stupidity off the back of one football match.

I got photos with Matt Jansen and Nils Eric Johansson after the Man Utd home game that we won 2 seasons ago (Stead, 1-0). Got Friedel to sign my shirt after the same game (his car is massive). And I'm gonna take the bait - Greg, who are you related to?

I saw Mubbs from Holby City in St Ives last week.

Exactly

No. Thats bad. I'll explain why - Jansen = English Emerton = Australian Therefore - Jansen = Good Emerton = Loser Simple really.

Totally agree, its great to see Hughes to openly putting his faith in Jansen.

Absolutely delighted (obviously) with the way England managed to tie up the series, just some unstructured musings of my own - Delighted to be wrong about Vaughans captaincy (see earlier in this thread), although I stand by comments I made about his batting suffering as a result of the extra pressure. Bar one superb innings, he has been below his best with the bat, which can surely only be a good sign for the future - he will get back to his best at some point, hopefully Down Under in a couple of years. The same can actually be said for quite a few of the England team. We've beaten the Aussies despite quite a few of the players not playing to their ability. Bell has been very disappointing with the bat - although his fielding has been tremendous all series, you'd probably have to say he was Englands best fielder. Pietersen, on the whole, was excellent with the bat, but there's still room for him to become more consistent. He's had an excellent series despite dropping 6 catches. Obvious room for him to get better. We all know Harmison has more in the locker, he's probably gone from being regarded as Englands best quickie at the start of the series, to probably now 4th choice - mostly down to the way the other bowlers have performed. He will get back to his best, and if Flintoff, Jones and Hoggard continue in the vein they have been in, we're in for a treat. Geraint Jones has had an excellent Summer, despite all the criticism. He has batted very well for the most part, and his keeping will improve. Ashley Giles has been a hero with the bat, and has done his bit with the ball - in his defense the pitches havent helped him too much. Granted Warne turned it, but then Warne would turn it if the pitches were made of glass. Andrew Strauss still has room for improvement, and even still he looks every inch a future England captain. Trescothick has been excellent all series, consistent with the bat and has constantly given his country a great platform to build upon. Much has been made of the difference between the two bowling attacks form and the effect that had on the destiny of the Ashes, but in my opinion the way the opening batsmen performed was almost as important. This series could quite possibly signal the start of a period of dominance for England on the World stage, as Test level atleast. England will improve, the Aussies are facing having the soon replace two of the greatest bowlers in their, and the games, history. I think in the Winter I'd be tempted to give Pietersen a go at coming in at number 4, move Flintoff up to 5 and give Collingwood a chance to make the number 6 spot his own. Although Bell is an excellent fielder, Colly is also very quick and athletic, and its possible that we may see even better, more fluent performances from Freddie with the bat, if he were safe in the knowledge that there is more batting to come after him. All in all the future is bright - would be great to see the one day team push on a bit now and make a real case to be World Champions in 2007.

C'mon Vaughan, declare now and lets win this is proper style.............

I attended on Saturday, and also bought a paying guest with me - however it will be the last time I come to Ewood for a while. Despite leaving my house at 11am, I missed the first half of the game - the roadworks on the M6 are horrendous at the moment. Point is - there's no miracle cure to sell out every week, every non-attendee has a different story, infact most have more than just one reason for not turning up. What the club have to do is determine what they can do that influences the majority of the non-attendees, the one thing that most of them have in common. The most annoying thing is that its a no-brainer. Reduce ticket prices - 25,000 in at £20 a head is much better that 16,953 at £25.

An English cricket fan if ever I've seen one. Things are going pretty damn well, and the post is still rounded off with a whinge! I won't criticise - very likely the voice of experience! Hopefully tomorrow Vaughan, Trescothick and Hoggard can take us through to lunch. If we make tea with 2 of Pietersen, Flintoff or Bell still in, we've got a real chance. We have to be looking at the match in sessions, getting to the end of each with the advantage still being on our side will see the series levelled come Monday evening. I'm feeling pretty confident now. Saturday is huge. C'mon England!!!

No doubt Souness will be talking to his agent some time soon.

I got 2005 about 2 weeks ago, having read all of the stuff on here I feel much better about being rubbish at it My favourite shot is the leg glance using the 6 hit button, coming down the wicket. If the field placings are nice, you can score a lot of runs - best I've made in 1 innings was 331, best with one batsmen 88 (Mal Loye). It is a bit random though - you can play two shots identically, one goes for 6, the next goes straight up in the air. Very frustrating.

This is one of the strangest debates I've ever known between Rovers fans, there's seemingly an equal split between people that think Taylor played well, and people that think he was complete bobbins. EVerytime Ziege got the ball he was in acres of space, when Taylor at RB should've been there to confront him. Spurs goal was just one of numerous chances that resulted.

######. Ziege hammered him.

Bellamy11? Hmmmm. Interesting.

Glass houses and stones, our Springbok is better than their Brummie anyway

Any feedback regarding our Shefki from the guys and girls that attended on Saturday? This is a great piccie - Hopefully a sight that will become more and more common to us!

Big Amo I still maintain that he's ace.

Thankfully only 50% of that applies to me

Pretty standard and unsurprising stuff. It's a decent squad, slightly disappointed that Jon Lewis has slipped down the pecking order, but thats pure geographical bias.

If you aim enough stabs in the dark then you're bound to hit something eventually.

Would certainly agree with that PG - Atherton and Stewart arguable had their best days for England while the other was in charge. Players like Lara and Tendulkar are selfishly brilliant - single-mindedness at the crease is one of their major strengths, the ability to go out and play without worrying too much about anyone else. Ok, time for cold, hard stats. Vaughan since becoming captain has been on a gradual decline. He excelled under Hussain, his performance in the Ashes tour of 2003 was one of the greatest by an English batsmen vs Australia - totalling well over 600 for the series. His knock in the 5th test springs to mind. He was even named Man of the Series - and we lost 4-1!! There were two near double centuries the year before in the series vs India. Vaughan scored 9 test match centuries for England before being made captain when Hussain resigned after the series vs SA. Since being made captain he has only made 5. Coincidence? I would much rather have Trescothick as captain and Vaughan back to his pre Summer '03 form. (For the record, I'm not a complete statto, I did look some of that up)