If you quote me fully and read slower it might make more sense to you.    I think I need to point out that the operative phrase that you failed to quote was 'against teams around us'.  Sure we do not have the talent to dispose of Arsenal as esaily as Chelsea did but we should be able to do well against teams out of the top 6.  (btw I know Arse ARE out of the top six but you know what I mean I hope) We did OK last season so whats different this year?  Look at our promotion year, we played many games 3-5-2 because we could afford to when playing poorer opposition, but when we tried it in the Prem and got found out in quick time by teams with faster and more skillful forwards we had to abandon the system.

367714[/snapback]

didn't we do that against everton and lost 2-0???

the game is probably the best fifa ever released, however it'll never compare to pro evo.

That doesn't add up.  By your reasoning Chelsea should be playing 4-3-3!

Sure Chelsea have better players than us but their players should not be faster or fitter than ours should they?  It's quite reasonable to try and emulate Chelsea's  tactics and performance against Arsenal yesteday against the teams around us isn't it?. 

Anyway we dont want to be entertaining away from home.  Its survival football in the English Prem we are talking about not the flippin X Factor.  Pure speculation on my part but I'd wager that if we had played 4-5-1 away all season that we would have more away points in the bag than we have got so far.

367708[/snapback]

What are you on about?!?!?

"emulate Chelsea's tactics and performance against Arsenal..."

I think i need to point out that rovers don't have the same kind of players, manager or coaches. what you are asking is absurd

To be an optimist, I was impressed with the way Rovers eventually responded to being 2-0 down. True we missed sitters (Emerton), were embarrassing at the back (Savage, Neill) and fell asleep at times, however thinking back to the past few seasons our responses to being 2-0 down have been even worse, leeking more goals and affecting moral even more. The last 20 minutes Rovers, reflecting Hughes' bull-dog spirit, achieved a scrappy, none the less, a goal. I think this shows our improvement in the last two seasons under Hughes. Don't get we wrong a 2-1 loss is as bad as 5-0 thrashing, but regarding moral and confidence I think that Rovers haven't dealt too bad a blow and take out the positives from the game. Its easy to say, but I believe Rovers need a bit more fine tuning in order to earn a touch more luck.

I was surprised by today's team. Switching back to 4-4-2, dropping Gray and Matteo (for McEveley and Johansson), restoring Tugay (for Flitcroft), bringing in Bothroyd (for Djorkaeff) - all very interesting, yet my first thought was to worry about the lack of a ball winner in midfield. And for ten minutes or so all my worries were fully justified.

Liverpool bossed the opening exchanges with Baros looking lively and Liverpool's midfield overwhelming ours - they could have scored twice before they did. However, the goal they did score was more down to our shocking defending than any great Liverpool play.

A long ball found Riise in acres of space on the left as our defence pathetically tried to play off-side. Riise ran unopposed towards goal and scored with a sweet finish into the far corner. You could question Friedel's positioning but it was a very well struck shot.

We'd talked in the pub before the game about the importance of the first goal so it was obviously a sickener to see us concede. I think the whole of Ewood sat back and thought it would be a case of how many Liverpool would get.

Hang on a minute though, the team started to fight. They snapped into their tackles, they harrassed their opposite numbers, and they showed a touch of quality on the ball. Instead of feeling sorry for themselves like they had in the last two weeks they started to show some pride and passion. It was no surprise at all when we equalised.

A ball from midfield found Dickov intelligently dropping deep. His turn was terrific and his ball down the left channel to an on-rushing Emerton was exquisite. Emerton's first-time cross was perfectly weighted to find an unmarked Bothroyd - who duely applied the finish. A really great team goal.

Now it was all Rovers. We pressed Liverpool all over the field, gave them no time at all in possession, and frequently caused them to panic in defence. From one such moment, just before the interval, the ball fell to Emerton 20 yards out and he passed the ball into the far corner of the net. A fantastic finish.

2-1 at half-time and well deserved. Before I move onto the second half though a quick word about Cisse. A completely innocuous challenge has left him with two broken bones in his leg and, looking at the pictures on television, I'd say it's got to be doubtful whether he ever plays again. All the best sir, hope you recover soon.

I thought we looked comfortable at the start of the second half. We controlled possession and looked the more threatening side going forward - in fact I couldn't see how Liverpool were going to score. Cue McEveley. What on earth was he doing?

Emerton won a free-kick around half way. McEveley, unbelievably, passed the ball square straight to Garcia, who played a great ball over our non-plussed defence for Baros to run onto. Short is quicker than he looks but he's not as quick as Baros so it was no surprise to see Baros run clear one-on-one with Friedel. What was surprising though was seeing Friedel rooted to his line to the point where Baros eventually scored from no more than five yards out. Close him down man.

Anyway, in a game that ebbed and flowed throughout, now it was Liverpool's turn to be on top. For the next ten minutes they controlled the game and looked like they might force a winner. For the second time I thought it was almost inevitable that Liverpool would go on and win the game comfortably.

But no, back we came again. Stead replaced Bothroyd, not sure why because I thought Bothroyd had done well, and the Rovers started to get back on top. Short had a header cleared off the line, a well-worked free-kick saw Dickov produce a great save from Kirkland, and Stead had a terrific shot again well saved by Kirkland. With ten minutes to go it seemed there was only going to be one winner, and it wasn't the team in red.

I'm not sure if it was our lack of fitness or something psychological but we seemed to sit back at the end. Liverpool sensed this and they started to push for the winner at the death. Fortunately though, after a number of corners and crosses across our box, we survived and got a precious point.

Most of the team were terrific today. Short and Johansson looked as solid as any centre-back pairing we've fielded this season. McEveley was solid defensively apart from the one glaring mistake. He doesn't offer as much going forward as Gray but he's a better defender on today's evidence.

Tugay and Ferguson in midfield worked their socks off and Ferguson in particular was class at times on the ball. I'm used to Tugay's inconsistency now but it really annoys me that Ferguson doesn't play like he did today every week. And while the two of them aren't the most competitive in midfield we can cope when were at home because they have Reid to cover for them. Reid was great again, he's been one of our best players in all three games since he came back into the team, and today his workrate, tenacity, and commitment were second to none. Reid was the one player I saw trying to lift the team immediately after Liverpool's equaliser. I'm starting to really rate him.

Dickov worked tirelessly as ever and showed touches of quality at times, and Bothroyd on occasions looked like the centre-forward we've been missing since Jansen's accident. Stead came on and showed terrific desire. He really wants that shirt and it's great to see.

Special mention for Emerton though - he was magnificent today. He ran at their full-back constantly, showed great pace, his workrate was fantastic, and his finish for the goal was top quality. Our man of the match by a mile.

Negatives? Friedel was dodgy for both goals, especially the second. But his performance was nothing compared to Neill's. What on earth does Neill have to do to be dropped? He gives us nothing going forward, he can't pass, his heading is awful, his positional sense is just scary, and at times he looks like he simply can't be arsed. I don't just want him dropped - I want him to be punished. It was like he was single-handedly trying to lose us the game today.

All in all it was a good point today, we'd have all settled for that before hand, but we could easily have got all three. I worry whether today's team is solid enough to play away from home, only time will tell, but at home it looks like we can sacrifice a bit of bite in midfield for some extra creativity going forward.

All our excuses have been used up now though. We've finished our hard run of games and the next few fixtures are against teams who will finish mid-table or lower. We have to pick up some points quickly but I'm a lot more confident we will than I was this time last week.

I think thats a cracking match report and agree with everything said. Neill was the only one who had a poor game, but who do we have to replace him? i suppose we could put reid at right back, but he's playing so well on right wing.

Emerton was absolute class, he has improved leaps and bounds from last season. And the team spirit was great.

However defence still looks very dodgy and hughes will have to buy another centre half in january.

I just hope we can keep it up. CMON ROVERS!!!!

Anyone heard of the Hives? They're bloody brill

Can't beleieve whats happened. I hate portugal

and I hate you!!!!!

Im sorry but there is only 1 reason why we didnt win. The ref. You can say england played badly all you want but we scored more goals than the lucky cheating portugal. but thanks to that ###### arogent, fruity bearded,swiss donkey of a ref, we didn't win!

Absoluetly right. The ref needs to be punished by uefa for his shocking performance. He was far too whistle-happy and didn't let the game flow enough.

The ref was ######.

Beckham was terrible, that penalty was shocking. What the hell was wrong with the penalty spot?

Owen was hardly seen

If your not alllowed to play with your boots, are keepers allowed to save penalties without their gloves???????

Can't beleieve whats happened. I hate portugal

Sidenote - ABBEY TURN OFF YOUR RUCKING SIGNATURE. IT KEEPS CRASHING MY COMPUTER

They are more supporters for England and everyone Englsih is in it together. There's much more unity than for domestic club football. Also major tournaments only happen every two years where teams play a minimum of 3 games and a maximum of 8 games. The less games the more important.

on TV

England were ###### poor. Owen had a mare, Beckham didn't seem bothered and scholes seemed always out of position. Howver thankfully we were playing a much poorer side, that Switzerland defence annoyed me!

Rooney had a brilliant game, a full credit goes to him for the win. Here are my ratings.

James - Had no threat, nothing to do. 6

Neville - Some good overlaps and defended reasonable well. 7

Cole - Looked very good going forward but caught in defence. 6

Campbell - Solid and played very well. 8

Terry - Quiet game, returning to match fitness. 6

Beckham - Did hardly any running, yet delivered some good balls. 6

Scholes - Complete lack of positional sense 5

Gerrard - Quiet yet effective when needed. 6

Lampard - Very quiet 5

Rooney- Excellent game, good running and great goals. 8

Owen - Shocker, very disappointing. 5

Hargreaves - Good runs, and very effective 7

Vassell - Played very well and set up one goal 7

Dyer - Hardly touched the ball 5

Tugay in Glasgow

also Amoruso.

I think De Pedro will take time to settle in. He doesn't speak English, will have to adjust his game to suit the English style and also may get slightly complacent - he is basically guaranteed to be in first time line up as he's our only left winger.

Brilliant. Wonderful business.

Blackmail. That's what this is.

Skysports Pedersen happy to stay

Although it doesn't really say he would not come. Perhaps if he does leave Tromso he doesn't want to leave with fans screaming for his head because he wanted to go so much. I'm confused.

I have full confidence that the club is in safe hands. What ever the reason for those comments, I will go into next season knowing we are capable of a top ten spot, with the players we have. All we need is a left winger, and i'm absoluetly positive we'll get a decent one, on the cheap.

Can't see england doing all that well. we'll get slaughtered against the french.

Already 4 english fans arrested, if that continues then we may be out of tournament before the quarters.

Can't believe the Sun shone the england flag on the arc de trumiph, a bit silly and probably even more embarrassing after tonights game

Babayaro will almost definitely be sold - worth signing? He's always struck me as useful going forward, but poor defensively. Might, in that case, be able to adapt to the left wing if we don't get MGP.

I think if there is a left winger worth signing from chelsea, then it should be Gronkjaer. Afterall chelsea have signed Robben for cover (I presume) for the injury prone Duff.

good interview. did give us time despite his short answers.

Yeah, good interview. well done

The Thrills - So much for the city

I'm listening to them aswell.

Also I've got

the libertines - up the bracket

Led Zep - BBC sessions

stereophonics -JEEP

Poor results over the next 10 days and we could be second bottom with only Wolves below us.

Yeah, and good results over the next 10 days and we could be top half, what's your point?

I think jim's point is this. Over the next two league programmes:

Spurs - 2 home - Charlton + Birmingham

Wolves - 2 home - us + Leeds

Leicester - 2 away - Soton + Bolton

Leeds - 2 away - Wolves + Newcastle

Rovers - 2 away - Wolves + Newcastle

Portsmouth - 2 away - Chelsea + Villa

It doesn't take a surprising or unexpected set of results to put us in 19th spot and just one point ahead of Wolves.

Of those teams Wolves have the greatest incentive to put together 2 wins and put themselves back in the race. Should that happen Rovers will be in even more trouble, if that's possible.

I fully understand that TWO wins for Rovers could do a great deal for our league position. Regretably two consecutive wins for Rovers has proved possible just once this season.

I think thats an indication of how crap and tight the league is now. Leeds could qualify for Europe this season, a prospect that would seem absolutely impossible a couple years ago. The league is now the head (Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelski) and the tail.

Which comes back to my previous point - if Rovers pick up form and string a couple of wins together we'd probably be all praising Souness.