Now that is actually something about him that really impresses me. He can dribble, he can cross (although that was relatively poor yesterday) has a bit of pace and simply awesome movement (the best bit of his game IMHO). Our domination of the first half came down partly to him with his movement behind the fullbacks and dropping off to hold up te he ball making him exceptionally hard to mark. It allows the midfielders to maraud into the space he leaves behind and gets them involved in moves up front. As he builds up experience and hopefully keeps his feet on the ground he could become a world class player. Some of his passing can be sublime too and his work rate was incredible yesterday. Dickov had a better match overall, how anybody can advocate hime being dropped from the team is beyond me, and Gallagher certainly was not exceptional- but there is that sort of Henry spark to Gallagher's game that is inspiring. I have never really seen a British player play that way. Im not saying he will definately be anywhere as good as a player like Henry, only time will tell, but there is potential for him to become the fulcrum of the side. Bothroyd's height and power leads you to think that maybe there could be a real long term partnership there for future seasons. The main issue would be that Bothroyd also has a penchant for dropping off and going wide, although not in the same way as Gallagher, which would leave us without a target man. Arsenal get by with Henry and Bergkamp though...... Anyhow, with Dickov in his current astounding form, lets not make any bones about it, we will just have to wait and see. If Gallagher is not a first team regular and the darling of the Blackburn End (perhaps even Scotland) by this time next season I will eat my hat.

Are you sure Reid is suspended? I though he had untill the 6th of Desember to answer to the FA.. Yes, my mistake. Well, it looks like Thommo will be on the bench again. MGP can forget about getting a game again. Its nice to have all the midfielders playing so well.

Im sure that can easily be substantiated by sending an email to the television studio. If you mean self governing as in their own parliament an so on it is impossible. It is impossible and indefensible to set up a government in the British democratic framework (or that of any 'western' country) on a racial/religious basis.

Well, it looks like after Tugay's first class performance today it will be a straight swap of Thompson for Reid who is supended against Tottenham. That is almost certain. Thompson will ony get a shot in the middle if Tugay underperforms again and is taken off. Still its nice to have these problems

Great determined performance to get the three points. Dickov remained at the same high standard he always does. Linking up well, winning fouls as well as ANOTHER PENALTY. A perfect penalty too. Gallagher- great goal and adds a whole, if not two, new dimesion/s to our attacking play. He swings out wide and dribbles at defenders and also drops deep to play through balls. He oozes quality and the prospect of a partnership of him and Bothroyd promises great things, although how Dickov will be displaced I cannot justify. His work rate was as good as Dickov's too which was fantastic to see. Great finish for the goal too. Emerton was excellent- continuing his good run of form and showing his confidence in his stepovers etc. Tugay was brilliant- I have given him a lot of stick but his closing down was top notch, if he could do that every week we would be set. There is a nagging feeling though he might revert to his usual self next week. Definately gets the benefit of the doubt however. Hopefully Ferguson can improve that side of his game too, although he wasnt bad. Passing was good although he didnt see enough of the ball to make a huge impact. Shot a couple of times when he should of laid off and the yellow card was silly. He cant be far off a suspension now, can he? Reid didnt reach the heady heights of last weeks performance but made some excellent runs behind the full backs and was extremely effective at closing down. Shame he will be suspended. Niell had a good game, getting forward well and did some good covering defensive runs. Still plays a lot of the opposition onside on occasion and also finds himself stranded on the halfway line from time to time. Johansson defended well but obviously lacks the quality to go forward, I cannot see him playing there on a regular basis. Entertaining to see him turn their full back inside out from time to time only for his touch to let him down. Todd was solid although hus lack of inches showed on occasion. Infinately more secure than Amo or Matteo. A permanent fixture now. Nice to see him steaming toward the 18 yard box, Short showed why he was our best defender today. Friedel- one sublime save and back to his authorative self controlling the box when given a chance. It was not all good though- if Cole and Boa Morte had finished better we would of been in trouble. For playing a side down to ten men in the last twenty minutes out tactics of sitting back and trying to hit them on the break was a bit disappointing. The technical quality of our front six was high enough for us to try and keep the ball but we couldnt do it. This is partly due to Fulham not being a bad side and being away from home but I still feel we could have made a much better fist of it. As a defensive unit we had some problems as well, people losing their man and the line not holding itself too well. This, more than an other area, is the most worrying. Individually good performances but not perhaps as well organised as a unit. While Ferguson and Tugay particularly closed down well the lack of a true 'defensive midfileder' could have contributed and we might just lack that bit of quality in defense. Shaping up well though, I can really see us begin to assert ourselves a bit and start to ping it around especially at home. Thompson will slot in where Reid was and Bothroyd will get a spot on the bench. Ultimately if we can tighten up even further our defensive side of the game we will be a side who even the big five would not expect to defeat off hand. We have to steadily pick up points over Christmas and in the transfer window, if Hughes buys well, good times could be coming! ps. MGP is going to find it almost impossible to get in the side. Thompson, Reid and Emerton are all good players and he will need two of them to get injuries/suspensions to get a spot. Its a shame but you can hardly advocate dropping them if they are playing well.

Skin colour / racial history is of absolutely no interest to me , Joey , as I have said on more than one occasion .( Some people , though , choose to believe what they want to - that's a reflection either of their intelligence ,intolerance of free speech and/or inabilty to fully digest posts ! ) As for your first sentence , I believe society needs shared values - ours go back to ancient times and are rooted on fundamental Judeo/Christian traditions that have evolved into what is broadly regarded as democratic values. There are those newcomers in our society who know little of British history and what they do know they hold in utter contempt . Islam and western style democracy are concepts that are incompatible . To me that is simply a statement of fact ; I neither hate Muslims nor have any regard for them , I am simply living with this social experiment like everyone else . But the questions I pose will one day have to be addressed - as they are in Holland.... Cheers . I accept that culture clash is an issue. Any society demands integration, social cohesion is required to prevent the ghettoisation of any of its members and allow individuals to reap the full benefits of living in a multi cultural society. I do not however accept that we should just get members of Islam to pack their bags and get out. We crapped on their parade for two hundred years we can accept a bit of crapping on ours, if they do (and I really would say they do not). Also those Judeo-Christian democratic values you highlight should morally prevent us from kicking them out- Muslims, as long as they do not break the law (something I hasten to add most have not), are our complete socio-economic political equals in every regard. It is a problem that will be dealt with and overcome by a concilliatory- dare I say liberal approach. Every culture has had to adapt at some stage to the introduction of another with varying results. The only other way you could deal with it is build a wall to surround half the world. Oh, what a fine terryfying war that would lead to in fifty years time. Rather than try and get Muslim's kicked out why not have a look at how you can help integrate their culture into ours. It is firstly far more likely to help the good of your fellow man (this is what drives this all, right?), and secondly far more likely to have any impact at all on anything. Cheers.

Exactly! It's not intended so much a punishment as a deterrent. Capital punishment is abhorrent but it's existence is necessary. Punishment only comes when all else fails. Capiche? Kinell JBN I thought you'd never get there, but I see there is a glimmer of hope. Okay my mistake, i didnt phrase it very well. What I meant to say was people who hold views like yourself and convey them in your manner exude menace. Executing, chopping thumbs off, expanding the powers of the police, expanding the powers of the army, kill all the peadophiles, kick out the muslims, God Save The Queen. I suppose it is all only meant in the nicest, most socially conscious way, and you wouldn't kill a fly unless it had been convicted by twelve of its peers who acted fully independently through the use of their conscience, but it still remains terryfying. But hell, the buses will run on time.....

Correct - and that's what most of the PC brigade don't seem to realise . Blacks (Christians ) have infinitely more in common with Whites (Christians) than they do with the Muslims , who are culturally and increasingly politically out on a limb of their own making . So why does it always come down to bickering about "race" ? The answer to that , I'd suggest , is that for too long people have been brainwashed into believing it's all about race . Kids are bombarded with mis-information from day one of their lives from groups and organisations (CRE for eg ) who have either vested interests (it keeps them in jobs) , or they have naive political dogmatic ideals that ALL races and cultures are capable of living together . Tell that to the Palestinians and the Jews. The end result ? We are told that we are all the same - but yet we are all different . We must all live together - but diverse communities are encouraged to flourish seperately (faith schools ?) . We are in the post Christian secular era - and yet we have to promote Islam at all costs so as not to "offend" the newcomers. This leads me to a question Shaddy posed . Just so I can nail some thing down about your postion on this: As long as everybody was culturally identical, or at least culturally compatible in your view, you would have no reason to kick them out? Skin colour/racial history is completely unimportant in your eyes? Cheers.

Um, for once on this messageboard we seem to have a consensus. A line should definately be drawn in the sand. I in no way endorse capital punishment (it is, in my opinion, indefensibly morally wrong and as someone has pointed out- what if you get the wrong man?) but we need to tighten up on this. Mandatory life imprisonment would recieve my vote. On the other hand a draconian regieme of punishment and prejuidice that BP and TND are after is a bit frightening. What is the "liberal conspiracy" and what is the alternative that you are suggesting? Here you wish to annihalate peadophiles, something that is understandable- but from the rhetoric you use you inspire little confidence that that is all you wish to annihalate. Broadly arbitrary deportation of illegal immigrants seems fairly high up the list, TND is looking to have pick pockets having their thumbs chopped off, you obviously dont like liberals so what are you going to do to them if you cannot vote them out? I cannot accuse you of going for something really outrageous but there is just an aggressive flavour to your language that inspires a very, very deep fear of the day you, or people like you, might find themselves in power. I would take dull, confused, nicey-nicey, cant we all be friends, bumbling politicians over that. That vague notion aside there is just one other thing I would like to disabuse you of. There seems to be some crazy idea that sixty, or even a hundred and fifty, years ago before the leftward shift in British politics we were all better off. We were not- sure, Britain had an empire- but the money from it (made as, I guess, illegal immigrants) mostly went to banks and big business- not a town like Blackburn. Nationalism that you espouse drove europe to war twice with calamatous results (indeed the framework for peace has large been driven by a liberal concilliatory framework that you despise). Living conditions were in squalour compared to the USA across the country. No Health Service, no decent public education. What golden era is it that you want to hark back to, what streets paved with gold did the liberals steal from your grandfather? Fair enough, it might have gone too far now but the socio-liberal ideal gave most people a vote, an education, a health service, peace, prosperity in parts. Give it its due.

yes that's correct, and that's because society does not treat people of different races equally correct, but I'm sure you understand that language changes depending on the context or the inference. are you a a smiths fan who's anti euro or are you a fan of the anti-european smiths? I don't get it. no, would you take it seriously? you don't get it don't you? as the dominant race in this country then this "inverse racism" that you are so concerned about has little or no effect on you personally, are you going to be denied opportunities, or your dignity or be chased in the street because of your ethnicity? Do you feel hard done by in the same way that Shaun WPhilllips feels hard done by? Can you go about your daily routine without having people throw bananas at you? IMO the research and effort that you have put into digging out old crime reports and then singling out the injustice from the colour of their skin reveal nothing but borderline racism and seething resentment. And way to go for pointing out some obscure lyric from some obscure song from some obscure pop group, that's explosive evidence in proving that the tide is indeed flooding in. Amazing! A simply awesome analysis of this whole inverse racism thing. It's actual existance is minute yet it is conjoured up by people as pervasive in society. Just a afer thin argument for prejuidice to hide behind. Don't mean to be abusive AESF but the views you are purporting are just unsustainable and, to me anyway, extremely distasteful.

How about this for a side: Defensively a bit, well a lot, shaky but going forward has awesome possibilites. If Gallagher and thompson are given instructions to close down as much as possible but not dive in to tackles I think it could work well. Stead has done little to deserve his spot but I still feel (despite his two goals to Steads none this season) he offers more than Jansen. I suppose an alternative would be to stick Emo on the right, Pedersen on the left and drop Stead for Gallagher, but I really feel the formaton above shows real BALLS. We cant defend for toffee so lets give them a display of fluent attacking football. 4-2 Rovers Thompson, Gallagher, Stead, Dickov.

He should be ok - he seemed to hate being at right midfield as he was always drifting into the centre, so can't see him drifting out to the touchline when he's supposed to be in the centre! I would say it was more of an issue about whether he will drift forward too much behind the strikers and leave Ferguson exposed. However there is no question that he will be an improvement over Tugay.

Dont be ridiculous. Dunn has had about four good games since he left us. He is full of unrealised potential, not a good player. To say he could be one of the worst sales we made is nonsense. He would struggle to get in the City team if everybody was fit...... thats pretty damning. At the moment it looks like one Souness' best transfer decisions (of which there were a few- Friedel, Thompson, Tugay, Gray, Stead). He is a local boy and all that, but you cannot justify that statement. ps. If he had three years left on his contract there is no way he wouldnt of signed it. He would of got an increased pay packet and his movement would not of been hindered as plaayers are only held to the club for two years irrespective of the length.

The hard line against racism has been one of the few glowing achievments of recent times. There is no way to defend racism, at least not on a modern rational basis, and as such should be irradicated. Why undermine it? Why try to drag the carpet from under the feet of something to be proud of? If Dwight was not subject to racial abuse then there is a case to lay blame at his feet or diminish it as over sensitivity. However if he was subject to such abuse do not belittle it. The obvious slippery slope argument aside it just shows we do not believe in those libeties and rights that we hold close to our hearts. It should never be just part of our culture.

Dunn showed some real class- the cheeky stepover and cross to the back post for example. But, if he wasn't from Blackburn and English, nobody on this board would want him at the club. He has only managed about a third of birminghams games since he signed and drifts in and out of the ones he has played in. Nothing suggests he would improve our team. When Birmingham have all their players back I imagine he will return to the bench and be saved for a late cameo role. Blessed with that sort of powerful physique of Gascoigne or Marradona he looked at the start of the 2001/2002 season like he could be the next big thing, or english big thing anyway. What has become painfully evident however is he has neither the mentality, the desire or the discipline to succeed. He is naturally a great player but not as great as those other examples above. To try and emulate pissing it all up the wall like they did is stupid, he does not have the ability to do that and get away with it. He is going to look back at his career and realise that if he had the discipline of Michael Owen or Barry Ferguson he could have played in two or three world cups and maybe won some more silverware with rovers. Crying shame.

Hear, hear. If there's one thing that gets my goat it's the blaring, tinpot beat combo "music" that passes for pre-match "entertainment" at Ewood these days. Destroys the atmosphere while deafened supporters sit in stunned silence at the banality of it all. In't good old days the brass band would march up and down the pitch from half an hour before kick-off and there would be a gradual build up of excitement leading to the teams running out on the pitch. Believe it or not, the players used to come out to a big cheer from the crowd, supporters sang songs and the actual kick-off was accompanied by a roar. Compare that to the excruciating pre-match "experience" nowadays. Ban pop music and bring back brass bands. Who needs booze to deaden the senses when you have proper entertainment ? It might just catch on. I think your showing your age old boy. I don't think anybody has called a band a 'beat combo' since about 1965. Maybe there is a hippy under that tired old type face...... Jim in the summer of love, flowers behind the ears, frolicking across the fields. Its an endearing (or frightening) image....

With Tugay getting hauled off last game and looking pretty bad all season save the game against Liverpool Hughes must have the balls to drop him. Thompson has been excellent for the reseves and looked the part in the first team. Bite the bullet Sparky!

Bloody hell...what utter, utter nonsense. Sven has faults but that is certainly not one of them. He always brings young players in when they deserve it, just look at the average age of our squad and how different the starting 11 is now from the one that was starting when he took over. Yes, the only players that are still going who Sven is still playing in the first XI that he 'inherited' are Beckham, Campbell, Ferdinand, G Neville and Owen. For all of those it is virtually impossible to make a case for them to be dropped. They are the best in their positions, although recent form (particularly in Beckham's case) has been disappointing. To change them would be a risk. And thats the main problem, Sven doesn't take risks- but its hard to blame him for it. The first XI are already of a high quality and any 'tinkering' would have to produce steller results or the papers would just get him sacked. This conservatism has been bred by a bloodthirsty public. Who wants to innovate in that kind of amosphere?

How many Games has Dunn managed in the last two years? Has to be under 50%, probably less. You have to say Souness did well to get rid for over 5 million.

Um, there is NEVER any call for Bryan Adams. Ever. How about the Rocky themetune? Inspiring, enlivening, inane. All the things you want from a good themetune!

After seeing a bit of Emerton's excellent performance last night I am looking forward to seeing both him and Thompson running at Birmingham. I really feel both should start with Reid being converted to a holding midfielder. A bit of a gamble, but the benefits could be huge. An attacking triumvate of Ferguson, Thompson and Emerton would be frightening! If only our strikers could finish.....

As posted on another thread I hope the team lines up: Friedel, Todd, Johansson, Niell, Gray, Reid (holding player), Ferguson, Thompson, Emerton, Stead, Dickov Subs: Enckleman, Short, Tugay, Jansen, Pedersen Defensively frail but a fair amount of firepower from midfield. I cant see how pussyfooting around is going to help us- Tugay has been pretty awful, get Thompson in. Plumped for Pedersen over Djorkaeff as he has a left foot. We need him to come good if we really want to improve. 2-1 Rovers Thompson, Ferguson

Um, fair enough you have to run a business and all that but there is a balance. It is, after all, compassion which makes us human. You make a well functioning society sound like a pack of wolves, culling the weak......

Thompson has to start next game. I think Hughes will let him. Unless Stead is injured he will stay with him I think. Jansen was okay but still not quite as good. As much as he is a psycopath we need bothroyd back. I want to see this lineup get a whole set of games to settle with the only real change bringing Bothroyd back in two games time (barring a Steadinho recovery) The Reid holding player thing is not my idea exactly. I nicked it off other posters, but I have come to agree with them. I am not sure he has ever really played just sitting in front of the defense (indeed I have a feeling he has played on the wings most of his life) but he has all the right qualities to do it well- athleticism, agression, good(ish) tackling. His passing is a bit poor but I cannot see it being more dangereous than Tugay's. Thompson is always going to be a better player going forward so it would seem stupid to curtail both his and Ferguson's game by playing him in the middle. Also I'd just like to say how impressed I am with Dickov. He got a lot of stick when he came here and I was doubtful of him but he has already made a huge contribution to the side. Works his heart out and has a lot more talent than people give him credit for. We might think we are in trouble up front at the moment. Imagine if we did not have Dickov! Quality player. Finally the team is taking shape. Roll on Bimingham!

To be fair to Souness you have to say that in the 2002/2003 season he organised our defense superbly. It was more our defensive solidarity rather than attacking prowess that got us to sixth. The big problem Souness suffered after that was his inability to maintain that solidarity. I dont know what was going on in his mind. It was absolutely crackers to get rid of Berg for Amoruso. Fair enough, he couldnt count on Niell and Greskol suddenly becoming abysmal but tacticlly he had no answers. Until Gray turned up not a single one of our defensive players had two good games in a row. You certainly get the feeling that if Graeme gets his way he can whip a team into shape and drive them up the table but if things start to fall apart he has little ability to arrest the decline. This has been evident here, at Liverpool and at Rangers.