Limited player, but possibly the hardest working player I've ever seen. Scored some important goals too. Thanks for this gime and good luck Paul!

I'd absolutely love it if Rovers came to Gothenburg to play IFK. My two favourite teams in the world, both playing in blue and white (Well not in that specific game ofcourse). Could perhaps also open Hughes eyes to a couple of good youngsters at the club, such as Oscar Wendt, Karl Svensson, Marcus Berg and Pontus Wernbloom.

Very good performance tonight, I was especially pleased with our makeshift defense. Neill was excellent, Reid deputised well, and Zura again didn't put a foot wrong. I like the fact that Zura is good at playing the ball out of defense well, even under a lot of pressure, and not just hoof it upfield. We were the better team and deserved the three points, but two small mistakes could've lost us the game. Mokoena's shirt pulling was a blatant penalty (The fact that the chelsea player went down like he had been shot is irrelevant, there was still a clear foul), and I've seen similar incidents as the other two penalty appeals been given before. The ref did give Chelsea something in return when he didn't send Geremi off for a second bookable offense, but we still got lucky. But I'm not gonna dwell on that anymore. Sometimes you're lucky, sometimes not. That's life. I'll just enjoy the fact that we're in Europe next year, and that we beat the champions!

I have indeed. Lovely goal. Van Basten also scored a very nice overhead kick (Well he probably scored more...) that went right into the top corner. Not from outside the area, but it was so technically perfect and so perfectly placed that you could watch it forever. And the reason I mentioned the two goals above was that they were specifically from corners, as I don't think Sinclairs was? (Correct me if I'm wrong, I only remember the actual finish from that goal). Only ones I could think of atm.

Tugay's. I've seen, I think, Gaizka Mendieta hit an amazing shot for Valencia directly from a corner, right in the top right corner of the net. But what's so brilliant about this one is that it was a very difficult volley. For Mendieta it dropped right in front of him. Still, Anders Svensson hit an even sweeter direct volley from a corner a few years back. What made it even better was that when a TV crew was there the next day and asked him to do it again, he did it on the first try. With the groundsman/janitor/whatever the term is supplying the cross. I'm a big fan of long-range volleys in general.

Actually, I'm pretty sure Moko and Nelsen are to blame for the second goal. Mokoena (Who does not inspire any confidence at all at right back) committed to his "challenge" way too early, basicly giving Taylor all the time in the world to pick out his cross, while Nelsen completely lost Todorov. That being said, Todorov did very well there, tricking Nelsen into thinking he was gonna go on the other side of him. Other than Nelsen was very solid though. I'd drop Pedersen for our next game, and play Bentley on the left with Emerton on the right.

Rather poor performance, and in order to have a chance of fourth we needed to win this game. I fear that Arsenal will just run away with it now. Very inconsistent performance from the referee however. I think both first half goals should have stood, but disallowing Wigan's goal was plain wrong, whereas Dickov *did* have his arm up even if it IMO wasn't enough to warrant a foul. And Kuqi's goal certainly shouldn't have been allowed. But we also had a few decisions against us, such as Baines' tackle on Bellamy inside the box and Roberts blatant elbow. Could have been a red. I'll say it again; we were poor, very poor. Feels like sloppy passing in the final third lets us down, too many times do we have the ball in an avanced position and then just give it away. If we're to hold off Bolton for a UEFA Cup spot (As I don't think we can make the CL anymore with the way Arsenal have played recently) we need to improve. Fast.

Or perhaps it's due to the new manager and his coaching team? Or are (more or less) ALL our players of the sort that only perform when there's a payrise to motivate them?

Of the possible candidates, Hiddink would be by far the most qualified. But seeing as how the media treated Sven I think you'd be better off with an English manager. Simply because people wouldn't give another foreigner a chance, you'd have tabloids, fake sheiks and all that crap again. The manager wouldn't get to focus on the job at hand, whereas an English manager would. So from that perspective, Hiddink would be dumb to take the job. But seeing as how I'm not English I hope Venables or McLaren gets the job I have my doubts whether Pearce, Allardyce or Curbishley would be much good either, but it's hard to tell either way.

Their first version though read: With his every touch already having been booed by the home fans, his subsequent withdrawal by Hughes prompted a chorus of abuse as he made his way off to be replaced by Shefki Kuqi. EDIT: Actually it stills says that. I just assumed yours was from the match report, must've been from somewhere else.

Neither BBC o Skysports match reports mention anything of Bellamy being injured. Which makes me doubt it's very serious. Please don't let me be wrong on this one.

Indeed. He looked a completely different player for Ireland a couple of weeks ago (Horrible experience for me as a Swede though ). Now exactly what that's due to, I don't know. Could be that he was given more freedom, and it could be that he was in a familiar enviroment, one he feels comfortable in. But to go from him being potentially interested in a move to the northwest there is some way to go for that to actually happen. And even if it does happen, there are plenty of clubs he could move to that would make it possible for him to live in his old area.

1-0 Rovers, with Michael Gray the unlikely scorer.

ROVERS: Friedel, Neill, Khizanishvili, Nelsen ©, Gray, Emerton, Reid, Savage, Pedersen, Bellamy, Sinama-Pongolle. Subs: Enckelman, Kuqi, Dickov, Mokoena, Bentley. MIDDLESBROUGH: Schwarzer, Queudrue, Ehiogu, Riggott ©, Boateng, Rochemback, Parlour, Davies, Morrison, Viduka, Johnson. Subs: Jones, Pogatetz, Doriva, Yakubu, Taylor.

Pretty much sums up my thoughts. Really felt to me like we missed Tugay a lot today. Friedel was solid as always, GREAT block by Nelsen in the first half, and I thought Emerton did well when he came on, at least in reducing some of the pressure Villa had.

We beat Arsenal 1-0, and that's really all that needs to be said, isn't it? But I'll write some more anyway Very good performance overall, but I was a little disappointed in seeing us sit back so far already in the 70th minute. Arsenal hadn't even been close to scoring when we played our normal game, but as soon as we started sitting back they looked more dangerous. But ofcourse, to a certain extent they also forced us to. Bellamy was great, really runs nonstop and creates so much just by his presence alone. Must be hell to play against two extremely fast players like Bellamy and Pongolle. And hell, but differently, to be facing Dickov and Kuqi And while he may not have had a standout performance today, I was again impressed by Lucas Neill, as I have been in every game I've seen him in during the last few months. He's always where he should be, both attacking and defending. And as he's shown many times now, he's very good with the ball as well. Works well together with the likes of Reid and Emerton on the right, as then you have two players who can both attack and defend well. Oh, and Sav's header to Brad was hilarious. He also put in a great performance today, alongside mainly Todd, Bellamy and Friedel, but really the whole team was good.

Peter has always impressed me when he has come on. Good half-volley cross for Bellamy's second, and a very good run to get onto the pass from, I think, Tugay. He's quick, he can cross, he's got good technique and is not afraid to take on players. Could be an excellent player for us, and he's already a player you can bring on for a little extra creativity. Overall it was a solid win, the team did what they should. I have to say though, Sunderland really allowed us acres of space, and we won almost everything in midfield. And when they did get the ball we gave them no time at all on the ball, usually forcing them to put it out of play. Tugay played some very nice long passes, Grey and Neill ventured foward alot and apart from a 5-minute spell in the second half our defense looked very solid. With a few exceptions (Pongolle, MGP, Kuqi, who all seemed a bit off their game), the whole team performed very well. They did what they were supposed to do and it looked a comfortable win. And did anyone else notice just how hard Reid struck that free kick?? Just imagine the danger he'd pose if he ever learned to keep his shots down!

Bert on for Tugay. EDIT: And Pongolle for Kuqi.

Well Fergie has lost it. As seen by his decisions, and by his comments. Wouldn't if have been so great if Bentley had managed to pull off that chip and make it 5-1? Would've given us a prettier scoreline But screw that, like I care! 3 points against the Mancs, brilliant!

Thought Bentley should've taken it, to get his hat-trick. But ofcourse, the only thing that really matters is to actually score the penalty, and Neill cooly slotted it home.

That goal looked hilarous Both of Bentley's goals were real tap-ins, but it's still good for his confidence and at least he's in the right place to tap them in.

Bit worrying about Dickov, as we only have Kuqi and Bellamy with any real experience. Recalling Gallagher is the least we should do, perhaps bringing in another striker on loan would be an option even if we're not looking to buy anyone until the summer. I don't know what kind of injury he has, looked like it could be a broken collarbone. Anyway, it was an OK performance. Very toothless in the final third, but apart from that we did well. However Newcastle had quite a lot of pressure for a while towards the end of the game, but that's to be expected I guess. Peter didn't have the ball that much, but he looks a very good prospect. Especially noticed one very nice run past maybe three Newcastle players before putting a cross in. No end result, but a nice bit of skill. He seems to like low crosses from the left, and it seems like he's pretty decent at getting them past defenders too. Quite quick, good technique and knows how to cross, sounds pretty good to me. From a neutral point of view a draw would probably have been fair, but I don't care about that at all

Well it was on friday. That was three days ago, and there's still two days left until the game. I think it'll be a decent crowd.

IIRC: Enckelman, Kuqi, Nelsen, Pedersen, Emerton. Not sure tho.

Anyone else find this matchreport strangely negative, despite a by al accounts impressive performance from us? Wigan fan in disbelief that Rovers (Who knows nothing but fouls and red cards) could ever play football and beat his beloved top half side? The fact that we won obviously couldn't be down to the fact that we are a good team, but is all due to the fact that we had a bit more rest... http://www.premierleague.com/fapl.rac?comm...port&id=2529518