You really can't stop, can you? He's got 7 in 15 games. Assume he plays 45 games this season (which he will if he escapes serious injury) and he'll get over the 20 mark in his first season in English football. Not doing a job? Nonda has also been impressive in his games, he just needs to get on the score sheet more, certainly for a free loan signing he hasn't let us down. Ooijer has been excellent apart from the poor start, Gray is the new scapegoat because Pedersen is prettier and Roberts has barely played.

Nonsense. The central midfield area is by far the biggest concern in the team right now. You might weaken the full back positions a little taking one out, but we've got adequate cover on either side...ignore the scapegoating surrounding Gray, he's not a bad left back, we managed quite well last year with him there. If it significantly strengthened the central area (which it almost certianly would if Mokoena was taken out for Neill/Emerton) then it would definitely be worth it.

Penalty decisions have gone against us today, but the first penalty on Roberts against Bolton the other week was never a penalty and the one against Basel was as dodgy as Ooijer's today. By all accounts we played terribly so we can't complain about the result, once Mokoena's name was on the team sheet alongside Tugay we were always going to be in trouble.

I'd much prefer playing someone out of position in the centre than playing Mokoena there, he simply isn't good enough to play alongside Tugay. He can get away with playing alongside Savage or Reid perhaps, but not Tugay, he simply doesn't have enough mobility and will never break into the box so he's always intruding on Tugay's space and making his area of the pitch congested. Could Lucas do a job in there if Emerton is fit again? He's got a great engine and will get stuck in, he's also fond of breaking into the box and having attemps at goal. It's far from ideal I know, but I think he'd do a better job than Mokoena. Didn't Gray impress for the reserves in a central midfield role? He too would have the mobility to run around Tugay but his size (or lack of) would be a major concern.

How can you not? Aside from the impossible, I'm struggling to think of something better than The Fall at The Warehouse Project. It will be absolutely amazing.

Don't expect us to start any time soon FLB, I started this topic almost a year ago to the day: Defending Corners. It's best just not to think about it, it was driving me mental getting wound up about it.

A bit of maths can show that's not really the case though. Wasn't the average price per game at Ewood last season £13 (I could be wrong but I'll use it anyway)? Multiply that by 3,000 (the 'extra few thousand through the gates') then by 19 (amount of Prem home games) and it comes to rougly £750,000k. Alright, a fairly significant sum, but not one that will really have an effect on the outcome of our season...lets say, a season's worth of Matteo warming the bench. Edit: As you rightly pointed out...it's £500k per place. Two places higher in the Premiership (didn't we drop more than this on the final day a few years back?) is worth more than a few extra thousand bums on seats. Attendences are important but we would have to get a MASSIVE increase in numbers to generate the kind of income that would impact success on the pitch. It's probable that Rovers don't even have the required number of fans who are able to attend regularly to make this happen.

Why is Eurosport not included in the Sports package on Sky? Utterly ridiculous.

Does anyone know what the cheapeast/simplest way of getting Sky into another room is without buying Sky+? I'm not too fussed about being able to change channel (although if this were possible to do cheaply I may do, I read on another forum about buying extra Sky boxes to do this), but as my little portable won't recieve a reception worth watching I'd like to hook it up the main Sky reception somehow.

It'll be interesting to see how Bentley does in central midfield with Mokoena, a good performance from him could provide the solution to our central midfield problem. Glad to see Neill isn't in midfield, although it is a slight gamble from Hughes to tinker with Emerton and Bentley after their excellent recent form. Edit: Looks like we've also seen the last of Andy Todd as a regular Rovers player. Finally.

Why on Earth has that annoyed you?

Roberts shouldn't be let near another penalty again, he should be chastised for that miss. He screamed for the ball with arms aloft as soon as the penalty had been given, to take it that tamely after doing so was a disgrace. I'd be happy with Savage taking them, although I'd like to see how Nonda takes them, I don't think we'd see any stupid side footed efforts if he were to take them.

And so you should be, they're an amazing live band. Please tell me what you think when you've been to see them, I don't know many people who have done.

Our creativity comes from the wide areas and McCarthy, I'm not sure Tugay has been responsible for many goals this year. We'd lose a little bit replacing him with Mokoena of course, but as long as he just fed the more creative players we could still be an attacking side.

After Bellamy leaving, getting strikers on board was always going to be the priority, not central midfield. However, I'd be astounded if it wasn't an area Hughes looked at, maybe he just didn't find anyone better than what we have already. I think you underestimate Bentley as a central player, he has played well there (Spurs springs to mind), he could do a decent job filling in for Tugay. I wouldn't be keen on disrupting him at this point in time though. If you include Pedersen or Peter instead of a third striker in that team we could just play a normal and balanced 4-4-2...no need for drastic action just yet.

Surpised you didn't suggest 4-5-1 theno...

Whilst it is a terrific gesture to loyal season ticket holders, I fail to see how it will do anything for attendences in anything other than the two UEFA Cup games. Season ticket holders are likely to be there anyway, and will certainly be at Ewood for Premiership games. I'd be suprised if the extra bums on seats total for the next Premiership game made it into double figures from this.

What an amazing over-reaction to one game. Lampard may need dropping at some point, but there's no point in doing that whilst Lennon is out. Our best midfielder over the last few months (Hargreaves) was out and Carrick is still finding his feet at this level, as is Steward Downing. In fact, with two of his first choice midfield missing, one in relatively poor form and the other becoming fully accustomed to a new role in the national side, is it any wonder there are a few teething problems? There's also the fact that Rooney is suffering the first slump in form of his career. I believe McClaren (and Venables) has us on the right track with the team selection and tactics, it's just going to take time to remove the negative impact of the Eriksson era. All reports are suggesting a 3-5-2 formation on Wednesday, in which case I can only assume we'll be lining up with... ------------Robinson------------- ----Ferdinand Terry King------- Neville----------------------Cole ----Parker Carrick Lampard--- ---------Rooney Crouch-------- Parker should give us the tenacity we need in the middle and maybe Lampard will rediscover his form when playing in a three. It's a real shame Andy Johnson is injured because I think he would make so much difference to the side, the midfielders would have the option of playing the ball in behind the defence then, we just don't have that at the moment.

People seem to be forgetting one key element if Barca are indeed interested... Come January, Barcelona would be free to sign a pre-contract in January that would see him move to the Nou Camp for nothing in the summer. Barcelona get him for free, Lucas gets a bumper signing on fee (as happens with all Bosmans) and possibly a larger salary. I can't see why we'd recieve a significant fee for him should Barcelona come in for him. We'd have a far better chance if Liverpool came in for him as you can only pre-negotiate Bosmans with teams from another country (I think anyway...maybe I'm thinking of a different rule).

If we're well positioned in the league and still in Europe then the board should do everything possible to try and sign Wayne Bridge. He surely can't be happy sat in Chelsea's reserves and the price tag won't be that high given that Chelsea always sell fringe players for a fraction of their worth...he will be £3 million at the most. As for Neill, he needs to be stripped of the captaincy with immediate effect. It sends out completely the wrong message to the rest of the squad and the fans. However, as long as he continues to perform on the pitch then he has to stay in the starting eleven. His motives for performing well are almost certainly selfish, it's obvious he's not fighting for the Rovers cause, but it would be foolish to put a weaker player in his position out of spite. Also, good performances from now to January will hopefully mean we get a good price for him.

I'm glad I'm not the only one. There will be no special kit, Feyernoord will have to wear their away kit should the match officials decide neither of our kits are suitable.

If Bowen was desperate for the chance to manage Norwich then I doubt the club would stand in his way, it happens at even the biggest clubs...Brian Kidd and Steve McClaren spring to mind. Should Bowen leave I'd be astounded if Eddie N would swap an almost identical job at Rovers for one at Norwich. In fact I'd expect Eddie to be promoted into Bowen's job should we be unfortunate enough to lose him.

Admittedly it does sound more respectable...but isn't it people trying to make football more like a business which is slowly ruining the game? I struggle to see how the commission based incentives would benefit Rovers more than indirect financial benefits based on team performance. Edit: That is again completely ignoring the fact that Hughes has nothing to do with negotiating the fees players.

Aside from that fact that the whole idea is bordering on the verge on insanity, it has one fatal flaw anyway; managers do not negotiate fees for players being sold. Even if you ignore that critical fact, why won't managers want the highest possible figure for outgoing players as things stand? The more the club gets, the more money the manager has to spend. Even if money is the main incentive for doing business (as you seem to assume), higher transfer fees would mean they can build a stronger squad with the proceeds, finish higher up the league, earn more money from bonuses and be in a stronger position to negotiate a hefty wage rise when contract renewal time comes up. I don't know about you, but I'd much rather the financial incentive worked that way (as it does now) than some dodgy bung-like commission based system.

Such a tough group. I haven't seen who we play at home/away yet, but ideally for the home ties I'd like Feyernoord, as it's the most glamorous on paper, and Wisla, as they are the team I'd most fancy us to beat but teams from that region do tend to be extremely difficult on their own turf.