No, Sheff Utd'll be my 1st away trip this season; saving my pennies for Europe !! Maybe that'll explain why I've been sent another season ticket ! :ph34r:

I'm going for Portsmouth 0 - 2 Rovers Mainly because I think Roberts and McCarthy are ace and Portsmouth will struggle with Kanu and Todorov upfront, even with our injuries. Also, just so I can laugh at Manchester Blue when he's wrong!

Block N02, row17 by any chance?? There's a few guys on our row who have never made it to their seats before kickoff, then insist on leaving / returning a good 2-3 times per half. I'm sure they must be on dicsounted ST's - there's no way they see anything like 90mins of footy.

No, that's fair enough, ABBEY. I'd have rather taken Defoe or Bent, than a 17 year old that doesn't even get close to the 1st team (it effectively make us a 22man squad). No-one could have predicted that Owen'd twist his knee in the 1st mintute against Sweden. Surely you'd agree that if we went to penalties, 2 top scoring midlfielders could do the business ???? Don't get me wrong, losing on penalities is upsetting.................................. I'm not name calling- I have alot of respect for those who post on this board regularly. Nor do I wish to fall out with any other members of the board. A difference in opinion is OK. ?

No offence, ABBEY, but it boils down to England not taking pens successfully. I'd have thought Lampard and Gerrard would have scored. It's not as if Ricardo pulled off amazing saves!

C'mon Abbey, Steve McClaren is the worst appointment the English F.A. could make. Given O'Neill was ready to say 'Yes' and Big Phil wouldn't mind the job after the WC, it's a shame that we'll carry on with McClaren.

The game. Albeit a little bit drunk. Honestly, T4E, I thought we were doing well considering we were down to 10 men. We certainly looked at least as likely to score as Portugal. We certainly weren't the 2nd best team

So it's still his fault that Gerrard and Lampard couldn't score from the penalty spot?

Nothing like a bit of support eh? Well done to all those who've slated SGE - it was exactly his fault that 2 midfielders capable of scoring 20 goals a season, missed at the penalty spot. For all those slating SGE, try and take into account the fact England were still the best team with 10 men. I hope you're all well behind Steve McClaren............. To see people throw their toy's out of the pram because we didn't sign a striker 5mins after selling Bellamy was almost expectable. To see the same after this match is very disappointing.

I wasn't sure if this warranted it's own topic, but it looks like Arsenal have been involved behind some dodgy financing deal with Belgium club Beveren : BBC link to Fifa - Arsenal - Beveren Investigation Could be interesting..........

I think it was supposed to help promote Liverpool's bid for 2008 City of Culture. Something like that anyway........ Edit: BBC.co.uk Match Report & Link - 5th sentence down Jackpot - right for once!!

Q & A finally updated at the start of the preview Have to admit, before tonight's match I was quietly confident we'd get a result this Saturday. After watching Arsenal tonight, I think the only way we're gonna get anything will be to rough 'em up and make sure the likes of Henry & co. are closed down quickly. They'll be brimming with confidence after tonight's great result

I watched from the Darwen End that day and remember the whole ground singing 'Thank You Very Much For Lars Bohinen' to the tune of the old Cadbury Roses TV adverts....superb.

Q&A section finally added, apologies for the delay Rovers vs. Arsenal - 25th Feb '06 In 2003/04, Arsenal strolled to the Premiership title, going on an unbeaten run of 49 league games in the process, playing some superb, attacking football along the way. Now they find themselves out of the ‘title race*’ at an early stage, knocked out of both domestic cups (after fielding what many consider weakened line-ups) and pushing for a top 4 finish to try and guarantee a crack at next season’s Champion’s League. (* - OK, we all know Chelsea have run away with it again, but it’d be nice if someone gave them a challenge now and again…) Despite a superb showing in this season’s initial group stage (5 wins and 1 draw), progress in this year’s tournament depends on getting past none other than Real Madrid (without the likes of Bergkamp, van Persie, Reyes, Cole, Clichy, Campbell and Cygan)........ Looking forward to next season, Arsenal will be moving to the Emirates Stadium next season, taking with them highly rated teenager, Theo Walcott, a recent £5m (rising to £12m) signing from Southampton at the grand age of 16! On the other hand, Rovers find themselves in the lofty heights of 7th in the Premiership, after spending the last couple of seasons trying to keep adrift of the annual relegation battles. With an almost fully fit and refreshed squad (after a short break in Dubai), Rovers will hopefully be going into the match with a great chance of getting a result. With Bellamy available, hat-trick hero David Bentley in line to face his old team-mates and Rovers pushing for a European spot, Saturday should be a lively affair at Ewood, especially given the recent duels between the teams. Just 1 point seperates the teams at the time of writing. Following Colin’s success in getting a surprise guest (Adrian Chiles) to join in with a Q & A session, I tried to follow suit, but without much luck. Dermot O'Leary hasn't responded and Osama Bin Laden seems to be even harder to get hold of. Instead I’ve had to turn to my mate, Russ, who claims he’s an Arsenal fan! Q & A [note : done before the Real Madrid game] So what’s gone wrong so far this season? Can Arsenal restore some pride, given the success of recent years? Well, what’s gone right? The only league we’re in danger of topping this season is the injury table. Injures aside, I just don’t think the balance of the team is as good as it could be. We’re technically still great and as we showed against Middlesborough, capable of opening up teams, but we’re too lightweight. When teams defend deep and play a very physical game against us we can struggle and end up playing the ball around midfield without getting anywhere. In times like those, you can’t help but wonder what things would be like if we still had Vieira. I’d have liked it if we’d bought an established dirty-great centre forward in the January transfer window, as it would have given us other some options in how we play. Instead we mainly bought players ‘for the future,’ presumably since we haven’t got the financial clout to get anyone from the top tier of current players. I’ve no doubt that in a couple of season’s time we’ll mature into a team playing the sort of fast, strong, incisive football that equals or even betters that of few years ago, but it might be tough in the interim. With that in mind, I think I’d settle for a Champion’s League spot out of this season, that’s minimum we need to have a chance of keeping Henry. What? Even with Sol going crazy, Henry rumoured to be off on his way to team playing in a warmer climate and Ashley Cole still missing a leg or two? Ah Percy, you know Sol’s as sane as the day is long. Even the best of us is prone to flip out, leave work halfway through a shift and live wild in the countryside with only a crisp packet glove puppet for company. Henry’s sure to stay with us after we win the Champions League, and Ashley Cole, with our current stunning defensive record (6 loses out of the last 10 away games) can afford to put his feet – or rather the mangled stumps that now adorn his legs - up for a few weeks. In fact, I actually think that it’s good that so many of our players are out! Would you care to elaborate on that statement? No – I didn’t see it. So with your shattered squad, what are your thoughts about Saturday’s match? I still think we’ll be ok, especially if we’re able to get something out of the Madrid game and our confidence is on a high. No doubt you’ll play some escaped convicts in midfield to rough us up a bit and try and give us an old-school bullying as teams seem prone to do against us these days, but I still think that we have enough class to make it back home with the three points. I’m not so sure about making it out with our lunch money or shins though. What about facing superstar David Bentley again (after he scored the finest hatrick to ever grace a football pitch against Manchester United)? Well, as you know Percy, I know Arsenal like Iain Dowie knows aerodynamics. Despite this, you’re gonna have to help me out here, which was he again? The tricky, attacking midfielder hailed as the next Denis Bergkamp. Ah yeah, that fellow. I remember I once scored 4 free kicks in one game with him on Pro Evo 5 against you. He’s not bad, but he just wouldn’t have played if he’d stayed. I don’t begrudge him going elsewhere to get first-team football. For the record, it was a broken PS2 pad and I wasn't feeling too well. The sun was obscuring the view, the screen was too bright......... Yeah, the old dodgy pad excuse… So which Rovers players do you think Arsenal should watch out for? Well, now Thompson has gone, I think the players’ cars’ tyres will be safe, so we don’t have to watch out for him. But seriously, against most teams, I think that your main attacking threat would come from the speed of Bellamy. At the moment though, we seem to struggle more with big powerful centre forwards. I remember ex-Rovers’ youth player Beattie barrelling his way through both of our centre backs to score last month, so I’d be more worried if Kuqi came on and started causing mayhem in the box. Pederson also seems to have a knack of smashing the ball into the top corner from wherever he is on the pitch. Which Arsenal players do you think Rovers should watch out for? Henry obviously. Toure should hopefully have settled back into the defence by Saturday too and should help sure things up a bit in a defence that’s been without any first teamers for most of the New Year. Any thoughts about the new ground? Well, it’s needed for the added cash that it’ll bring in if we’re to compete at the highest level. We’ve suffered in the transfer market from the money being diverted into it. Plus Highbury is starting to show its age these days, but there’s no room to expand because of the houses flush with the ground. The club shop there is so small that it looks quite quaint by today’s megastore standards. I think one of the Chairman was claiming recently that it will have some of the most expensive tickets in the league, but that won’t affect you as you never go to the games, eh? What? Why only last weekend I was savouring a game featuring the silky skills of my chosen side. But they didn’t play…(it being F.A Cup weekend and you being knocked out by Bolton Well, of course, for ordinary fans they didn’t. They played a special game just for me to reward me for being such a great fan. It was against the Harlem Globetrotters and a choice selection of classic wrestlers. Liam Brady scored a pile driver past Kendo Nagasaki in the final quarter. I see. Well anyway, what’s your prediction for Saturday? I think 2-1 to Rovers. It depends, our away form’s rubbish and you’re exactly the sort of team that could give us problems. Having said that, I think we could probably still do you 1-3. Anyhow, I hear that we’re playing some Spanish minnows tonight, so I’m off to watch that* Thanks, Russ, here's hoping Madrid thrash you senseless and make it easy for us to roll you over at Ewood on Saturday! (* - and then they only went and won 1-0! Russ was so made up I didn't have the heart to tell him that players don't drive to away games in their own cars....)

Pleased for Wigan, but most importantly, it sticks two fingers up at the F.A for their blatant attempts to rig the final for Man Utd and Arsenal. Anything other than a Wigan win would have been an injustice, given the blatant penalties turned down! EDIT : Oops, should have posted that in the other Carling Cup thread. Ermm...........come on you Rovers! Beat Man Utd! Yeah!

You can add The Knott Bar, just by Deansgate Locks to that list as well - it's owned by the Marble group and sells the same beers. Very close to the Metrolink as well, so it's a handy pub for Old Trafford football & cricket trips !

A old uni friend of mine used to do some part-time work called something like 'Mystery Shopping'. It wasn't as exotic as it sounds, but it was basically a way for companies to test how good their customer service was. The company would arrange (via a type of agency) for the 'shoppers' (usually lazy students wanting to earn easy money in my experience !) to ask for specific servcies / advice / requests from a certain outlet of the company. Afterwards they would then get the 'shoppers' to conduct a short phone interview-type-questionnaire thing with the agnecy. The 'shopper' would then feedback to the agency, so they could collate the details as to how good / bad customer service was. From reading some of the feedback sheets, they were very thorough and really focussed on customer service, particularly when the 'shopper' had a difficult purchase / request to meet. The advantage for the company was that this was done in a way that made it very difficult for staff to tell if they were being tested / monitored. I don't know how interested the club would be, but perhaps it might encourage / interest them to find out exactly how poor the club shop is appears to be in terms of service. Although I've not had a bad experience myself, I think the lack of Rovers-related products is pretty poor considering it is the club's main outlet for giving the fans the chance to buy these things. Even more so at Christmas, when people visiting Ewood have the chance to buy stocking fillers, cheap kits, Rovers-related clothing, etc. Even though the club have 'out-sourced' the responsibility of the club shop / merchandising, I'd be very surprised if it was happy for SportsWorld to make a dog's dinner of it. Even though the club might not accept responsibility for the running of the service, it ultimately reflects badly on the club and tarnishes it's reputation. It's not as if there are loads of outlets for Rovers fans to stock on club gifts, souvenirs, etc. If BRISA think it's of any interest I'm sure I could help look into it in a bit more detail... (My other idea is release more things with "Lucas Neill - Football Genius" stamped on them, but it needs more work at the moment I think....)

Aye, I don't fancy Brazil's chances, not with the form Lucas has been in recently. "Lucas Neill's A Football Genius !!"

You know you've buggered up the trip back when Jordan beats you back to Leeds (and he was on the train !). I guess getting the wrong plane doesn't help In our defence, it was all MB's fault - he had us all stood in the middle of nowhere, waiting for a train that didn't exist. It was OK at the time, though, HE was catching the LATER flight back from London

In comparison to PES4, it is alot harder (at least to begin with) to get behind defences with wingers and strikers, unless they've got exceptional pace / dribbling skills. I've found playing a formation with an attacking midfielder just behind the front two helps alot, playing directly through the middle of the pitch, as opposed to attacking from the wings. The majority of goals I've scored have been through passing the ball around in midfield, drawing out the opposition midfielders and defenders, then playing into the space created with a couple of quick passes or a through ball (lofted through balls seem to work the best if you've got a midfielder good enough).

Masterleague on 4-5 stars is always difficult to begin with, but well worth the perserverance. If you can adapt to it, going back to the stronger teams / international will seem alot easier (as will using players with alot more pace / skill) I've just about got into winning form by doing the following (when creating a new team) : Bring in a decent keeper (especially with 1-1 stopper - Yohann Pele), midfielder (passing - Ledesma) and striker (post player & scoring - Kurani) from the off. Stick to the 3-5-2 formation, as it helps to keep possession in the middle of the pitch, where the computer tends to dominate games. Play your fastest CB's on the outsides, as they majority of passes the CPU tries will be through balls into the channels. Always use the triangle button to charge down oncoming attackers in the area (especially using keepers with 1-1 stopper skill), the keeper always seems win the challenge. Use your defence / midfield to pass the ball around and draw the CPU out of position, before using a couple of quick passes to get the ball to the strikers. Long punts from the back aren't very effective anymore (as they were in PES4), nor is trying to get down the wings and crossing into the area (especially with so many poor players in the team). A quick one-two or one touch pass in the final 3rd should help get your 'star' striker into the area (this is where having 'post player' skill helps, Kurani is great at beating the last man and making room in the area) where a tap on the shoot button should be enough to get a shot in on target. Unless you have a decent direct free kick taker, try passing the ball to a striker in the area, turn and shoot. I've managed to score quite a few this way and, in a packed area, there's a decent chance you can win a penalty when the CPU tries to lunge in! The key is to try and make a small fortune on the friendlies, because without the extra points, you'll have next to nothing to spend on new players. You seem to get more points by beating the higher ranked / 'special' teams. I also found it helps alot if you master the controlling the ball / dribble / feint skills in a free training session. The controlling the ball skills are particularly helpful, because most of the players have terrible 1st touches and these will help eliminate them and give you a little more time on the ball.

I agree - I can't see how he can be judged fairly until he's given a chance to play in his natural / preferred position for 2-3 full games. I get the impression this position should be in the 'hole' behind the striker(s), which he (and the team, more importantly) hasn't played yet. From watching him play it seems he doesn't have the natural pace which would help him to make a difference on either of the wing positions. Neither is he definsively minded enough to know when to track back, cover his full back's runs, etc. I don't think it's a question of a lack of talent, because he does seem to be a skillful player. I personally don't think he's had the chance to show what he can do...and that's not to say we should scrap what is currently working to fit him in. I think he's been brought to the club to try and make sure we have another creative midfielder / attacking option available, should we get a run of injuries / suspensions in midfield or decide to change back to a 4-5-1 formation. After Tugay, there isn't alot of creativity available in the team....Mokoena 50 yards wonder passes aside!

I've been hoping for something similar myself recently - he's been superb of late. I really don't think another season would be out of the question if he can keep himself in shape. I don't know if it's just me, but he seems alot fitter recently than he has done over the last year or so. He's now playing 90 mins week in, week out, working hard defensively and still going strong towards the end of the games. Make the most of watching Tugay at Ewood (if you get the chance) - he was a different class today. Unless Hughes unearths another gem, it may be a while before we see a player with his vision, ability and confidence in our midfield.

Someone behind me was insisting he should tested for banned substance abuse after the match !! For 5-10 mins after his goal he was back to his best and beating Leeds players for fun. Very impressed with Bellamy's performance tonight - his assists were superb (especially the 1-2 with MGP and cross for Dickov's goal). I have to admit when he signed, I thought he'd be a bit more of a one dimensional player - just a super quick player for balls over / behind the defence, but tonight he ran the show for us offensively when he came on. Dropping deep to link up play with midfield, working the channels well and pulling the Leeds defenders out of position several times - they just couldn't cope. Towards the end of the game he was dropping off and playing just outside their area, keeping the ball moving and inviting others to make use of the spaces being created. In the end, Neill took up the offer and made it 3-0. If we can get another player (or even two) in the same class as him, we could be a superb team.

The Leeds fan at work has been raving about him recently, he's hoping Bates and co. make the deal permanent and thinks we've slipped up by allowing him to play against us in the Carling Cup.... Soon realised he wasn't winding me up (he thinks Harte was a terrible left back too - I almost respect his footballing opinions!), so it looks like Douglas may have found his level at long last. It'll be interesting to see how he does against us next week.....