chelsea 1-0

robben

great by the time this deal is closed up it leaves us with 4 days to get a replacement

it was a poor game, didn't really enjoy watching it too much, we had the btter chances in the first half but bolton seemed to be a little on top.

id like to see us play the ball along the ground more though, seems like we are just lifting it over the top.

couple of points

1

after bothroyd came on against portsmouth in his first match is was full of praise for him, now he just looks out of his depth, hes not winning headers and seems to go down way to much and too easily.

2

kudos to savage though, i thought he did well, cant fault his endeavour and he made some good tackles and blocked shots which is what hes there to do.

3

mokoena doesn't look too comfortable on the ball

4

morten played ok, but i thought he was alot quicker than he is, he needs to work on dribbling the ball at a faster pace with close control.

5

i hate diouff

no live broadcast on some hidden tv channel?

can we bring this up again in march to remind me because i have a really bad memory

what was the formation?

dickov gally

mgp thompson tugay emerton

nissa todd mokoena nelsen

?

as much as i hope he chooses to stay, id rather have this transfer out of the way so we can find a suitable replacement in midfield(providing savage isn't the ready made replacement)

i think dickens i probably the safer option, keepers arms is a decent venue though.

rovers have put in an increased bid of 3mill according to a blues site that i was reading...

Friedel

Reid Nissa Todd Gray

Emerton Thompson Makeona Pedersen

Stead Dickov

Bench: Tugay, Enckleman, Nelson, Gallagher, Flitcroft

cant argue with that line up, mokena sitting deep will alow thommo to be agressive and get some shots off.

I wonder with all the Americans in the squad, will we be seeing a summer tour this coming July to the USA for Rovers?

Edit- I realise that Nelsen is a Kiwi, but he did play his footy for an American based squadron

what about us aussies

when are we going to be treated with a visit, im sure it would be a great idea to have a premier league club out here in the english summer because that is just before the new australian league is about to start.

looks like the ref got it spot on....

Any aussies know which match will be shown on espn at 3 55 am that morning??

my money is going to be on a draw that for sure!

Rovers 2 v 1 Newcastle

Reid (34)

Kluivert (39)

Ferguson(81)

cant argue with that!

I think we can break through this newcastle defence, it all a mater of keeping them out

rovers 1-0

We are due for a win, and everton are due for a loss

I hope we defend set pieces well though, i dont like the look of cahill and big dunc in the box for free kicks

that article was dated on the 11th of dec so if its done it was done a few days ago.

2 positives things about the signings is that they are both captains so they can bring some form of leadership to the club.

And also that moko has had a stint at ajax, meaning there must be a little bit of quality in him

positives was neil freidel and todd,

negatives were pretty much the rest of the side, i had my heart in my mouth when tugay was pulling at browns shirts when he was making that long run, what was he thinking when he already had a yellow?

we cant rely on having two small gritty players up front, we need either bothroyd or stead to start instead of gally because we have no targets going forward in the air, at least bothroyd can get a header and hold it up well.

hughes made the right subs but when thompson came on he was erratic, and bothroyd didn't get trhe service he required, though hes the type of player we do need in the side

nothing can take the smile off my face, a suberb team effort.

Played the ball around pretty well and controlled the game.

special credit to tugs, nissa (shut down malbranque), emo, neill and dickov

i think we are going to see some goals today/tonight whereveer you are

if tommo starts alongside fergue then i can see good things for the game, otherwise

3-2 to fulham

edit:

im also looking forward to the emerton v malbranque contest that we might see on the wings, two good players going at it should be a spectacle

Australia was lucky to get away with a draw! The first goal was clearly offside, but somehow the assistant referee thought it was Ruud who got the ball...

Second goal, Viduka cant turn like that? I have never seen a fat poteto turning so quickly! Also it was a clear penalty, it was ludicrous that the ref just let it pass so that they could score!

Two good goals didnt prove enough aginst the cheating Australians, but we will get you next time..

norway were outplayed by the australians, norway sat back, defended well and heaved the ball upfield, where the aussies passed it around well

with regards to cahill.there has to be daylight between the attacker and defender, which coudn;t be judged with the camera agnles we were shown, which left him on side

despite all his criticism, viduka is very good on the ball and quite agile

cheating? and there wont be a next times for a while me thinks.

i wonder how mortens groin is doing

Very frustrating to draw this one as we were techinically alot better and outplayed norway for the first 80 mins.

the rovers players

Emerton was excellent and neil was good also

Morten's first half was shocking:

when he tried a long ball it went nowhere, and when he tried to take on players he eventually got shut down. but had a good second half, probably warrants to be in the squad this week. id like to see him try to get more balls into the box

the rest

cahill was fantastic, bresciano came in sore and under an injury cloud, shame he didn't get to display his full potential but grella played well

the norweigan defence was good. the guy with the beard and riise were the two who i thought were in there best players. carew and iverson hardly posed a threat

very dissapointing not to see grella start, but skoko is a workhorse in midfield and he did get a double against the solomons which was impressive

also very dissapointing that kisnorbo is yet again not in the squad. Frank must still hold a big grudge on him for choosing hearts over the olympics qualifiers etc.

Hes playing good football in the uefa cup (apart from the sending off) while vidmar is old and wont be around in 2006 for the wc, so whats the logic in playing

with no grella, i re arrange my tip to

2-2

bresciano---------popovic OG x 2

kewell

Carew ---- Karadas

or

Carew ------ Iversen

Against:

Popovic-----Vidmar

who?

indeed we will see, its good to see all your players playing in europe's to leagues

It looks like Vålerenga must be producing some great talent

--------------

Grella is a good young player, transfer fee of around 3 million euros to get him to Parma from Empoli where he was one of the few shining lights.

He can play a killer long ball but can struggle a bit when the balls on the ground in a fast pace match.

Him and bresciano have been teamates at Carlton, Empoli, Parma and in the socceroos so they know each others games inside out

Australia 0

Norway 3

Sorry lads, but we are way too strong for you atm!

We will see, But i think Bresciano will be too strong in the midfield, im looking forward to Riise, Pederson, Emerton, Neil clash though.