I reckon we've more chance of winning the League Cup than the UEFA Cup and whilst I reckon our first 11 would get past Chelsea reserves it's a big ask for our fringe players. Remember we need to get 6th in the league or win a cup to get into europe next season - and as there's loads of teams capable of getting those top 6 places the cup competitions have to take a very real priority. However, priorities may be forced upon Hughes by injuries and sheer fatigue.

Utterly agree with Aggy Blue bar the pens bit - it's only when I see them I realise how much I loath Bolton especially pie boy and that diving spitting thing, although the rest aren't much better. There were a lot of positives to be taken from the game as well as a load of negatives. First positive there was no european hangover - or if it was it was minimal taking it's toll in the second half. Notabley Nonda and Emerton imo whilst having good games were a fraction off their usual pace, but for the most part we played at an excellent high tempo. We bossed the first half and whilst Bolton had a few chances, we had a darn sight more. Luck really wasn't with rovers that half and the penalty and ball crossing the line decisions were from where I was sat both 50-50 - certainly at Old Trafford for manure they'd have been nailed on certs. We defended for the most part pretty well against a loathsome but admittedly talented strike trio. With Tugay spraying around his passes, Savage getting into everything, Nonda and McCarthy looking busy you had to be optimistic. Bolton decided to foul whenever possible to slow things down and a stricter ref would've had caused them serious worries with a couple of yellow cards for professional fouls giving us even more room. That the ref booked Savage so early on contrary to later decisions shows that Super Rob is picked on. Nevertheless Rovers fans had every cause to be optimistic going in at the break - if somewhat mystified how we weren't in front. Second half - again we started the better of the two teams but the tempo was that bit slower. Maybe it was europe, maybe we were worried about the counter attack or whatever but the slower tempo to me allowed Bolton back into the game. Their goal was inexcusable - who was meant to be marking Campo? After that the biggest negative of the day showed - we went to pieces for 15 minutes or so. We didn't get the ball our passing was awful and our creativity was dire. I know going a goal down is a kick in the teeth (especially having dominated) but rovers need to react better. Eventually they did react better and clawed back possession and began to become more creative and dangerous, until they were on top again. That Bolton gave away 2 pens in short succession shows how dominant we were again. To me the fifteen minutes prior to our last dominant spell cost us the game. I believe penalty misses aside that if we'd have had chance to attack Bolton as we were for another 5 minutes we probably would've stuck away an opportunity such was the way things were going. We really need to bounce back from going a goal down much quicker than we are. IMO a lot of it was after the 3rd substitution of Peter into the team. Whilst Roberts too made an impact when we take Pederesen off as invariably we do these days we really seem to lack width - especially as our best wide mid player Bentley goes to his weaker side. Having Peter on allowed us to get a bit more width and fully utilise it on both sides. As for the penalty misses - pretty poor really. Not much else you can say but the bleeding obvious that we do need to practice them. In the end it sums up a frustrating afternoon for rovers who despite Souness friend lady luck not really smiling on us only have ourselves to blame that we didn't come away with something from the game. In short - the bad news is we blew the game. The good news is - we blew the game. Despite our european foray we battered the team placed third in the prem, for nearly three quaters of the game played some awsome football and we lost the game rather bolton winning it. We have nothing to fear in this league based on this performance and we can put in back to back excellent displays after midweek games.

Bolton is the last team you want to face after a european game, their physical game will really test our team's stamina and fitness levels. The heart says this'll be a draw 1-1 but the head's quite worried it'll be a loss. Our squad looks pretty thin in places especially midfield. I'm worried how long Sav and Tugs can keep up their excellent form. Tugs is 35 and Savage high energy game must be taking it's toll on him. Personally I've a feeling that this game could well be the game in which we feel Nelsen and Reid's absence the most. I'd be tempted to give Roberts and Todd starts as this will be an ugly game for certain. Zurab in particular seems to not like the physical side of the game, although the idea of Diouf and Anelka running at Ooijer doesn't fill me with confidence either. As for roberts this would be his type of game. However I can't see Hughes dropping Benni, and Nonda is up for a physical battle and was excellent on Thursday so I can't see how he'll get a place in the team. With all the fans going it should be a fantastic atmosphere and I'm really looking forward to it, if a little anxious. 1-1 Nonda

An excellent start to the group stages by rovers. First half I thought we were the better team and although we didn't create too many chances we should have been a goal to the good at half time - the penalty claim should have been a penalty and Pedersen's miss was horific (why didn't he head it?) Even prior to their goal you felt that if we had stepped it up a gear which we were capable of we'd murder them. Agreed with the commentator that the slow pitch helped them and perhaps hid some of their weaknesses. Their goal - typical of rovers. If I recall correctly Lucas was to blame for giving away the corner and we didn't close the guy down fast enough for the shot. Nevertheless it took a large slice of luck and a mamoth deflection for the goal to beat brad. After that we seemed to struggle until half time, leaving me thinking here we go again. Fortunately rovers kicked on - upped the tempo and got a deserved equaliser. All of which continued until about the 80th minute when rovers toned it down and the poles got in their first attacks of the half. To be honest at this point I was pretty disappointed as for two thirds of the game at least we'd bossed the game and should have got a winner, yet it looked to be heading for a draw. Fortunately we managed a late winner in what was our poorest spell of the half - highly impressive considering the fatigue of our players must really have been kicking in. Bentley just seems to be getting better and better. As it is it's a good three points. I, and I reckon Hughes, would've been disappointed with a draw on that performance and I didn't really rate the poles at all. I reckon they'll be the whipping boys of the group, especially in their away games on faster pitches. The other thing of note was that Woy's commentary was shocking - within 5 minutes he couldn't remember the rovers centre back's names and was constantly vague and rambled (the stan ramble being particularly irrelivent and irritating). How he's still a national manager is beyond me. Player raitings: Brad - 8 no chance with the goal but good late save to keep us in it. Emerton - 8 class both forward and back Ooijer - 7 a few hairy moments but generally competent Zurab - 7 ditto Neill - 5 beaten too often had a very uncomfortable time at left back Tugs - 8 good defensively as well as showing he's the master at passing, hard to believe he's 35. Savage - 9 excellent in both defense and attack - some great runs forward and tracking back. MOTM Bently - 8 genius a few trademark wayward shots but terrorised the defense with his crosses, and took his goal well. Pedersen - 5 not his best game, shocking miss but worked hard defensively Benni - 7 one of his weaker games too often couldn't turn and shoot but some nice link-up play with Nonda and some of the others. Nonda -8 excellent worked really hard and forced a couple of opportunities. Roberts - 7 ok he hasn't scored for us yet but he does force the defenders to make errors which got us the win. My only worry is how knackered the team will be come Sunday as it looks like it'll have to be the sam 11 again.

Personally I think that the card and sticker scheme is an excellent idea. Focusing an initiative on fans who go regularly but do not have season tickets is great as often they seem to be overlooked in favour of improving season ticket offers and ways to draw in more new fans. The way I see it this segment seems to be the link in the chain between new fans and season ticket holders, and schemes focussing on this segment will hopefully ensure that more fans progress along this spectrum. Getting new fans to come once is one thing, and rovers do a fair bit with various pricing initiatives to do so. Keeping people coming is a different matter, and hopefully schemes like this one will be one way of retaining and rewarding those who go on a fairly regular basis. Hopefully it'll encourage those who are coming for the first time to come again as it helps out with the prices, whilst also acknowledging the loyalty of those who come on a regualar basis. The fact benefits are available for a range of fans from those who'll come to three/four games a season to those who will be getting towards half the home games or greater shows what a well thought out scheme it is. Full marks to rovers on this one.

What a game, though it didn't do my nerves any good. The contrast between the first and second halves was immense in my game. In the first we were shocking, in the second we were excellent. For some reason we weren't at the races in the first half, which I think was down to complacancy after our excellent performance on thursday night. (I would've written a post on that but I reckon that excellent sums up the performance vs Salzberg.) The first five minutes weren't bad - bar a soft goal that we gave away, as we had a couple of dangerous attacking moves. After that we really were awful misplaced passes, giving the wigan players too much room, struggling to compete for the ball. It really was rovers at their worst. Nice as the move for our equaliser was I'm sure every rovers fan in the ground was amazed that we were going in at half time on level terms. To be honest we really didn't deserve to be, but it did give us a great starting point for the second half. If it had have been 0-1 Wigan may have defended that bit deeper and made it more difficult, as it was we had a great chance to push on. I'm not sure what Hughes said at half time but it did the trick, and rovers were excellent and all over them in the second half. I thought everyone did well battling for the ball and only have 3 gripes about an otherwise impressive second half display. 1) we don't take enough of the mountain of chances we made (perhaps the same could be said of in the Salzberg game.) 2) In a similar vein there were several times a bit more directness would've done wonders. We had several runs where the player should have had a go or kept pushing forward but stopped and laid it off. 3) Ooijer and Zurab look very shakey, especially Ooijer. What a stupid penalty to give away. What Hughes sees in him is beyond me - get rid quick he doesn't look up to the physical nature of the premiership. An excellent debute by Brown - who'se penalty double save really kept us in it. If that'd have gone in I doubt we'd have won given our wasteful nature in front of goal. The lad made another good save too, and his distribution seemed good as well - man of the match in my oppinion. Up front especially we look very strong. Nonda, Roberts and McCarthy all look threatening, and Jeffers is showing signs of why he was once so highly rated. Jeffers really seems to lack that confidence that is so important for a striker. The full backs again looked good. As did all the midfield, although we really need to strengthen here with at least one if not two quality players. The options on the bench aren't that great when compaired to our striking options for example. All in all an excellent game showing the highs and lows of supporting rovers. It was also a great game for the neutral and it was a real shame not more people witnessed it. Overall we deserved the three points as we created much more in our dominant half than wigan did. Another couple of top class buys in January and top six is very likely.

Again it's another game we should win, even taking into account our hit and miss performances. City are pretty poor, especially up front so I can't see them causing us too many problems. Mind you Ooijer and Zurab have been pretty obliging of late, so i'd love to see that partnership scrapped and todd reinstated. Really wish he and Hughes would make up as we're desperately missing him. Can't see it happening though Ok team (assuming everyone stays injured) Brad, Emerton, Neill, Todd, Zurab/Ooijer (can't decide which one to drop) Bentley, Tugs, Savage, Pereson, Jeffers and McCarthy. subs: Nonda, Zurab/Ooijer, Mokoena, Gally, Brown. Since Jeffers apparently had a good game vs Sheffield Utd I'd give him the nod ahead of Nonda, whilst I certainly think that this may be a game for Mokoena to come on into, as I've strong suspicions it'll get a bit heated and physical (hopefully as we're winning.) Early season optimism hasn'tworn off 2-1 rovers McCarthy and a screamer from Peds to settle it.

The sad fact is that Cole probably thinks that £5K a week extra is nothing, showing what a greedy and ungratious twerp he is. And pretty stupid by the looks of it too. Apparently according to teletext he's slating his new manager for not sticking up for him in the tapping up trial. Good move Ashley. If he didn't like being behind Henry (a truely world class player) in the status rankings at Arsenal, I've a feeling he's in for a nasty shock at Chelsea - I can't see him being more popular than Lampard, Terry etc. Not only that it's blooming ungreatful for the fans who coughed up his wages all this time. And how can he accuse them of disloyalty when he goes and meets up with Kenyon et al? The whole book is just making Cole look a bigger and bigger muppet.

Think that's a bit harsh on Nelsen - he played quite a lot last season as I recall. It does seem like a serious injury which is pretty bad news, but calling hima crock is OTT as he missed no more games last season than you'd expect from any premiership player who is a regular for there team. With emerton's latest form at right back, the extension looks a good deal, especially if Neill might be off in january.

1-0 to a Rovers team that should have scored more. Drop Ooijer he doesn't seem to be tough enough and Todd hasn't done much wrong. Let Nonda come off the bench I feel we'll need Robert's battling qualities. Team: Brad, Emerton, Neill, Todd, Zurab (or Nelsen if fit) Reid, Savage, Bently Gamst/Pederson, Roberts, McCarthy subs Nonda, Tugs, Ooijer (Zurab if Nelsen fit) Mokoena Brown. The midfield options still look rather light. Think it'll be a battle but we should have too much class for them.

It's difficult to say how well we did as I was hoping for really big things (three or four top quality signings and keeping everyone we wanted to) but a healthy dose of reality has kicked in. All the stories and speculation the climaxes (both positive and negative) surrounding comings and goings has seen the ball game shift so many times it's hard to see where we started out. Even so my oppinion when considered in light of everything: Getting rid of deadwood: Excellent, 10/10. A bit harsh calling Kuqi deadwood but he was what 5th/6th in line and getting 2.5 million for him was excellent business. Getting rid of Douglas was also good. Pity we couldn't shift Matteo, but overall fairly happy. Keeping players: Big blow loosing Bellers, but for now Nelsen, Pedersen and Neill three of our top players have remained put - so all in all we only lost one key player. What a player mind, but a small club like us is always going to loose top players at some point. The trick is not letting them go at the same time which Hughes has managed to do. Strengthening Defence I thought we needed a left back, and had already 3 quality centre backs so why we brought Ooijer is a bit of a mystery. However if either Zurab or Ooijer can play right back (although Emo would keep them out at the mo) thus freeing Neill for left back it isn't a bad move. Nevertheless I'd have prefered a top class left back in instead. Strengthening Midfield: Needed at least 2 players a centre mid and a wide mid - didn't get either. V. disappointed. Strengthening Up Front: Despite loosing Bellamy I really think that we've strengthened up front. McCarthy looks class, the very new chap has a good track record and Roberts is a better version than Kuqi of the physical striker. All in all we've much more options up front. Not sure in the point in Jeffers though but the contract terms seem ok. Overall when analysing it, ti seems in a long winded way that Rovers have done pretty well out of it. The only black mark can be that the midfield needed a couple of extra bodies, which is a big ommision but in the grand scheme of things we certainly look a leaner and better squad than last season.

Having seen both the home games so far this season, it really is a glass half full/empty scenario which means we're likely to have an exciting and eventful season, although at which end of the table is yet to be determined. Against both Chelsea and Everton there were signs of how awesome we can be; on paper both teams are stronger than us but we were playing it about excellently and neither team at times had a sniff. That shows how good we can be. The negative of this is that we haven't capitalised on this. The positives are - aside from periods of very good play - that were it not for a soft penalty (I doubt the ref would have given it the other way) and not getting a deserved penalty we looked a good shout for at least a point. Equally the team seems to be stronger - Neill at left back instead of the error prone Gray and a rejuvinated Emerton at right back seems just the ticket for me - especially when the Admiral comes back into the centre we'll have a mean defence. Incidently at right back Emo's cautious streak is not a liability, and whilst not the quickest thinker on the pitch, Emerton shows that when he doesn't have a full back breathing down his neck, his vision isn't half bad at all. Benni and Roberts both seem promising up front - the latter seems a class act and Roberts seems to terrorise defences into mistakes. The midfield however seems despite looking good on paper to not be functioning quite right. Firstly I don't believe that we've enough cover for centre mid - regardless of Tugay's availability. Secondly this becomes more problematic when Sav gets booked. It was like having a different player on the pitch. Reid did alright in my book breaking up the play, but seems to be struggling with a knock and hence not have as much energy to get up the field. I belive the big problem when playing with two work horses in the centre of midfield is that the onus for creativity falls largely on the wide midfielders, who as yet have yet to perform. Bentley in particular seems to be too easily shrugged off the ball, and neither seems to get to the byline often enough. The final ball often is a long punt from the edge of the box which is not good enough. The second criticism of the midfield is that this needs the centre mids, and the full backs to really get forward and support the attack quickly. Again against Chelsea this support and surging forward was slow. Reid often is good at this, but I suspect the injury is hampering this. Savage however should have got forward a lot quicker too and has no injury to fall back on as an excuse. In fact, the whole team needs lessons in quick counter attacking. This of course would give more options for the final ball. With this in mind surely a bid for Steed Malbranque might be appropriate, imo he could fill the creativity gap quite well. Overall though not too disappointed. Rovers only have themselves (especially in the everton game) and the ref (especially in the Chelsea game) to blame for not getting more points on the board. Refs will always favour the bigger clubs but the good news is that the former is within our own power to change and improve. Hopefully we can do this in time for the Sheffield Utd game.

I've sat in all parts of the ground over the years save Darwin End upper, though these days it's pretty much always one of two places - unless I get given a ticket. It all depends who I go with. To be honest as long as it's not right at the front at one of the ends, i've found the views to be pretty good from most other seats. If it's with mates it's Blackburn End lower tier towards the back. If it's with my Dad (who posts on here as Montfort) it's Jack Walker Upper towards the Darwin End. Have to say that whilst the Jack Walker is a lot quieter the view is fantastic, and there have been a fair few occassions when the atmosphere's been cracking up there. Fulham 1st season in Prem at the end of the season for one, hammering the dingles in the cup for another. Beating Chelsea to get into europe and when we beat Sheff Weds in the league cup semi also spring to mind. Biggest prob with Jack Walker stand imo is infiltrating opposing fans though rovers seemed to have toughened up on this.

Much as I loath the guy he seems to be doing well in the transfer market. Anyone who can get 5 million for heskey after the woeful season he's had and from the position of a relegated club has to be a decent dealer in the transfer market and can negotiate my next contract for me. Equally Pennant's fee is fairly impressive too. Actually Bruce isn't that bad in the transfer market he just seems to jinx players. It's a player management problem, the players' talent isn't much of an issue - they've got it they just start playing badly when he's managing them. I've never seen so many player's form shoots down when he gets them.

When Bellamy left I thought it was time for a bit of transfer magic from Hughes, who didn't disappoint when we agreed a 3 million fee for Mido (or thereabouts). When Mido decided he didn't want to come I thought the bargain season was over - but Hughes has done it again in with a rediculously low fee (2.5 million) for Benni. Not my first choice truth be told, as I feel he'll need more time to adjust than Mido or Bellers if we still had him. But he is a class act no doubt about it and if he can adjust quickly then he could well be the premiership signing of the season. And Hughes has a habit of bringing out the best in players - so am optimistic. Regarding the debate as to is our attack stronger I'm in the yes camp. Niether Roberts or McCarthy is as devestating as Bellamy, but overall the attack is much stronger. Dickov imo is beginning to fade and Roberts as a replacement is much better. McCarthy is a class act and imo from the odd bit i've seen and what I've heard is not streets behind Bellamy. So overall on paper the attack is stronger in terms of ability. The options are much greater - Roberts provides speed and power, Benni that bit of trickery and clinical finishing, and we've still got Kuqi who's physical and as subtle as a brick - which is ideal agaist certain teams (e.g Boro, City.) In addition to which niether are our striking options resting on some dodgy hamstrings. Loosing either Benni or Roberts to injury, we've still a lot more of a threat up front than we did when Bellamy was out last season. Great move by rovers who also must have a fair bit in left in the transfer kitty, well for us anyway. Still time for Hughes to unearth a world class left back and a right mid.

I know it's a squad game and all that but with the amount of top quality players they have I can't see how Chelsea can keep them all happy. Yeah, money is a factor but they'd be on megabucks anywhere and will all want to play regularly, something Chelsea cannot guarentee. Looking at the centre mid situation at chelsea for example how on earth can they accomodate Essien Makelele, Lampard and Ballack, unless they play 3 in the middle which means either a wide player or a striker is dropped and I can't see any of the numerous players they have in those positions being happy about being rested either. As for the coaching thing agree with eddie to an extent but also there are a lot of coaches who would mess up even with a squad like chelseas. Sadly we seem to have had a fair few of them over the years...

Gutted we went out, this was the best squad (or would have been if picked properly) for some time, and this was our best chance at success. Listening to the game (as was at a friend's wedding) I thought when down to 10 men we were excellent - giving rise to the question why don't we often play like that. Sven got found out throughout the tournament - being proved right only in Hargreaves' ability. Lampard and Gerrard together has never really worked and with Lampard's poor form Sven had the perfect excuse to drop him but didn't. His squad selection - with Jenas and Walcott cost the team badly - neither was ever going to feature and thus we wasted 2 places. Rooney as sole striker was a daft idea too, even if he'd been 100% fit. Gutted that it took until down to 10 men to find the real pride, passion and ability that should accompany playing for england. As for practicing penalties, if that's what we're like when we've practiced - i'm somewhat worried. Agree that it's a technical thing - if you it it firmly enough and far enough into the corner it the keeper won't get it. As for Ronaldo - the wink says it all - absolutely disgraceful. Methinks he's trying to get a move to Madrid. The wink shows his intent and should be punished for it, not that the rest of the portugese are much better. Fifa has to act or it'll turn more people from the game.

Good signing imo. Assuming Dickov/Pongolle was our second striker Roberts is a vast improvement on that. The guy has experience and a nice mix of pace and power, although without the finess of Bellers. He's had a storming season with Wigan, and looked a handful on most of the occassions I've seen him. IF we get in a top class 1st striker (which I think we will) then Roberts IS a step forward for rovers, even as a number 2 striker because he is better than Pongolle and Dickov. If we don't get a top class striker in and Roberts is Bellamy's replacement I would be disappointed, as although good he isn't brilliant like Bellamy. However I doubt very much that this is the case. Personally I think we'll have a better front 2 overall come next season, although whether Jeffers can replace Dickov/Pongolle effectively as a 3rd striker is questionable imo. If we got rid of Kuqi and maybe one of youngsters and brought in 2 new top class strikers then I'd be very happy but I believe that is unrealistic and not going to happen. I'd much rather have Bentley up front as an option (his best position is in the hole)than Jeffers and get in a new right winger, but maybe Hughes has plans to mould Bentley into a right winger. Either way it'll be interesting to see - there's a lot more transfer activity to come from rovers this close season - and only then will we see our new players intended roles.

My first thoughts on hearing this was 'Blimey has the sun gone to Hughes' head'? He hasn't done anything in years and if charlton - a team much inferior to us - don't want him why the hell do we? Looking at it in context, especially with Roberts signing the same day the deal doesn't look quite as bad, although still a gamble. In context, rovers ideally needed two strikers prior to Bellamy leaving, three now he left. Regardless of the quality of players deals take time, and players cost money, both of which are limited for Hughes and rovers. In Jeffers rovers get the squad striker position sorted out quickly, and from what I've heard, cheaply. Considering the monetary aspect; Heskey was a possible 3rd choice striker, although better than Jeffers, is not good business at the cost of several million and £15k plus a week. With the deal being wrapped up quickly rovers can concentrate on getting in one/two top class forwards - deals which will take a lot more time and effort. In this sense too the signing of Jeffers frees up much more of rovers resources. Looking at what Hughes has done with players of limited talent like Kuqi, you have to hope he can get something out of Jeffers; and judgement calls on the like of Stead and Jansen have proved the manager's tactical accumen. Nevertheless I'm still highly sceptical - the guy couldn't even hack it at Rangers. Hopefully Hughes will prove me wrong but the nagging thought is as he was available earlier why didn't Hughes go for him then?

I would it would be a hollow victory. It'd take the shine off winning and contrary to belief the whole footballing world would flag it up. What's Maradona remembered for primarily - cheat or football genius - I reckon with most people it's the former. And like Gerrard it'd make a mockery of his talents. Agree. That's one of the reasons why beating manure is so sweet because the cheeting bar-stewards seem to have the referee on their side.

I was also suprised that the kit wasn't on sale after the game but then that would have been a good marketing combination by Lonsdale which is obviously a bit beyond them. After the game we went in the store only for it to be shut by 5.30. This to me was a hideously wasted opportunity by lonsdale/rovers. Now at the time of closing there were loads of people in, and for the next half hour or so they were still turning people away, as the queues inside were dealt with. Surely if they'd have kept open till 6.30 or even 6 a lot more stuff could have been sold as well as retaining the goodwill of the majority of supporters they had turfed out (a few people around me were rather put out at being prevented from having a look round and kicked out into the rain.) I appreciate that normally 5.30 may be quieter but with many fans staying on to applaud the team, delaying the closing time by half an hour or so would have been a logical idea. The worst example of customer service that day was one lad who had brought some shorts but the cashier hadn't taken the tag off the shorts. Though there were still queues and clearly would be for some time, the supervisor wouldn't let the guy in to get the tag off - which would have taken all of 30 seconds. This kind of behaviour to me is not only impolite but is daming to both lonsdale and rovers reputation. We don't have a fan base large enough to alienate them.

My word you couldn't make it up if you tried. What's the point of half measures - if Bruce wanted to retain any credability he should have named and shamed the players and shown them the door, thus showing them who's boss (well for now anyway .) This half-hearted measure just puts Brum in an even worse light and adds yet more gloom and doom for the supporters. What kind of message is it to start crying "the players won't play for us, but it's ok we'll protect them but we want everyone to know how hard done by we are". Every manager, no matter how good they are will have the odd fall-out with players (although some seem to make a habit of it). How it is dealt with it is what makes the manager successful. The only other refusal to play I can think of is Viduka for John Barnes at Celtic. I can think of a fair few players sulking when dropped/subbed etc. but that at least shows they actually want to play. Refusing to play at all is rater rare in my book and shows how troubled the brum camp is. It should also be noted that that small club rovers are seeming to do ok with firebrands such as Bellamy Todd & Savage.

Very surprised about Walcott. Never been seen and never played premiership - 'nuff said. What a slap in the face for all those players who've had a great season and got no reward. Incidently I wouldn't have had Bent, despite his good form, I'd have gone for Defoe who I think is a more talented player. Either way they're both proven and proven is what you need for a world cup, where the margin for error is minimal. (Unlike say a friendly or even a qualifier where there's anopther chance to put things right.) If he was a viable option, why didn't the pundits mention him, why hasn't Sven seen him play, why hasn't he been tried in a friendly. I'm sorry but if he's not good enough to play some role at Arsenal then he shouldn't be in the england team. The whole squad however is somewhat flawed, as others have stated. Hargreaves I understand - he's our defensive midfield option - but no back up target man, an unfit rooney allowed but not King who has qustion marks over his fitness, and Jenas is enough to make the staunchest england fan feel somewhat less optimistic. Hopefully we'll be proved wrong though - we've seen unknown talents work before, for example Stead keeping rovers up a couple of years back. Hopefully Walcotts confidence will be the same, but with a lack of striking support I fear there may be too much pressure on his shoulders.

Upon hearing the teams, with our weakened side against what can't be far off City's first XI I was a tad worried that we were going to loose it. I was wrong. City were shocking, whilst rovers were ... decent. Let's be honest it wasn't a great performance. But I'm not worried - there were a fair few players out and when we were down to 10 men we defended excellently. I'd be much more worried if i were a city fan - they played their best team, at times against 9 men - but the most offensive thing in a city shirt was their fans' attack on the police at the end. Raitings: Brad: 8 Little to do, but an excellent save in 1st half. I've noticed he's excellent at wasting time too. Mokoena - taken off too early to rate. Gray: 8 One of his better games. Didn't notice him or cringe once at any inept defending - a very solid performance. Zurab: 9 excellent defensively and took his goal very well - Man of the Match. Neill: 8 Great apart from he's too indisciplined to be a centre back - he dribbles the ball too far and doesn't always know when to get rid. This caused him his booking as he kept posession too long, got caught in possession and made ammends by fouling their player. Tugay: 7 Stupid sending off. No complaints about that, very late and the studs were blatently up. The ball was on the half way line to boot so it was pretty pointless. Otherwise ran the show fairly efficiently when rovers had the ball. Savage: 8 Never stops running - enthusiasm personified you'd have thought it was a cup final from the effort he put in. Peter: 8 By no means the finished article but showed a lot of promise. Some nice touches, a few decent crosses and a good work rate. Bentley: 7 Disappointing, he's not the answer to the right wing. Decent but plays very narrow. Quite a few misplaced passes. Dickov: 6 Ineffective but tireless. Kuqi: 9 He may struggle against top teams but this was his type of game. Worried the defence throughout, took his goal well, and worked tirelessly. subs Emerton: 7 His beautiful cross for the 2nd goal showed why rovers have persisted with him and was a glimpse of what might have been. Prior to that he saw what was, and it was pretty shocking- falling over, poor marking, poor passes and control. Improved and defended solidly after the assist though. Pongolle 8: Worked very hard though clearly not a midfielder, and even caused a bit of trouble to the city defence. Bit worried when he whipped off his shorts though. Gally: 7 Didn't get much of a run out but some promising passes from him. Overall we never really got hold of the game. In the first half city had most of the possession as rovers struggled to assert themselves on the game. However somehow we found ourselves 1-0 up due to James howler (Sven shouldn't touch him with a bargepole). 2nd half was more of the same, rovers not really getting to grips with the game, and City dithering away their possession and dominance in an unthreatening manner. As it was city dithered rovers scored an excellent breakaway goal and it was 2-0. The most frustrating thing was a vintage rovers performance could've seen us take them to the cleaners, rather than the comfortable stroll it was (but hey it was the last game of the season with 6th place and europe guarenteed so fairly understandable). The sending off seemed to serve rovers better as it cut out the complacency that had been prevailent in the team up until then. The defending seemed much more solid, the tackles were going in harder, possession was kept better and rovers stepped it up a gear. If city looked to emulate rovers and likewise step it up a gear they failed miserably. Even with 9 men (due to a bloodied Kuqi) city didn't look like scoring and rovers comfortably cruised to a win. The positives - without playing anywhere near our best our much depleated team comfortably saw off premiership opposition. Oh, and we're in europe and the team got the send off they deserved. The negatives - it was against City, who redefined shocking, so we can't get carried away. A city supporting mate of mines reckon relegation is on the cards next season. Still that's Psycho's problem not mine. All in all a good end of season game, in what has been a remarkably excellent season - especially at fortress ewood. Oh, and did I mention we're in europe?

Yep. It'll just be a straight swap. Rovers have technically got the league cup winners uefa cup place.