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.

Sven is highly likely to stick with his old favourites even if they are half crocked. Worryingly we could have a fair few of the squad not up to match sharpness. All of the below will have less than half a dozen games to get back to the highest standards, something that could cost us dearly. Those injured are: Bridge, A. Cole, King, Campbell, Owen - worryingly this includes our lead striker and both left backs, something that may be the chink in our otherwise impressive defence. With Rooney likely to be missing having our only other world class striker, who will be relied on even more, off the pace isn't too encouraging. If Rooney makes it, which I doubt, but may happen with Sven's favouritism then we can add a 6th play who will be short of match practice. Then you can factor in Wright-Phillips. Ok the guy hasn't been injured but he hasn't had too many competitive games, something which is likely to mean that his match sharpness will be lower. Even excluding Rooney 6 out of a squad of 23 who there will be question marks over isn't the best news ever. Squad: GK Robinson, James (shudder) Green. (I'd have taken Martyn but he won't be fit.) Defenders Neville, Carragher, Ferdinand, Terry, King (if fit), A. Cole, Bridge, Dawson Midfileders Beckham, Lennon, Carrick, Gerrard, Lampard, J. Cole, Downing, Nolan Strikers Owen, Beattie, Defoe, Bent

Id like to see gally given a chance next to Bellamy and Peter on the left rather than MGP Me too. Although liked Pongolle's attitude vs Chelsea. However since Gally is ours and if he can do it as one of the 4 strikers then it'd make sense to check on him as he'd potentially save us a transfer fee. Might also be tempted to have a look at Gresko lb if Hughes is considering giving him another deal. Right back is a bit of a problem but Moko played fairly well against Chelsea so it may be worth giving him a bit more practice in defence (either at cb or rb) rather than someone who looks likely to leave e.g. emerton or amoruso. 1-0 rovers who are still over excited (not to mention knackered) about qualifying for europe. Bellamy to score - who else.

So let's get this straight - two decent cup runs, and a league cup now qualifies a manager for what should be one of the most prestigious jobs in the footballing world. And such success came at a huge cost to boot. I'm sorry but even Souness' record is better than McLaren's - and he spent less in achieving it. Clearly McLaren isn't the best manager for the job be the criteria requiring the manager to be english, british or from anywhere in the world. The appointment is a joke. This is the England Manager job we are talking about - not the barcodes. When has striving for mediocracy been an aim for England? The English job should go to a proven top manager and no one can say McLaren is that - distinctly average at best. Have to say my enthusiasm towards english football has dimmed somewhat on hearing this news. Still as people point out he won't be in the job for long.

What a night, fantastic atmosphere, even better result. Other than rovers fans I don't think anyone was giving us a chance of winning - but what do they know. Truth be told I was expecting a draw but rovers as always under Hughes managed to exceed my expectations. Fantastic. Watching the Charlton game I wasn't entirely sure how good rovers were and how much of it was a woeful Charlton side. Tonight showed how good we can be. And for all those who moan about a weakened team - 9 international's who'd walk into any team in the country isn't bad going. First half my only disappointment was us going in only 1-0 up. The work ethic even for Blackburn was astounding, Chelsea for the most part were contained in a very effective manner and we missed several golden opportunities to score. How Bentley's header missed or why MGP didn't shoot (lack of confidence perhaps?) will remain a mystery but Savage and Reid came up with the goods. Fantastic free kick by Sav and Reidy as usual was putting himself where it counts. Also notable this half was the enthusiasm from Pongolle - something that he seems to have been lacking. Second half was a lot more tense. For all the penalty controversy I thought a lot of decisions especially in the early part of the second half went against rovers. lots of tackles were given as fouls, the linesman seemed to forget what offside was and Chelsea were doing a rediculous amount of diving. Reid showed why he isn't a right back and struggled with Duffer, but then many would. Having said that many right backs would struggle with Duff and with help Reid just about contained him. On the left flank Gray seemed to strugle for pace (as usual) against SWP but doggedly stuck to his task and just about seemed to come out on top. As for Pedersen though going forward he wasn't great his tracking back and helping out Gray was fantastic - far better than Bentley who imo is not really suited to a right mid role. Mokoena when he came on did ok in my book. Again he got in a few good tackles, put Duff off his stride and his distribution was good. Considering this is not his natural position I thought he did rather well. As for the centre backs - magnificent. I worried how they'd do without the strong leadership of Todd or Nelson but Zurab and Neill were fantastic. Zurab dribbling past Crespo was class and despite the occassional wander up field when he forgot he was a centre back Neill looked very acomplished in the centre. The last 5/10 minutes I thought we rallied fantastically. The atmosphere throughout the ground was fantastic and rovers began to venture forward again. Peter looked to have a particularly nice touch and the tiredness which seemed to nearly overwhealm us halfway through the second half seemed to be shrugged off, as players and fans alike realised that we were going to do it. Man of the Match for me was Savage who never stopped running, more than matched a very tough midfield, and created the goal. He seemed to be the epitomy of dedication and enthusiasm and answered any questions to why Hughes was so eager to bruing the lad to rovers. And so we're in europe again. The performance epitomised everything about rovers under Hughes; some nice touches of class built on the foundations of bucket loads of commitment, hard work and endevour. I'm really looking forward to see where Hughes and co take rovers next.

Both teams really need this one - added in the bad feeling ebtween the two clubs and this is going to be a cracker. I predict at least 7 yellow cards and possibly a red. For me there's a few interesting battles: Tielby vs Bellamy Bruce is spouting on about how well Tielby's done in recent weeks and been the catalyst of their (relatively speaking) decent run of form. He'll have the unenviable job of marking our welsh wizard Bellamy as Taylor could be outmuscled by a paper bag. He's quite nippy for a centre back but I've a feeling that Bellers will be a bit too quick for Teilby and lead rovers on to victory. Pennant vs Gray IMO our weak link in our team. Pennant's fast and Gray isn't to put it bluntly and if Brum are to create anything it's most likely to come down their right flank. MGP will ahve to be tracking back and give Gray a lot of protection methinks to keep the youngster quiet. Butt/whoever else is playing the hardman role in midfield vs Savage It's going to be a real battle proper blood and thunder type encounter and whoever dominates the midfield will probably dictate the tempo and should win the game. Robbie will be desparate to play well vs Brum (indeed my only worry is he tries too hard a la thompson) and Brum will be desparate to see that he doesn't. Therefore my team would be: Brad Neill Todd Nelsen Gray Emerton Savage Reid MGP Bellamy Dickov subs: Tugay, Mokoena, Kuqi, Bentley Enks A few players who've 1st team chances been discussed recently are Dickov, Bentley and Zurab. I'd have the latter two out and Dickov in. Why? Dickov against Taylor will be great (so long as we don't do any stupid long balls to him) Tiny really doesn't like in your face attackers and they don't get much more in your face than Dickov! I'd be a tad worried about the power that Heskey and Sutton could bring and as Zurab isn't too comfortable with these kind of players I'd bring back Todd who likes a good scrap. As for Bentley imo he's been disappointing on the wing and Emerton would be more solid for what is likely to be a frantic midfield scrap. Added to which Emo normally plays well when recalled and I've a feeling he's playing for his future and thus motivated would put in a blinder. I'd love to see Tugs come on for a good 20 mins (more if their midfield is tamed) as I've a feeling he could pick out some very promising passes in the gaps that Brum will definatley leave. Thinking it should be a rovers win, and a good one at that, but I've got a naging feeling in the back of my mind that Savage will get sent off and we crash to our second successive loss. It's going for europe that's making me very nervous.

All this evening out theroy is absolute rubbish. If you're a small team you win a few and loose a lot - and against the big teams you won't win any. When was the last time a smaller club got a cotraversial decision their way against one of the top four? Our two pieces of luck this season have hardly been excessive - any ref would've struggled to see MGPs handball - and at the Wigan game we'd already had a legit goal ruled for offside. When compaired with the absolutely blatent offside of todays game, or Savage's second yellow against Boro to cite another example, you can see how rovers have really been screwed over by the refs. Ok Liverpool had the better chances, but our defence and keeper were equal to them, (Cisse looked fast but a shocking finisher and a wuss to boot) and rovers can justifiably feel agreeved not to have got a point. OK we weren't at our best or created much, but Liverpool scarcely tried to attack in the second half which made it all the more difficult to create something - especially when coming up against the best centre back combo in the premiership. I'm confident that if it had been 0-0 we'd have had that bit more space and as we were playing some decent stuff could have done liverpool some damage. As it was we were up against it and not at our creative best - even with Tugs staying on next season (we really missed him today) looking for a bit more creativity isn't a bad idea. Also another top quality striker is needed although having said that I thoight Dickov did ok in difficult circumstances. I'm beginning to get a bit nervous about 6th place. If Bolton win against wba which they should and will imo, then it really becomes a lot tighter with little room for slip ups. Ok we're still favourites to get it but we can still be overtaken. A couple more bad results and we could be in real trouble. Having said that even though we weren't at our best if we perform at this level against Brum we should have too much for them. I think 3 pts would settle everyone involved with rovers (including the players) nerves down and set us on the way to europe.

If a place in europe is riding on the City game I reckon its a certainty that we'll have a large crowd.

Head says a narow loss, heart says rovers to bounce back in style (if you can bounce back from a couple of draws) and win. Probably a third successive draw on the cards then and everyone to continue humming and hawing if we're in dream land or the pits of dispair. Maybe being messed about with when we're actually going to play them will fire Sparkey and the lads up. If we're to win we've got to stifle their midfield - everyone knows its dangerous - so a Reid Savage partnership should be the order of the day. Perhaps we should recall Todd if he's fit - we've not been defending too well of late. We may have too if Gray's injured and if IMO I feel a back line of Zurab, Todd, Nelsen, Neill is as good a back line as we've got (the only problem being it limits Neill's chances to go forward.) Not too sure what to do about the right mid problem either - we solve the left one so we create one on the right, typical rovers. I'd probably favour Bentley still - if the bugger could cross he'd be great there - as he can't he's limited on the right. In fact I'd probably put Emerton on the right as defensively he'll help stifle the Liverpool midfield and put Bentley up front. This negates the Dickov/Kuqi problem. I'm a huge fan of Kuqi but I don't fancy his chances against Carragher or Hyppia. And Bentley should put in some nice throughballs for Bellamy. Added to which with Bentley taking a berkamp-esque role it'd mean that we'd be able to stop us being overrun in midfield. I've a feeling Liverpool will play a 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 with two wide forwards. By having Bentley in the hole he'll be able to drop back if neccessary to stop us getting outnmbered in the midfield. Therefore: Brad Zurab Todd Nelsen Neill Savage Reid Emerton MGP Bentley Bellamy subs: Enks, Tugs, Mokoena, Kuqi, Dickov 1-1 Bellamy scoring for us, Gerrard for them

To be honest 4th was always going to be a tall order. We just don't have the quality in the squad to change things round if our players aren't performing. Not sure why we're slumping at the moment - maybe our high-energy game is taking its toll, maybe it's nerves because of the prospect of europe. 4th place was probably lost when we lost to Everton and West Brom, infinately easier games then a Pompey side on the up and what was a decent performance by Wigan. What strikes me most is that we need ALL our players to play to the best of their ability for us to win games. We just don't have enough quality to carry a couple of players let alone 3 or more. Nor can we really sub them for equally talented performers. However the squad is looking a lot better than it was and we've come a long way from last season. Hopefully a couple of quality additions and we'd be able to take it up to the next level. We should still get 6th mind as Bolton's form of late hasn't been good, and the pressure will be on them too. At this stage of the season all teams are going to drop points unexpectedly and Bolton will be no different. The Brum game showed that. If we can get one win I'm sure he confidence will be back there'll be a bit more energy in the players and that'll propel us forward till the end of the season. We really are a confidence team. Look at how well we played after scoring against Wigan. No more of that long ball rubbish but some pretty slick football. This'll be all the more pronounced if we win against a big team (Chelsea or Liverpool not brum.) For me the squad looks something like this: Top class on their day as good as anyone: Brad, Nelsen, Todd, Bellamy, Tugs, Reid, Savage, Neill, MGP, Zurab? Heck of a lot of potential if it were more regular they'd be in the above: Bentley, Pongolle, possibly Peter Not matchwinners but you're ok with seeing one or two on the team sheet. Any more and we could be in trouble. Good squad players. Gray, Enks (as 2nd keeper) Emerton, Dickov, Kuqi (as sub vs lower teams), Mokoena (as DM) Gally Allways feel worried when see their name on the teamsheet Matteo, Amoruso, Douglas when returns, Gresko Kuqi (against decent teams) was: Flitty, Tommo, Jansen anyone else I've not mentioned. Mokoena in defence, anyone else I've not mentioned. For a team challenging for europe there aren't enough players in the Top Class or Heck of a lot of Potential, and excessive amounts in the worried whenever they play. Really there should only be 1/2 donkeys in the squad at most. Hughes is beginning to cull the latter category which is reassuring but it still takes time to rebuild a squad. What we need are imo more heck of a lot of potential players as top quality players are hard to find and pretty expensive. This and a culling of the worried whenever they play would make a whole lot of difference to the rovers team next season and 4th would not be out of the question then.

Totally agree. This isn't as clear cut as it seems - Wigan have some good forwards and we'll need to be on top of our game to keep them quite. Rovers are more than capable of winning but Wigan are capable of spoiling the party. Don't really rate Pongolle but I reckon Hughes will start with him as his pace could be a bit much for De Zuew & Henchoz. Not seen us loose yet this season - reckon it'll continue with a 2-1 win to the rovers Bellamy & MGP.

Great result for the massive club. When you look at the talent they have in their squad they should be nowhere near the position they're in, even allowing for injuries. With the games they've got coming up you wouldn't want to be Brum at the moment. IF they go down they'll loose a lot of players; can see Forsell, Heskey, Dunn, Pennant, Upson, Melchiot, Izzet, Sutton, Jarioski spring to mind for starters, which will leave them in big trouble.

Think people are so worried because the situation is almost too easy. In some ways I'm more gutted by Savage missing this one as he's one of the few players I'd be certain would get stuck in 100% regardless of the opposition. For Sunderland to have any chance of winning they've got to try and rough us up. That's why I'd go for Mokena and Reid in the middle to counter this and let Bentley and MGP play havoc down the wings. Defence Todd should come in to counter Kyle's physical presence. Up front Dickov and Bellamy. This is in part as Pongolle in my oppinion is not very good, but also because this is Dickov's type of game. A jittery defence against Dickov will hopefully result in lots of errors for Rovers to capitalise on. As soon as we get the second Bellamy should come off to make sure his hamstrings stay ok. Team: Friedel, Neill, Gray, Todd, Nelsen, Bentley, Mokoena, Reid, MGP, Dickov, Bellamy subs: Zurab, Kuqi, Tugay (if fit) Pongolle and Enks. Going for 2-1 Rovers Pedersen and Bellamy the scorers.

Well another three points for rovers as we continue our excellent home form. With 11 vs 11 it always looked like a rovers win, just after boros second equaliser I'd have snapped up a point. As it was rovers continue to show why we're challenging for europe with a very dogged display. IMO the first half went pretty much as expected. Rovers scored two classy goals, Bellamy and Pederson are invaluable to the side, and throughout we looked like we were going to win it. Rovers weakness in conceeding as soon as they score is really beginning to hack me off. It cost us against spurs and very nearly cost us again today. Mindy you I'm not too sure what Hughes can do when Neill (who was at his casual worst all afternoon) does such a dog awful throw, Zurab shockingly misjudges it and Nelsen gives Viduka far too much space. Even so despite this at half time I was confident that we'd be three one winners, maybe four if we got a bit more consistency. One other thing that annoyed me is Pongolle who I thought had a shocker. Too easily shrugged off the ball, his first touch was poor, and every time he turned the wrong way. Any decision he had to make he made the wrong one. How he wasn't substituted at half time is beyond me. The worst rovers performance Ive seen for a while and literally had me jumping out of my seat with frustration. Second half - what a pillock of the ref. The first was predictable - it looks as if he's gone in horribly, although Savage did get the ball - but how the second one can be considered a booking is beyond me. Savage had no time to react, his arms were, if not glued to his side certainly they weren't raised, and from that moment on the ref had lost control. There was no consistency in his bookings and several incidents far worse were dealt with much more leniantly. When Boro got their equaliser I thought they'd win. Gray again made his goal-costing mistake, managing to loose his man in a terrible display of marking. Amaturish doesn't begin to discribe it. Fortunately we've got Bellamy and rovers seemed fired up by the injustice of it all. It was a lovely pass from MGP and the finish by Bellamy was just awesome. If he had a top class strike partner 4th would've almost been a certainty. Then we defended grittily and prevented Boro from having any real chances. Very chuffed about this. Reid ran his socks off (and got MOM by teletext) and was one of our star performers along with our goalscorers, never giving the boro players any time on the ball. With regards to subs I was a bit surprised Emerton made way for the Axe (although unsurprised Mokoena came on) as Pongolle didn't really know what he was doing in midfield. Fortunately Bentley replaced him. Defensively with 10 men though it was as solid as performance as seen in a long time. Overall a tough game to get 3 points from, but one a top team would look to win. We did that despite playing with 10 men for much of the second half, a credit to Hughes and the lads. If we can keep this up we can make europe.

Good to see Lawro keeping up with his contradictions. Wasn't it only last week that he said that our league position was more a reflection on the state of the league rather than us, or something similar? Can remember this game last season - a very unpleasant afternoon - and the confidence displayed on this board shows how far we've come under Hughes.

I'm somewhat nervous about this one. Rovers are well ahead of them in the league, they've got to play a draining game in midweek, and we've shown some very optimistic signs over the past few weeks - including grinding out a win against Villa - that would've been 0-0 a couple of years ago, we're becoming more clinical. So it all points to an easy rovers victory, and we never do anything the easy way. Team selection is tough. What do you do about the right midfield problem? Also with the boro defence and keeper not liking Kuqi and Dickov's style of play it's really tempting to put at least one of them in the starting line up. What's happened to Zurab? Is he injured? Not seen him near the team for a couple of weeks. Or have I completely missed him going back to Glasgow? My team would be: Friedel, Neill, Todd, Nelsen, Gray, Bentley, Reid, Savage, Pedersen, Pongolle, Bellamy. subs: Mokoena Kuqi Dickov Tugay Enks The theory beind this is Boro have a lot of attacking potential and we need to keep it tight which Reid and Savage in the middle will do. Later when they tire before us, almost a certainty with our fitness levels and their midweek game, bring on Tugs to look for the space that will develop. I'd be very tempted to give Kuqi or Dickov a good 20 minutes or more too, as Boro really don't like playing against them and will really unsettle the defence. Ideally Dickov on first as his passing's better and will link up with Bellamy better. When we're 2-0 upwith 10/15 minutes to go, bring on Kuqi to make sure Bellamy's hamstrings don't go. Despite nervousness I'm going for a 2-0 win Reid and Bellamy scoring.

I'm still not sure how happy to be after yesterdays performance. Yes for the most part we played some neat football. The fact we clawed our way back from 2-0 down shows great mental strength and determination. The loss is somewhat soothed by some appaling officiating. IMO Nelsen's hand ball was a penalty but so was Salteri's. Keane's handball however and the throw in decision were farcial, and rovers can't be blamed for that. We lost it in the first fifteen in my oppinion. The start was poor, too many long hoofs up the pitch, which for Bellamy and Pongolle wasn't the brightest idea. This meant we had little possession, which in turn allowed Spurs to get their slick passing act together and kept the pressure on rovers. The fact there was some controversy about their goal is to an extent immaterial, it looked as though Spurs would score. After that Rovers matched and for many parts bettered Spurs in terms of play and possession. The goal we conceeded was unlucky. The free kick was dubious imo, and Keanes hand ball blatant. Having said that brad wasn't having one of his better days, the save should have been pushed away from goal; free kicks really seem to be his archilles heel. Also the defence should have been more alert and rushed back. Poor defending from rovers, although a great assist from the ref. Despite this I thought we would get a goal back. The inconsistent Pongolle missed a sitter, the worst miss I've seen for a while, before scoring a cracking goal at a vital time. Great assist by Bellamy. On the subject of our on-loan forward I'm still not sure what to make of him. A good goal and assist were countered by some poor moves, misplaced passes and general inconsistencies. He showed some good running off the ball but this was countered by some poor control at times. As a spurs mate I was watching it with commented 'for everything he gets right he does two things wrong' and I agree with the sentiment. He's young and will gain consistency to be a very good player eventually, but that's no consolation for us in the here and now. After that the second half we deserved to get one back. We battered them, and whilst the magical spark was missing from Tugs and Pedersen, we still created a few good chances. It was interesting to note that the Sav-Reid in the middle of the park partnership didn't have enough creativity, which is rather worrying considering that's likely to be our starting centre two next year. Moving Bentley inside encouragingly solved this but created a whole host of other problems; Reid is much less effective on the right - he can't cross, and Emerton is worse on the left. Rovers were damned either way and I suggest a right midfielder rockets up the priority list. On that note the corners were disgraceful until Savage started taking them. Reid's in particular was shocking and demonstrated why he isn't a winger. At this level we can't afford for them to be that poor, and had we done better at our corners we should have sealed the win. What really hacked me off though was the manner of the third goal. The next five minutes after we equalised were crucial. Granted Spurs seemed to buck up their ideas but we totally let our foot off the gas. Had we played marginally as well as we had the rest of the half Spurs would not have gotten back into it. As it was Gray showed why he isn't quite good enough being easily beaten and Friedel again was floundering in the goal. And who was marking Mido. Even so we had chances to get back into it, and really should have equalised. As it was we didn't. Fifteen minutes cost us the game - the first ten and right after our equaliser. For the rest we battered them, but the premiership and the race for europe is not forgiving. The good news is that there isn't much we need to do to be as good as anyone all the time. With a bit more creativity coming back from injury, a higher tempo start, more concentration when we score, and better corners and we'll be pretty much unbeatable. These are things which can be rectified, it's not like we need a whole new team or the fitness levels aren't there, and I'm sure Hughes will be working on them in training in the coming week. Which is why I'm confident that we'll sneak into Europe.

Good news, though hopefully the wages will be somewhat reduced. I still think that Rovers need a better left back to take it to the next level, but with Gray still with us it isn't the most urgent priority, and he's definately worth keeping as backup lb at least.

Chuffed with a much needed win. After the performance against Everton I wasn't too sure we'd pull ourselves together in time but after I tore a muscle in my back this weekend scuppering my plans of going to the game my confidence that Rovers would get 3 points rose dramatically. There seems to be a few plus points from what's been said, the most evident of which being Bellamy's much needed clinical finish in front of goal and the continuing emergence of Peter. Regarding the Tugay debate, I feel he is still a class player but other teams do target him as they realise he is a danger. And as age is catching up with him from what I've seen of him this season it appears he has less athleticism and stamina to cope with this attention. The trick for Rovers is to provide enough other threats as to provide Tugs with the bit of space he needs to work his magic. For Tugay to play well Rovers need to play well. As for Savage, I thought he was initially poor for us, but over the holiday period he was magnificent for us; he provides the disruptive influence to the opposition that all teams need and have really lacked in just one player since age caught up with Flitty. I'll acknowledge though at times he doesn't contribute attacking wise as much as I would like, but then that isn't his role.

West Brom i could just about accept but this is absolutly isgraceful. If we are to be a top 8 team we need to be winning matches like this, and winning well. 80 minutes with a man advantage in which we couldn't find a goal is seriously worrying. A couple of key factors, already touched upon: 1) Flair players, there's not many players who can produce something from nothing except MGP, and Tugs. Tugay is getting a bit too inconsistent and imo Pederson was badly missed today. Another flair player is needed badly. 2) Competition for places. There isn't enough. If Gray could be dropped for poor performances, or some of our midfielders, then I'm sure that the effort - be it lack or badly applied - would smarten up. Most teams around us seem to have slightly bigger squads with a higher quality level, something I feel we need for bringing on when things aren't working/to change it around, and give players the kick up the backside. 3) On this note, one place we can rotate is centre back/right back. Zurab should be in to give the others a kick up the backside (probably at the expense of Todd) what with our recent defensive record. I realise funds are tight and we are a small team but if we are to proceed I firmly believe that more investment is needed. Even if funds aren't excessive, what with Hughes eye for a bargain, I'm sure the money will go far. We've become a midtable team - it's official - great one week crap the next. On the positive side I suppose that's better than relegation candidates and that progress takes time, sigh.

Quite worryingly at Boro is the number of tempermental players that he has signed, not in the violent sense but in the 'bothered' sense. This is fine if people are fired up but really works against you in a relegation scrap. This combined with boro's apparent attitude at the moment doesn't suggest he's much of a motivator. On the plus side he has brought some good youngsters through and has had some international experience with england. Even so you wouldn't want him at ewood, he's spent a lot for not very much, and Boro really should have done better with the resources they had even before you take this season into account. How the FA can consider someone who looks like he's getting a team that really should be too good to go down in terms of talent and squad size, for a top post is laughable. In fairness to Macarone he did look ace in the under 21 euro championship or the like, but this is hardly a one off incident - Ricketts springs to mind amongst others.

I'm not so sure we'll sell him, especially as we don't really have another out and out right midfielder. Bentley plays in the hole, Reid is better in centre mid and Tommo has now got the boot. All of which makes me think that he'll stay on. A big factor might be the emergence of Peter as Emerton until then was the only other feasible cover for MGP and the left midfield job. Even so I'm not convinced Hughes will want to get rid of him, especially as a fair few others will be going out in the summer and there's only so many signings that are available and/or that Hughes can make. I don't think he'd be offered a new contract though.