Good luck Matty. What a player he was. So many great goals, from his debute against Tottenham, his stunner against Norwich was a fitting tribute for Uncle Jack, to his goal in the worthington cup final. He lead the line brilliantly throughout the promotion campaign and continued it into the Premiership. I can remember him tirelessly leading the line against Liverpool on his own in a 4-5-1 and scoring the equaliser. He had it all, pace, flair and a hard work ethic. A true rovers legend. As it is I think he'll make it again, though via the lower leagues. It's a no win situation at Rovers, we can't afford to play him until he gets better but he won't get better and regain his sharpness without games. If you look at his goals last season you can see that his talent the instinct is still there, but he needs games to get back to any sort of consistency. In a good team playing well at Championship level I reckon Matty will resurrect his carear. And goo luck to him.

Absolutely! And given the amount of games he's played and the quality of most of his performances this year there's every indication he can still hack it at Premiership level. If we're building our attacking game around Bellamy we really need playmakers of Tugay's ike rather than the less subtle approach of Tommo, we need someone with vision and flair, and Tommo for all his qualities doesn't have vision.

Wigna are a lot better than Portsmouth, Rovers are in fine form, so why am I nervous about this one? We really should win this, in fact I can only think of three decent players for pompey, and Harry will do better when he has had chance to buy so this is a good time to play them. I'd start with the same 11, firstly because they deserve it after their excellent win. Two of portsmouth's best players are the midfielders O neill and Taylor, so if we can keep them quiet and Savage and Reid have the potential to keep anyone quiet then we should be in line for a comfortable victory. Lua Lua is fast and it will be interesting to see whether rovers will adopt special tactics to counter this as they did wigan (ie use the offside trap more often) or play our normal game. Portsmouth still have a lot of players who are fairly new to the premiership and with a strong physical presence I reckon that their defence will get nice and flustered: cue Kuqi and Dickov. Also Bellamy running at tired legs from the bench would imo be of best use to rovers. With Bolton and Manure coming up I'd want to make sure that he's fit for these two absolutely massive games, and with his injury record it'll be tempting to us him sporadically until then. Head says 1-1 but I'll ignore it and say 2-1 rovers, Pedersen and Kuqi for us, Lua Lua for them.

Excellent game, excellent atmosphere from where we were sat, cracking stuff all round. Why Rovers have to ease off when they go a goal up is beyond me, as we bossed the first 20, let them into it in the second period of the first half before finally sorting it out in the second half. The first and second goals came at key times when rovers needed to score. After the second I was certain rovers could see it through although I wouldn't have been suprised if it'd had finished a tense 2-1. As it was Rovers grew as the second half continued and really should hvae had more than three. Our counter attacking wasn't all that insightful and with the gaps opening up we perhaps should have done more. However that is a minor gripe on an otherwise excelent performance. The wigan forwards were handled supurbly, Rovers using the offside trap to good effect whilst our cbs were immense. Raitings: Brad 8 Not much to do did it well, communicated excellently with defence. Neill 7 Solid game Gray 7 Solid game, good off the line clearance, should have scored late on. Nelsen 9 my word what a fantastic player coped with Wigan's very pacy forwards excellently. Also unlucky not to score Zurab 8.5 Equally impressive. Savage 9 sometimes you wonder whether his previous and antics are worth it, on todays performance he is, simply magnificent getting stuck in even when the rest of the team was not as fired up late on in the first half. Great runs into the box as well as contributing to the attacks - my man of the match. Reid 8 poor distribution until his goal, and what a cracker it was, after which he really cleared up everything and looked very commanding in the centre of the midfield. MGP 7 a bit sloppy at times but a cracking goal and some good attacks in the second half. Bently 6 a bit quiet until Rovers got on top, after which he looked pretty impressive. Kuqi 8 we've gone from winning nothing in the air to most things in the air - a very shrewd piece of business and again caused all sorts of problems. Dickov 7 worked hard and made some good runs in the channels. subs Emo & Tommo didn't really have much chance to shine Bellamy 8 good goal, took a while for him to get into it, don't really think the team understands his way of playing yet or vice versa. When he did get in the game he tormented wigan. Fantastic day out, more of the same vs Pompey please.

Is there a designated away pub (Official or Unofficial)? If so how close to the ground is it? Am really looking forward to this, Rovers might just sneak it. Last time I was there League Cup quater finals the atmosphere was fantastic. All the signs are looking good, a rest after the Sunderland cancellation, Bellamy back from injury, Pederson rested and ready to go, Lawro predicting a loss, how can we loose? Really fancy Bellamy's pace against the Wigan centre backs, Henchoz and De Zuew (sp) aren't the quickest in the prem. Mind you we'll have to keep it tight at the back as their forwards are pretty speedy too. 2-1 Rovers Pederson and Bellamy.

If Nelsen's playing I'd fancy us to win this easily. Is Todd back too? One possible thought to the lb problem would be a back four of Zurab Todd Nelsen Neill, thus playing our best 4 defenders. If Nesen isn't back I'd be tempted to put in Gray at lb, though it's not an ideal situation. Alternatively drop Emerton to rb and put Tommo at right mid to give us some real attacking impetus with Neill at lb. Would like to see someone sitting on Malbranque (sp) as he's pretty much the driving force of their team. If he has a quiet game Rovers should have a fairly easy afternoon. Kuqi deserves a start but he's best coming off the bench and both Bentley and Dickov played well too in the second half so it'd be harsh dropping either of them. It's nice to have these sorts of dilemas. As for Emerton, if the Emerton of the first half shows up we'd be best playing with 10 men. However in the second half he showed what he is capable of. Besides I'm not sure Tommo is up for the 90, or more likely 70 minutes of the game. Reckon Rovers should win this one, Fulham aren't that good at all. The big question is whether we'll keep the goals out. Even so I'm going for 2-1 rovers, with MGP and Dickov to score.

Having blagged a free ticket I was dead chuffed to see my winning streak continue, the second half being the most entertaing I've seen for a while. We took two complete novices to the game with us, hoping that they'd be converted to the Blackburn cause, and at half time I was so embarrassed that they'd witnessed such a shocking display, I was convinced they'd be put off rovers and football for life. The first half started well enough the first 5 minutes or so we showed some really nice passing football, but after which we fizzled out. Our defence was woeful and struggled to cope: Zurab looked the most uncomfortable I've seen him all season, Neill clearly isn't a cb and Reid had no positional sense whatsoever. Gray didn't exactly cover himself with glory either. The west ham goal capped off what was a pretty dismal display. The second half however saw rovers true grit and determination, and dare I say attacking class show. The pen was a pen, albeit a soft one, but a foul is still a foul and if it's in the penalty area then the consequence is a penalty. Bit worried to see Dickov take it what with his record but he did the business. For the second Dickov showed a bit of class and why we persevere with him, with a great finish. Was rather chuffed to get involved in the darwin end celebrations too. As for the second goal we let in what terrible marking, especially Gray and Zurab. Was not happy at all; a new left back and the return of one of our comanding centre backs is vastly needed. I was a tad suprised when Emerton came off, his first half was absolutely shocking but he seemed to be getting into the game when he came off. However the sub was spot on, and Kuqi to me caused all sorts of problems even before he scored. As for his goal, it was a pretty decent finish, showing he has a bit more about him, and Dailly duely deserves the assist as he repaid a bit of his stupidly high transfer fee with his floundering about. On the subject of substituions I though Hughes got it spot on, the Axe adding steel when needed and Jansen doing the job of running down the clock. It really could have finished 4-3 and probably should have. Still on balance rovers deserved the win. Savage's free kicks were very hit and miss, two excellent ones but a fair few which were absolute rubbish, more consistency is needed or give them to MGP. Bentley after an anonymous first half did well in the second, both as a link up striker and right midfielder, very encouraging. Brad seemed to command his area well, and made a good save, which from the darwin end I thought had gone in, late on. All in all encouraging that we can score without Bellamy and our resiliance is still intact. However, we need to get the defence sorted out. Come back Nelsen and Todd.

Watching the game I was delighted to see how clueless United looked. Their few attacks down the wings that got to the byline caused absolute havoc amongst the Benfica defence - indeed one got a very good goal. So United decide to ignore the byline altogether for most of the game, lumping the ball into the penalty area from the edge of the box, leaving a somewhat melodramatic portugese team with a fairly comfrotable victory. When Ferguson did have two fresh attacking players on the wing in Park and Rooney he played them on the wrong sides, with Park on the right and Rooney on the left. The result was both continued to cut inside and the bylines remained a manure free zone. A two year old could have seen that the benfica defence was uncomfortable with crosses, especially their rather shocking keeper, but Ferguson apparently did not. Secondly I was delighted to see how weak the squad looked. Other than Heinze who was injured that was their strongest team. Now the first 11 was pretty amazing (save Smith who isn't top draw as a defensive mid) but after the first 11 the quality began to peater out after player number fifteen. Saha isn't a top class striker, look at any other big team - big as in competitors in champs league on a regular basis rather than deluded like Brum - and who there third striker is. Nearly all are a lot better than Saha. Equally the likes of Fletcher, Richardson etc whilst useful hardly inspire terror into the opposition. United's once superstrong squad is looking a tad threadbare. Added to Vodafone jumping ship, a lack of European action - which really will hurt their chances of getting top players in January and chelsea's dominance the future does not look bright for United

Todds in the same boat as Savage he misses too many chances from corners to show a positive contribution to the Rovers cause and he cant play a telling forward pass like say Lucas or Zurab can. Sure Todd's not having the best of seasons but he doesn't deserve all the slating he's getting. Todd for the most part is a solid dependable defender, his job is to defend - not score corners and all the other optional extras which might be nice. Amo has far more to his game in terms of attacking threats corners and free kicks (although the latter threat is usually to those behind the goal) but is he a better defender? No chance, because he can't defend and makes too many mistakes which cost goals. Incidently I don't think Todd's distribution is bad, in fact last season I can remember being rather impressed by it at times. As for Savage, again he's there to disrupt the play and protect the back 4. It doesn't matter how many you score if you conceed more goals you loose simple as. The defensive aspect of the game is equally important and Savage provides us with that vital protectionist role. Wenger doesn't drop Gilberto for not contributing to the attack for example, because all good teams need someone to protect the defence.

Gally does really seem to be flourishing at Stoke even if he is being played out of position. Hopefully this loan period will provide, and it seems to be doing, the chance to iron out his inconsistency without having a detrimental effect on Rovers. Certainly I think if he continues as he is, Gally will be a welcome addition to the fold next season what with Dickov getting on and Jansen seemingly not getting better. Personally I think loan to lower leagues is much more productive for our young starlets then reserve team football.

Not sure whether I'd have Gray in for Matteo to deal with West ham's pace but otherwise same team and squad for me. The encouraging thing about that is all the options on the bench. Rovers are beginning to have a good squad again. Bit worried about this one as we've been a bit shakey defensively for the last few games and are struggling to score. Can see West Ham sneaking a goal or two and gaining the victory. Mind you I haven't seen us loose yet so hopefully my "winning streak" will continue. Prediction 1-2 West Ham Pederson Harewood Sheringham

Excellent result, SO happy. Loads of positives from the game. Tommo's looking good again, but let's not get carried away by it. An in form Tommo would give the midfield a whole new dimension, and hopefully keep Emerton on his toes. A wee bit worried about the amount of goals the defence has shipped in recently, what's wrong? Maybe not having Zurab at cb, maybe we're still a quality left back from consistency, maybe we're missing Neill. Also how did Bentley do up front? He'd give us a different type of option up front if he can do it up there. Kuqi showed what he's useful at, coming on and scaring nervy defences with his physical presence. As a third striker to bring on, he's looking like a shrewd piece of business. All in all great. How bout Wigan away again in the quarters and another cracking night out at the JJB?

From what I've seen and heard 3-0 seems rather harsh, which is a good sign that rovers are heading in the right direction, although that's not much consolation at the moment. One of my housemates is an Arsenal fan so I expect there will be a few mentions of it during the week. Still I guess I'll be the one laughing when Henry decides to pop off to the continent at the end of the season. It'd have been interesting to see if we'd have nabbed a point be playing more defensively. Perhaps results like this might enlighten the board that if we are to attack teams we need more up front. Kuqi isn't a bad buy but he's not one half of a great partnership that all successful Rovers teams have had. Having said that the performances during a difficult period have been fairly positive so hopefully we can transfer this and start hammering some of the lesser teams.

Couldn't happen to a nicer person. Is Ferguson captain? If so he's not doing a very good job. He also keeps mentioning that 'the players' are performing yet there seems to be no personal admission of his own recent poor performances. Still that's not a thing that's likely to come from the wee man. Hopefully at least one of hibs or hearts can keep up a good run of form.

I'd disagree. Its made the reserve league a lot weaker with far more young players in it. Granted this gives more youngsters a chance at this level but it was not the level it was. IMO the step up from reserve level to premiership level is far greater these days which may be one of the reasons that contribute to why less players are breaking into the first team, the jump in quality is much higher they are far less prepared. Serious attitude problems! What a cupid stunt eh? Yep and I think that could be seen when for the reserves. Can't remember which game it was but he was captaining the reserves and was getting a hard time from the opposing centre forward. Rather than role up his sleves like the Admiral or Todd would do he proceeded to have a paddy on the floor. You can also see it when he made runs which weren't singled out, many again resulted in him having a winge. If he could sort out his attitude problems I think he could make it. IMO his success came far too soon. His speed needs to improve most of all, but that's the duller aspect of training, and I'd be worried that he wouldn't sort his attitude out to deal with it.

If you can get that for Bruce's "tactics" it makes you wonder what some of the other manager's alleged tactics would be worth. Doesn't look good for Rovers professionalism if it turns out to be true.

Agree. You just have to look at the ins and outs over the summer to see how little ambition the board has. At the start of the season there was 11 players out only 2 in, one of whom was from non league. Not suprising that they're in trouble. Hendry hasn't had chance to build a team, although from watching & reading reviews about Blackpool he's come across as a bit naive.

I'm firmly of the oppinion that despite the odd good game and the fact he tried hard, which goes far in my book, he deserved the flack for some shocking errors defensively. I'll never dislike him, the person though, as he tried but wasn't genuinely good enough. As a player though he made far too many mistakes and I was never comfortable with him at the back. Still, it shows football is a funny old game. Amo is first choice at a successful* rangers team wins player of the season and turns out to be a dud. Kish- Zurab can't get in a pants rangers team and turns out to be the find of the season. * successful in this case means winning a 2 team league with vastly superior players and finances, the odd cup and getting nowhere in europe despite regular attempts.

If only all friendlies were as exciting as this. A top class game from both sides, excellent end to end stuff, great goals, great saves, a dramatic finish, there wasn't much more you could have asked for. At 2-1 down I thought England had lost it and thought in the last twenty minutes or so the game was slipping away from us, what with the argies trying every trick, legit and not-so legit, to slow the game down. However the fact that we still managed to grind out the win despite this is really encouraging. In the past England would have let such a game slip away from them and been satisfied with a good performance, maybe the recent kick up the backside against northern ireland has done its job. On a couple of players who have had a lot of publicity; I thought Lampard's shooting was woeful for someone of his class and crouch wasn't so bad, although as already stated it was his presence rather than anything he did. I still feel that if asked to contribute more than an uncomfortable presence, which in a world cup is likely, that he'd come up short. Beattie would be a better bet as the target man from the bench role imo based on recent form. The formation 4-1-3-2 seems the best bet, and gives us a bit more solidity in midfield. I'd like to see us play this in the world cup. When King went off I thought we lacked someone to break up the play and win us back possession which in part contributed to England's lack of possession in the last 20 minutes. It also allows for the attacking option of switching back to 4-4-2 should we need a more attacking formation later on. On another note, the substitutions seemed to work, although I'd have been tempted to take a full back off earlier when Cole came on and leave 3 at the back. Whilst on about substitutions I don't think the argies makling that many subs was helpful, even if it was a friendly, and the resulting loss of cohesiveness played a part in our victory. Despite it being an excellent performance there were one or two problems which hopefully won't be overlooked. Why on earth was Bridge played having had only 60 minutes top class football? This was another shocking decision by Sven and could have been more costly. Also the excellent defending was let down by shocking marking for Argentina's second goal and highlights that 100% concentration for the whole game is needed against top class teams. Overall though a very encouraging step before the world cup and excellent entertainment.

He can't go on forever. Mind you he's still having a massive impact at the club. I reckon a new 1 yr rolling deal might not be a bad idea as he's still showing how important he is to the club. Ok he'll be taking a more and more reduced roll as time goes on (although not at the moment) but like Bellamy when you have top quality you have to keep it and use it for all it's worth.

Really difficult to predict. Charlton and City are no better than us but no worse. I think both their sets of fans as well as ourselves think that they should win these matches. As for Arsenal they've been dodgy this year, and it depends which Arsenal team turns up. If WBA can beat them we certainly should have a chance. Think Chelsea's a write off though. In short we could, quite possibly, come away with anything from 9 to 0 points from these games. It's a big test on Sparkey and the lads but the squad finally seems to have options and we're playing some decent stuff so hopefully we'll keep adding to the points tally.

I was glad we didn't miss a beat when Todd replaced the injured Nelsen - I was worried the reason Zura has been looking so good recently is because he's playing next to t'Admiral. Obviously this is not the case and we should sign him up sharpish! Agreed. For all those complaining about Kuqi, as stated he was free and I'm led to believe he's on club friendly wages. Admittedly he can't hit a barn door with a banjo (not sure why he'd be trying to mind, or what it has to do with his shooting ability ), but he closes down their back four, wins most flick ons, holds up the ball and generally lets their defence know they've been in a game. Dickov never did this, he just fell over and protested when the ref told him to get up for the umpteenth time. Bellamy will thrive on those Kuqi flick ons, assuming he can stay healthy enough . I wonder how much a version of Kuqi who could shoot would be worth? Agree again. As strikers go Kuqi's not been a bad piece of business. Admittedly not great but our strike force as a whole looks so much better with the additions of both Bellamy and Kuqi. The other version of Kuqi costs around £5 million, or at least that's what Celtic will be asking for Heartson. Great win. Brum in real trouble. What more could we want?

One thing we haven't seen much of is Matteo in a 4-4-2 formation at lb. In the 4-5-1 where the team is reliant on the other 9 outfield players to help attack and support the striker, Matteo's lack of offensive capabilities is certainly very pronounced. Whether this would be as apparent in a 4-4-2 is questionable. Savage is a similar case, in as much as his defensive qualities have looked better, and his weak offensive capablities have looked less pronounced, when in a 4-4-2. Ultimately though I don't believe Matteo is the answer to the lb problem though may be the best at the moment. However due to player availability and budget it could be some time before we see a new lb in place.