This should be a really interesting game. From West Ham's point of view this is one of those gmes that they cannot afford to loose, in fact with home advantage this may be earmarked as one of their potential wins. Rovers fans under Hughes have higher expectations, and justifiably will be expecting at least a point. Added to which the first few games can really set the tone for the new season, a few early wins will see us looking away from relegation and towards challenging for a uefa place, whilst a couple of early defeats and we could be in for an antsy ride. I reckon that not loosing is paramount to all three points, especially as the onus is on West Ham to capitalise on one of the supposedly "easier" games. For both these reasons I'd go for the 4-5-1, especially if Nelsen and Bellamy are out as: - this plays to our strengths and is a fromation we're familiar with - will make it easier to break up West Hams attacks, I'm seeing a similar game to our home game vs Palace last season where the they needed the points more and the 4-5-1 helped us break up their attacks and counter attack quickly. - We showed last season against the lesser teams that we can play 4-5-1 and still play some nice football. Assuming the worst on the injury front my team would be 4-5-1: Brad, Neill, Todd, Matteo, Gresko, Moko, Emerton, Savage, Reid, Pederson, Kuqi. West Ham are fast, and I'd be a tad worried with Matteo at full bacck given their wingers pace. Neill is in for an equally busy afternoon as that Ethrington's a bit good. However Matteo in the centre with the Axe in front of him I reckon that his pace won't be exposed and he can concentrate on the stronger aspects of his game such as his heading. Neill and Gresko are both capable and need to get forward a fair bit to pin back the West Ham wingers if we're to win. In an ideal world Pederson and Emerton will play a similar role to Robben and Duff and support Kuqi quickly. The good pre-season he's had calms some of my fears about him playing alone up front in the Premiership, but nevertheless he'll still need the support from midifeld especially as he's still untested at Premiership level. Fortunately all our midfield is capable of doing this. Substitute wise I believe we've got two very tasty options to come off the bench in Dickov and Tugs. Dickov to me is more of a substitute kind of guy, especially since his link up play is appalling, either coming on as a third striker where needed, or when a games won/comfortable to rest one of our first choice strikers. The guy's not a complete duffer though and given the youth of West Hams defence twenty minutes of Dickov tearing around could really scare them into letting a goal slip. Tugay's another person who could wreck havoc in the West Ham lines in the last 20 mins when the game's slowed down. West Ham play a fairly open game and this should hopefully allow Tugs to get a few killer passes in. Overall I'm optimistic, Rovers are worth at least a point but in a tight game which Rovers are marginally better, we'll sneak it 1-0.

He'd have to be a god to lead that lot to a trophey. Read in todays paper that Newcastle have gone from having a 12,000 waiting list sor season tickets to advertising in the local media to sell the last 2,000 season tickets. A loss of 14,000 potential STs is a heck of a fall.

Gresko was excellent when on loan with us, though through injury he's not really regained that form. However under Hughes I've every confidence that Gresko has his best chance of regaining that form. Besides, if we kicked out all our players who had underperformed in the recent season or so then we'd be minus a fair few players. As for Matteo, I'm as big a critic as any, and yes he's slow and offers nothing going forward. But he's stuck to his guns, done the simple stuff and that's what defenders need to do. Matteo did well at defending and looked pretty comfortable with some good players late on in the season. As for his lack of attacking skills in a 4-4-2 it will be less of a problem, and besides defenders are meant to first and foremost defend. In fairness I think we were all mesmerised with Gray's ability to go forward and use his left foot in attack, certainly that was where he caught my attention. Defensively this season he was part of an absymal looking defence, Hughes clearly doesn't rate him and that's good enough for me. With regards to Hughes I'm amazed at how he's unlocked or maximising the potential of so many players, like making Pedersen Reid and Todd into some of our most important players. All players are looking far more competant under Hughes/ With the situation due to contracts and wages as it is, these skills will be all the more important for Blackburn Rovers. Hughes is not only the right man for the job, he's the right man to undo the damage of the previous regime.

Of the reserves Jemal looked the most promising of the youngsters IMO. Perhaps along with Gally it'd be good for him to go out on loan somewhere. I'm sure that the guy could wreck havoc in the lower divisions as he constantly looks a menace for the resevrves. Even if hes shoved off the ball for most of the match, he'll get a few shots in, which are invariably on target and often goals. All Jemal needs to do to become a valuable member of the squad is learn how to cope with the physical side of the game more, and a season on loan might be the best way to do this.

Thing is though, if you were a top class defender/striker would you want to go to Newcastle. The chances of winning things are zilch, already the chance of European football is looking slim, the only positive is possibly a bigger wage packet and if they are top players, then the top clubs will be able to match this perk. I've a strong suspicion that IF Souness does brign players in he'll be paying top class wages and fees for merely good players. Which top class strikers are available? How many would fancy Newcastle? How many top class centre halves are available? Why would Campbell, who has been linked with Newcastle, join up with them. Even his old club Spurs have more chance of winning things. Also even supposing Souness did bring in the top class players in these positions these areas of the squad are still looking a bit thin. Who's going to come in as back up in this position. There could be a lot more dealing that Souness wants to do, and time will be pressing. As are the wings, Souness doesn't seem to have too much width either. Still for a guy who plays Matteo and Flitty as wingers I doubt that will seem much of a problem.

We'd never be popular in the press, so it just makes it easier all round; them to find the turgid excuses to slate Rovers, us because we know who many clubs would like to have the likes of Savage, Todd and Bellamy, and they can't take our Prem win away from them. The distinction between positive nad negative publicity cna be firstly seen to be whether you are seen as a big club. If you are, that's great, over spending becomes visionary building of a good squad, bully boy dirty tactics become fighting spirit. Look at how dirty Arsenal were/are. Sadly Blackburn are not considered a big club. Who gives a french connection? The second distinction is success. Win and such tactics are more likely to be considered valiant attempts. Everton played some really ugly football last season but then because they were in 4th place it was all ok. If anything the negative publicity might help us, indeed it may create the siege mentality that cna give us an edge.

As oppose to solving one's striker shortage by using the midfielder who doen't want to play out wide. Prat. It's finally sunk in what a great signing Rovers have made. Ok there are worries who will play up front with him, but at least we have a quality pinch hitter will be a massive boost. Can see Dickov doing a lot better with the pressure off him too.

Still have mixed feelings about Souness, he got us automatically promoted to the top flight which not even Kenny could manage despite throwing Jack's money around. When are we next to have a day to compare to Cardiff 2002? A decade? Two? Shame the guy totally lost it sometime along the way... The guy did give us some great times, the promotion season and season winning the worthington cup were the best years of supporting Rovers, (was too nervous for the final third of the season when winning the Prem to enjoy it). I suppose that's why Souness really infuriates me because he promised so much, almost delievered, and then let us down big time. From getting us from a top six team playing exciting football he made us into relegation certs. That's what makes it so disheartening and his decisions all the more bizare. I still cannot see how Douglas is worth a four year contract, when Johnson who was playing regularly as a squad player two years before Douglas was anywhere near the first team picture was allowed to go for peanuts. I'm still not entirely sure how Bent wasn't given a proper chance with Jansen given how successful he was in the first division and how dire/unlucky Grabbi was. I still cannot see how you can forget to fill a position on the pitch with a player who is used to playing there. To do it one season is careless, to do it two seasons running is beyond belief. I'm not sure what logic meant that de Pedro was not worth a two year contract in January but six months later in the following summer he was worth a two year deal. I'm still wondering why when we needed a left midfielder Gresko wasn't given a chance yet in the first game of the following season with a fully fit squad Gresko played in midfield. Speeking o which I'm not sure what rational Souness was using when creating the formations in the first two games of last season. Nor how he could fall out with two players heavily committed to the club in Dunn and Flitty. I've a feeling that a few of these 'interesting' tactical decisions may be working their way into the Newcastle fold. Already they've let a few defenders go without bringing in any replacements, and up front they are beginning to look very weak. A few match winning formations with Shearer at left back and Bramble as a winger may be imminent. With Shearer taking a managerial role at Newcastle in the nextyear or two, I reckon if Newcastle do sack Souness who would want the job for just a year or so? What they need is an old experienced manager nearing retirement who could groom Shearer to replace him...

Brilliant. Benni was my first choice but Bellamy was a close second. Exactly what we are looking for. He's a good strike rate, bags of pace, isn't foreign so should gell well, and is young to boot. Newcastle's forward line went from looking pretty decent to rather weak with the departure of Craig, which shows what a massive impact he can have. Added to which having him on a 4 year deal means Rovers hold all the cards should he do well (as I think he will) and the 'big' clubs get interested. Best of all Bellamy provides a long term solution to the striker problem. The only thing is I feel that Bellamy may work best with someone to play off. Here's hoping Rovers get in a quality target man as well, or that Kuqi or Jansen can produce the goods, although maybe that's me being greedy! Oh, and I met Bellamy at a reserve game a couple of years ago, and despite his rep he was rather pleasant and had a fair bit of time for the fans.

Hasn't he got enough problems in the dressing room? With the amount of influence Shearer has I can't see this one happening. Also did Newcastle finish high enough to warrent a place in the Intertoto cup and didn't Souness say somewhere that he didn't want to enter the Intertoto cup?

This isn't really a Rovers problem, its a problem for all clubs. Since the stupid FA got rid of the two tier academy system, to just one team, it now means that there isn't an extra level for players to develop in. Before most reserve sides were mostly first team players who couldn't get in or coming back from injury, with a couple of promising youngsters in. Now its the other way round. Waggy - I dont think anyone is against bringing youngsters through. But, losing a million quid (which would be extremely useful this summer) because we tried out a few youngsters who aren't good enough anyway, and aren't even shining in the reserves is just silly. It's not as if we have the next Damien Duff, who is miles too good for the reserves but isn't getting a chance. 314407[/snapback] Yeah I realise it's not Rover's fault but I do think that it is the nub of the problem, the step up these days is much larger than before. Exiled another point regarding Manures youth policy is that the pressure is off players when they come in. Because they've got loads of highly skilled players playing with them this takes some of the pressure off and allows the youngster to concentrate on their own game. I've heard several pundits say this over time and I think it's true. An example people use is that good batch of youth players from Everton when they nearly got relegated - the players had too much responsibilty on them too soon and now they've all faded into obscurity. Linking this back to Rovers, any player who comes in, especially up front, will be seen as the next whoever and people will be disappointed if they aren't. The pressure on them to perform and the amount of responisiblity they will have to take will be greater. McEveleys a good example of this, yeah he's not the finished product yet by far but in 2 yrs or so he could well be very good.

Can you get student STs and if so where in the ground? Honestly thinking having a team we can identify with, rather than individuals will have more of a contrinution in raising ST ticket sales.

I really wasn't convincenced when we signed him, doubt he'll be value for money, and in hindsight hasn't been a great signing. However he's been injured, and just before he got injured he was begining to win me over. I think the guy has class and if it was not for injuries then we may well have been a place or two higher. I think his situation is very similar to both Ferguson and Stead. Like Ferguson he's been the big signing and has had some unfortunate injury problems, which combined with high expectations is always a bad mix. Most people seemed to take every encouraging thing that winging barry did as a sign of his class and that he just needed to get over his injury problems. Think the same standards should apply to Savage, there have been glimpses that the guy is good and does possess the talent, and like Ferguson we should only judge him when fully fit and he's had a run of games. Like stead in front of goal, there is the problem of trying too hard. The harder one tries, the more one thinks about what they are attempting to do, and thus the more nervous they become and the harder it is to get it right. Football is based a lot on natural talent, and thinking too much about the basics is likely to hamper the guy. Come the new season with hopefully a new signing or two to take the expectations pressure off, Savage will be able to settle down to his nasty effective best. Added to which, Hughes in the transfer market has proved a good judge of character. Unlike Souness who could be very hit and miss, Hughes has a near infallible reputation in the transfer market. If Hughes believes Savage is the man for the job then we should have faith in the guy for a bit longer.

A very amusing article by Souness. I'm not sure how managing to demotivate a local lad from playing for his boyhood team is helping his case. Nor the fact he managed to alienate other equally committed players like Flitty. Shepherd seems equally deluded. Best club after Chelsea??? Even putting aside my dislike of manure I reckon any player would reckon they'd have a better chance of winning something at Arsenal, Boro, Liverpool, Everton, Spurs, Man City or Villa. A good start to next season under Hughes and many a player might be finding Rovers a more attractive option too. I said before that Souness won't last past christmas, at this rate he'll be lucky to get that far. Oh, and (14) Neil & (15) Gray.

To be fair the Palace game was more significant to the neutral as it was a key battle in the relegation dogfight whereas for the neutral this was a game between two mid table teams with nothing to play for. Having said that considering the bad blood between the two sides in recent months I was suprised it wasn't on earlier.

TBH they're not good enough. I'd doubt that any of our reserves except Jemal would actually look that good in the first division/championship/whatever it is these days. Maybe the problem is to do with the fact that reserve team football isn't actually reserve team football but glorified youth and player's coming back from injury football. IMO I'm not sure reserve football is the next level for developing talent to aspire to. Which makes the fact that none of them look that inspiring all the more depressing.

Blimey a game in which both Hesky and Stead score - who would have thought it possible? I'm pretty disappointed with Rovers last couple of games, but I reckon a lot of it is due to tiredness. We have a very small squad of players that we can rely on - and IMO I reckon that is what is costing us, especially with the high energy and work rate of our game. This if anything shows we need to freshen things up in the summer - and add as well as improve the squad. Also think Nissa being subbed is a good indication that he might not have a future at the club. Pity, I don't think we'll get anyone as good at his age on the cheap.

My team next season would be: Brad Neill Nelsen Todd Gresko Emerton Savage Reid MGP Striker 1 Striker 2 subs Enks, Nissa/Matteo, Mokeana, attacking mid, Dickov squad players: Stead, Tugay, right back cover, left back cover, Tommo, Jansen (pay as you play). To be honest that to me is all we need, although the squad size is a little thin we'd have back up and options for every postion. More importantly most positions would have players who are just as good/deserve to be first teams coming in in terms of the creative mid, mokeana, matteo/nissa. Ok there is a question mark about whether Gresko can still do it but if Hughes can work the same magic he has with the rest of the defence then there's a good chance that we'll see the best of Vratti again. Dickov as a substitute to come on for twenty minutes to harass the defence thus creating more opportunites for our team is an asset. To lead the line he is a liability. Other than the strike positions I reckon the rest of the team is doing well enough to warrent its place. The only position I'm torn between is Matteo and Nissa, as both seem to be better at cb but can also cover lb. Matteo has impressed me more in recent weeks, but Nissa represents better value for money in terms of wages and longetivity. We already have a compact defence, a hardworking midfield which can be quite offensive (in terms of attacking), and in Brad we have one of the best keepers around. One striker IMO wouldn't be enough as that would still leave us with not enough options up front. Of the players needed only the strikers and possibly the creative midfielder need to be of top class. If we can get one striker on a free then that's 2 players to spend the majority of our budget on. Another possibility would be sell on tommo and get another wide player in (Routledge on the cheap) as Tommo might be one of our more saleable assets. Cover for right back is imperative as Nelsen is wasted there, and quite possibly a lb too so Nissa/Matteo can cover the centre backs along with Moko.

Hmmm sadly I can't see Souness lasting long enough to well and truely mess up Newcastle. I give him to christmas at the latest. All this negative media about Bellamy is beginning to worry me. I've no problem with 'problem players' with a reputation live Savage and Todd, but the amount of problems Bellamy seems to be causing suggests that there is little chance that it can be harnessed in the right direction.

Was it just me or did anyone else think the players looked tired towards the end v Palace? As it should be the same team as last time (pending Savage's fitness) the players must be pretty knackered by now. Can see that going against us. Sadly City are also on the up. Reckon it'll be a draw 1-1 though is most definately winnable.

The only complaint Rovers fans can have is (to borrow a phrase from an ex-manager) lady luck wasn't with us. How we only scored one is beyond me. The centre backs were excellent again. In fact so were the full backs. Routledge had to swap wings he was getting so little out of Matteo. Neill again looked class both defensively and going forward. Emerton showed what he can do when he runs, and along with MGP gives us two wide players who are capable of creating chances, yet at the same time contribute to the fantastic work ethic of the team. Stead looked very promising, a bit more confidence and he would be deadly. Savage looked unfit, and hence IMO the reason for so many stupid tackles. Towards the end I thought we looked tired after Saturday's exploits but all credit to the lads they somehow managed to keep going. Palace are certs to be relegated - they offered nothing.

All this slating of Flitty is hacking me off. it seems like the band wagon can't slate Neill or Matteo or Amo much at the mo so Flitty's up for a slating. I have to admit he is not as good as he once was, that age is catching up with him, and in Moko Sav and Reid we have a heck of a good engine 'room.' But then this position requires a lot of energy and as players get older they loose some of their stamina so its understandable. However that does not mean that Flitty hasn't and still doesn't contribute. At this level you CANNOT CARRY PLAYERS. Most seasons Flitty has been with us he has played a stunningly important part. Indeed under Souness in promotion to 6th place Flitty was vital in disrupting the opposition's midfield and allowing Tugs, Dunny and Duff to do their stuff; not very glamerous but neccessary. And last season when we somehow stayed up - correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't Flitty part of the settled team that kept us up. I can assure you in a team as shocking as last season we couldn't have carried any players. This season again he's not been a regular choice but when he's played he has done a job. Ok he is slowing down and not as effective as he once was, but he's still doing a good job and contributed greatly to the defensive solidity that we have in the team. And Flitty does make runs into the box; he always has and still does. I can remember several times in recent games when he did so. Mostly however he doesn't get passed to with these runs and thus they often go unnoticed and unappreciated. IMO Matteo seems to be getting the hang of the lb slot so shouldn't loose his place, especially to Taylor who isn't good enough. In fact none of the reserves are quite ready for Premiership, except perhaps Jemal, but I wouldn't play him as a lone striker.

True and criticism must also be given where due which sadly Amo at times has warrented. However don't agree with Jan's utter slating. He isn't good enough but the guy always tries which many who have had the ability (Yorke) and those who haven't (Boothroyd) have not. I know which I prefer at rovers. Whatever anyone says about him - and my word there have been some shockers - you cannot fault his commitment or his brilliant attitude with the fans. How anyone can take delight in someone like Amo failing is beyond me. The same with Neill who gets far too much criticism and every mistake or possible mistake made over analysed.

It was entertaining when we beat them 5-0. Found the dingle fans and players reaction brillian when MGP scored the winner this time too. Celebrating that we only beat them 2-1!