The big question is whether we have enough offensively to bother Arsenal. For a couple of weeks I've been worried we won't have enough attacking capability to bother Arsenal and since it is a semi final a 0-0 won't suffice. Any gunner thinking it'll be a walkover is a muppet, and I've every confidence Rovers won't take a battering and let in a hatfull. Even so stoping Arsenal from scoring is a tall order - and besides a goal can come from an unstopable piece of brilliance or a flukey bit of luck - Rovers can't rely on not having to score and take it to penalties. We'll probably have to get at least one goal, possibly two if we're to win. The big question is do we have that in us? After Southampton I'm tempted to say yes. The odds are still against us, but after the display against Southampton the team has proved it has goals in it. Granted Arsenal aren't Southampton, but the longer it stays 0-0, and we know Rovers defence is capable of limiting Arsenal's chances, the more desperate they'll become and hopefully the gaps will open up for Rovers. In a way our defensive stability could be our biggest offensive asset. To me we have to stay with the tried and tested 4-5-1. Rumour has it Savage will be back, which in a straight swap for Flitty would normally be an improvement to the side though after so long out he may be below par. I'd have Emerton in for Tommo even if Tommo's not injured. Emo is better defensively IMO and has shown a couple of times recently that he can really hurt teams when he runs at them. The rest of the midfield picks itself. We cannot risk the inconsistency of Tugay. I reckon this is where the game will be won, as the best way to top Henry (and how we did it last time) is to stop him getting the ball. The midfield will have to be on top of their game to limit the service the strikers get. The defence picks itself, and for once I'm going to go with Matteo at left back, as I can't see our full backs getting much opportunity to attack. Bit worried what Arsenal's pace will do to him though. Up front it has to be Dickov, as Arsenal have looked a bit jittery at the back of late so hopefully Dickov can add to that and force them into a few errors. Overall I reckon the heart says a 1-0 win for Rovers in an epic, Emerton being the hero with a brilliant brek away goal (though it can come from anywhere as long as we win.) Great preview by sox. Have wquite a few Arsenal mates so hopefully will be able to get a few Q&As sorted before Saturday.

Fantastic result and an all round excellent performance. Rovers started off well and took full advantage of Southampton's suspect full backs. Delap normally plays midfield and it showed. Early on he left a huge gap behind him where the rb should be for Pederson. Thanks to an exceptional pass from Mokeana, Pederson was through one and one and took his goal well. I thought he might have knocked it a bit wide but MGP excels in these situations. Rovers continued to press on both flanks and had a blatent penalty turned down, when one of the Saint's handled the ball under pressure from Reid. Had that been given the form Rovers were in it could have been a really high scoring goal. As it was Rovers continued to dominate until the latter end of the first half, MGP should have had a hattrick, when they had their traditional sloppy spell, giving away the ball and allowing Southampton to play a bit. This coincided with Tommo's head injury. The guy was doing ok - though not great - until his head injury but after that really looked off the pace. In effect Rovers were playing with ten men, as he got everything wrong. No suprise that he was replaced by Emerton at half time, but perhaps a few question marks over why Hughes waited until half time to make the substitution. Southampton also made a substitution at half time bringing Phillips on thus changing to a 4-3-3. If anything this worked to Rovers advantage, Mokeana dropping a bit deeper to pick up the extra forward when needed. Which wasn't often as with only three in the middle Southampton struggled to win the ball, especially with the ferocity of Mokeana and Reid - the guy has limitless energy. More importantly, it was left mid Le Saux who came off, leave bernard, who had looked suspect till Tommo's injury with no protection. Rovers took full advantage of this and mercilessly got the ball out wide, and it was no suprise that Rovers second goal came from a wide position, Jakobsen accidently converting Reid's cross. Rovers got a third soon after from a corner - the corners looked good all game. Reid deservedly got his goal slotting home at the far post after a nice ball was played back from a mele at the near post. Rovers could have had more. Some powerful runs in particular could have ended in goals for Emerton and Mokeana. The second part of the second half saw Rovers pass the ball around comfortably, and try to catch Southampton on the break. Harry seemed to realise he'd made a tactical blunder and brought on an extra midfielder for Camara, and replaced the beleagured Banard, which helped, and Southampton managed a few token attacks, forcing a good save from Friedel. Overall it was Rovers day, and on another day they would have had a few more. Most importantly it showed that we can score even with the 4-5-1, and that we are defiantely a side of Premier League quality. We looked miles better than Southampton. Friedel - made the few saves he had to make well, pretty flawless though inactive for long periods of the game. Neil - brilliant, got his tackles in well, disrupted the Saint's play and was a real danger going forwards. Matteo - I'm not his biggest fan but he had a good game today. Defensively did his duty well, and though not brilliant his distribution and forward runs were much improved. Nelson and Todd - had the attack in their pocket they dealt with Crouch's high supurbly and were unphazed by Camara's trickery. Mokeana - just edges man of the match over Neill with an awesome diplay. Defensively the guy was immense and in the centre of midfield he won everything and disrupted any play Southampton tried to have. Most encouraging was his distribution. Probably completed more passes than any team mate, got forward well when neccessary and at times like the first goal showed excellent vision. Reid - ran his socks off all game and was a threat throughout - an all round midfielder. Stupidly booked. Savage will struggle to get ahead of these two. Flitty - another pain for Southampton, disrupting the midfield, though his contribution was curtailed by injury. Still looked to support the attack at times, an intelligent game from an old pair of legs. Tommo - slow start, was beginning to get into it with a few good runs. Then he got concussd and my word he was shocking thereafter. MGP - should have had a hat trick. His ball control was a tad suspect at times, but defensively worked his socks off, caused loads of problems and took his goal brilliantly. Dickov - worked hard, fairly quiet game though. No real chances. subs Emerton - looked threatening and unlucky not to score after a brilliant run. Some good passes though he always seems to cut inside. Tugay - his type of game. A tad overconfident but sprayed it around well. Stead -didnt quite work for the lad, a few times got in a decent position but didn't get the pass he wanted. A few half chances.

Lawro really annoys me. He does seem to have it in for us. I reckon we could play Boston United's ladies under 13 B's and he'd still predict a loss for Rovers. Then again the guy's very much a big club man - he always predicts that the 'bigger' club would win. Will be very interesting. The saints have three in form qualiy strikers who are hitting form. We've got one of the stingiest defences around. Will be very interesting to see who wins this battle. Can our defence keep them out? If we can keep out manure we can do it against Saints. Not too sure our strike force is up to much and with Saints being a real handful offensively and needing to win I don't think we'll create much - even for us. 0-0 quite possibly. Hopefully the law of averages will swing in our favour and the awful decisions that went against us in the match at St Marys will fall on our side. With Souness not haunting Ewood any longer Lady Luck can come back to Ewood, allowing us to scrape a 1-0 win through some good fortune.

Have to say his distribution is one of the things that most irritates me. Still it's not as bad as Tommo's currently. I'd not really considered the options to pass to, but it seems a logical argument. With a target man and a more intelligent footballer in front of him it would be interesting to see whether his distribution was like. I suspect it might still be poor but who knows. I reckon if we'd have said get rid of Grey and keep Neill at the start of the season people on the MB would have been dead against it. Interesting that that's now the case and we're very solid defensively. If Neill was that bad as people say he is the team would have suffered. This is the Premiership - you can't carry players. If it ain't broke don't fix it. We should have learnt that at least from Souness.

Maybe he was homesick? Motherwell's quite a distance from Glasgow

I'm suprised at how busy WBA have been in the transfer market. there's quite a few decent players in that list. They might not have cost 20 mill but there's still a fair bit of talent and a few good pieces of business amongst them. WBA might stay up after all. Maybe the sun isn't out after all

20 million on transfers? Its probably me but I can't think of 5million worth of transfers let alone 20. Ok there's Earnshaw, but other than him I can't remember them spending any big money.

Blimey this is one of the most exciting and closest relegation battles for some time. Southampton WBA and Crystal Palace are all picking up points whilst Portsmouth continue to play absymally. Any of these four could stay up or go down, I really wouldn't like to predict who at the moment. Rovers can't afford to be too complacent what with the strong form of the aformentioned teams. Relegation is still a possibility and what with the way the bottom 5 bar Norwich are playing the teams just above them should not be breathing too big a sigh of relief just yet. Having said that our own current form is impressive, and with only draws needed against the bottom teams to stay out of trouble we should do it. Not sure that these 'easy' fixtures will be as comfortable or as rewarding as previously hoped a month or so ago.

Brilliant result, it shows how far we've come under Hughes. We had a bit of luck in the first half but with the effort we put in we deserved a draw. United fans will next be suggesting tht teams should be penalised for trying to score versus manure. If they were so great they would have broken us down. Muppets. The bbc said it wasn't pretty from Rovers, which was true, but then I suppose they couldn't give the underdog credit could they. Brad spoke on the radio after and seemed quite pleased though not suprised that they got hte draw. It sounded as though the team has a real confidence about it again.

What a pillock Toshack is blaming Hughes. Personally I don't think Hughes' time can be classed as a brilliant success - Greece have shown what can be done and set the benchmark for lesser teams in terms of success. However, without a doubt Hughes has done a good job, and left Wales in a far better position than when he joined them. Wales don't have that many talented players, that Toshack left out one of the few decent players Wales have in Savage smacks of stupidity. Even Ireland went crawling back to Keane and they've a fair few more options than Wales for cm. Savage is thirty (i think) which means hes at least 2/3 more years left at international level, certainly for Wales. Ok so quite a few players retired when Hughes left. That to me shows how well thought of and respected our manager is; it seems as if the players were playing for Sparky rather than Wales. And that he managed to get Giggs to actually play for Wales is one of the most impressive feats of modern football. Toshack evidently doesn't have the respect or 'people skills' that Sparky has. To be fair Wales aren't the most talented of teams. Hartson and Bellamy are hardly international class; in fact save Giggs many of them wouldn't get in most international teams. That Hughes gained them credability is a massive achievement in itself. The early indications are that Toshack will undo this. Shame.

Another thought. Against Burbley we knew they'd defend and want a physical game hence the 4-5-1 for that game too. However we knew we needed to breakt them down hence Tugay played. Perhaps Hughes should have adopted a similar tactic and played Tugs instead of Flitty as Mokeana and Reid seemed to be able to handle the hard man role.

Really disappointed that we got Arsenal as: IMO they're the best team left in the competion. Oh and all their players including Gilberto will be back for that game. They'll have a fully fit squad to choose from. I'd much rather beat Manure or the barcodes as its more personal and we've more of a history to them. The prospect of Todd firing in a thunderbolt header against Newcastle to win the tie or a beautiful handball volley from Stead for Dickov to put away vs manure were much more appealing. Oh well I suppose that'll have to wait for the final. My housemate is an Arsenal fan - I'm not sure I could speak to him again if they beat us. btw does anyone know when tickets will go on sale?

If we play like we did against Everton then we've every chance of getting a point. Granted we played poorly against Leicester but it was an entirely different type of game. Will be very interested to see how Todd & Nelson cope with Morientes. My team would be: Brad Neill Todd Nelsen Nissa Mokeana Emerton, Reid, Tommo/Flitty, MGP Stead subs Dickov (if fit) Enks, Short, Flitty/Tommo. Tugay This 4th midfield slot is a bit tricky, Flitty's more defensive, but Tommo could cause Liverpool some problems if he doesn't go missing. Dickov may have scored the penalty but wasted two good chances and Stead deserves his chance. The only thing with this formation is that if we go a goal down it would be very hard to get back into the match. Im going for 1-1 Rovers taking the lead through a Todd corner before a late Liverpool equaliser - it has to be from Riise.

That wasn't a classic game and if anything really shows how we are the underdogs in these semis. Apart from MGP we lack players who can create that bit of magic. In tight games - and if we're to win the cup we have to make sure that they're tight games - that litle bit of magic is absolutely VITAL. However we're through and that is the most important thing. Having said that at least we can be confident that the right work ethic is in place to make sure these games are tight. We seem to have the best centre back pairing I've seen for a long time, and we've got the whole team working hard and closing the opposition down. Under Souness this current squad would have been murdered by the teams in the semis - and probably slipped up against either Leicester or Burnley. We've progressed a long way but Hughes is still undoing much of the bad work of the past season. I've a feeling that our formation and work ethic is the right way to go about the semis being the underdogs. It's just that bit of magic we need that will cause me to loose a bit of sleep. Against City who would obviously sit back and defend I felt Hughes should have gone for a more attacking formation as 4-5-1 isn't the best way to break a team down. In fairness all of the midfield or defence deserved their place following the everton game, but Stead should have started up front, and Hughes is paid to make harsh decisions. The positives from the game to me were that the whole defence was excellent. Granted they didn't have too much to do but they did it well and professionally. Emerton being on the bench seemed to have galvanized him and he showed he can cross and looked a threat the entire time he was on. With MGP we look a danger from set pieces again and the guy is the start of getting some flair back into the team. the negatives - Dickov the constant moaning instead of getting on with the game really annoys me. And his finishing is diabolical. Twice he got into good positions only to have a terrible finish. I'm not sure where these two premiership class strikers are - Stead will become one - but Dickov certainly isn't one. Today showed again how poor his finishing is. Flitty showed signs of age, to put it politly whilst Tommo again went missing. I still think Tommos better out wide but Hughes needs to get some consistency into the lad. As for Flitty he's sadly not got it any more. Im not too upset about that as the Axeman seems a more than adequate replacement. Rovers should be somewhat worried about the performance but not too downhearted. Despite a poor performance they still deserved to win and still should have won by another goal. Hopefully Stead will continue to improve before the semis. Mokeana might manage to injure the entire Arsenal team next week and besides WE'RE GOING TO CARDIFF!

To be honest what with the finances being limited I reckon there won't be too many changes to the squad. There's a few key areas to me which need strengthening - namely up front and a centre mid and then proper cover for the left mid and right back positions. Going through the team I'd say the gk situation is fine. Two very good keepers - can't complain. A young keeper might be nice though have hear good things about a keeper at the acadamy (Jones?). Anyhow there is no call for wasting our funds in this area. Defence: To me Amoruso must go - he's so far down the pecking order its untrue - and his wages aren't insignificant. Gray should also go by the same logic - he's at least third choice lb and a big earner. Short will probably go as age has caught up with him. If I had my way that useless lump Matteo would also be gone but Hughes likes him. Gresko should stay. Hughes has done a magnificent job with the defence and I'm sure that he can get the best out of Gresko. As already stated Gresko has played for some big clubs and the lad's been unfortunate in terms of injuries and who he's had in front of him. A fully fit Gresko back to form would be much better value than anything we could buy with our limited funds. Nissa should also stay as he's been impressive at both cb and lb, as well as having age on his side. Again could we buy any better with the funds we have available. If we keep both these players all that's lacking is another rb for competition for Neill. Midfield: The big worry here to me is that both Flitty and Tugs are past it and are on considerable wages; I'd get rid. However this does leave a gap in terms of centre mids though is not as dire as first appears. Firstly I reckon that Reid could do a job in cm in fact I think it's his best position, and has all the qualities of an all round centre mid. Also Mokeana can do the defensive battling just as well as Flitty can. The only hole in the squad is a creative cm but with Tugs and Flitty gone we should have the wages to attract someone decent. Unless Emo's up to playing on the left - another left sided midfielder as cover would be nice. As it is funds might dictate that Emo is too important to loose as he can play either wing. Strikers: Here in lies the problem. Our strike force is the worst in the Prem. Being honest Stead and Gally at the mo aren't good enough - although in both case I believe they can and will make it as Premiership strikers. However both should be learning there trade coming off the bench and not having the additional pressure of leading the line. Equally Dickov is a nice option to have but he is not a lead striker - he's not good enough. A good squad option I'll grant you (and sadly the best we have at the mo) but he does lack the quality and more importantly doesn't seem to help the development of Gally or Stead. We need at least one maybe two proven quality strikers to lead the line and bring on our youngsters. Two might prove difficult to get though. As for Matty and Boothroyd. Due to the difficulties of getting a couple of new strikers. I'd keep Matty due to the promise he's shown this season - though on a reduced rate - as otherwise we could be pretty short of experience up front. If I never see Boothroyd in a rovers shirt again I'd be rather happy. In short: Amo, Gray, Short, Tugs, Flitty and Boothroyd out freeing up enough wages for a creative midfielder and at least one quality striker. Hopefully depending on funds a second striker and a right back will be added a max of 6 out 4 in and a large surplus in wages for Rovers.

Fantastic performance by the lads. I'd not been to Goodison before and was suprised how poor the ground was. Also didn't think much to the Everton team who just seemed to hoof it forward at every opportunity. There were loads of positives today: Tommo proved that although he can't play centre mid he can certainly play on the right Reid showed that he can play a more central role and was my man of the match. Mokeana showed he can take over from Flitty as the hard man in midfield (although we've also got Savage). Ok his passing was limited but no more so than Flitty's and I lost count of how many attack he disrupted. There was that botch with Bent getting past him but Brad who had a great game made a crucial save, that would otherwise have seen a different game. Stead showed why we brought him. Couldn't fault his effort before the goal though he was rather ineffective until he scored. The goal was sheer class though. Much improved after scoring, and it was great to see the guy looking so happy. Nelsen and todd looked a really class partnership. The only gripes were Flitty showing his age (though still put in a decent performance) and us briefly sitting back when scoring. Fortunately this only lasted for about five minutes but if we could cut it out altogether it would be nice. Nissa also showed he can defend well but was poor going forward. Hopefully a rejuvinated Gresko will come into lb next season. In second half we more than matched Everton and a deserved three points to take us into a difficult period of fixtures.

Have got tickets and am going to this one. Last away game I went to was the liverpool away last season - it can't be as bad as that. Everton are good defensively which means our strike force will have no chance of scoring (not that they have much chance against weaker defences either.) The big question is whether our defence is solid enough to stop Everton scoring. Personally I think our defence is good enough to limit opposing teams to a maximum of one goal per game, but sadly with our weak offense this might not be enough. I reckon its going to be 0-0 or 1-0 to Everton. Will Savage be fit for the game? Is Jansen still injured? My team would be (injuries permitting): Friedel Neill, Nelsen, Todd, Nissa Emerton, Savage, Reid, MGP Dickov Jansen subs: Enks, Mokeana (sp), Thompson, Tugay, Gally Really think that its going to be a battle and not sure that its Tugay or gally's sort of game. Would like to see reid start as he's impressed me in recent weeks and will add some more steel to the midfield.

Cheers. Remember the West Ham one. And the Chelsea league cup one as well. I'd forgotten about the Newcastle game and shoot out, probably trying to block out the memory of Davies playing up front on his own for us.

Think you have to look at the end results - and the results are MGP doing a great job at left mid - so full credit to Hughes for getting MGP to play like that. The great thing is that barring us selling him we've got a left mid one of our problem positions sorted out for another 5 yrs or so.

Have we ever won a penalty shoot out other than Wallsall recently? i.e. last 5-10 yrs

There really is no excuse for loosing this one. Our super fit squad of twenty plus players have had a trip to Dubai whilst the reminents of the dingles team have been continuing their loosing streak. Surely it should be no trouble for Rovers to dictate the pace and have em chasing shadows throughout the game. The opportunity to get into the next round could not be bigger. So why do I feel so nervous? Probably because Rovers have a habit of messing the easy things up. I'd be a lot more confident if we had someone who could finish on a regular basis. Even despite Rovers talents for messing up the easy stuff I'm still going for a rovers win 2-0. Prefer a more experienced striker than Jemal on the bench and maybe this is the perfect opportunity for Stead to score.

OK Den I'll give it a go though I didn't vote for him I've still a soft spot for the lad. I think a lot of it was right player at the right time. Considering the glut of good strikers we'd had in the past years (Garner, Speedie, Newell, Sutton, Gally and that Shearer chap wasn't bad either) the current crop of recent strikers were somewhat disappointing to say the least. Davies Ostenstadt and Ward were hardly inspiring - Rovers needed a cult striker again. Which is where Matty came in. When the crowd called for a hero Jansen answered. The guy took a while to find his feet at rovers but even in the relegation season he showed glimpses of the talent and potential to be one of england's top young strikers. By the time the promotion season came that potential had become evident talent. Matty was exciting to watch, in fact one of the most exciting I've seen as a Rovers player and always looked as if he could score a goal or two. In the promotion campaign Matty rightly won player of the season hauling Rovers out of the fire on many an occassion. And some of the skill he showed was magnificent - that cheeky feint against Bolton away, that rocket shot against Norwhich at home, the fantastic solo effort fort the late winner against Birmingham - are just a few which stick in my mind. Ok it was agianst first division but the guy looked class. Another huge plus for Jansen was that he always seemed to give 110%, a fact which became more apparent as he stepped back up to the Premiership. despite playing with grabbi and then Ostenstadt and then on his own Matty continued to score on a respectable basis. And in the premiership his work ethic became even more apparent always harrying defenders and moving about, fans knew that Matty would earn his wage. Then there was his contribution to the Worthington cup - top scorer in the rounds leading up to the final and then he played a key role in the final scoring one and setting up the other - yep it was Matty who harried Leadly into thinking he could take three touches. Not only did Matty have the style and talent, he also wasn't afraid to work hard and be part of the team. Finally there was his rapport with the fans. Matty always looked as if he enjoyed playing for rovers, and who else can remember his celebrations with the blackburn end after seeing off Sheff Weds to get to cardiff. Matty seemed to enjoy a special relationship with the fans, which continued and was evident through their support after his accident. Ok since the accident Matty's been poor but the guy still gives his all. But when looking at all time greats look back to the old Matty. The exciting talented hard working matty. Speedie gave us one season - matty gave us two great seasons. Not only did Matty possess all the desirable qualities of a cult forward he came at the right time. When Rovers needed a front line hero Jansen answered. There's only one Matt Jansen!

What nonsense. The Old Firm game is easily the most intense derby on the planet. As the only two teams capable of winning the title, the victor often stands in good stead in the league rankings. Set aside the quality of football (which is rarely of a very high standard in any derby game) and factor in the history, tension, atmosphere and large fanbases (all the things that contribute to such an occasion). It is utterly wrong to dismiss it outright like that. Yes the SPL is crap, but the Old Firm is one of its few positive aspects. Sure the atmosphere is pretty intense I'll give you that. But then so are many other derby games (Barca Madrid say.) So the winners of the rangers celtic match most likely win the SPL - wow - what a prize. The SPL is so insignificant, you've said yourself the SPL is a joke, that the stakes are hardly much more than bragging rights. And what with at least four derby games per season the derby's highly repetative and too commonplace. Similarly I'd argue the quality and class on display is far higher in a premiership derby for example. Tottenham Arsenal for example is littered with high class players. As for tradition - is the tradition any greater than that of the other derby? Is it a greater tradition than the Rovers-Burnley derby? Ok they're two comparatively small (in terms of catchment area and on the international scale) clubs but to me that just adds to the tradition and atmosphere of the occassion. To me Celtic Rangers games are too commonplace, fighting it out for very little, prizes which internationally are looked down upon.

Amo has many of the desirable extras that you'd like in a defender but sadly he CANNOT defend. The guy is a liability at the back and considering that it is his job to defend then the guy is not worth playing. A defender's first priority is to stop goals and Amo doesn't do that. (Off the top of my head I can recall him playing az large part in goals conceeded against Fulham, that Turkish team and man city). I'm not saying Amo doesn't have qualities, he does - just not as a defender. Since Hughes has dropped Amo/or he's been injured our defence has tightened up considerably - coincidence? The good news is that Amo wants to go, the bad news is no one wants him, even Rangers. Regardless of whether Amo is a decent player or not, i think most people would agree that the centre backs don't need changing and that Amo is fifth choice for the cb position. His wages are too much for a 5th choice cb so we should get rid and put the wages towards a striker or centre mid. Amo wanting to leave is good news as hopefully it'll help us get him off the books in the summer.

The comments just make Ferguson look like a complete looser. (I'd use stronger language if it were allowed.) How he has the nerve to slag off Blackburn after how they stood by him and took a chance on him is beyond me. By the way Barry, the reason you left was cause you failed. You aint going to improve as a player in SPL. Fair enough you wanted to win things - is not the F.A. Cup worth winning or the league cup? Both are worth more than that mciky mouse SPL league. Rangers have just as much chance as Rovers at european success - none whatsoever. The only way that Barry would've had a chance at European glory would be through a big club Arsenal, United, Liverpool, Chelsea etc. or abroad and none would touch him unless he proved himself as a Premiership player. Well, that's another lot of tropheys he'll never win. Oh and Celtic rangers is not a big game. Man Utd Arsenal was a big game. Rovers against either of them would be a bigger game. In fact Bolton Rovers could be construed as a big game by SPL standards. I'm fairly confident that both teams would clean up the rest of the SPL and give Celtic and Rangers a good game too. The truth is on the international stage Celtic-Rangers is scarcely worth bothering with. Just like baby bazza.