I like it - a cultured way to end a topic!!!!!!!!!!

Enjoyed reading these post match comments. Interesting to see how we disagree, as if we have watched a different match. In the pub after then game a group of us all seemed to agree on:

Savage had a massive game

GMP had a massive first half

We love Dickov but as a striker he is useless (they are supposed to score goals not just wind up the centre backs)

Matteo yet again showed what total sh.... he is - there must be a slower more useless full back somewhere but we struggled to think of one

Emerton!!!!!!!!! After another brief period early this season when he showed he could play a bit' he is now back to being a total joke - he was so crap it was difficult to see why he was still on the pitch

Brad should have saved the goal

The Kiwi looks like Terminator

We didn't understand why Hughes didn't go for it in the last 15 minutes, he seemed happy with the 1-0 loss

Thommo is trying too hard and making silly mistakes, he needs to calm down a bit

Like many of us I have been waiting to see the brilliance that we paid £7m for. I was slowly coming to the conclusion that he was merely an OK player and so worth about £1.5m. So for us to get what we did from Rangers smacks of good business. The bad business was Souness paying so much for him (and Amorusso!) in the first place. He has gone back to try to be a big fish in a little pond with his reputation in tatters. Good riddance.

Like others I am seriously concerned that we seem to have no-one who can score goals and it looks like being a dire last bit of the season with us ending up 5th from bottom. For me we now need to keep Pederson in the side (and Matteo out of it).

Souness is a strange manager. When he came to us he changed things around and got the best out of the squad and we had some success. No-one will ever forget Cardiff and his inspired selection of Sparky in midfield and Tiny looking a class act at right back (!)

His problems seemed to start when he started to bring his own players in. With one or two notable exceptions he signed a lot of garbage. he has got worse with this as the time went on. He also signed some players on loan who might have done a job but fell out with them - Sukar was a good example of this.

Then as things started to go wrong frustration seemed to bring the bully out in him and he fell out with everyone. Once this happened he seemed to lose judgement and did daft things.

His signings this summer were a joke. They spoke of a manager who had lost his judgement and the first few games confirmed that. I half expected him to resign or be sacked before the Geordies came in. By then I was pleased to see him go and glad when Mark Hughes was appointed.

He has a lot to learn I am sure and I am worried that some of the squad have been watching old videos of how he used to play! But I think he will come god and I would love us to beat them on Boxing Day.

I've never booed Big Al and never will - I think people who do are sad tossers. However I am not sure about how I will feel about Souness when I see him. Cardiff was ace but he really left us in the crap when he left.

Perhaps we should just forget Souness and put all our efforts into outsinging the Geordies and cheering the boys on to a win.

[i think every striker seems to struggle to play with Dickov, but Jay seems more effective out of all of them (excluding Saturday when both were crap). and Dickov is first choice for Hughes

I would love at this point to see a different pairing upfront that didn't involve Dickov, purely for a change, he's played in every game and had a purple patch recently but I still think he not good enough for a decent PL team as do many on the board only "lately"( no doubt that will change when he scores another pen)

Although he would be a decent sub, excluding the pens he's got one goal in 15 games in open play and that was a last 10 min goal. so his workrate in the last 10-20 mins could be effective and catch a few defenders out.

I agree with Chris in dropping Dickov to the bench and trying a different pairing. Much as Dickov always gives 110% he simply is not a Premiership striker and never has been. I wonder what he would be like in midfield in the Scholes type late running role? Worth a try with tugay and Thommo out for a spell (and possibly Barry if they use TV evidence)

Sutty & Hartson sound exciting but they are both injured all the time aand at their age that won't get any better. Thompson is also useful but isn't he similar in terms of age and injury. We need a Makele type player - anyone know of one going cheap?

This is really hard after Spurs, when we could have changed at least 8 of them

On the one hand we all want to watch exciting players so its got to be a striker who scores and an attacking midfield player

But on the other hand you don't win anything unless you can defend !!!!!! So a defensive midfield player and a quick, mobile cetre half would be top of the list.

If I stick with only two its got to be the defensive midfielder to break things up and the attacking midfielder to get 8-10 goals a season

It's funny reading through the messages today but we all seem to be watching the same game but seeing different things. After being a season ticket holder for a lot of years my life has changed and I can't get to Ewood much this year. I have watched us on TV and was getting more upbeat. But I got to Ewood on saturday and you see different things when you see the game. I ended up very down on Saturday and like some others couldn't bring myself to think about the game until today.

My take is that we look to be very weak all over the park, except for Brad and Toddy. Many people will call me for being a pessimist but this is what I saw :

Shorty - legs have finally gone but tries

Nisa - never has been & never will be a left back

Lucas - after a brill first season has been the consistantly worse passer of the ball in the side, but was one of the better players on sat

Reidy - worked his socks off but has yet to prove he's Premiership class

Toogs - played well until his legs went, we need to replace him as his days are past

Barry - very ineffectual, didn't dominate midfield and easily brushed off the ball, is he good enough to run a midfield in the Premiership?

Emerton - in the last 10 minutes when he moved to the right he was ace, up til then he was total sh.... , to me he was the cause of their goal with the way he returned the ball immediately to Toogs without taking any responsibility(as usual)

Gally - looked very lightweight and had little efect apart from the one shot

Dickov - wasn't good enough playing for Leicester last year and no better for us. Simply not a quality striker no matter how hard he tries. We can't rely on him to get us the goals

Bothroyd - changed things when he came on, but can he score?

Matteo - is he seriously still getting a game in a Rovers shirt - he makes Baggio look productive

I'm sure I will get lots of abuse for this from fanatics on the site who thought we weren't bad, but let's get real!! We are a very very poor side. Souness has left Hughes with a very difficult job to do.

Thanks for a great interview with a Rovers legend who always played with loads of heart. Sunday night against Fulham reminded me of some of those heart-stopping last 5 minutes when Timbo and Big Col threw everything in the way for us to win.

What a way to set you up before a Friday beer and a great win tomorrow.

Come on you Blues