Dickov's workrate was once more exemplorary yesterday, but he never really looked a threat. Bothroyd, however, did - largely because of his strength and height. In the first half Rovers could never manage more than two players in the box at once and Dickov was never going to be able to do much when constantly out-strengthened and out-numbered. In the second half this only got worse when Bothroyd was sent off. He was at times surrounded by 3,4,5 norwich defenders at once and never stood a chance. I remember one opprtunity when he went passed a norwich player who looked to pull him back as he entered the box, other than that he was pretty non-effectual. Sure he scored the goal and he ran his socks off and he was on his own most of the match, and he probably deserves a place in the team for his spirit alone, but the attack really needs sorting out. Bothroyd looks like a quality player but needs a clinical finisher to compliment his excellent link play with midfield. Gallagher is not that player.

Haha, very odd that, because I had a pretty clear view... Also, I was wrong on the goal, I said Emerton set up the goal from a corner but it was Neills right wing cross. Was getting confused with when Johansson hit the bar from a corner.

Good stuff Bellamy - I had a pretty good view of the penalty incident and I am absolutely adament that it was a stone wall penalty - he controlled it with his arm. I'm not sure how far away the ref was but he should have been in a decent position considering the ball was in their box. I was astounded at the fact that the penalty incident was not even deemed important enough to include on the MOTD highlights. Agreed over Tugay who was by far the most disapointing player on the pitch. After such an excellent performance against Liverpool last week, he was more of a danger to us than to a Norwich team he should be looking to rip apart with his passing game.

I didn't realise that the guys abuse of the stewards was solely down to their persistant standing. I thought something had been done or said that caused the fans to react, obviously that isn't the case. I was about 3/4 rows behind the people in question, slightly to the left,(if they are the ones I think you mean) and it was extremely frustrating to say the least. The constant pointing out of the home fans standing was really petty as well. Tris, of the people standing, was one wearing a black jacket, black hair and thick rimmed black glasses, with a slightly older man to his left constantly turning round to face the stewards at the top of the stand? Must have been seat numbers between 15-20. I tried to join in the chanting, but not when the songs were about Burnley or the police and stewards.

What a fantastic second half display. Too tired to go into the depth I usually do after games but heres what i thought of todays game... The first half was poor. Norwich came out wanting a win, we did not. 30 minutes or so of constant pressure and needless giving the ball away from our players. We adopted a ridiculous long ball tactic to Dickov and with Bothroyd dropping back into midfield meant we were toothless in attack. However, Bothroyd was the one piece of class we had, until his stupid sending off. Two good shots and a lot of decent link play with Dickov. In the 15 minutes preceeding half time Rovers seemed to be getting the edge; finally we were playing the ball along the floor and we put a couple of very decent moved together. Unfortunately we just did not have the touch of class we needed up front. Second half and a complete transformation. The lads needed a wake up call and the sending off was just that. We looked a different team from the off and when Norwich scored it was totally against the run of play. Cannot really blame anyone for the goal, perhaps the defender at the back post for not winning the header, but thats about it. But did we give up? Hell no! Ferguson was starting to dictate things in midfield and Reid and Emerton were running the wings superbly. The defense looked solid and for once I was not left thinking we could concede at any minute. Dickov upfront, however, was being outnumbered 3,4,5 against 1 every time he got the ball and I was just crying for Stead to be brought on. Hughes left it as it was right up till the 75th minute or so and brought Flitcroft on for the disapointing Tugay. At first I was furious at Hughes tactical approach - surely we should be going for a goal? But what Flitcroft brought was a bit of stability and we went from strength to strength. Rovers continued to press and what really struck me was that Emertons corners were actually pretty decent today and one was met with the head of Johansson and the ball smacked against the bar. It wasn't going to be rovers day and this was made worse by a BLATANT handball in the box, which somehow Match of the Day didn't even feature! But, alas, who pops in for one of Emertons corners, but Dickov and god did we deserve it. We were out-numbered, but not out-played. - McEveley is growing in confidence; last week the only thing missing from his game was an attacking edge - today he had it. He impressed me last week for his strength and ability to hold players off and other than one instanced when he was rounded by the pacey Norwich right winger, he put on a very decent display. - VERY disapointed with Tugay. Last week I thought that we had a perfect pairing in midfield, largely because Tugay was getting stucdk in, winning his tackles and still playing the ball superbly. Today his passing was quite poor at times and he just did not have the same tenacity as against pool. Ferguson, Emerton, Reid - absolute stars. Ried really impressed and is gaining in confidence - he actually ran at Norwich on quite a few occasions and continued to show why he has kept his place in the team. Emerton again with another decent performance and finally seems to have got his corners sorted. Ferguson, likewise, a very decent game. Freidel - 6 - not much to do really, but what he did wasn't bad Neill - 6 - switched off a few times just when I was thinking he had picked his game up. However, not a bad performance. McEveley - 7 - another solid peformance from a young lad gaining confidence. Johansson - 7 - for a tall guy he needs to impose himself more, especially when heading defensively. Todd - 7 the tenacity we have missed this season. Didn't put a foot wrong all match. Reid - 8 - another quality performance and has started to prove doubters, such as myself, that he can play the right wing role. Emerton - 8 - another good perfromance, though very quiet first half. Ferguson - 8 - another commanding performance, with some very good switches of play. Tugay - 5 - very disapointing from a man who played a cracker last week. Just did not have the tenacity he did against pool and his passing was often wayward. Bothroyd - 8 - the one quality player on the pitch before he stupidly got sent off. His strength means he is a great linking player from midfield to attack Dickov - 7 - deserves his rating for running alone. Solid performance, though outnumbered 3,4,5 players on 1 for much of the second half. Steve Dunn - 6 - missed a fair few fouls that should have gone to rovers and one absolute nail on penalty when a Norwich player controlled the ball with his hand. Correct to send Bothroyd off Oh and one more thing - even when Rovers had 11 men, we never had more than two players in the box whenever a cross came in. Unacceptable and something that I hope Hughes sorts.

It's been been discussed, conjectured, argued, disputed, induced, remonstrated, quarelled... the whole time the all time 11 has been voted for, and frankly I think it's just so short sighted to only vote for players you have seen play. I voted for Clayton. Obviously I have never seen him play, but from his reputation and board members testimonies I have deduced that he is the best centre midfielder the club has seen.

Exactly the same as against Liverpool thankyou very much. Tugay and Ferguson really impressed me lon the weekend and could be the key against Norwich. In previous weeks and months the defense has not had adaquate cover but Ferguson, and Tugay in particular, really impressed me at just how hard they got stuck in whilst also creating a lot of chances. If they can re-create that then I fancy our chances. Usually I would say replace Reid on the right because he really is an awful right winger, but in recent weeks he has shown the qualities needed in a fight like this, though perhaps far better suited to the centre or in place of Neill. Up front, Dickov and Bothroyd linked well and Bothroyd in particular needs to build on his last performance and his goal tally. In defense, Johansson and McEveley really impressed and the only liability appears to be Neill. Replace him - I do not care if Peers has no premiership experience, right now a division 3 player would be better than Neill. My team Freidel Peers / Johansson / Short / McEveley Reid / Tugay / Ferguson / Emerton Bothroyd / Dickov Score - 1-0 Rovers

God just give it a rest, this conspiracy theory has been exhausted and your arguement is just so inane. Give it a god damned rest, NOBODY cares!

It's spelt "equalizer," Flopsy, EQUALIZER... Talking of the Liverpool midfield, it was nice to see Alonso getting frustrated and lashing out at Tugay when nothing was going his way. He may have given a great assist for the first goal but overall he was kept in his place by Fergy and Tugay.

A very long match report but the last match I went to lead to a lot of interesting debate. I'd be interested to know what people think about what I have said. What a performance - a HUGE improvement on the last few weeks. We started the match with a very high tempo, thanks largely to Ferguson, Tugay and Emerton going in hard and fast without the ball and making some nice plays with it. Then Neill gets stupidly out of position, with Short next to him playing too deep and failing to play riise offside. Neill failed to recover and Riise fired home. good finish. Just remember that although this was a defensive mistake, Johansson and McEveley were not at fault, McEveley in particular was high up the pitch. What a spirited comeback though, epitimized by the hard grafting and creativity of Ferguson and Tugay who not only kept Alonso and Haaman quiet, but caused a lot of anxiety for the pool defense. Emerton on the left was excellent and ran at Josemi all half. Who says ythere isn't a tackle between Tugay and Ferguson?! Bothroyd also dropped back on several occasions to link well with midfield, his strength winning many 50/50's. Dickov's workrate was immense and he often won us the ball when it looked safe for pool. Then came the goal. Supreme ball by Ferguson put Emerton in down the left and his ball in was excellent. Bothroyd got infront of his man to slot home and send the crowd nuts. Not only did we not switch off like we usually do but we even pushed for a second. Perhaps the only negative at this stage was the useless positioning of Neill and the lack of cover from Reid, which left Traore in acres of space. Bothroyd's strength was invalueable to Rovers and he and Dickov linked well on quite a few occasions and we were unlucky to score twice. What was also very useful was when he dropped back into midfield and often won the ball back. For a small period Liverpool attacked and it was thanks to some real strength and compsure from McEveley that their runs down the right came to little. He lacked the confidence to go forward but it was nice to not be left exposed as we are when Gray ventures forward. If anything I think McEveley's inclusion was a tactical decision. We were winning every 50/50, Tugay especially getting stuck in, whilst playing some nice balls, though several were off course. Then we go forward again, Dickov winning the ball brilliantly, and just as Ferguson looked to have squandered the chance, in popped Emerton to cooly curl it round Kirkland. 2-1 and very much in the driving seat. HALF TIME We started the second half well getting a few corners - unfortunately Emerton would play them either a mile too long or right at the first man. Reid looked a much better taker. Emerton was giving Josemi a torrid time and looked absolutely brilliant, not to mention extremely physical. However, Liverpool began to come into the game, but the respoinse from Rovers defense was exemplary - Johansson in particular throwing himself at everything. We break with Emerton passing three men and forcing a foul, when, in a moment of madness, McEveley passes straight to Garcia whose long ball found Baros on the edge of the box. He was just too fast for Johnasson who did really well to hold him off. Infact, he did everything required, this was ENTIRELY Brads fault! What the hell was he thinking? The commentators failed to pick up on the fact that he just watched Baros run 15meters at him without even closing him down. By the time he got his shot out he was all of 5 feet away. Poor keeping, totally unacceptable. Has he lost his bottle or was this just an isolated incident? Liverpool started to get back into the game and we looked edgy. Neill was caught out of position several times and just whacked the ball out to touch whenever he got it. The lads tried their best but nothing was really coming off. This was when Hughes introduced Stead in place of Bothroyd. A bad decision in my opinion as he was the only player we had with the physical presense to cause any danger at this time, Emerton aside. McEveley continued to play well holding off Garcia and Baros on several occasions and Tugay continued to play some good balls. Was nice to see Tugay get stuck in rather than be anonymous like Flitcroft. Likewise Johansson made a vital interception and Reid got stuck in. Emerton, however, was just buzzing. He looked a threat every time he had the ball and Stead pulled off a great run and shot, after an Emerton run past two or three players, which forced a good save. Rovers were coming back into it and from a clever free kick, Dickov found himself in the box and shot from close range, which was saved by Kirkland. Short was also cleared off the line from a header from Emerton's only good corner. We saw out a shakey last few minutes for a VERY much deserved draw. Ratings... Freidel - 5 - Didn't really do much wrong other than the second goal, which ANY premiership and probably even championship goalkeeper could have saved. Neill - 4 - Useless. The only player that showed nothing. Poor passing, poor balls up the line, poor tackling and especially poor positioning that cost us a goal. Johansson - 7 - Looked edgy early on but really got stuck in and generally had a good game Short - 6 - slightly to blame for first goal but otherwise strong and composed McEveley - 7 - a very tidy perfromance and his strength held off Baros and Garcia on numerous occasions. Lacked confidence going forward and partly to blame for second goal Reid - 6 - Disapointing again. He is not a right winger and didn't play wide enough. Gave Traore ridiculous amounts of space to run and left Neill exposed. Did, however, get stuck in. Ferguson - 8 - very good performance. Great tackling and vision. Created a lot and formed the backbone of the team. Tugay - 8 - A refreshing performance. Displayed the grit and determination lacking from so many of Flitcroft's performances, yet also managed to play a lot of good balls. Emerton - 9 - Fantastic game. Gave Josemi a torrid time with his consistent running, power and pace. Played quite a few good balls into the box and looked to be brimming with confidence. Played much wider than usual as well, which meant he was often found in good positions. Borthroyd - 8 - Exactly what the team needs - strength and presense. He linked very well with Dickov and i think the partnership is definately the way to go until January. Took his goal well and dropped back into midfield to help on several occasions. A real team player. (I have to add here that I have been saying this for about 5 weeks now ) Dickov - 7 - Showed real grit and determination and linked well with Bothroyd. However, spurned a few good chances and went off the boil towards the end. Stead - 6 - Bad foul and yellow card and looked again as though he were low on confidence. Great shot at goal, however.

For those not watching the match, its half time and we look 10 times better than we have all season. Bothroyd and Dickov are linking very well, while Ferguson and Tugay are looking a good pair in midfield as well. Tugay has made quite a few probing passes, Ferguson likewise and both have been giving it plenty of aggression. Mceveley looks very strong and effective when players are running at him, though lacking confidence going forward. Neill and Reid have been pretty poor and Traore has been given acres of space on their left flank. One poor defensive mistake in particular by Neill and in part by Short cost us dear. |Johansson hasn't looked bad. Emerton has been excellent - who said he couldn't play on the left? two great balls in and plenty of runs. Our first goal was such a beautiful move full of pace. We have bossed the midfield with majority posession and Bothroyd has been dropping back to help out. Right now Bothroyd is the main difference, but everyone is giving twice the effort that I have seen of late. Keep it up rovers, great display!

I've had a bad feeling about this match all week - Liverpool have looked amazing recently and on paper they have one of the best starting 11's in the premiership. However, I've got a good feeling about today. I still think we'll lose but maybe by just the one goal. 2-1 Liverpool. Team... Friedel Neill / Todd / Short / Gray Emerton / Reid / Ferguson / Djorkaeff Stead / Bothroyd

A far improved defensive performance to result in a 2-0 defeat. Liverpool look awesome all over the pitch right now and I just do not know how we are going to keep them at bay or break them down. The formation I would go for is... Friedel Neill / Short / Todd / Gray Emerton / Ferguson / Reid / Djorkaeff Stead / Bothroyd I think we need to play narrowly to prevent Alonso and Hamaan dictating the game and that this formation will best achieve this. There is no way in hell Dickov is going to get near the liverpool goal on his own against Carragher and hyppia and I think we need Bothroyds strength.

I know me posting only adds to the rubbish I have been reading all weekend but for gods sake lets leave conspiracy theories, insults and hilarity out of the messageboard.

No?... I'm saying that he hasn't been consistently bad. Infact he's been very good in many games when those around him have let him down. Next time I'm not going to bother giving an answer that is already so obvious.

More utter garbage. Pedersen hasn't been good enough - that's why he doesn't start. It's almost impossible to respond to one of your posts without making a personal attack as they're all so pathetically stupid. You simply haven't a clue and continually post "controversial" rubbish to gain attention. And I guess I've just fallen for it. Well done. I dissagree, I think rover6 just states his opinion and his opinion happens to be full of facts. Gamst-Pedersen must be played. He is a left-midfielder who is highly rated, the likes of Ferguson, Matteo, Neill have plenty of consistently bad performances yet still get in the side, so we might as well balance the side and play MGP and give him a proper chance at least. What the hell, Ferguson consistently bad? No wonder your jumping to the defense of other moronic posts.

You haven't been on the board long enough to realise that sometimes Rover6 makes some very good points, but more often than not he posts some complete garbage like a conspiracy theory for why somebody hasn't been played, as above.

I try to watch as many Rovers matches as I can and from what I have seen Ferguson has always impressed me and has almost always been the best player in the team. If it wasn't for him controlling the midfield, slowing the pace of the game to allow us to recover, bringing the ball from defense to attack and starting most of our moves the team would just be a shambles all over, more so than it is now. Perhaps to state that Ferguson is not of the same calibre of Viera and Keane is obvious but I'm going on what we were promised by Souness. Never the less I stand firm in saying that he is probably the best central midfielder in the league, top 5 aside.

Liverpool looked excellent against Charlton and could have won by far more. Every part of their team scares me. We're gonna be ripped apart on saturday.

LeChuck, I totally understand wanting to offload Ferguson if the price were right but in the january window? Surely not? He is the only thing keeping the team together. Central midfielders are hard to come by right now, especially in the mould of Ferguson, and if we are in a position where we need points, and quick, completely rebuilding our midfield will be suicide. By the time our new players have had time to settle and adapt to our style of play and Hughes training regime, we could already be too far away for them to make any difference. Keep it simple in January, bring in two centre backs and leave the rest be. If we can bring in a central midfielder to partner Ferguson that would be excellent, but to replace him leaves us in the same position we are in now but with a player of far less quality. Bring in the players in January, get rid of the people they are replacing, but leave everything else to the summer. A decision of this magnitude in January is too great to risk.

The thing that has disapointed me with Ferguson is his inconsistancy. One game he looks excellent and full of confidence, the next shot of any confidence to go past players or pick out a pass, running around aimlessly. For the majority I think he has looked excellent and well worth the money we paid for him at the time. This season it looks a lot, but when we got him I think it was a good piece of business. he isn't of the calibre of Viera and Keane as promised but hes just about the best central midfielder in the premiership outside of the top 5. 600th post

Play Reid in midfield next to him and the entire team will reap the benefits. Ferguson has been our best performing player ever since he joined the club and has been fit. He is the only thing keeping the team together.

What scares me almost as much as our own dire team is that liverpool could have beaten Charlton by 6 or 7 today. They are going to give us the run around in midfield and batter us upfront. Thats presuming they don't just rest half their team...

We were frutrating in the first half, but not just for chelsea, the away fans as well. I praised Hughes for bringing in Djorkaeff but him and Dickov offer absolutely nothing. The Chelsea defense had all sorts of time to do whatever they wanted and we barely created a thing. Like you have said Philip, we lost due to individual and collective defense mistakes, but we didn't win because of our lack of attack. Reid is not a winger and provided nothing going forward. However, I was very impressed with him because he shows all the attribues we need in central midfield. Emerton is plain and simply out of positionon the left so he provided little. Then through the centre we had all of Dickov to aim at who is too small to win anything and djorkaeff was almost non-existent. It pains me to watch Stead because his confidence and touch has just deserted him - he just looks clumsy. Bothroyd, however, has the presense we need. Please play him next week.

One thing has really struck me so far during these football first highlights - REID. The only positive because I really think that this guy can play the centre midfield role. He certainly isn't a winger - he isn't skillful enough, cannot deliver a cross and doesn't seem to be able to beat a man. HOWEVER, his short range passing is excellent and he has switrched the play well a few times. He is strong, very quick, is brave when heading and I think this is exactly what we need next to Ferguson. Suddenly I feel a lot better. Though I doubt we will ever see him playing central midfield.