My thoughts on the match are far more negative than the majority. I still don't think the diamond formation is working and don't think it ever will. On the left we were stupidly exposed and Wales had acres of space to run in and attack Cole. Butt rarely filled the gap and I don't share peoples views that he is "indespensible;" I thought he was nothing more than medicore. Better teams will punish us on the left if we continue to play Lampard so narrow. Then again, he isn't a left midfielder so it's understandable. At the very least Eriksson could have played an in form Joe Cole. Lets hope Bridge comes back soon. On the right Beckham started well but again came into the centre for much of the first and second half and added little, leaving acres of space down the right flank. If we had played a team with wingers, like Spain, they would have ripped us apart. Upfront we were excellent and I was extremely pleased with Owen and Rooney, the former full of confidence and the latter giving a world class performance. Defoe didn't seem to fit into the three upfront, but Smith looked to have a much bigger presence. Why or why do we continue to play the long ball so often? Our strikers got lucky with a few but the Welsh looked pretty confortable for the most part - our strikers just don't have the height to challange. The only time we should play the long ball is when it's coming from Robinson who, by the way, has an awesome kick. Otherwise, we looked good when we played the ball along the floor.

May I say that I'm extremely disapointed with the mods and admin in their slack discipline in this instance. Glenn, I find it hard to see how this falls within the rules - need I remind a member of admin the posting guidelines? It might be an opinion but what if we were in a thread relating to racism in football and I said "Why are people so angry at racist fans at football? I hate black people and want them all dead!" Would I be allowed to continue posting with nothing more than a slap on the wrist? Surely a yellow card as an extremely formal warning should be issued? I'd be extremely disapointed if three members of mods/admin wouldn't agree with me on this case?

I hope your banned for that post.

I doubt Wales long ball and big men upfront tactic is going to succeed against Ferdinand and Campbell and I think we can expect a static, uninspired performance from the England team. I think we'l edge it 1-0 Lampard.

Parker is a decent player, but frankly nowhere near as good as Ferguson who, in my opinion, is a far more rounded player. I'd be crushed if we sold him. If were going to stop attendances falling we need to keep hold of our best, and most entertaining, players. Ferguson looks to be coming into his prime and to sell him so soon would be an injustice as we might not see his full potential. If we were to recieve 10 million, which we wouldn't, who's to say Hughes would be given all of that to spend on new players? It would be nice to strengthen our defense but with astute buying we won't need to sell our best player. Then theres the problem of if we sold Ferguson and somebody came in and nicked Parker. Absolutely no way we should sell Ferguson unless we have an equally good central midfielder lined up and the bid is more than 10 million. Otherwise we will just be switching our defensive problems to midfield.

It's things like this that make me like Souness so much

Good on Souness! Knowing Savage, it was probably just an attempt to get him angry as opposed to a well thought out wind up. If Souness hadn't have gone after him he'd have been branded as a coward and the papers would be saying he no longer has the fire in his heart required for the job. I hope Savage was really put in his place - Souness was five times the player Savage will ever be. As for Dunn, how pathetic. Unless Sopuness badly victimised him theres no reason not to shake his hand. If he's ever going to recover his form and ability he needs to grow up.

Thats an excellent way to simplify the problem. In theory a merger could be beneficial but a large part of the various clubs fan bases would be lost. Perhaps in 100 years after a merger has taken place we will see rapidly increasing attendances when the club has gained a history and some success, but in the short term, and even mid-long term(if there is such a thing... ) fans will not abandon tradition and allegance and follow a new team. The immediate affect could well be a reduction in attendances, which would put a new merged club even deeper in the mire. Imagine we sold every player and member of management as well as our ground to Bolton, would we follow what is effectively a new team? No because it is not Blackburn Rovers.

Jesus RoverDrake, once more you succeed in really pissing me off. I'm going to re-post something I said in another thread and this time READ IT and realise how annoying you are to those that take this board seriously. http://www.brfcs.co.uk/mb/index.php?showto...80entry245740 - link to thread Different thread, different subject but the most of this still applies. SHUT UP! We were tired of you about 995 posts ago!1111

Already done the joke mate.. Was Tony Gale ever any good for us? And what a joke it was, you should be proud...

Surely playing him in the reserves would result in an even bigger loss of confidence? It's true we cannot afford to carry a striker that isn't performing but it's at the top level he needs to score and peform. If he plays in the reserves he's going to be lacking in first team fitness/experience and it will be an even larger dent to his confidence than being dropped to the subs bench.

The shear bias, exageration and aggressive tone on the Villa site really does show just how lucky we are to have a site as well run as this. Without watching the game or the highlights, what strikes me is that once again the team has stepped up a gear and put in a very decent second half performance. Appears to me that Hughes really has what it takes to rally the team at the half time break and get the best out of the players. Very impressive.

I will hold my vote until I have heard all cases for various players. At 19 I've never watched many of these players and really don't understand the "I haven't watched him play, so I'll vote for the one I have," arguement, even if that particular player is regarded in far lower esteem by the senior members of the board. If you cannot vote for somebody you have never watched, then don't vote, it makes it pointless. If however, you are capable of making a decision based on facts, statistics and the opinions of those that have seen them play and have a far more balanced view on various players, then do so. Den, may I suggest that like the match preview thread, members put themselves forward to make a case for each player and then when the list is made, each player has a link to his particular case. For those senior members on the board annoyed at youngsters just voting for the player they've seen play, then this could be a deciding point - it certainly is for me.

At which point one has to mention Martin from Bushy's (Ale of Man) who single handedly got the away end going (in the absence of the drum) by hammering on the side of the stand with his hand. When I saw him in the Antigallican after the game, he appeared to have paid for this enthusiasm with either a fractured - or certainly extremely badly bruised - wrist. But it did get the noise going. Indeed Tris. Like I said after the match, my section of the away fans was excellent and that man at the side really got the crowd going. After the rubbish we saw in the first half and going a goal down early in the second, the rovers fans really spurred the team on and the team responded well. Excellent support guys.

Agree except for one thing - Amosuro's long balls. He didn't have a bad game at all but he really did just lump it 40 yards to no-one and we didn't have the physical strength up front to get anything from it. Very frustrating because he can give good distribution when he plays it along the floor.

Only players I think have played consistently poorly are Matteo and Flitcroft. I think we need to retain Flitcroft until the end of the season as we do Matteo. It looks as though Tugay is not in Hughes first team plans, especially with the signing of Djorkaeff, which is a shame as he could certainly do a job in the team at the moment. I clapped him a hell of a long time at the end of Charlton as I think it might be one of his last appearances for the club.

Such a decline from last week at Portsmouth. Now I'm not saying he had a great game at Portsmouth, but he controlled the midfield, beat players at times and ALWAYS looked for the ball. He not only didn't show that last night, but gave the ball away stupidly all game and didn't get stuck in. Before last night he hasn't looked bad at all and looked as though his confidence was on the up, but that shocking display against a poor Charlton side really fills me with disapointment. A great player not playing anywhere near his capability. A real shame as he's by far my highest rated player at the club, not to mention favourite to watch.

Excellent post Phillip, almost exactly my thoughts.

Sorry, what I meant was, although he did play himself into trouble in his own half, which is worse than if he was in the oppositions, it was early in the first half, if I remember correctly, when the whole team was edgy and he did it rarely.

The only times I recall Gray playing himself into trouble was in his own half under pressure, not when he was going forward, which is the part of the game that I'm praising so much. Added to that, when he did play himself into trouble, he didn't give the ball away badly.

Well I have to disagree. An inspiration to a largely poor team, but still a very good perfromance in my mind. I'd like to know why you thought he was so awful?

Fitness issues aside, as I have no knowledge on them, this is such an impressive move by Hughes and he is certainly gaining my confidence. EXACTLY what we need at the moment - creativity. As with our rumoured interest in Hartson, Hughes seems to know exactly what the team is lacking and is looking to fix it - strength, height and power upfront in Hartson's case. However, I sincerly hope that this isn't a replacement for Fergson. Flitcroft has been, at best, poor and I presume Ferguson will play alongside Djorkaeff, which raises the issue of tenacity in our midfield - we'l have very little. If Ferguson and Djorkaeff play alongside each other we need a more stable and reliable centre back - if Short is playing then certainly, I think this partnership will work. Once more, good move Hughes.

Saying that, I have read and agree with those commenting on our players lack of quality balls into the box. Emerton and Gray did show good wing play last night but, like i said about Emerton a few pages back, their balls into the box were often too long or way too airy fairy and easily cleared.

Still have a lot of posts to read but had to stop at this one. I too am amazed at how contrasting peoples views are and on that subject come the matter of Gray... Worst game for us? The mind boggles. I though his performance was an inspiration to the team. We also have to remember that he excelled in a team that was otherwise woeful one half, and lacking in midfield for most. The guy may well be caught out when the opposition attacks but so do players like Ashley Cole - it's to be expected. Why was he so good? Simple, we have lacked a left winger for a long, long time and last night we finally looked to have wing play in our game. Emerton's massive improvement this season and Gray's excellent forward runs last night gave us something that has been lacking for god knows how long. What an improvement from last week when his final ball and passing were woeful all match. He continously made decent forward runs, put balls in the box, broke from defence, had the confidence to take people on, won throws and corners in attacking positions and, combined with Emerton, they rallied the spirit of the team and gave us the attacking edge we needed in the second half.

Bizare if you're suggesting that for one minute Charlton were the better team in the second half but as you didn't directly say that I'll take it it's not your opinion. Our wing play was so much better than it has been the last 14 months and it somewhat compensated for our awful central midfield where everything usually stems and we didn't play particularly badly. The team spirit seemed to be on a high and we really gave it our all as soon as we had conceded. Im not ignoring our problems - they are clear to see, but we are well on our way to becoming a better team. If Hughes can install some confidence in Ferguson and get him on the ball, instruct Matteo and Amoruso to learn not to whack the ball aimlessly 40 yards and start Gallagher/Bothroyd from the start we will reap the benefits. A large part of our problems stem from bad tactics and Hughes will surely be able to sort this out, especially our poor defending at set pieces. Scotty, I understand your negativity over once more not being able to convert sustained possession but the point is that we managed to sustain pressure and were desperatly unlucky not to score.