Gray has been a liability. On too many occasions he has positioned himself too deep and the offside trap has failed. This isn't the first game he's played this poorly. Luckily we've had Brad to bail us out. What's more worrying is our midfield. Reid and Bentley have been non-existant, Bentley's crossing is horrendous (Bring on Bert I say). Pedersen hasn't been much better. The only midfielder who can say they've played so far is Savage, but then, he couldn't hold off Lua Lua for the goal... tough man by left teste. And bloody hell, how crap is Dickov...

I did a quick predictor thingy using that machine type dealy and came up with this... 1 Man Utd - 90 Pts 2 Chelsea - 90 Pts 3 L'Pool - 75 Pts 4 Arsenal - 68 Pts 5 ROVERS - 65 Pts 6 Spurs - 61 Pts 7 Wigan - 56 Pts 8 Bolton - 54 Pts With the fixtures in hand, I reckon we can get enough to steal fifth. Spuds have a tough run in, as do Bolton, and to be honest, I can see Bolton capitulating towards the end of the season. In current form I also see Manure stealing the title from underneath the noses of Chelski, and Portsmouth maintaining a good run of results to claw out of the bottom three with WBA destiend for the drop.

I thought Bentley has also picked up the tempo a bit in the last five to ten minutes... He's had some nice touches and done some alright things... pity we have no Bellers

Emo's already looking lively

Pederson has drifted back into the game Bentley has done a couple of nice things but is looking tired I'd bring on EMmo and Peter for Tugay and Bentley, shift Reid into the middle and Pedo up front

Free Kick... come on Pedo!

That's alright, I'm not silly enough to post in direct in the forum... CRAP!

Friedel with another blinder... Gray man what are you doing???

What the hell was that for?

I hope nothing stupid happens and somehow we get down to 10 men. Oh an another thing, whilst I know its not exactly above board, these web streaming video broadcasts are great...

What the hell has to happen for that horsefaced cheat to get a card, a shocking tackle on Reid, a blatant push on Savage and nothing... and what happened at the end of the half?

Great Work Brad... man what a game

Hmm all this talk about sub-freezing temperatures is quite welcoming in a some sad, weird way. We're expecting a lovely 36 degrees today, the same tomorrow, and a similar temperature on New Years Eve. True, it's good beer drinking weather, but bugger me if the odd helping of artic frost wasn't welcome. Oh and I was up at a little place called Mildura in North West Victoria over Christmas (where I grew up incidently) and it was 44 degrees and at midnight it dropped to a reasonable 39. Makes you wonder eh...

Just did a check of the FoxSports website and the game is being telecast live at 1:00am for all you Aussies out there. By the way, I reckon it will be a tight tussle, possibly a 1-0 to us, Dickov the scorer, or even 1-0 to them, with Murphy bagging it. Can't comment on the away support as it's a bit of a trek up to Ewood from hereabouts.

I awoke at 5am to watch the game and through bleary eyes and hazy mind watched Rovers absolutely dominate the match. It was a pretty scrappy affair with not much in the way of quality play being shown, aside from Tugay (again MOM) and Pedersen, who tore it up on the wing. Overall they played well, Kuqi had countless chances but is severely lacking in quality. He's essentially a six foot version of Dickov without the moaning. Savage played well, as did Emerton and Nelsen was a rock in defence as usual. Tottenham had one shot in the first half, which proved to be their only chance for the match. Second half started and the ref was buggering things right up. Two clear penalty shouts, one where Kuqi was being groped, manhandled and gangraped in the box, all for nowt. Another couple of lacklustre shots on target by Rovers, but constant pressure and finally some flowing attacking football. And then the red mist set in. Todd (luckily wasn't caught by the refs, but the camera caught him) headbutts that pie-munching git Andy Reid and Neill clatters into Davids for a second yellow and is sent off. Still, even with ten men, Rovers still looked the more likely to score and really should have won the match. If only Bellers was fit. In the end 0 - 0 and to be honest, a disappointing result. I came into this match thinking they had a good shout for the three points and they showed they were up for it. A little too up for it by the end of the match. Always thought Spuds were overrated. 1 point gained or 2 points lost. You decide. I for one think we should have won this, but do take heart from the number of chances created, sadly the finish isn't there. C'mon Rovers, one more striker please.

Well that just capped off an utterly terrible weekend. Came down with a rather nasty bout of tonsilitis on Friday morning. Couldn't make it to the Melbourne Victory game due to illness and then discovered they were pumped at home 3-1. (At least that was pre-season). Shocking day on Saturday, computer packs it in and needs a reformat, spent all day re-organising that (lucky the uni homework was backed up). In a good mood again as every team I had predicted to win in the AFL had and I was cruising to get some cash only to realise that I didn't go to work on Friday and thus didn't fill in my footy tips. Coverage over here started at 11:00pm and upon turning the telly on see Man Utd 2 up over Everton. Missed both goals of course. Two minutes later the telly starts fizzling and making fantastic crackling noises. Turned it off quickly and bugger me if the tube hasn't burnt out. (Thoroughly p***ed off at this point as tv is only 15 months old, but is still out of warranty). Hooked up my old piece of crap tv with shoddy picture in time for the Rovers game and was in a good mood again, especially when Todd scored. However as has been expressed by other posters, this all turned to a steaming pile of dog poo, leaving me in a very unhappy mood. And to cap it all off, couldn't get to sleep as the wife was snoring like a freight train. Anyhow, my rather blinkered analysis of the match. Whilst Rovers had control of the first 30 mins or so, I could see a few problems. Savage cannot pass, each ball he hit was too strong or way off target. Reid and Pedersen were suffering from the same thing, often looking for Bellamy but not getting it anywhere near him. Reid should be banned from taking free kicks. Kuqi was lively, but lacked the touch and quality that was needed. Didn't actually see him win a header until the shot on goal from the corner which he clearly should have slotted. Commentators were remarking on how Mokoena and Todd should have swapped, as their respective markers were clearly out-foxing them. Mokoena on the whole was dire and was even struggling with winning in the air (something he did well last year). Todd too looked out of sorts, possibly due to his partner or simply that he couldn't handle Harewood's pace. Emerton was invisible most of the first half, but to be fair, the ball was coming up the left flank for the majority of it, only for Pedersen to punch it out of touch with a poor pass. Second half though, just as poor and indecisive as usual, though he did get some good crosses in, but no one was there for Rovers. Second half and we all saw what happened. Essentially Rovers disintergrated. Not going to comment on Mokoena as I thought he was the worst player on the park. Savage too was poor and doesn't look like he links up well with the other players. Reid was lively and willing, but couldn't find a quality ball for the forwards. Matteo was lumbering about for the most part, looked decidedly more comfortable at centre half but still doesn't cut the mustard. Couldn't guage Gresko's performance on his limited playing time, though did notice he was more willing to come forward than Matteo. Bellamy was clearly frustrated with the service he was getting. Best player in my opinion was Neill. He positioned himself well, tackled well and hard, worked hard all day and managed to come forward a lot of times also, yes his balls forward weren't always the best, but that's not really his department. The less said about Dickov the better. Overall, a turgid performance. The team lacked that creative spark required to lift them, (possibly bringing Tugay on could have helped) and were for the most part outpaced and outmuscled. Here's hoping for a better performance next match (and a new tv for me).

We could say you're all a bunch of whinging poms, but that wouldn't be nice now would it. FFS, get over it... we're all Rovers, no matter where we come from, what clothes we wear, which dodgy establishments we frequent or who we worship. Praise be to Nelsen, Lord of all that is resolute.

I live in Bundoora, I haven't figured out if I'm coming yet, we have some family do on, I have to figure out a way to escape it. Otherwise I'm in, and happy to share a cab.

Nope, no good... Keep getting notification that due to contractual obligations they can't broadcast it... oh well

Thanks Ally... Seems to be a lot of offsides... how are the boys doing?

Any idea if the game is being broadcast online...at work at the moment and I can't log onto chat!

You beauty! About bloody time, I'll have the wife packed up, the fridge full of cold ones and doctors number on speed dial at the ready for my impending sickie... Can't wait. Go you blues!

Yes there is... Canterbury Bulldogs, but they're a Rugby League side

Pretty much the same for me. Don't really have much interest in the other sides. Though I don't mind watching Barca play and due to heritage, Hajduk Split. But other than that, all a much of a muchness. Rovers all the way, Victory over here.

Well I have an extra 1000 kms on top of that! Btw, good win. Go you good thing.