I think this game shows how badly we need Savage in the team. There's no tempo to our play at all esp. in the 1st half. Gray looks like a lost child on the pitch, cant blame him anyway as a last min replacement for unfortunate Emerton who I feel we would've gotten something out of this game if he plays. Center Midfield and leftback definitely are the positions to be address during Jan. As we could see Tugay is no more a 26 years old chap to last the whole match at the current pace and the 'Axe' is just an axe. I also feel McCarthy seems distracted atm. Are those racist thing still cloaking his mind?? Good points are the performance of S.Peter, how refreshing to watch when we had only Gamst's freekick to appreciate this season. You could see his eagerness to want to perform well. Faded during the end which is understandable given the oppotunities he had in the first team. I'll say give him more chance in the future. We will be able to cope with 3 losses imo. No pressing of panic button yet. As long we keep our heads high and keep working. I think a positive result will come soon. Let it be on thursday.

No Rangers but looks like a good draw avoiding decent clubs. Good chances of progressing I think.

Group A it is. Do make it come true. I 'll be a happy man.

Getting exciting!! Home or away let us have Rangers. Come on Rovers!

Hope we don't get embarrassed. 2-1 to Salzburg isn't too bad a result anyway and we will finished them back at home.

I'm generally satisfied with our transfer signings covering areas we lack last season. Some really good value buys I feel in McCarthy,Roberts and loanee Nonda although they haven't perform to my expectations yet. Still settling in would say, only time will tell with more games coming up.

Its been awhile since my last post. Work is killing me atm. But I do have some concerns (don't know where I can put it) after watching rovers this season. I am certainly no bandwagoneers as I'm no.1 fan of Hughes/Williams who both will definitely able to take us to the new heights in near future. But those so called 'bandwagoneers' do have a valid resaon to over-react after rovers performance recently. Lack creativity is the main concern to most if not all, but I felt that its our attacking outlet becoming to predictable with our current play. So are we being founded by our rivals or are the players really under perform? I hope Hughes does have a plan B in his mind instead of keep relying on our predictable 442 formation. Didn't Everton turn the tides around and nick a late equaliser after a change of players and formation? Its pain to see us struggling in the last period of time at Brammel Lane when Utd players rose to occasion and up the tempo while Hughes seems helpless to do anything with his subs. Probably its early days yet but I hope Hughes sort out his squad asap as games are coming thick and fast now. While having in mind an alternative tactic (by throwing in a defensive player for an offensive one or v.v) or formation be it 451, 433, 352 when things don't go our way. As I see with our one and only formation now, we really need all 10 outfield players to perform in order to get any results.

Good reasoning there shillito15. The difference in opinion depends on whether you are viewing it as footballing terms or business terms. Sad to say in modern days, football clubs are being run as a business. Players being their assets. I'm not saying I'm happy to let Nelsen leave as he had shown us what a quality player he is to warrant the fees we will receive for him. But if selling him and replacing him with two decent player who had played in the WC (Oojier and Huth). Not only we replace him with equal quality but also raise our club's profile immensely. Like I said before, Rovers had signed their most valuable player this season in Hughes and with Williams, I can safely say our beloved club is in good hands. So am just relax and see what kind of squad we have after 1st sept. Roll it on. Just like to add more. Personally love this article by Andy Neild :Rovers are sexy now So much of positive vibes coming out from the club and how well we are selling ourselves now. "We've got great facilities, I'd like to think a good manager, great coaches, good back-up from all departments at the club, and everything is geared to make players better, and that will always be an attraction for footballers." We could have dubbed ourselves as a small Ajax in England.

Poor performance from us but credit to the greeks. They are good technically(I think they're champions in the league last season) and stop us from playing in the midfield. We only get going when Tugay came on(too late). I hope Hughes realise that we do need a quality center midfielder as this match shows that none apart from Tugay can hold the midfield together when facing good opponents. Think Hughes and the players got alot to learn from tonight's game. Like most said, it's better to make mistakes in pre-season then in a crunching UEFA cup match!

Thanks for the link, been watching it now, the quality is poor but watchable. Btw whats with our shorts?

Managed to squeeze into top 10 at the last round thanks to the 'Pig' from Germany.

Welcome aboard Roberts! Well done Rovers! Two thumbs up from me. Two signings in a day. The boards do work hard to get things done so stop slating them for not doing enough when there's no transfer news comin out from those press. On my view, Roberts is vastly underrated. Watched him number of times last season. He's been causing problems against defenders even when operating as a lone striker. I see him as a target man being strong and yet possess with decent pace. But I do fear that we could have miss out on Mido with him signed. I can't see Mido n Roberts with Kuqi as backup. All being too similar. Time to look for a striker with pace but no Baros please.

I would say no. Not even with crazy money. Why sell a talented young player that's happy with the club?? What does it imply to other good young players? I hope the club will come out saying 'He's Not For Sale' when club like manure or spud approaches and sign him on for another another 2 years till '10 this summer. I surely hope that mgp realise that we are the club thats on the up even when comparing to the likes of manure etc.

Brillant!! What a performance from the lads.. although Savage sending off is abit harsh by the sound of it. How many match will he sit out? Bellamy had done it for us again. He is simply few class above all the rest. Lets hope he stay fit and Europe is near.. very near.

Nothing separate both team honestly.. only difference is we finished our chance while they don't. Fifth position and 3 points off spurs! Europe.. Here we come!!!