Oh dear. Absolutely no positives to take out of todays performance. Despite all the possession (especially in the second half), I don't recall one shot of any note other than Gally's at the beginning of the second half. Spurs may be crap, but they loked a darn sight more threatening when they had the ball. Rovers on the other hand had no creativity whatsoever. No-one seemed to have an idea what their role was, or to anticipate what their team mates might do - Neill and Reid played like complete strangers down the right wing. I don't know what Mickey Gray has done to be relegated from the squad but there is no way NEJ should be ahead of him - he is not a professional footballer - he never seems to know what to do when he has the ball, other than to get his body in the wrong position and then hoof it to the opposition. From having had a chance to create a real buzz of positivity and look forward to Christmas, we now go the dump at Selhurst with more pressure back on our shoulders.

No competition in my book (nor many others by the look of it). Duff is one of the two genuinely world-class players I've seen at Ewood (Friedel has been superb but not truly world-class). Damien on the other hand is a magician, not only with tremendous ball control and dribbling ability, but with a tremendous awareness of what is going on around him and when to play the simple ball. Still remember his first game (4-2 defeat against Leicester last game of the season) and even I (being the great talent spotter that I am) thought the little shuffler had something special about him. Scottie was one of my heroes but for all his class, he was never likely to get in the England squad no matter what some blue-eyed fans might think - I remember him playing for the U21s (and thinking "wow - a Rovers player with the three lions on his shirt!) but don't recall any real discussion (outside deepest East Lancs) of his chances for the full squad. But, at Ewood at the time, he was a breath of fresh air and an excellent get out when we were under pressure. Jason - made the most of his modicum of talent. Listened to Ray Harford, worked hard for the team, did the simple things well and benefitted from playing crosses into the best centre forward of our team. But Damien is head and shoulders over anyone else - I feel honoured to have seen him develop into a world-class while he was at Ewood, and still enjoy watching him play for Chelski.

Good performance all round yesterday but praise for the boys should be tempered with acknowledgement that Fulham were awful - money on them to free-fall all the way to div 1, sorry, "The Championship". Thought two of the best performers yesterday were the ones I was most disappointed in last week - Tugay and Emerton. Fulham didn't seem to realise that the way to snuff Toogs out of the game is to sit on top of him. Instead, despite having 5 so-called midfielders, they gave him all the room in the world and he thrived. Similarly, Emerton benefitted from the space and played practically a free-roaming role and was a continual danger - although, as others have said, could have done witha bit of extra class with the final ball. As for Dickov, I am surprised at how much support he gets for "trying". Yes, that's a huge plus point and it helps to get the supporters behind him (and the team) but he is not in the same league as Cole. Yes, the stats for goals is the same, but he does not contribute to team play so much as Cole did. That, in my view, is why Stead has been struggling so much this season - last season, room was being created for him by defenders focusing on Cole's runs. That is not happening with Dickov as his partner - Dickov is very much head down, focusing on his own game. However, we have the chance with the games up to Christmas giving us a reasonable chance of pulling away from the zone. With the performance yesterday, I am more and more confident that Sparky has a good idea of what is needed to mould the players into a team which knows what it's supposed to be doing, and are prepared to work for each other - not something I thought was the case under GS.

Not good for those with rising blood pressure. Very pleasing to see Rovers putting together a second half of real commitment and some decent moves where the players actually seemed to have an idea what their roles where. Having said that, there was a lot to make up after an appalling performance in the first half. Positives: Excellent half an hour from David Thompson who made a real difference when he came on - injected some enthusiasm and variation that was sadly lacking with Tugay; Reid - I've not been a big fan of him to date but I'll put my hands up and say that I thought he was man of the match today - linked up particularly well when Thompson came on, but was also instrumental in keeping Julian Gray pegged back and exposing his deficiencies as a left back; The crowd - decent atmosphere at last, and pleasing to see Dunnie get a good reception when he went off. Downsides: Emerton - he's had a good few weeks but today was very much off the pace. Created nothing going forward and gave next to no support for McEverely at full back - Melchiott went past Brett with depressing frequency; Tugay - the man who has been a creative touchstone for the team many times in the past is no more. Needs too much time and still finds the opposition easier to pass to than a blue and white shirt. Hopefully (assuming that Tommo is approaching full fitness), this will see the end of the Ferguson/Tugay combination. As always with games where the second half performance is so much better than the first, I've come away feeling pretty pleased at the determination to fight back - there have been other times when 3-1 at half time would have signalled a guaranteed heavy defeat. If only Dickov could have slotted away the chance in the last minute.......... Having said that, we really need to start winning games - three games that could, realistically have generated nine points have produced three, and we remain bottom. Thank goodness that there is plenty of mediocrity around us.

As someone who has read this message board for many moons, it has taken the unedifying prospect of Tim Sherwood squeezing his way into the al-time best Rovers team for me to get off my backside and start typing. I know that many will be influenced, understandably, by players that they themselves have seen playing. However, we are talking about creating the best team from 130 years of history. I have seen Tim Sherwood play many many games for us and at no stage was he anything other than a capable midfielder who played his part in a team effort, but no more so than the likes of Mark Atkins, Paul Warhurst and (especially) David Batty. His most prominent attributes were an A grade in pointing, and an uncanny ability to give away needless freekicks (an aptitude subsequently taken up with aplomb by Gary Flitcroft). Older relatives speak very highly of Eddie Quigley as someone with twinkle toes (technical phrase), an eye for a cutting pass, excellent first touch and who contributed more than his fair share of goals. However, numbers are not favourable for him and, given the options, I am happy to vote for Jimmy Forrest. I'm not sure how he'd fare with the pace of the modern game but 5 cup winner's medals, at a time when the cup meant more than the league, is a record not to be sneezed at.