You are a complete tosser Insults directed to a fellow fan for stating a fact?

Well having some balance on the left would at least help. Emerton does little when he plays in his proper position so putting him on the left achieves sod-all.

You're expecting loyalty in football?

I'm already doing it, not because of the results because these are still mostly down to the fact that Souey left a crap squad...it's because of Hughes' terrible team selection and his obsession with playing midfielders out of position (something he did a lot with Wales). We have the worst attack in the league with Dickov and Djorkaeff supporting, even Crystal Palace and Norwich have a more threatening attack. I can't be bothered even starting a rant about Emerton, it's just stupid. You would have thought being the type of striker he was, Hughes would have appreciated midfielders on the right side so that they could cross the ball. You just know you're going to get slated for wanting Hughes out so early but I do appreciate what you are saying. Brett Emerton was just starting to show some confidence down the right, now he is drafted out to the left and being as ineffective as everyone else. Granted this is Chelsea we are playing who have quality throughout but it was also apparant against 'Boro. The defence crumbles so easily, Matteo and Amoruso are just pathetically poor, Short isn't getting any younger. Faith in Lucas Neill is only placed because a few seasons ago he was one of the full-backs of the year but he has been under-performing majorly and we need someone to give him proper competition so he gets a kick up the @ss. Dickov up-front on his own is just ridiculous, the guy works hard but how on Earth is he ever going to prove any real threat to the likes of Terry & Carvalho without any proper support. Flitcroft is just past-it and needs to offloaded a.s.a.p. along with Tugay, Pedersen and De Pedro ARE our left-sided midfielders yet neither gets a look it at all. Seems we're having the old 'left-midfielder' problem once again, only difference is this season we actually have one available to us... Well two...

3-0 Wanna hat-trick? Play Rovers

To be honest say we fought hard today and got a 0-0 result. Hughes might of kept faith with these line-up for other games... Which we do NOT want. Emerton on the left is baffling when we have De Pedro & Pedersen waiting in the wings. Matteo is consistently bad and Short deserves a better partner in defence. Dickov up-front on his own is just not worth bothering with...

2-0 Oh well..

Apparantly (as expected) all of the forward-play is coming from Chelsea and Duff is giving Neil a tough time. Also, we appear to look desperately unbalanced with Emerton on the left..

Reflection on today's line-up: Once again Pedersen is left-out of the side, but at least he is on the bench and maybe Hughes will turn to him if we desperately need some attacking threat.... (If? lol ) Good to see Craig Short back, hopefully he will add some stability but I bet Chelsea's attackers are rubbing their hands at the prospect of challenging Short & Matteo. Are we to assume Emerton is on the left? Or is it Reid this time?

Today's Line-Ups Blackburn: Friedel, Neill, Short, Matteo, Gray Ferguson, Flitcroft, Reid, Emerton, Djorkaeff, Dickov Subs: Enckleman, Pedersen, Bothroyd, Johansson, Stead

Are you forgetting that 'FM' is F-I-C-T-I-O-N-A-L??

*tumbleweed*

Even with a Champions League hangover, Chelski will still pose an enormous threat to us and I really can't see us getting anything out of this... The way our defence folds with ease doesn't bode well with the likes of Kezman, Gudjohnsen, Lampard and Duff attacking it. Maybe this?? Friedel Reid Short Todd Gray Emerton Ferguson Thompson Gamst-Pedersen Gallagher Stead

Maybe so but Steven Reid is not the answer to the left-side of midfield. Morten-Gamst really does deserve an extended, consistent run in the side. He has done nothing for rovers to 'really deserve an extended, consistent run in the side'. Reid played on the RIGHT and did ok. Morten hasent done anything in the games he has started. I am 100% confident that he will be a huge player for us sooner rather than later but at the moment we need points, we cant afford to just give him starting spots in games unless he deserves it, hopefully he will come on as a sub, do really well, then start the game after and go on from there, but for now he needs a good run in the reserves. De Pedro is infront of morten in the pecking order IMO, he is working hard on trying to get fully fit and has done well for the reserves. But look at what happens when Morten-Gamst isn't played anyway, not a lot in terms of attacking football. We should put him the side and just see what he can do and not judge him after a couple of games since moving to a different league and let him do his best to adapt. Instead of leaving him in the reserves and seeing his confidence slowly drain.

It is about donuts? Hmmm donuts...

He remembered he had an urgent appointment with his agent.... ...about a move to Newcastle.

Thompson is the man we need (Of course a reliable defence that isn't as penetrable as soaked paper would be nice as well). The majority of us have been waiting a very long time now to see a Ferguson-Thompson midfield combination. With Brett Emerton on the right-hand side and once more I'll reiterate in another topic about how either Morten-Gamst Pedersen or De Pedro deserve a proper run on the left-midfield.

Maybe so but Steven Reid is not the answer to the left-side of midfield. Morten-Gamst really does deserve an extended, consistent run in the side.

Couldn't agree with you more on that. The same also could be said for Javier De Pedro, sure he hasn't set the team alight but he and MGP both deserve a chance and should be main two contenders for the left-midfield slot. Instead we are seeing players like Jansen and Reid playing there when really they just aren't supposed to be in that position.

Also, I forget to mention about Stewart Downing he was brilliant today for 'Boro. To think we came close to possibly signing him. But I still believe we have a good left-midfielder in Morten-Gamst, just he needs a consistent run in the side.

Well I think it is time Amoruso and Matteo were shown the door, I was a fan of Amoruso when he was at Rangers and excited when he joined but it just hasn't worked out for him and he has found the pace of the Premiership too much but part of me still respects certain aspects of his ability. Matteo has been poor and was a dissapointing signing by Souness as we all desperately awaited a solid signing for our defence. Douglas is out in limbo-land yet earned a new contract but he is a very limited player and adds nothing special to the side. Lucas Neill just isn't recapturing his form he had of-old but he is the least of our problems. Does anyone think maybe we should play Djorkaeff in a more midfield role alongside Ferguson? It would also give us a free place up front for Stead or Gallagher to take their chance. Hughes has already said he may step-up his interest for Gabbidon if Cardiff are willing to do a deal, could he be the man to sort out our crumbling defence?

I must say I am very dissapointed with the result, well a bit of an understatement really. It was a performance that has really upset us all But we have the right management team and now Sparky will be totally focused on the rovers job. Tugay really let us down and you would of thought a player of his experience would of known better. I won't be the first to highlight how intriguing it was to see Steven Reid ahead of Matty Jansen or Morten Gamst-Pedersen. Did Reid particularly shine in the recent reserve match or something? As the transfer market is still closed, I think we will have to resort to Andy Todd as our inspiration in defence. Amoruso and Matteo have been of bad-standard (put nicely) and they just cannot be relied upon as a pairing for the centre-back slots. The sooner a fully match-fit Short is back the better.