I thought this at the start of the season when they brought in the daft 'not offside if you don't touch the ball rule' that appears to have been ignored until one incident today! Stand 3 players offside and just have them shield the ball without touching it. Then have Bellers outpace any of the defenders that are trying to get back/are being shielded and away we go. When Van Tinselboy scored a clearly offside goal a few years ago and the ref had to make up another excuse for the clear error they came up with the 'not offside if not in the goalies line of vision' excuse/reason. After that Allardyce and Strachan came up with loads of new free kick routines until the FA had to put their hands up and shamefacedly say that the position had been revised, or some thing. I'd recommend that Hughes devise a couple of these types of plays and make a mockery of the rubbish excuses that the refs spout.

The ref robbed us at Anfield and he's robbed us again today. If he's used a 'not touching the ball' argument, then why was Dickov offide at the other end when he was 30 yards away from the ball but started running towards it? Clearly they've seen it again on a replay, realised they've dropped a bollock and are frantically trying to cover their backs. I call that lying.

All my opinion, but... 1) Neither Dahlin or his agent are medical experts and therefore can't really get into trouble for not knowing what was wrong. 2) You'd have to prove that the expert operated in a manner that was not consistent with general medical practices. Very tricky. There's a large burden of proof to be overcome. Ask anyone who's tried to bring a medical negligence claim. 3) Presumably clubs get the players full medical records that should be undoctored (as it were and excuse the pun) and contain all relevant info. As for avoiding Avon I feel that ALL insurance companies constantly try to screw you over. If it weren't them it'd be another one. Grrr! 4) A claim under insurance that fails isn't instantly a fraudulent claim. Clearly there have been issues that have complicated this claim. I've not checked, but what's happening about the legal costs? 5) I can't find 5! 6) Not sure what this entails, but probably the best bet! Dan

Did anyone else think it's a little strange that the promotional stuff for the 'early bird' offer (which is a good idea, IMO) had a picture of a chap snoozing on the front cover. What sort of an impression does that give? Great atmosphere at Ewood! LOL!

I went to the game and Stanley are coasting now IMO. I wouldn't be surprised if they stage managed it so they clinch the title at home.

I'm not really bothered but a route finder won't tell you the distance between two points it'll tell you the mileage between them _on the road_ Maybe I'm missing something? I think Stanley's ascent is great. I'm off to support them in a minute (after several pints first :-)

Superb stuff! :-)

But they were also very quick to congratulate each other on the goals. There's obviously a great team spirit.

It's the nature of the beast. The teams near the top of the table win more than other teams that's why they're up there! You've got to keep winning to stay up there and that's why there's the pressure at the top of the table. It's fabulous that we keep picking up 3 points every week :-)

The first of Savage's bookings was for a 2 footed challenge, I thought. It doesn't matter if you win the ball as the challenge itself is a foul and a bookable offence. In fact your twice as likely to win the ball, if you think about it!

A chance for the Axe to come in and get some playing time.

Fabulous performance of great heart from the lads. Superb! The people who aren't coming to the games that could are really missing out, IMHO. A top class football team is back at Ewood Park.

Trouble is that you've got a reasonable chance of creating an Ar£e or Man u fan by doing that, maybe...

Could we have organised groups of people in each area of the ground who are going to start some chanting off? Each group gets a text message with the next chant and they all start singing. Some people are better at getting some chanting going. Get enough little groups of these people all around the ground and that might get a better atmosphere going. There was a small group of people a couple of rows behind me in the Riverside yesterday that aren't usually there but were in fine voice. You join in without even realising it! Might be a stupid idea, but it popped into my head this morning!

I was asking you.

Don't you like to see us playing well even if we end up losing?

Was it handball by Nelsen for the free kick that resulted in Spurs second? If so, then Keane's was a definite free kick too, surely? Bad decision by the linesman for the first goal, too. He was only a couple of yards away! Great goal by Keane, though. Did anyone see Mido complaining that he didn't get a throw in after he manhandled Todd and the ball ran out of play. If I were the ref I'd have said "Oh, you didn't touch the ball didn't you Mister Mido, well that means it's a free kick against you for a foul on Todd. Good man for owning up" Also did anyone notice that we were having a good spell so the SKY commentator had to find something to slag us off for, so started papping about bad crowds at Ewood. Grrr! Let's hope the 'luck' balances out in the second half!

But it can make a fantastic evening...

I'm not a gambling man, but walking past the bookies in Accy this morning they had 8-1 for MGP to score the first goal. I was really tempted to go in and stick £20 on. I've never put a bet on anything in a bookies, but I should have listened to my instincts there!

Here's some of my views on MGP... MGP has been pretty anonymous when I've seen him play up front for us, but he plays there for Norway on occasion, I believe. What do our Norwegian fans think of this idea? To say that just because he'll be in the box more he'll score more goals seems a bit over simplistic to me. He can ghost in from the left when playing left mid (as per United), but up front is more back to goal and close attention from a centre half. The criteria applicable to playing either position is different and I don't know whether Gamst can play there effectively. I wouldn't be averse to finding out, though, but we have to temper that with the fact that we seem to have a pretty decent staple of forwards in Bellers, Dickov and Kuqi at the moment. To move MGP up front would be adding a fourth attacking option but a mcuh reduced option on the left. The position on the left is problematic for most of the league. With MGP playing there and Peter looking like a good prospect coming through there we seem to be quite well served in that position. Do we want to disrupt this? Admittedly sometimes MGP isn't always in the game, but wide players can drift in and out. He's isn't a lightening quick winger, but he's very good in the air. I'd like to see some diagonal balls played up to him with a striker moving across to run off his flicks whilst the balls in the air (preferably Bellers) as I think that would be a pretty terrifying prospect for most PL teams. Play to the lads strengths. There's very few full backs in the league that I can think could consistently beat him in the air. A goal scoring midfielder are worth their weight in gold. You can't say that when he's not scoring he should be dropped (not saying anyone has). He has to play to score. He's one of the few players in the team that can do that something magical, that little bit special and win a game. He didn't do this against Bolton, but he's not going to do it every game. The lad's a star! I'm very pleased that we've got him!

I thought Reid played well at DMC. He's not got the creativity of Toogs, but he's got pace, strength, powerful in the tackle and pretty good in the air. He kept the ball moving well yesterday. I still want Toogs to sign an extension, though. I wasn't a big Tugay fan and thought it was a mistake signing him for another season when we did in the summer. I am very pleased to be wrong. Someone posted that Tugay is in the best form he has ever been for us at the moment and I agree. He's looking the fittest and sharpest I have ever seen him. Well done that man!

To be fair we're only 2 days into 2006, though, so they have been hard pressed to get an away win before tonight's game. I know you mean this season, Mrs. Only kidding You're right about firsts against us though... I'm hoping for another comprehensive, confident victory. An early goal and we'll kill 'em. The longer it goes on the more confident they'll get. I'll go 3-1 Rovers

Spiderman? Jonathan Ross? Great result and perfomance from the lads! I wouldn't have predicted a 3-0. The other half is resigned to watching MOTD for the New Year!

LOL! Made me chuckle Hopefully we'll put Sunderland to the sword tonight. This is the sort of game where we used to slip up, but we're not that sort of side any more IMO. I'm looking for Kuqi to continue his impressive form and also to see if MGP has benefitted from his rest. I wouldn't mind seeing Sergio Peter get a run out later on, if the game is safe. C'mon you Blues!

I can't believe that people think Emerton is quick. His lack of pace is one of his problems, if not the main problem. He does his 'little snake to the left, snake to the right' bit when he's on the ball because he's just plain not quick enough to get past the full back.