I'd swap MGP for Boa Morte tomorrow .

What about that sitter he missed Fife, showboating again , he tried to make a simple tap in look difficult by trying to shuffle volley it and completely missed the ball. If that had have gone in it would have been 3-0 , game over, and a chance to give Peter and Derbyshire some serious game time but no he just played for himself. I don't want any player wearing the blue and white to fail but he's really doing my head in, without doubt the most infuriating player we've had since Dwight Yorke. The left wing position is a real problem at the moment, I'd like to see us bring in a leftsided striker in January , I've run out of patience with MGP. We need a player who can run at people and get round the outside regularly, not once a game.

Jim , the guy he elbowed was Dietmar Bruck who'd been allowed by the referee to kick lumps out of him the for the first 30 minutes, Fergie shrugs him off and Bruck goes down like he's been shot, first time I saw a player dive ( but not the last ! ) The game i'd like to change the result of is Oxford V Rovers in the F.A. Cup in 1964, I really thought we were going to go all the way that year, most of the big sides were already out and we were better than the rest (West Ham V 2nd div Preston was the final that year, we would have beaten either of them ). Not only did we miss out on a golden opportunity to win a big trophy but going out of the cup at that point led to our star striker Fred Pickering leaving us for Everton and the gradual break-up of the most entertaining Rovers team in my life time, and was the beginning of the slide that led to our two relegations leaving us struggling in the old div.3.

Fife Rover , yes I did type B and at first a B was what I got, can you explain ?

I'll hold my hand up U.S.A. Blue, I slated him after that Chelsea performance, he looked all at sea and I said so. When we were looking for a centre half, I thought we would go for A) a fast, hard tackling , covering type of No5, a tall player, totally dominating in the air who would win every cross, or C) the sort of player who is cultured on the ball and can distribute without playing us into trouble. Given the fact that Mike England retired a long time ago there aren't players out there who can do all three roles. So we got Ooijer who doesn't really fit any of those criterions , after watching him several times he has definately improved and he played very well on Thursday especially considering how badly Zurab played alongside him. However he hasn't made us look any more secure dealing with crosses, he has a tendency to ball watch ( Rooney goal for England a prime example) and although he wins headers he sometimes miss directs them into dangerous areas. He reads the game fairly well but he's not the fastest thing on two legs and at 30 odd he's not going to get any faster. Maybe his biggest strength is his calmness in possession and his passing from defence into midfield. Let's hope he continues to find his feet and come to terms with the Premier League. Don't know where the face came from ?

Re. Nelsen, I read his own account of the injury and subsequent operation in the programme, sounded a very, very serious problem, I'd be amazed if he kicks a ball for us again this season, and we can't count on him reaching the standards he set in the long term either, I've just got my fingers crossed for him.

Great result, awful performance, we wouldn't have scored a goal if we had have played until tomorrow. I've got serious concerns about the level of coaching at the club, we seem to make the same mistakes week in , week out. Our running off the ball is poor, players in possesion never have enough support, we always play little itsy bitsy balls sideways and backwards to nobody in particular, they could play a high line and constantly catch us off-side because they knew we had nobody running from midfield to beat the off- side trap. We were lucky we were playing a team who thought they could walk the ball into the net otherwise we would have been battered. If you can't score at any level you go down it's as simple as that, and if we don't strengthen our attacking midfield and strike force that's exactly what will happen. On a brighter note I saw a lad tonight who should be our next left-back, sign him up Rovers this lad could go all the way. Ratings---------------- Freidel, 7, reliable as always, kept us in the game. Emerton, 6 , good athlete, not a natural footballer, when is somebody going to teach him how to cross the ball ? Ooijer,8 , played like a captain should, lead from the front. Zurab, 4 ,played like an absolute donkey tonight, did nobody tell him rovers were playing in red. Grey, 6, the usual mix of good and bad, sign the lad who was marking Bentley, he's a real full back. Bentley, 5, didn't fancy it against a fast aggressive opponent. Savage, 5, runs around a lot to no real purpose, we need more creativity in this position. Tugay, 7,knocked the ball round well as always but played too deep to hurt the opposition. Pedersen, 5, ineffectual as always this season, you could mark him in an armchair. Nonda, 4, I've seen enough now, the "attempt" at a header in the first half was pathetic, get rid Rovers. Mc Carthy, 5,Off side all night, doesn't harness his skills for the team , needs a kick up the arse. Subs- Jeffers, ran brightly. Mokoena and Peters only on for a minute or two.

Savage isn't exactly slow ?????????? He's so one paced it's unbelievable, I reckon he wouldn't beat Tugay over 20 metres. I'm 57 and ten years ago I could have out sprinted the pair of them running backwards. As for Pedersen well, enough said.Our midfield problem in a nutshell, nobody capable of breaking out of defence into attack. That's not the end of it though, Neill and Reid aren't exactly pigeon catchers and Brett is fast rather than quick ( there is a diference ) ,explains a lot doesn't it ?

Yeh, and we've still got four non-tackers.

Maybe we need to change to a system were Tugay plays in front of Mokoena and leaves Mokoena to play in front of the back four , I always thought Tugay played too deep, he needs to be hurting teams in their half not in ours. The Axe is best covering the centre halves, he's never going to be playmaker. I think teams will eat us alive if we field four non-tacklers in midfield!

Sorry that last post was meant for Gazsimm not Fife Rover.

Fife Rover , Henchoz has never had any pace but he reads the game well and uses his experience to avoid getting exposed. It's a plus to have pace in any position but most centre halves are usually pretty pedestrian- that's why they're centre halves. Oh for another Mike England coming up through the ranks.

Didn't know that about Henchoz . Toddy, get stripped you're playing.

Gray didn't look interested enough for me on Sunday and Mc Eveley will never make a full back if he lives to be a thousand ( he had no real pace to start with and two major injuries have slowed him down even more, 1st ingredient in a top class fullback = pace , when that goes you're finished in that position.) How about playing Zurab at RB ,Neill at LB and bring either Todd or Henchoz into the centre back position, both Zurab and Neill have played there before and given the way things are going if we need cover at centre back one of Todd or Henchoz needs the match practice. As for the rest of the team - I wouldn't play anyone who is not 100% fit , we need a win on Sunday more than tonight. Another point, bringing a big man in and leaving Gray out will give us more height in the team, useful at corners.

Woeful performance from the Rovers today, a very poor Hammers team (They were hanging on from 2 minutes into the second half) were too dogged and determined for a Rovers side that lacked any sort of punch, the simple fact is they wanted it more. There's no point repeating what other posters have said, every player deserved a 5 today apart from Gray and Mokoena who deserved 4. I'm sick and tired of seeing us concede goals from A) Goal Kicks !!!!!!!!!!!!! School boy teams learn how to deal with them. Corners !!!!!! opponents getting free attempts on goal because some lazy b_____d can't or won't mark up properly.

When was the last time we looked like we might possibly get an attempt on goal from a corner, why is it that the second West Ham got that second half corner I knew they'd get a player free on goal to score a simple goal ?

I'll be watching on Sky today, given the circumstances any other team but West Ham away and I would be confident- our record there is awful. I'll know after 10 minutes if we are up for or not, we need to start at a high tempo and keep the tempo high, if we allow them an easy 20 minutes to settle and play themselves in we could be in for a tough game. On no account can we allow them an early goal, especially from a corner.

Re Ray Stewart- Great penalty taker, but 76 pens in 431 games !!!!!!!!!!!! that's about 1 pen every 6 games, surely that's a mistake. We went seasons without a pen not long ago.

I'd take a loss tonight in exchange for three points on Sunday. Just my opinion of course.

Looking at it from a different angle, is there anybody who remembers Ron Springett the ex England goalkeeper ? He did something I've never seen any other goalkeeper do, he deliberately stood to one side of the goals when facing a penalty. He would stand about a yard to the left of centre , leaving a very small gap on his weaker left side and a large gap on his strong right hand side, he would always dive to the right into the large gap. He saved more than his share of pens with this technique, I remember Fred Pickering accepting the challenge at Ewood one Good Friday and blasting a good penalty to his right but he got across and saved it, I never saw anybody have the balls to shoot for the narrow side.

My vote would be for Mike Harrison, he could side foot a ball harder than most players can blast it, I never saw him miss one but Den's got it wrong with 27 , more like about 10 on the bounce, Roy Vernon was another who gave the goalie no chance- hard and low into either corner. Dougie was great for sending the goalie the wrong way, I remember him scoring a last minute pen against Everton in the teeth of a snowstorm to win a cliff hanger 3-2. I also remember him missing one at Old Trafford ( we were 3-0 up at the time so It hardly mattered ! ) Shearer , Dunny , Dickov , Ken Knighton , Simon Barker all had their moments but there's no contest for the worst pen ever seen at Ewood- step forward John Coddington, anyone who was there that day against Crystal Palace will know the one ( double attempt actually ) I mean.

I don't do score predicting so i'll just content myself with a few general comments, I'm in agreement with a previous poster about Bolton- They are a tough combative side who can actually play football when they stop trying to constantly launch the ball, we will need to be at our best to win this one, a repeat of the casual play we witnessed for large parts of the Cracow game will see us soundly beaten. Looking in my paper today they had Ben Haim down at left back for Bolton, if he plays there we could have some joy especially if Bentley is fit, he should be able to get the better of somebody who's got the turning circle of an ocean liner. I think Mokoena needs to start this game with Tugay or Savage on the bench, depending on who's available we may have to play the formation that ended the game on Thursday, we can not afford to take anybody into this game that is 100% match fit. Team if Savage and Bentley are fit- Friedel- Emerton , Oijer , Zurab , Neill- Bentley , Savage , Mokoena , Pedersen- Nonda , McCarthy. Team if both Savage and Bentley don't make it- Fiedel- Emerton , Oijer , Zurab , Neill- Jeffers , Mokoena , Mcarthy , Pedersen- Nonda , Roberts.

The result was better than the performance, it was just like the Wigan game, we started slowly with no tempo to our game and no sense of urgency. Again we were inventing new ways of playing ourselves into trouble along with the old one of " player A receives the ball stood still, he then passes to player B who's also stood still and he gives an infirmary pass to player C who's stood still as well he then passes the ball to an opponent and off we go again ". Pedersen then missed an absolute sitter he could have chosen about four ways of putting the ball into the back of the net, he actually chose option 5 ( hammer the ball into the former East Germany) and badly miss cued the ball. Shortly he after this he failed to cover his full back and we gave away a cheap corner. The clearing header is that good that the Rovers midfield stand back to admire it and allow a Cracow player to fire in a deflected shot. 1-0 down and Cracow hadn't even had a shot at our goal to worry about before this. We gradually get back into the game and end it the stronger team having had a cert penalty turned down by the homer in black. After half time we came more and more into the game and pushed Cracow back, Bentley then cut back inside his full back onto his left foot and planted a gem of a cross which perfectly bisected the two Cracow centre halves for Savage to head back across goal into the far corner.Typically Rovers then let Cracow back into the game for 10 to 15 minutes courtesy of some sloppy passing, although they huffed and puffed they were far from blowing our house down. Hughes then went all out to win the game by giving Pedersen the sheperds crook treatment and throwing on Roberts in his place, just when the game looked like ending a 1-1 draw Roberts and Mc Carthy opened up Cracow and created an opening for Bentley out on the left, he gave Pedersen a finishing lesson by making a difficult chance look easy peasy and we ran out worthy winners 2-1. I'm not fooling myself that Cracow are a great team, I don't think they were as good as Glencirbigli for instance but a win is a win and if you can play poorly for a lot of the game and win away in Europe you can't be that bad but play as sloppily against Bolton on Sunday and we'll get caned. Savage appeared to be feeling his back and surely Tugay can't play two full games in four days so we could be light in midfield on Sunday. I've also run out of patience with Pedersen , he was poor today , what does he bring to the team ? My ratings- Friedel-----6 Emerton----7 Oijer-------7 Zurab------7 Neill-------6 Bentley-----8* Savage-----7 Tugay------7 Pedersen---4 Nonda-----6 McCarthy---6 Subs Mokoena Roberts ,neither were on long enough for a rating but Roberts did well for the second goal ,he's a handfull against tired defenders.

Just clarifying a point- It doesn't have to be the goalkeeper and a defender, it can be two defenders. If you run onto a ball that's played backwards you can't be offside, having said that I've lost count of the times I've seen a striker run in on a lone goalie and play the ball forward to an unmarked teammate who puts it in an empty net and the goal is given! To the guy who criticised my comments and asked if I actually attended Sundays game - the two best players to put on a Rovers shirt in my life time conducted the half time draw, did you ever see them play ?????

A game of two halves at Ewood, first half was dreadful ,we spent most of it inventing new ways to give the ball to Wigan , all they did was wait for the inevitable miss placed pass. You could see the Heskey goal coming, Oijer was nowhere when the ball came in and Heskey notched a simple goal. Following this shock we struggled to impose any shape or form to our game , especially in midfield. I keep banging on about our midfield but the balance is not right, Savage hasn't got the skill and passing ability to play as an advanced midfielder. Fortunately we managed to put a good move together right on half time and Bentley made it 2 in 2 games with a well taken goal. I said to my son at half time " Things can only get better" . Well I got that wrong because Brad was subbed and we welcomed a debutant goalie- not an ideal start. Having said that we really came at Wigan and for 20 -25 minutes played some really good stuff and we should have been well in front by threequarter time. Then the inevitable happened, Oijer got caught one on one with Heskey and was left trying to play catch up, foolishly he tried to tackle Heskey from behind and Heskey said "thank you very much" and tumbled over for a predictable penalty. Luckily for us Jason Brown, who had yet to actually make a save managed to keep out a poor pen and save the rebound. Instead of being galvanised by this we went into our shell and for 10 minutes Wigan were on top for the first time in the game. Shortly after it took a simple ale house ball down the middle to unlock the Wigan defence and McCarthy was left with a tap in which settled the game in spite of a bit of Wigan huffing and puffing at the end. Rating Brad- 6, not really a lot to do apart from pick Heskey's shot out of the net. Emerton-7 Another good performance, he looks the part at right back but left Oijer exposed for the pen. Oijer-5 I'm not convinced he's the answer, not as good as Andy Todd in my opinion, an international class centre half shouldn't be making desperate tackles like the one on Heskey. Zurab-6 Steady performance but with both centre halves your heart's in your mouth when they have the ball. Neill- 6 Didn't do much wrong but M.O.T.M., you're having a laugh- has his watch broken? Bentley-6 Looked inventive at times and scored a nice goal, needs to get on the ball more. Savage-5 Runs around a lot, achieves a little. A couple of decent free kicks. Tugay-6 The usual mixture of sublime passes and give aways. Pedersen-5 Doesn't do enough, partly to blame for the first goal. His corners are a joke at the moment. Also too easily brushed off the ball. Jeffers-6 Played brightly and showed some nice touches but needs a goal badly. Mc Carthy-8 Looked a top class player today, his holding up of the ball was exactly what Wigan lacked. Could have had a hat trick on another day. Brown-7 Saved a pen and kept out a dangerous cross shot right after, did all you could expect on his debut. Mokoena-6 Came on for Tugay and looked lively ,even made a couple of nice passes, being anxious to create a good impression made him commit a bad tackle resulting in a booking. Roberts-6 Looked short of match fitness but his strength was too much at times for a tiring Wigan back four.