When you are due to play another team and you're trying to figure out who is likely to win a good way is to see how many of each team would make up a combined team, well here goes. I've played to a fair standard and watched more games than I care to think about over the years and I try really hard to be objective but I 've got say if you had a combined team from the early sixties and now only Brad Friedel and maybe Lucas Neill would get in it , If Ryan Nelsen was fit and on his previous form he would get in and Tugay would be good enough apart from the fact that you would have to leave out either Bryan Douglas or Ronnie Clayton to fit him in. The rest of the present team would be no where. Would any other romanticists who have actually seen both teams like a go?

Just a point- In 1963-64 First Division season Andy Mc Evoy scored 4 goals in one game twice as well as 3 hat tricks, Fred Pickering just made do with 3 hat tricks before he left for Everton ( got a hat trick on his debut for them though ), but then again you can't really compare can you ?????????????? We don't have that many SHOTS in about 5 games never mind goals !

There's still nothing like that walk from the station up to the ground, even now the feeling as you approach the ground is great. I loved the old ground but nothing's forever and facilities wise the new ground is superb. Things I miss are standing by the low wall on the Riverside, being able to change ends at half time, the cantilever stand at the Blackburn end. Hopefully when I go to the great changing room in the sky my ashes will be scattered in the goalmouth at the Blackburn end.

Yes you are right Herbergheehh. Today's football IS incomparable.That's probably why us oldies are hardly interested in today's apology for football; all passing and getting rid of the ball like it's carrying the plague. To say nothing of the cheating and diving. Add the high prices and over paid players and you get boredom and disinterest. The net result gives a feeling of "I am being taken for a right mug here" and eventually you think back to when to football was truly exiciting and entertaining and the players played very good skilfull football and you were absolutely guaranteed to go home with plenty to keep you talking about the match with your mates for the whole week until the next match. Does this happen now? Certainly not for me!

Incomparable, yeh in terms of entertainment you're dead right, cut me in half and i'll be Blue and White but hand on heart watching our present team is about as entertaining as going to the dentist and just as expensive. I don't expect us to win every game or even most games but I'd like to see us play with a bit of style and a bit of class. Being brutally honest it was more exciting watching that 1960's team shooting in before the game than it is watching our present team actually play.

Fife and myself saw that team and from time to time we see our team of today so we are allowed our opinions, believe me there is no comparison from the entertainment angle, even in the 3rd Div we had forwards who could take people on and skin them and centre halves who put the fear of God into the opposition.

I go to games to see people do what I couldn't do as a player, I could run around a lot , put a foot in, pass it square or back 10 to 15 yds, head a bit, these guys are the top of the tree and most of them can't do anymore than that.

I'm looking for the same score as the last time we played them at Ewood, I hope the gate is better though !

The ability to dribble with ball at pace is another skill you rarely see today, no wonder Ronaldo and Giggs cause havoc for the red rats, fullbacks today rarely get to play against players like these and don't know how to cope when they do. I'm of the generation who played football from morning to night as a youth ( wallie in winter time under the street lights against a gable end, you soon get to be two footed playing that game ).

No coaching until I was 16, you just watched your favourite players and tried to play like them. I learnt more about playing full back from watching Keith Newton close up than from any book or coach.

I don't know what they teach at the accademy but its not how to beat people with the ball at your feet.

The first team that I really saw play regularly the ,team of the early sixties had-

Fred Else ,born in Wigan.

John Bray, - Great Harwood.

Keith Newton - Manchester.

Ronnie Clayton - Preston.

Matt Woods - Liverpool.

Mike England - Wales

Mike Ferguson - Burnley.

Andy Mc Evoy - Eire

Fred Pickering - Blackburn.

Bryan Douglas - Blackburn.

Mike Harrison - Ilford.

That was it , 8 Lancastrians, a Welshman and a lad from Eire plus 1 Southern Softie. We could have easily fielded Byrom and Ratcliffe for Mc EVoy and Harrison and had an all Lancashire forward line , with 4 of them from Blackburn itself. Where have all our local talented players gone ?

This campaign against Mokoena is sheer sturrocking stupid.

The guy will not be on a fortune, he does have physical presence, he can disrupt the opposition, passes don't go forwards but he usually plays a good out ball along the line, the pace of the Prem doesn't phase him, he seems to be a very professional individual, he doesn't cause problems when he is displaced, he has got big match international experience - in short he is ideal material to have at a club of Rovers size and means.

No doubt if Sparky signs the players he is targetting, the Axe will be 20th in a 24 man squad but a player like Aaron is needed. It is a squad game these days.

I agree Phil, well said.

They definitely could not play together, I'm on about Bentley playing in Tugay's role long term. Tugay isn't great at tackling and he's certainly no more robust than Bentley, the holding role is more about positioning and spotting which passes to intercept. Players like Fabregas/Makelele/Scholes aren't phsyically imposing either.

I reckon Scholes is a lot more physically imposing than either of our two ( Tugay and Bentley ), he' a nasty sod who's spiteful in the tackle and gets away with murder. As for Makelele, well I wish we had 4 in midfield who can tackle like he can.

I'd swap MGP for Boa Morte tomorrow .

I have to agree with you there Tchocky. MGP does get a fair bit of undeserved stick on here from some people. Ok, he DOES fade in and out of the game occasionally; but equally you could say that he does provide the occasional goal, and even more assists, to say nothing of his movement both on and off the ball that serves to occupy the opposition defenders and create space or chances for his team mates. And he does this a lot more often than he is given credit for by some on here. It is the same with Gray and until this season was always the same with Emmo. To some people these players just cannot please and never will be able to. It is nothing more or less than pure bias against the player they have a down on, and they are quite incapable of looking dispassionately and objectively at the players performance. I say to these people now: please remove the blinkers and look critically but fairly at these players and don't allow your previous bias to enter into it. Judge them on what you see in front of you at the time and not on previous set ideas. Also please make allowances for the view you get of the play at the time. Perhaps reserve judgment until you have the chance to see an incident that annoys you from a different angle or distance. Then, and only then, make your mind up.

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.