Cracking game. Possibly United shaded it, so fair play to RFW for putting out a strong team and making a game of it (YOU LISTENING ARSENE??) I thought Rovers were excellent tonight - I could only watch from a distance on the dreaded Sky, but it is a long time since I have felt so nervous about a game whilst it was going on. The work that the players got through was tremendous - chasing down everything and I mean everything, as if their lives depended upon it. Perhaps this is the fruit borne of proper fitness coaching and the can do attitude epitomised by Sparky during his playing career. Anyway, I can't wait for the return leg at the theater (sic) of dreamers. Now lads... calm down and turn Bolton over for us on Saturday.. PLEASE!!

Was it just me, or did anyone else wonder whether 'Arry had managed to slip a sleeping draught into our players' half-time mug of cocoa? Reid, having given an excellent display in the first half, proceeded to miss practically every single pass thereafter and MGP - come on!! I mean, how often can a 'professional player' give the ball directly to an opponent before someone works out he's put his boots on the wrong feet once again? Bahh humbug to thoughts of Europe at this stage - I just hope that Hughesy has a strategy for keeping the players from smoking too much of their own exhausts, otherwise a dip in form and a sharp drop down the table will have the doubters queueing up again.. For me, a decent cup run, putting You-nighties out of the Carling Cup and finishing in the top half of the Prem will be a fantastic return, so anything better is pure magic.

Made a similar comment about Brad early in the first half where I thought he was guilty of not coming for crosses. However, he earned his corn later in the game with the super save on 80 mins one on one with Conolly. All in all a superb day out and a job well done by the Rovers. Happy New Year to one and all

Couldn't find the other Jansen threads, so sorry Mods.. Just read in the Sunday Times that Matt has terminated his contract with Rovers, saying that despite putting in some of the best training sessions in his career and respecting Mark Hughes, he still just feels invisible at the club. IMO a good move for the lad - I think that if he still has it in him to be a professional footballer, then he definitely needs to move on from Rovers, as there are too many negative anchors holding him back at the club. Hopefully Matt will find an ambitious club willing to take a punt on his abilities. I for one will always be grateful for the massive contribution he made to the Rovers and will wish him well with whatever club he moves on to. The Times report that the move will save Rovers £500K in wages, so there is an upside for the club in this too. Thanks for all the memories Matt and for being man enough to know when it is time to go with dignity and pride. Goodbye and good luck Matt Jansen.

Nope. Only around 400 or so hardy souls seem to have made it past the traditional chrimbo hangover. Boro reminded me of the team Rovers used to be - full of potential but just missing their way. Cracking effort by the lads today. Hope we can send the Mackems home with a sore head after thumping them big style.

The simple fact is that the club cannot hold itself at a distance from the branded shop located on its concourse. Anybody visiting Ewood Park and going into the shop will take away a tarnished view of the club, because of the sub-standard merchandise, the sub-standard service and the sub-standard attitude of the club towards it's own brand. When you think about it, what is Blackburn Rovers? That's right, it is a BRAND! Now, if you were to ask the folks at Manure, or the Arse about their attitude towards their brand, I bet you would find that they guard it jealously and look for every opportunity to promote it. Accepting sub-standard performance in any aspect of the running of a modern football business, from the pitch to the pies, is symptomatic of a laissez faire attitude which will, if not sorted out, lead to erosion of the brand equity and ultimately the death of the brand. Cutting costs and allowing a tat-merchant to ply their trade with tawdry rags and baubles doesn't do anything for Rovers except make the club look like it doesn't care about its punters. Come on Rovers - don't pile it high and sell it cheap - we don't mind paying for quality, because quality always pays you back in the long run. SORT IT OUT. Off my soap box now...

Just STOP! I seem to remember six goals we scored against a decent footballing side (Charlton) plus other games where Bellamy hasn't been on the scoresheet.. so just stop panicking. The fact is, if Rovers continue to play passing football (Moyes called us 'the best passing side in the division) and create chances, then we have the players who are capable of converting them into goals. So, lets see how Hughesy shuffles his pack and what we can do without the short tatooed one. It is better that the team can continue to work as a team than become reliant on a single talisman, bereft of ideas when that talisman is unavailable. Go for it Rovers.

Rovers 4 Wham 1 Kuqi (2), Nelsen (header) Sheringham (og) 18,438 Kuqi Bellamy Reid Emerton Savage Tugay Gray Zurab Nelsen Neil Friedel Ticket number 4036 wins half time draw Traditional swift half before the start of the game doesn't taste like alka seltzer for a change and half time pie served by troll wearing father christmas hat but with a smile for a change instead of a look designed to bring on indigestion. Loud woman in family stand gets ejected for shouting B####cks! so loudly that several children faint from perforated eardrums (please please show her the door).. C'mon YOO BLUUUUUUUUUEEEESSSS!!

Slushy sentimentality won't find us the replacement for Tugay that we need. Dunny is undoubtably a talented player who can add another dimension to the team play, whoever he plays for. However, the comments on his stamina, overall fitness and susceptibility to injury are all warning bells that we would do well to heed. Surely there are other candidates that would take Rovers forward and not looking to the past for inspiration and drive? Dunny had his day at the Rovers and, sadly, I think that should be the end of the story.

IMO Pedersen needs a spell on the bench, as he just isn't contributing enough in a game to justify being on from the start. Hopefully Hughesy can see what the rest of us can and will avoid relying on Ped for his enigmatic flashes of brilliance. Also, did anyone else feel very uncomfortable every time Reid got the ball on Saturday? For me, he was a liability, and was guilty of putting us under pressure too many times with poor passing. I was glad that Hughesy spotted Lucas flailing like a fish out of water alongside the Admiral and moved him back to his more natural flank position when Zurab came on. Finally, although from a footballing perspective we dominated Everton even with 10 men, there didn't seem to be any game plan other than hoof the ball to Bellars & Kuqi, which was very disappointing. I felt even to the final whistle (which was never the full 2 minutes of added time) that with a little bit more guile and composure we could have practically walked the ball into the net. To try to batter our way through seemed somewhat unnecessary and crude. Ah well, I don't think we are a bad team, but a reasonable team that has suffered a setback from which we will bounce back. I just hope it is against visitors wearing Claret and Blue, that's all!

All I can say is, with David Moyes at the helm, there is no second guessing what team Everton will put out or how much they will (generally as a bunch of journeymen) put into their game. So for me, I reckon a little bit of Hughesey reverse psychology, an early goal to settle the nerves (a la charlton game) and we could get a hatful. If we turn up just expecting to win I foresee another nasty reverse. On balance, 3-1 to Rovers MGP, Zurab (somehow) and Bellers. 23,178 Go Rovers!

Saturday. Bring it on!

Keep going lads! Keep the pressure on the pedal and score again. COME ON!!

Well I got my two pennorth in on (Radio) Five Live just before 8 this evening, reminding Alan Green that it is time that the nation thought of Rovers in terms of what actually happens on the pitch rather than what certain media cretins imagine. I'm glad to hear that the sentiment has been echoed on TV too and can't wait for the reports in the papers tomorrow. I thought that Charlton actually played well, and didn't stop having a go - they reminded me of some Rovers performances in the past where we have tried to play yet still ended up on the wrong end of a hiding.. But today was all about us.

Top Man Sany! Ta

Am in Ireland where there are a lot of long faces down to Rovers turning the reds over yesterday. AMAZING to read in all of the papers about Rovers and FOOTBALL - not one mention of thuggery, poor play or indiscipline and the best thing - the quote from Fergus' son that Blackburn deserved to win, they came here to win! How the mighty are fallen! Yippee!

'S all academic as far as I can tell. First we have a skanky newspaper 'article' in the Mirror of all places. Next we have supporters from all sides knocking shoite out of each other for the right to comment on whether a name change is a good or a bad thing. Then we have a deafening silence from the club... and any potential sponsor wishing to put their moniker to the stadium. Hmmm... methinks even there was interest in the proposition, I would need more than just a small fart in the rumour mill to convince me that there was something substantial in the pipeline - and if there is nothing substantial, then why don't we all just talk about something more real instead, just for a change?

First game was Aston Villa in the cup at Ewood about a million years ago (way before the famous triumph where we beat them 2-1 or was it 1-0) in nineteen seventy something.. Not been able to get along as often as I would have liked in recent years, but have now two sons who love the blue and white despite their having a step father who is a Rovers Reserves (Newcastle) fanantic and living in the North East. Will always and forever be a Rovers fan. Don't care what league we play in or who the opposition is, on a Saturday evening at 5pm if we haven't won, I can't feel anything other than low.. and if we have won and bumley have been hammered, then the world is a great place to be... As I am 42 now, I expect to have another 50 or so seasons before I go to join Noel in the sky. M

IMO Stead going is a retrograde step only in the context that he has the POTENTIAL to be a long term success. However, I trust the judgement of Mark Hughes to assemble a set of players that will build upon the solid base that he pulled together last season. If Jon Stead blossoms into a goal machine then fair play to mad mick for taking him on, but somehow I can't see the lad as a real prospect at Prem level, again IMO... A Rovers strike force of Coley (seasoned pro) McCarthy (Benni not mad mick) supported by the energy of Dickie and the trickery of MGP, well I can see us unlocking many more of the prem defences next season than we did last time out.. Anyway good luck Steadhino. Auf wiedersehen pest

Bit of a sore head this morning eh? Personally I think if you wish to slag someone off, you should reason and logic, otherwise you descend to the same level as erm... a certain 19 year old foul mouthed, under-educated, over-valued yet gifted football player who has a drain for a mouth and a very bad attitude Actually, I blame the FA to a certain extent, as there is ample 'evidence' to charge such players with bringing the game into disrepute with the hundreds of video replays of players spouting off at referees, other players, fans etc. Just imagine the effect if it cost young Mr Rooney say £30K to £40K every time he was seen on TV being a foulmouthed yob. I'd say it would take around 2 to 3 seasons for the impact to filter down to grass roots level where I ply my trade as a referee, but boy would I be happy with the change! As the bloke used to say in 'The Bionic Man'... "Gentlemen, we have the technology"!!

Let us know if the pratt responds, won't you And by the way, please can you come round and beat my bank manager up WIR

And Rovers will be the first team other than MancU to win it!

btw EVERYBODY should get onto http://www.teamtalk.com/teamtalk/News/Stor..._414091,00.html as there is a vote there about Rovers tactics yesterday. Even as it stands, the fact is that the largest vote so far says that Rovers were simply being competitive. END OF STORY!

Dirty player? Naah. If you want to point out a dirty player, just cast your mind back to the notlob game at Ewood when a certain cheating centre forward deliberately elbowed the mighty Mr Todd in the face whilst jumping with him for the ball. All of the action replays showed what Todd and Nelsen do every time they go to head the ball, namely to focus SOLELY on doing just that, whilst the cheating Notlobber (Diouch I think he is known as) clearly eyeballed Todders before leading with his arm. THAT IS A DIRTY PLAYER. I will keep repeating this till I am Bluer in the face - FOOTBALL IS A CONTACT SPORT. SIMULATION of the type exhibited shamelessly yesterday by Arse players, IS AGAINST THE LAWS OF THE GAME. Nuff said.

Jim, just get a grip will you? It was a good day out, we lost and no-one likes us - but no one ever did... For me, it was enough to have got to the Semi-Finals of the greatest cup competition in the world and to have spent a good day out with 17500 likeminded one-eyed fans from oop north who wouldn't know a cultured pass if it was served up to them on a silver platter by the boot of the one and only Camilla parkyer bowels... And roll on Palace - or more pertinently, roll off the edge of the table when we hammer you on Wednesday evening. BLAH BLAH BLAH Jim