It is very very very unlikely we have £4m at all to spend on players. It doesn't matter what age they are when we can't afford them.

Sorry to be a pedant, but Stead scored twice last season as well. Everton and Brum away. The rest of your point was fair enough though. I remember at Villa this season he beat his man and had a clear shot with his stronger foot in the middle of the penalty area and he dragged it limply wide.

Bought it this morning. Had a few games. Loving the pace of the game. Every year it just gets closer to replicating the real thing.

Well I watch Rovers week in week out and I think Savage has been very good lately protecting a midfield who barely have a tackle between them. Where do I fit in?

I'd agree with that. I've only ever seen him have a few bad games. It'll come though - something will go badly against us and we'll hate him forever. In regards to the Mendes "goal", I don't think that was a refereeing error. He couldn't see it any better than the linesman and certainly couldn't give it without the signal from his assistaint.

Not THAT bad, no. But bad, yes. The bloke was minutes away from having to have his leg amputated, such was the seriousness of the injury.

I must be in a minority here, but every time I see the Hand Of God goal, it's never apparent that he punches the ball into the net. Obviously he does, and slow-motion replays etc prove it, but with the naked eye at realtime speed I still struggle to spot it blatantly. I think the players reactions have to help a referee sometimes. Everybody around the ball immediately appealed for handball. Now that's not usual for a striker winning a header against a goalkeeper. The referee has to call what he sees, but watching the instinctive reaction of all those invovled must give him clues. Chalk up Ashby at Ewood Park, 1994 vs Manchester United. Berg wins the ball from Sharp, and amazingly is given a penalty against him and sent off. Crazy.

The chant was unbelievable. We'd dodged the bullet in Crouch not scoring, I can't believe we felt the need to annoy another striker. He should have been booked for his reaction but you can hardly blame him. I thought we started the best of the two teams. We kept the ball reasonably well and the Liverpool defence were very worried in possession against two harrying strikers who don't give you a minutes rest. Kuqi is never going to score many spectacular individual goals or outpace defenders but he gives them other types of problems and he was effective with Dickov doing the same thing. He also won his fair share of headers. I'll have to see a replay before I comment on the sending off. It looked a definite foul and had it been at the other end no doubt we'd be bemoaning the "weak" ref for giving a home decision had he not sent the player off. After that it was always going to be a case of 1 point or nothing. Kuqi's game doesn't work when he's so isolated up front on his own. He needs a partner or runners from midfield. We didn't have the set-up to provide him with either. We defended well for the main. Savage was our best player. He made us competitive despite the fact that MGP, Tugay and Bentley all did next to nothing. The defence were all strong, and Toddy didn't look too bad for his lack of first-team action. Will be interesting to see what happens now and whether he will regain the captains armband. We spotted how the goal was going to happen before it went in. Cisse was ready for the shift but Blackburn weren't. It didn't appear to go in a corner. I know he hits them hard, but I'd really expect a goalkeeper of Brad's quality to at least get behind it. Seemed to be beaten all too easily. I saw enough to suggest that with a full strength side we should be capable of a top ten place. It took Liverpool some time to get into the game. This will partly be down to the fact that we were playing their reserves, but we should also take some credit. The sending off killed the game as a spectacle and practically ended our chances of winning. Friedel - Some decent stops but suspect for the goal and didn't catch a lot. 6 Neill - Solid enough and some excellent timewasting. 7 Zura - Unlucky to be sent off but maybe should have let cisse go out wide. 6 Nelsen - Composed as usual. 8 Gray - Gave the ball away for the red card. Mixture of good and bad. 7 Bentley - Didn't do anything really. Couldn't hold onto the ball. 5 Savage - Immense pressuring. Is becoming more valuable with every game. 8 Tugay - Like at Old Trafford, didn't really do enough. 6 MGP - Some decent touches in the first half, and shouldn't have been replaced by Emerton, but still poor. 6 Dickov - Was doing well before being sacrificed. 7 Kuqi - Won a lot in the air and worked tirelessly up front on his own. A bigger threat than Stead. 7 I think we'll be alright, but in order to make the most of our season we need to keep Bellamy fit and win more of our home games.

Do they not have humour in Scandinavia?

I have a rule on Pro Evo that if they're playing on my game then they use the right buttons. It gets people out of nasty habits like playing FIFA. The general consensus is that Pro Evo is the avid football fans choice, with FIFA being a more commercial alternative with a bigger budget behind it. I hear FIFA 2006 is pretty good, but with a limited period of playability. I've never had that with Pro - it gets played until the day the next one comes out.

Er... not what I've heard. But excellent work on trying to get the website into trouble.

It was his ankle that Babbel broke wasn't it? Struggling to remember now. A complete accident, unlike Neill's lunge.

Are you insinuating that Savage has a dehabilitating suit habit?

I was going to tell that story. Bloke must have felt bloody Invincible after that. I hope he sends him a Christmas card.

They're on Roversworld now at www.rovers.co.uk

Considering the difficulty Liverpool have in scoring at the moment, it may be a good idea to go 4-5-1 again and try to restrict them. They will be under a lot of pressure to win this after an indifferent start and they will feel that they have to attack us. 4-5-1 would allow us to soak up the pressure and try to deal with the Hamann/Alonso/Gerrard trio. If Bellamy is fit then 4-4-2 is an option, but I'm not sure the attacking benefits of having both Kuqi and Dickov up front outweigh the negatives of having our midfield swamped by better players.

I've never heard booing either. I must admit that Chelsea has been the first time I've really considered not going in a couple of years. Last year was a real test - we walked for miles to get an early morning train to Chorley. Found our way to Ewood to get on the 7am coach or whatever it was - got tubbed - came back exhausted and poor. My financial situation (student not having to pay the full cost of living) has meant that I've been able to afford, by hook or crook, to get to the games. I could physically afford to go to Chelsea, but sometimes this isn't the point. If we win at Anfield we'll end up going. But for the first time since I started regularly going to away games, it could well be time to say "too much".

I'm really baffled how anybody could have possibly watched Reid yesterday and NOT wanted Savage back in the team. The only thing that annoys me about Savage are the needless cautions (also true of Dickov and Neill). He's much like Flitcroft in that a lot of his (essential) work is done without the ball at his feet. He presses where others don't and he isn't afraid to put himself about. Reid didn't do this half as well yesterday. His first touch was abysmal and he basically didn't influence the game. Savage hasn't set the world alight at Rovers but he does so much in a game that people can miss that it isn't really a surprise that some people don't rate him. We certainly don't have anybody nearly as good at what he does. He's a necessary part of the midfield. Ask Tugay who he prefers to protect him - it won't be Reid.

I was under that impression too, but I think Jan does provide a good case as well. I'm willing to let it be both.

I was thinking along the same lines last night. If we had lost the game with Ronaldo being a contributing factor then I feel sure Hughes would have at least slyly brought it up. If you kick up a fuss then people eventually listen. This has worked against us recently - many opposing managers have mentioned misdemeanours and our style of play and this has gotten us into trouble. If the situations had been reversed, I'm certain RFW would have made a complaint. It actually pleases me that Hughes has let it go (seemingly) but the result of this is that it will simply disappear rather than get us credit for not trying to drop other players into hot water. There's a difference between the Todd headbutt and the Ronaldo elbow - Todd's was stupid, deliberate and off the ball. Ronaldo's looked deliberate too but there is more room for doubt as he tried to shake Gray off. He was also punished during the game for it so I believe the rules stipulate that it's out of the jurisdiction of the FA. Having won I feel very comfortable taking the moral high ground and just ignoring it. However, it would be very funny for United to be hauled up and Ronaldo banned for trying to bully little Blackburn.

I hear the game has been leaked and the PS2 version can be downloaded at www.torrentspy.com. I don't have the facility to play a downloaded game and don't mind waiting to buy it from the shops, but one or two of you may wish to look at that.

It was slater_scott and roversismylife if I'm not mistaken. Having a sense of humour is a criminal offence at Old Trafford and it seems stewards are under orders to clamp down as much as possible.

My one criticism of the lad is that he can get forwards and put in crosses, but when he does he just seems to stand there and admire his own handiwork. Two attacks down the flanks for us yesterday summed this up. Both in the first half. Lucas goes on a lung-busting run the length of the field and lays it off to Dickov who shoots really tamely at VDS. Neill turns round, put his head down, and sprints the whole way back. Gray does something similar, puts a cross in, then just stands there. I could see it happening a mile off. Pedersen had to fill in when it was cleared but it was a simple overlap down the rgith for United and Gray was nowhere whilst they created a good chance.

He's a centreback who can play right back and defensive mid. Really showing your knowledge here aren't you?

Whilst I'm not entirely sure whether or not it is meant in all seriousness, it is a decent idea, tnr. Unfortunately, the problem would arise in that you are more likely to get sponsorships if the gate was larger (simply more people to offer it), and this is the problem in the first place. All kids should be free, full stop. They can start paying round about age 12-14 (or rather be paid for). I'd imagine after a few years of free tickets, the child is rather decided on whether or not the life in the blue and white cloth is for him. It is also absolutely definitely a problem that so many games are on TV. Fewer televised games = less TV revenue = less foreign "superstars" = more local lads = more heros?