I think my original post went slightly over your head. My old mate Scotty cast aspersions in jest (or maybe not! ) the other night on my ability to judge the quality of a player. Mine was a feeble and obviously completely unsuccessful attempt to poke fun in return. Just call me the Alan Partridge of cutting and witty repartee. Ah. I see. It all makes sense now "You've got a lot of issues." "Yeah, of 'What Car?' magazine!"

To my knowledge the last headed goal we conceeded was against Charlton three months ago. Shearer also scored a header on September 11th. They're the only two this season.

Absolutely unbelievable. Given their respective goalkeepers, Arsenal and Man United would kill for Brad Friedel.

Then in the situation of Scotty commenting on how Flitcroft played during the match, sarcastically stating "but what do I know?" doesn't really work in the particular argument. Flity hasn't been very effective for quite some time now and you know that just as much as the rest of us. What you don't know is how he played on Saturday. The answer being pretty well.

"Screened the defence?" Sounds like footballese for Flitcroft's usual trick of standing around doing bugger all. Still, what do I know? There's only Scotty on this board sufficiently qualified to pass judgement on a player's ability!. How do you think he played on Saturday then?

Sorry, i dont understand the Aussie sense of humour Shouldn't be a problem them, he's English

Yes. I'm sick and tired of Rovers relying on penalties for all their goals.

The freekick certainly was impressive. Whilst Rosenberg are a good team he won't get that kind of space to run against players of that level in the Premiership. That video seemed to confirm everything that we've assumed - the lad clearly has talent and soon enough we'll get to see it.

I was always a fan of Gresko. He suffered terribly from a lack of cover last season and has been dismissed as a result of those performances. Now, with his injury, it looks unlikely that he'll play for us again.

I don't know why, but I always seem to enjoy night matches a lot more than ones during the daylight. Some of my favourite matches at Ewood were played at night. The 5.15 isn't traditional but it's a makable game. Much better than 12.45 in bloody Fulham.

When was that then? Most times he's played in central defence actually. I am still struggling with that. No, they're right. You must be confusing yourself with thoughts of him at left back. Or in your imagination.

I think I went to a different game yesterday. My criticisms are of the creativity in the side and the lack of a striker who can turn a game on its head with a moment of magic. I'm also very critical of the people who watch the team. Yesterday I was sat in my seat with a desire to punch any one of the people around me who were complaining. The very same people who praised the rejuvinated Emerton were the ones screaming at him and professing that they "always hated him". I get home, sleep on it, and find all this written. An ever-so-slightly over-dramatised reaction to a game in which we reduced a better team (higher up the table) to counter-attacks and defending deeply. People are calling for heads - Nissa, Ferguson, Dickov this week. They praise others - Neill and Tugay this time. Yet rewind to a fortnight or so ago and Neill and Toogs would have been the first people everybody would have dropped. Friedel was fine. Little chance for the goal. Lucas was excellent. Went forwards whenever he could and supported Reid because he knew that Reidy doesn't bomb forwards all the time. Short and Todd were very good. Both showed several composed touches on the ball. They cleared when necessary, passed the ball about, and gave Defoe little space all game. Nissa was predictably bad. A very composed centre-half, it's far too much to expect him to bomb down the left, skin people and deliver a quality cross. It isn't in his job decription. You wouldn't expect Andy Todd to fly down the right and drop it on somebodies head. Defensively he was fine. The only one to chase Brown for the goal. It was actually Todd and Short who doubled up on Defoe leaving Keane unmarked. Play him at centreback or not at all. Playing him at left back last time must have set him back about a year in progression. Emerton and Reid weren't half as good as they have been recently. Emerton has a lot of trouble crossing on his left foot. I'd like to see one of de Pedro or MGP get their acts together and sort out our left sided problem. Spurs worked hard in restricting the supply from our wingers and they did it well. This left our central midfielders with more time and space on the ball. This really showed with the possession they both had. Tugay was very effective with the ball. Ferguson was erratic. Taking Tugay off for the rubbish Thompson was a bad move IMO because he was picking out some lovely passes. Gallagher and Dickov were outmuscled by two very able centre-halves. Gally looks very lightweight but has the quality to find himself a chance or two. Dickov worked hard as usual but found it difficult against such big lads. Bothroyd was much more powerful and his close control is something else. However he faded towards the end after seeing a lot of the ball initially. This was a different team who capitulated to Boro. This is a different team to the one Chelsea rolled over. For some reason a good away win has given everybody unrealistic expectations. The final ball yesterday was pitiful, but that was the only thing lacking. Playing a killer pass is one of the most difficult things in football and Spurs defended it very well. We weren't rubbish at all. When we lost the ball we got it back. Our passing in the build-up was very good. It was our presence up front that let us down, nothing more. I'd love a big target man to come in and bully around defenders. Beattie would be above and beyond my wildest dreams. I think we'll survive whatever though. The attitude of the fans was by far and away my biggest disappointment yesterday. It wasn't constructive criticism. It wasn't lambasting an awful player. It was people finding faults in players who were trying their best and not quite getting it right. I generally ignore the mood-swings that this mb goes through. I expect it and usually switch off. But to call yesterday the worst performance of the season and to suggest that players who have been performing well recently are rubbish on the back of one performance is out of order. Sometimes I wonder why half the people at Ewood Park bother turning up.

Score goals? Create them? Terrorise defences? Give us something to look forward to? Be worth the price of admission alone? What did he win with the club? Hughesy before you start throwing abuse around read your posts. What did he win --------A Worthington Cup Medal Compared to Wilcox who won a league champions medal. And also enjoyed 2 other top 4 finishes. I'll say it again. Ripley won the Premiership with Blackburn. Douglas lost 3-0 in the FA Cup Final to Wolves. Who did you vote for?

To be a great player the team he plays in needs to win trophies/leagues? Wilcox in his prime would never have gone to a bigger club for such a large amount of money. He was effective in the same way that Ripley was effective. Duff was a class above - a magician who could turn a game in seconds with a brillaint run, a killer pass or a great goal. Ripley won the Premiership with Blackburn. Douglas lost 3-0 in the FA Cup Final to Wolves. Who did you vote for?

May I be the first to ask that nobody takes the bait?

Score goals? Create them? Terrorise defences? Give us something to look forward to? Be worth the price of admission alone?

A proven Premiership defender to replace a defender who was injured.

It doesn't matter if he comes on and scores or comes on and plays badly - you can't judge a person on 10 minutes here or there. You judge them in training and when the time is right, you put them out on the pitch and judge them there.

I'd like to bring this point to the forefront to make sure rover6 doesn't sidestep/ignore it.

I'm amazed by the criticism of Dickov's quality. His passing isn't up to much, but his dribbling his pretty good. His finishing skills are no better or no worse than any striker we've seen at the club in years. Cole was hardly clinical, nor Yorke. If that chest, swivel and volley vs United wasn't quality then I don't know what is.

If you are disappointed that a 5' 6" tall player aint winning at least 20% in the air against big 6' 2" centre backs, then I put a serious questionmark to your footballing knowledge! Are you serious? Should we lower our demands just because we have crappy players? Should we be happy just because he's trying hard and say: - Oh, he missed again, but that's okey, at least little Paul is working hard. This is not some school boy club. This is Premier League!! Strikers are there to win headers and score goals. Dickov is not doing that. He's simply not good enough. How hard is that to understand? I would be happy with him if we were in a lower division, but this is Premier League where 5'6'' players aren't players you build your team around. But he is scoring goals! Sod the headers! Goals are what matter at the end of the day. Not headers. You would be far from happy if we signed Peter Crouch.

Thank You. Someone else has seen sense and turned their back on 'head in the sand' attitude. If MGP has an appearance fee clause for playing 10 or less times then I will buy you a pint. If people don't agree with you then they have their head in the sand? I'd expect better of somebody with your linguistic sharpness. A bit petulant for somebody who wants to be taken seriously.

It doesn't matter whether he should have, or whether others could have. He did. He's on target to score more than Andy Cole did last season. A penalty is as much a goal as a 35 yard screamer. It isn't a soft goal. Also bare in mind he won both the penalties, and got people sent off both times as a direct result.

That scenario Scotty is quite terrifying and I wish it hadn't been brought to my attention. I think we can safely say that any initiative to bring in more ethnic minorities to boost attendances has been dealt a hefty blow.

Looking at our options, I say we sod roles. If we have the ball-winning destroyer then fine, play him. We don't (now that Flitty seems to have lost it). What we have are two energetic midfielders who can both attack very well and both can put in a tackle or two. If they play alongside each other and work for each other then we'll be fine. Designating somebody to sit and tackle will inhibit them. We're best off letting them play their own games and giving the opposition more to worry about.