I'm finding the same thing. It certainly took a few days but by the weekend I was really getting into it. I can understand why people wouldn't like it - there's no 'single' on it, but that's probably not the priority I don't think. Really really liking 'Reckoner' and 'Videotape'.

Nearly a quarter of the population take illegal substances?

Surely to display a sense of humour you have to hear a good joke in the first place? I'm surprised how preciously you responded to that considering how many people on here have jovial digs at you!

On Thursday I wondered why Sparky hadn't recalled McCarthy to the team against Larissa when we needed goals. Surely the point of dropping him was the give him a kick up the arse for when he returned. Witnessing his performance on Sunday made me think maybe Hughes did the right thing in midweek too. Benni probably thought after being left behind for Sunderland that he had served his punishment and would be restored straight away. By leaving him out again in a game which really looked like he would be needed in, Hughes really sent a message. The Benni who played on Sunday had heard that message loud and clear and I think we saw the results. That little turn on the corner was spectacular.

But those strikers WERE hard-working. It didn't make them particularly good. You can't really say that Cole or McCarthy were work horses, but I'd still take them over the likes of Dickov any day of the week. I really don't see the point you're trying to make. People from Blackburn don't like black strikers? It's as deluded as you believing the people who criticise David Dunn MUST be jealous that he is a local boy done good.

I can't help but feel that Duff must be nearly shot. Jose Mourinho is not a stupid man, and he practically gave him to Newcastle for £5m. There must be something seriously wrong there.

I'm sorry Philip, but I'm not having that. I watched very carefully from my seat at the game and he was rubbish. As Rev says, he did absolutely nothing and was a major reason why Everton spent 45 minutes in our half in the second half. I can reasonably stomach your positive suppositions and random guesses at how much everybody is going to spend because that seems to be related to your profession, but for somebody who gets so much wrong to come on and tell me that I "wasn't watching properly" is a bit much.

The defender who jumped on Benni actually pushed his temple right into the back of Riggott's head. It looked seriously nasty. I initially didn't see that when I saw the replay, and assumed his head had just snapped forwards with the pressure of the jumper (Wheater?).

You'd have to kill me before I sing that stupid Manc song.

Blackburn: Friedel ,Neill ,Short (Amoruso ,41 ) ,Matteo ,Gray ,Emerton ,Ferguson ,Flitcroft ,Pedersen (Jansen ,58 ) ,Stead (Bothroyd ,64 ) ,Dickov Subs not used: Tugay,Enckelman, Beat Pompey 1-0 (Jansen) EDIT: Damn you Dan, just a little bit too quick!

Saw Muse play at the new Wembley stadium last night. Mind-blowing experience and by far one of the best gigs I've ever been to. The venue itself takes a bit of acclimatising to - we spent a good half an hour just looking round thinking "my god this is the new Wembley". Very exciting stuff.

DMF may be able to tell you more as I know he trawls the messageboards. AFAIK there will be three support acts, the first starting at 4.30. There have been quite a lot of rumours, tbh I don't really care so I've not paid attention, but Klaxons, My Chemical Romance and Lily Allen have all been mentioned. I believe The Streets are one of the confirmed support acts.

They all dream of going to Man United! Only a handful of the youngsters have dreamed about playing for Blackburn Rovers. Most of the youth team will want to play for Man United. The sheer irrational insecurity of fans is unbelievable. Look at how Abbey reacted to Zurab's comments last week. Robbie Savage would have loved to have made it at United. I bet Ryan Nelsen quite fancies winning a European Cup with them. The sooner people realise that you can play for a club despite supporting somebody else as a youngster the better.

I don't think it's that cut and dried Jan. Most people are slightly more intelligent than that. However, I WOULD suggest that if it were Paul Gallagher in exactly the same situation then nobody would have any problems whatsoever.

I think some people are massively missing the point. His game has never ever ever been about workrate. Mark Hughes knows this. He has already said that he does more running now in a game than he has ever done in his career. The man has scored 20 goals this season. He cost as much as we got for Shefki Kuqi. He doesn't get his goals by harassing defenders, it just isn't his style. If he'd scored 5 all season then by all means criticise him. But what he is doing IS WORKING. We have taken points that we've had no right to take because of him. If we sign three 25 goal a season strikers with amazing workrate then drop him like a tonne of bricks. But until then, what are we moaning about? I've also read that he "should have 25 goals by now if he worked harder". Well why don't we put that money towards a 15 goal a season partner and have TWO dangerous strikers, instead of fantacising about replacing our best one? Recently we have been spoiled with workrate. McCarthy is a little different - one of the most skillful players I've ever seen at Ewood. Are we really that 2 dimensional as supporters that we can't just enjoy that?

I think his point is that he doesn't think we can ever achieve anything under McClaren, and therefore the best thing for English football will be to see his removal ASAP. I think the only way we will see the back of him before the next world cup (let's face it, the Euros are a very distant second in terms of priority) will be for us to either not qualify for Euro 08 or go out in the group stages. Neither are really desirable. Could we qualify if we lost tonight and got a new manager who we were happy with? Possibly, but it would be extremely risky. I'd personally rather we win, but I'm extremely doubtful that McClaren can deliver us anything except mediocrity.

Of course. But I think Johnson 1) is better than Nugent and 2) deserves his place more. So why drop him? Let's be honest. We'd all rather have Johnson or Defoe over Nugent. Can people really say they've seen him enough to confidently claim he's better than either of those two? So why should he play ahead of them?

Again, we could do worse than Nugent. I believe that people are probably more excited about him because he's a bit of "the unknown". I know a few Preston fans who see him every week who think it's hilarious that he's in the England squad. People generally get excited about young, quick strikers. I don't think he's better than Andy Johnson at the moment, so why not keep Johnson in the team and give him a bit more time with Rooney? Also, if Nugent starts and bags 6 goals - it's against Andorra. What has he proven? So, in effect, he can't actually win, because the quality of the opposition is so poor.

We could do a lot worse than Davies (cue tnr dragging back a post from 2 years ago where he suggested it first). Charisteas worked wonders for Greece in 04. I'd stick with AJ though - he's a good player. He has pace, movement and can finish. Our problem, IMO, is that when we try these new strikers they don't get a run of games unless they immediately score. Look at what has happened to James Beattie. When Dean Ashton comes back I expect him to start getting into squads with regularity, provided he can recapture his good form after a long injury.

Seriously, drog, what are you talking about? Did you even go to the Liverpool game? I've even pointed this out in a previous thread!

Rev he definitely has a point. You've never liked Neill ever since he came in for Curtis, and you're talking about him giving away penalties and amking bad challenges as though they're a new thing since he "lost interest". He has always had that one in his locker. Lucas is playing averagely at the moment, just as he has had patches of in every season for us. As Scotty says, he started off abysmally but got an awful lot better. People now actually WANT him to look disinterested just so they can slate him. Jogging, misplaced passes, conceeding fouls. They're part of the game for every player, but if you're Lucas Neill it's because you don't care and are trying to throw the game.

Speak of the devil, I've been well into Make Yourself again recently and am listening to Morning View at this moment. They certainly don't sound metal to me, but then the definitions of every genre are so sketchy and interchangable. I had the impression a few years ago when I bought the albums that they were a deeply 'uncool' band to admit liking. I mean Limp Bizkit uncool. Yet every so often I find myself talking to people with a decent taste in music who like them. Are they actually deeply uncool or is that somewhat exaggerated? Anyway, not a brilliant band - quite a bit of filler - but I think I could make a decent 'Best Of' which would be a good listen.

Savage. We paid at least £3m for a want-away player over 30 years old who had been dropped to the reserves. Not that I don't think we should have paid it, but it is a very good amount of money for somebody in that situation.

Don't get me wrong, I agree with that. I certainly hope that once Nelsen returns he will be club captain. I just think that whilst Mark Hughes trusts Neill, and he has no reason not to, we should refrain from questioning his commitment. Sparky is one of the most competitive players in recent times - he would be the first to know if anything was below 100%.

He'll definitely get booed. The people who say they won't boo him probably won't boo him, but the vast majority almost certainly will. That's getting off the point though. Do you think Mark Hughes (a very talented manager) continues to play captain Lucas because: 1)He hates Rovers and doesn't know what is best for us, or 2)He thinks Neill has been doing a professional job and is one of our better defenders?