I know that City were short of players and I know if my auntie had bolloxz she'd have been my uncle but imo a fit Neil and Emerton would have earned us 3 points today.  We were just so weak down the right.

With Gray and Pederson misfiring too and City's well rehearsed offside trap catching Bellamy and Dickov with aggravating regularity our attacking threat was zilch.  But last season such a performance would have seen us come away with nothing so it's a nice feeling supporting a club that is at last difficult to beat.   

Hughes only mistake imo was in not giving Kuqi at least 30 mins of action.  His enthusiastic work rate and physical presence caused more probs for Dunn and Distain in 10 mins than Bellamy and Dickov had done in the previous 80. 

Gary Linekar has backed Stuart Peirce to become next England manager but his actions in twice darting onto the pitch to grab the ball and speed up play out of frustration will have set any chance of that back immensely.  The FA will certainly not want to hire such an emotion driven individual I'm sure.

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Pearce was MOM in a dour game spoilt by Blackburn's approach to the game, and City's inability to break you down.

Dickov, and Bellamy were occasionally in good situations, but even in the latter stages of the game, you refused to commit anyone forward.

I think you missed a trick today. No doubt you are happy enough with a point away from home, but you could have had all 3 if you attacked.

We had 2 kids, a reserve defender, and a half-fit winger playing in our midfield today (thanks to KK's ridiculous transfer policy, and cut-backs), and you could have taken us to the cleaners.

Both teams were well-organised, and that's about the only positive thing that came out of the game. That and a point for each team.

I hope the retrun fixture at Ewood Park is a better game. I am sure it will be

Thanks for putting up with me this last week

a ray of hope for City, Pedersen reported to be struggling with an achilles problem

Rovers to win 2-0

This is the kinda thing which really annoys me. Fair enough, your a City fan, probably the most loyal set of fans in the whole country (ave of 28k in div 2) and if you wanna have a pop at our crowds then thats up to you. However, why do you have to come up with exagerated bullsh!t in order to do so??

Our average crowd was 27,500 the yr after we spent far less than the average Keegan summer, ie the time you would expect the most glory hunters. Last yr we averaged 22k thats a drop of 5000, not the nonsence you talk of 15k. Get real mate 

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KK spent nothing in his last 2 seasons, and there's no comparison given the inflation in the domestic transfer market. I'm not really a Keegan fan, and I don't think many City fans are.

This season you've been getting sub 20k, and if you do average above 20k this season it will be because you give a 1/4 of your ground to some teams.

You will make up less than 4% of our crowd tomorrow, whereas when we visit Ewood we make up about 30% of yours

Did you give the whole of the Darwen End to Utd, City, Liverpool etc when you won the title? You might have done, but I have no recollection of this.

You're right I exagerated, but I think you are under-playing the fall in Rovers support as your numbers hide increased numbers of away fans? If you've always given the Darwen End to away fans then I'm wrong on that count as well

Had a quick look at the City forum - found a quote that really sums up the City 'big club' fans mentality:

"--I think my dislike of Blackburn falls in to the category of 'Poor lancashire teams that think they're good.'---"

Mind the windows in your glass house mate.

Translated to me:- " Dislike of Blackburn falls into the category of 'They've won something in the last 20 years' and we haven't "

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Very scientific approach to take one person's post and use it as evidence of your own jaundiced viewpoint.

What's more galling is that Blackburn got 30,000 when Jack Walker bought a winning team, yet when you're mid-table 15,000 of those couldn't be bothered.

It's those 15,000 who have a big-club mentality. They only want to be associated with success.

The 1700 who will follow Blackburn on Saturday are proper football fans and deserve a better ambassador

I went down to the ticket office at 4.30 today for some Arse tickets ( only 200 of those left !) and asked about City tickets for my pal, lo and behold they sold me two. They said they had got some more..........so get on the blower in the morning. I'm a bit p1ssed off because I've bought one in the City end after being told there was no chance of anymore being sent from Manchestoh.

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How are you buying tickets in the City ends? the only way you could do that is by going in person to the City ticket office as you need a Smartcard to get into the home areas. Very dedicated. Not sure I'd go to the lengths of travelling to an away ground to buy tickets in the home end.

Have had tickets in the home ends on the day before, but never bothered enough to make 2 trips to the ground

My mate's the same as you Hughesy.

He's on a waiting list that ticket office have put him on under but knows he won't get one so he's bought six yesterday in the City end.

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How did he buy them?

Just been looking at t'internet for Man City and their average crowds are down over 3,000 this season meaning there should be 5,000 tickets going begging.

Also noticed that they are on a bit of a bad run- lost five out of their last nine whereas we've won six out of our last nine.

What is striking is that they've had a fixture list like Wigan's- apart from Man U away and West Ham home, they have been playing all the bottom clubs so they are probably in a bit of a false position at the moment.

Presumably this thread will become the preview thread at some point?

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Crowds are down 3,000. In part this is due to small away followings, and Sky TV messing with KO times.

The attendance in the corresponding fixture last season was 45,504. Will probably be slightly less this Saturday, but there won't be much in it.

At this stage of the season - 12 games gone - you can't say the fixture list has been kind to City. We've played Arsenal and Newcastle away, in addition to Utd. West Ham at home was a walk-over. If anything we've had some bad luck in games eg Bolton (hit woodwork on 6 occasions).

City are up there on merit, and I'm confident we will still be up there towards the end of the season.

I like your team too, particularly Bellamy, Dickov and Pedersen. I'll take a point on Saturday though as we're without Barton, and he's our most important player. More valuable to us than Shaun Wright-Phillips ever was

As far as I understand it City offer up to 1,700 seats to visiting clubs on a sale or return basis, and an additional 1,000 (the Upper Tier) if the visiting club applies a month in advance. You either get 1,700 or 2,900.

A month's notice is required because that's when the tickets start to be sold to City fans. There will already be City fans in the seats above you, so it's too late now. Had you taken up the full allocation, you'd have ended up paying for the tickets you didn't sell.

So far Everton and West Ham have brought 2,500 plus but the other clubs a 1,000 or less. You will be bringing more than most clubs have done.

You could buy tickets in the City ends if you want, but it's a little awkward as you either have to wait till match-day (and there's no guarantee they will be on sale on match-day), or go beforehand in person to the City ticket office as you need to obtain an access card, and you can't do this over the phone / Internet.

If they are on sale on match-day, you pay an extra £1 more, and by then the North and South Stands will probably have sold out, and you'll end up paying £32 in the West and East Stands.

That's expensive, but it is a fantastic stadium. The best in the country in my opinion, and win lose or draw, you'll have a memorable day

I doubt the game will sell out, but it should be our biggest crowd of the season, about 44,000 I reckon.

Nearly all our home games have been moved for Sky (we played EVerton at 11.15 on a Sunday!) which has affected attendances this season, but if we're still doing well I expect we'll have full houses again after XMas

You've probably picked a good time to play City as Joey Barton is suspended, and Reyna is doubtful. Without these two players City are very lightweight in central midfield.

Our danger man could be Vassell, and watch out for a young kid Stevie Ireland in midfield

Hope you all get to the game and have a good day