Just watched them links back. That 15/16 goal of the season competition is the sorriest goal of the season competition I have ever seen.

Haha, took me a good few minutes to see what you had amended. Yes, of course it's the knockout stages which I look forward too.

Suppose if I had to pick a side out of this miserable decade it would be, in a 4-4-1-1 Robinson, Salgado, Nelson, Mulgrew, Olsson, Conway, Dunn, N'Zonzi, MGP, Dack, Rhodes Subs - Raya, Hanley, Emerton, Cairney, Hoilett, Gestede, Graham

I tend to ignore the group stages in both competitions, a load of prolonged nonsense to me. I love the group stages though, even though there are a few clubs from the same countries I like to think of them as the old European & Uefa cup's now.

The best comment I ever saw about Wigan was that they are "Accrington Stanley on steroids". No idea if it was someone on here who said it or I read it on twitter etc but it has stuck with me ever since ?

Pretty sure Santa Cruz had left before the decade got under way.

I think another thing confusing you is, Although Villanueva did play and score in this game, he made his debut 5 months earlier in a league cup game against Grimsby (I think) and also scored in that game too.

Probably because he has had 4/5 months of regular football against men. Have to remember that he hardly played any real football for the whole of last season.

Always think that when you start to believe nonsense like the bit in bold, it will will come and bite you in the behind. It would be very Rovers like to pick up 3/4 points from those fixtures. The Wigan & Birmingham games will be a completely different kind of pressure for the players and manager, I think every Rovers fan in attendance and watching from afar will be expecting to win these games, a good test to see what this current players are made of. I'd personally go for the same 11 as Saturday, apart from Dack and Armstrong in for Brereton & Bennett, maybe Downing back in at left back, but Bells pace might be crucial against Lowe. JRC is well behind in the pecking order at the moment, I'd be very surprised if he starts a league game this season. Going off recent form and with the tickets so cheap, I think we could be in for a surprise with the gate for this one. Just a shame it isn't a Saturday, although if it was I highly doubt that it would be a tenner a ticket.

I've just noticed that "livefootballontv.com" has our boxing day game down as live on the red button. I thought something had come in where the holiday games couldn't be shown unless it was sold out or close too? Interestingly it doesn't have any games on the red button listed for Sunday 29th or New Years Day, as I'm presuming these must be fair game to be shown too?

Johnson certainly played like he had been on the sauce that day.

You make it sound like they will never play again. Remember it's Mowbray, they will all probably get a start before we go to Huddersfield on the 29th. As for the next game, I'd bring in Dack for Brereton & Armstrong for Bennett and let the other 9 have another crack at it.

We're entering dangerous territory now though, two home games where I think everyone will be expecting to win and the pressure will be on, hopefully two decent Ewood crowds that will stay patient if we're not 1-0 up in the first 10 mins, think the lads have earned that over the past few weeks.

Mowbray deserves huge credit for this result. The lads who have come in have given him a huge dilemma for the next game now, nice little rest now before the next batch of hectic games. Well played indeed.

Looking at it I'd hope that it's the same system, with Bennett and Holtby either side of Gallagher, with Brereton just in behind. Who knows though!

The fact we're nominating Corry Evan's for this just because he's been here the longest shows what a horrible decade it has been. You can count on two hands the amount of good games he has had during his time here, and half of those have been in the past two weeks. For me, I'm going to say Bradley Dack. He grabbed the club by the scruff of the neck a couple of years ago (along with supporting roles from one or two others) when somebody needed to and we were languishing in the third tier, remember he didn't become a regular starter until October that year, and our form improved dramatically when he became the main man. He has also continued that form at a higher level for 18 months now, a really good footballer and one we should enjoy while we can. Other nominations should be - Jordan Rhodes, 85 goals in three and a half years is some going considering he had 7 managerial changes to contend with in that time. David Dunn, two big goals against the dingles put him here automatically, but he was still a very good player for us for the first few years of the decade. Craig Conway, the model pro, , dependable in a few positions, always gave his best and chipped in with some important goals and assists in his 5 years here. Crucial part of our team that hit the dizzy heights of our best placed finishes of 8th & 9th since relegation. Other names that could possibly be considered include, Ryan Nelson, Grant Hanley, Tom Cairney, Rudy Gestede, Danny Graham & Charlie Mulgrew.

Ayala and Friend have the Middlesbrough connection too, so Mowbray will salivating at the thought of snatching a couple of experienced defenders from such a huge club. Jordan Rhodes is on there too, we all know Dack is going in the summer, so what would people's thoughts be of signing Rhodes and going to a more traditional 4-4-2 lineup? Or is he past it now? Rudd might be good for the GK position, and obviously everyones favourite defender Cooper is on there.

I don't think Williams has travelled with the squad, so he won't be playing. I reckon It's Holtby for Dack & Bennett for Rothwell.

Thing is, back then it was actually reserve team football, playing against men. Now it's all academy playing against lads the same age as you save for one or two.

I don't want to sound like a broken record, but it can't be long until Mowbray decides to shoehorn Bennett in somewhere else now that Nyambe has made the right back spot his own. I'm thinking left back, to allow Downing to move up to left mid, with Rothwell back on the bench.

I agree with most of your last couple of posts, I wasn't happy with a draw last night, and thought we played pretty average all through the game. We were on a run of 5 wins out of 6, and Swansea had lost 4 out of there last 5 at home. I don't think you can use the "played a fair chunk of the game with a man advantage" card though as we only had a man more for 10 minutes!

I thought Peter Whittingham left us straight after our promotion back to the championship, but turns out he actually played in an early league cup game last season.

Downing is probably the fittest member of the squad, despite being 35. If we play Bell or Bennett at left back in one of these away games then it's like we asking to get beat, not good enough. Gallagher for Graham we might get away with.

We haven't won 5 In a row at this level since or promotion season back in 00-01. I have a feeling we'll run out of steam tonight but lets see, there is certainly nothing to fear there.

Unless we somehow go up, I see them pair being our strike force next season. No way are Dack snd Graham going to be here.