I think if you look back you'll see that you were the one who "went for the jugular" with your first in-your-face reply. I quote "or are you still struggling to understand the obvious?" Maybe you need a few more months off.

I think the only person making a cock of themselves at the moment is you Tris. We'll have to agree to disagree on the performances of our midfield players this season. Imo the players you mentioned have had one, or maybe two, good games so far whereas Savage has been consistently good. And yes, Savage could have turned down the interview but I suppose he wanted to make sure that people knew he was available for selection. It was then up to Sky to decide whether they showed it or not. In the grand scheme of things it seems to be a fairly trivial matter that you've chosen to get so worked up about. Still, makes a change from arguing with Theno I suppose.

Savage has been our best midfield player this season imo and was one of the few players to emerge from Villa last week with some credit. As for his SSN interview, I'm sure it's not Savage's fault that it's getting repeated every hour, just as I'm sure it wasn't Savage who asked for the interview in the first place. As Greggyk points out, there's a big game involving Wales this weekend so I guess it's news.

Fantastic signing for Newcastle and very bad news for us given that we face them soon.

Keep making those predictions boys. After all, you've both been spot on so far.

Have you becdome English again now we're winning?

Vaughan's wicket probably just swung it the Aussies way. I'd say the whole day was pretty even though, maybe just England slightly on top. Tomorrow morning's crucial. If England can get a good start 400+ is on the cards and it'll be hard to lose the match from there. If the Aussies strike early we could be out for less than 300 and it's all to play for.

134-1 at Tea. Lots of rain but, as the Aussies didn't manage to take a wicket, I'd say that's another session to us.

129-1 at lunch. That'd be another session to England then.

I came off disappointed last night as I thought the game was there for the taking until Neill was sent off. We dominated possession throughout but failed to convert that possession into chances. To be honest, we only really looked threatening at set-pieces but too many of those were wasted with poor deliveries. Tottenham lacked any ambition whatsoever, stringing two banks of four across their defence and never, ever breaking out until we were down to 10 men. We didn't have enough guile or quality to break them down. I thought Savage and Tugay played well in midfield, Kuqi ran his socks off up front but lost control of the ball too often, and our defence will probably never get an easier night all season. Neill, like so many of our players over the last year or so, needs his head examining for what was a totally mindless "challenge" for someone on a booking to make. I didn't see the Todd incident live but, from the quick TV replay I saw, Reid stamped on Todd's foot and Todd certainly didn't headbutt him. Their heads came together but their was no butt - just theatrics from Reid who should be the one to get punished ahead of Todd. Still, Hughes has to sort out our discipline quickly as it's starting to get ridiculous now.. To have 2 players sent off in the first three games for stupid tackles beggars belief after all our negative publicity last season.

But dropping down the divisions (if that is what is to happen to us) doesn't mean certain death. It just means less success. Clubs like Burnley, Preston and Blackpool still seem to be alive.

He didn't disappear on Saturday after his booking. And he didn't deserve his booking either.

Has your attendance obsession taken you to spying on the ticket office queues now? It's never too late to get help you know.

Just like I'm not surprised that you're baiting away as usual.

Your arrogance knows no bounds. No-one would support Lancashire United. No-one. The supporters of Blackburn, Burnley, Preston, Bolton, or whoever else you've got in mind would be more likely to either just stop supporting football altogether or would follow a smaller, local team. Or perhaps a group of fans would start up a new Blackburn Rovers - much like the fans of Wimbledon and Man U have done recently.

You just can't help yourself can you? Well, I think your version of democracy is frankly a joke. I'm sure there are plenty of 40-something, married "dollopers" who, according to you, would receive more votes than an intelligent, single 20 year old. It's like reading the work of an 8 year old. As for my suggestions, I'm not the one complaining about the current system am I? As soon as I do feel free to ask me for an alternative.

All my pre-season optimism evaporated during the second half at West Ham last week, so I walked down to Ewood today in a pretty sombre mood. No first home game buzz at all, especially when I heard the team news that Bellamy and Mokoena were out injured. At least Nelsen came back into the defence. We lined up in a 4-1-4-1 formation with Tugay playing the holding midfield role and Kuqi the lone striker. The one thing the opposition have to do when Tugay is playing is close him down quickly and put him under pressure. Fulham didn't. Consequently, Tugay revelled in the time and space he was given and ran the first half. It was all Blackburn really. We were sharper into the tackle than Fulham, quicker to latch onto any loose balls, and got our passing going early, largely thanks to Tugay. We looked particularly dangerous down both flanks with Pedersen in particular finding plenty of space behind his full back. However, we didn't really capitalise on our superiority and didn't create as many chances as we probably should have. Emerton had our first clear chance when a good move found him on the edge of the box. As so often happens though, the hapless Aussie delayed his shot too long and missed the main opportunity, eventually tamely scuffing an effort straight to the keeper. But no matter, we didn't have to wait too much longer before we took the lead. And what a goal it was. A real length of the pitch move that saw Emerton and Neill combine well down the right to release the willing Kuqi down the right wing. His running cross to the far-post was inch perfect (the type that Emerton never seems to produce) and was met by the most glorious of finishes by Pedersen. A fantastic volley that oozed class. Goal of the season - or so we all thought. We continued to be the better team for a while but Fulham gradually crept back into it towards the end of the half. They created their only real first half chance during this period when, after a set-piece, Friedel saved a point-blank header from Diop. Great reflex save. Still, we fully deserved our half-time lead and were looking good for the win at that stage. I thought that at half-time last week though. And it seemed for a while that history was going to repeat itself. We emerged from the half-time break looking lethargic and lacking any real tempo or urgency, so it was no surprise to see Fulham quickly get the equaliser. We fell asleep as Fulham took a quick free-kick down their left, failed to defend the cross, and Todd allowed McBride to get goal-side and steer the ball home from close range. A really sloppy goal to concede. We responded well though and quickly started to get back on top again. Neill and Emerton iwere linking up well down the right - Neill in particular was a man inspired. One run saw the full-back beat 3 or 4 defenders before attempting a cheeky chip over the keeper from the edge of the area. It just floated over but it was a terrific run. We piled on the pressure and won a series of corners that Pedersen threatened to score directly from before he decided to change tack and float one to Tugay just outside the area. The Turk met the cross with one of the sweetest volleys I've ever seen, the ball almost broke the back of the Fulham net, and the crowd went beserk. What a goal. We pretty well controlled the game from then on. Fulham had a couple of half chances but we could, and perhaps should, have gone further ahead. Neill hit the bar with a cracking curling shot from the edge of the area, Emerton brought out a smart near-post save from Fulham's keeper, and Kuqi put a half-chance over from a bit of a goal-mouth scamble. A fairly comfortable win though in the end highlighted by two fantastic goals. Friedel looked assured and made a great first half save when required. Our defence was pretty good for most of the game but totally switched off for Fulham's goal. Todd hasn't started the season particularly well, and he allowed McBride to get goal-side for their goal, but he looked much more composed next to Nelsen today than he did last week alongside Mokoena. Nelsen was as calm and composed as ever. Matteo defended well and even linked up with Pedersen in attack a couple of times in the first half. Neill had a great game going forward and really deserved a goal. He's started the season well. Tugay was excellent all game and was my man of the match - just ahead of Neill. His goal was a beauty. Savage put himself about and looked fully-fit for the first time in a while. I thought his booking was very harsh as well. Reid was ok, nothing spectacular, but he managed to join up with Kuqi a few times which is something he has to do when we only play one up front. Pedersen played well today, possibly one of his best games for us since he joined, and took his goal superbly. Great technique. And Emerton. Oh Emerton! What can you say that hasn't already been said a thousand times. He was pretty awful in the first half and incredibly frustrating, but he did improve in the second half and linked up well with Neill throughout. I thought Kuqi played the lone front man role pretty well today. He lacks real class but he's a willing work-horse and causes problems for the defence. His cross for the first goal was top quality as well. All in all it was a good, much-needed win. However, it should be noted that Fulham were pretty hopeless and failed to match our energy or commitment for large periods of the game. I was amazed that they didn't bother to get close to Tugay for most of the match. We won't see many poorer teams at Ewood this season. It'll be interesting to see how good we are against a decent team on Wednesday. At least we can take some confidence into that game now.

But as usual you don't offer an alternative Theno. Democracy may have flaws but what would you replace it with?

I couldn't find a suitable topic for this so I've started a new one. feel free to move if there's somewhere it should go. I thought the article below was brilliant and I had to agree with much of what was written. Football is slowly dying on its arse. Guardian story

Well, I guess that's one up for you then because there's absolutely no chance whatsoever of me making you look like a clever anything.

Just got back - great game. Queued from 8 this morning and didn't get in until half 9 - apparently thousands were turned away. It was a terrific atmosphere and very, very tense at the end - just a shame we couldn't finish it off. Fair play to Ponting for a brilliant knock but I really thought we were going to do it. Probably get sacked tomorrow but I guess it was worth it!

Just about feel up to commenting on the game now - it was just all too depressing yesterday. We were the better team for half an hour because we passed the ball better and were quicker into the tackle than West Ham. We unsettled them and they couldn't cope with the way we quickly pressured the ball all over the park. As a result we deservedly took the lead and could easily have gone 2 or 3 in front. However, West Ham slowly found their feet, picked up the pace of the game, and started stringing a few passes together of their own. They finished the first half on top but 1-0 at half-time was still probably a fair reflection of what had gone on. We were caught over-committing at the start of the second half. We lost possession deep in West Ham's half, they broke quickly, and we just didn't have enough bodies back behind the ball. All four midfielders and our right back were caught up field. West Ham were lifted and they started to overrun us in midfield. Hughes rightly decided to address this by changing to a 4-1-4-1 formation but I thought he took the wrong player off. Kuqi was doing OK and we'd have been better off if one of our ineffective wide-men had been subbed. The removal of Kuqi meant that we didn't have an outlet up front so we just kept giving the ball back to West Ham. This, coupled with some rank bad individual defending, resulted in us conceding another two goals and getting thoroughly outplayed. Dickov's mindless sending off just put the tin hat on an incredibly depressing second-half display. There's little point in singling out individual players for criticism as the whole team were crap in that second half. I was particularly disappointed with our wide-men though. Emerton was at his frustrating worst and Pedersen was just awful. Bellamy didn't look fit, Kuqi did a few good things but didn't stand out, Savage and Reid started well but found themselves too far up field too often in the second half, and the whole defence were poor. Next week's a big game now. We need to see a reaction after that display.

Aw, poor lamb. Did I touch a nerve sweety? Hasn't JW come out and said season ticket sales are only down 1000 on last season? And didn't we have 14,000 last season? If by some miracle you've finally got something right Theno then I humbly apologise - but I'll still believe JW if that's ok with you. And the fact you've had to bring this back up just shows how desperate you are for recognition and attention.

Great day today - tasd pi55ed. Got to get up for SWest ham, tomorrow. Englasnd good - Aussies bad. Freddie, Freddie. Jones and Giles, top banaana. Engl;and are pi55ing this test. the Aussies haven't a prayer - I love it. Edit - soz about spelling.

The other thing today did was allow Harmison and Flintoff an extra day's rest after their efforts at Edgbaston. Could prove invaluable when they eventually bowl tomorrow. Day one to England - what will tomorrow bring? I'll settle for a cheeky ton from Freddie followed by Harmi ripping the heart out of the Aussie batting order.