I thought both Nonda and McCarthy played well yesterday.

There's clearly two issues here. The first is whether Neill should be playing in the team when it looks like he's off soon, the second is whether he should be captain. Well, for me, the first issue is a no-brainer. There's no doubt in my mind that we are a better team with Lucas Neill in the side. He's perfectly entitled to see out his contract, he's never bad-mouthed Blackburn Rovers as far as I'm aware, and I've never doubted his commitment on the pitch. He's a good player who I think we'll sorely miss when he's gone. As for those whining like girls after Neill's celebration last night - get a grip ffs. He pathetically took some unwarrented stick from a section of "supporters" and he's entitled to give it back. Good on him for showing a bit of passion. The second issue is more contentious. I can understand why people don't want Neill to be captain and I'd admit that the whole affair is a bit of a PR disaster. For me though, the captain of a football club does most of his captaincy off the pitch rather than on it - especially as we have a number of players who captained either club or country in the past. I think how Neill interacts in the dressing room and with the rest of the squad is probably why he's been made captain and, as long as he's still fulfilling that role, then I don't really have a problem with him remaining captain.

One of our problems I think is that we don't have enough defensively-minded players in the team when we play away. The likes of Bentley, Pedersen, Tugay, Gallagher, Peter and Gray are all better going forward and all lack defensive responsibility at times. If you add that to the fact that our front two don't work hard enough when the opposition are in posession then it means we are bound to come under pressure away from home. There's nothing much wrong with our home form but we've got to get back to a position where we take points from games like yesterday's even if we don't play well. Whether that means switching to a 5 man midfield for away games or just playing the more defensive players in our squad (Mokoena in midfield, Matteo at left back etc) I'm not sure, but we need to do something.

I thought our strikers looked a lot sharper than they have for a while yesterday and McCarthy in particular played well. Pedersen, on the other hand, was woeful and I was amazed he wasn't subbed long before the end. Thought Bentley, Emerton and Neill also played particularly well. Bentley was my man of the match and showed that he can play the Tugay role in central midfield - albeit against limited opposition. I also thought Savage deserved his booking. He lunged in from behind with a 'scissor' tackle that could have been dangerous. The ref made a number of annoying decisions but he got all the major calls right. Overall it was an important win against a very poor team. We didn't play brilliantly but did enough and should have won by more.

Fair enough, my mistake.

Of course it could. Some of us have been saying it for years now. Sadly, others choose to use our attendances as an excuse to vent their spleen and make hysterical outbursts. Rovers could independantly make all the changes in the world but until football as a whole sorts out some key issues then those changes aren't going to make much difference.

Er, yes...I'd have thought so. Myth? Whenever we've played 4-5-1 Mokoena has been outstanding. But he was outstanding during his first loan spell. First of all neither Jagielka or Faye are fantastic. Secondly, why does Mokoena need to be able to play in other positions? He's a holding midfield player - he needs to be able to play well in that position. It seems to me that yet again you're using any excuse to just have a pop and be a bit controversial. What a ridiculous argument. Who knows what he'll be able to do in the future. What I do know though is that, at present, he'd be my first name on the teamsheet if we decided to play 4-5-1 - something I suspect we may need to do when we play away in Europe from now on. He's not a central midfielder. Against Fulham though he was brought off the bench and helped to shore up the defence and seal the win following a period of Fulham domination, something he's done many times before. An ambitious club also needs players who can adapt to different systems and circumstances. Mokoena helps us to do that. He's a useful squad player, I can understand why Hughes wants to keep him, and I'm sure he'll prove his worth in the future.

I don't agree. I think we need to finish top to get the best chance to progress. Just because a team comes from Eastern Europe doesn't necessarily mean they're crap. The Nancy game has got a lot riding on it.

He's just seeing out his contract. He's done nothing wrong, he's not thrown a strop and asked to leave, his performances on the pitch have been good, he's simply decided to leave at the end of his current deal - something he's perfectly entitled to do.

Although I wouldn't change the result, the injury Shearer sustained in the Leeds home match during our first Premiership season undoubtably changed the rest of the season for us. If he'd have stayed fit I'm convinced we'd have won something that season. As for results, the Man U Carling Cup semi at Old Trafford would be the one for me. If we'd have won we'd have faced Wigan in the final with a great chance of another trophy. As for the Palace game, as gut-wrenching as it was at the time, it may have worked out for the best in the end.

What evidence do you have for saying that? Neill's commitment hasn't been in question for me this season.

How on earth has it backfired on us? He's been one of our best players this season. Oh, and he'll be a regular at Liverpool. He's a good player which is why a lot of top clubs seem to be sniffing around him at the moment.

Or "knob" for short.

Mokoena's a fantastic holding midfield player in a 5 man midfield - a system that we may need to play from time to time. He's also very useful to bring off the bench if we need to tighten things up (see Feyenoord). He's a useful squad player and I've got no problems at all with him staying at the club. We of course also need to strengthen central midfield as well, something I'm sure we'll do in January.

I'm not being dismissive at all, merely making an observation based on the content and style of Blakey's post (an observation that others have appeared to make as well). If I'm wrong then I apologise.

The main point of BRISA is to unite Rovers fans everywhere and improve the communication between fans and the club. As our mission statement says, we aim to represent the best interests of Blackburn Rovers supporters everywhere. I can assure you that none of us are trying to make ourselves look important. As for the "do-gooders" comment, if that's how you want to refer to us then that's up to you. Personally that doesn't worry me at all - I'd rather be a "do-gooder" than a "do-badder". We are simply trying to do the right thing for Rovers supporters. I've no idea to be honest but we're going to give it a go. If it doesn't work then at least we've tried. In our early days we submitted an Attendance Proposal that was drawn up from suggestions, submitted by a number of fans, on what the club could do to increase attendances, or at least prevent them falling further. Whether the club decide to act on any of these suggestions or not in the future remains to be seen, but at least they know what the Rovers fans think. TF and JW also commented specifically on a number of the key proposed improvements which we then published in one of our meeting minutes. By meeting with John Williams and Tom Finn we also got to learn about why they price certain games the way they do and what their thoughts are generally regarding our attendances. Again, we've tried to communicate this information back to the fans. We've also met Tom Finn and Greg Coar, the club's Senior Marketing Manager, to discuss the formation of regional supporters groups. The club have offered to help us set these up as much as they can and we hope to release details of our plans soon. Finally, as I write this, a couple of the BRISA committee are currently meeting with Tom Finn to talk about resurrecting the Fans Forum. This will allow a group of fans to meet and talk with club representatives about anything to do with Blackburn Rovers. The agenda will be set by the supporters, anyone will be able to submit agenda items, and the minutes of each meeting will be publically available for anyone to read. If you have an ideas or suggestions that you think will help then we would be delighted to hear them. If you cannot attend a BRISA meeting in person then submit your suggestions to admin@brisa.org.uk or add them to our messageboard at www.brisa.org.uk and we will raise them at a meeting on your behalf. We are always looking for feedback, always need help, and always welcome new ideas. I'm sure you and Vinjay are one and the same person. Anyway, I've attempted to answer your points as best as I can. No negativity, no abuse. On a more general note I don't really understand why someone would want to knock the principle of BRISA. We are only trying to help and even if we don't get anywhere we've at least tried. We certainly won't be making anything worse. However, I can understand people knocking the effectiveness of BRISA. After a busy initial six months it's fair to say that the BRISA activity has tailed off significantly over the last six months. There are many reasons for this that I won't bore you with, but we are hoping to 're-launch' BRISA soon and get things up and running again. Organising a regular Fans Forum will be a start. The main thing that will always drive BRISA forward though is the supporters. If you submit ideas, attend meetings, give us feedback, etc, etc, it will all help us to continue and move forward. In addition, if anyone feels they have the time, the ideas, and the drive to work on the BRISA committee then we'd love to hear from you.

It was a big game today. A defeat, coupled with the fact that we're not playing next weekend, could have seen us going into December in the bottom three. A win and we're back into the mid-table scrum with about 10 other teams. So, it was good to see Savage and Emerton back in the team, but a shame that Neill missed out (Zurab was suspended as well but I wasn't too bothered about that). Gray and Henchoz replaced Neill and Zurab. Nothing much happened for the first 15 minutes. The only real incident of note was when Rovers put together the best passing move of the match that found Nonda in space on the edge of the Spurs area. Sadly though his classy finish was wasted as he was rightfully adjudged off-side. Other than that the game was just scrappy and littered with mistakes, with Spurs having marginally the better of it. Eventually though Rovers started to get a grip of midfield and began to exert some pressure, but the goal still came like a bolt out the blue. A long cross to the far post was met by Pedersen. He headed across goal, the ball was cleared by a Spurs defender, and Tugay volleyed the clearance into the net like a tracer bullet. Another 25 yard gem from the Turkish magician that lit up Ewood. The game quickly sank back into the scrappy mess it was before the goal. We created little, gave the ball away constantly, but defended solidly until the last couple of minutes before half-time. Thankfully Spurs were just as bad as we were, but they did create two good chances just before the break - Mido spurned them both with poor finishes. So, 1-0 up at half-time which was nice, but it had been a poor game (wonder goal aside) and we needed to improve if we were going to take all 3 points. Spurs started the second half well. They were suddenly a yard quicker than us and pulled us all over the place in defence. Within the first five minutes of the half Mido hit another poor finish wide when he should have done better, then he had a goal disallowed for correctly being called off-side, and then they got the goal. A good move saw Henchoz get dragged out wide on our left, leaving a huge gap for Ghaly to run into from midfield. Tugay did his job and tracked the run, but then dived in needlessly when the ball reached Ghaly in the area. Ghaly's clever turn would have took him past Tugay and clean through on goal had Tugay's trailing leg not accidentally brought him down. Accidental or not though it was a clear penalty and, by the letter of the law, a correct sending off. However, you have to question a law that results in Tugay getting a 3 match ban for an accidental trip when a player can make two cynical, dangerous tackles, receive two yellow cards for them, and only get a one match ban. Anyway, Defoe's penalty was expertly taken and we suddenly had it all to do. A couple of minutes later we were awarded a free-kick halfway inside the Spurs half wide on our left. Savage swung the ball towards Ooijer on the far post but slightly overhit it, the ball sailed over Ooijer's head, struck Mido on the chest and then bounced off his out-stretched arm straight into his path enabling him to complete the clearance. Ewood as one shouted 'handball'. I can understand the ref not giving it as the TV replays showed that his view was obscured, but how the linesman - standing no more than 10 yards away with a completely unobstructed view - didn't give it is beyond me. The incident seemed to fire Rovers up and we started to play our best football of the match. Mokoena came on for Nonda and suddenly the team were first to every ball, snapping into tackles all over the field. Our passing still wasn't great though, we still lacked real quality, and consequently we didn't create much in terms of real chances. But we did start to dominate possession and, for most of the second half, it looked like Spurs were the team down to 10 men. In injury time Ghaly was harshly sent off for 'elbowing' Gray but it was too late to have any real impact on the match. As valient as our second half effort was we hadn't really done enough to deserve the 3 points and a draw was probably a fair result in the end. Friedel hardly had anything to do. He had no chance with the penalty, made a couple of comfortable saves when he had to, but most of Spurs' best chances were hit off target. Our back four did well apart from five minutes either side of half-time. Henchoz and Ooijer looked as solid a centre-half pairing as we've had this season - Ooijer in particular looked classy in possession and frequently stepped into midfield to spray the ball about. Emerton didn't play at his early season best but still got forward well at times and was rarely caught out defensively. Gray had probably his best game for over a year, paticularly after we'd gone down to ten men. He more than anyone showed the necessary drive and determination required to compensate for the missing man, frequently joining in the attacks and generally getting stuck in. He deserved his man of the match award but it should be noted that he didn't have a right winger up against him today (Spurs played a very narrow 4-4-2) which meant he didn't have much to do defensively. I'll wait a couple more games before I eat humble pie and admit I wrote him off too soon. Tugay was the only quality performer we had in midfield today and, once he'd been sent off, we were never likely to create a winner. He'd have walked the man of the match award if he'd played the whole game. Savage looked a yard off the pace at times and both Pedersen and Bentley were guilty of wasting possession all too often. Bentley, in particular, seemed to be battling with Mido for the 'Worst Shot of the Match' award. Pedersen did beat his full-back a couple of times though which was a shock to me at least. Up front it was all wrong. I'm starting to wonder whether Nonda is just a fair weather player - plays well with the sun on his back but goes missing in the cold and the wet. He was just awful today. No movement, no strength, no hold up play, no work-rate, no skill. No good. I was a big fan when he first joined but I'm starting to lose patience with him. McCarthy wasn't much better to be honest but at least he shows the odd brilliant flash here and there, enough to make you think he might score soon. We were poor today, but so were Spurs and we were left wondering what might have been had the penalty against Mido been awarded. You can understand why both teams lacked confidence, we've lost our last 4 and Spurs haven't won away all season, but it's hard to understand why so many of our players are playing below the levels they were a few weeks ago. Maybe it is just confidence, maybe it's because they're hampered by injuries and aren't fully fit, who knows, but hopefully Hughes and his staff can use the upcoming break after the Feyenoord game to get everyone fit again and instil some belief back into the team. As I said last week, our next 4 games are all winnable. If we can show the same spirit and determination we showed in the second half today, and add a bit of quality on top, then we'll reach Xmas in a good position. Tugay suspended for 3 games though isn't good.

You were saying the same about Bentley not so long ago. For what it's worth, I think his brief sub appearances this season have warrented him getting a start - especially with the likes of Pedersen so out of form.

Don't agree with the lack of effort comments. In fact, I thought it was only our work-rate and effort that kept us in the game at times. I also thought that United showed us a lot of respect in the first half by playing a sort of 4-2-3-1 formation that gave them an extra body in midfield. This allowed them to control possession but restricted their options up front. That said though, United were a class above, they are as good a team as Fergie has produced imo. Pace all over the park, a fantastic work ethic, sound defence, and terrific movement up front - it was always going to be a difficult task to contain them but I thought we did ok for the most part - restricting them to just a handful of clear-cut chances. No shame in losing to a team as good as that. At the other end we only really looked dangerous from set-pieces (I thought Pedersen's delivery was better than it has been recently for the most part) and could have got a goal a couple of times, but it would have been more than we deserved. We've got to pick ourselves up now as our next few games are all against teams near us in the league - and they're all winnable.

It was reported in the summer that we'd sign Gomaa in the January window. Seems like we've had our eye on him for a while, don't think it's got anything to do with the current injury situation.

Eh? We should have won the Bolton game and, despite playing badly, probably deserved a point against West Ham. I haven't seen anything of the Villa game other than the brief MotD highlights, we obviously played badly again, but there are reasons why this happened. We have 6 first team players out injured, some of our best players as well, and have been playing twice a week for most of the season. We just don't have a big enough squad to cope at the moment, we simply can't afford one, so we're in a bit of a slump. I love the way you say this like it's a fact. Personally, I don't agree at all. As I said above, it's clear to me that we're struggling with injuries and the amount of games we've had to play is catching up with us. We're a team that relies on hard work and effort and we just don't seem to have the energy at the moment that we usually have. And it may get worse before it gets better as we've got Man U next - a team that are in good enough form to beat us at our best, let alone when we're weakened by injuries. However, if you look at our next few games, we're up against teams that are either near us or below us in the league. We also don't have the same sort of busy schedule that we have had recently - we've only got 4 more games this month and there are some gaps in between where Hughes and his staff can get some meaningful work done on the training ground and some our players can get fit again. We're in a poor run but I've not got any worries at all yet. We're a good team with a great management team, and I fully expect us to be in the top half of the table by Xmas.

Hands up who saw that result coming half way through the second half? An unbelieveable result in the end from a game where Rovers were second best for large parts. Still, do I care? God no. There was some good team news before the game - Savage, Nonda and Pedersen were all fit and named in the starting 11 - only Emerton was missing from our usual first-choice team. However, on a bitterly cold night the Rovers just didn't get started. Basle were quicker, stronger and hungrier than us, and they displayed a much higher level of technical and passing ability. They attacked us from the off and soon started to create chances - thankfully their finishing was awful throughout the match. One notable chance, a point-blank header from the edge of the six-yard box, brought a miraculous save from Friedel. Most of Basel's other attempts though (and there were plenty of them) were blocked or off target. Basel played with a very deep-lying central midfielder who almost became a fifth centre-half when we had the ball. This allowed them to track either Nonda or McCarthy when they attempted to come short and link play, meaning that we couldn't hold the ball up front and lacked options in midfield. As a result our passing was awful and we constantly gave the ball away. Then we were a yard off the pace when Basle had the ball and didn't work hard enough to get it back. Towards the end of the half though we did manage to create a couple of chances, both Pedersen and Bentley had efforts that they should have done better with, but overall we were lucky to go in at half-time level. The other notable event in the first half was the injury to Savage (replaced by Mokoena). Let's hope it's not serious because we're looking pretty short in central midfield if it is. We started the second half much brighter and attacked from the off. Nonda (I think) missed a glorious chance from a Neill cross, heading weakly straight at the keeper when it seemed easier to score. We also won a few corners and free-kicks and generally looked like we'd decided to play at last. Our domination was only temporary though as the pattern of the first half started to emerge after around 15 minutes. Basle always looked a threat when they attacked and, yet again, they spurned several shooting opportunites through some rank bad finishing. They also had a great free-kick well saved by Friedel, and headed the subsequent rebound wide when it really should have been on-target at least. I'd just started to settle for point, maybe hope for a point was more accurate, when Tugay produced a moment of complete magic out of nowhere. He controlled a difficult ball, turned his marker expertly, advanced a few yards, and floated an absolutely magestic shot into the top corner of the net from about 30 yards. The Basle keeper just stood and watched. A moment of true quality that was a mile above anything we had produced in the match so far. Hughes then decided to bring on some fresh legs, replacing Tugay and Nonda with Gallagher and Jeffers. Just as an aside, Tugay also stormed ahead in Rovers' "longest time to walk off when subbed" competition, easily beating McCarthy's valient effort in Salzburg. The confidence of a goal plus the fresh legs gave us an impetus that had been missing for most of the night, and suddenly we were all over Basle. In the last ten minutes we won a penalty that Jeffers blasted into the middle of the goal and, late on, McCarthy tucked in a rebound from a useful Gallagher shot. 3-0 it finished and Basle must be shaking their heads wondering how on earth that happened. Friedel pulled off a couple of great saves and kept us in the match. Our two central defenders flatter to deceive. They are good on the ball, make the odd decent interception, and Ooijer in particular is pretty good in the air, yet they continue to allow opposition players time and space and gift them chances. With better finishing, heck with just normal finishing, Basle could easily have got 4 or 5 goals today. Our two full backs were poor, Neill in particular didn't look his usual attacking threat (possibly carrying a knock?). Gray at least tried to get forward and influence play, but all too often he just gave the ball away. He was better than he was at West Ham though. We were overrun in midfield for large parts of the first half but competed better in the second. Tugay was the only player who seemed able to pass the ball to another Rovers player earlier on, and, of course, he deserved to win the man of the match award for his goal alone. Savage was injured mid-way through the first half and Mokoena showed again that he lacks the passing ability to play in a 4-4-2. Pedersen was poor in the first half (as were the whole team to be fair) but played much better in the second. Bentley did ok without ever really excelling. Up front our forwards were shackled well by Basle. Nonda was poor though, again I wonder if he was really fit, and could have been subbed much earlier than he was. McCarthy at least showed the odd flash of quality and he was in the right place at the right time to score at the death. We were second best for the most part today and got lucky with the result, but there have been plenty of games when we've played well and not got what we deserved (Bolton most recently) so I'm not going to begrudge the win. Spare a thought though for the 100 or so Basle fans that made the trip to Ewood. They must be completely shell-shocked by what they saw and it'll be a long journey home for them. Still, we're in a great position in the group now. I think we've already done enough to qualify, it would take a remarkable set of results now for us to miss out, but it's important we try to top the group. I suspect the Nancy home game may decide whether we do that or not. But, whatever the outcome of that match, it looks like our European adventure is going to carry on into next year. I can't wait.

I think that's a very one-sided view. I thought both sides were disgraceful last night. Considering they were supposed to be two of the best teams in the world the amount of diving, cynicism and outright cheating that was on show just took the breath away. How a representative of either side can appear in front of the press after the match and attempt to take the higher moral ground is beyond me. Chelsea have a reputation of using the "dark arts" when it suits them, and they used plenty of them last night, but Barca are supposed to be this beautiful total footballing team full of skill and grace. I didn't see too much beauty from them last night though. And I just felt sorry for the ref. How on earth can you officiate a match properly when both sets of players seem intent on cheating for the whole 90 minutes?