cn174

We've got the group game in Gelsenkirchen between D4 and D1. Not Dortmund as we thought we'd worked out.

buy them off you Sod off What he said!

Well I haven't got an email yet, but they've taken €103 out of my bank account, which by process of elimination means its a group game which we think is in Dortmund.

Yea, but they can also be really really rubbish. You just dont know how they're gonna be. But this time I feel that we've got the necessary in defence to keep them at bay, whilst if they start bombing forward we could nick a goal, or two, or three maybe

Aye! But did you hear Motson's complete surprise when he got booked! As if he'd never dived before in his life!

Also in the first half apparantly Matteo flicked it over someone's head to Pedersen. I thought it had deflected off a Palace player but my brother assures me that he meant it as a showboat

Well I thought it was a good game! Put in a good performance against a team battling for survival. I felt that we was pretty much on top for all the game. We created many chances that should have been converted - Nelsen, Emerton in the first half, Reid and Stead in the second amongst others. Again our defence was solid. I never got the feeling that Palace were going to score - cant remember them having a proper shot on target. Todd got an excellent reception and put in a very good performance despite what happened on Saturday. Attacking wise we were better. I thought Emerton was quite good tonight - certainly better than Thommo has been recently. Didn't think Savage had his best game tonight - made a couple of bad challenges. But the ball he put in for the goal has made up for it - good finish from Pedersen as well. I dont know how accurate Savage's explanation of the substitution for Tugay was 'that he felt his groin', I reckon its more to do with he was probably going to get sent off. Stead worked hard. Kiraly pulled off a good save to deny him in the first half. But he should really have scored that chance in the second half. Maybe he is never going to score this season! Looking forward to the City game now - for the first time in a while I'm really excited about going to Rovers every game, rather than just turning up every week. The improvement we've seen in the last 6 months has been fantastic, Hughsey mentioned that exactly 6 months today we was bottom, and now we're pushing towards the top half of the table Hughsey~~~~~~

I agree with Eddie on that one, the previews have been excellent this season. Anyway, to the game. I think we'll beat Citeh. 2-0. And give me a chance to upset the other half of people in my shop! Its a bit strange at the moment. When a game is coming up I actually feel optimistic for a reason and not just blindly optimistic at the moment. Before when the ball was near our defence I worried, now I believe we're good enough to defend against most things. Of course scoring goals is still a problem, but that can be sorted next season now. we'll more than likely start with the same formation, however I'd like to see Emerton in for Thommo (cos he's rubbish!) and Stead for Dickov, then maybe bring on another striker and go 4-4-2 if things are going ok in the second day.

As others have said Rovers played well but we just weren't good enough to beat Arsenal. I thought our defence played well, Brad made a couple of outstanding saves. Midfield was where we didnt have control for much of the game. Vieira was excellent today I thought. However as we probably knew before the game we didn't have the firepower up front to cause them any kinds of problems. I've had a read at some of the reports on the internet and its a bit shocking how our performance has been perceived today. We were physical but I didn't think we were overly dirty! Its not our fault all the Arsenal players are soft b*stards. But despite not winning, I'm not overly gutted. We got to the semi final which is a great deal better than we've done in the recent past. Our support was excellent also, so despite there only being 18,000 or so of us I think we did ourselves proud today.

Grabbi seems to have disappeared - we searched on the internet a bit ago but he's not at any other Italian club. He went to Ancona, but he got released and he's vanished into the football dustbin most likely.

We've played in blue shorts all season!

Aye, I noticed that yesterday! Also the seating plan for that final is roughly the same as it was for our Worthington Cup final, with more cheaper priced tickets available than are this time. At least I'll get cheap tickets for 1 of the 3 games I plan on going to the Millennium this season

Just got our 6 now. We're in the BT East stand upper tier, somewhere or other

Right at the start of the season Den started a series of threads and polls to find out who you thought was the Greatest Ever Rovers team. All in all there were over 110 pages of posts and 1977 votes cast! The final team spreads almost every decade that Rovers have existed and includes players that took part in the 1995 Championship season, the 1960 FA Cup final, and the 1928 FA Cup final amongst others. Now you can view the polls and everybodies thoughts. Over the next few weeks I'll be uploading all the results position by position starting with the Goalkeeper. Once again, well done to Den for organising this all and to everybody who contributed to it. Enter - Rovers Greatest Ever Team

I'd love to buy them, but both a little out of my price range

How they can just go straight along the M4 - you on the other hand have to do M6/M5 and then either the M4 or go down the M50. To be fair Flopsy, when we played Spurs last time. It took 3 hours to get out of Cardiff before the Spurs fans went their way and we went ours. I'm not too sure how they want all the fans to get to Cardiff. I've just looked at train times for the sunday (i know we'll probably play on the Saturday, but still). And from Manchester there is 1 train going to Cardiff, and 0 coming back (unless you count the one that will take 7 hours!). From the FA letter: Maybe so, but whilst Cardiff may be more central its a lot lot harder to get in an out of than Manchester for example.

Whilst Dickov will never give up despite being injured, his performance yesterday was well below par. Until we got the penalty I dont think he really threatened the Leicester defence at all. (But he scored the pen, so who CARES:D) However its a difficult one. We will probably play 4-1-4-1 again and we haven't really got a striker who is really comfortable at playing up front on his own. But imo Dickov is marginally better at this than Stead is. Whoever plays, Dickov or Stead, I think the rest of the team will be the same although I'd rather have Emerton play than Thompson. I'm going for a 1-1 draw.

I'm going for a slight 2-1 victory. MGP and Nelsen. I dont think this game is going to be a classic at all, I'm expecting it to be a game not too different from the Colchester victory. But if it gets us into the semi finals, then I'm all for it

Chelsea Away There you go Waggy

50?!!? is that all you could come up with!!

The reason I chose not to go this time. The launched bottle lids from the park end were of no importance to the coppers who insisted on alying into the kids on the back row for the most heinous of crimies - standing up. and to Mr Whibley - the stadium manager at Goodison park, for his disinterest in the conduct of the staff and police there. Actually it wasn't too bad this time. Our tickets were on the very back row, where quite a few congregated. I think we were told a couple of times at the beginning of the first half to sit down but noone said a thing in the second despite there being three policemen stood right behind us. I thought everyone had a good game today. Reid was excellent in midfield and for me Mokoena and Nelsen also stood out. I never really got the impression that Everton were gonna score. I'm so pleased for Stead. It's been a long time coming but it was a very well taken goal. Hopefully the first of a few this season!!

With Rovers safely in the quarter finals of the FA Cup (thankyou MGP!!!!) we turn our attentions back to the league. I don't think many would have expected Everton to be 4th in the league with 10 games of the season left. Our seasons have been completely different. We have been battling with relegation for the majority of the season, whilst Everton are surprise Champions League contenders. Latest Form Their last game saw them win 3-1 away at Villa which was a good way to get back to winning ways considering the defeat last weekend in the cup to Man U. Two goals from Leon Osman and one from Cahill saw Everton take another away victory. Their form this season has been quite impressive losing only 7 games. We also won our last league game, although the 3-0 victory over Norwich seems quite a long time ago. It is going to take a couple of other victories like this to really pull away from the danger zone. Previous Games The game between the two teams at Ewood was a boring affair ending in a 0-0 stalemate. In the three seasons since Rovers returned to the premiership, one team has always come out on top in this fixture by doing the double over the other. In 2001/02, an extremely goal from Grabbi!!! secured a narrow home win, whilst goals from Jansen and Cole saw us beat Everton in their last home game of the season. I distinctly remember the Everton team coming back out after the game to say ‘thankyou’ to the fans but by that time most of the Everton fans had all gone home sulking at the poor season they’d had. In 2002/03, Everton won both games 1-0 at Ewood and 2-1 at Goodison. Both games must have been rubbish because I cant remember anything about them! Last season it was Rovers’ turn again. At home Babbel and Yorke game Rovers an early lead, which despite a goal from Radzinski we held onto. This game Rovers our first home victory since the 5-1 drubbing of Wolves on the first day of the season. Then at Goodison a 1-0 victory saw Rovers well on their way to securing premiership survival for another year with a goal from Stead. In previous seasons the game that sticks out is the 2-1 victory on April fools day in 95. Sutton scored within the first minute to get Rovers off to a great start, followed by a Shearer goal. Rovers then spent the rest of the game hanging on, but did successfully and was an important away victory on the road to winning the league. The Opposition I asked my mate J to answer a few questions about the game. I think its safe to say that Everton have been a bit of a surprise package at the top end of the league this season, following the departure of Rooney. Why do you think you have been so good this season? With Rooney gone, there is no disruptive influence. The players aren't always looking for him as the first ball and he doesn't try to do it all himself. Cahill's been a cracking signing and Osman has come through finally. We've found a good formation with Bent leading the line superbly. Other than that team spirit and hard work Which players in particular have stood out for you? Cahill, Martyn, Bent, Osman, Gravesen, Kilbane, Yobo, Weir, Stubbs, Hibbert, Pistone What about Moysey? You rate him then? Manager of the year What do you think about Rovers this season? Under-performed. Changing managers doesn’t help. I’m not really sure where it's all gone wrong to be honest. You think Hughsey will do a better job than Souness? Without doubt, he wont fall out with players for a start Where do you think we’ll finish? Lower mid table In January you lost Gravesen to real Madrid, has this, or do you think this’ll have any affect of what happens for the rest of this season? Depends if Arteta can replace him. If so, we wont miss him At least it means that others wont get confused between him and Carsley anymore, how’s he doing nowadays? Cult hero now after his derby goal. His is the most sung name these days! So do you expect to finish in the Champions League this season, or Uefa cup spots? Or might some other team pip (mentioning no names!!) you into 6th place just like a couple of years ago?! Haha, that wont be happening this time will it? cant see us finishing below 5th Are there any past Everton v Rovers games that stick in your mind Didn't go to last seaons shocking defeat. My first ever away was Blackburn, we lost 3-2, Ferguson scored What kind of performance can we expect from Everton on Sunday? I cant reveal tactics before the match! go on.... Well, short one touch passing in the midfield utilising the pace of bent Apart from Bent's still shocking ball control, who else should we be scared of? Still shocking ball control? Some mistake surely? Osman is the main man for me and Cahill’s late runs Which players do you see as Rovers danger players? I'm not too scared of any of them to be honest And finally, a prediction for the game on Sunday? 2-0 to Everton Thanks to J for anwering questions for this preview. My Prediction After our non-too-convincing performance against Burnley, we'll have to play better against the Toffees. But I'm optimistic and I'll go for a 2-1 win to Rovers - MGP to get both of them

Dont like many people eh?! My top 5 are: Gerald Ashby - It was never a penalty or a sending off. Still gets me angry now!!! Alex Ferguson Roy Keane Eric Cantona Frank Lampard - I dont know why, he's a good player and all, but I just cant stand him!

All the posts and polls have been kept hidden away somewhere for a while. When I get my arse into gear they'll be made into a section of the website so its there for everyone to read any time they wish.

Yep