Banana skin game this. But at least it should be entertaining.

I've already pointed out that Tomas Graveson would be absolutely ideal......unless he's been spoilt with the amount of money that Real must be paying him. He is strong in the tackle, plays with authority, needs a Savage type player to buzz around him like Carsley used to do and is not really a gamble as he is well proven in the Prem. He was certainly playing a starring role at Everton until he left them. Talk is that Everton want him back as he is not figuring much for Real, but if my memory serves me correctly he had had a big fall out with Moyes before he left.

Worryingly everytime he shoots from that angle he takes the wrong option and goes for the near post. Any goalkeeper will tell you that they are the easiest ones to save. (yes I know Ped got one at OT). He needs to concentrate on hitting the side netting on the opp side of the goal. Also he frequently snatches at chances too quickly when he actually has time to deal with them with more composure. poor and widev shot v Spurs and a daft header at Liverpool both when in a position and with time to take another touch have possibly cost 3 points. In his defence he is still new to the prem and Hughes needs to work hard with him down at Brockhall. Many Billy big time foreigners have taken a season to get used to the Prem so overall he's doing oK. His scoring rate is already better that Grabbi and Davies, and he's 1 in front of Stead on last season. He is worth his place because of his work rate and his defensive abilities, rem it was Kuqi who played Dickov through for his 1st half miss.

Not on t'riverside they didn't.

Much is said about BRFC being physically very fit but imo the fittest in the Prem are Charlton. It'll be an intersting month.

That Sturat sounds like the average Chelsea fan these days, a nice humble type of bloke .................who knows sweet FA about proper football! I've a feeling that Sparky will revert to Mokoena and a 4-5-1 formation designed to stop Lampard. With Kuqi starting up front on his own to physically intimidate the chelsea centre halves and provide a first line of defence with his usual tireless work rate. Emerton to replace Bentley as he works better with Neil and Reid to replace Tugay. Depending how the game goes will also depend on changes to personnel and formation throughout the game. I would prob save Bellamy for a late burst should we need one as Chelsea's main defensive weakness is lack of pace.... and especially so with John Terry. We gave em a tough game at ewood using those tactics and hopefully we can do it again. Them being held by Everton today will not help our case though, as any over confidence will not creep in now.

Thats nice guys. Reminds me of Cat Stevens 'Father and Son'.

btw as far as yesterdays match and last seasons respective fixture against Brum.....and taking off my blue andd white spex, I must say that I do like Pennant. I know he must be a bad sod to manage but we could never get near the ball when he is in control of it.

An even better bit from that article......... "It was bad enough for Bruce that Savage was officially proclaimed star of a decidedly dull show. It was worse still that another Welshman who spurned him in January should put the result beyond doubt. City were trailing to Paul Dickov's 49th- minute penalty when Craig Bellamy scored a second for Blackburn with nine minutes remaining. The Blackburn substitute chose to go to Celtic on loan rather than sign for Birmingham following his spat with Graeme Souness after Christmas. On yesterday's evidence, his judgment - and that of Savage - can hardly be faulted." Happy days eh?

Graveson'd be excellent........ if somebody would pay his wages. Crikey we would put the sh1ts up visiting teams then.

Eh? Forget passing the ball Gally's not got a flippin tackle in him! It's tough at the top and he's not Prem quality in any position imo.

Don't forget a large part of the towns pop are enjoying the festival of Ramadan. imo Savage should stop winding the brummies up and confirm that his 'problem' was not with the fans (who did really rate him) but rather with the management team and the directors. One on ones are more difficult than people think. People comment that top players should not miss them but don't forget that they are up against top keepers too! Unfortunately Dickov shaped up to shoot to the keepers right in such an exaggerated manner that Taylor knew which way to dive. Probably the most disappointing thing imo was Bentleys lazy and feeble back up. If he had slid along the ground and blocked the clearence Clapham might have gone over the top leaving Bentley with an open goal. Mark my words that lad is heading to replace public enemy numbers 1, 2 and 3 (after Kuqi, Sav and Emerton) on this board.* I must say that I am extremely impressed by Bellamy's awareness and movement in regard to avoiding the offside trap. Well impressed! Especially after everlastingly groaning at the likes of Ostenstad, Ward, Gallagher (2), Dickov, Stead etc etc. Bellamy actually appears to watch and run the line so effectively that he 'uses' the momentum of the defenders moving up to gain a yard or so advantage on the turn. Watch him. *apologies of course to messrs Dickov, Amoruso and Matteo

Couldn't go Den. 12 years old, nowhere near a bus route and Dad working till 9.00 pm bolloxed most night matches for me. All were talkng about it at skoo the day after though, and illustrated with plenty of action replays in the yard too. )

Now there's a debate on the Arsenal penalty fiasco. Somebody called 'Jim' (hmm) has called in to say that Blackburn did the very same in the 60's. It was perpetrated by Mike Ferguson and Bryan Douglas v recently Ex Rovers keeper Fred Else playing for Barrow (or Workington) in the League Cup. Difference is that we scored on that occasion.

Good point Ian. Although I did comment that it was like playing poland I couldn't put my finger on the kit clash but I had a feeling something was amiss.

So the opposing chants true! "Good ground......###### fans"

I thought that from the Riverside but my mate in the JW stand informed me that Heskey actually won the ball first, so thats fair enough cos I said last week that sendings off ruin games and should be avoided, BUT just how many times did a BRFC player win the ball then get penalised for the Brum player falling down after? btw Charlton just gone 2-1 up at portsmouth after being 0-1 down.

6.50pm Tune into 5 live NOW. In response to Steve Bruce saying that the pen was the worst decision that he has suffered in his managerial career Alan Green has said that in his opinion Bruce is talking daft and that it WAS a stonewall case for a pen. Green is now asking for BRFC fans to call in with their views.

Whilst I am not condoning the blokes taste or persuasion at all, but given that the police acting on the advise of the CPS fully dropped the charges did this chaps name need to be revealed? http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/lancashi.../NEWSCROE1.html

Good article that. I was talking to a plastic from Preston that I met last night in then pub. Still banging on about us 'buying' the title, obviously he chose to gloss over my point that they paid more for a duff centre half than JW did for the entire team of 94-95. He also failed to provide me with the name of a team that has won the top div in the past 30 years that has not spent big money on players. He said Chelsea have ruined football and need reigning in by the authorities so that the proper status quo is returned! Yet another case of 'Ye who have eyes and cannot see' eh?

Time for a re-think eh? Right. Well never mind the logistics at this point I'd like to point out that we should export all our prisoners to somewhere where it is cheaper to keep em. The worlds poorest countries like Western Sahara, Mongolia etc would all welcome our money and I'm sure with a little help from our army could adequately cope with our jailbirds. That way we could imprison all the truly deserving at reduced cost to the taxpayer and thereby imprison more of the anti- social reprobates (and for the full term of their sentences) that our society has spawned and who treat comfy prison sentences with disdain.

.........as long as they didn't inhale eh?

Which is exactly where we were at this time last season when Sparky came! Make no mistake Everton are a big club and a lot of their fans are Welsh.

Well spotted roversmum....... in the second pic it's quite clear that they have actually swapped boots with each other!

Have you not seen Lampards free kick against Bolton? Exaggerating slightly but Jaskaleinen was nearer the corner flag than the shot.