A significant part of the UEFA ranking co-efficient derives from the performance of the League's clubs in European competition. So Rovers benefitted by being seeded in the UEFA Cup and drawing some nice easy to beat opposition from Ankara..... Back to tonight, PSV are winning so as good as through and Liverpool have scored a quick brace in Neverkusen. If Arsenal ever get going, could be a bleak night for the Bundesleague.

Three fabulous games last night- especially at Stamford Bridge which was football as close to being as good as it gets. Would that game have been as good or as special had it been a European super league encounter as opposed to a knock out? Very much doubt it. My gut feel is that the club competition balance is about right at the moment except for FIFA/Sven getting in the way. Other than games in London where every club has its own away following (including 9,000 "from" Barcelona last night who shared about 1,500 airline seats between them) a Euro Super League would be a sterile TV concoction and largely devoid of away following. The aspect which is killing the domestic game is the predatory transfer policies of the "big clubs". The last thing they want is for middle ranking clubs to come through and damage their hold on the £15m a year Champions League gravy train. Hence, clubs that are threats are raided of their talent- Duff from Rovers, Parker from Charlton, Rooney/Gravesen from Everton and this summer Gerard from Liverpool. It is this aspect as much as the financial divide that is ruining the modern game.

Chelsea 4-2 Terry from a Duff corner. Have to hold on for 15 minutes. The Mancs have missed their chances and are going out.

Chelski in the shitski

Duff 3-0 Good lad! Ronaldinho pulls one back with a pen so Chelski just a goal away from going out.

Andy Gray's verdict. Glad he rated Mokoena.

The cat is in amongst the Catalan pigeons- Eider duck Gudjonsson for Chelski scored after 8 minutes.

Yes, it is true. You can expect a lot of scousers in the away end for the next round if Liverpool get past Leverkusen tomorrow! ..and it has happened before. Real Madrid came fifth in La Liga when they last won the Champions League. Real Zaragoza had to make do with a place in the UEFA for coming 4th. Back to discussing Sunday's line-up on the wrong thread, don't forget Dickov and Savage as ex-Leicester players will be particularly "up" for this one. I'd expect 4-4-2 with Flitty and The Axe loosing out. However, I'd be very surprised if we don't play 4-5-1 again at Anfield with The Axe back in. Will be interesting to see if Stead does well enough to be the 1 against Liverpool.

I am eternally grateful Mark Hughes is in charge and not you lot.

AESF, it would have been a shorter and more entertaining read if you'd listed the footballers you like.

All Hughes' comments are indicating that he is open minded about his squad and so he should be with ten league games and at least one cup game to go before the season end. The only things we can say with reasonable certainty: He is looking for a striker, Amoruso, Short, Tugay and Flitcroft are unlikely to receive contract extensions but I think Short is the only contract expiry this summer from that list, Bothroyd is unlikely to be purchased from Perugia, Hughes will attempt to transfer out Gray if he can find a Coca Cola bottle big enough for his wages. Douglas might also be sold if a reasonable offer is received. I suspect there might be a big clear out of younger players from the Academy/Reserves to clear the decks for a new intake. I also think the situation with Nissa and Jansen reflects a new reality of economics for top level football clubs- I wouldn't be surprised to see Nissa offered a new deal at Ewood after his agent has had a chance to look around for alternatives and Jansen might get a month by month contract to give him a chance to re-establish himself once he has overcome the latest injury set back.

With Spit the Diouff scoring at Eastlands and a quick look at the table and fixtures list, I will be a touch disappointed if we don't finish 11th this season- anything above that will be a huge bonus.

Mark Hughes- an appreciation. I've said it before but Sparky is massively over-achieving what I had expected/hoped of him. Getting the players fit and sorting out the tactics was the least we could have expected after the embarassments of Souness in his declining months but I would not have expected that Hughes and his team would have: - made the Rovers as lean as butcher's dogs and twice as fit - turned Rovers into the tightest and meanest defence outside the billionaires club - so quickly turned into a tactical mastermind (particularly as he wasn't in the Wales job) - become a whizz in the transfer market (including the scrapings and droppings) - created a fantastic team spirit. Truly Mark Hughes is a brilliant appointment. Long may RFW not overdo the scotch, Glazer keep his hands off the Mancs, Bruce keep smarming to Crerand (or whoever he needs to crawl to for the Manc job), may Boro win the UEFA Cup to make RFW's old number two a contender, and the Blackburn public get their backsides down to Ewood on Sunday to show our Manager that he is a gem and we treasure him and his team.

Maybe I am not following this argument but is Trimm saying he wants to join the police force because he thinks they pay decent wages?

Good report from The Times here- "anything better than relegation is a bonus" is a Moyes quote straight out of the Souness school. The difference is that Souness tended to practise what he said. Quote from the Times: "Blackburn, such a soft touch at the start of season, have been transformed by Mark Hughes into fearsome opponents whose lingering fears of relegation should be dispelled sooner rather than later. Rugged and aggressive, but also high on individual talent in key areas, they are suddenly a side that no team, least of all a woefully inconsistent Liverpool, will relish facing."

Stead quietens critics- have to say that I saw the game differently Drog. Those balls played into Stead he could control were controlled and he invariably found another Rover with his pass. Many balls were 50/50 or worse but Stead made life very difficult for the Everton player he was up against. We were back to the forward providing the first line of defence yesterday- Stead's greater height making him more of a troublesome opponent than Dickov. Obviously the leitmotif for Rovers in all forms of the media this season is thuggish. The more they bleat on about it, the more refs feel free to brandish the cards against us. We were undisciplined at the start of the season under Souness but also were on the receiving end of some ridiculous decisions. Now, we are clearly highly robust- as no doubt the voluble managers of Arsenal and Man U will moan about in the next four weeks- but not a dirty side.

Dead right Krislu! Hyperbolae unlimited- fantastic entertaining game on Everton's pristine new pitch and an absolutely magnificent Rovers performance. Hughes produced the best tactically prepared Rovers side since King Kenny's days. But what a performance the lads produced... Friedel- lost that Carsley free kick which thankfully whistled wide but total domination otherwise- he's playing behind a defence he can TRUST! Neill OK defending, all their chances came from his "passes". Johansson very effective, his height was extremely useful against the Everton big boys and he put in a lot of good passes. Nelsen, yes he is the new Colin Hendry. THEY SHALL NOT PASS! Todd, I take it all back- he is a footballer as well as an effective defender. Mokoena- WHAT A SIGNING! Superb in the role playing just ahead of the defence. Did he make any dud passes? His distribution looked inspired to me and boy can he defend- that header clearing the cross at the end of the first half was a match winner on its own. Flitty- great performance; high energy, got stuck in and he kept possession when passing! Thomo- what a bonus! I was fearing his career was over but he was getting back to the standard which took him into the England squad. Great persistence, fantastic running and dribbling and for once the passing was great after a dodgy first 15 minutes. Reid MAN OF THE MATCH. He had everything and completely overshadowed arguably the best organised midfield in England. He showed all the promise he has been showing in flashes. Great performance. MGP- quiet by his high standards but he was not overwhelmed in a full on blood and thunder English Prem game and he showed some wonderful touches, and some cracking tackles. Dickov- that injury looked awful. Doub t we will see him for a while. Stead- Drog where are you? "Bambi on Ice" ? Not only took his goal well but he completely rattled the Everton back line by getting heads and body on all sorts of balls played up to him so Everton could never settle and build any sort of momentum and pressure. Woohoo!!! Never mind the bottom half teams we've got to play, Liverpool, Arsenal and Man U will have seen that and not fancied playing the Rovers one bit.

Thomo back! Interesting line-up. Don't think it will be pretty and of course Goodison is by far the worst surface in the Prem. Just off to see the game. Not expecting anything but ever optimistic.

...and we have scored 17 in the last 17 games and let in just 13. More of the same and none of us have a problem (except for staying awake).

On the basis we now have the third tightest defence in the league so 1-0 will do nicely and we have already beaten: Norwich H Portsmouth H Charlton H Bolton A Portsmouth A Fulham A take any three wins from the following six: Southampton H Palace H Citeh H Fulham H Birmingham A West Brom A Plus five other less likely candidates. Incidentally, Rovers last 17 Premiership results: W5 D7 L5 F17 A13. What's your problem?

Surely the message is that everybody should be peace-loving, responsible and sober and then there would be no need for policing?

The Baggies have just taken the lead against Brum which I think is a thoroughly good thing- makes it more likely we will overtake Brum come the end of the season. I think Sparky has it spot on with three wins to see us to safety. To those who disagree, let me explain: EVEN if we loose the other eight games (no more draws) we would end the season on 37 points. To get Rovers relegated, Southampton would have to achieve at least W4 D1 L4 from their remaining nine games AND Palace would have to achieve at least W3 D2 L4 from their remaining nine games. BOTH these sides have at least three games against teams in the top five to come. They would BOTH need one more draw and one less defeat each NOT to rely on goal difference to send us down. So in the next nine games, are you saying you expect that BOTH Palace and Southampton will only loose three? If not, three more wins is the correct target for Rovers.

Agreed but D'Urso's ab'omination occured in what could prove to be a life or d'eath encounter.

Had a few spare minutes so I totted up the mentions: RFW 33 Diouf 23 Souness 18 Bruce 15 R Keane 14 Mammy's boy 11 R Marsh 10 Gold 9 C Ronaldo 8 Mourinho 8 Rooney 8 G Neville 7 Van Nistelrooyd 6 Hoddle 6 There were 111 nominations. Interestingly Lazio and Lazio players picked up more nominations than anything to do with Bumley who collected just four nominations- David Edmundson (mostle for his time at QEGS) 2, Andy Payton 1 and Bob Lord's Ghost 1 By my reckoning, only Jol, Moyes, Dowie and whoever is managing Pompey didn't get nominated amongst current Prem Managers- oh, add Mark Hughes to that! Several refs got dishonourable mentions but NOBOD'Y mentioned D'Urso. Let me remind you, the current Prem table shows: 16th Rovers 28 pts 18th Soton 24 pts Had it not been for D'Urso's flight of imagination in the 90yh minute at St Mary's, the table would read: 16th Rovers 29 pts 18th Soton 22 pts

Took Chelski all of 7 minutes to reassert themselves with a Kezman goal- and I was thinking a little bit of romance would be returning to the Prem if Norwich had gone on and grabbed a winner!