There was one cracking call into Talksport yesterday. Rodney Marsh (who to be fair had given Hughes some qualified support) was bleating on about what a great final Man Ure v Arsenal would be and how the whole nation wanted this dream final etc. etc. Someone rang in disagreeing saying that everyone was sick of ManUre and arsenal and no neutrals wanted to watch a match between Arsenal,who writhe about in agony everytime anyone goes near them and ManUre, who swamp the referee everytime a throw in decision goes against them. Unsurprisingly this call was met with a "don't know what he's talking about" attitude from the presenters. It had me banging the car dashboard in approval though.

Where's the flair? Ask Graeme bloody Souness thankfully 2-0 down v ManUre and heading for a drubbing. (Can't believe I would ever watch a ManUre v Newcastle game hoping for the Red Scum to win.)

Doesn't really bother me Bryan, just making the point we should be prepared for a lot more of this sort of (crap) coverage.

Been listening to Talksport all the way back up and was amazed at the vitriol being directed towards us by the presenters. Todd may well have let himself down although having seen the replay I don't think it's conclusive. Other than that despite a couple of bad challenges from Flitcroft and Savage I didn't think the game was overly physical but it was all "Only one team came to play football" "Football was the winner" "Todd's a cowardly thug" etc etc. Only Rodney Marsh tried to partially defend us by saying that Hughes had no choice but to play in this manner given the personnel at our disposal. Although he was very scathing about Todd. Then (get this) a Wigan, yes Wigan fan had an e-mail read out in saying we were an embarrassment to the Premiership because we'd only taken 15,000 to a semi final!. (Well it was probably nearer 18,000 but don't let that get in the way of a good story) Rodders was in full agreement with this saying it would be embarrassing if a club took 15,000 to a semi final "played on the moon." The presenters then decided in their wisdom that this was because Rovers fans don't want to watch our ugly style of play. A Rovers fan tried e-mailing in about the £45 tickets but this was badly explained and swiftly dismissed saying they didn't understand the point being made. It seems clear that we are currently the new Wimbledon or Millwall of the Premiership as far as the media are concerned, the team everyone loves to hate. Looks like we'll have to put up with this sort of coverage for the forseeable future until we can add more flair to our game.

It wasn't the most successful trip for me either. Some twonk ran into the back of me on the M6 yesterday. I was a tad disappointed with our performance today. In the first half we had the ball in numerous promising positions but seemed to lack the confidence in our own ability to make something happen, preferring instead to knock the ball backwards and retain possession. The game plan was obviously not to concede and after performing extremely well for the first 35 minutes it was obviously crucial to get to half time at 0-0. I felt however we took our eye off the ball slightly for five to ten minutes, Brad bailing us out with a terrific double save before we actually did concede. In the second half we tried hard and showed a little more ambition but never really looked like scoring. If there is one criticism I would have of Hughes's tenure so far it's his continued preference for playing Dickov as a lone frontman when I think it is plain for all to see that he can not fulfill that role. Today Stead looked sharp when he came on but should have had at least 25 minutes,it's unrealistic to expect him to do anything in six minutes. Still hopefully we can learn from this and with our new found resolve there may well be other big occasions like this to look forward to in future if we can sort out our lack of creativity and firepower.

Nice to see someone dredged up this thread. Sporting 4 Newcastle 1

Ditto. Going down to get them now!. We're staying in the Ocean Park Premier Travel Inn in Cardiff on the Friday evening (many thanks to Hughesy) so it would be nice to meet up with anyone down there. As for the game I have this strange vision of us nicking an early goal, then defending resolutely for most of the game before breaking away again to score a second in a routine 2-0 win!

Are you actually going yourself? The reason I ask is that generally it seems the people who make the most noise about our level of support don't go themselves. People who find the club "embarrassing" because of our followings really get on my nipples. It's all about supporting your team, your club. What does it really matter to you if x thousand people you've never met choose to go or not? It's a matter of choice, it's not compulsory, and you can't force anyone to go. More to the point where were all these people "embarrassed" now by 20,000 gates when we were getting 7,000 gates in the 80's in division 2 or even 4,000 in division 3 in the 70's? Probably not even born then but if they were no doubt they wouldn't have supported us because it would be far too "embarrassing" being associated with such an unfashionable club or being seen in such a small crowd. A "proper" fan (God I hate that phrase) would support us no matter what and wouldn't be particularly concerned if there were 3,000 or 30,000 like minded souls alongside him or her. (Although obviously the latter is nicer) And if I read once more that someone going to this one off game is more of a "proper" fan than a season ticket holder who forks out his money season after season I think I'll scream. RANT OVER: P.S. After all the hot air expended on this thread it's a 4am start, it's live on TV, it's mostly £45 per head with no reductions for kids, we currently average only 19,000 at home with 14,000 season ticket holders. Yet we're now looking like taking a respectableish 16,500. Much ado about nothing? If you must have a moan direct it at the FA not your fellow supporters. NOW CAN WE FINALLY GET DOWN TO TALKING ABOUT THE ONLY THING THAT REALLY MATTERS? TRYING TO FIGURE OUT A WAY TO WIN THIS BLOODY GAME OF FOOTBALL!!!

Well it's 15,004 now, just ordered my tickets at tea time. At £45 a throw thank goodness I'm only paying for my own ticket. How anyone can possibly criticise say a family of 4 for not going and paying full whack for the kids is beyond me.

I was with you in not being an admirer of Matteo, but I feel he's played very well in the last three games. This topic should be divided into two categories: "Worst value for money" Davies and Grabbi out on their own with "Bad back" Dahlin deserving of an honourable mention. "Worst player" The likes of John O Mara, and Paul Mckinnon that I've seen.

Well ok, perhaps you're in "pedantic moderators mode" this afo. By "last couple of seasons" I meant last season and the first 32 games of this 38 game season. OK?

Hopefully Saturday's match provided a few selection headaches of the right kind for Mark Hughes ahead of Saturday's semi final. BTW we've been grinding out results but Saturday's second half was the first passage of REALLY ENJOYABLE FOOTBALL AT EWOOD for a long long time. Let's keep it up!. I thought Thompson was again completely lost even prior to his injury. By contrast when he came on Emerton put in his first really worthwhile shift in a Rovers shirt since the opening day of last season against Wolves. Amazing what the prospect of a Cup semi final can do to your performance level. On that form he'd be a real threat. Similarly in the middle Tugay was sensational when he came on, the player of two or three seasons ago albeit against a beaten and demoralised side. On the basis that you need to find something a bit special when you play a team like the Arse, do you give Tugay the nod? Alongside him a fully fit Savage as opposed to Flitcroft is a no brainer but do you risk throwing the former straight in after a prolonged absence? Reid must be one of the first names on the team sheet in his current form and was my mom on Saturday. Personally I tend towards the view that Mokoena is so effective in the defensive midfield role, playing the far less influential Flitcroft in a similar role is surplus to requirements. Could you even say the same to a lesser degree about Savage? Up front Stead has looked far livelier and likely to find the net than Dickov in recent weeks. Will he be given a fair chance on Saturday? Quite nice questions to ponder all in all after the last couple of seasons.

I wouldn't say the the footballing bubble has quite burst tnr and Paul but it definitely has a slow puncture. (For many of the reasons you've mentioned.) Having by far the smallest geographical fan base this impacts on us harder than "Bigger" clubs. Read somewhere over the weekend that the Taylor report recommended at the time that a fair price for a ticket in an all seater stadium would be five or six quid. Allowing for inflation that would be ten or eleven quid. That said, if we'd played the whole season under Hughes and his backroom staff and in current form, would any of us be bemoaning the state of the game in general? I think not!

Two points and closing. To paraphrase a former Newcastle manager: I'D LUV IT, LUV IT IF WE FINISHED ABOVE THEM!

Not anywhere near as limited as Dickov who yet again was very poor yeterday IMO. His sole worthwhile contribution was doing very well to keep the ball in play in the 91st minute. Stead played far better at Goodison and Anfield than Dickov has for several months now. Yet all the more senior player has to do is run around ferociously for most of the match and can do no wrong in many people's eyes

Play the ball into the corners, pull the other one it usually ends up in row 16. Athletic certainly and quite effective bombing forward. That apart he seems incapable of passing the ball to a blue and white shirt. More importantly he has no defensive positional sense at all and has played abysmally for a season and a half. Anything over £2m and we should snap the buyers hand off. (Or if you're reading this Graeme, you're quite right he is the best right back in the league and should be worth at least £6m more of Newcastle's dosh.)

Why??

Only got to see the first half much to my chagrin but thought we performed superbly well. OK we were helped by the wood work but United were restricted to predominantly long range efforts and aeriel threats. Have to say Mokoena was absolutely outstanding in his "breaking play up in front of the back four" role. Roy Keane obviously thought so as well judging by his disgraceful attempt to put the South African out of the game. So we've now been to Anfield and Old Trafford and rarely looked in danger of being beaten. A useful indicator of how special next season could be with the injection of a little more creativity and firepower?. Memo to John Williams and the Board: After Souness's fortuitous departure we seem to have acquired something rather special in Mark Hughes and his backroom staff. After a period of the club being net sellers in the transfer market they now need backing to the hilt.

Sod Burnley, the two fixtures against the red scum are the ones that get my juices going. We're actually well overdue a win (or even a draw) at OT, no wins there in the thirteen (or eleven) years back in the top flight. Although with United's twelveth man Mike Riley in charge it'll probably have to wait at least another season. 1-1.

Whilst I am just about in agreement with the article (apart from the comparison with Newcastle) I'm not sure it will have the desired effect. In general people don't like being dictated to. Is the article likely to have hordes of Rovers fans thinking "Crikey Paul you're right, you're too good for me, what was I thinking, I'd better rush down and buy a ticket!" or is it likely to get the backs of people up who consider they've valid reasons for not going and have them even more inclined to stick two fingers up at the club and the LET because they resent being told they're not proper fans? It's a dangerous line to take. Personally I'm of the view that it's an FA Cup semi final and I'd be there if it was played at four am in the morning but that's my personal choice. I wouldn't presume to criticise anyone who chose not to go to this particular game given the prevailing circumstances.

I would have to take issue with the management for the second home game running as I thought we were excellent in the first half today, dominating possession and only undone by a momentary lapse in concentration for the goal. There was really no need to make wholesale changes to the formation and I thought we were accordingly much less effective in the second period. I have to comment on Dickov though, yet again he offered absolutely nothing and is incapable of playing the lone striker role. Stead held the ball up and linked play far better at Anfield and can consider himself very unlucky to be dropped. I really can't understand why we insist on wheeling Dickov out half fit week after week, he has nuisance value but is not really good enough at this level when fully fit anyway. It's not like we're missing out on Shearer or something if the former Leicester man fails to make it onto the pitch.

In terms of previous Rovers line ups we are currently most like Howard Kendall's team. Back then (79-80) he also took on an ailing line up and first made us practically impossible to score against as we ground out innumerable 0-0 draws and 1-0 wins. Amazingly successful it was too as we were promoted from the old third division and missed out on promotion to the old top flight on goal difference in successive seasons. Back then too we lacked a degree of flair, three successive 0-0 draws towards the end of the latter season did for us. Amazingly researching it now only Kevin Stonehouse got into double figures with 10 goals, Garns being next best on 7. It just shows where we might have been had we had this management/line up from the start of the season. There's really no reason why we can't be next season's "Everton" especially with some investment in the striking positions. For the neutral and Sky though we will quickly become the Premiership's version of Millwall, the team everyone loves to hate if we can't add a little more flair to our armoury.

I thought this was a superb performance, once again horses for courses, tonight the tactics were fully justified. It wasn't Leicester at home, it was a team who recently destroyed Leverkusen to reach the last 8 of the Champions League so to go through 93 minutes without them having even a sniff of a half chance shows how well we performed. Yes we are limited up front but this will hopefully be addressed in summer. In fact it now seems we have an extremely talented backroom staff, so much so that the summer will be an interesting test of the Board's ambition. How far could we go with a quality striker to help bring on Stead and a quality replacement for ferguson alongside Savage? An extremely long way if we continue to be as mean defensively.

We'll have to agree to disagree then, we were in real danger of becoming one of those statistics due to the tactics employed yesterday. This was Leicester, a very poor first division side at home, yet we hardly forced their keeper into a serious save yesterday. Football is a game of minute margins. We were saved by a 50/50 penalty call in the dying minutes and all is well with the world. Had we not been, everyone would have been up in arms about potentially blowing our chance by being too cautious. That's not to say that 4-5-1 (Stead instead of Dickov IMO) won't be the way to go against Arsenal and or ManUre but it's horses for courses.

Newcastle would have been best but the main job was to avoid ManUre at this stage in their current form. This isn't bad at all. Take Henry out of the equation and Arsenal look decidedly average at the mo by their usual high standards. Should be a fascinating contest with our new found "Hard to beatability" And Souness won't even reach the final.