Very very disappointing. We played some very attractive football in the first half without providing any cutting edge at all. Roberts (mainly) and McCarthy spurned four very good chances whillst Bentley only had to dink the ball into an open net over the Everton keeper after he rushed to the edge of the area but attempted a pass instead. When we did finally convert a chance and went to 1-0, we stopped playing! Towards the end the equaliser was always going to happen. We weren't positive enough in our play once we scored, nor did we keep any possession. McCarthy looked a genuinely classy player up front, (without Bellamy's explosive pace and ability to make things happen). And Emerton did surprisingly well at RB. Bentley did much much better from the right wing. Conversely MGP might as well not have shown up again. If we play like that we'll get stuffed on Sunday and are effectively playing va 35 game campaign.

He wasn't at his best but out of the four defenders was still the best of a bad bunch on the day.

I apologise for possibly inadvertently misleading people slightly about the contents of Monday's LT. I only got a quick glance at it on the way past. It didn't mention McEveley as being injured. Other than that it was as I said. It claimed Neill suspended, Todd possibly so, Nelsen out for another 2 weeks, Zurab unlikely to be fit. Matteo struggling. Not really crucial unless jay is being considered for a centre half slot.

I thought the ref was going to review it off his own back? If it was John Terry or Rio Ferdinand it would have been rescinded by 5.15 pm Saturday.

Agree entirely Stu - a clear conflict of interest imo.

From what I saw of watching the 90 minutes "live" on TV "disinterest" isn't really the right word. "Reckless abandon" would be more appropriate. He got skinned for the first goal, got booked out of clear frustration 60 seconds later and then carried on lunging into tackles with no regard whatsoever for his status of being on a yellow. There were one or two instances where I thought "He's going to have to watch himself here" before the dismissal actually happened, including bawling out the referee after being pulled up at one point. When the dismissal did finally happen, it was a no brainer for the ref, lunged in, and just in case the ref was in any doubt, threw the opponent on the ground for good measure. Crazy when you're already on a yellow. Whether it's all indicative of him really wanting to be elsewhere, only the player himself can answer that.

With reference to how much we got for Johnson, I read somewhere last week the fee was 150k. (About 150k more than he is worth imo.)

Damn, many apologies for missing it, my predictions trying to completely ignore yesterday's results would have been 1) Liverpool 2) Chelsea 3) ManUre 4) Arsenal 5) Spuds 6) Newcastle 7) West Ham 8) Everton 9) Villa 10) ROVERS 11) Charlton 12) Bolton 13) Boro 14) Portsmouth 15) Fulham 16) Wigan 17) Watford 18) Sheff Utd 19) Man City 20) Reading

We've put ourselves under hellish pressure thanks to our pathetic display on Saturday, I was hopeful of six or seven points from our first three fixtures, now I can't really see us getting three. 1-1.

The one thing you can say in our defence today is that Todd's challenge was actually an extremely good one from an impossible position - slow mo replays showed he got the faintest of touches on the ball and it should have been a corner. Can't really blame the ref though, it looked like a clear penalty and first glance initially. Hope we appeal that red card immediately. Other than that it was a shambles. Portsmouth looked fitter/sharper/faster/more determined/first to the ball - take your pick. We didn't create one worthwhile chance. We can maybe carry one passenger who does nothing over the 90 minutes (Pedersen) we certainly can't afford two (Bentley) and certainly not in the middle of the park. The defence had a collective nightmare. Gray spent the whole game too far forward and the ball kept getting played in behind him, as with the second goal. A shocking piece of defending from Neill for the opening goal and no complaints from him for two completely silly and needless yellows. Terrible defending from Mokoena for the fourth. Who's going to play in the middle on Wednesday? Reid must be moved into central midfield in place of Bentley asap. MGP can't be allowed to put in any more non appearances like that. We need to improve all round and fast.

--> QUOTE(ste b @ Aug 18 2006, 15:00 ) 436342[/snapback] AFAIK The only law on this is that live football cannot be shown between 1430 and 1715 on saturdays with a full match programme. Hence why SKY dont show anything. The copyright issues of beaming back live football from Europe into the UK appear to be a civil matter. That isn't a law surely but some form of FA/Premiership regulation. I was speaking to a very respectable gent several weeks ago who was a Rovers season ticket holder, (as were the rest of the family) but he also subscribed to an Arabic service advertised on the internet by a firm purportedly based in Eire. He was delighted with it, said if he wanted he could get every game going, and said it cost 125 quid for the year. He was firmly of the view that if he wanted to legitimately subscribe to a foreign service then that was entirely up to him and I tend to agree. The Premier League (and indirectly the Clubs) presumably made a mint by selling the rights to the foreign channels originally on the condition that they only transmit or sell packages within certain geographical boundaries. If they're not doing this then it's a contractual matter between the Premier League and the broadcaster concerned. Breach of copyright is a civil matter and really the Police shouldn't be getting involved except to the extent that if a Licensee is found showing the "illegal" broadcasts it might affect the terms or future granting of his or her licence. As for me, I know it's a problem for home games, but sorry, I'll be hoping to find an establishment that hasn't been scared off by the headlines for today's fixture. :ph34r:

Ex - fans forum chairman? Do you know something he doesn't?

That's a dreadful shame Paul EDIT: errr Gordon. - Where has Nick gone to? Top bloke.

That's what I thought as well Gordon. "Dwight Yorke with purpose" was how you described it far more succinctly in the pub before the San Miguel kicked in !

Another thing I thought, probably a by product of the heat wave, was that there was very little grass on the pitch for the time of year, it seemed to be shaved right down to the limit. Might cause problems if we have a bad winter.

I really like this season's shirt, much more so than last season's but the sticky Bet 24 patch on the front looks like a disaster waiting to happen. Might wait until they're reduced to 20 quid in about two months like last season. :ph34r:

Well I'm sorry but that's just absolute rubbish and people who weren't fortunate enough to go shouldn't think that was the case for a minute. In the first half he put over a quality ball from which Roberts netted but was harshly adjudged to have handled and a couple of minutes later put over another quality delivery which McCArthy missed by a fraction. I think it was also him who planted a great ball right onto MGP's head but he directed a free header wide. His overall play was fine and he scored a well struck goal. In the second half he was moved to right back. A very enjoyable game, but difficult to say how much can be read into it for the Premiership because NZ were so poor. However you can only play what's in front of you and on the face of it Roberts and McCarthy were sensational. Savage really put himself about chasing down numerous lost causes as if his life cdepended on it which, let's face it, he didn't really have to do in a friendly. When Todd went off at half time, we didn't look as secure at the back and Brad had to pull off three really smart stops which he did with some aplomb. Gallagher's contribution was mixed, but he slid a superb little pass through to Roberts for the fourth. Once again Neill played well at centre back and looked infinitely more at home there than he ever has done at right back. If you take the view that even if he's still here Nelsen isn't going to be match fit for next week then the starting line up looked I think quite similar to what next Saturday's will be. Everryone acquitted themselves pretty well with the exception I thought of Bentley who just doesn't look right in central midfield. I'd prefer to see Reid in the middle and Gallagher on the right flank. One strange thing- I thought MGP was struggling with his fitness compared with the rest of the side. Anyone else think that? This season's new technological innovation a little penalty circle instead of a spot!. Overall though despite the poor opposition, grounds for cautious optimism, and in the case of the two front men considerably more than that!.

I'm really worried by the "I'm all right Jack - I bought a season ticket" sort of attitude that seems to be prevalent in this thread. Yes, season ticket prices are exceptionally good value. Yes, the prices for junior season tickets at 99 quid are even better value. etc. And most of the time the club are doing what they can to keep prices affordable. BUT the fact remains that the ground is a third empty for most games and we simply can't afford to be doing ANYTHING which dissuades one single fan any further from attend ing games at Ewood! Categorising games with ample spare capacity certainly falls into this bracket and charging 36 quid for anyone who wants to sit in the Blackburn End to watch us play the "mighty" Everton is just adding insult to injury. That's not to say we don't have a lot of good iniatives at other times.

I was dead against McClaren's appointment and Max Clifford probably wrote most of it but nevertheless.............. I thought it was a hell of a press conference. Old Stevie Mac must have had some intensive media training since his Boro days because he left no-one in any doubt whatsoever who was the boss. The word "passion" was used about nine times. McClaren was also by implication completely dismissive of the Sven regime (rightly so) saying something to the effect that he wanted to take the England team in a different direction..............winning games! And he couldn't have made it any clearer it was the end of the road for players like Beckham, James and Campbell. Absolutely spot on. Exactly what was required. We've also got rid of the "celebrity captain" and got a real leader in for the first time in a few seasons. A reasonably imaginative squad selection. Even El Tel who I'm not a huge fan of spoke very impressively. Of course it might still be the same old crud when they actually get out onto the pitch but it all left me feeling more enthusiastic about England's chances than for many a moon Nail, hammer, head Bryan old bean.

That was Mick Heaton our right back from the 70's Noel died of a heart attack I think.

They're probably coming out in alphabetic batches?

Nice one phillip! Things are starting to look a bit embarrasing for Neill. He loudly trumpeted his availability over a week ago after hinting all summer he would look sympathetically at all options. Unless things are happening in far greater secrecy than is usually the case, instead of a stampede of top clubs queueing for his services - there's deathly silence.

Like many others I got a new plastic wallet but no new card. If cards are being used several times to save money, don't really see the point in issuing new wallets? The postcards from years gone by in the pack are great though.

It struck me as well gordon that the bit about developing players was very similar to what you've been saying but I was worried by Hughes assertion that we've had a decent close season and others might not be as good. We've failed to hang on to Bellamy, failed to land our number one choice as his replacement, and might lose Nelsen. I'd hate to see a bad close season! In what way do we really need to hard sell the club? If none of the Champions League clubs want the players in question we're the next best option. And thanks to TV money we can offer significantly higher wages than most continental outfits.

I still can't agree with shillito's analysis - it's all ifs and buts. If you have a particularly successful player, it's always a huge gamble letting him go because no matter how much money you make, you don't know if the replacement is going to settle in at the club, blend in with the team etc. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, better the devil you know than the one you don't etc. etc. Besides we don't actually know if either Huth or Ooijer have the slightest interest in joining us, although I presume the latter will have, as it will represent one big last payday for him.