Fantastic performance today. I posted after the Everton debacle that I was ashamed to be a Rover after that performance. Well exactly the opposite tonight. Very proud. We were superb for 70 minutes, Arsenal never had a serious effort on goal in that time and the only worry at half time was that Todd and Savage had both passed up fairly simple chances to make it 2-0. On 70 minutes Friedel was finally called upon to make an excellent save and if there was a slight criticism today we sat back far too deep for the final 20 minutes and stopped doing the things that had got us in a winning position in the first place. But that's perhaps being churlish and we held out without too many problems. Everyone played well today but I thought Todd, Savage and Bellamy were exceptional. Todd fully deserved his MOM award and Savage was back to his best after a couple of below par performances. Up front Bellamy proved the difference for the second straight home game and when fully fit and in the mood seems virtually unstoppable. I thought he might be good when we signed him but I'm amazed how much better than that he actually is. Absolutely top drawer. Once again his fitness over the last eleven games will be crucial. It goes without saying but you have to put in a big shout for Messrs. Hughes, Bowen and Eddie Niedsthingy at this point . Only 995,000 spent and we've been transformed from relegation certs to live champions League contenders. How good a job are they doing?

Well no, it's to finish one place higher up the table in 4th! It's still imperative we get no worse than a draw next Sunday.

You must be joking. Todd was magnificent today, the ball was attracted to him like a magnet.

A friend of mine prefers "Amotortoise". Equally uninspired but no-one will convince him it isn't ribtickingly funny. Rather than blame Amoruso who seems to be a genuinely nice guy off the pitch perhaps the finger should pe pointing (again) at a certain ex manager. Would love to know who made what out of the dealings that saw Berg leave us for nothing, us sign a vastly inferior player of the same sort of age for 1.5m, and Berg eventually join Rangers.

The next two games will make or break the season. If we are to maintain the improbable dream of Champions League qualification then we can't really afford to lose either and 4 points will be the minimum requirement. A win from either would probably be enough to keep UEFA hopes alive. For some strange reason, and somewhat unusually, I'm not feeling optimistic pre match about either game. Let's hope I'm totally wrong.

Wigan 2 Spurs 2. Got to be a good result for us. Could West Ham be the fly in the ointment?

Derbyshire came on as sub during Parkes testimonial and scored a goal that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Only a really natural goalscorer would have even "seen" the opportunity he successfully converted.

Yep, I've always tended to like Smith, but cant feel much sympathy for him after the way he targeted Savage in the 2 Cup games.

Is that all? So are we!.

No problem with the Villa promotion, however I was thinking of taking my 2 daughters to the Arsenal game until I saw it was 15 quid for juniors. I don't think so at that price! I have always argued the club do this the wrong way round. First and foremost we need to get BLACKBURN fans into the big games. Only then if they like what they see will they be tempted to go and see the Charlton/Fulham fixtures etc. Another opportunity lost.

Originally you compared Reid with Bert

Are you just on a wind up? Reid had a decent game last night. Albeit his shooting boots are still at the JJB. As for Bert we'll be very lucky if we get back the money we paid for him.

A lot of people I spoke to after the game thought tonight was awful. I didn't think it was that bad. We've played a lot better sure, but the game was played in a very strange atmosphere. Sunderland were so poor it was like playing a non League side. I actually felt sorry for them. When you know you're probably going to win without getting out of 2nd gear, it's hard to generate tempo on the pitch or atmosphere off it. We didn't play particularly well tonight but the whole side were well up for the game. As evidenced by Friedel's body language, which was one of extreme urgency. As such we won a good share of the 50/50's. MGP clearly wasn't fit and shouldn't have started. Peter supplied yet another quality assist for Bellers and you have to say his all round contribution is far better than Morten's (Without the spectacular goals) Can't understand why Pongolle was pulled off. Wasn't playing brilliantly but at least at times he can control the ball when it's played up to him. Unlike the honey monster. On the rare occasions we see him, Bellamy is as influential for us as Shearer was. Would give my right arm to see an injury free season from him in a Rovers shirt next season. Totally disagree with 1864. Tugay played well.

Given the dire need to get back on track and get 3 points by any means necessary I'll settle for a repeat of the ManUre 4-3 scoreline. Us 4 (anyone, anyone, anyone, anyone) Mackems 3 (Stead 3) After which we can start defending properly.

Completely disagree Den, it's gone now but that was one of the worst performances under Hughes. The bottom line is, that like in the first half against WBA we weren't sufficiently "up for it." Playing ten men for 80 minutes we hardly ever won a 50/50 challenge and hence barely challenged their goal. (With a rookie keeper in the nets) If we play the same way tomorrow night we won't win. Hopefully the last two displays are out of the system and we will get the result we want. Some random thoughts based on the thoughts of others: People are being exceptionally tolerant of Friedel due to his form of 3 seasons ago. Strange how Todd/Gray always cop all the flak, yet Neill whose fault the goal was neer gets any. Disagree the midfield isn't good enough. Reid/Savage is an excellent pairing, Savage just had a poor game on Saturday. His form was extremely good prior to being scythed down by Rio. Bentley looked better after a couple of games as an out and out striker than he does out wide. Pongolle started brightly but faded. Not really the fault of the strikers who had no service. Kuqi offers nothing Peter doesn't look in the least bit out of place at this level. How many more are there at the Academy?

The worrying thing is that over the last 2 seasons, under both Souness and Hughes, there's been a marked downturn in both the performance and commitment levels the minute we were "safe." The same seems to be happening again this season. With 14 games to go!

You have to applaud Hughes' ambition in doing everything possible to try to ensure European football, probably the fact that the UEFA Cup is now more lucrative has a lot to do with the decision. The downside is that historically intertoto teams start off like a house on fire being seemingly ahead of others in terms of sharpness and preparation but then seem to burn out around Christmastime. The "squad" would really have to pull their weight rather than sitting around getting paid for doing nothing. Not necessarily a bad thing?

My internet connection was off for a week after we beat ManUre. Had we been playing eleven men today I'd be inclined to agree with you. But playing ten men for 77 minutes and not even testing a 4th choice keeper goes beyond the pale. The question now is how do we react? Do we let the season slip away into nothingness or put in a strong finish?

Ashamed to be a Rover after that display. We should have been 2-0 down after 10 minutes. Then handed the game on a plate on 13 minutes by the young keeper making a mistake and getting sent off. It was however the 75th minute before we made their 4th choice keeper make a save! In between ten man Everton had the ball in the net on another 3 occasions. On another day two of the ruled out efforts might have been given. Shocking piece of defending by Neill for the goal but why weren't either Nelsen or Todd detailed to mark Beattie? I got slaughtered early on in the season for criticising Friedel and yes, he did pull out one superb performance at OT in the Cup, but again on this performance he is on his way out. No performances from any of our "big" players today Friedel, Nelsen, Savage, Bellamy. Emerton seemingly has no future at the club, with Pedersen out he should have been playing out of his skin to stake his claim for a place in the side and came up with..........nothing. No drive, enthusiasm, ingenuity,nothing. Only young Sergio Peter who came on as a late sub performed with any credit. If the performances of the last two games carry on, we'll get half a dozen or so more points and the season will sink without trace. Attract missing fans back to Ewood, you're having a larf. We've now played an hour against ten man Bolton and 80 minutes v ten man Everton and scored no goals and got one point. Very low after today. Will take me a long time to get over this one.

Have to disagree. Don't want to give them the Midas touch by predicting "they're buggered" but they certainly appear to be buggered from the figures quoted above. There seems to be no way they can meet their liabilities unless they can manage to tap into previously undiscovered levels of income. Glazer must surely be depending on the break up of collective Premiership bargaining of media rights. Which might happen I suppose. But it's up to the fifteen or so clubs who would be severely disadvantaged to vehemently oppose that.

It's reported in this morning's Sun that the underfire Boro boss has handed 30 YEAR OLD George Boateng a 4 AND A HALF YEAR DEAL at 45,000 PER WEEK. This despite the fact he has only managed 42 GAMES IN 19 MONTHSdue to injury!. I had to read this several times to make sure I wasn't seeing things. Is it any wonder some people get turned off Premiership football? No wonder crowds at Boro, not exactly an affluent area are dropping even faster than ours.

Oops, yes Marcus Bent. Kevin Gallagher was quick on the turn and nippy over a few yards rather than having searing pace. Reading the full transcript of the Pongolle interview in the LET tonight it seems as if he only views us as a means of getting back in the Liverpool starting line up. (At the moment)

There won't be anyone else because you have to buy a licence if you want to make a widget with the official logo on. I went into the club shop again after christmas in the forlorn hope of buying a fleece and it really is going beyond a joke now. There are a few end of line Rovers items on display but practically the only Rovers related thing you can buy are whatever replica strips are left. And they're all the sizes no-one wants. I know the word "disgrace" is bandied around fairly freely on here to describe "minor irritant" but for once it's apt.

Not quite so sure about that, I think it may depend on whether he sees Blackburn Rovers as a permanent career option or whether like the German centre half we rescued from there (can't even remember his name now) he considers it beneath him. I'm sure he'll have bags more natural ability than both Dickov or Kuqi. One thing that was noticeable on Saturday (even though he was allegedly under the weather) was that he seemed to have plenty of pace. If Bellamy came back the thought of a Blackburn Rovers forward line with TWO genuinely quick men in it is completely unheard of! In 35 years of watching Rovers I think you can practically count our strikers with pace on your thumbs. Garner, Shearer (pre first injury), Bellamy. Anyone else?

The first bit of that sentence is impossible to disagree with Gordon but the second bit can't be strictly correct. We averaged over 26,000 just three seasons ago under Souness. Unless a very substantial proportion of the white indigenous population have moved out of the area to be replaced by their Asian counterparts within that very short time span. I'm sure there's some element of that but it can't be that pronounced.