Rovers V West Ham

yeah was thinkin bout this today when was the last time benni or santa cruz scored?

You lot were disappointing, we weren't all that brilliant yet managed to come away with three points. We were slightly lucky to win, but in more ways than one we deserved to win. Good luck for the rest of the season, see you in March!

Nice report though sasman, making your debut as a Match day reporter (filling in for Roversman this week.)

what is it with you lot being beaten by teams in claret and blue at Ewood?

I think everything has been said. Was very disappointing. However, it would not be a proper post with one complaint about the referee! Play-ons, is the topic of my gripe. There was a time in the first half were we coul dhave had a free kick, but the ref waved play-on. It was clear nothing was going to be fruitful, but as the laws of the game suggest, the game goes on. However, the same happened for West Ham, and a good 5-7 seconds later he calls it back for the free-kick. Can anyone shed any light on what the rule is? If someone says the referee discretion, woe betide you! :-)

Another thing I will add is that although he wasn't spectacular I do think Gamst's performance was an improvement on recent weeks.

roversman - I agree with your thought on MGP (however, he still needs to up his game more to keep playing), that things need to improve for a European place (which we should still get?!?!) and its time for my boy Derbs again, either him or JR, something needs to change in attack thats for sure.

OK im gonna join in. its not often i slate my beloved Rovers but by god!!!! First off the positives (this wont take long!) Friedel was solid as usual and Benni seemed willing to do his share of spade work up front, pulling defenders about and the like.

Ok the negatives.....Emerton is NOT a right back, his positional sense is woeful. I know we sacrifice that somewhat as he is good going forward but ye gods, he was nowhere to be seen half the time and he was up against 2 very decent attackers in Boa Morte and Etherington. Hes gotten away with far too much in the last few weeks and needs a rest at the very least! Personally I wouldve had Ooijer there with Zurab partnering Samba. The Ooijer and Samba injuries are going to leave the cupboard threadbare, get ready to see Nolan on the bench soon! the worrying thing is 1) he hasnt been goven enough time to get experience in the first team and 2) the transfer window is coming up yet there has been no news whatsoever regarding the proposed takeover and Im guessing that there aint much in the kitty to go and buy a decent centre half. Stevie Wee had a terrible game defensively and im wondering if he is now needing a rest and some decent competition at that spot to keep him on his toes! not going to be too harsh on him though as i cannot recall him having a game like this before so... Dunny was very quiet on the right, no surprise really as he is a CENTRE MIDFIELDER (Sparky take note) yes he can fill in on the flanks but note that its for a short time, not constantly. Tugay, bless him, love him to bits but hes not fit enough or maybe even good enough to start and play 90 minutes any longer. With Sav and Reid on the bench, he shouldve been subbed at half time as he wasnt getting the time or space he requires. MGP....whilst, as RM said, it was an improvement over recent weeks, it was still far too short of what he can produce and i cannot understand why his form has bottomed out. Roque looks like a man devoid of confidence at the moment and needs a fluky goal off his arse to get it back. the sitter at the end, when he'd done the hard work and then lost composure said it all for me really!. Nice to see Reid back but he contributed ZERO when he came on.

Finally, i think Sparky needs to seriously think about his next team selection carefully as, on this showing, it highlighted how dependant we have become on Bents an that worries me. Try Dunn in the middle with Sav, let mokoena rest before the African nations (please!) Get Sergio or Treacy on the left, consider putting Olsson and Nolan on the bench for some experience, should the opportunity present itself. I am however, wondering whether this is the start of the downturn in form due to the Inter two bob cup competition that I had feared. Its about 2-3 months earlier than i expected but. Lets be fair though Fellas, no disrespect to WHU or Villa but considering the way we have played against the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool, they are teams that we should be aiming to beat if we are serious about europe this term.

BomBom - You should have produced that rant as an article rather than just a comment lol!
It was however spot on, I couldn't agree more with virtually everything you said.

Its been a while since my last rant but to be fair, Rovers havent given me much to gripe about, thats how good we have been.

I agree with BB on some matters. However, is this the time of season to be blooding inexperienced players? The festive period is always tricky, and points are vital considering there are 12 up for grabs within the space of a week/10 days. It is vital we play our strongest team at all possible times. Olsson, Nolan, Tracey, Peter would not feature in my strongest team. The time to blood young players is when we have nothing to play for and cup competitions where defeats, albeit still hurt, don't matter.

You are right HDM, unless we are winning 6-0 leading into the second leg of a cup game, every game means something