Both teams will go into this game with confidence after the results in the week. Man City are playing well under Pearce and will be tough to beat. Our home form has improved under Hughes, as has our defending. We should be confident about keeping a clean sheet and getting some goals at the other end. Against Palace we created at least nine clear cut chances, but only scored one. We have to start to taking our chances. The fact that we have secured our Premiership survival should mean that the players feel totally liberated of any doubts that they may have had about going down and respond with a good win. 2-0 to Rovers with Stead and Reid to get the goals. Friedal Neill, Todd, Nelsen, Matteo Mokoena Emerton, Reid, Savge/Tugay, Pedersen Stead I'm not sure if Tugay or Savage should start. There are doubts about Savage's fitness, but I can't decide if we should risk him or go with Tugay.

God, if Souness has stayed with us, he would have taken us to the dogs and we would be in the position that Norwich and Palace are in. On paper you would say that Newcastle have a better squad of players than us. So why are they doing so badly? Souness possibly? Hughes has taken us above Newcastle to 12th, moving up 8 places since he arrived. If anything Newcastle have moved down the table under Souness.

Now that we are safe, Hughes and the rest of the club can start planning for next season. We can look to bring new players into the club, but ones that add quality to the team, instead of the likes of De Pedro and Matteo. Strikers are the priority and Hughes has shown that he can find players, who don't play in the strongest leagues, but can perform in the Premiership. If we have a limited budget, Hughes may have to make some more shrewed signings. We can also look at getting rid of the deadwood in the team, with players like Gray, Flitcroft, Bothroyd, Amoruso and Short being surplus to requirements. However, I do think that some of these players would have to replace, so our squad isn't weakened. Next season we can also look to bringing back our old attacking style of play. We have had to abandon this, to a more robust and defensive approach, just so we could guarantee our position in he Premiership for next season. We have seen glimpses of how good we can be under Hughes and hopefully next season, when we aren't fighting for survival, we can see more of it. However, it will be good to have this rugged style of play in the team, so we can dig and grind out results if things aren't going our way in matches. Indeed, with some quality additions to the squad, I can't see why we couldn't be up at the top of the league, challenging for Europe. I think that we have one of the best young managers in the country and under his guidance, the future could be very bright for Rovers. He has turned things around since he has come in, so imagine what he could do from the beginning of the season.

The Intertoto Cup would be a terrible idea IMO. It means that the players have less time off in the summer, after a long season. It also means that we will have far more fixtures, without having the squad to cope with them. These games could well catch up with us next season, when we are hopefully trying to qualify for Europe or even trying to stay in the league.

That is brilliant news. It would have been a disgrace if he had been banned for a couple of the remaining games. He has turned his career around at Rovers and has been Rovers player of the season and he deserves to finish the season off with Rovers, in the team and as captain.

I'd have to agree with you there. But as long as he keeps scoring goals, then I won't be too bothered.

A great result which more or less ensures our Premiership survival. The only disappointing thing is that we didn't score more goals. MGP took his goal very well, but there were so many other clear cut chances. Stead had a great header saved by Kiraly, another chance that just went wide I think and the one on one at the end which he should have buried. Reid missed a sitter from 6 yards out and he should have scored against Kiraly instead of over running it. Savage looked back to his old self and could have been sent off. I think that it was a good idea to bring Tugay on who by some accounts had a very good second half. I'd like to know what sparked off the incident in the tunnel, I doubt Savage's brush on Routledge as they ran off is what caused it. A top 10 finish is possible and we aim for this with our remaining games. We need to use this season as a learning curve and a transition period, bring in some new players in the summer, push on next season and perform like Everton and Bolton have been doing. It was also good to see Newcastle lose and drop to 14. I hope that Souness feels foolish. Who's up next?

It probably would mean that we would lose every game or not win them anyway, because of the lack of goals that we score.

It's these kind of ill-informed posts on Amoruso threads that hack me off something awful. "skinned by Jimmy McScuffer every week in Scotland"? The guy won (if memory serves) around 10 trophies in a 6 years spell at Rangers - if he such a useless defender was playing every single game for them, Celtic would have easily overtaken. Amoruso hasn't exactly been inspired for Rovers, but rubbish like that makes me wonder if you've seen him play more than 2 or 3 games. What's ill-informed about it? I saw Amoruso play on a number of occasions and he saved his best games for Celtic, when he used to play well against the likes of Larsson and Sutton. The Jimmy McScuffer comment reflects what alot of other people have been saying, that he used to make his errors in the smaller games against weaker players. If it weren't for the fact that he had a number of good players around him like Klos, Moore and Ferguson, then I doubt that he would have done so well. So in that sense you could easily say that he was a poor signing, because when you make mistakes in this league you get punished. The fact that he has barely featured, since his return from injury, would suggest that Hughes isn't a big fan. There's no need to get on your high horse, when someone has an opinion about a player, which goes against yours.

Jansen was going to be a superstar in the Premiership and would have played for England and he played for us! When he has come back he has looked quite bright, then he has tailed off. I hope that he will be able to get back to something like his old self next season. If he doesn't then we will have to let him go or he may just retire. Good luck on the come back trail Matty. Don't think about football for the next couple of months and come back to pre-season training, ready to show us all that you are up to it!

I thought that we were given a fair hearing on Sky Sports last night, with the presenter and Steve Claridge not going overboard about the game on Saturday. At least some people have some common sense.

If we win I'm pretty sure it'd be mathematically impossible for us not to stay up. We'd have 39 pts - Palace would only be able to get a max of 39. Norwich would have to win their midweek game to be able to get 39 & if Southampton lose v Bolton they'd only be able to get 39 Well, with that in mind, it makes a win against Palace even more important. I don't know why people are playing our chances down so badly. Yes, we lost on Saturday, but we got to an FA Cup semi final and that should fill the players with pride. After all the criticism that we have recieved over the last couple of days, don't you think that Hughes will use it to fire the players and put in a performance that will shut the critics up?

If we were to win this game, then I'd be even more optimistic of staying up. We have been playing well of late and Palace have been struggling. We should have killed them earlier this season but Gabor Kiraly was outstanding. If we can reproduce the same kind of performance, that we did against Southampton, where the attacking strengths of the 4-5-1 were their to see, we could win this one by a couple of goals as well. I would make some changes to the starting line up, with Tugay coming in for Flitcroft, Emerton replacing Thompson and Stead playinf instead of Dickov. Rovers to win 2-0.

The worst came from Paul Dickov, on Philippe Senderos. The above come from the Times match report, which was pretty fair, apart from the above statement. There were far worse tackles made on Saturday.

As I have said in the FA Cup topic, I thought that yesterday we went beyond being a physical team and just looked like a dirty side. I haven't minded the way we have been playing, because it has been effective and within the rules of the game. But some players went overboard and even though at times the Arsenal players went down easily, there were lots of cheap tackles that have gone some way to recieving these comments from pundits and fans. However, some of the things that have been said are total bo**ocks. I mean, what does a Wigan fan know about the Premiership? Rodney Marsh is a moron and I wouldn't be too bothered about what he has to say. The media have never liked Rovers after they won the league and they will just jump on what happened yesterday to ridicule Rovers even more.

A very disapointing result, considering the bright start that we made. In the end we were out classed by Arsenal. Again we didn't have much going forward and even though you look to keep it tight when you play against the top sides, we barely troubled Lehmann. Over the last couple of weeks we have been physical and I haven't minded because it was fair, but today we just look like a dirty side. Friedel was outstanding and I thought that Neill had a decent game. I still hate Dominic Matteo and I don't know what he has done to merit his inclusion in the team. Paul Dickov is terrible in general. He did nothing today apart from foul, bitch and complain. It is so obvious why we need new strikers at the club. As for Todd's collision with Van Persie, I thought that it was an accident. The jump at the end makes it look like he jumped into him, but I don't think that he did. We have done very well to get this far and has been our best cup run for years. Hopefully now Hughes will bring in some quality players which will improve our play and help us get this far again next year.

I bought an album called True Parallels by an American band named Trust Company the other day from Play.com. I got their first album, The Lonely Position Of Neutral and it was very good. You may have seen thir video for their single Downfall, was which was class. It is a mix of hard rock and metal, but without loads of screaming. I still haven't gotten it though. Staind's album, 14 Shades Of Grey is also worth a listen, with the likes of Yesterday and So Far Away a few of their excellent songs.

He has to be one of the worst signings that we have ever made. It makes you wonder why Souness spent so much effort on buying him, when he was getting skinned by Jimmy McScuffer every week in Scotland. Apart from being slow and unable to tackle or defend, he is quite a good player and I hope that plenty of clubs are interested in him, in the summer.

Are these are the big games that Ferguson left Rovers for? Seems like a good move. Hopefully Celtic can take advantage of this slip up.

I'm really looking forward to this game and I believe that we have a great chance to get to the final. Defensively we are very strong and we will need to be again, now that Henry, Pires and Bergkamp are all back. When we last played Arsenal, we were undone by a moment of class, from an understrength team, that should have scored more. But on Saturday, we can't afford to let Arsenal in, because we'll be punished. Players like Mokoena, Reid and Flitcroft are going to have stamp their authority on the game and not let Arsenal dectate play. We will get crucified if that happens. And, if any chances come our we must take them. This is one of the biggest games that the club has been in for some time and we can't freeze. Rovers to win 2-1.

I always thought that Reid was better suited to the centre of midfield, but what people might find funnier than that is Tugay, playing off Stead.

I've thought about it and I hope that we look elsewhere.

I was delighted when we signed him, because I relly felt that he was player who could make an impact on the Premiership. He went to the World Cup with Ireland and played well when he came on, so he was a player that I hoped that we would buy. Last season he didn't make much of an impression, through lack of first team action, injuries and IMO being played on the right and left wing. Under Hughes, like a lot of our players, he has improved dramatically and by playing in the centre of midfield, whihc I always thought was his best position, he has shown what a good player he is. He definately deserves to be recalled to the Republic Of Ireland side. It will be interesting to see what Hughes does next year with the formation. Reid and Mokoena have been playing so well, that you would think that Hughes would play them in the midfield of a 4-4-2 formation. I know that we bought Savage, but you should earn your place in the side and these two players, especially Reid, have done so. Then again, yesterday showed the attacking merits of a 4-5-1 formation, so this would enable Hughes to accomodate, Reid, Mokoena and Savage.

It was funny to see United losing as well.

What a great win today. It sounds like we took Southampton apart, which is great. The fact that we scored 3 goals, will give the team great confidence for the semi-final next week. But more importantly, the 3 points that the win has given us, will go along way to ensuring our Premiership survival. Great to see Reid scoring as well.