This weekend was a cup round and we’re not in any of them and after we had trained hard last week, we got the weekend off. It’s not often we have a weekends off so this came as a nice surprise and was more than welcome. I took the opportunity to go home to Norway, and I had a great weekend. I was relaxing and enjoying myself with good friends. I’ll post some pictures from the weekend, and it shows the government building that was badly damaged during the July 22 terrorism, the Joker Marcello Distefano, me praying for better times for Blackburn Rovers, the view from Aker Brygge and me  really tired after a hard workout on Saturday.

Morten Gamst Pedersen

Mark Hughes and the guys is visiting today, and most of us in Blackburn have a good relationship with him and his staff. But to be honest, today we do not give a shit in old camaraderie. Today he is just like any other opponent who comes to Ewood, and we have no plans on giving him anything for free. QPR are in just as much trouble as us, so this is a very important game for both of us. QPR have bought some new strikers in January, but that doesn’t scare us, because today we got a troll in the box ourself. His song goes like this:

FEED THE YAK AND HE WILL SCORE

FEED THE YAK

FEED THE YAK

FEED THE YAK AND HE WILL SCORE!

Come On You Blues, Come On Yak!

Morten Gamst Pedersen

I don’t want to talk about the Arsenal game, we all feel exactly the same about that game. We went through that game today on the training ground. We are not happy! It is much better to start the focus on the QPR game this weekend. It’s no secret that we are struggling in the league, but we have to keep the focus in the right place or this is going to be difficult.

It’s the Sami National Day today and that’s nice. Us who are both Sami and Norwegian are so lucky that we have two national days, and of course we have to celebrate that with pomp and ceremony. It is a bit lonely for me to celebrate alone here in England, but I have saved me some Sami goodies that I have enjoyed today,  and now it’s dried reindeer hearts on the menu.

Morten Gamst Pedersen

Tomorrow we got Arsenal on the menu, and that should be an exciting affair. Both they and we vary in our performances, mildly speaking. But we beat them at Ewood and I am eternally optimistic and believe we can beat them tomorrow too. Even though we lost to Newcastle we played a good game, we were clearly better than them but they got two lucky goals. For our part we just have to have faith in ourselves and continue the our good game. And then only time will tell if the results will come our way.

Now we are at the hotel in London, and at this hotel a music video was recorded a few years ago. Anybody knows what band?

Morten Gamst Pedersen

Ryan Nelsen went to Tottenham and it came as a shock to me, Ryan has been at the club almost as long asI have and I still remember the first training he had with us. We played on the same team and he did a really good impression, and on his debut came away against Portsmouth in the same game that I scored my first goal in the Premier League. Ryan is a really good friend and I will miss him both as a person and player. Had it been up to me Ryan would have stayed here with us, but it’s not and all I can do isto wish him the best of luck at Tottenham. I took this picture at the reserve game today and shows Ryan score.

Tomorrow it’s all set for a new game againt Newcastle, and it is the fourth game against them this season. We played well against them when we knocked them out of the Cup at Ewood Park. I hope we can play yet another a good game, and beat them in the league as well.

Morten Gamst Pedersen

Hi Gemma, I can confirm that I am NOT on twitter, so any profiles that are there are not of me. I’ve heard some rumors that I apparently have a profile there, and I have set Stig on the case to find out what is going on, and to take necessary steps to have it removed. I do not want anyone to come up with stuff that is not true on my behalf.

Jason Roberts has gone to Reading, which I personally thought was sad. Jason is a good friend and a true professional, and it has been an honor to play with him at Blackburn Rovers. I want to thank him for the job he has done here at Rovers and wish him every good luck at Reading. And that lucky bugger managed to score in his first game for them.

Morten Gamst Pedersen

Today we had some tests on the training field, and it quite went well for myself. We tested strength, coordination, speed, etc. It’s always nice to have theese tests so you can see what to work a little extra on. It has gone better for us in recent games, and tests like this will only help us to improve even more. Now that the results have begun to go more our way, the moos is far better in the squad, but we still have a long way to go so you will not rest until we are where we should be, and thats much higher up on the table.

Morten Gamst Pedersen

Now I am in place at the hotel in Liverpool where we will stay tonight before tomorrow’s game against Everton. Everton at Goodison Park is a hard game, but we have faith in ourselves after last weekend’s match against Fulham. And I must honestly admit that it is good to go into a game with a little more confidence than we had earlier in the season. But the game isn’t until tomorrow, so now we will charge the batteries for tomorrow and then we’ll see what we’re made off. Our new signing Anthony Modeste is here, and we’ll see if he gets the chance tomorrow.

It was incredibly boring that Norway went out of the Handball Championship tonight, and it feels bitter the way we went out. But I do not feel that we can blame either Slovenia or Iceland. Iceland takes chance they get, while Slovenia is playing for themselves and what is best for them. It’s not fair play to do it the way they did, but that’s life. I think the guys did well largely through the tournament, but they didn’t score enough goals when it counted the most.

Morten Gamst Pedersen

It was so good to win today, and on top of that get a free kick goal just was liberating. Today we got a difficult situation when we were reduced to 10 men, but we worked the socks of us to take get this win, and eventually we got a deserved 3-1 win. This win took us above the relegation zone, and now we will work hard to keep us there. It’s always hard to be down in the relegation zone, and for any team down there it seams to be more post out than post in, so it is important for us to get a win like today so we could get the feeling of a win. This game will undoubtedly give us confidence going forward, and hopefully give us a better last part of the season than before Christmas. And of course, it was exstra fun to beat Brede Hangeland and John Arne Riise But it was just as important to give everybody in Blackburn a pleasent saturday evening.

Morten Gamst Pedersen

It’s time for a new match against Fulham at Ewood Park today. It is obviously fun for me to play against my friends on the national team Brede Hangeland and John Arne Riise, but apart from that this game is just like all other games in the Premier League this season. It is a game we have to win, and right now we have the situation that every game is like a cup final for us. If we win today we are taking a big step up on the table, and that is what we hope that we will do.

Morten Gamst Pedersen