He can't play as a lone striker, but then again neither can Rhodes or Rochina.

So, what will Kean do? It'll be one up front as usual.

Goodwillie has looked dangerous in his past two sub appearances.

Give him a chance, for once, and play him up front in a pair.

How was Brave AS?

Is that the sequel to BraveHeart?

I don't know his situation, but the most common reason for suicide is depression. I have suffered with depression in the past, it is a truly bizarre thing. No bandages, no crutches, no outward signs of illness to a passer-by. But by God it is as difficult to deal with as any major illness I can think of. Those people who suffer from it will tell you that it is almost impossible to live your life normally, and what can make it worst is that so many people take the atitude-"Get a grip" or "Pull yourself to together" etc.

If Speeds death does anything to lift the stigma that is often attached to mental illness of this type, then at least something good may come out of this truly horrendous occurrence.

Please remember also, for every high profile example of this awful news, there are thousands of other plebs that take their own life for similar reasons that go unnoticed every year, and leave behind stunned and bewildered family and friends that wished they could have done something more to help.

Hopefully, some good could come from such a tragic incident and those suffering in silence might be able to talk about these kind of issues. There is a huge amount of stigma relating to mental illness, yet the majority of people are likely to be affected by minor versions of it at some time in their lives. Despite the image of depressed teenagers, older people are more likely to suffer than younger. Even successful, handsome and married adults such as Gary Speed. Something like 1 in 5 of the population will suffer from major outbreaks, although this is probably well underreported as people would rather suffer than admit to it.

Let's hope this can lead to the breaking down of some stigmas relating to this, and encourage greater attention.

Let's not the death of such a personable, talented, famous man be in vain.

Mental illness is one of the scourges of our society, and one of its biggest killers. It takes no account of wealth, job, fame etc. What a damn shame.

RIP Gary Speed.

Was going to ask about T3. It's getting panned in the press but I guess it's not aimed at middle aged hacks!

It's crap. Not quite as crap as the last one, but crap nonetheless. The first film was a masterpiece compared to the last two. Still, people know what to expect. I went to see it as it was someone else's choice. They thought it was crap, too.

You don't have to be a middle aged hack to see that.

For a very interesting author, try Jeffrey Eugenides. Somewhat bizarre at times, but his "Middlesex" and "The Virgin Suicides" are both superb.

Anyone know of any really good football books of the last couple of years?

They lost 5-0 to Schalke, so...not too sure he can be classed as another "Shay Given" goalkeeping type who we slipped through our fingers...

Harry Pearson is always excellent.

His "The Far Corner", about football in the North East, was a delight. As was ´A Tall Man in a Low Land: Some Time Among the Belgians´

Watched Battle LA last night with the wife - she fell asleep.

If you are looking for lots of action, bullets flying, yelling and general mayhem - this will be for you.

If you are looking for seeing what is being shot at, or generally knowing what is going on - this is not for you.

Horrified that they completely ripped off the heavy weapon scene from Saving Private Ryan.

I left the theater after watching this sadly mehed about the whole thing. Even though there was more gunfire than in the entire Battle of Gettysburg, you never felt like it was exciting. It felt like watching someone play Call of Duty on the PS3.

However the enemy were interesting, and on the whole, better actors than the humans.

The military advisor should also have been shot, more wardrobe errors than in the entire run of Jag.

I know how your wife felt. It was rubbish.

Last season: I had just arrived from England and couldn't speak a word of deutsch. Somehow got free tickets for the game and during the next 3 hours leart a lot about german football. Two most important things I learnt were: Every matchday seems to start with a beer and a bratwurst and Hannover and Wolfsburg are big rivals and 'we' must not lose. Well it ended up 5-0 and Wolfsburg all but secured the championship in Hannover, whilst at the same time almost relegated Hannover. Dzeko was amazing and scored a perfect hat-trick.

Good report. However, wasn't it two seasons ago Wolfsburg won the Bundesliga?

What do you think of the sacking? He might not have won that many, but he didn't actually lose that many either.

This article on the Barca site says the fee was 450,000 Euros

A reasonable price for a young prospect. Will be interesting to see how he progresses.

The Copa America receives next to no coverage on the big channels, which is strange as it is of a far higher quality than the African/Asian ones. Next July it is in Argentina, so should be more interesting than usual.

As well as Brazil, the Argies, Paraguay and Chile from last year's World Cup, they have also invited Mexico and Japan (they always invite an extra two countries so they can have 3 groups of 4 teams).

Quite why the BBC bids for Burkina Faso v. Mali or Algeria v. Cameroon in January (when it was played last year) when everyone is all preoccupied with the Prem I don't know. Not when it could be the likes of Brazil v. Mexico or Argentina v. Uruguay in July when there is no other football, I'm not quite sure why.

A Team - nowhere near as much fun as the original, or maybe that's just me being

sentimental?

Possibly. The original TV series was pretty crap, to be honest.

It was certainly no classic, that is for sure.

The movie was as good as the TV shows.

The A-Team was quite good, I thought, funny at times and enjoyably forgettable.

Rebelmswar - don't watch the Nightmare on Elm Street remake. I think that would finish off your those remaining remants of your will to live.

Good though The Kings Speech is (and it is very good), I'm just back from seeing Blue Valentine, which I think surpasses it.

I have seen them both and think The King's Speech is the better film. It is true enough that Blue Valentine is interesting and very emotional at times, however.

Another good movie is one with Robert DeNiro, Kate Beckinsale, Sam Rockford and Drew Barrymore called Everyone's Fine. I watched it online and really enjoyed it. Robert DeNiro is widower, who has never kept in close contact with his children. When they all cancel on coming to see him for a family reunion, he sets out to travel across America to see them all. It won't be winning any Oscars, but it was a nice movie, with some good scenes. Thinking of going to the King's Speech tonight.

Sounds similar in some ways to that Jack Nicholson movie, About Schmidt?

The Fighter is not bad, very formulaic but enlivened by some excellent acting and expect Christian Bale to be nominated for his portrayal of Wahlberg's crackhead has-been older brother. The story itself is the kind of thing that has been seen a ton of times before. Enjoyable, but forgettable.

Of the three films I have seen recently I would recommend -

1st. True grit

2nd. 127 Hours

3rd. The Fighter

2,756,874th. Skyline

Brolin? James Franco surely?

Yes, Franco. Not sure why I got him mixed up with Brolin.

Looking forward to seeing True Grit - am also a big fan of the Coens, and with Empire giving this a glowing review and 5 stars it's a must-see for me. Also quite fancy 127 Hours.

127 Hours isn't bad. Unsurprisingly, it's a one man show and it is a good performance from Brolin. I don't think it is one of Boyle's best, to be honest, but is a decent film nonetheless.

Saw two very different movies recently.

True Grit was excellent and was a really enjoyable experience. I am a fan of both The Coen Brothers and westerns in general so they were preaching to the converted, but it is highly recommended to all.

On the other hand, Skyline was one of the most unintentionally hilarious movies I have ever seen. It truly is one of those so awful they are amusing movies. Mix the worst script with the worst acting you can think of, and make it as brainless as possible, and there you go. The number of gaping plot holes must be in the thousands. I soon learnt, after about 7 minutes, to not take it at all seriously and it was much the better for it. Some of the effects were quite good though, to be fair.

Went to Grasshoppers 0 Luzern 3 yesterday and which keeps Luzern in first place in the early stages of the Swiss top flight.

You get around a bit, CLB. Thought you were in Norway?

Thanks for those recommendations Sidders. I actually have Azincourt but have never got around to reading it. Will give it a try...

Knight and Day - chick flick, loads of set pieces with not much holding it together

Didn't think it was too bad, but it certainly wasn't what I was expecting. Not really an action film and didn't seem to make too much sense. Not bad, not good, just...ok.

The A-Team was better than expected. Not a classic by any means, but it definitely hits home to its target audience. A good, old-fashioned action movie.

Been reading some of the old Flashman books by George MacDonald Fraser again who unfortunately died a couple of years back. Literary excellence bar none. Fraser also wrote a fantastic account of his time in the war and the Burma campaign entitled "Quartered Safe Out Here" which remains one of the best accounts on the war from a soldier that I have read.