Would we be able to sign him outside of the transfer window? I doubt it. I wonder if there are any decent central midfielders out of contract at the moment, we are desperate!

Honestly I think we just have to play 451. We cannot keep doing 442 until we get either Reid or Savage back. I don't really think Neill or Emerton will make particularly good central midfielders. Freidal Emerton Ooijer Zurab Gray Mokoena Gallagher Tugay Bentley Pedersen McCarthy I suppose the genius of the formation is that Peter or McCarthy could slot into midfield if there are any injuries/tiredness (thinking of Tugay) or underperforming players (thinking of Pedersen) as the defensive demands are less than that of a 442. We all know that the axe is outstanding in this lineup (as opposed to generally poor in a 442) which is what really makes me think we have to play it.

We really should have played 451 today. I saw 2/3rs of the game and we were absolutely murdered in the first half and in the second we didn't get the ball into dangerous areas enough. I just don't think a 442 with Mokoena in it works in the least. We need two or three moreplayers, but two months till the transfer window... Referee decisions went against us but it hard to argue that we didn't deserve to lose. What is clear is that our first choice XI is good enough for the top six but our strength in depth is weak. The UEFA cup is tiring the paper thin squad. A proper weeks rest should mean a better performance against United next week.

This is sort of by the by, but has anyone seen Tugay give an interview? I read something a couple of years back that claimed he could not speak English- suprising since he has been in the UK since 2000.

I really don't see how we can not play Mokoena, he is the only midfield tackler we have. There is an argument that Zurab, Ooijer and Neill could all step into the holding role but noneofthem are tested there apart from Zurab who did a little stint for Rangers in that position. Maybe Tugay4England or Radagast could give us insight to how he played there. As I put on the Villa thread I would say far and away the best option is to switch to 451. We know Moko excels in such a formation and I think it is set up well to make the most of players like Bentley, Emerton and Gallagher. When we are away it would be sensible to stick to it until we get either Reid or Savage back.

Suprised to see Emerton in there, but if he makes it, great! Without Sav we are in a bit of a pickle. In my opinion it is time for 451. Villa are looking good and are at home and physically fresher. McCarthy Pedersen Bentley Tugay Gallagher Mokoena Niell Oiijer Zurab Emerton Freidal Subs: Brown, Henchoz/McEverly/Gray, Peter, Nonda, Jeffers Any more injuries and we are in trouble. The one to really worry about is the axe as if he goes we literally have nobody who can come in and do his role, not even in the reserves. We would have to start playing Zurab in midfield.

I think thats harsh Jan. I have thought MGP poor pretty much since the start of the season but last night his second half was very good. He played better than Bentley tbh. Hopefully he is on to something and can recover some form. With the injuries we have we desperately need him to.

Although we genuinely looked poor in the first half the second was (mostly) a different story. Great result to go into the weekend with. Main thing for me was MGP, he was transformed. I wanted Peter to start but the Ped really showed class today, especially in the last twenty minutes.

There is the question of how involved the asian community is in Rovers as now as a group they make up a large proportion of the population (20%). The total population of Blackburn with Darwen has declined a little since your heydey Fife, from around 150,000 to 135,000. Stats

Surely doing something on the stadium has to be the last of our priorities at the moment. We have a very nice modern ground, falling attendances and a quite large fianancial disadvatage to the teams above us in the league. Ideally we would like to reduce the size of the three main stands and build up the Riverside but I cannot envisage a point in the next 30-40 years where that is likely to happen, even if we do finish in the top four on a regular basis. When we built the stadium we overestimated the fan base, or anticipated a long stay at the top.

I think thats a bit harsh, Bellamy is a better player in my book- has more to threaten an opponents defence (mainly his extraordinary pace). Nonetheless Benni is excellent and if he does remain fit formost of the season (as opposed to Bellamy's 60%) then he will ultimately prove a better signing.

If we were going to play 451 I would go for: McCarthy Peter Bentley Savage Gallagher Axe Niell Zurab Ooijer Emerton Freidal It gives Tugay a rest for the weekend and I think it would ultimately be quite attacking with gally, Peter (MGP if you like, but I think Sergio should keep his place), Savage and Bentley all breaking from midfield. Gally would suit this formation well too with his ability to play the through ball. At home I think it would be extremely difficult for us to pick up anything less than a point with that.

If Emerton is out, and I really hope he isn't!!, we could play this: freidal Ooijer Zurab Henchoz Neill Bentley Tugay Savage Peter Nonda McCarthy Problem is it takes Ooijer out of the centre and he has been our fondation recently. I jut really don't want to see McEverly or Gray play. I thought Peter was good if not brilliant against WH and should retain his starting place.While he hardly created vast amounts of oportunities he did marginally better than MGP has recently, andactually beat his full back a few times. Gally should get a run out in some capacity too, maybe giving Tugay a rest for the last half hour. In a way European football seems to suit us better than the Premiership at the moment, which is probably not that suprising considering out of our first XI only Savage and Neill can really be considered to have a typically British style of play. In that department we really miss the physicality of Nelsen and Reid. Roberts was supposed to be our 'Dixie Dean' (we wish) target man too...

I don't see why we cannot have a slightly larger squad and maintain the same standard of players in the first Xi. Financially we are well enugh off to afford two more players (almost undoubtably a CM and a left back)who would go straight into the starting sixteen at least. How do I know this? We bid for Dunn at the end of August to the tune of two or three million and if you add up our incomings and outgoings we look to have 3-6 million to spend on players. Those two players would transform us to looking ragged and threadbare to being well covered. Crazy old game, eh? We do need to shift Matteo and Todd though to make space on the wage bill. Damn the transfer window (or Hughsy's lack of urgency in August?), otherwise we would have those new players now.

I am really not that keen on the idea of having Mokoena anchoring the midfield in this one (made very little impact against west ham), but we literally seem to have no other option. Also is Tugay going to have the legs? Potentially we could shift Bentley insdie and play Gallagher on the right. Everything is looking so makeshift at the moment. edit- just realised Savage will be available for this one! Thank god!

Den, thats a gross exaggeration. We finished sixth last year and we clearly have a lot of quality. Freidal, Neill, Nelsen, Emerton, Ooijer, Savage, Reid, Nonda, Tugay, McCarthy and Roberts are all clearly top half Premiership players. Zurab and Pedersen are decent. And the youngsters are coming through. Bentley is quality, Gallagher has class, Peter looks good, Brown showed style in his cameo a few weeks back. We have as good a set of players as any team outside the big four, Newcastle and Tottenham. We cannot win every game. We were a long long way from being a bad side today. A long way. And we were missing five of our best players. If we go down i will eat 50 hats. I will be amazed if we don't finish in the top half.

McEverly looked terrible when he came on though... I think I wouldstill have Gray than him. Niell back on the left would be the best option. Obviously a bad result and we did not threaten their goal enough. Not much point in me repeating what everybody else said. On the other hand I think we played decent football and now have one of the most technically proficient teams in the league. For their respective positions Zurab, Ooijer, Peter, Bentley, Tugay, Gallagher, Jeffers and McCarthy are all neat passers and good with their feet. We are well set up now to play possession football, and that is what we did.SHame about the final ball... We are missing: Nelsen, Emerton, Reid, Savage, Nonda. All five of those would have started if available. THe first four are arguably our four best players.

When was the last time we scored from a corner?

How? Standard 442...

Savage is a massive loss, while Nonda is dissapointing rather than desperate. My team: McCarthy Roberts Peter Tugay Mokoena Bentley Neill Ooijer Zurab Emerton Freidal Subs: Brown, Henchoz, MGP, Gallagher, Jeffers We DESPERATELY need to purchase a proper central midfielder. We cannot get through a season with only three, especially when one has a long term injury, one is prone to picking up nearly a yeallow a game, and one who is 36 years old! Mokena in the centre is just about adequate but nothing more than that. And if either him or TYugay get injured we are really in the poo.

I am a little intrigued by the "conservative agenda of flooding the streets with crack cocaine". How does that work? And why? Incidentally I might as well throw in that I have little time for BP's christian morality thing. Morality can exist quite outside of religion. But what I do agree is that people generally do not have enough of a conception of the concequences of their actions, partly because they do not have to live with the full extent of them. However, I don't think the church can solve that, or has the right to do so. Personally I wouldn't put down liberals failure to lack of spirituality but rather a lack of focus. Still I wouldn't give up the tremendous liberalization of society over the last 50 years (break down of racism, sexual revolution, growth of non profit sector, greater equality between the sexes, scientific acceleration, freedom of movement, larger class mobility, greater world integration) for anything really. While in many many ways modern UK life is rubbish, it is also an intensely beautiful place if compared to, say, Victorian Britain or Somalia today. Each person can live out their life in almost any way they please if they do it with determination, desire and self belief. Even those who get the thinnest end of society's stick have access to schools, benefits, action groups, charities, hospitals, jobs, a relative lack of predjudice. The sad thing about it is rather than seeing our society as one of incredible opportunity, as it undoubtably is, people rather see it as some kind of obscene burden. Ask not what the country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. And all that.

I am absolutely mystified as to how Gally (not even on the bench!) and Peter are not in the side. Sure MGP needs dropping just for fitness if not anything else. Still, a quality team and one that should give Chelsea a game. Can't really see us winning though.

The Walker trust money has all but dried up now, and if you look at Bolton's and Rover's squads I would say that there isn't too much difference in transfer money paid, albeit Anelka's purchase making up a large difference. TV money, prize money, and a few transfers (notably Dunn 5.5 million, Duff 17 million, Bellamy 6 million) have provided the transfer budget over the last three years or so. The last 'Walker Trust Purchase' was probably Andy Cole who we didn't see any return on as Souness gave him away for free... None of the Walker Trust bought players are still at the club with the exception of Tugay (Cheap at 1.5 million), Niell (Cheap at 1.25 million) and Friedal (Free!). So we don't have any financial advantage over you lot.

I would think Jose will have his work cut out to break through Kevin keegan's monopoly on that one. There are some things you just can't win...

I think for home games we don't have a 'squad' as such. Any of our players an be selted as they don't need to travel. I'm pretty sure the Beeb just has a guess at who is available, obviously taking into consideration injurys and suspensions. All of that said however, I would be extremely suprised if we put anyone outside those the Beeb have mentioned. we have no need for youngsters (outside the obvious Gally and Peter) to step in exept possibly in central midfield. And we do not appear to have any decent young central midfielders coming through. Incidentally, with Ooijer injured you have to wonder who will come in. The Axe is in CM, Todd is out of favour, Matteo is useless, McEverly is injured (I think!) . My guess would be Niell at CB and Gray at LB.