I am not sure we should be keenly anticipating Roeder's departure. While Man City, West Ham and Charlton all have little to offer hughes Newcastle are a different proposition. and, as ridiculous as Freddy shepard is, i would be suprised if Hughes and sam Allerdyce were not the two names at the top of a prospective hit list. I know Newcastle are supposed to be in debt, but people have said that for years and they have still managed to find buckets of money from somewhere. If FS could guarantee 10 million quid for hughsy to spend then it would be a very attractive deal. In Duff, Owen, Martins, Emre and Parker they already have a few world class attacking players that we perhaps lack, and would, with some good defensive signings, have a great chance of breaking the top four next season. While I have a lot of faith in MH to stick with this fantastic team built up at Ewood, and he does seem to be loving every minute of it, it is a worry. And if hughes goes i reckon practically every player we have will fancy joining up with him due to his evident quality as a leader. God, aren't I gloomy. On the other hand FS himself has proved himself to be an utter tosser, whereas JW has shown himself to be the epitomy of level headedness, so maybe that will ward him off.

If thats true we are buggered.

I think we can still put out a strongish side with key players given a rest. For example: Jeffers Roberts Peter Mokoena Tugay? Gallagher Gray Ooijer Zurab Emerton Friedal While probably not good enough to beat Chelsea it is still a pretty solid lineup. Peter, Jeffers, Mokoena and Gallagher particularly should get an opportunity to put pressure on the first teamers. The bigest problem is, as Savage has picked up another knock, we are terribly thin at CM. Tugay clearly needs a rest but if Reid and Sav are both unfit we literally have no one to partner the axe apart from the Turk. I suppose Bentley could do a makeshift job...

He went off injured again today.... Has played 8 games, 3 as substitute, this season, totalling 743 minutes of a possible 1170- or alternatively 63%. Not too bad but still a major risk.

Well, Moko was anchoring the midfield three- if not neccesarily playing particualrly deep he certainly wasn't getting forward. Oh, not that it matters, but I have revised my opinion. I quite fancy seeing us play three up front on Sunday. Bolton do it and MGP has been so shocking of late that it hardly seems a loss to drop him.

I hope Savage and Bentley are not injured! If they are we are pretty screwed! Tugay must be knackered as it is. My team, if the two above are fit: Nonda Roberts McCarthy Bentley Savage Mokoena Niell Zurab Ooijer Emerton Friedal If they are not fit then I suppose we will just have to swap Pedersen for Bentley and Tugay for Savage. I would like to see Gally get a start but I think his absence from Poland (where we were allowed seven on the bench) shows that he is out of favour.

I feel a little vindicated after today's substitutions. The formation I outlined was played in the last twenty minutes or so and we looked decent. I doubt we will start with it in the premiership as it leves us exposed down the flanks, but it is nice to know it works in case wek get a few injuries/suspensions.

I realise that but my point was to try and retian an attacking impetus with the team which could well be difficult with a midfield of MGP-Savage-Moko-Bentley and two up front.

I think an acceptable, if not ideal, option would be to play: Nonda Roberts McCarthy Bentley Savage Mokoena Niell Ooijer Zurab Emerton Freidel The middle three would look to keep a stable patform in the middle, particularly Axe who would play quite deep, while the Aussies are encouraged to get forward with even more ambition than usual to provide width on the overlap. McCarthy seems to have all the attributes to play a playmaking role behind the front two. As said it's not ideal, but it is a possiblity which might allow us to keep our attacking style with Moko in the team. We really need a new midfielder, and we must have about four million burning a hole in Sparky pocket for one (or maybe a CM and a left back).

I suppose thats the nub of it, Newcastle clearly have great players but have had a succession of mediocre managers. If a new manager of quality came in (please not Hughes) then you would have to admit that newcatle have far more of a capability to challenge for the title over the next three or four years than we, or any similarly financially weak club, have. To put it in context we would take Martins, Owen, Parker, Emre, Duff, Solano, Milner and Given off them, no hassle. I doubt Newcastle would particularly covet any of our players bar Nelsen, McCarthy and Neill. All of which goes to show the outstanding quality of Hughes (or paucity of Roeder) as a manager.

If Emerton and Niell are out it is going to cause real probems, our entire gameplan has been about them getting forward. Gray can attack a bit but SZurab and Moko leave a lot to be desired. Unless the aussies recover I can see us getting a tonking.

IMO Tugay is not only the most pleasing players to the eye at rovers over the last 15 years (I wouldventure ever, but i have only watched for 15 years), but also one of the very finest in the premiership. Right up there with the likes of zola, bergkamp, henry, cantona and giggs. It seems his primary aim, above even winning, at the start of a game is to look good playing. Luckily he has such talent that he gets away with it. Others who challenge but lack the outrageous panache include Duff, Dunn and Jansen. Shearer was brutally brilliant too, of course. Out of the current lot Benni McCarthy offers hope of a bit of class in coming months and Bentley seems willing to entertain if given the opportunity.

My side for Wednesday: Carrick, while a fine player, does not provide the drive that Parker would to the midfield performance. I imagine Mcclaren will stick but really Scotty should get the nod.

I think having Reid back would be very advantageous for this, we could need his extra bite against a team with such a powerful midfield. Personally I will be suprised if we get more than a point out of this game.

four million?! I am suprised by that. If we can nail down that sort of money then we are laughing. Surely Rovers would have to be looking at a very good central midifelder in January.

Incidentally i thought Eurosport did an absolutely excellent job when they put on the Rovers game.

hughes has obviously experimented with Bentley performing the Tugay role (ie. lying deep and playmaking) several times, most recently in preseason and at the start of the season but so far it has been unsuccessful, especially when compared to his rapidly improving performances on the right. i think we would have to sign someone in, must be a priority in january with all the cash we saved up in the summer.

I take it that there is a proviso saying that we cannot be drawn against Englishclubs? Persoanlly I quite fancy rangers and ajax.

Wow, what a performance! we could have won by a couple more even. the most heartening thing is that we seem to have a partnership up front that really works, and in Bentley a player who is going from strength to strength. Ooijer, although patently not the MOM, was excellent as were Neill, Tugay and Emerton. no one had a bad game. Very confident that we can go on and cause teams real problems whoever we face.

Remember three out of the five teams go through so it is not that bad. And also that we are a better side than Boro and they somehow managed to get to the final!

Thus is going to be a good game, I am reeally looking forward to it! Certainly, barring injury, the same team to start as on Saturday. 2-0 Rovers (mcCarthy, bentley)

i think lancashire united would get a lot of support in the long term, if your talking ten years down the line after all the wounds healed and so on. But in the short term it would suffer a huge loss of crowds, merely on principle so many people wouldn't turn up to support a club that would be seen as killing what was their club. And this would result in the club completely failing to benefit for the anticipated revenue boost that would be expected to ccur. If football executives thought there was an appetite within the fan base for club almalgamations to work it would have already happend by now. Think Bristol- large city, two @#/? football clubs, clearly theoretically a massive boost in support and revenue could occur if the clubs joined forces, hasn't happend. Same story in East Lancs, yorkshire, the black country.

I absolutely agree with this. personally i grew to have a deep desire that Emerton would leave, he really was one of the most inefective wide players i had ever seen. However at right back he has been sensational and i have to say the upturn in form is nothing short of miraculous. Congratulations Mr Emerton. Considering just how good he is at RB and how bad he was at Rw it is staggering that it was not noticed before in three years and by two different managers until now.

Completely agree with that team. 2-1 Rovers. ooijer to have his first good game in a rovers shirt.

Well we certainly do have a better strikeforce if you take Bellamy out of the equation. and we should remember that Bellamy was injured for around half of last season.