Our First Eleven when everybody is fit is: Stead Dickov Pedersen Ferguson Thompson Emerton Gray Matteo Amoruso Niell Friedel We also have a substantial amount of decent players who can come in: Gallagher, Reid, De Pedro (I hope, is he going?), Johansson, Gresko, Bothroyd, Tugay. We can look terrible and everybody can eff and blind but our playing staff are quite decent. The single largest problem for me is that we still do not have a good partner for Ferguson but what can you do.... We have a good side with all the qualities to sit comfortably mid table at least. The issue is getting the players to be confident and impose themselves on the game. We cannot throw the whole side over, we have to use what we have got despie its limitations. The only way we will go down is if the coaching staff panic and the players lose confidence. I just hope the new manager does not come in with the attitude of some of the pessimists on this board and dissmiss the majority of the side as rubbish. The we really would be in trouble.

Sounding a little better now. A couple of Rovers corners and a couple of decent strikes.

We need some info on De Pedro, Thompson and gallagher. All of those players are potentially first rate and would hope to feature prominantly in the managers plans. It is worrying to only be in the fourth game of the season and already have five first team players out injured or suspended. Hey ho.... Parkes' team, after the Flitty revelations, seems to pick itself: I would put money on that being the exact line up.

There isnt an obvious candidate who presents himself as 100% appropiate. Hughes is young, innovative, determined, committed, likeable. Tactically I would imagine he would be able to compete with Souness low level of aptitude and maybe even surpass it. I am up for a bit of a risk personally. Cart him in!

Oh, I am firmly behind the appointment of Strachan. On the other hand, if he was looking for a job would he of not gone to Newcastle? Surely his stock is higher than Souness'? The only candidate I can see definately not taking us down. Hoddle would be an interesting appointment and his team would play attractive football. But the man is obnoxious and it could all end in relegation. Mark Hughes would be the next best thing to anybody but Strachan. Cannot see him leaving Wales though. Maybe shared job with the national team?

I have looked through the thread a bit and at a staggering 15 pages of content I didnt manage to se it all. I apologise if I am just repeating anybody else.. I am extremely annoyed for two reasons. Firstly Souness has, particularly in the last two close season, built a side that he wanted- Matteo, Dickov, Ferguson, Amoruso, Gray. These players virtually all came in because Souness was the manager, all of them will be reconsidering their futures- particularly Amoruso and Ferguson i feel. To build this kind of 'loyal' player base he sold our flair players- Dunn, Cole and Yorke. To not see it thorough is disgraceful. Secondly he has left us in the lurch when throughout his career he was going on about commitment and so forth. For all of Dunn's short comings he never just walked out. That is pathetic from a man who obviously prides himself on his integrity. I was reasonably in favour of Souness but the guy has completely fallen from grace. As for the next manager we need an appointment that will encourage Ferguson and Amoruso that their future lies at Blackburn Rovers. The manager must be one who has a cohesive plan for the club to take it forward. The manager must be have good technical ability and experience at the top level. If we play stop gap relegation avoiding tactics the players will leave. We need to make this a positive move forward.

Oh, one further point. If thompson does become a central midfielder and Emerton never improves his woeful form I would like to see Gallagher given a shot on the right wing. He can beat a player, something Brett cannot, and provide a decent cross. Its worth a shot. Apparently Boothroyd can play there too.

Well, after a long lay off im back to add my two cents. I cannot believe we did not sign a midfield partner for Ferguson, but on the whole the aquisitions of MGP and Boothroyd are good. How I would like to see us lineup on Saturday: While Barry is arguably wasted in the holding role we now appear to have little choice but to play him there. Tugay needs more space than he will get at Newcastle and Douglas is an appalling passer of the ball. Matteo is required in defence. If Thompson is injured (is he fit?) then Tugay can be drafted in reluctantly or even De Pedro, providing he has improved his condition, could be given a central playmaking role. One thing seems likely, our success this season may well depend upon Ferguson becoming more tenacious in the tackle as it appears he will be left to fight this front virtually single handed. I dont think we will win this one: 2-1 Newcastle.

As far as I can see there are really only two options for the team: The first option is infinately preferable as much as would like to see Emerton actually try to be a full back (what the hell was he doing on saturday)? I also have to register my disgust that Souness puts Gresko in midfield after spending a whole bloody season last year playing just about every other guy apart from him there. Lunacy. We need a central midfielder desperately and I fear our Grame might of lost the plot. Nonetheless. 2-1 Rovers.

Well, if we are playing "what I wish the starting team was irrespective of what Souness will actually pick"I would plump for: If Yorke is putting his back into it he might represent a better bet than Gallagher due to his experience, but Gallaghers movement is very important for a formation like this to work. I would rather see someone like Carrick come in and take Matteo's spot. Emerton and Gray would flourish on the overlap, allowed freedom by Matteo's deep role.

Dead set starters for West Brom, if fit (I dont see how anyone can really argue with this, its not my personal opinion, but who Souness will certainly chose): Friedel, Amoruso, Matteo, Gray, Niell (if the Finnan stuff is not true) Ferguson, De Pedro, Emerton, Stead, Dickov (although Yorke appears to be making a bizarre late run). That is ten out of the eleven. There are two alternatives for the final member of the team: 1-Matteo is played in midfield and either Short or Johansson are brought in at the back (as Moore is in Greece). 2- Matteo is played in defence and one out of Thompson or, far more likely, Tugay partners Ferguson in midfield. The only thing that is going to upset this is injuries, the signing of a good central midfielder (please!) or a striker who has the pedigree to displace Dickov/Yorke (Our interest in Tellec makes this unlikely).

All you Sven haters should be careful what you wish for. I would hazard that most of you are not frigid presbytarian types who actually care about who Eriksson sleeps with. Rather you are frustrated at his negative, boring tactics and upset that he didnt deliver the european championship on a platter (we were on paper not any better than fourth favourites, and thats stretching it, give him a break). The most likely alternative is Steven 'boring boring 451 boring never attack whats a winger we might try and hit you on the break' McClaren. Eriksson diamon could suddenly appear the epitomy of flair football. Think before you jump.....

Seems to confirm that Jansen and Yorke have swapped in the pecking order. I would say that in this season at least two youngsters need to be given a chance in the first team, carling cup at the least- even if it is as subtitues. The academy is our greatest asset and we need to show confidence in our best produce even if it is only to create fees for these players to transfer to lower league clubs. He cant play any worse than Reid, tugay (in a few of his games) and Douglas.

The sad fact of the matter is they print it because people read it. The editors dont give a hoot about these celebs, they just know it sells newspapers. Sacking England managers does seem slightly different though, the press like feeling they have an effect on a sport they slavishly follow. Also a sacking story, you gessed it, sells more newspapers.

Souness prefers two holding central midfielders - like Arsenal play (Edu and Vieira), so as that the team is less susceptible to counter-attacks. It's worked quite well if you think how Arsenal have struggled against us and they are one of the best counter-attacking teams in Europe. So I doubt that Ferguson will be playing a box-to-box, all action role. But I agree that the Thommo-Fergie midfield partnership does appear defensively weak and certainly struggles in the height department. Well, as I said in my post above, I do see the similarities between the style of players we have and Arsenal's and I dont deny we like to play with two players who can tackle in the middle (Tugay is an exception). However, Viera is a box to box midfielder in that he gets to the edge of the area and scores goals. Gilberto Silver does that too, they share the responsibility. The two seperate threads are getting a bit confused, but if we did have Carrick and Ferguson then they would operate in a similar manner. One dropping back and one moving toward the box. If you watch Arsenal Gilberto and VIera do not BOTH sit on the halfway line, one always goes forward when they have the ball..

Well the big problem is more that Thompson will drift too far forward and Barry will be left isolated. He also isnt a flitcroft or a Nicky Butt type of tackler either (although I suppose he is better than Tugay in a challenge) so he needs to be helped out like Tugay would of been. Sure Barry, is good at long passes and neat on the ball but he is not in Tugay's class (when the turk was in his pomp) in that respect. The fact of the matter is that a Thompson Ferguson combination denies both of them some of their best attributes. Thommo oppertunities at running at the defence are limited (plus I have major questions about how well he could distribute the ball from the middle, he seems more 'head down' than 'head up') and Ferguson has to shoulder huge responsibilities as a work horse. Ferguson has the potential to be nearly as good as Gerrard in the box to box stakes, why limit him?

Then again you wanted Sturrock, and he's not exactly burning up the Prem. Yeah, I was wondering actually what you thought of Southampton's purchase of Mr Crouch. They already had several good strikers yet he went out and bought a guy whos main asset is his height lacking the technique of othe stretch armstrongs such as Stead. Sturrock seems to be intent on turning Southampton into a team of work horses that makes Rovers look like Brazil. Our Greame does value a bit of skill (Tugay, Stead, Cole, Yorke, Gallagher, De Pedro, Ferguson) he just wants commitment wih it. Tactical naieveity is your bludgeon for Souness but Sturrock does not seem to be particularly well equippe in that department either.

He is as narrow as a thin man on slim fast. He has a bag of tricks and a wicked cross and an excellent range of passing but he just dosnt like going to the corner flag, I guess that is just a result of a lack of pace. If he is going to play as a winger he will need to go to the touchline before he receives the ball which causes all kinds problems in balanceing the left hand side. He played narrow for Spain and for Sociedad. Sort of similar to a left sided Beckham in that respect.

A bit like Ljungberg then? Works hard etc but isn't a traditional wide midfielder. I would say that we might have a bit of a problem here- De Pedro, Thompson and certainly Emerton (if he is in the midfield, as a full back I think he can overlap better) will all play narrow this season. Not neccesarily a bad thing, Arsenal play that way with Pires and Ljungberg. On the other hand Arsenal make up the space on the flanks by the full backs bombing up the picth and a striker (in their case Henry) pulling wide. Actually I do not see why we cannot adopt that ourselves. Im not saying we are can do it as well as Arsenal, but we have the personnel to make a decent crack of it: Gallagher has a stunning range of movement up front, if you watch him during a game he runs the channels better than any player I have seen in the Prem bar the master Henry. He gets right to the touch line on both sides. Stead leads the line and holds the ball up for the attacking triumvate of Ferguson, De Pedro and Thompson with the option to lay it wide to Gallagher. None of three midfielders are actually expected to get to the touch line instead trying to make runs through the middle, slide passes for the strikers to chase or whip in crosses. Additional width is provided by the fullbacks, Gray and Emerton, one of whom starts a run as the strikers are holding the ball. The full back on the opposite side of the pitch to Gallagher should make the run. Both (IMHO) have a decent cross and enough about them to seriously worry the opposing wide players about doubling up. Matteo acts as a defensive shield to compensate for the gallavanting of a fullback and allow Ferguson to get forward. I would rather see someone like Carrick, but you cant win them all. I would like to cliam ownership of this one but I think Wenger has it copyrighted. We do have the players to make a decent crack of it though, better than perhaps any other style of play. It would work. The beauty of it is that if we want to close the game down it is a very tight formation if we sit back. The fact of the matter is none of our wide midfielders actually play wide so if we want width it will have to come from the strikers and the fullbacks.

Three interesting points from that article: 1. The obvious Yorke situation. If he does decide to work for us that can only be a good thing. He had a better season than Cole in 02/03 but was terrible last season- could well profit from having Stead willing to pull defenders apart. Also is perhaps at his best playing just behind the strikers in a 4312. On the other hand a renaissance could be short lived. It is a huge thing to remotivate yourself and quite often the momentum peters out. Still, if we cant shift him it is to everybodies benefit to give him another shot. 2. Matteo in the midfeild. Souness is obviously thinking about this for WBA, and from what the article said he looked decent. I personally am not particularly keen, I think we shoulld try and sign a young CM- Carrick would be ideal. Question marks hang over his ability to hold the midfield together but he can do that effectively as Dom. Fee would be in the 3 mill range- a lot of cash we have not got I hear you cry but he is young and even if he bombed we should be able to recoup 1.5 mill. If we really have to I suppose Matteo could play there but he is a CD primarily and I cannot see him being an improvement on what we have- which begs the question: 3. What happend to Flitcroft? No mention by anybody recently. Abducted by aliens? Injured? I would like to see him go to finance a move for someone like Carrick but surely if we still have him he should be in the squad. Bizzare....

its on rovers world, but its nearly over anyway...

RadioRovers Yorke starting the game, a bloody shame... (almost score when I was typing, get him off... ) Another thing to worry about, Matteo is playing centre midfield..oh dear oh dear... I am getting a bit concerned by this Matteo in the middle stuff. Yorke is obviously not really looking likely to start in the first team, but the rest of the side do (De Pedro apart obviously). If Thompson was really going to be the partner for Ferguson would he not of featured today rather than yesterday. Hmmmm..... SOuney must be at least thinking of playing Matteo there. Dont do it!

Despite being a wussy pro europe liberal I woudl love to see an Englishman in charge., However Sven has done a decent job, easily comparable to any manager since 66. Fair enough we do not play like Brazil and certainly do not use our full potential but who the else can we put in? Curbishley would get my vote at knifepoint, but if you think it is a certainty that he will be an improvement on Eriksson your deluding yourselves. International tournaments last a tthe most seven games so to win it you need a good slice of luck as well as good management. If Rooney had stayed on the pitch we COULD HAVE (like you could have paid more attention in school) won and in terms of quality players on the pitch Portugal at least matched us. Scolari won the fing world cup so he is obviously competant. Its a game, england do not have a divine right to win everything. If we get knocked out it is not always down to poor management. We cannot just keep on sacking people and while I would like to see someone come in and introduced a confident ttacking system to the side who is actually a dead cert to provide that and not look like a fool like Keegan? Weger is, yet again, the only name in the hat and it dosnt look like he is a real possibility.

Like everything you can sit and accuse big money paymasters pulling strings and devouring the things that we love. The situation with high street shops and the all powerful super markets is exactly the same. But is it really such a huge jump in the imagination to realise that those paymasters are not Sky or Tesco's but us, the public at large. If you want these things to remain as they are (or tiurn into something even better) the people you need to convince are the people themselves.

Actually I would say for a certain type of player I would say Souness is a very attractive type of manager to work with. Those types of player who share the same kind of outlook, grafters like Niell and DIckov fit into that category but so do talented players who put an emphasis hardwork and dedication- such as Ferguson, Thomson, Duff, Friedel and Matteo. Having the softly, softly ego massaging technique is good for the Dunn's, Yorke's but it is a fine balancing act because they can end up holding you to randsom. Ask Keegan about that. The only manager I can think of in the Prem who has a good allround record is the supreme Wenger- even RFW dosnt suffer 'babies' galdly like our Graeme although to be fair he doe seem to have the talent of making stroppy characters bend to his will- although that might be due to the fact he runs the biggest club in world. It is a bot harder oto walk away from. The principle problem for me is that Souness has signed players he must of known there would be problems with (Yorke, Cole, Grabbi), although he seems to of stopped that now. ps. Thinking about it I wonder whether Donnelly's lack of head way might be because of a wrong 'attitude' in Souness' eyes. That would be a shame if it is true. pps. To look at it slightly differently a big question for everybody- who has left Ewood and improved themselves in the Souness era? Duff is the only answer I can come up with and we got loads of cash.