This has to be, on paper, our hardest game in a while, at least since Spurs. Away from home against a side that are playing well. Conversely we have not been up to our high standards... I think this will be a draw. 1-1. The team should be the same apart from Pongolle starting, and maybe Tugay coming on for Bentley with Reid out wide. If we win we are back on track, but the odds are stacked against us.

Well for all of those who are giving Kuqi stick, in the portion of the match I saw he was the only one giving their defence problems. If he hadn't been there for the highball we had no other alternative. If a team is prepared to sit very deep and work extraordinarily hard in midfield we have no other way of hurting them, even with a strker of Bellamy's quality. Sure Kuqi is not good enough and we should be looking for an alternative in the summer, but he has his uses and is certainly not "disgustingly awful' or whatever else is being bandied around.

Because of work I only got to see the last half hour.. I reckon Hughes got it right with bringing Kuqi on instead of pong, they were defending so deep that there would of been no space for for the Frenchman. And, of course, Kuqi got the goal and wo a shedload in the air (woeful on the deck though). I was amazed at how hard Wigan worked, they managed to outstrip us in that department. Hughes will be fuming. We are still on an incredible run, but people should remember that there is absolutely no chance that we will win every game. Pompey away is suddenly looking very difficult.

Well at least you're honest about it!

Hmmm...... Is Bentley playing right or in the centre in this? I guess out right after his poor performance against Villa. Anyone know?

I am currently a smoker giving up and I can see that passive smoking is damaging to the health of others as well as being unpleasent. I don't think it is an erosion of liberties to be denied the right to damage someone elses health. I cannot see how it is possible for smokers to claim the moral high ground on this. Theoretically the only way you could make it work is if you had pubs run by smokers, staffed by smokers and frequented by smokers. Eddy made a good point in that in Britain those who take bar jobs rarely have the option of picking and choosing their place of work. If it is fairly and universally applied then there are only benefits. Smokers can take it outside and you will see less and less people smoking as it becomes drastically easier to quit. People will live longer, the health service will have resources freed up. The Tax revenue raised from cigarettes will have to be found from elsewhere, but former smokers will still save vast amounts of cash over a year.

He was left out due to a tactical switch against QPR. He was back in for the game against Sheff Utd today. Quotes from The Oatcake QPR match report: "SUB: Gallagher 8 The touch of class that tipped the game in Stoke's favour. " "The oh-so impressive Gallagher tried to make the game safe with a 20-yard shot of his own but Jones got down to make the diving save and then the home side launched one last onslaught on the Stoke goal in a desperate attempt to rescue something from their night's work." Comments from the game against UTD: "agree, gally got stuck in and was that touch of class we need for the future" "however i think Gally could do better than what he produced today. Best game for a while. typical show pony to me no balls" Opinion is very divided, but the guys who write the match reports rate him highly.

Of course, Reid has been outstanding! Still I don't think we should go into next season with a Reid/Savage midfield. Both excellent players at what they do but too similar. It wouldn't be bad, but it would not be as good as it could be.

Thats wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy over the top. We have won a more than respectable amount of games witout him even being on the pitch (including two wins over Man Utd!)!!!!! Undoubtably our most talented player, but the work of the likes of Niell, Nelsen, Savage and Pedersen should not be underated! Todd, Gray and Tugay have had good seasons too. Without Bellamy we would have finished around mid table, Craig allows us to consistently win games to put us in the top six.

These are my two favourite lines. Very funny bob!

I'm not sure I get that to be honest. This season his positional sense has seemed decent to me, certainly not any worse than that of the other RBs in the Prem. I do recognise what your saying about Sparky liking him. I would guess if Hughes moved tomorrow (Heaven Forbid!) the players he would be looking to take with him would be Nelsen, Niell, Savage and Bellamy.

I thought around a month ago when he was coming back from injury and playing well that "Hughes might just fancy a gamble on Dunn". When he broke down again that ended those thoughts. Sparky is too shrewd to take the massive risk.

Well I would take Emre, Solano, Owen and whats-his-name-the-left-winger (not! Luque) off them too, to be honest. Personally I am not a big Bowyer fan. If Newcastle United sort out their defence they will have far more of an impact next season than Charlton will IMHO.

The way I understand it Multiplex are liable for all additional costs pertaining to delays and so forth. The only way the FA could get screwed is if Multiplex go under themselves.

I am completely with FLB. Football, especially at a level where the board the manager and the players all earn millions, is not a charity. I would leap at the possibility of buying a season ticket which let me see all the games delayed, even at a fiver a game (£ 160 a season!). I would pay more to have the program. The possibility is there to be exploited.

It is true that Newcastle have better players than us generally and more potential to really challnege for the league as hey have a lot more cash. But the saving grace is Hughes will be aiming a little higher than that. Realistically I think only United or Chelsea or a big foreign club would drag him away from Ewood. That said, if things stagnated here then we would quickly find ourselves in a position where offers fro the likes of Spurs or Newcastle could be attractive. I think we are safe for now.

Thats it for me, I had entertained ideas of Dunn's return to Ewood as he was apparently coming back into it since some major surgery. Clearly no corner has been turned, there seems to be absolutely no point in persuing him in the summer. It is a shame because there is a real dearth of quality creative players.

Um, of course not. The point is Huddersfield are trying to sign him! Just sad that Jon is such a poor finisher, he could be quite a neat player on his day. I remember thinking after that 1-0 victory against United when Steady scored, "Gally and him are going to set us up for years". Hasn't come to pass unfortunately. Both infinitely more talented in a technical sense than the likes of Dickov and Kuqi, but sadly far less effective.

You tell 'em Jansen! Thats the funniest post I have read in a while With Tugay out it looks like Hughes will have two real choices: Personally I would for number one despite Bentley's poor show last week. Nobody is perfect and even the Turk magician has had a few stinkers. At least we can be safe in the knowledge that if we are getting overrun we can just switch around Reid and David. The number two midfield looks so barren of creativity it is untrue!

When i started reading that I thought it was going to be all 'whippets and hovis' again, but it actually made a few decent points. The central point is "do we have the squad to play 8 or more games in the CL and still have decent domestic form"? Realistically the answer to that is absoulutely not! Why? Because we only look like a European side when bellamy plays and he isn't even up to a standard 38 game season as it is. We would need another Bellamy, I think. And a right winger who can actually do some damage.

Christ Rev, get a grip. We were shafted thoroughly. If we had declined to have the game changed we would never of heard the end of it, even from a section of our own fans who would of seen the act as insensitive. The press would have had an absolute field day. The one thing that should be raised with Liverpool is the idea of putting together a small compensation fund for those out of pocket for travel who can prove it with reciepts. And that should be the end of it. Liverpool are guilty of messing about and also of wollowing a little too long in their own grief, but realistically there was no way Rovers could have come out of this smelling good.

I have nearly finished my time in the US but I would have happily put 50-100 pound into Rovers at the start of the season if I knew I would have got to see all the games in their entririty delayed. I paid the 20 for Rovers World as it is. My personal position is that I do feel the club gives me a lot, but as Four Lane says it doesn't really go into the area of being a charitable cause!

I think most people when they are in their 20s and just out of university are going to move to a major city. Thats where the jobs are, thats where the action is. I am not sure you can blame schools for that.

I think he is speaking Parodian!

At the risk of making this start to spill out of the area of tickets per se... In the long run this trend will continue, irresepective of governing party, unless East Lancs can somehow attract long term investment. I personally can't see how it can. Naturally (comparatively) high wages for UK citizens price us out of the international manufacturing trade, East Lancs is placed poorly for tertiary service industries and far from international banking centres. There is not much in the way of tourism, academics or primary resources either. Its a problem that affect much of the rural/small town north of England, Wales and Scotland. It seems to be global economic trends are shafting these areas more than the government. Short of major leftist reforms to redistribute wealth from the south to the north, which have their own draw backs, I am not sure how much any party can do. All very sad.