The ranks of academy players on the fringes of the first team seem to have swelled. McEverley, Gallagher, Taylor, Johnson, Peter and now Nolan all have squad numbers. I would love to see even just one nail down a place.

We could move to Hampstead Heath I suppose. Or maybe Singapore. Any number of options available to our lazy good for nothing directors.

Crikey, they are planning to build a 40,000 all seater stadium. Picking up the Wimbledon slack? If they pull that off and can fill it it would move them into the Villa/Everton/Spurs bracket. I always thought they had similar levels of support to us. Shows how wrong you can be...

It just occured to me that the current England defence is also much better than the 1990 one. Two out of Rio, Sol and Terry (although as Ferdinand has been terrible recently it has to be Campbell and that @#/? Terry), with Neville and Cole as the full backs. The 1990 lineup was Butcher, Walker, Pierce, Parker. Not bad, Pierce particularly was a quality player, but I would take the current lot to be honest.

I am going to go for an exciting 2-2. People can hardly complain about Rovers games being poor entertainment at the moment. My guess for the team (and I have been getting them regularly wrong at the moment. Thought Gray should of been dropped last week but he was one of our best players. Hey ho.) Subs: Enckleman, Matteo, Reid, Emerton, Jansen/Bentley Actually I think Hughes might persist with Bentley up front. He seems to have a soft spot for the guy. It is nice to have selection problems in midfield as all of Savage, Thompson, Emerton and Reid play decently there. It would be nice to see one or two of them excel though.

I am not sure what your point is. Gazza and Lineker were exceptional players but no better than Rooney and Owen. Waddle is a personal favourite of mine but he was not operating at the standard of Gerrard or Lampard are at the moment. How can you say Owen is not a world class finisher? 35 goals in 75 appearences is just under a goal every other game. Lineker's record was 48 in 80 so he has a slightly better return, but I don't think that precludes Owen from being considered world class. The winger problem is an issue but we can get over it if we adapt our style of play. Arsenal played extremely well (still do to an extent) without wingers as did the French team that won 1998. It can be done. Oh, and don't forget that when we went into 1990 everybody thought we were going to be crap. RObson for the sack and all that. Sound familiar? I do recognise that in all probability things will go wrong, but we DO have the players unlike we have the last two times round. It would be criminal not to have certain expectations.

I would say you could put the Germans in there too, as they have home advantage. I did not say England were better than those other teams, just that the only team with more quality is Brazil. Ultimately the teams that go the furthest will be the ones who get the most out of their players, Sven needs to do that. Quarters are a minimum because that is the last eight and we are certainly not the ninth best team in the tounament. We have to look to the final becuase we are certainly good enough to get there. Aim high! This is a better England side than the one that got to the semis of 1990, indeed it is, in terms of individal talent, the best I have ever seen.

For me England's chances hinge on getting the system sorted by the world cup, so the friendlies are absolutely vital. We posess six players who can cause real attacking damage- (In descending order of importance IMHO) Rooney, Gerrard, Owen, Lampard, Beckham, Ashley Cole. Joe Cole is playing well too but I will be suprised if he starts if all the others are fit. The issues are: 1. Finding the workhorse who can get the best out of these players by sitting infront of the defence and letting them get forward. The choice seem to be between Carrick and King, but don't bet against Parker making a late run. 2. Finding the right combination- essentially how the three attacking midfielders (Gerrard, Lampard, Beckham) spread themselves across the field and how they interact with each other so we are not left exposed on the counter attack. If we can arrange it so we get the best out of them going forward we have a real chance. 3. Instigating the best playing style- Owen is problamatic because he is primarily a finisher and does not get too involved in build up play. Plus we have no 'winger' (although SWP does provide this possibility from the bench) as such and our forwards lack height. Passing the ball well on the ground, exceptionally quick and intelligent movement and looking for the through ball to Owen are all crucial. If Rooney is going to come deep as he often does then Gerrard or Lampard need to go beyond him regularly to provide more options. Fortunately they are both good at this. 4. Getting Ashley Cole more involved. He is a world class player and is consistently devastating for Arsenal. If he can take this across to the international game he will give us width and a whole new dimension. The question is covering his runs so we are not exposed on the counter. We have the players, it is getting the system RIGHT! Come on Sven.... I reckon quaters are an absolute minimum. Semis would be acceptable but really we should be looking to the final. Brazil are the only team with (albeit substantially) better quality than us.

What a suprisingly nice thing to do! Wish there was more of that in football. Or just about anything actually.

He is on the BBC squad list. My guess for the team:

I agree with this. It would give us a choice between Kuqi, Dickov, Jansen, Jemel, Bentley and Gallagher. Between all of those there has to be a decent combination. I would personally give Kuqi and Gallagher a shot. The big man could give Gally some space and there is nothing to suggest that Bentley is more effective. The more likely combination remains Kuqi and Dickov. This is the worst thing that could have happend to us in terms of injuries.

The way we play at the moment Dunn could fit in on either flank or in the centre or as a supporting striker. Indeed he would be pretty much the ideal player for Rovers. Irrespective of the 'home town boy' stuff there are few attacking midfielders of his quality that we could afford. Not sure that he will be 'the new tugay' though. He always wants to be in the last third unlike Toogs, and why not? That's where he causes the damage afterall! He is coming up for a contract renewal soon so that will tell us whether he sees his future with Brum. To be fair the big club have been good to him - supported him through injury and Bruce always speaks of him highly. It would be a bit cheeky if he just buggered off. That said I am all for it if he ends up here (and he is fit)!

Okey doke. I haven't actually seen the hand ball, just the goals. I was under the impression from what everybody said that it was almost certainly not deliberate.

I am getting the PC version of this over christmas. How many people have the pc Pro Evo 5? Would anybody be up for a premiership league set up on this message board? We would need 20 players..... I would need to test that I do not lag too much too as I am all the way over in the states.

Well it does sound a little stupid but with amount of neutral support for todd's case (pundits and even some of the opposition fans thought it certainly wasn't a sending off) it seems bizarre we are not appealing it. The only reason I can think of is that Hughes is not that worried about it, and when you drop your captain it can be useful to do it indirectly as it would otherwise seem like an undermining of authority. Just a suggestion.

Shocked about this. Hughes seemed so adament against it as well! Maybe just a diplomatic way of dropping Todd?

I am ususally one of the more positive posters on here but I am feeling nervous about this. The loss against Everton will of sapped some of the confidence of the side and also we now look more than a little unsure about our best line up. After the recent spate of goals against I think Hughes may cosolidate the side a little. If we lose this suddenly our run against the weaker teams looks like it could be wasted. My prediction of who Sparky will go for: After three below average performances and with Matteo coming back I think Gray will, unfortunately, lose his place. This will affect our attacking play somewhat but many of the goals against have come from the left. We need a stiker and another midfielder but it would be such a advantage to have a left back who can get forward while also providing bite and strength in defense. A neill for the left hand side if you like. Sparky seems reticent about starting Kuqi but I think it needs to be done. As Rover6 said we need that long ball get out option and he stirs things up in a way that bentley cannot. I did not see the game on Sat where Thommo was supposed to be atrocious but still I would be suprised if he still does not start ahead of Emerton. After one lacklustre performance sans lily I think Savage will return. With Reid and Bentley likely to be on the bench it could be a possibility that Emo does not even make the sixteen.

Yes there is a general increase in the tax burden, I agree with that and see your point although personally I am in favour of an increase in taxes provided services improve and social issues (wealth gap, literacy) etc. are tackled effectively with it. I think we may misuderstand each other. I thought you were making a general statement on the role of government generally, and now see you a referring to the Labour government specifically. I wouldn't agree it is 'robbing the country' exactly but funds don't seem to be used that wisely ot has to be said. What I was getting at, even if it was proffered erroneously, was that there is an ongoing problem of an increasing amount of people who criticise vehemently without being inclined to get involved in the process of creating solutions. It is very easy to knock things down but much harder to build them up. One of the saddest things in life for me is the constant unabated negativity. It feels like we are increasingly living in a depressed, self pitying and arrogant country while we have a life style unsurpassed in human history. It seems as if we are slowly damming ourselves with laziness and self importance. Sorry for being a bit cranky.

Exactly the chaps. Big guys but nice if you tickle them under the chin. Look you in the eye when you have a fight, none of this fancy martial arts that the small mammals are into these days.

All the fourth round goals are here What an absolute corker from Thompson! And Bentley took his well too.

Who ever knew that squirrals were such newsworthy animals? Bloody pretentious @#/?s. What ever happend to the vole and the friendly otter? Proper animals them.

One of the best articles I have read about football in a long time- informed, wry, balanced. Easily better than a lot of the stuff written by the professionals. I have to say, even if it risks causing a bit of a love in, that on this site the match previews have been of a generally very high (and even more importantly- entertaining) standard. Might have to change all that by doing one myself one day. Lets start an Emerton debate (another one!): I reckon about fifteen of the clubs in the league have better right wingers than him, and I would say that Lazeradis is about as good (I know Lazeradis is a left winger) rather than richer/poorer versions. He can cross well if given space and scores every now and again but that is about it. I am constantly bemused as to why opposition fans rate him as a good player. I would say that only Gray and 'the second striker' are players who generally make less impact. Fully expecting Thommo to start unless he is still not at full fitness.

I can see why you didn't castigate him, he did an excellent job of making himself look a fool without any help! "The single biggest reason that can never happen is because long after football, I have to look at myself in the mirror when I'm shaving, brushing my hair - or what's left of my hair. "I would not argue with anyone who said we were poor, we were bad on the night. That can happen to any team. We were just poor, and that can happen. "At the end of the day, it will be the same when I leave here, the next person in my seat will have to endure the same experiences. But that's the price on the ticket and if you are manager of Newcastle United, you have to learn to live with that. It doesn't sound like he is brimming with ideas....

I would rather a decent left back to be honest. Gray is okay but if we could get someone operating more at Lucas' level that would be great. Even then another striker and central midfielder are bigger priorities. Nakata is a decent shout but I havn't seen much of him. Does he have the work rate for Hughes' tastes?

Then why did Hughes take him off if he was no worse? He wasn't injured and he is obviously highly regarded as a central player by Hughes. To take him off that early suggests that Hughes must not of been that happy with him. Plus (and this is commentary talk but it is all I have...) Reid was supposed to have a good game.