joey_big_nose

The guys on rovers world said that while Pedersen was carrying a knock his absence is more of a case of Hughes wishinng to rest MGP, rather than the injury making it impossible for him to play.

I would say there is absolutely no indication that Hughes is looking to sell Pedersen, or indeed any club is really looking to buy him. Pedersen has been below par since the Man U game so Sparky is giving him a rest and showing him that his place is not assured in the side.

Kuqi is becoming a legend! If Bellamy is fit enough it will be interesting to see what he can do on the break as Borough come forward.

Good to see Peter and Bellamy on the bench. No Jansen, has to be the end of the road for him. Come on Thommo, make an impression! I will stick with my 2-2 prediction.

Unless Bellamy is fit to start, which I doubt, I reckon there are two possible combinations for midfield: Emerton Tugay Savage Thompson or, Peter Tugay Savage Emerton/Thompson Either way it looks like Peter is going to get a shot either starting or as a sub. Lets hope he grabs the chance. Of course I might be totally wrong.... Our paucity of strikers means that Bentley will certainly start with Kuqi up front. If Bellamy doesn't even make the bench then pehaps Johnson will get to warm it. Edit- Just remebered that we have Reid as well. So Peter could actually quite easily not feature. Well, I would still like to see him given a shot.

I am with the Drog on this one. We simply do not have the attendance base to last in the top division over the next decade. On the other hand I cannot see a merger happenin because the supporters will not stand for it. Plus I am not sure it has ever been done before within the league so there would be no exisiting framework for it to happen. Eventually we will drop out of the top league only to enjoy periods in the premiership when we are blessed with a particulalry good manager or a number of good young players coming through the ranks. I for one am not particularly horrified by that prospect, it is all part of supporting a relatively small club in terms of fans. Nonetheless the work of the club, BRISA and the like to get more fans through the turnstiles is absolutley laudable and long may it continue! Also with Hughes at the helm and the continued support of the Walker trust means we are not in a crisis and won't be in one for a while. But I don't think anyones should kid themselves that one day we will cease to be financially competitive with the likes of Charlton, Birmingham CIty (I know, I said it...), Everton, Villa etc.

No Neill or Dickov plus the uncertainty over Bellers puts us in a bit of posish. Maybe a 2-2 draw?

I think that would be something Stoke would find very satisfactory. Maybe let them have a look at Peter, Taylor, Nolan et al too. It would be good to get a consistent partner for loans in the lower divisions.

Emerton runs quickly but dribbles slowly. Why? Haven't got a scooby.

Well, if he continues scoring and we still look weak up front come January then we pretty much have to have him back. The leagues are worlds apart in terms of standard, but a scorer is a scorer. Bellamy and Gallagher could work, although a little lightweight, but then Bentley is hardly a beast himself.

Gallagher got MOM in 'The Oatcake' review of the Leicester game (finely written articles I have to say). Very encouraging! Comments here say that he is looking to come home back and that Rovers have been in touch telling him he has done well. Even more impressive are the fan commentshere "This guy was bloody superb again tonight IMHO. He ran his heart out for the team. He covered as much ground as Ade Akinbiyi did for us but the main differance being that just about everything Gallagher did was just pure quality . What a bloody shame we cant afford to keep him permo though" "How the hell does Paul Dickov get in ahead of him, Gallagher is a hell of a lot better!" "He's too good for this division." "Class player and definitely deserves a song or two" Maybe someone should drop them an e-mail about the agadoo chant..... A new year return?

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.