I hope we beat Everton, they're the most unpleasant and negative team in the league, I can't stand them. There isn't one player in that team worth watching. If Pedersen is out then I'd like to see Emerton on the left, he's looked alright when he's had brief appearances there. Hopefully the team will be... Friedel Neill Zurab Nelsen Gray Reid Tugay Savage Emerton Bentley Pongolle

Personally I think it's an absolute certainty that Gally will be going. He and Bentley are almost identical players in terms of position...they're both second strikers who can also operate out wide. I can't see why we'd need two young players of that kind, and there's no doubt whatsoever who the better of the two is. I think it spoke volumes of Hughes' plans for him when he as allowed to stay at Stoke through the injury crisis as well. We'll be wanting as much cash for him, so leaving him at Stoke, where he was earning good reviews, was the best option for both clubs. If we hadn't signed Bentley I'd be disappointed with him going as I think he will turn into a decent Premiership striker. He just won't be as good as our David.

I can't work out whether that's suggesting a 4-5-1 formation or Mokoena in a 4-4-2... ...either is utter madness, especially 4-5-1, which would completely destroy the excellent work Hughes has done over the past 6 or so months.

What on earth are you going on about? I'm sure he's just as frustrated as the rest of us that he can't get on the pitch. 'he needs to sort them out' What exactly do you suggest he does?

That shirt makes baby Jesus cry.

Superb preview, I hope this hasn't slipped out of my memory when the Grooby's come around. I can't see us getting anything from this game, we must be feeling low at the moment after being knocked out of both cup comeptitions with a week. Also, Man Utd seem to have luckily stumbled across something that really works at the moment...the performances of Saha as a winger and Richardson as a central midfielder are suprising to say the least.

Why did I get a text back saying "Thanks for your message to Hearts World"? Voted for the second home shirt, can't be bothered doing the away as three will obviously win.

You really think Peter could come in and be one of THE top midfield goalscorers in the league? That's what Pedersen is right now, that's what he has to live up to.

Does anyone else get the feeling that Sir Bobby Robson might be regretting signing a two year deal with the FAI? If ever there was an ideal man to take over on a short term basis (and possibly longer to work alongside Pearce/Jewell) then he would be that man.

At the rate he's going he will get more than 10 goals this season from midfield, do you really think he's a 20 goal a season player up-front? Like I said, when it's been tried with other goal-scoring midfielders (Scholes, Ljungberg, Giggs, Duff...) they haven't hit the back of the net more than when they were in midfield. I see no reason why this should be different for Pedersen given that his speciality seems to be timing his runs from deep. As for the 'goals are goals' thing...no, they're not. All our strikers are scoring at a decent rate this season, even Kuqi will get past the 10 mark if played regularly, it's not like last season where we couldn't get goals from our strikers. I see no reason why Pedersen would score more than Bellamy/Kuqi/Bentley/Dickov (when fit). Put simply, with Pedersen in midfield and two strikers up-front, we have three genuine goal-scoring threats. Put Pedersen up top and Peter/Emerton on the left and we are reduced to a mere two. Not really rocket science is it?

This 'converting' talk is absolutely crazy in my opinion. Countless goal-scoring midfielders have been tried up-front (with some already mentioned in this topic), what they all have in common is none of their strike-rates increased at all. Put Pedersen up-front and we lose 10 or more goals a season from midfield that we simply can not replace without buying someone else. But then if we're doing that, why not just buy a striker in the first place?

Hah...my thinking was slightly blurred last night, in fact everything was a bit blurred, seems my geographical skills went out of the window as well. But the theory holds up for now...

You lot are bloody hilarious. Imagine the uproar if the goal had been the other way round? "F##### southern bias!!!!!!!!!!!! refs hate us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! cheating f##########s !!!!!!!!!!!!!" We deserve our bit of luck, excelent win as well, I just hope it shuts some whining dicks up. Won't mind, but I can live in hope.

Kicking someone in the head whilst he is on the floor is cowardly. I can't be bothered with the rest, I read 'Spain', realised I hadn't said a word about Spain, and decided you were going off on a needless tangent again.

Whilst some of the criticism of Todd in here is over the top, he is certainly not the man you've just described there. You seem to forget that he was shipped out of Charlton and Bolton for scrapping with people at the club (a goalkeeper and an assistant manager if my memory serves me correctly), there's also the Dugarry incident (among others) that are far from what an honest pro would do. In fact, that kick on Dugarry was just cowardly, regardless of what your opinion on Dugarry is. I think he's mellowed as he's grown older, but he's still a dirty piece of work. Thankfully it's just nowhere near as frequent anymore.

Urgh, how on Earth can you make that comparison?

Hmm... either Hughesy has developed a sense of irony or it's just one of his normal posts. I suspect the latter to be honest, but I live in hope. Not sure about this comment: "But thanks to the power of money and its agents, the only reason Walcott ever turned out in a Southampton shirt was to put him in the shop window.". Walcott has done more than enough to justify a regular starting place, especially when you consider who the other options are...don't forget their main strikers from last season departed in the summer.

The UEFA Cup is a lot more profitable now than it was when we were last in it, I can't remember which chairman said it, but whoever it was said that getting into the group stages of the competition now guarantees a minimum of around £5 million. Hughes' attitude towards cup competitions is also far better than Souness', I hope that fact won't go unoticed by the board either. There is also the point that there's £500,000 per place in the Premiership...and with the gap between finishing 6th and finishing 16th being wafer thin then it could be argued that we could reclaim any outlay on a striker purely from the league prize money. I certainly don't think it's a bleak situation as far as transfers go, especially when you throw in the removing of 'dead wood' into the equation.

Are you having a laugh? He has some fancy step-overs and can beat a man...but when does he ever put in a good cross or chip in with a goal? Never. His effectiveness is almost zero, and some of the Man Utd players know it. There's bags of potential there, don't get me wrong, but right at this moment in time Pedersen is streets ahead of Ronaldo in terms of producing things that matter.

I think we all felt the same way. The man is not a footballer in any sense of the word. He's a bloody good athlete, don't get me wrong, but he is a woeful footballer and would get laughed at abroad where technique is of even higher important. He's a decent sub to bring on just to disrupt the defence, but he's never going to be (or rather, never should be) a regular start. Ever.

Quite proud of myself on those two.

Wouldn't you rather they stayed in so there's a chance we could play them?

Um... When has Gallagher ever played as a central midfield playmaker? Tugay is a creative player but he's not positioned in an attacking part of the field. I can't see Gally being very good in a defensive midfield position somehow. Anyway, if he's the next Teddy Sheringham, then how can he replace Tugay? Those two players are nothing alike.

Wow, my hero!

I'd say Wigan's easier semi-final tie and higher position in the league means they're rightfully ahead of us. I think Man Utd will be clear favourites having been knocked out of the Champion's League and seemingly being out of the Premiership title race.