Urgh, why take a huge step backwards to 4-5-1 when we're going along fine with 4-4-2? Honestly, it makes no sense.

Not naming them is strange, I agree, but the whole thing seemed a bit rushed at the end, probably because of Doncaster and Arsenal running into a penalty shoot-out. The theory on the allocations seems to be: Tuesday's games: 1. Man Utd 2. Wigan Wednesday's games: 3. Arsenal 4. Rovers Either us or Wigan would complain if they had suspicions that the draw was fixed, but I am 99% certain that we would have known our number before they did the draw, they just forgot to tell the viewers because of the over-running schedule.

The only way I can see how the numbers were drawn so far... The first two were allocated last night in alphabetical order, then numbers 3 and 4 were allocated in the same manner.

There was a 1 in 3 chance that Man Utd would draw Arsenal. In other words, probability suggested they would avoid each other. Still...don't let statistics get in the way of another 'everyone hates Rovers/little clubs' feeling sorry for ourselves type discussion.

Chelsea make that formation work because they have attacking players like Robben/Cole/Duff/Lampard/Drogba who can win games on their own, we simply don't have the firepower to sacrifice an attacking player if we wish to be a half-entertaining side.

Why on earth would you want that? We're 12th in the table, there's no way we'd be higher than that with a defensive 4-5-1 formation that we played in the past. The back four has been changed so often in recent weeks that it's no suprise we conceding goals. Once we get the back four settled again we'll stop conceding as many, a return to a 4-5-1 with Mokoena in midfield would be a gigantic step backwards...thankfully, it's not one I think Sparky will choose to do. He knows we can play attractive football and be a solid defensive unit, I'd be utterly distraught if we went back to how we used to play.

What on earth are you rambling on about? Bentley and Dickov are playing upfront. My maths isn't what it used to be, but I'm still quite sure that means we have two strikers playing.

The first choice midfield for a while was: Bentley Savage Tugay Pedersen Three of those still are first choice, Reid and Mokoena have never been first choice, apart from when Reid took Savage's place for one game.

Oh come on, if that had been given against us there would have been a barrage of the usual "everyone hates Rovers" messages/threads. It was a soft penalty, but we've had bad luck this season (Zura against Liverpool) so we deserved a break. I'd certainly be annoyed if I was a West Ham fan though, and so would you. No-one would concede that as a stone-wall penalty had it been given against us.

What? Savage was NOT in the right. If you lunge at the ball like he did then you have to take charge of the situation and clear the ball, you can't make it look like you're putting in every effort to stretch for the ball then pull away at the last second. It's a basic rule of defending.

Not taking away anything from the win here, we deserved it, but let's be honest about today... Generous refereeing and super-sub Christian Dailly were the reason we scored 3 goals. Dickov's second was a nice finish and Kuqi deserved his for persistence alone, but if we're to unlock defences on a regular basis we simply NEED Bellamy back as soon as possible.

Agreed, I thought he was very good today. For some reason he's become the popular player to knock, so no matter what he does at the moment people are going to complain. Kuqi is a useful weapon to have coming from the bench, I still don't think he should be starting games though, he certainly seems more effective coming from the sidelines and disrupting the opposition defence. Has anyone mentioned the 'fight' between Savage and Friedel yet? I wish Friedel had lamped him one. Actually, I don't, simply because Friedel would get into serious trouble, but I wish someone would give the Welsh fairy a good whack. Whatever went wrong with the communication, the simple fact is Savage had to deal with that ball once he'd made the decision to lunge at it, it's a basic rule of defending. Also...he did his best to put us down to 10 men for the second game in a row, he's just lucky his goalkeeping skills aren't up to much or it would have been 2-2 and we'd have been a player short. Savage aside, I'm extremely happy with the way the team is going at the moment. I don't really care that the defence has gone to pieces, we're exciting to watch and we're still picking enough points to be hovering close enough to European places to be considered serious challengers. There's no way we would have come back and won had this match been played pre-Old Trafford...hopefully Hughes will stick with whatever is making us great entertainment at the moment.

I haven't used it myself but this guide was on the website I got the links from: They were supposed to be pictures instead of links but I'm being told I've put more pictures in than I'm allowed, this board can't be as friendly as the one I stole it from...so apologies for that. Edit: If it's still not working I'll see if I can upload my one later.

That still doesn't make it a 4-5-1 though, he plays similar to Sheringham and Bergkamp. I don't think anyone's ever accused their teams of playing 4-5-1 when they've been included.

This should be it: http://files.filefront.com/PC_PES5_Shop_Un...;/fileinfo.html If that turns out to be the x-port version then use this little convetor thingy to change it to maxdrive: http://forum.pesinsight.com/attachment.php...40&d=1096761916

What do you mean 'another'? It wasn't 4-5-1 last week, and it isn't this week. Bentley is a striker, not a wide midfielder, which is why he's looked pretty rubbish for the majority of our games.

It's definitely worth a try, if we have Kuqi/Dickov alongside him to rough up the opposition defence then he could do a decent job filling in for Bellamy. The only chance Jansen has had was a lone-striker role against Bolton...even Bellamy looked isolated on his own. Come on Sparky...give him a decent run whilst whilst Bellamy is out, you know it makes sense. Edit: Just a quick thought...will this make us step up any potential efforts to sign McCarthy or someone of that quality? I hope so.

I can't understand all the negativity surrounding this game at all, especially those saying that Hughes is to blame for the tactics...they're basically the same tactics we've had since the Man Utd game, just a slight change in personnel. Kuqi has proven himself far more useful coming from the bench, he's not actually any good really...he just frightens defenders a little and makes them uncomfortable. So, the bench was the right place for him. Dickov was unavailable (I presume?) and everyone believes Jansen is finished...so how was playing Bentley up-front (his natural position by the way, he's not a wide midfielder and never will be) with Bellamy a tactical error? Whatever the case, it certainly wasn't 4-5-1, we just had a deeper-lying striker in the mould of Sheringham/Bergkamp rather than a bulldozer or a headless chicken. Hopefully we'll persevere with it, I think Bentley could do wonders linking the midfield to attack and picking out the runs of Bellamy and Pedersen. I must admit I was suprised by the dropping of Savage. He hasn't been in great form, but niether has Reid. I think Reid poses the bigger threat going forward, but Savage will get through more of the donkey work...and that's probably more important when playing alongside Tugay. I'm not going to criticise Hughes for it, the face that he had the balls to drop one of his clear favourites sends out a strong message to the rest of the team, everyone 'should' be on their toes from now on. I'm not sure the hand-ball is as clear-cut as some people are making out, I think Todd could have got his arm out of the way if he'd really wanted to. It was still a little harsh on him, but it's certainly not a definite wrong decision, it's more of a 40/60...we were just slightly unlucky. Still, at least the Zura/Nelsen partnership can resume now, hopefully it will be more permanent this time around. We're still looking like one of the best sides outside the top four at the moment, the fact that we can outplay Everton with 10 men surely supports this, we were also very unlucky against Arsenal last week. We're doing almost everything right, the results will start to pick up again, I'm sure of it. All we need to do is remove the odd individual mistakes that are creeping in, get the back four settled again and get Tugay back up to full fitness. Who knows...maybe even Emerton will find some form...

Eh? Bentley is a striker, not a midfielder, he was just playing there because Emerton had been poor.

? So...because we won and he never played...he's finished? Right...I get it...

He damaged his knee in a challenge leading up to the incident that got Wilnis sent off. They said that he'd tweaked his ligaments, how true that is I don't know.

The man is a grade A cock, I can't stand him. Unfortunately we need him, so he's here to stay.

George's best Soccer Saturday moments. R.I.P.

Why not? Pretty arrogant of you to suggest that because you don't, no-one else should either. That goes for the Eddie Guerrero comment too. No wonder the younger ones on here often get put into the collective group of 'pimple-faced oiks' (or whatever it was). Some people on here make us look like a bunch of ignorant wankpieces sometimes. He's only the greatest player these shores have ever produced. Who gives a toss ey?

I did say that first part, only more eloquently (if I may say so myself). The second part I don't really agree with, I know the body is constantly wanting water...but that doesn't mean it NEEDS water. Having too much is a far greater danger than having too little in this case.