6 hours ago, Yoogo said:

Some games for us to watch out for tonight - in order of priority (in my opinion).

1. West Brom v Preston
2. Huddersfield v Bristol City
3. Cardiff v Forest
4. Luton v Brentford
5. QPR v Derby

Could do with those in bold winning.

Cardiff v Forest might be best ending up as a draw, but if I had to choose a winner - Cardiff - given that we could get back above them with our game in-hand. That almost makes a full-house for wanting each home team to win tonight, which is the simplest way to look at it.

Games for tomorrow....

1. Fulham - Swansea

2. Milwall - Birmingham

3. Middlesbrough - Leeds

We would obviously prefer Boro and Big Club to win.

Thoughts on Fulham - Swansea?

Best is probably a draw, but if not, leaning towards a Fulham win.

3 minutes ago, OldEwoodBlue said:

Good results.

If Tony manages to fuck this up tomorrow he wants shooting.

I know his signings have been very hit and miss, and there have been times when I would have advocated the sack for him.

However, I would say that he has built a team that is greater that the sum of it's parts and a great spirit.

We shouldn't always jump on his back as standard over a poor result, especially in a league as unpredictable as the championship.*

*No doubt I'll be calling for him to go if we lose tomorrow.

Just now, Atko's Engine said:

Not that simple. Luton & Huddersfield, both below Stoke, have just beaten Bristol & Brentford, both above us.

We can take nothing for granted, but we are at home and it is a great opportunity. 

As you mentioned, the difference should be that we are at home.

I say this with hesitation, but with the form and quality of the teams around us, I think it really is getting to the point where we are almost favourites for the sixth spot.

I would say Forest, Fulham and Brentford are probably significantly better than us individually and of a similar level collectively.

I do feel we have the measure of Bristol City, Preston, Cardiff and Milwall.

The only club I do fear slightly are Swansea. A victory against them on Saturday would go a long way to allaying that.

Just now, bluefred said:

2-1 now

Watkins again

Forest winning at Cardiff.

In a way, I do feel this isn't too bad. Forest winning keeps the pressure on Leeds, and if (a big if, I know) we put a run together, 2nd isn't completely out of the question.

2-0 Luton...a familiar scoreline for Brentford!

Could not be going better at the moment. Here's hoping!

59 minutes ago, DE. said:

He's been here before...

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2010/mar/25/tony-mowbray-celtic-manager-sacking

 

Very interesting to read the fan comments on that article...absolutely mirrors our situation (except he doesn't like wingers anymore!)

'Goodbye and good luck to a thoroughly decent man, but an awfully incompetent manager. I could spend the rest of the day chatting about how crap the team has been. We have more talent individually than we did last year, but not a single scrap of organization to build it. Not to mention the lopsided nature of the squad - 45 wingers, 275 strikers and just two vaguely-defensive midfielders, one of whom can't tackle and the other of whom can't pass.'

Even the last sentence, prior to Travis coming through, reminds me of our travails with Smallwood and Evans forever.

I do feel we will get enough points over the next three games to stay in the hunt, 6 to 7 would be good.

If we don't, Brentford away could well be the death knell to this year's promotion campaign.

Buckley with a bright start.

We can't be too downhearted.

Wigan have drawn 4 of their last 6, against good teams in us, West Brom, Huddersfield and Millwall.

They are almost like us in that they have lost to poor teams in Luton and Reading.

Hindsight is a great thing but 7 changes were too many.

Really missed Tosin

Need to find a space for Holtby in the team, even if Dack's injury is not too bad

Johnson should have been in from the start

With 6 of the top 7 playing each other next week, and Preston away to Cardiff, we could well be in the playoffs IF we win against Wigan.

Not counting our chickens though, as it's the typical game where we slip up.

Our thoughts on whether we prefer West Brom and Leeds to beat Fulham and Brentford as playoffs are our best hope, or vice versa in the faint hope of automatic promotion?

Three wins on the trot starting just as we were finishing that horror run of the top 5 in a run of 6 games.

We're possibly not at the level of the very top teams but, provided the right teams are picked and we remain injury free, I don't see why we can't possibly aim for a 5th/6th place finish.

At least the right noises are coming out from him

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_3011562,00.html

Seems like everyone's jumping onto the bandwagon

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtm...2/sfnhan112.xml

Vote for Matty as player of the round

http://www.thefa.com/TheFACup/TheFACup/New...thRoundvote.htm

Not wanting to open old wounds but whats happened to Matty's last chance saloon?  I know all the african nations guys are back but he was not even on the team sheet today.  Is he injured or has Sam come to the same conclusion as Hughes, Souness, Strachan etc? 

I suspected Jansen would not figure at Bolton for long so God only knows the state of mind he is in now.

393769[/snapback]

He's out with a knee injury

Is there anywhere on the net whare i can listen to the match?

i missed the goals on MOTD. Does anyone know if i can get to see them anywhere on the internet?

What Souness is doing now is very much remeniscent of what he did during the latter stages of his time with Rovers.

I remember us being without a left sided defender for a whole season (before he bought Gresko and Gray within minths of each other), being without a left winger when Duff left for a whole season, being without a striker at the start of last season. However, he never filled those positions when they needed filling but carried on buying players in positons where we had enough players already.

If someone were to ask Newcastle fans where their team needed strenghtening at the start of last season they'd have said defence and strike.

Since then they've further weakend those positions by selling 2 defenders and 2 strikers.

However, in the one place where they were sufficiently endowed, with players like Dyer, Milner, Jenas, Faye, Butt, Bowyer, Viana, he has signed Emre and Parker for more the £10m. Admittedly, they are good players, but wouldn't he have been better off spending it on a defender or a striker.

I'm sure Newcastle will sign another strike but I can see them really struggling this season mainly due to a lack of quality in defence and lack of cover up front. I also do not see how he is going to keep his 9 midfileders happy.

If Newcastle were to buy a midfielder, they should have bought a left winger to replace Robert. Now they have no-one there at all. Even if they were to sign Boa-Morte would he be able to adapt to 4-4-2 if the 4-5-1 didn't work. Something I see happening because of their lack of a good defensive midfielder (ala makalele) and dyer and boa morte, for all their pace, not having the creativity of a duff or robben.

MGP did well in the first half but was anonymous in the second. He has not done enough to warrant a place in the team instead of Thommo Emerton or Ried. He is good enough going forward, but he needs to improve on his tracking back (which is maybe why Matteo looked so awful. Granted Matteo hasn't lit up Ewood, but in our recent run he has looked half-decent and the sats don't lie(3 clean sheets in 4).

However, considering the coolness with which MGP took his finish, our current striking problems, and the fact that he is rather light-weight for the defensive duties of a wide man, i propose that Hughes should use him as a second striker.

He has always had a good goals to games ratio and has played there before

Team v Pompey:

Friedel

Ried Todd Nelson NEJ

Thommo Flitty Bazza Emerton

MGP

Dickov

Subs:Enckleman, Mcevely, Mokoena, Tugay, Stead/Bothroyd

2-1 to Rovers

Stead and Dickov

Line-up:

Friedel

Ried Short NEJ Mcevely

Thommo Bazza Tugay Emerton

Bothroyd Stead

Subs: Encleman, Todd, MGP, Dickov, Flitcroft

When will the lad's luck change?

Greame Souness will not leave Blackburn Rovers. Hopefully.

There can only be one candidate as England manager when Claudio gets sacked and Eriksson takes over at Chelski and that man is Claudio himself. The man is a genius, and a good guy to boot, unlike that wa***r Ericsson.