Given the lucrative contract he is on,can't see that ever happening jim. (him resigning that is, not us hitting rock bottom, which will will take about another fortnight on the form shown over the last eleven games) I don't envy the Board on this one, they are in a no win situation. If they back Souness and we are relegated they will be accused of failing to take action, if they sack him they will undoubtedly take horrendous flak from the "Souey is god and can do no wrong" brigade. Whilst I don't think there is any need to seriously consider a change of direction yet, I would not be of the same opinion if performances and results hadn't improved in 6-8 weeks time. hmmm... i didn't consider that, what happens if things don't improve over the next weeks

While I'm still firmly in the Souness camp - I'd suggest Chris Coleman as an alternative. He appears to have achieved at Fulham, in a very short time, the resolution of several problems: Fractured dressing room Senior players taking more responsibility Improved team spirit ..and all without spending money, as far as I'm aware. Increasingly our team look as though they don't know what to do in given situations. I'm wondering to what extent this is inlfuenced by Boersma being replaced by Dean Saunders this summer? Boersma was the defensive influence on the team with Souey looking to drive the team forward in attack. We clearly cannot continue to play Ferguson, Flitcroft and Tugay in the same midfield until someone tells them excatly what roles they are supposed to be playing. agree he has done well, however he has not been tested long term or in the transfer market, i don't think £500,000 for Pembridge who is 32 yrs old was money well spent, he did get allot of good players when he took over most under-achieving last year

you still have not named who should replace him

Absolutely spot on - and there lies, IMO, the reason why we're struggling so badly. Maybe they're told to constantly cut in all the time? Either way they're offering little to the team at the moment. If you are to play 5 across the middle then at least one of them should stop out wide? Has Souness resigned in shame tonight? And if he has not, does the board have the guts to sack him, which they should have done weeks ago? If anyone were in any doubt, we now in the midst of a full-blown crisis. and still you won't name a replacement

we managed 3 shots on target compared to southampton's 15 so he is right to say 451 did not work, Fulham have allot of great midfield attacking players so its best for them

well last time we struggled he bought Cole we won the League cup and finished top half, so he proven he can turn things around, there are fighters and there are quitters

there is a fine line between success and failure, i think souness has made a couple of bad buys and strange tactics but will still prove himself, i have faith, if things don't improve then some spare cash will show up in the transfer window and hopefully we can get a top striker, jansen can't do it, Yorke is gone, Grabbi useless and Gally too young

there's really not allot wrong with Blackburn, Cole seems to be the only striker on form, Andy C would claim Yorke holds the ball even though he is slow and lazy, but thats not enough is it, i think a decent striker and defender and the team is ok, Short will be that defender should he stay fit, hopefullty Cole can do it on his own up front, if we have money then the transfer window is the time to get a striker hopefully Viduka, but i would not bet on us having the money anymore, Emerton and Ferguson settling will help, and keep Amoruso well away from the team, he may effect other players confidence. so solve a couple of areas and we will be fine

this threads dam boring now, lets get over it and move on, there is nothing more to say, played well, and lost, THE END

lets remember that Celtic have a S**t away record in Europe, i think all this handbags on this thread will make for a good game, but although Celtic don't look the team they were a couple of years ago, we should be confidence but cautious in our remarks, bring on Villa to get a kicking on Sunday.

"your team has just lost a crucial game to a bunch of "second rate", "wannabe", "jokers"." yeah but thats football it happens, we have lost to a team we out classed, its not the first it ever happen is it!!! and let remember that was the AWAY leg, we must be favs at home, its only half way, and we are the better team i think we can all agree on that, i think the two week wait will do Celtic no favours and us the world of good as Cole Jansen and Duff can get match fit, but lets see should be a good game.

well hes right about the keeper, how many great saves did Cetics keeper make?, maybe one average save from Thompson and an easy save from Dunn, that was it, But Celtic really showed the rest of Britain that they are nothing more then an average team, so they won but the aslo lost allot of respect, and hopefully we will finish the chances at home, like Souness said you don't always get what you deserve. We were LUCKY against Arsenal, we were UNLUCKY against Cetlic, next time we will make our own luck and finish the job, have to be confident of that!

"Haven't seen the game yet but will do as soon as it arrives in my postbox... " i am just recording over mine now, i never watching that again, it amazing that i am @#/? off from out classing CETLIC in EUROPE, when 3 years ago i was watching Blackburn in the nationwide div 1 struggling, but hey thats football, have to say what a hell of a team we have now some really class players, some of Thompson's skills were "like watching Brazil", and Tugay best game EVER in my opinion. Just that something special missing up front 2nite but there is competition up there now so they are going to have to produce the goods.

Well said, there's no point in being bitter, this is a two legged game, and its far from over. We proved our point that we are easily their superiors, and we'll show it - again - in the 2nd leg. hell i'm going to be bitter, i'm not having it, we should have done better in the last third, and give them a good beating, lucky B*****ds!!!!

i would have rather played bad and lost then played like, BECAUSE i am so @#/? off that we have not won, I was shouting untill i was almost dead "STOP PASSING THE BALL A F****** SHOOT", talk about over playing, Cole and Yorke looked scared to shoot sometimes. Some grest performances by many players, hats off to Tugay but WE LOST!

"Duff without doubt is your best player" Duff is a quality player, but we got a lot of quality players now, Yorke Cole Jansen Dunn Thompson Short Friedel are all just as important as Duff in their individual roles. Since the world cup Duff has become this God, but he is a top player among some top players and i think we will only get better under Souness. It certainly going well so far. Obviously will still have some areas that need massive improvement, mainly in defence but they are holding up right now best they can. BTW, has anyone esle noted that Stubbs was this world class defender up in Scotland and now at Everton he is fighting for his place. I think that says allot about the standard up there, and we got a real chance of winning.

i wouldn't play Jansen cus he's got " like the worst haircut ever" , what a bad cut that it!!!

Souness has a habit of only starting with Gilespie in home games

same as mine tash, but i still wouldn't have egil in for cole. He's a world class striker and I think we need him to scare the pants off celtic from the start. Having jansen & egil on the bench should ensure we can change things if necessary Dwight was fantastic against arsenal and really held the ball up very well.....cole knows where he puts the ball and will be making clever runs all day Cole has not played allot of football in the last month, i feel it could take him some time to get back in the flow, ofcourse with Cole its hard to tell, he could get the winning goal or he could be poor, its a hard decision, souness is going to have a long think over it but i expect that Egil will start and come off maybe at half time for Cole similar to a recent match. i'll go for Friedel Taylor Short Berg Neil Thompson Dunn Flitty Duff Yorke Egil as the likely starting line up, I can't remember the last time Tugay scored a goal and Dunn is slightly better defensively aswell, so i'll go with DUNN, Flitty is a must start no question, its a guarantee!!!