Tottenham play football a bit like we do these days, they rely on pace up front and quick one-two combinations. Carrick has a Tugay'ish role in midfield, whilst Jenas undoubtably is more of a goalscoring midfielder than Savage.. I sure hope Lennon is injured for this one, he's the kind of player to have a field day against Gray. Dawson and King are good centerbacks, but especially Dawson is relying on his strength, and might struggle against Bellers' pace. Also, Stalteri is a poor defender, and Lee is also too attacking for the good of the team sometimes. Bentley and Reid, and perhaps Peter sometime in the 2nd half, could certainly make them pay here. Friedel Neill, Todd, Nelsen, Gray Reid, Tugay, Savage, Bentley Bellers, Pongolle Tottenham 1 Blackburn 2 Bellamy (16') - cross from the left after Bentley's made mince-meat of Stalteri, Bellamy to tap it in on the near post. Defoe (42') Bentley (64') Remember, you heard it here first

Cheers, Tris, a classic! Is this the Radio Ireland guys? (the same people as the link in the Friday Funnies-thread)

Bentley has been more efficient and stabile after signing on permanently, he's really impressed me. When coming on against Arsenal, he did well every time he was involved, with a great pass to Bellamy (when Lehmann came out) and also holding up the ball very well by the cornerflag. Could turn out to be a brilliant signing by Hughes, he has all the attributes needed imo - he just needs to use them in the right way. By the way, does anyone have a link for highlights?

Guardian

That would be 3-1 mate.

Is Drench still a Rover on loan, or has he left permanently?

Says quite a lot really, because Dunn / Flitcroft in the middle should really work out okay. Then again, we did play with some weird formations and our players did play in a few weird positions at the time..

At that time, maybe it was. I blame Souness for the transfer, not Dunn. Not much to blame Souness for though, 5,5 million pounds must be one of his better transactions! As for the question raised, yes I would welcome Dunn, if we can get him on the cheap. I trust Sparky, if he spends 2 million pounds on Dunnie, I would be delighted because it would mean Sparky believes in him. And let's face it, Dunn has got qualities we definitely could use in the centre of the pitch.

No goal for Derbyshire this round then, Wrexham lost 1-0.

I think Pongolle started yesterday because of his pace alone tbh.. he didn't create much, but his pace made him a constant threat to Toure and Senderos, and took some focus off Bellamy. Hoping to see Bentley / Bellamy the next matches..

Robbie Savage, step forward. What a player in these games, and the same goes for Reidy. Through and through a quality performance, my heart condition would have preferred introducing Mokoena earlier though! Friedel 7 - solid! Neill 7 - solid! Todd 8 - rock solid! Nelsen 8 - see above Reid 7 - hard working, good passing Tugay 8 - the maestro too old ? Hardly. Savage 8 - fantastic machine in the centre! MGP - can't complain, good run for the goal Peter 6 - tried, sometimes too hard. Bellamy 9 - pain in the a$$ for ninety minutes. Made Senderos look like a schoolboy. Sinama 6 - always a threat with pace, but didn't do much. Bentley did well when coming on, as did Mokoena to stabilize. Great pass by Bentley for Bellamy to race through also.. Blackburn Rovers: 9 - class act! EDIT: Can a mod please get the result into the topicname?

Amoruso has always seemed like a nice guy, and if we are honest - he did help us to stay up at one point. Obviously also a horrible signing by Souness, considering his wages (and Henning Berg moving the opposite direction) and transfer fee. (2 millions or something?) Here's hoping for a quick transfer come summer, and a successfull one for the big Italian.

Maybe he's a Dingle in disguise. Seriously though, Pardew wouldn't sell him for 15 million pounds, so I guess he's got to have some class..

Fair enough, we want two different kinds of football then I guess. Don't get me wrong, I love some tough tackles, and the Baros/Diouf playacting is imo just plain dishonest. However, skipping a potentially careerthreatening challenge isnt't..

Ridiculous, have you seen Barcelona this season?? No wonder Messi falls down hard, he's 5ft tall, and Del Horno had three bad challenges in five minutes. If he hadn't jumped in the red card-situation, Del Horno would have gone in with his feet again. With that pace, in that situation, a hit to his feet would have been horrible.

Would've been a fantastic (!) signing, but highly unlikely- with United interested..

Well, their midfield is actually Deco and Motta, plus Edmilson. Or Xavi and Van Bommel + Deco when everyone's fit I believe.. the triangle of Eto'o/Larsson+Ronaldinho+Messi up front though, one of a kind ! I must say I'm impressed with Deco over the last few months.. he has changed from a playmaker to an allround midfielder, doing a lot of hard work. Very impressive by Barcelona, who's managed to replace the ever-present Xavi - would like to see Chelsea do the same with Lampard or Terry tbh..!

Idiots!

A bit strict to send him off, but as Hauge said: He did not go for the ball at all. Also, the tackle three minutes earlier was disgraceful - he should've left the pitch then! Try picking on a player your own size, Del Horno As for your question, there's been a lot of players branded "the new Maradona", like Saviola, Aimar.. But Messi has a lot of the same attributes as Maradona. Fantastic left foot, ability to change direction in a split second, and great pace.

Fair enough, I get your point. To Totti's defence though, Poulsen used every trick in the book to wind him up, kicking his heels and elbowing him when the ref wasn't watching. (which really is just a more accepted way of being a coward imo) It's not really a discussion, he lost it when he shouldn't have. I'm just sick and tired of him being branded as "the spitter", leaving his fantastic ability and usually good nature in the dark. That being said, this thread is about recovering from injury, and Totti has stated that he intends to be fit and ready for the World Cup. Time will show

Can find several more charitywork for you, if you want to. As for your spitting response, I apologize if this was untrue. I still think it's a silly response though, please find a footballing superstar (other than the exceptionally boring Michael Owen) who hasn't messed up a few times in his career. Totti's temper is his worst enemy, but as said above, everyone can make mistakes. EDIT: My initial point was really that Totti is one of very few club players in the modern game. He's rejected lucurative moves to Juve, Milan, Real Madrid, Barcelona to stay and fight for Roma, in spite of his team's troubles both financially and on the pitch.

It also takes little of a man to come up with a new response once in a while.

I truly hope Totti makes the World Cup, and win it for the Italians. He's been nothing short of brilliant all season for Roma, and has showed character and basically given up his obvious titlewinning wishes to help his beloved Roma.

Ped & Bert Sesame Street? I remember that Derbyshire goal in the Parkes testimonial, he really looks like a natural goalscorer.

Capello is one of the best defensive coaches in the world, and has had a lot of success the last few years.. not sure if he'd leave Juventus for England though.