As soon as I saw Tugay on a yellow I knew he would get sent off with a rash challenge! What an idiot

Sky were just live at Ewood- saw Sparky walking in. A bit of banter with Nigel Spackman as he walked in. Back to Amo's comments- looks like a lot of people on this board who were critical of GS training regime, were indeed correct. There is nothing wrong with having old school principles but the game has moved on. If you do not have a pot of cash to spend more attention has to be paid to behind the scenes to try and aid your team as much as possible. You only have to look at Bolton as a good example where the back room staff contributes significantly to the success of Bolton. Souness wants Duff at Newcastle- firstly I dont think he would go. If he were to, I can imagine the quotes- ''Its really exciting to be linking up with Dean Saunders again'' Eventhough Dean did improve his finishing...

Getting a weird feeling for this one. Does not feel like we have a match tomorrow for some reason. Think he will play the same side against Villa- hopefully a 1-0 win against an off colour Boro.

The fact Reid is only 23 is encouraging. Whats vital for him now is to try and stay fit for as long as possible- at least he gives himself a chance then. His career has never got going at all in his time here. Profile of him for those who had forgotten. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/player?id=5081&cc=5739

I think Vogts should go but a new manager would still have the same problems. Problem is that players like Fletcher, Naysmith and McFadden dont play regularly for their clubs. Dickov works his heart out for Scotland but as we have seen at Blackburn he lacks real quality in his finishing. Last night you could see Ferguson trying to lift the team, he played well first half. But he needs more quality around him or the game just passes him by.

Ferguson must be sick at the moment with losing football matches. Hopefully playing for Blackburn can put a smile back on his face because the amount of cr*p he going through with the Scotland team must be taking it out of him. Not just trying to carry the team but all the off the pitch nonsense which must be having an effect on him.

I was thinking about Hughes philosophy towards tactics. Much has been made of the 'negative' 4-5-1 system he employs. I think ideally he is a 4-4-2 man but it obviously depends on the players he has at his disposal. Wales have some very good players in midfield and up front. However their back line is not blessed with much experience, especially in depth. hence the fact he likes the pack the midfield and take pressure off his centre backs. The use of Ryan Giggs through his reign is to play him off the front man, like he does at Man Utd in a way. One thing I dont like is Bellamy on the right wing, he played up top last night and looks a real threat. If Bellamy stays right midfield for Newcastle he will get fed up, as he said himself he is crap there. I think his approach to club management will be different as he can bring players in to a system he thinks it best. Also- was that his mobile phone Hughes smashed after they conceded a goal, it flew into bits!

Ferguson said: "The injury is just the same. The hamstring is a bit tight with pins and needles. Blackburn have a game on Saturday so I will have to take that into consideration but when you go out on to the pitch you don’t think about it. You just do your best.

I am not saying what Fergie is doing is right or wrong. I do admire the way he is going about his business. His latest comments at Craig Burley sum Barry Ferguson up for me. We do pay his wages but there is a very passionate player who desperately wants to play for his country. Does not matter if they have no chance of making the finals. You have to admire Ferguson's passion and desire to play for his country. thenodrog- you can not change the way you are and he takes great pride in playing for his country. He would do the same for his club, its just the type of person he is. I am Scottish and would rather he saved himself for Rovers on Saturday but unless he really is struggling he will play tonight. I can only admire him for this.

Of course for our visit Hasselbaink and Viduka return to the Boro squad! Anyway, in my opinion we are going to rely on our midfield winning their battles in our matches until we see a change of personnel which cannot happen until January. We will almost always concede and are not prolific enough up front so much emphasis goes on our midfielders winning the battle.

Barry Ferguson has spoken to Mark Hughes about playing tomorrow night. Hughes understands Fergie's desire to play for his national team and leaves any decision upto him. Just adding that Fergie has a history of playing matches with the aid of injections. It looks like he will do so again on Wednesday. Would not suprise me if he does play that he will not turn out for us against Boro- this match really is win or bust for Scotland and it means a lot to him.

Azerbaijan U21 0-0 England U21 http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/i...als/3737138.stm Nigel Reo-Coker was sent off as England's 100% record in qualifying for the 2006 Uefa Under-21 finals ended. The West Ham midfielder and Azerbaijan's Elnur Abdullayev were red-carded after a flare-up which led to a 15-man brawl. England almost snatched victory when Jon Stead hit the crossbar and then James Milner and Glen Johnson had efforts cleared off the line. Stead had a 'goal' ruled out for offside after 30 minutes. England had won their opening three group matches in the battle to reach the finals.

For me Jim, Mr Bigley's death was a national tragedy. His story had gripped the entire nation. The story was the focus on the national media for a long time. Sadly for being used as the terrorists digusting propaganda pawn. I see a minutes silence as a mark of respect and for me and a hell of a lot of other people my respect, thoughts and prayers are with the spirit of Ken Bigley and his family.

Sorry if this has been posted already. Link to speculation on Gally. http://www.people.co.uk/sport/tm_objectid=...-name_page.html

Dont know if anyone mentioned it but GS has nicked our Goal-keeping coach. http://www.rovers.premiumtv.co.uk/page/New...~573388,00.html

Against ten men I know, but Palace look a good side. Seen them a few times now and they seem well organised, pass it well and up front they have a threat in Johnson. Whether they have enough quality, time will tell. It will be very tough for them. From our point of view, hopefully there are three sides who are as dire as the ones who went down last year...

No I like your posts- they amuse me. You amuse me, you are very weird.

One man makes a defence does it- especially when gettting changed every other game like he was at the start of the season. In fact I would love him to nut you, stop going on about him. For what it is worth your opinions are sh*t.

RoverDrake- everytime I read your comments you are harping on about Matteo. He is not that bad, will you shut up about him cos he is a decent centre back. You probably dont like the way he looks but he would give you a nice head-butt. David O Leary's comments on Matteo make you look a real pri**.

Could really do with a fit Thompson, missed him for a long time now. If Thompson is not available, which seems to be the case these days we do have to find a solution. Our best two in that position are Tugay and Ferguson. However can they work as a partnership? Might have to let Ferguson play deeper and Tugay can have license to move forward as he did well at the latter end of last season- we could try this at home maybe. If going for more industry, I always thought Douglas could be a ball winner in the centre last season. However peoples views on here seem to suggest he is playing awful at the moment. Have not seen him play this season so cant comment.

Not questioning Flitcroft's desire. He does try, but his body is not upto it. His passing ability is dire. Not sure we would get rid until end of the season though.

Good to see the board backing Hughes as he would not of come cheap, even for three months. The fact we can review the situation at January is a bonus. I think he will do well, he has class but also has a very high work rate which sometimes goes unoticed.

I know its just one game but Fergsuon looked out of sorts last night. Didnt seem to have his mind on the game, looked dreadfully slow. Put one good pass of note in the second half. Knowing how good he is, we are getting no where near the best out of him. As other people have been saying it was the type of the game when we needed our captain to be more influential.

Charlton's wide men were pressing and marking very tight against Emerton and Jansen. Would only put Jansen on the left if we are short in that area- we dont appear to be now. Jansen needs to play up front.

good move by Hughes. Can play deep and will add much needed creativity. Not a matter of ability but how quick we can get him fit.