If you are playling a team that is 5-4-1, use offensive wingbacks and offensive central defenders if his attack is very weak compared to your defence. Try 3-5-2 with all players as offensive. It has worked for me in the past : 3-4-3 with two wingers and three forwards is also good, but not if you don't have any formation experience. Here are some examples : http://www17.hattrick.org/Common/matchDeta...atchID=15620425 http://www17.hattrick.org/Common/matchDeta...atchID=20736455

Nice work Bryan I wouldn't say ALL thought... but evidently most

Judging by your last line-up, you have a good all-round team. But I would strengthen your midfield if you want to survive in a standard Div IV series. Do you have any spare cash at the moment? What sorts of midfield ratings do you normally get?

Left Winger - I disagree. As long as you think you have a chance of winning 3-4 games you should promote. Aim to finish 6th, and then worry about the qualifier. If you are in a strong series, you just PIC against the strong teams, and MOTS the games you try and win to keep you up. Never turn down an opportunity to promote. It may not come around again for a few seasons. By the sounds of it, you are quite lucky to win your series in any case. You never know what may happen in your new series. Someone may give up meaning that you have a 'bot team. Another team may also get struck down with injuries. Hattrick, like football, is best played one game at a time

Somewhat dismayed that Tugay didn't get a run.

Is the fact that not one of the major papers picked up Hughes' comments regarding the southern media bias proof that there is self-censorship in the media... and dare I say it... a 'conspiracy' against the smaller clubs?

Personally, I would have put more of the blame for the first goal on the shoulders of Todd and Nelsen. They both went for the same ball, missed it, and thus gave Toure (?) acres of time and space inside the 6-yard box. From that point on, it would have taken a miracle to keep the ball out. When playing in the back four, I thought Neil did well, and as others have pointed out, kept Pires in his Pocket. Yes he was skinned by Van Persie for the second goal, there is no-way a centre-back should let a forward turn like that. But Neil isn't a centre-back, so he's let off the hook We were a mess once we went three at the back. And if you wanted to play 3-5-2/3-4-3... wouldn't you be better off using Matteo as a centre-back?

My first view of the Todd incident was from the rear camera angle. Van Persie runs into Todd's shoulder. Todd raises his elbow AFTER the impact... as an attempt to ward-off Van Persie. If anything, the look of Todd's face a split second after the impact (which is of surprise) will save him. From the side, the camera angle isn't as flattering. But IMO the fact that Todd didn't have malice in his eyes when they collided will count for something. In many respects, the game was a replay of the Ewood encounter. Arsenal were very poor to begin with, and clearly had a case of the yips. We had the better exchanges for the opening 40 minutes, but once they scored, they just went up a gear and seemed to be able to score at will. Whereas at Ewood we were saved by the crossbar, on Saturday we were saved by big Brad, who was back to his 'big-game-best' form. At the time, I was upset to concede such cheap and easy goals at the death, but in hindsight there were many positives from the game. I thought Ried had a good game and was very lively in the first half, and that Mokoeana may develop into a Viera/Keane-type midfielder. Brett put his head down and ran with the ball when he came on and looked miles better for it. A midfield built around Reid, Mokoena, Savaga and MGP looks promising for next season.

How dare we attempt to win a trophy? How dare we not roll over and die so that a big club can win another trophy? How dare the players attempt to fight and scrap and give their supporters something to cheer about?!? The nerve!! All the dirty cheating diving Blackburn players should be taken out and shot!!! No-one likes us and we don't care!!!

I'm not suggesting Tugay play up-front Rather, take up the same area of the pitch when we played 'the diamond' last season. Back then he could supply quality to Cole and Stead. In a 4-5-1, presumably he'd be supplying Stead, MGP and Emerton. With Mokoena and Savage guarding the back four, MGP and Emerton can push forward more, and Tugay can play more balls into the path of an on-rushing MGP to smash into the net a la Southampton on Saturday

And yet a few months ago when I suggested that Reid had the makings of a decent central midfielder, I was laughed at! http://www.brfcs.co.uk/mb/index.php?showtopic=10384&hl=reid http://www.brfcs.co.uk/mb/index.php?showto...7&hl=reid&st=20 As well as he is playing in the middle now, I can't help but thinking that we will need a bit of Tugay magic to help set up a goal against Arsenal. So playing 4-5-1, I'd play : Friedal Neil Todd Nelsen Matteo Reid Savage Mokoena MGP Tugay Stead At least this way, Tugay doesn't have to worry about tracking back/tackling (which he is bad at) and only has to concentrate on suppyling quality balls in the final 3rd of the pitch (which he is very good at). Alternatively you could put Reid in Tugay's spot, leave him on the bench and play Thompson/Emerton out on the right.

Well, Newcastle have been rumoured to be interested in him for years, so its no surprise that with Souness in charge they will begin once again. At the beginning of this season, Neil admitted to Robbie Slater on Foxports in Australia that Souness had effectively lost the dressing room. Having witnessed the rise and fall of Souness whilst at Blackburn, I'm not entirely sure that Neil would want to sign up for another ride of that rollercoaster.

sam - you're only making such bold outrageous statements like that because you know we don't have a chance in hell of making it!!!

Lovely bit of understatement there Back in the days of Romario and Stoitckov running rampant in the Spanish League for Barcelona, their main rivals were the Deportivo side managed by Toshack. He also won the league with Real Madrid in 1989, with a side that scored 107 goals in a season... still a record. Won the Spanish Cup in 1987 awith Real Sociedad and the following season guided the side to second place in the league.

I would agree with you. If Dickov continues to annoy the referees, I'm sure that even the most partial and professional referee when confronted with a 50/50 situation may think 'serves the little b***** right.... play-on!!!'

Hah! That was the only cheering we managed to do in the second half Great to meet some of the guys, a shame that it wasn't under more pleasing circumstances. As a consolation, the pub was... for god knows what reason....full to the brim with top totty. I'm awaiting the post-match debrief with interest!

My 2 cents. We played well for the first 40 minutes. Tight at the back, holding the ball in midfield just inside our half and playing the quick and early ball either to the feet or down the channel for the player to run onto. Some good chances in the first half, some decent work by Thommo on the right and all was rosy in the world. Then a great turn and finish by Van Persie and suddenly the wheels fell off. Note that after the kick-off in the 2nd half, we didn't touch the ball (except of Nissa's arse I think) until they had a shot on goal (which Friedal saved superbly). We were very poor for the majority of the second half. How much of that was due to positional changes (due to injury) and how much was due to Arsenal stepping up a gear is anyone's guess. At about the 75th minute we started to get things back together again, and in the last 10 minutes were were perhaps unlucky to score.... although on balance we wouldn't have deserved to. But for majority of the second half we resorted to long ball.... and the quick passing and neat play (along the ground) from the first half went AWOL> Regarding the individual performances (based on watching a fuzzy TV with almost no sound). First half the defence was generally sound. Friedal made some great saves in the second half. Matteo has very slow feet and offers very little going forward though it is arguable that we looked safer at the back with him as opposed to Nissa. I thought Nissa gave us more going forward but at the expense of defensive frailty.... but no Todd in the middle may be a contributing factor. I thought Neil played well and rarely looked troubled defensively. Thommo had a good first half but did nothing in the second. I didn't see much of Flitcroft at all. Agree with others comments w.r.t Mokoena...good defensive midfielder, poor centre-back. It took Emerton about 10 minutes to actually touch the ball when he came on...but he got into some good positions and looked stronger as the game went on. Mort put in some good set pieces most of the time...but didn't factor much in open play. Reid was busy and ran hard to help out our attacks, as well as tackle back. Dickov - puts his hands on his hips more often than Andy Cole. I'm not going to repeat what has been said by others... as I feel its pretty close to the mark... ...except that those who are saying that 'it's hard playing as a lone-striker when you are but a wee-lad' evidently have forgetten the times Matt Jansen used to do it for us when we played 4-5-1 with Dunny just behind Matt. Away at Arsenal one year springs to mind. You don't have to be a Shearer to do it effectively. As others have said, it isn't Dickov's natural position, and it doesn't play to his strengths. I suppose its a sign of a bare cupboard if we continue to put the Dickov square peg into the lone striker round hole....but if Stead was as impressive away at Everton as some say then I guess that its just 'one of those management things' that continues to baffle supporters. What made last night more depressing is that before the game the publican put on a replay of the Worthington Cup final. It was the first time I had watched the game since the victory..and it was rather sad. A fully fit Jansen linking up with Cole. Duffer running amok on the left. Dunn able to run at speed. Nissa looking assured at centre-back next to Berg. Bambi Taylor playing a blinder and looking oh-so-assured on the ball. And good 'ol Stig and left-back!! I think that is one reason why the crowds stayed away after we finished 6th. Just as we were building a real team.... with players that the fans loved and adored.... one fell off a motorbike, one retired, one left and another was sold. I think that the fact that many 'heroes' from our two promoted seasons under GS left after we finished 6th is never really taken into account as to why the fans stayed away.

Hah! Nice try Mrs PG has fallen ill, and won't be attending tomorrow night. This will also mean that a bunch of drunken yobs with funny Lancashire accents turning up at 2:30 am will not be taken with a sense of humour

Forgot to post it to the rovers list I can't access my yahoo mail from work.... can I just post it to the list from a different address? BTW I'll probably be driving that night anyway

Shall we post details of this on the rovers email list as well?

What sort of beer do they have on tap?? It's been so long since I've been there... ..in fact the last time was to watch West Ham vs Rovers. That was the game when Berkovic got Gallagher sent off. BTW I had a house-warming on Sunday and the bath was full of Coopers Pale Ale, Sparkling Ale, Dark Ale, Mild Ale and Cooper's Heritage. I've still got 3/4 of slab of Dark Ale left if you want to come over after the game

I've never trained forwards, but it seems to me that the strikers market is the most resilient out of all skills with regard to market fluctuations. In terms of maximising your investment in training time, usually brilliant/magnificent is the 'sweet spot'. World-class/Supernatural begins to see diminishing returns. Titanic and beyond you don't usually get much more as their high wages tends to reduce their desirability.

If Leicester come and defend in numbers, I think we may need to Tugay back to thread through a couple of gems for MGP and Stead to finish off.

Stead made the soccernet team of the week... although I found this comment a bit strange "And the way you took your goal on Sunday against Everton shows what a talent you are. I was so impressed. You hadn't scored since April, were in the middle of the mother of all goal droughts, and yet you were still confident enough to slam that low shot past Brad Friedel from 20 yards. Wonderful."

Tooheys New!!! Blueboy - have you learnt nothing from your travels in Aus?!?!?!