Jim - does it really matter what the fans do against Fulham anyway? Which is going to sell more papers? "Blackburn is a dark hole on the edge of civilisation full of racist thugs?" Or "Lovely Lancastrians show their civilised and benevolent nature cheering on old favourite Andy Cole?" I would imagine that if we gave Andy Cole some stick, the journalists would have a field day and keep flogging the dead horse. But if we all joined hands and sung songs of praise and racial harmony, you wouldn't read one sentence about it in the next day's paper.

I think everyone here is sufferring from a case of 'rose-coloured revisionism'. Dunny had some great games (e.g. Arsenal away, as someone mentioned). But he also had some stinkers. If he gave 100% every single game he wouldn't have been dropped..... .... or ultimately sold.

Managed a strong 4-0 win at home to help me keep up with the leaders. I lost my star winger and centre-back/set-piece taker to injury, but they should heal in time for the next league game. But they will probably miss my 7th round Cup game on Wednesday

But, it must be said. We are a much poorer team without him.

Completely agree. We now have a midfield and attack that will cause most international teams headaches. But as long as we have to rely on Vidmar, Muscat and Tiatto in our defence... we aren't going to get anywhere

Fairly ordinary first half for me. Australia had lots of possession but no cutting edge up front. Norway scored from a swift move, which seemed to spur Australia into action. The second half was a classic Australian performance. Plenty of skill and pace... some great swift passing moves and some well (and not so well) taken chances. And then failing to kill the game off, and giving away a soft goal to let the opposition back into it. Kewell had probably the worst game I have seen in an Australian shirt. I've thought for a while that he seems to have lost the desire after his move to Liverpool. As if all he's ever wanted to do is play for his childhood club. And now that he's done that, he's got nothing else to prove. Emerton played like the Emerton of old.. and I mean very old (ie '99 vintage). As the commentator called it, he played as an old-fashioned inside-right tonight and looked the part. I was very happy with Neil's performance. Defensively he had a solid game... as well as a one or two good passes which helped create things. The Aussie midfield completely dominated the game IMO. MGP saw a bit of the ball but only made a real impact on the game once Emerton and Cahill were subbed off. I thought Josip Skoko (from our old friends Gencerbigli) had a good game, and put in some great crosses. krislu - Australia had Norway on toast for the majority of the second half. This is indisputable... every English web report I've seen this morning echos this sentiment. But I'll forgive you for being biased

Yes. 7:30 am kick-off. Our first national team game since Johnny Warren's death

Thats a very attackling line-up. Personally, I wouldn't put Skoko and Cahill in the same side....unless he asks Josip to drop back be more of a ball-winner. That is three very good goal-scoring midfielders in the middle of the park there.... will be an interesting game.

I was absolutely shafted on the weekend... I'm now staring relegation in the face

I used to watch them play at Carlton

Emerton usually plays on the right side of midfield in a 4-4-2 position. But against the national might of the Solomon Islands, Frank Farina decided to play a 4-3-3 formation and it worked well. Vince Grella is a contempory of Kewell and Emerton. He has been a 'late bloomer', but after a good season with Empoli a few seasons ago, has started to turn some heads. Apparently AC Milan were interested in him... but he's ended up at Parma. I last saw Grella play against Turkey in Melbourne, and he was the best player on the pitch by a mile. He put in an almost 'Tugay-esque' performance... and this is the Tugay of a few seasons ago. He sat deep in midfield as a tough tackler.. but would unleash some 20-30 yard passes that had to be seen to be believed. If Grella and Bresciano play well, Australia will dominate the midfield and Norway will struggle. Isn't it nice to have a team that have to doesn't rely on Harry Kewell My strongest Aussie XI would be : Schwarzer Neil Moore Popovic Lazaridis Grella Emerton Cahill Bresciano Kewell Viduka That's a 4-4-2 with Grella as the defensive midfielder, and with Kewell playing off Viduka's shoulder. Kewell can play well up front next to Viduka (as was shown in the England game), it all depends on how they get the ball to him. Kewell with his back to goal is useless... that isn't his strength. But get the ball to his feet and let him run at goal... and he's one of the best in the world.... ....when he can be bothered

IMO you are worth upgrading your stadium in 'big steps' rather than little ones... as the $$$'s it costs for upgrades can be quite significant. My stadium went from : 25,000 in div IV 55,000 in div III I upgraded it to 80,000 last season. I managed to win my first game of the season yesterday. I threw caution to the wind and played 3-4-3 and it paid dividends. It probably caught my opponent by surprise as well, as I rarely play that formation. As a winger trainer, I tend to stick to 4-5-1 and 3-5-2. But after having lost my first two games, I thought that I needed 3 points in the bag, even if one of my wingers misses out on a week's training.

Rewa is definitely a 'bench' player at the moment. #1 Winger Clement Rankin is divine. #2 Winger Brabham is either divine or very close to it. There are are better wingers than Rewa in Oceania at the moment. But : 1) Some of them aren't being trained anymore 2) Some of them don't have as good playmaking. There is one winger who is pretty much as good as Rewa... but for some reason didn't keep an eye out on the National team forums.... and thus didn't inform thte coach about the player that he had.

Interesting point of view. Coming from the other side of the planet, let me assure you that Supergrass are definitely NOT over-hyped down here

Rewa Dragon is now in Oceania's national team

How many of their albums have you listened to? I strongly recommend their 2nd and 3rd efforts.

I finally got around to listening to the Stone Roses I've been listening to lots of Supergrass over the past few months... I saw them in concert in Melbourne a few weeks ago. I really rate them... what do you guys think?

My #1 winger may be called up for the national team!!!

I just spent 3.5 million on a 17 year old, with solid wing, solid PM and Head specialty.

Nice try, Jim... a shame that its complete rubbish. I suppose all the Indian fans that throw bottles at players, and light fires in the stadium don't exist? Lunacy and anti-social behaviour doesnt adhere to national boundaries. I'm not saying that every Australian cricket fan is an angel, because we all know that's rubbish. But to somehow suggest that Aussie cricket fans are somehow the worst behaved in the whole world is ludicrious. Well done Jim - I took the bait!

Agree 100% There is no point if having lots of money in the bank if you are losing football matches. Especially if that money cannot find players of equal stature. We sold Shearer for 15 million.... and spend half of it on Kevin Davies. We sold Duff for almost 20 million.... most went into bank to reduce our debt.. but about half of it was spent on Ferguson, Stead, Gray and Andresson.

If you continue that line of reasoning theno, you end up with an American approach to professional sports... which resembles the ultimate in socialism. Salary caps, concessions for poor-performing clubs, etc. Interesting how the USA love their 'free trade and capitalism' yet have clearly discovered that rampant capitalism applied to the sporting arena soon becomes very dull and boring.

Playmakers with solid 'secondaries' (ie passing and defending) are a luxury and probably aren't worth it. A strong playmaker with a passable secondary will do the job and cost a lot less than one with a solid secondary. Additionally, a playmaker with strong defending and passing is very expensive, and IMO not worth it. Just like in 'real football', I suggest you have a mix of midfielders, some with strong passing, some with strong defending, and use them as 'offensive' or 'defensive' midfielders to balance your team out.

Are you daring to dig-up that old 'merging' chestnut again Theno!? Lets indulge for a while and say that such a project went ahead. Would you want to see the team built from scratch? Or would you want to see an actual merger? E.g. Bolton and Blackburn become the same team? Would they become a completely different entity? Or would the combined incomes enable them to support two stadiums, and two strips? So the same set of players would play half their games at Ewood and half at the Reebok? And play in the corresponding home strips each time? DISCLAIMER : I am not advocating such a move... merely chin-wagging.

In that case : Play Djorkaeff up the pitch to supply quality in the final third of the pitch. Play Ferguson as a defensive midfielder in front of the back four. Can Ferguson tackle well?