So people no longer believe he'll be the next 'Gazza' and never live up to the hype?

Sounds like its the old problem from last season, in that there is no-one who can supply a quality ball in the final third of the pitch.

Andy Cole used to supply some good chances to Stead... but he's gone now.

Tugay did the business for us towards the end of last year... can we get away with four central midfielders again?

I've taped the game... will make for interesting viewing.

So does this mean that Hughes has slayed Emerton's touch-line monster?

I'm undecided.

Many people on this board posted such ringing endorsements of Dowie, that I became a fan of his. My first choice was Strachan.

And yes, I'm a bit gun-shy after the Harford/Hodgson/Kidd appointments of managers with little to no premier league experience.

But the flipside of that (as others have pointed out) is Chris Coleman. Mabye we can get lucky this time with a young and inexperienced manager?

I regard his ability to motivate the national team as fairly irrelevant. I think a national team almost runs itself in terms of spirit and attitude... especially 'underdog' nations such as Wales. The players want to do well for their country, and they only play a handful of games a season. After all, Frank Farina often gets some decent results from the Australian squad... but one could argue that is almost despite his involvement!

Can he motivate the overpaid lazy SOB's on a cold windswept night at Bournemouth?

I await with interest.

Please Mark.. don't *% it up!!!!

You could play 4-3-3 PIC and Counter-attack.

What counter-attack ratings do you get?

Although I think you may be able to get away with a 3-4-3 PIC. His attack is very poor... and even if your midfield rating went down to disasterous.... you would still have roughly 45% possession.

An old rule of thumb is that a 3-4-3 side only needs 44% possession to win against a 3-5-2 team..

I was about to suggest formations etc. for the Portsmouth game.... but its so depressing that I am struggling to think of a half-decent line-up.

Let's look at the line-up that saved our skins late last season :

Friedal

Neil Short Amoruso Gray

Flitcroft Andresson Tugay Douglas

Cole Stead

Could you replace Andresson with Ferguson, Cole with Dickov and be confident of getting a result?

Flitcroft's peformance against Newcastle would suggest otherwise. But what would you do... replace him with Emerton??

Is Thommo going to be fit?

We used to have a glut of midfield options, now we have very little.

Tugay - still a superb player.... but age limits his effectiveness and mobility

Flitcroft - by the sounds of it, on his way out.

Douglas - always viewed him as a player of limited skills... from what I have seen of him.

Emerton - a complete mystery

Thomson - its been so long since he's played a game. You doubt whether he can ever return to his form of two seasons ago.

Ferguson - so much relies on him. Will he be the box-to-box midfielder we have been crying out for since Sherwood left?

Pederson - hasn't impressed so far.

De Pedro - ditto.

At the moment... it seems it doesn't matter which playes to swap and change into midfield... its slim pickings at the moment

Depends on what point in the training cycle you are.

At the moment, I'm almost to the end of my 1st winger training cycle. I sold a World Class winger in week five, and my two titanic wingers will both be sold during the next season. That will give me heaps of cash to boost the rest of my team.

At this level, your gate receipts are effective 'top-up' money. They help you upgrade players (e.g sell a brilliant playmaker for a world-class one)... but you can't exist on the gate money alone.

I usually have about 1-2 million in the bank, unless I've just bought a new player in which case I am often in debt.

I avoid long-term debt at all costs.

After three straight losses I managed a win yesterday.

At least I have secured division III football for another season.

My preference is for Strachan or Redknapp.

I'd like to think that Hughes would be a good choice, but I'm a bit gun-shy after the Kidd debacle. As others rightly point out, managers have to start somewhere....

...but I think starting your club management career at Blackburn Rovers in the relegation zone is a very steep learning curve.

This is reminding me of the days after Harford was given the boot.

Sightings of Jurgen Klinsman in downtown Blackburn.... endless speculation that went of for weeks.

I think Redknapp would be a superb choice.

I always thought he did a superb job at West Ham on a very small budget. His role in bringing on young players is there for all to see, and he would be someone who IMO could get the most out of the academy.

I was gobsmacked when he was fired by West Ham, and always felt that the West Ham board were suffering delusions of grandeur.

His efforts with Portsmouth show he has developed a decent eye for a transfer as well....

... something that he often lacked whilst in charge of the Hammers.

Having said that... people who know more about this than I say he would be almost impossible to lure north due his family committments down south.

Perhaps after playing for so long with no natural left-footers, Souness decided to flaunt his embarrasment of left-sided riches to taunt opposing managers?!?

Seriously though, for a while I've thought that 3-5-2 is a better formation for the Rovers with the current squad, as :

1) We have no 'real' wingers

2) Tugay in his old age can't function in the middle of a 'conventional' 4-4-2 with wingers.

Emerton is better as a wing-back... as far as I know that is where he played for Feyenoord most of the time.

It will be interesting to see if Souness continues with a 3-5-2/3-4-3 option.

Personally, the less said about that first-half line-up the better

Unless you are a dedicated defender trainer, sell him.

His initial wing value is too low to be of decent use. Over time you may get him to a excellent wing/excellent defence, but it would take so long that it would essentially be worthless.

Semi-clowns are useless.

But I've found that clowns do help with maintaining team spirt.

And coach leadership seems to be quite important during mtaches... often your team will show 'good fighting spirit' and manage to come from behind in games.

sam - it depends on how good your opponents attack is.

If you opponent has no attack, then you can even play with offensive wingbacks if they have passable wing skill.

Generally you sacrifice one level of defence for one additional level of wing attack depending on the postioning of your wing backs.

Watch me next week, I'm playing a guy with a mega defence, so I will pay 3-5-2 attack on wings with offensive wingbacks.

Which formation in particular?!?

TS drops are due in your case to the personality of your incoming player.

If you buy and sell to frequenctyl, TS also drops due to players worrying about their futures.

Sam - 3-4-3 with one winger played as an extra forward is the way to go. Shift a centre-back into midfield to ensure you are still playing with three inner midfielders.

You can occasionally play with three strikers and two wingers, but only if your opponent has a very weak midfield. Doing this is a good option against 5-4-1/5-3-2 teams who CA.

4-3-3 is a good CA strategy.

Sam - what Counter-Attack ratings do you get?!?!

Perhaps try training passing, and play several of your defenders as midfielders/forwards in friendlies?!

Good use of the counter-attack has made me the Series III Powerhouse I am today

But in order for it to work, you'll have to have decent wingers/strikers.

I play 4-5-1 Counter-Attack and it works very well.

You may find that 5-4-1 is good for cup games and friendlies, but for you to actually win a game, you will need to play 4-5-1 CA.

I trained defence for about three seasons, and I played 3-5-2, 4-4-2 in league/cup games and 5-4-1 in friendlies.

Its always a compromise between what formation will give you the best chance of winning, versus that which maximises the long-term training aspects.

Sam - your striker's chances were all set-piece events.

You had no chances from 'open play'. I'm guessing playing a 5-4-1 that your attack ratings were a lot lower than your opponents defensive ones.

Indeed, for a lower division you are often better off hunting down some veterans (ie over 30) with great experience, especially defenders (assuming you aren't training it).

They are often quite cheap compared to a 25 year old, and although their skills are decreasing, their high experience counters this.

And you cover yourself against low experience event goals... such as 'due to a misunderstanding between the goalie and full-backs'.

He went for 10.5 million, so it the scheme of things thats pretty good.

I'm PIC'ing my league game today. He's a strong opponent and I doubt I could beat him.

But I'm probably going to MOTS in the cup mid-week.

I have used HAM since 2002.

You do have to pay for it now, but its an awesome program.

samtheozzy - passing only affects a defender's Counter-Attack skill. If you play a offensive central defender, he needs playmaking, not passing.

I made a HUGE boo-boo and listed my supernatural winger for 1.1 million instead of 11 million

If he goes for a lot less than market value, I'm in deep doo-doo as I won't have the funds to buy a magnificent keeper.

Only play a wingback offensively if he has passable wing (ideally). High inadequate if you have have to.

Otherwise, play a winger with some defending skills as an offensive wing-back.

You will lose 1-2 levels of defence on the side with an offensive wingback, so make sure you can compensate for the loss.

To make CA work your defence has to be as a general rule 1-2 levels higher than his attack. Of couse, the relative amount of possession will alter this. The more possession your opponent has, the better your defence has to be relative to his attack.

Tris - that post was miraculous.

Even I'm feeling optimistic about the new season after reading that....

..but I'm sure it won't last for too long

Wow.. a keeper with a head specialty. I never knew they existed.

They could come in handy.

I've always found two times useful for selling players :

1) Midweek, late HT-time, and the later the better. From 18:00 - 01:00.

2) Weekends, afternoons, eg. 12:00 - 16:00 HT time.

To sell in the window for option 2) you will have to put them on sale either Wednesday/Thursday night.