Given Newcastle's propensity for Rovers' managers (Lee, Dalglish) for a maliscious moment I imagined Souness walking into the bad boys' dressing room. Newcastle behaving as shoddily as always. No wonder nobody likes them.

Jim Arnold was a huge favourite but Brad gets the vote. A lot more of Saturday's form please- I think we will need it this season.

Cannot see us winning this one- the best we can hope for is a draw. However, I have a horrible feeling the Newcastle midfield and forwards will click and this will be more like two seasons ago than last season. Newcastle 4 Rovers 1

I am still sitting on the fence although Brad's superstar show yesterday nearly got me to vote for him. When does the voting close?

One of the papers have run a story this morning that Rovers will let Jansen leave if a club comes in for him.

Ice cold shower moment. If we lose today, we go rock bottom. Bubble bath moment. If we win today, we go above the Mancs. Souage moment. Today's line-up is could be anything but my guess is he will opt for: Friedel Emerton, Short, Nissa, Gresko Thompson, Matteo, Ferguson, MGP Stead, Yorke ...and make two half time substitutions replacing Emerton and MGP.

Just like the WBA and Southampton gmes, the matches against Man U and Newcastle can and should be won. Rovers have very close to a full squad available and the opponents are in turmoil. However, Souness will probably engineer defeats in both games. I desperately hope I am wrong but I expect the Mancs to beat us 0-2.

Thus far this season, there is precious little to be said in Souey's defence. Touch line antics, continuing referee antipathy and nobody on this MB at least wholeheartedly supporting his selection or tactics. Two obvious howlers- the Leeds manger blames having to play Matteo in midfield as a major contributory factor in their demise last season so Souness persists in playing him there. Gallagher was on fire scoring goals pre-season but has not yet featured. Madness! There are many more. It cannot be argued that there are not any decent contenders if Souey were to go. LDrover assembles a nice list of realistic targets. Strachan and Dowie would be my favourites- I believe that both would be as close to certainties to produce good results and great football from the talented squad (yes I mean that) Souness has assembled. Hughes would be very interesting, I believe could do the job but the transition to Prem Management is a big one. Newell and Shearer would be too big a risk but enormously popular if either were to be appointed. Who knows what lessons Sturrock has learnt from his 13 gmes at Southampton but we could do worse than interview him. Have to say I am relieved Colin Hendry is not available- I never saw him as managerial material. One name from left field (as our American posters might say) - Glenn Keeley.

After two "easy" games (I see Bolton won at Southampton) and one difficult one, this is the verdict: 16 Norwich 3 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 3 4 -1 2 17 Portsmouth 2 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 2 -1 1 18 Man City 3 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 2 1 3 -2 1 19 Blackburn 3 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 2 2 6 -4 1 20 Crystal Palace 3 0 0 2 1 5 0 1 0 1 1 -4 1

A defeat by 4 goals or more will leave Rovers rock bottom of the table. Just thought I'd cheer us all up.

If we play the best eleven players we have available in their correct positions, we have a chance. Friedel or Encks if Friedel is not 100% fully mobile Neill Short Matteo Gray (who has a point to prove after Beattie fooled him) Thompson Ferguson (is he suspended?) Tugay (the way Arsenal play, he will have the opportunities to ping his passes especially as the rest of this Rovers midfield line up are class players who Wenger cannot safely leave in space in the way he could ignore Douglas, Emerton or Flitcroft knowing they can do little damage) de Pedro (Arsenal is the sort of game he will show his class if he has the character to do it- surely he is fit by now? Plus he is hustler when we don't have possession) Stead Dickov sub I would use- Gally for Dickov after he has been yellow carded/run himself into the ground. This is a side with passing flare and enough ability to get up and at them to disrupt an Arsenal side who will have moments of anxiety given the significance of the match. (It is also a side plenty good enough to finish in the top half of the Premiership) However, Souness will no doubt delve into the drawer marked paranoia to find obscure tactics, formations and positions trying and failing to come up with something he thinks can defend against an Arsenal side averaging 4.5 goals a game. On that basis, our record 8-0 thrashing by Arsenal is in danger never mind Clough's Forest record.

Agreed Tom Pringle. Plus (and this is opening old wounds), would Andy Cole have scored receiving a waist high cut back standing on the 6 yard line the way Dickov so cooly did yesterday?

dan-mark-furness. Try talking us through Dickov's goal without using the word Emerton. That pull back alone would hav been worth three points B'Ut F'Or D'Urso. I am amazed that D'Urso has not ben hung out to dry by the Sunday papers. But there again, it was the Rovers who suffered so I should not be that surprised really. One thing which has not changed on reflection. The last 20 minutes at St Mary's was the single worst display of refereeing I can recall in over 40 years of watching football. It even beats the late Gerald Ashby's howler against the Mancs.

Incredibly frustrated. In Souneess' favour, he has clearly brought to Ewood Park a very capable and potentially exciting squad of players. Despite that ludicrous selection, we played really well against Southampton. Against Souness is the fact that he sent out a selection which was even more bone-headedly wrong than last week's starting XI. If fit, Neill should have started. Matteo did better on the left than we could ever have expected and allowed Gray free attacking room, but please get de Pedro match fit! Flitcroft was as anon. Utterly crazy. (PS I have some soggy chocolate medals- do those count?)

Utter D'Isgrace How that man can ever officiate another Prem game ever again beats me. Surely the numpties from Fanny Alam in Soho Square will happen to watch the Sky coverage of the last 5 minutes. "that was never a penalty. Short was jumping for the ball and doing what all defenders do to protect themselves" "the referee has booked Ferguson again (over footage of him waving the yellow card at Ferguson who is looking dejected and disgusted in equal measure) so that means he was sent off". Interesting to read post match that he says he confused Ferguson and Tugay--- EH???? Can Toogs challenge the booking he received as D'Isgrace carded Fergie? To the game - abysmal selection second game running but I thought we played really well first half and controlled most of it. Nissa excellent, Yorke well-motivated and only split second wrong on his offsides, Gray great. Thought Short had a few dodgy moments and he unfortunately shares the blame with Emerton for Phillips (oops I'm on my own inside the 6 yard box onside with the ball under my feet) goal. Neill looked good when he came on- why not there from the start and Dickov was fantastic. I am still lauging/crying at that penalty decision (and the four bookings and the penalty not given for Beattie wrestling Dickov) so losing doesn't hurt much at the moment. Sure it will when we only have two points at most from our opening five games.

Well, if we are going down the road of forecasting Rovers will win a penalty (with D'Urso in charge !?!), I'll forecast we miss it and the game will end 0-0. Oh dear, the beeb will have no more "interesting" facts to include in their weekly write up about the Rovers.

The Guardian are reporting that Sturrock will be sacked if Southampton lose to the Rovers. Apparently does not have the respect of the players and Rupert Lowe is ready to get rid of him quickly. Makes Saturday lunch time a bit more interesting.

Everything is going Arsenal's way at the moment. Assuming they stay unbeaten at the week-end, the Rovers game will be the one to break the record unbeaten run of Clough's Nottingham Forest. Not making a prediction, but Rovers are as likely as anyone to break rsenal's record.

Glad to see Vince O'Keefe getting a mention even if we cannot vote for him. Graham Moseley was at Ewood for only a brief spell but he pulled off the finest save I have ever seen from any 'keeper at Ewood whilst playing for Brighton. A Noel Brotherston corner was met by an unmarked Joe Craig on the six yard line with a bullet-like downwards header towards the corner. Moseley, who had stayed on his line showed the most amazing reactions to clasp the ball with a diving save. The groan which went round the Riverside and the disbelief amongst the Rovers' players said it all- we were going to lose that afternoon and duly did 0-1.

To the contrary 92er. John Filan is an example of an excellent keeper who is currently performing brilliantly at Wigan but who scarcely has rated a mention on this thread. Ditto Adam Blacklaw, Alan Kelly, Shay Given and Paul Bradshaw, all of whom also gained international honours whilst with the Rovers. The fact these players get so little mention is testimony to the exceptional quality of the keepers the Rovers have had over the years. Certainly ahead of any other club playing in the leagues we have been playing in. As for casting my vote, I cannot decide. Terry Gennoe for being a really nice guy, Jim Arnold for being a crowd pleaser the 18 months he was with us, Roger Jones for sticking with the club when clearly capable of being an outstanding Div 1 keeper, Tim Flowers for his bottle, Brad for the World Cup and that remarkable 02/3 season. Sorry guys, sitting on the fence on this one- they are all magnificent!

Well done den- the pm worked! Excellent pre-view again. We can't all be comedic double acts but I would say Saints' Ken has made a pretty good assessment of the Rovers. With Niemi in goal, this is going to be a big test of whether Rovers can kep on scoring goals at last season's rate. Both clubs made dodgy starts to the new season, with dodgy first halves using dodgy tactics dreamt up by dodgy Scottish managers. Thankfully, we weren't the ones playing Villa. Has 1-1 draw all over it but if we cannot improve on Saturday's 1 in 4 ratio of getting shots on target, Southampton will get all three points. Sticking with 1-1 whilst still feeling optimistic.

It seems that the players were as confused as the fans (judging by the posts on this MB) by yesterday's first half line up. So two points thrown away by a Souness tactical mess and not appreciating how far away from Prem fitness de Pedro is. However, last season, we would have lost that fixture at Ewood. So one point gained through Souness seeing it wasn't working and changing things around at half time- particularly for spotting the Baggies were lying far enough off our midfielders that Tugay would have time and space to work some magic.

Just watched Sky Sports full 90 minutes of the Rovers WBA game. Souness lost us two points today and boy did he know it from his reaction at the end of the game. Whatever the formation was and wherever people were supposed to be playing, we had three central defenders, two left backs, another left footer further up the line and no right back. No wonder we were one down at half time. Second half we looked more like a football team but still a rather disjointed one. Neither side looked Prem class. Some random observations: Neil Clement can still hit them. I thought Brad looked very leaden footed for their goal. That said, the wall failed badly. de Pedro was not match fit according to Souey so it was a rank bad decision to play him. From the Sky camera angle on the gantry, Ewood looked very empty. Were the crowd hiding? Tugay is sheer class. As is Fergie. Keep them together. Sky Sports stats showed Rovers had 64% possession and more than twice as many goal attempts as WBA. Unfortunately for chances on target, both sides had the same number- 3 each.

Good call but no way will we score three tomorrow nor will Spuds beat Liverpool- that is a banker away win. Also Watford are too poor to beat the dingles.

Have you read page 1 of this thread? Sorry, I was still chuckling at Scotty's preview so I missed it! Good to see the pessimism- makes me feel much better!