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[Paul]

Pedersen has received international clearance and is "in line for a debut against Manchester United"

[Flopsy]

Sorry Jan its Friday night here and Ive had a few beers so excuse me if I say ###### off and support Celtic

[Lathund]

Not sure about the fitness of Thompson and De Pedro, or how MGP will play when thrown right in, but I'd play this:

        Friedel

Neill  Amo  Short/NEJ  Gray

         Ferguson 

Thompson   Tugay    MGP/De Pedro

       
       Dickov   Stead 

And on the bench: Enckelman, Matteo, Gally, Emerton, Yorke.

It's mainly the left side I'm not sure about. De Pedros crossing is absolutely brilliant, and he put in a great cross from a free kick vs Arsenal. Would be great to have him in the team to provide some good balls to our forwards, but if he isn't 100% fit then he shouldn't start. What favours MGP is that he's certainly match fit. Gresko could ofcourse play there too.

[Brownie]

Well that's me wound up !

In what will hopefully be a repeat of last years sing-song and a complete reversal of the on-field durge, United travel to Blackburn to take on the local club-footed aces. Ooh, I'm reet full of early season optimism.... tripe anyone?

From UnitedWeStand

[Roaming Rover]

Do you care what Cockneys think about us

[rebelzero]

Is that Phil Spector, Hughsey? If that's the case, I reckon we'll get murdered

nope American defender Jonathan Spector

The Ronnettes probably support Arsenal these days, if nothing else to spite Manure

[SuperStella]

The game is LIVE on the following channels..

Premier$hip Plu$

Premiere Sport 1

Sky Sport 1 (Italia)

C+ Deporte 3

Multivision 8

ART Sports 1

Kanal 5 DK

Supersport

C+ Blauw

Sport TV

ESPN

BBT

Canal+ Nor/Swe/Den/Fin

Canal+ Sport (Poland)

Supersport 3SA

C+ Deporte 1 (Delay 23:25)

[92er]

What's wrong with St Annes Pier?

[Philly Rover ®]

Apparently Spector is expected to start at left back for United tomorrow.

Maybe this could be a place we should target as a weakness on there side.

It looks to me as if Spector slotted into his natural center half position against Dinamo Bucharest on Wednesday whilst either O'Shea or Silvestre slid over to the left, so I'd expect that to happen again tomorrow. Keep an eye on Spector, though, as he's certainly an exciting prospect. He was Man U's youth player of the year last year; by all accounts he's a composed defender, and once he breaks into the American national side he'll be anchoring our defense for years to come.

Great news about Pedersen... it'd be a dream come true if he could pull a Stead and mark his debut with a match-winning strike. Hopefully Dickov and Amo are healthy in time for the match as well.

I don't need to repeat what everyone else has said: Souness simply can't come out with a horribly negative team selection and then expect his side to get anything but an ass-kicking. Matteo cannot play on the left, and Thommo must at least make the bench. Personally I'd go with...

                Friedel

  Neill   Amoruso   Short   Gray

Emerton   Ferguson   Tugay   Pedersen

           Dickov   Stead

...with Enckelman, Nissa, de Pedro, Thompson, and Gally as subs. Gally to play if Dickov can't go, likewise Nissa for Amo if the Italian's not fit.

As woeful as he's been, I'm leaving Emerton on because he naturally hangs back more than Thommo... and with Pedersen hopefully getting forward a lot, we don't want to get burned by Giggs and Ronaldo on the counter.

Unfortunately, I fear that Souey will continue to dig his hole even deeper with a ridiculous team selection that will cost us dearly. As such, I'm going 3-1 to Man U, as they get back on track and we continue to slide down an increasingly slippery slope.

[Ricky]

I don't normally agree with Rodney Marsh but his comments on Sky actually sound about right. He says that if we play well for 90 minutes we can get a result.

Marsh talking sense (for a change)

[Claytons Left Boot]

               Friedel

  Neill   Amoruso   Short   Gray

Emerton   Ferguson   Tugay   Pedersen

           Dickov   Stead

Spot on - my team exactly.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Agree with that selection..spot on!

[Scotty]

               Friedel

  Neill   Amoruso   Short   Gray

Emerton   Ferguson   Tugay   Pedersen

           Dickov   Stead

Spot on - my team exactly.

Not a single person in midfield who can tackle.

[frosty]

               Friedel

  Neill   Amoruso   Short   Gray

Emerton   Ferguson   Tugay   Pedersen

           Dickov   Stead

Spot on - my team exactly.

Not a single person in midfield who can tackle.

Can't Ferguson?

[Philly Rover ®]

              Friedel

  Neill  Amoruso  Short  Gray

Emerton  Ferguson  Tugay  Pedersen

            Dickov  Stead

Spot on - my team exactly.

Not a single person in midfield who can tackle.

Oh come now, Scotty... you haven't even seen Pedersen yet and you're slagging him off already!

Seriously though, I'll admit it's a bit of an attack-minded midfield, but given the choice between Emerton, Fergie, Tugay, MGP or Flitty, Fergie, Gresko, Matteo I know which one I'd choose.

And it's not out of the question for Souness to deploy that second group either.

[Quack]

I think he will play Thompson - Ferguson - Tugay - Pedersen, hopefully Dickov can make a real nuisance of himelf allowing Pedersen to roam forward, MGP to make G Neville look like a sloth and Stead to slot 2 well taken goals, Smithy with a late consolation - well I live in hope !

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Even if we do go down to our third defeat on the bounce lets just hope our team gives its all for the cause...we ask nothing more.

[Duffers]

I can see what Souness is trying to do with making us harder to beat but I don't think it has occured to him that making the team more defensive might have the opposite effect - inviting teams on to us. When we played Duff on the left and Gilly/Dunn/Thommo on the right this made Neill and Gresko actually look quite decent defenders because teams weren't coming onto our rather fragile and slow central defence.

IMO, there is no use in playing 'versatile' - and they can't be called versatile if they are crap in their second posistion (Emerton and Matteo, you you know who you are...) - in posistions where, at best, they will contain. The reason we beat Arsenal twice and had such a good season in 01/02 was a) Friedal and then b. attacking football and not sitting back. Our defence was pretty poor then but we simply didnt defend us much as we do at the moment

With that in mind my midfield would be...

Thommo Ferguson Flitcroft Tugay Pedersen

And I would give Thommo and MGP licence to push on with Flitty sitting deep - almost like when Man U play Giggs and Scholes in free role.

Edited August 27, 2004 by Duffers

[percy]

Rovers 2 - Manure 1

Ferguson Giggs

Emerton

......which'll set us up nicely for our away win at Newcastle.

[Claytons Left Boot]

               Friedel

  Neill   Amoruso   Short   Gray

Emerton   Ferguson   Tugay   Pedersen

           Dickov   Stead

Spot on - my team exactly.

Not a single person in midfield who can tackle.

Don't start again, son - you're starting to really get on my nerves.

I've kept a dignified silence up to yet following your calling me a clown a few weeks ago for what I considered valid comments about the lack of a decent crowd for the Sporting game.

If you remember, you got personal. A bit like the other day when you shot down the lad who asked for the Blues opening time tomorrow and then tried to pass it off as sarcasm.

Everyone is entitled to their comments and opinions without having to feel ridiculed by other members of this board.

If you can find time to stop slagging off Graeme Souness as per your recent posts you could then devote more time to conducting yourself in a more appropriate and constructive manner.

[92er]

Scotty did apologise for his comments.

Anyway, the players have to play with more courage. And we haven't had the best of luck up to now. GS(teletext).

[Scotty]

Don't start again, son - you're starting to really get on my nerves.

I've kept a dignified silence up to yet following your calling me a clown a few weeks ago for what I considered valid comments about the lack of a decent crowd for the Sporting game.

If you remember, you got personal. A bit like the other day when you shot down the lad who asked for the Blues opening time tomorrow and then tried to pass it off as sarcasm.

Everyone is entitled to their comments and opinions without having to feel ridiculed by other members of this board.

If you can find time to stop slagging off Graeme Souness as per your recent posts you could then devote more time to conducting yourself in a more appropriate and constructive manner.

Ha ha ha. I couldn't give a toss if I'm getting on your nerves CLB. It's a messageboard - get over yourself. If I remember rightly, you made a personal attack against everyone who didn't attend the Ewood pre-season friendly.

Where exactly in my above post was I not conducting myself in an appropriate or constructive manner? Where did I ridicule anyone? I just said that I thought none of the midfield you advocated could tackle. Or are we all supposed to agree with your every word?

[den]

I think we'll put that down as a draw, then get back on topic, please

[Claytons Left Boot]

With regard to the Sporting game, I made comments about the poor crowd being attributed, in general, to the post 1992 supporters who saw it as a "I can't be bothered" sort of game. I appreciate some supporters live far from Ewood and wouldn't expect them to travel to a friendly, whoever the opposition, but as around 95% of Rovers fans live within a radius of 10 miles from the ground, in my opinion the crowd should have been better. It quite obviously wasn't a personal attack, it was a general view.

You ridiculed me by calling me a "clown" and later by asking me not to "come out with ######" or words to that effect.

I didn't advocate the midfield selection, I was merely backing up another poster who I happen to agree with. I notice you didn't reply to his post, you chose to continue your vendetta with me.

To respond to your final sentence, the answer is, no. You, Scotty, can say what you want - I don't mind anyones view - but (and it's a big but) without getting personal, which is something I reminded you about last time, but something you chose to ignore.

[Claytons Left Boot]

Sorry den, I've just seen your post. I don't intend to reply again but the lad is making it hard for me not to.