Replace Reid/Douglas with Flitcroft and I would agree with that, given the strength of Everton's central midfield I don't think experiment with either of those would be a good idea. The rest looks good though, however I'm expecting: Friedel Neill Short Todd Matteo Reid Flitcroft Ferguson Emerton Dickov Bothroyd

We'll obviously get beat, they have more quality in every single key area. 1-0 to them, us bad with lack of balance as usual.

Edit: Sorry, just posted something that had already been posted elsewhere. Oops.

I don't know why...but it's just hit me how poor our strike force is and how much people are deluding themselves about these two. Bothroyd couldn't even make an impact at Coventry, the excuse so far is 'fallings out with the management' but if he was good enough he wouldn't have been offloaded from there on a free. I think he scored 6 goals for Perugia...that's nothing really, he is undoubtedly a good athlete, but a Premiership footballer? Never. Dickov has spent his entire career in teams either in Division One or not good enough for the Premiership, why at 32 should we assume that he has suddenly become better than that? His workrate is a useful asset to us but should never in a million years be the focal point of our attack. If that is our first choice partnership then we do have the worst strikeforce in the league...couple that with our erratic defence then we really are in trouble. Edit: Didn't actually get as far as USABlue's post before I wrote this...any reason why those two shouldn't be first choice? Jansen has more goals from open play than Dickov since he came back into first team contention (I think) and Stead is still a quality player.

We will go down if Dickov remains an automatic first choice for the rest of the season. I believe he has a part to play if we are to survive, but that role is not being the main striker and starting every game if available. He wouldn't be first choice at any other team in the Premiership, including the three promoted sides...Stead and Jansen should play together in my opinion once they are fit, with Bothroyd providing back-up for Stead and either Gally or Dickov backing up Jansen, that one would probably be more dependant on the opposition.

Scary, I love Dickov but if he's our best striker then we have the worst strike force in the league....he wouldn't be West Brom's or Crystal Palace's best striker. Should be a sub, let him come on at the end and run around if that's what we need.

I disagree...I've been saying it for a while but I think those two could form a great a partnership. Jansen has been showing signs that he is getting somewhere back towards the player of old, we have to give him a run in the side when he's fit to find out. Stead is still by far and away our best young prospect, he hasn't scored this season but at times he has still looked a class above the rest (Southampton for example) and he has hit some good shots that he was unlucky not to score with, I've no doubt the goals will come again for him. Collectively I think that partnership would have a good balance to it as well, although not up to Dickov standards niether are work-shy and I think they could be relied upon to supply a steady (boom boom?) stream of goals. Dickov would still be very useful to bring on in the final half an hour or so to try and rattle defences if needs be, I just don't think that's the right way to approach a game from the off...as others have brushed on, there is a reason why, at 32, he has spent his whole career moving between Division One and relegation material in the Premiership...although it's obviously not through lack of effort.

I've thought the very same thing...I'm sure IP addresses could tell us more.

Rovers 2 - 1 Spurs I don't think we should play Nissa at left back for this one, bringing Michael Gray back would make more sense. Spurs don't have a right winger, they're playing a defensive minded central midfielder out there at the moment (either Mendes, Carrick or Brown) so shouldn't offer too much of a threat down that side, Paramot also looks like a centre half playing at right back. Being at home we should definitely be looking to take advantage of that and Gray will give us more going forward than Nissa or McEveley. Also think this is a good game to bring Thompson in for, Spurs aren't too physical in the the midfield, they're quite similar to us in the respect that they have ball players not ball winners. I know Tugay was good against Fulham but surely the law of averages states he's now due a run of shocking games? Anyway, my team: Friedel Neill Todd Johansson Gray Reid Thompson Ferguson Emerton Dickov Gallagher

I hadn't noticed how deliberate your attempts to start arguments were until someone else pointed it out...I can't believe how ignorant I was. Might have to be a bit more subtle with them now though, bit easy to see through them at the moment.

In English that is saying that he wasn't in the Cup Final team. However, I admit it's not clear that it is English, the middle bit of that makes little sense, if any at all.

Bloody hell...so it's Duff's fault the other 10 around him weren't up to his standards? You do post some utter tosh on here but you're out-doing yourself with this one. Edit: Apologies for the second remark, I forgot about the Diouf/AIDS/contimated spit comment.

I can't understand this argument, Sellars had the same facilities available as everyone else at that time and never proved himself to be world class whereas Duff has. They were both operating an equal level to other players around at the time so I can't understand how it would make a difference which generation Sellars played in. It's all relative, this argument is nothing like the Forrest v Sherwood one because Forrest clearly was one of the best players around at that time whereas Sellars wasn't.

That all depends on how you define 'great' though, doesn't it? I think some people are on the verge of picking a cult favourite 11, personally I'm picking who I think was the best player in that position (within reason of course, no Sukurs who were only around a few months for example). Garner wasn't the second best striker we had so he won't be getting my vote...however, people who are defining 'great' differently will have different opinions. I guess that's what makes this poll so interesting. One thing I hope doesn't happen again though is the argument of 'who won what', if we were going to pick players based on how much they won then a poll wouldn't be needed, just run through the record books and see how many medals each player won and pick it that way.

Your point is undermined by the author being Rover6. Nah, I'm just joking, but seriously I don't agree with your point. Individually they weren't as effective because they had to alternate the holding role, but collectively they were just as effective. Play Nicky Butt alongside either and individually of course they would offer more going forward, but that's because Nicky Butt would offer nothing. It's just halfing the work load that's all, just take it in turns about who sits and bombs forward. And I did all that without mentioning Lampard got 3 goals in 4 in games. Oops.

"Morten hasn't been playing for us recently because....uhhhhhh.....well, I don't think he's good enough." That would achieve what? Since when have we expected our managers to go to the press and justify his team selections?

In the future? Surely this should be all about now, by that theory we could be voting Gallagher or Stead in the all time great strikers list if we're looking to the future. Changed my vote from Sherwood to Forrest this time round on the back of FLB's excellent report.

McEveley was daft to vacate the space that Melchiot eventually ran into but he still breezed past Reid with alarming ease. I can't see how the miscued clearance can be seen as anything other than a poor mistake by him either, he made the effort to get back but that doesn't make it right... Don't get me wrong, he did some good things today and he certainly has a part to play in our first team, I just think that a natural left footer is the long term answer to the left side and Emerton is better than Reid....I couldn't give a monkeys whether that player is Pedersen or not, just used him as an example.

I'm suprised at how much praise Steven Reid is getting, he cost us two goals today and his goal was down to a deflection. If Pedersen finds some form I would still move Emerton back out to the right to make room for him. Can't wait for Thompson to get fully fit and start games in the middle with Ferguson, I think that could be a very good partnership for us. I would also persevere with the Todd/Johansson partnership, I don't think we can get any better until the January transfer window comes along.

lets say we got 7.5 mill for him. which classy midfielder would we replace him with? who do you think would come to blackburn now, given the state of the team, club and finances. Certainly no one has good as barry fergusson - that's for sure. The team should be built around him. Sorry don't agree... Everton paid £2 million for Tim Cahill who is playing just as well as Barry Ferguson, if we could get someone of similar quality to Cahill for that price and still have £5 million or so to play around with then we should do it. Even players like Carrick are going for around £4 million. The more I think about it, the more I think I would snap their hands off for £7.5 million.

Bloody hell...what utter, utter nonsense. Sven has faults but that is certainly not one of them. He always brings young players in when they deserve it, just look at the average age of our squad and how different the starting 11 is now from the one that was starting when he took over.

What pub is that?

Ok....put them in too, I just want to be able to change my vote to Latheron.

Kittens give Morbo gas...

If that happens please add Latheron to the list, he deserves to be here more than both Sherwood and Forrest. I know there will be increased support for him if it came to a three way vote, he has to be considered once again.