Bad news for Graeme Souness - when Man Utd come to town on the 22nd, David Thompson will be serving a suspension (as reported on TEAMtalk). The combative midfielder picked up his fifth yellow card of the season in Saturday's match at the Reebok stadium. This brings an automatic suspension. It certainly gives manager Souness a headache. Whilst not having the smallest squad in the Premiership, the Manager's ambitions have been thwarted by a series of injuries which have stretched the squad and seen the Rovers' struggling to pull free of the Premiership's also-rans after being knocked out of the UEFA Cup. Thompson may be joined on the sidelines for that game by David Dunn, who's currently sporting the must-have accessory for any Rovers player, the hamstring injury. It looks likely that Flitcroft and Tugay will play in central midfield against United, more by default than anything else. As such Souness will be hoping no more calamities occur between now and the 22nd.

"Bull of the Bosphorous" Hakan Sukur could be donning the blue and white of Blackburn Rovers very soon - depending on who you believe. It was widely rumoured that Sukur would be entering negotiations with Blues' manager Graeme Souness. The only official word has been that Sukur has been invited to train with the club. But if comments attributed to Sukur are correct then he may not even travel to Blackburn. Planet Football quote Sukur as saying: "I will go to England for my new club. I will discuss with Liverpool and West Ham United.". Quite whether he will end up at one of these two clubs is doubtful. West Ham would not be an enticing prospect for a renowned foreign striker given their recent problems, whilst Liverpool have a surfeit of such players, only recently letting Litmanen go. Sukur would represent a gamble by Rovers if he were to sign. He did not have a triumphant World Cup and has had an unhappy couple of years in Italy. He does boast a ratio of 1 goal every 2 games at international level though, and he forged a reputation as a prolific goal-poacher at Galatasaray. A hero in his homeland (his wedding was televised live on Turkish TV) his strength in the air could be invaluable to Rovers as they have struggled to score this season. Whether he actually signs remains to be seen however.

If suggesting that someone seeks to antagonise people is an insult, then I'll happily accept a yellow card.

Yeah well, there was a bit of a difference between the sentences wasn't there? If it was down to me you wouldn't have got a card as you hadn't offended me. "Water off a duck's back" etc etc. I wasn't trying to get you carded, just trying to make sure I understand your motivation.

Honest - I was just asking a question - getting other members booked ain't my style. I was being heavily sarcastic though - couldn't resist it. I find it hard to understand why you find Paul's points so puzzling. His lad was born in Ireland - so followed Celtic. Lots of Irish people follow Celtic, the club was formed by Irish monks who settled in Scotland as I remember it. There's nothing surprising in that.

What Paul's said seems crystal-clear to me. Which of his fantastically explicit points is proving so obtuse? You must be having genuine difficulty with at least one point, since I know antagonism isn't your style.

A sophisticated rebuttal that one, Jas.

It's to do with Palestine.

Oh, definitely a big happy one. There you go again, making me laugh - relegation battles! You are a wound-up little pooper, aren't you? I have actually posted elsewhere that Celtic deserved to go through - there's no rancour, no ire, nothing. All the best against Celta Vigo.

Hahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! You make me laugh. Both in your ham-fisted attempt to wind me up and your one-eyed view of the match.

The first leg saw a "good European performance" by Celtic, did it?

Absolute cobblers!

perhaps if you and your mates stopped trying to take the rise out of us, you'd see a more equable reaction - this is a discussion forum and at the moment you're not discussing, you're taunting. Yes, over two legs you deserved to win - no if/ buts offered.

Yes, we heard you the first time. This board is for discussions, not blatant antagonism. How magnanimous you are in victory - I guess you're typical of the friendly Celtic support we've been endlessly informed about?

I'm certainly not writing Jansen off, but I've a feeling that th hard work for him has only just begun. Someone send him a video of our promotion season! I've got my fingers crossed for you Matt.

I don't know whether Jansen will be the same player ever again.

Almost Hasta, but not quite. I'd have Gillespie doing 30 mins running down the wing practising crossing accurately. I'd have Dunn and Flitcroft practising scoring from 25 yards. additionally, I'd have Dunn practising saying: "Just an orange juice for me - I'm meant to be an athlete."

That was me. How stupid do I feel now?

I live in East Kent and support Rovers. Bizarre. Mr Colin - long time, no banter!

Some good points there, Des. Des makes some very good points on the board, but people do tend to ignore him. For my money, he's right - Souness needs to (and probably will!) have the balls to drop the big name players. Cole and Yorke are used to playing together for Man Utd where the team was so dominant the midfield could camp in the opposition's half for most of the game and give them proper support. Take that away and ... oh dear! i'm sure Friedel, Thompson and Neill are the only ones who care. As for David Dunn - @#/? off whenever you want mate. If you fancy going South we'll swap you for Beattie! Well said, Des.

"Colostomy bag gargler"? Sounds like the sort of bloke who used to appear on "The Word".

What happens if it's a draw after extra-time? Do Graeme and O'Neill have a punch-up in the centre-circle and the one who remains standing takes his team through to the next round? It's too close to call, it really is. Rovers to win 3-0 in normal time - Cole hat-trick - one on his left foot, one on his right-foot, one to ricochet off his nose.

It has been reported on the Lancashire Evening Telegraph's website that Martin "Tiny" Taylor is doubtful for the game against Celtic with hamstring trouble. This appears to be the injury of choice for Rovers' players this season. Already Rovers have had to do without Cole, Yorke and Duff for lengthy spells this season because of hamstring problems. Taylor limped off midway through the Rovers' disappointing performance against Southampton at St Mary's. This leaves Graeme Souness with a real dilemma ahead of the UEFA Cup game with Celtic on Thursday. With the manager admitting that his priority again this season is the Premiership, Taylor will not be rushed back into action. However, Henning Berg is still out with achilles problems and Stig Inge Bjornebye is still some months away from recovering from the horrific injury to his eye socket. This leaves Craig Short, who has been impressive for Rovers under Souness, and Lucas Neill as the defensive lynchpins, but both struggled to contain the lively Southampton attack, according to reports of Saturday's game. The remaining members of the back four will be permed from Nils Eric Johannson, a centre-back who has struggled as a converted left-back this season, John Curtis, a right-back who can also play in the centre but who has been banished to the reserves for over a year and Andy Todd, whose reputation as a one-paced centre-half cum full-back who is prone to violence has preceded him. Todd came on as a substitute during the Southampton game, but according to reports he has struggled to adapt to the pace of reserve games, so whether Souness will risk him against Sutton and co remains to be seen. Quite clearly, the manager has a dilemma on his hands. As usual it will be more or less impossible to second-guess what the manager's strategy will be. He has a habit of confounding even the closest of Rovers' watchers with his selections, which usually turn out to be happily effective. Let us hope that this is the case come this Thursday.

Another Celtic thread. Oh joy.

One game doesn't really prove anything though, does it? Let's not forget that you're only playing us because you're not good enough for the Champion's League. Man Utd have proved they can play against top-class opposition by winning the European Cup and generally doing quite well in it every season. No other team, apart from perhaps Leeds a couple of seasons ago have come close. There's no one set of results that you can take and extrapolate so that you can prove Celtic will do well in the second leg - your domestic league is dire and you've hardly set Europe alight. The fact that you did well against Valencia will, I can assure you, have absolutely no bearing on our match at Ewood. The game is delicately poised and could go either way. Neither set of fans can really claim their team has the upper hand, so all we're managing to achieve is to go in ever-decreasing circles. Talking the other side into submission apart, the best thing to do is to wait until the second leg is done with. One thing I will guarantee though is that you will know you've been in a game alright. Hats off to you if you win, let's hope for the same in return if we triumph. PS: Agree with you about the state of the Premiership, but to be honest, don't really care that we're third.