Thanks- that explains why Scotland won then.

Anyone know why MGP was not even on the Norwegian subs bench? Is he likely to be ruled out of Sunday's game? Still smiling to myself at how a Malta team which would struggle against Accy Stanley (seriously) managed to massively dent a woeful Croatia's WC qualifying chances last night. Huge shame Maltese composure went when they had three wide open opportunities to grab the winner in the last ten minutes. A shot from inside the box went a yard over the bar when something low and hard would surely have embarassed the 6' 6" keeper. Then, twice, if only the inside right had spotted inside left onside and in acres of space with a clear run 30 yards from goal - all it needed was a half way decent chipped pass over the ball watching Croat defenders. I still cannot believe how bad Prso was. Even chubby little Ken Scicluna- no way is that guy an athlete/footballer (whose three sliced/fall over the ball interventions in his own box each time came within inches of being comic own goal of the season)- put two succesful tackles in on Prso.

I went to the Malta v Croatia game and had a fantastic time. Hugely enjoyable even though two of the worst players I have ever seen in internationals were playing. At least Malta subbed the chubby little Ken Scicluna of Birkirkara FC at half time but what the Croatian coach thought he was doing giving Dada Prso of Rangers FC a full 90 minutes I don't know. Pretty even throughout, Croatia took a first half lead and looked likely to romp to a cricket score the way they started in the second half but Prso's unstinting and uncanny ability to conceed throw ins from headers and shots inside the box in front of goal always kept the plucky Maltese in it. With Dimech of Chester City Reserves, Said of Sliema and Ciantar of Floriana clearly several levels above the quality of defender Prso regularly faces in the SPL, Croatia were wrapped up by the part-time Maltese defenders. After 60 minutes and still only 1-0 down Malta began to fancy it and started playing Ole keep ball. 75 minutes and a magnificent 30 yard free kick blast ripped into the Croatian net and the Maltese celebrations were in full swing. The last five minutes saw two great scoring chances for both teams squandered whilst Kovak collected a second yellow but unlike D'Urso, the fourth official drew the attention of the ref to the fact he'd forgotten the red. Absolutely great entertainment and what a cheer greeted the draw. The Croatian fans in the West Stand started pelting anyone who moved with cushions which added to the hilarity and Croatia are in danger of going into the draw with England for not-good-enough runners up after Ibrahamovich grabbed a 90th minute win in Hungary. This is an injury-hit version of the Malta I saw ibrahimovich score 4 in a Swedish 7-0 humiliation twelve months ago. Croatia blew it. ...and did I mention that Prso is a seriously bad player?

Have they sacked SGE yet?

I wonder how that was related by the TV weather forecasters on the afternoon of 28 August?

Alan75 and Chesh have both very accurately described the situation. Paul's solution to the problem does not work for the simple reason that more than 50% of the players (probably soon to be 80%) recruited are non-Brits. It is impossible to cartelise a monopsony when it isn't your fellow PL club who might outbid you but some Italian, French, Spaniard, Ukrainian, Qatari, etc etc. The solution in part is Big Sam's approach- but there are only so many unloved and unwanted Jayjays and Spits out there as Sam found out this summer (flattery is the sincerest form...)

The USA has finally told the EU and NATO what supplies it needs to help it with the hurricane. I do not know whether the US has replied to the offers of help received from the UN, neighbouring countries such as Cuba and Venezuela or any other countries which have offered assistance. Are all the domestic aid agencies that are offering help being allowed to operate yet? Of course this has nothing to do with politics. I hope the emmergency planning people in the rest of the world are looking and learning. With Global Warming off the American agenda, the fate of New Orleans could be facing much of The Netherlands in ten to fifteen years' time and London in most of our life times.

I completely agree. A very expensive misjudgement. Friends in the right places. American hospitality? New Orleans is a tourist destination in case anyone has forgotten. One figure says it all. It would have cost $2.5 billion to build defenses capable of resisting a Category 5 storm. Katrina was an upper Category 4. The Iraq war is costing $6 billion a week. Nothing about New Orleans and its situation is new; its vulnerability has been clear for centuries.

From Sunday morning's Observer newspaper: "Bush was already under fire for taking the longest summer vacation in presidential history and he stayed put at his ranch in Texas as Katrina made her deadly landfall. On Wednesday, two days after the hurricane struck, he flew over the area in Air Force One, only arriving yesterday (but not in New Orleans itself) to see the scene for himself, though he did declare that relief efforts so far had been inadequate. He sounded grave, but spoke of hope ahead, even in these "darkest days". In previous public appearances, his tone and demeanour seemed inappropriate, further evidence of the tin ear he displayed when referring to Osama bin Laden and the 9/11 hijackers as "folks". It is hard to disagree with the New York Times, famously restrained in its use of language, whose editorial found that Mr Bush's response had been "casual to the point of carelessness". The Times' former editor, Howell Raines, wrote in our pages that his behaviour was "outrageous". "More substantive points include charges that the president cut funding for the levees that were supposed to protect New Orleans from floods. Others have singled out the damaging and greedy redevelopment of coastal wetlands. Not all the criticism stands up to close scrutiny. Even with full funding in recent years, none of the flood-control projects would have been completed in time to prevent the swamping of the city. Staving off cuts to the budget of army engineers would not have helped since the destruction was vaster than any contingency. Still, there is a widespread perception that the sheer scale of the problems reflects a shuffling of resources - to pay for tax cuts and the Iraq adventure - that has left the US far too vulnerable. It is all a brutal reminder that government policies, sometimes followed only in the small print of rows over obscure budget allocations, can have real - and deadly - consequences for real people. "The words "homeland security" now have a terribly hollow ring in the anarchic south: 35% of Louisiana's National Guard is serving in Iraq, where four out of every 10 soldiers are guardsmen. And recruiting is down because people fear being sent to Iraq. The priority given to law and order seems a troubling inverse reflection of what happened after the fall of Baghdad. Is it really more important to use deadly force against looters than to deliver humanitarian aid effectively? "Elemental forces do not take account of secular political timetables, but Katrina struck at a moment when the president's ratings were at a second-term low. Americans, especially the poor black people who are the hurricane's main victims, will need to see a much more effective government response to this natural weapon of mass destruction if Mr Bush's reputation is not to sink further as the killer floodwaters start to recede."

Some international comment on the plight of the USA: Perhaps the much-abused and maligned French can be forgiven Le Progres: "Katrina has shown that the emperor has no clothes. The world's superpower is powerless when confronted with nature's fury." Not entirel surprising comment from Kenya: "My first reaction when television images of the survivors of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans came through the channels was that the producers must be showing the wrong clip. The images, and even the disproportionately high number of visibly impoverished blacks among the refugees, could easily have been a re-enactment of a scene from the pigeonholed African continent." A telling comment from HongKong: "This disaster is a heavy blow to the United States, and a lesson which deserves deep thought... [it] is a warning to the Bush administration that the United States must clear its head and truly assume its responsibility to protect nature and the environment in which humankind lives." Perhaps the pot calling the kettle black but the Iranian take on things: "About 10,000 US National Guard troops were deployed [in New Orleans] and were granted the authority to fire at and kill whom they wanted, upon the pretext of restoring order. This decision is an indication of the US administration's militarist mentality, which regards killing as the only way to control even its own citizens." Most disconcerting for those responsible for the relief effort is that it is not just Hugo Chávez who is expressing his amazement. Jack Cafferty, the CNN anchor known for his straight-talking, declared: "I remember the riots in Watts. I remember the earthquake in San Francisco. I remember a lot of things. I have never seen anything as badly handled as this situation in New Orleans. Where the hell is the water for these people? Why can't sandwiches be dropped to those people in that Superdome down there? It's a disgrace. And don't think the world isn't watching." PS all the Homeland Security people FEMA supplies to Baton Rouge have been binned. Suprise, surprise, they didn't need the medicines to deal with an anthrax attack.

Ask the US State Department. It is evaluating the offers of help. Obviously the US doesn't need Chavez's barrels of oil at sub-OPEC prices.

More days go by and still confusion reigns. Bush makes a live broadcast (he woke up in time?) and promises 7,000 extra troups (well, 17,000 actually according to the White House press statement- nobody woke the Pres). Quite apart from the abject misery, confusion and terror the citizens of America's south are living through (the devastation in Memphis is immense according to friends there but nobody is taking any notice), I think the damage to the American prestige and sense of well-being could be far greater than 9/11. Back to the hapless "W Bush". His response to the greatest natural disaster in the USA since the San Francisco quake almost 100 years ago is: Holiday Holiday Oh ###### better do something so divert Air Force one over New Orleans en route to Washington- photo opportunity of Pres looking dumb, er glum. Plattitudes Plattitudes Do something LIVE broadcast!!! Everyone knows Bush is recorded all the time so this is MEGA news. Media loves a story about the mechanics of the media so lots of positive coverage Plattitude Plattitudes (got the numbers wrong? 17,000 is too big a number for the Pres to comprehend) Do something Dodge the bank manager- the President of China can wait. Pres cancels meeting with President of China who has come to Washington to tell him to put his financial house in order to "tour" the south, meet a few photogenically chosen blacks and get Rove to spin that W went a lot closer to the grim reality of New Orleans than he dared in reality. What's that? every man, women and child in the USA on average owes China $6,400 - ha ha, guess which bunch of slitty eyes will buy the US paper to fund the $10 billion Federal hurricane (couldn't organise a ######-up in a brewery) relief effort? Meantime 53 governments around the world (including Tsunami-hit Sri Lanka) have offered cash and help to the USA. (Britain's medical teams sit at the airport). US State Department says it is considering its response. Koffi Anan formally offers UN assistance to "Ambassador" Bolton.

One of you is talking about Slovenia.

0-0 v Andorra? Can Malta play you some time soon?

All I can say from an English standpoint is thank you Tosh for snubbing Savage. No way would England be getting 3 points today if Sav had been playing for Wales.

Some hard facts: In all risk assessments of the likeliest calamities to hit the USA, New Orleans flooding was consistently ranked in the top five. Spending on New Orleans flood protection has been reduced by 80% by the Bush administration. Every mile of wetland reduces the impact of hurricane surges by 50%. The Bush administration removed development controls over the destruction of wetlands four years ago. Hurricanes have statistically become stronger and more numerous over the past fifteen years. There is a history of twenty year cycles of abnormally numerous and strong hurricanes. This one is out of synch. The size and extent of the devastation in America's south is proportionate to the Tsunami in the Indian Ocean. What is truly shocking is that several days after the disaster, the USA seems far less capable of handling a wholly predicted disaster than most Third World countries were capable of handling a largely unforeseen disaster. New Orleans is probably on a par with Mogadishu now in terms of danger and lack of civil authority. How the USA gets back in control of the situation is anybody's guess- sending another 10,000 part-time troops with inadequate command and control and little to no experience of this sort of catastrophy still seems overwhelmingly inadequate. Most other countries would throw open its borders to global help in the face of this size of disaster. If the Russians can get the Brits to rescue a sub, surely Bush can ask the UN for help.

Psst IHB, Newcastle's new signing is Michael Owen. Luque is the cherry on top.

If the next game at Ewood doesn't generate a full house, nothing will. Good bye to the greatest forward ever to wear blue and white. Newcastle's new signing. Souey back. Pretty uneventful really.

The Guardian this morning pointed out that the Villa v Rovers attendance was 6,000 lower than Villa's average last season. And Villa were parading their new £7m signing! The full-on crisis is finally hitting the Prem: - the effects of the Champs League means the top berths are unreachable for 70% of the clubs and the supporters know it. - therefore avoiding Coca Cola oblivion is the order of the day in approximately 50% of all Prem games. - therefore the quality of entertainment in the Prem has plummetted over the last three seasons. Great games are now the exception rather than the rule compared with when Alan Green said just before Christmas 2002 "I haven't seen a bad Premiership game yet this season". - the fact Charlton have made a storming start is not registering anywhere outside north west Kent. - prices have risen as the quality of the product has worsened. - ipso facto, the people who go to football matches for the entertainment as opposed to tribal loyalty are staying away in droves. Lower prices don't work, signing top players doesn't work, it is the fundamentals of the competition which have gone wrong and the British public recognises that and is now giving football a collective thumbs down. The options for Rovers are to risk the business by blowing money on a player (or players) who could fail on the field or suffer a long term injury (highly risky) or simply hunker down this season and let the Souness contracts run out next June. The next few days could be interesting at Ewood on the transfer front but I think it will take a miracle beyond the club's control to get the crowds back to an average of 25,000+ any time soon

Did Tony Parkes do the interviews as usual? The press are reporting Souness as safe for the next few matches. So no way will he still be in post when Newcastle come to Ewood and once again we'll be facing a team fired up under a new manager.

This article bears out the contention that crowds are down. Incidentally, crowd numbers also seem to be a lot lower in the Football League as well.

Two observations: Playing 4-4-2 we didn't look any worse at the back or in midfield than playing 4-5-1 but at least it gave us a threat upfront. The 4-5-1 formation completely failed to cope with Philips running through from deep. Two away games, two (probably avoidable) defeats, two halves when Rovers totally failed to turn up. Hughes either sorts it out or we are in for a long unhappy winter.

Intriguing- if you're a Villa supporter, this has to be THE fixture to get your season moving. Rovers suspended, injured, pantomime villains with the blonde baddy; Villa Barosed and raring to go. There is a win in this game for Rovers but I don't think we'll find it. Sticking with 2-0 to Villa but expecting lots of comments along the lines of Villans saying "I didn't know your lot could play football".

Whenever this thread reaches the top of the Board now, my immediate reaction is that Fat Freddie must have sacked him. Must be getting mighty close.

Villa will be desperate for their first win of the season. Baros making his debut, Savage winding up the locals, I am afraid they will get it: 2-0 to Villa