philipl

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

I'd go with the declaration being just right. Australia could have got that total had any top order batsman hung around a bit longer with Ponting. Equally England should have got the last wicket. The asking rate was only a touch over 4 runs an over across a day and a bit- any modern Test side which gets in is going to score at that rate.

...hence all my posts about buying another striker in the summer. That said being Todd and Neill-less is going to stretch our defensive resources.

"woeful" Newcastle seems to be the general verdict. With Wigan playing Sunderland on Saturday, there's a decent chance Newcastle will be bottom when they face the Mancs on Sunday (AND WILL STAY THERE).

So back to square one then- another 0-0 and disciplinary problems. I wonder if Todd has grown complacent? For the last two seasons he was fabulous- playing to the full of his ability. So far this season, his errors have cost two goals and looks like the video boys will get him a ban.

Official site say Matty is expected to be on the bench and that the Axe is back after being injured playing for South Africa.

Just practised with the new Chat link and I like it- much better than the old one.

Looked it up- you are right that Solano will be availsable against us. Overwhelming view of pundits is that Spurs will win a tight match against us. Still feeling optimistic for our chances but all rationality points to us having to be at our best to get anything out of the game. Here's hoping for more good reasons for the stay aways to feel sick that they missed a treat.

Well the Mackems are being realistic- they know Sunderland are headed on a one way ticket. What would our support be if we imploded and lost 15 on the trot the way Sunderland did last time in the Prem? The pointer to their attendances being down was the way they failed to get the crowds back when they were winning the Coca Cola.

Hmm, not a good night for Prem clubs at home. Liverpool through despite a pretty rubbish performance losing 0-1, Brum tonked at St andrews by Boro (what a shame for the BIG CLUB run by LOYAL s Bruce) and Pompey only managing a 1-1 despite Villa having solarno straight redded (won't be playing us on Saturday then). Oh and Sunderland lost at home making that 18 STRAIGHT Premiership defeats. Impressive! Rovers to stick up for home wins tomorrow say I!

Even with 6 out, that leaves Spurs with England's number 1 Robinson in goal (and 3 back ups), Naybet, Edman, Gardner, Bunjevcevic and six other uninjured defenders named in the first team squad. Then Davids, Mendes, Ziegler, Carrick, Tainio, Lennon and three other uninjured midfielders and a choice between Mido, Keane and Defoe upfront (with two others to fall back on who are not injured). Really does look like a Champions League outfit without the Champions League credentials. We'll stuff them!