Shak

Owen out, leaving Smith and Viduka up front with Oba on the bench, just you watch.

On the plus side, if that's the team, Smith is out. Edit: I think you'll be right, in any case. Though I'd be over the moon if we started Oba instead of Owen.

Stand together, yeah!!

I'm listening to upbeat, motivational type music at the moment in an attempt to generate positive vibes. That 'Fly Into The Danger Zone' song from Top Gun currently being blasted out.

Kevin Keegan. Really? I'd imagine so, apparently Alan Smith usually informs KK what the team will be the night before. So Kev will have known for hours at this point.

I may conduct a feasability study into whether I could set up the TV in the bathroom and watch the game while sitting on the toilet, as that would probably be for the best.

There would be silver linings I suppose, yes. But, on the whole, it'd be a massive setback for the club that could take years to recover from. It's not easy to just bounce back up either. Sure, you get rid of all your dead-wood. But you also lose any promising players you actually want to keep who mightn't fancy the Championship. You're then trying to whip together a brand new team and expect them to instantly be the best in the Championship, or good enough to get promoted anyway. That's not easy, and for all the money we'd have coming up again would be far from certain. There's also the distinct possibility that our BILLIONAIRE owner decides he couldn't be arsed owning a Championship club and sells up, when there's a fair chance he'll invest a fair wedge of cash trying to make us serious contenders if we do stay up. It'll be a disaster, no two ways about it.

I want to see what this team of Keegan's is really made of, one way or the other. Was the performance against Blackburn a flash in the pan, or can we actually stand up and give a good account of ourselves against beatable opposition on a consistant basis? And Birmingham, make no mistake about it, are eminently beatable opposition. If we roll over and die weakly against a team like them, then there's not a whole lot to be said for us quite frankly. It's a massive game. A win and I'd say we'll end up safe. A gutless loss and then I see nothing to suggest we can flick a switch and somehow win our 3 easier home games.

I'll be gutted if we don't at least give Birmingham a real good game. We know we're in a scrap, our last game against a side we had a realistic chance of beating we gave a great account and were very unfortunate to lose. So we should feel we have something to prove and have a bit of confidence we can play OK. If we go out and look dreadful and lose though, then we're deep in it.

'Formational Sense'.

You could be right, but I'd be surprised if he's not at Man U next year. Van Der Sar can't have long left, I'd expect Foster could challenge him for a spot next year. Would also be a short-term solution for us at the very best because if he does really well Man U will want him back.

Don't think he'd come here.

Good hit, yeah.

Protest thread? Anyway, doesn't this whole approach rather fly in the face of all your talk about not trying to manufacture good footballers/teams and rather just letting players play, the way football is meant to be played?

Don't you mean another enthralling tactical battle? Anyway, pray that whoever wins the Arsenal/Liverpool game stuffs Chelsea. Man U v Barca over two legs would be great. That would be class. Especially if Leo was fully fit, so he could show Cristiano how it's done. And what happens if Cristiano plays well and wins the tie for Man U? Your position on the forum would become untenable.

Seems very unlikely that someone would just so happen to guess the right draw after making a thread about it. Definitely something very fishy going on. That said, I think they did a nice job fixing it so fair play to them.

Massive getting him back if he's fit for the rest of the year, our one striker with real class on the ball. I'd start him and Martins up top whenever both are fit, not that that'll happen, obviously.

Don't you mean another enthralling tactical battle? Anyway, pray that whoever wins the Arsenal/Liverpool game stuffs Chelsea. Man U v Barca over two legs would be great.

I'll be shocked if Barca win it, tbh. The 4 English teams just all look like they really want it more, I'm not sure Barca have he desire right now, and that will prove crucial at some point. As long as Chelsea don't win it I'm happy, anyway. Arsenal preferably. Man U Liverpool Arsenal Chelsea Barca Would be how I'd rank them, in terms of favourites. Not much chance of any of the others doing much, unless Totti actually performs in a big game or two. Which we all know won't be happening.

Duff? Well spotted. 48% of available points without Duff, 6% of them with him. I'll bet you got extremely aroused when you found that statistic. I think the departure of Martins for the ANC was massive, we've been shit ever since. Obviously the change of manager was massive but I really think the loss of Martins played a very big part too.

Come on Inter Will be a boring draw if 4 english teams are in it!! How on earth do you figure?

I think he talks a lot of sense when he's doing punditry. Classic case of being able to talk a good game but failing miserably when it comes to backing it up for real. Souness was a pretty handy player in all fairness. Anyway, be shocked if Inter win on the night, never mind on aggregate. As long as Chelsea don't win it out, I don't mind. I'd actually like Arsenal to win it, Wenger deserves one.

Seems like more than 5 years ago, how the team has fallen.

I'll bet he has horribly obvious disguises that he wears into the shop, fake moustaches and the like.

Duff has been absolutely dreadful for Ireland since the World Cup in 2002, where he was absolute class. That said, the entire Irish team has been shite, so make of that what you will. In no way has he stood out amongst the uselessness though, as you might expect a player of his alledged quality to do. So I'm not sure whre this notion of him playing well for Ireland recently comes from. Duff regressed under Mourinho, in all honesty. In his early days, he was a frustrating but at times brilliant winger. He'd run at defenders all day long, could skip by two or three at a time with a couple of quick changes of direction and then he'd be gone. Odds were he'd lose the ball more often than not, but you knew that a couple of times a game at the very least he'd get behind the opposition and into really dangerous positions. The only thing that stopped him being a truly top class winger, one of the very best in the world at the time, was his final delivery. So often he'd get into great positions only to scuff or overhit a cross or shot. But he was getting into those positions enough to get away with it and still set up chances on a regular basis. Anyway, once he got to Mourinho's Chelsea he was no longer the guy expected to make things happen, the star of the show that he was in Blackburn and for Ireland. He became more cautious in his game, retaining the ball much more and becoming the team player Chelsea wanted. But in doing that he lost that something that made him a very good player and ultimately Chelsea were fairly happy to give him away for a pittance, considering the talent he had once been hailed as. So now what are we left with? A has-been, basically. One way or another, it seems he's lost the talents that made him special. He can't beat one man anymore, never mind two or three at a time, which was what made him so dangerous. As I mentioned above his final delivery has never been a strong point, and now that he needs to make the most of his good shooting/crossing chances we see how poor it really is. I think injuries have hurt him a lot. He was quick, but never a guy with lightning pace. Much of what made him a good player was how agile he was, able to change direction so quickly and fluidly and leave his man behind him, and I think he's lost that to an extent as age and injuries have slowed him down. So yeah, he's pretty rubbish these days, basically.