Nate

1-1 at Anfield too.

Bristol Rovers into the last eight after beating Southampton 1-0. Today Cardiff v Wolverhampton Chelsea v Huddersfield Coventry v West Brom Liverpool v Barnsley Man Utd v Arsenal Tomorrow Preston v Portsmouth Sheff Utd v Middlesbrough It's going to be a weak quarter-final line-up if Portsmouth and Middlesbrough don't both win.

I think Chelsea are definitely the best value at the moment. As you say, Drogba and Anelka aren't going to have many bad games and their midfield has incredible quality in depth. I can see them beating both Man Utd and Arsenal at Stamford Bridge and it going right down to the wire between all three.

I don't remember Sam being sacked on the pitch. Must have been embarrassing for him.

He seemed to take a clear swipe at Maloney's face, from the footage i saw. When you consider he's currently supposed to be on his 'best behaviour' it makes it increasingly difficult to have faith in him to keep his head in other situations, on and off the pitch.

Before this i was advocating giving him another chance, because i do still think when he regains form he's the best option we have in central midfield, but after that... If he can't control himself for 90 minutes on a football pitch, just weeks after coming out of prison, i hold little hope for the rest of the time. As long as he doesn't go down for the Dabo incident, i imagine one of the struggling or promoted clubs will see him as a bargain for £3-4M in the Summer.

He's done an excellent job at Norwich so far, as has Neil Warnock at Crystal Palace. They highlight the gap between the Championship and Premier League at management level well.

Err, why would a regular in the Spanish national team who is constantly linked with a move to Barcelona or Real Madrid a) join Newcastle and b) cost less than Michael Carrick?

Several Premier League clubs outside the top 8 would pay £5-6m for Smith, i reckon. He still seems to have a decent reputation as a centre-forward and was making the England squad only a few months ago.

I cannot stand listening to Dixon, either. I remember last season on MotD2 he used to continually freeze Arsenal games at some random point when they had possession in midfield and draw a triangle around their three closest players... as if he was enlightening everybody about their passing game. Talking of panels, tonight on Sky Sports News: Paul Merson, Paul Walsh, Tony Gale, Tony Cottee...

You do know Faye played in the Premier League before he came here? Who do you currently rate as our best centre-half?

Isn't Ray Ranson, who is about to take over there, a friend of Sam's? Perhaps Coventry are big enough for him.

Harper Milner Caçapa Faye Enrique Beye Barton Emre N'Zogbia Martins Duff - The closest thing we've got to a commanding goalkeeper. - Solid, hardworking full-backs and two centre-halves comfortable on the ball. - Our best balance of work rate and creativity in central midfield. - Pace on the wings and pace up front.

Sven does the double over Fergie. Fantastic.

Looks like a big mistake by Ferguson to leave out both Carrick and Hargreaves.

I was going to say, he has to be the signing of the season.

I don't think you can call Emre more consistent than Barton. Both have played too little this season to be judged properly, but if you look at their last couple of years in the Premier League Barton has performed more consistently for City than Emre has for us. I agree with you on the other point. If we could only make 3 signings this Summer i would want a top centre half, central midfielder and centre forward. When Faye is not in the team we have no spine whatsoever, something you find all the top teams are built around.

What set the alarm bells ringing today was not the selection of Butt, Carr and Smith - because afterall he is still getting to know the squad and they all carry big reputations - but his inability to change things when we were being completely overrun by Villa at the beginning of the second half. It was worryingly reminiscent of games under his predecessors and whilst of course i'm not 'turning on him', it will undeniably be a cause for concern if those three start ahead of Faye, Enrique and Viduka again.

What has he had, 5 league starts? I thought he was good against Blackburn, good against Arsenal and yes, he has been poor in the other games but which of our players are performing consistently at the moment? The same people who want us to sell Barton probably want rid of Butt and Emre too - we can't buy 20 players in the Summer. I've seen enough from him to suggest he's a decent midfielder and certainly good for us next season.

N'Zogbia's goal versus Middlesbrough, and Allardyce, Mort and Ashley's reaction to it.

Viduka has scored more goals this season than Smith has in ten years, for fuck's sake.

Why did Keegan not change the team that had been overrun for 20 minutes?

Desperately need to get Faye in the middle and Viduka up front if we want anything from this game.