Gribz

I dont mind if Villa lose or win, find them boring at times. But Newcastle are a pain in the ass due to the soap opera so I kinda hope they lose. It would be funny to see them get brought into the relegation battle.

5/2 the draw and home win isnt bad odds!

Needs another goal now. Villa should have had a penalty. Barton did a John Terry save. But decent start to the game. I wonder what the in match betting odds are at the moment - I suppose il have a look

1-0 to Newcastle - Owen. I thought about Villa on the coupn yesterday but totally changed my mind. Fancy Newcastle to get something because they have to.

I think domestic form will slightly go out the window here and with a better atmosphere the players will be lifted a bit. Its now a knock out competition so WS really has little more options than to press on a bit although he showed at Easter Rd last week he was negative here. But we still didnt lose that and we can do the job at Ibrox. One of the frustrating things is IMO we have a squad capable of going up a few gears and taking the game to Panathinikos. But they are going to be well organised. Its games like this I still wish we had a player like Lovenkrands who could and would make a difference when we are drawing. He had a great record of stepping up and getting us a goal in big games. Thats why Id play Buffel, he is capable of that.

Dundee Utd v Hibs - Home Win Hearts v Gretna - Home Win Motherwell v Kilmarnock - Home Win Rangers v Falkirk - Home Win St Mirren v Inverness - Draw Aberdeen v Celtic - Draw

Good post and agreed with the final 3 paragraphs

IF and big if, we were to spend that cash on a player again, then it has to go on someone who will make a great difference to the team with a good track record and can give us that bit extra. Benni McCarthy 2 million and Kyle Lafferty 4 million

Is it 7 in the SPL? I thought it was less with a few being U21. 7 seems ok but 3 U21's is slightly high, 2 would be a good number here.

McCormack didnt get much of a chance and when he played he looked ok. He took his goal in Porto well. Havent seen anything of him at Motherwell but they are doing good this season. Good luck to the lad but he may be playing Championship football next season as Wigan are right in the dog fight.

Someone want to confirm that this is utter gash!!! No way we should be paying that sort of money for him.

They arent 100% stupid then!! http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/7233663.stm This is a better rule and where the U21 rule should come in. That would give say 5 experienced players on the bench and 2 youngsters per game. Hopefully the SPL see this and do the same.

The more i think about it the more I cant believe how much the Fat Cats are ruining the game. Id love to see West Ham over here but that would be from my view and it would still be wrong for them to play a league match out of England. They are talking about capping players wages but this will only increase it with the amount of revenue the clubs would get from Middle East and Asia billionnaires who would pay for this. What about them running the game giving something back to the fans for a change - that would never happen though. Plus there would be fans who havent missed a league game for years and all of a sudden they have to travel and pay 600 quid to watch there team!!! Nonsense!!! The only POSSIBLE shout for a game out of the UK would be to host the FA cup final somewhere. But that would NEVER be allowed as they need to pay off Wembley. By all means the Premiership clubs can go on Asia tours in the summer but play each other but leave the League alone!!

Early snatch at tomorrows coupon: Aston Villa v Newcastle - Home Won Everton v Reading - Home Win Derby v Tottenham - Away Win West Ham v Birmingham - Home Win Hearts v Gretna - Home Win Rangers v Falkirk - Home Win

Paul Le Guen was the best up and coming manager about but look what happened there and what went on behind the scenes. (Im not sure how he is doing with PSG but he was struggling earlier this season).

I can see that TBH but for me Ferguson just isnt that further forward player we need. Thats been obvious for a while now. Ferguson is at his best playing central midifeld and running the midfield (although he does too much at times) rather than pushing further forward. I'll be interested to see Davis play, I wonder if he gets a game this weekend first! And then of course there is the option of Faye after his superb reserve performance!! :fish: But it would still be Buffel or Gow if I was picking the side.

Again those 3 would look ok but id say a non starter by WS, he likes a big tall striker to hold things up. Another option which a lot of fans would look at is Buffel to play behind a striker with Ferguson and Hemdani sitting in central midfield but once again WS wont do that.

I think thats a non starter. Novo / Naismith with Boyd / McCulloch would be better but for this game my first pick would be Novo and Cousin (if available).

By level, i meant bigger matches. He always struggled against Celtic aswell. Granted he hasnt had much of a european run. If WS goes 4-4-2 then i wouldnt say no to Boyd playing but the chances are minimal are they as WS has his favoured style at the moment.

I think Boyd in a 4-4-2 is fine for SPL matches but he's struggled at this level before. He has shaded weight again so he may be a lot more mobile. I wouldnt rule it out but I still think Novo would be the perfect ingredient for this game.

Dont know why it took so long, the game is around the corner. But its a blow but not a surprise. Its the Cousin decision Im waiting for, what are UEFA doing with that!! That joker David Taylor needs to get his finger out. Id play him in the UEFA game for his quality

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/7232390.stm An absolute nonsense IMO and shouldnt even be looked at. As soon as seedings etc comes into play the competitive side of things goes out the window. We'd all like to see a Premier game live but if thats the case we should go to there stadiums.

Its going to depend on Cousin for me. If he is still a Rangers player id play him. If not id say there is a shout for Novo to play, he is a big game player.

I think i started the same thread at the start of the season and the majority was pretty much that we expected to challenge for the league and at least go for a domestic cup. If we were in Europe after Christmas then that would be a bonus. So as things stand at the moment WS has ticked all expectations and possibly beyond that with a 4 point lead in the league and sitting in the league cup final and a favourable draw in the Scottish cup. Plus up next week is Panathinikos in the last 32 of the UEFA cup. What happens now if we a) go out of europe b) dont win the league? Will people jump on a bandwagon saying it was thrown away simply because of the good position we are in? My personal take on it is if the league goes to the wire then we have to look at it in the way that we have came on strides this season. However I believe we will go on and win the league. Domestic cup wise I think we will beat Dundee Utd in the League cup and get past Hibs in the Scottish Cup. Celtic have a tricky tie at Pittodrie and could get knocked out there. In Europe, I feel a Rangers team should be strong enough to get past Panathinikos. Id be very disappointed if we got knocked out due to negative play and poor tactics. If we went out despite giving all then I think we'd all accept that. However once again I think we will get through to the last 16, after that its either Werder Bremen or Braga with the Germans likely to be favourties there and thats a very tricky tie should we look tha far ahead. One thing that isnt going to help us is the fixture back log. The next few weeks is going to test the size of our squad and lets hope WS uses it to its full potential. Expectations for me are to lift the League Cup, get to the Scottish cup Final and take that game from there. I expect go all the way in the SPL and take the league flag home as I think we are good enough and better than Celtic as things currently stand. In Europe a last 8 finish would be a good run but who knows!!! Thoughts from others?

Singles is fine for horses and big punters or live tv matches. I like a 6 fold with teams who are supposd bankers, its came up a few times this season although near the start. Im maybe off to the races tomorrow depending on how busy it is due to the chinese new year. If not il take a day of next friday and go while everyones at work. Ive yet to visit the racecourse here and there is a card on 6 or 7 times a month.