It’s my hope though that a kitson/Beattie partnership could have some success. Kitson has done very poorly playing mostly alongside Sidibe, as he’s just not the player to chase down flick-ons and scrap for the ball in the way whoever plays alongside Sidibe generally has to do. Playing alongsside Beattie, however, he could come into his own with a bit cultured strike partner.

Also, with the signing of Etherington and Lawrence returning from injury, the service our forwards receive should be much improved, so hopefully we should get a few goals from those sources.

On the Fuller matter I don’t believe the options are to sack him or to back him. There’s no way you can back a player who has shown such poor discipline and done something so wrong. The options are either to sack him, or to discipline him heavily then forgive him, the latter being the choice we have made it seems. I diagree with the back every player or sack every player comment. You must consider each case separately and take appropriate disciplinary action thereof. Pewrsonally, half of me wants to see Fuller sold immediately to thehighest bidder and the other half wants him to stay and keep scoring for us. It’s a harsh world at the bottom of the table, as you know only too well and we need to put aside any idealism for now in an attempt to get as good results as we can for the rest of the season. All all honesty, what’s the chances of a similar situation happening again soon anyway?

I’d agree on the Liverpool front, i think a narrow loss like the one to Man United is the most likely result, but we held them at Anfield so we know we can get a result here.

Just a couple of points. Firstly, I agree with you that Beattie is a good signing. Powerful in the air, and good on the ground, he might be your saviour. Think you still need another striker though. Fuller, Beattie, Cresswell, Pericard, Kitson – doesn’t exactly strike fear into other teams!!

About the Fuller incident. I disagree with you when you say he must be kept because he is an important player. Stoke, in my opinion, have a choice to either sack him or to back him. They cannot afford to say that just because he’s important, he should say. Because what happens if another not-so-good player does the same thing, and he gets sacked. It will separate the group, knowiing that you are treated differently if you are a better player. You either have to back every player, or sack every player.

Don’t fancy our chances tomorrow – think Liverpool, if they score early, will be all over you. Best you can hope for is that they’re off form and you get a draw.