A quick apology to those that stop by now and again; the real world has really got in the way of posting recently. In fact, I haven’t had chance to even read what’s going on myself for the last week or so and I was in for quite a surprise today.

I rushed home today and switched on the TV right away, hoping to find the game. In all honesty, I didn’t even know what time the kick off was, let alone whether it would be televised. I scanned through the channels and was disappointed not to find it. Resigned to finding an online stream, I fired up a laptop and headed off to check the cold beer stocks. As I threw a few extra cans in the fridge I suddenly realised that the game could actually have already been played and if Tivo had done it’s job it would have been automatically recorded. I rushed back in the living room and checked the recorded shows list and there it was!! Result!!

OK, so laptop lid closed, didn’t want to stumble on the result, I cracked a cold one while fast forwarding through the pre-match studio stuff until I see the line up. And there it was. Guzan in goal again. OK, no problem there. I half expected to see Friedel come in, but I could understand MON sticking by his UEFA Cup keeper. Then I noticed that Luke Young was on the right again, nice. Shorey came back in on the left with Knight and Davies between the pair. So far so good. Wait. Luke Young is captain?? What the…??

As I looked down to the midfield line up it became obvious… Sidwell anchoring Gardner and Salifou in the middle…. yes, Sali – Salifou was starting!! But that wasn’t the biggest shock. That would have been seeing Bannan and Albrighton on the wings as support for Delfouneso on his own up front!! Wow, I have missed a lot this week haven’t I?!?!?

MON’s priorities were blatantly obvious and the commentators mentioned early in the game that MON had said he would be speaking to the traveling fans, so it was equally obvious that this team had stirred some controversy.

So I watched the game, still hopeful of stealing something. For a while it looked a definite possibility, but ultimately the difference in quality was reflected in the scoreline; 2-0 on the night, 3-1 on aggregate. No complaints there. I enjoyed watching the youngsters getting a run out, but it was painfully obvious that Craig Gardner was the only midfielder out there with enough ability to be playing at this level right now. The future looks bright enough for Bannan & Albrighton though. Sidwell and Salifou, not so much.

But right now I’m catching up on the other blog posts and comments. Much wailing and gnashing of teeth it’s fair to say. I can understand some disappointment about the squad selection from the fans who have laid out the cash to travel to Moscow, but I can’t help feeling that when you support a club then that’s exactly what you support; a club. Whoever the manager selects to play is who you support at that time.

Let’s be fair here, when we’re sitting fourth in the Premiership, it was always likely that MON would do this, given the size of the squad. He even said so himself some time ago. Sure, the squad depth at this point is entirely MON’s responsibility, but without him would we even have the opportunity to moan about squad selection for a trip to Moscow?? As far as I’m concerned, if things hadn’t changed when they did, it’s far more likely that we’d now be moaning about the likes of Gavin McCann or Jlloyd Samuel being left out of a crucial league encounter in Swansea or somewhere. Seriously. Think about it.

It might seem odd to put so much effort into entering a competition and then effectively giving up, but surely it’s absolutely right to start the season with as many options as possible and then prioritise as the season unfolds?? I suppose MON could have built a 35 man squad for the beginning of this season to cope with all the competitions, but what does that guarantee apart from a large wage bill??

This chairman, manager and team have got us to 4th in the Premiership right now. 5th Round FA Cup and Last 32 UEFA Cup. If the season ended right now, I’d be very, very happy with 2008/09. Trouble is, we still have 12 Premiership games to play and I can already picture the online rants and raves if we don’t finish top 4. Oh what a failure this season will be for some.

And as a footnote, I hate to compound everyone’s disappointment, but we didn’t win the Intertoto Cup. I know, I know, I can feel your pain. It looks to me like Braga are the only team who entered the UEFA Cup via the Intertoto to make it through this round, so are therefore the champions. I’m sure they’ll be dancing in the streets of Braga all night long.