WHAT do you make of the Premier League’s plan to play a round of matches overseas?

Dave, Holme Valley

To be honest, I’m completely flummoxed by it.

To me, it’s got nothing to do with the fans – those based in this country at any rate – and everything to do with money.

The powers that be have talked about the so-called 39th round being like a mid-season break, but it’s pie in the sky stuff.

It’s clearly fuelled by the desire for global branding, but while that’s all very well for the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool, it has little to offer the Wigans, Derbys and Readings, whose presence is just as vital to the success of the Premier League.

As for the fans, I think it’s ridiculous to expect them to go to Australia, America, Asia or wherever.

Some might be able to take a holiday to coincide with a game, but they will be very much in the minority.

Watching football is already expensive enough as it is, and the plan shows little respect to the supporter who watches his team home and away week in, week out, and there are plenty of them at every level of the game.

It’s also asking a lot of the players to undertake such lengthy journeys, especially when many are already putting in the air miles to play in the Champions League or UEFA Cup.

WAS David Mirfin’s introduction from the bench at Carlisle due to an injury to Nathan Clarke?

Tom, Dalton

No, it was to avoid any late risk of a second caution, and therefore sending off, for Nathan, and also to give Mirf a run-out.

Mirf can take some credit for helping us tighten things up at the back, because he played well in the 1-1 draw down at Brighton which kicked the process off.

It was a tough decision whether to go with Nathan or Mirf as partner to Rob Page, and Mirf can consider himself a little unlucky to have been left out.

I just felt Nathan had been that little bit more consistent over the season, and when I explained my decision to Mirf, he was obviously disappointed, but took it in the right manner.

Since then he’s been working very hard in training and reserve matches, the latest of which was at Walsall on Wednesday, and both Nathan and Rob know they need to keep producing in order to keep their place.

I WAS at the game on Tuesday and clearly saw the linesman start to flag for offside, then stop, as Carlisle won the corner which led to their first goal. What did you make of this incident?

Ian, Meltham

I told the press after the game that I was very disappointed.

I thought their man was offside, and I reckon the linesman dropped his flag as he started to raise it.

That’s fine, but why couldn’t he have alerted the referee to what had happened?

I asked the linesman about it at half-time, and he said he wasn’t giving offside.

I still thought he was, and that’s why our supporters gave him the bird when he did raise his flag a bit later on.

GIVEN the opposition, have your preparations for Chelsea been any different?

Claire, Fartown

Only that we have been watching their reserves as well as the first team!

Clearly the size of the Chelsea squad means Avram Grant may decide to change things around, as he has done in previous cup-ties by playing the likes of Tal Ben-Haim, Claudio Pizarro and Scott Sinclair.

He may throw in some other lesser-known names, so we don’t want to be caught out!

From a travelling point of view, we’re doing the same as always.

As you read this, we should have had a work-out at Watford’s training ground before heading to the hotel for a meal and bed!

We’ll aim to arrive at the ground at the same time as usual tomorrow and go through our normal routines.