Barker's loan spell at Rochdale went from bad to ignominy when he haplessly skied a penalty and helped dump his team out of the FA cup yesterday. Anyone see it? Apparently, it was horrendous. As for Taylor, the Crewe site reports that they want to sign him on for another month (Rovers categorically ruled out a season-long loan) but if things are not sorted out at the start of this week, he'll return to Rovers.

Spurs are a totally different outfit without Aaron Lennon. I find it bizarre that Jol has let his only other real winger (he doesn't have much faith in Ziegler) to go out on loan (Routledge) meaning that whenever Lennon is injured, they have to play without pace on the flanks. Then again - we don't have pace on the flanks... Mickey Gray up to his old tricks again. No I don't mean asking around again, but returning from the wilderness to challenge for a starting spot.

WHy not just try it and see how it goes. This debate keeps cropping up and I've just got to the point of think 'Why not?' If it means more cheats are exposed (no more handball goals Mssrs Gamst and Gallagher) and more decisions made correctly, it'll probably be a good thing. Of course there'll be plenty to talk about despite correct decisions. How many threads on this messageboard are about referees and their mistakes?

He can kick a ball with his left foot.

I managed to avoid Vinjay's polemics when he was a free man on here so could someone tell me how he thinks John Williams is holding this club back? BTW: What was so controversial about Rev's columns that JW chose the extreme action of censoring them. ta!

Am I the only one who thinks that Amdy Faye isn't a bad player? He and Smertin (the better player, I know) stomped all over our midfield whenever they played together for Portsmouth.

Yeah, I like Commons but I have to agree with the criticisms of him being slow and injury prone. I think he can play at a higher level. Also, I reckon Andy Reid (a similar winger - well at least in skill and speed) will be a top signing for Charlton.

Did a great job at Oldham. Some of his signings in the Premiership were strange though - for Palace and Charlton.

Because there is no Hughes signing whose natural position is on the left?

Joining the queue of the contrite, he was my first choice to replace Souness when he buggered off to Newcastle. (Sturrock had fallen in my estimations by then). I must say, I reckon whoever picks up Dowie next (probably a Champ club whose grand ambitions are hanging around their ankles right now) will pick up a good manager. What he did at Oldham and Palace was very impressive with limited funds and teams languishing - even if it went a little sour at the end. I'm not sure why he failed at Charlton. I don't know if others agree but I just don't think he was ever comfortable at his new club - for reasons unknown. I know we're only seeing things from the very extremities of the outside (having strangely no great interest in the goings ons at Charlton) but little things, like his post-match interviews, just indicated me that here was a man unsettled. Someone said to me that he doesn't have the 'aura' to command the respect of prima donna Prem footballers, despite being a good coach. Perhaps there's something in that. Souey wanted Traore remember. You know what they say about great minds...? Yeah, that's right, 'aren't made of cheese.'

Just because nearly everyone does it, doesn't make it right. I have to say, Jeffers has performed better than I'd expected - but I still think that he needs the luxury of a run of games to re-find any form, something we cannot afford. You would, however, think that Gally, with his ability to shoot from long range and cross a ball, would be a better bet to score/create a goal off the bench than Jeffers. At least Kuqi with his brawn could make an impact as a sub, I'm not sure Jeffers can on a regular basis.

Cercle breath a sigh of relief - probably.

I don't believe Danns has been playing THAT well for Brum because Steve Bruce recently came out and stated that Danns had lost a bit of direction, intimating that he was trying to be too flash on the ball and should get back to what he's good at, getting into the box to get goals. However, Douglas or Danns would be better bets in our central midfield than Aaron Mokoena who has all his career played as a CB and only in emergencies as a CM. Who said cream rises to the top? If Aaron Mokoena is part of the cream, I can only surmise that we're talking crude vernacular here. The mediocre but experienced certainly rule OK in the Premiership.

I have to support RTM on this one. Can I just say, I have noticed that somewhat hypocritcally, whenever 'respected' members of this board query Hughes' decision - i.e Paul, USABlue and Abbey above have tentatively queried why Hughes isn't given Gally more of a chance, the usuals do not hit back with "HUGHES SEES THE PLAYERS IN TRAINING, HE KNOWS HOW GOOD THEY ARE SO SHUT UP YOU MORON" attitude. Paul and Abbey (i think...) are regular attendees of ROvers matches, all respect to them for that, but it seems very duplicitous of certain members to use the "Hughes knows best" argument against a selected few. Surely, to remain consistent, you have to either stick to it and always accept that the man who is sees the players 24/7 almost, will always be right (In which case deride Abbey, USA Blue and Paul like anyone else, for challenging this norm). Or you have to accept that despite his omnipresence in the Rovers world, Hughes, is not omniscient - not quite anyway. In which case, whilst of course you can disagree with criticism of Hughes' selections, you can never use the argument that Hughes sees the players in training everyday so will always know more than the fans about who should be in the team or not. Having got that out the way - I have to agree with RTM and state that it would appear that the sale of Jon Douglas was a mistake - or at least not replacing him with a real midfielder was the mistake. I have long been a detractor of the four-year deal Irishman but he was at least a central midfielder. Mokoena is a bad central defender pretending to be a central midfielder. As everyone knows, I don't buy this idea that a goddam awful CB can suddenly turn into a decent midfielder mid-way through his career. The skills are transferable, which is why a awful CB will be an awful CM - unless the only thing hindering his progress as CB was physical short-comings - like Ivan Campo and his snail pace. If a defender has technical foibles that determine him as a bad CB, these will be exposed in CM too.

I agree with Abbey - that he should at least be on the bench. However, a Gally-Tugay midfield would be as weak, if not weaker than a Axe-Tugay duo. Gally has technique, vision, shooting ability, crossing ability - that we know. Does he have the physical strength and determination? Hughes obviously doesn't think so, not yet anyway. Certainly, at Stoke, Gally's performances were up and down and whilst he displayed moments of skill, it was mainly his goals that kept him in the fans' favour. In the style of Gamst, I believe that whenever Stoke fans frustrations with Gally were building up to breaking point, he'd score a stunning goal from left wing and justify his inclusion for the next set of average showings.

A luxury? Lazy mercurial players are a luxury not fast players who can turn average passes into splendid by sheer speed. I agree with those who consider our lack of pace a problem - certainly on the flanks, but also in defence and in the absence of Roberts, up front. Without players who can really run with the ball with purpose (as opposed to the Jesper Gronkjaer/Keith Gillespie type) our counter-attacks are certainly less potent. Arsenal and Man U are packed with pace and you only need to see Spurs' form whilst Lennon was out to know how important a pacy, skilful winger is to their team. Pace up front can, to an extent, compensate for a paucity in midfield (Bellers last year and AJ for Everton this). And the current Chelsea side is reliant on their full backs to provide the width and speed as Mourinho has turned to playing central midfielders on the flanks.

I think it was just precautionary. Tony Kane wasn't given permission to play for Stockport either - and the chances of him getting a game with Lucas Neill, Reid, Brett Emerton, Zurab, Nelsen, Ooijer all perfectly capable (and Mokoena imperfectly capable) of playing right back are somewhere between zero and nought.

So he does rate Reid. Maybe those rumours linking him with Man U weren't so wide of the mark then... With Man U in top form, I did expect us to lose more heavily. With our current midfield, we are not going to create that much from open play against good defences.

German-based Rovers fan, "Smithfan", on offish mboard, translated an interview with Sergio Peter conducted by German magazine Kicker. Who said Sergio was arrogant? Kicker: In Bolton and Villa substituted, against West Ham 90 minutes. Are there already hints from Mark Hughes that you can play from the beginning on against ManU, Mr. Peter? Peter: No, I think it will be a substitution again. And if it's necessary, I want to turn the match around too. Kicker: You will encounter Cristiano Ronaldo and Gary Neville on your side. How do you want to stop them? Peter: They must chase me! kicker: You certainly seem to have a high self-confidence. Peter: I've always been like that. Kicker: So you were not in doubt when you left Germany with 14 and went to England? Peter: Yes, I've thought about that 10 times. But I said to myself: If I want to become a star, I'll have to fight it out. Kicker: Do you have a schedule when you want to become a starter? Peter: I do everything for this. My contract lasts 1 1/2 years still. Kicker: Is it your aim to stay in England in longterm or do you eye the Bundesliga? Peter: My dream for the future is to become a superstar. I feel well but I don't count a return out. The Bundesliga is not bad. Kicker: You played in some matches last year. Were you disappointed that you had to sit on the bench again? Peter: Yes. But everytime I came in, I performed well. Kicker: What do you have to improve? Peter: I'm a good two-footed player, I shoot freekicks with the left on the goal. You can place me everywhere, I have potential. Kicker: When you don't need to improve anything - why aren't you already a superstar like Wayne Rooney in your agegroup? Peter: That also depends on the coach. If I have my way, he could give me a chance everytime. Kicker: Does Mark Hughes talk to you regularly? Peter: You can talk to him quite well, but I'm someone who doesn't like to talk. As long as he doesn't say anything, I know that everything's fine. Kicker: Why didn't you get along in Cercle Brügge? Peter: That's a Clown-club. I wasn't worse than those who played there. I went back to Blackburn, I fought it out and now I'm always part of the 16-squad in the Premier League. If someone wants to destroy me, he will need a long time to do it. Kicker: The situation for Rovers is not the best. Your colleague Stephane Henchoz said a few weeks ago that it will improve in the next weeks. But it's still not really working... Peter: We have to work hard to improve the situation. Our team is good, we proved that in the UEFA-Cup. But it's actually easier there than in the Premier League. Maybe we don't have enough veterans to cope with the situation better. Kicker: What's going on with the U21-National team? Peter: I was invited once but I had an injury at this time. I want to be part of the team in the future. And later, I want to knock at the A-National team's door. Kicker: Coming back to the match against ManU on saturday: Which jersey do you want to get? Peter: I've already talked to Cristiano Ronaldo and we have agreed that I get his jersey after the match.

That's the thing, I believe that in many cases, the confidence boost first team involvement gives to a youth player can be that ingredient that is the catalyst to their development into Prem footballers. And even if they're not good enough - in that they are not superstars - clubs can make use of them as squad players. Alex Ferguson, who naturally has higher demands in terms of quality of players, has used players like John Curtis, Luke Chadwick, Jon Greening before discarding them for tidy sums. The thing about Andy Taylor is quite simple really. Gray has been playing crap and is renowned as defensively weak. McEveley is defensively weak and if you don't allow your contempt for me to cloud your judgement, you will admit this. Hughes is trying to off-load Matteo. Taylor has been awarded professional terms, a squad number, first team experience at right back in non-competitive first team matches, good performances in League Two (MoM on his debut for Crewe), good performances for the reserves for a few years and captaincy of the reserves and is now 20 which is getting quite ripe for a reserve player. Surely, natural selection, if we must resort to Darwinism, should dictate when all others are losing their heads (and opposition wingers) that Taylor, bearing in mind the above, should jump the queue - at least onto the bench - and given a chance if he to see if he can do any better. Who knows, he might totally lose his head and fail. (On his MoM debut for Crewe he got caught out of position late in the game, conceded a free kick which led to the opposition scoring and winning). But after the numerous erros and poor showings of the others, he deserves his chance to shine or fail. I'm not saying for one moment that I know more about our youth players than Hughes. That would be madness of the highest and most singular order. What I am saying is that there is a problem in the Premiership whereby Premiership managers err on the side of caution when it comes to giving youth players a chance due to an unfounded fear that inexperience is a fundamental weakness. And the experienced but mediocre revel in this unfairness.

The new Yordi? At least he has pace.

I know I harp on about this but I strongly believe that the academy system in Premier League clubs is not working efficiently because there is not a systematic effort to bring players through. And it's not just me - Mark Hughes has questioned the approach at Arsenal that did not give Bentley time to flourish. Imo the players who have reached a consistent level of excellent performance for the reserves should by rights be integrated into the first team and given first team appearances as soon as possible. This doesn't mean throwing them in unconditionally but using sub appearances, low profile games, lost causes, dead rubbers to give them a taste and see how they take to it and take it from there. Leave a player in the reserves or on loan for too long and they're progress stagnates as their hopes of ever making it at Rovers fade. At the moment, most efforts to bring youth players through are not concerted but arbitrary results of injury crises. Ultimately, you don't know if a player has the capacity to be a Prem footballer until they're given a chance - but, the argument goes, they're too inexperienced to be put in. But how do they get the experience if they're held back because they're inexperienced....? You only have to look at specific cases to see how the academy - first team conduit is failing. Can you believe that but for a loan spell at Sunderland where Stuart Downing got an opportunity to show off his fantastic ability, he would have left Boro on a free? His contract was expiring and was only hastily renewed after he'd mesmerised the Sunderland faithful with some great performances and Steve McClaren had an "oh, he's quite good then" moment and rescued the club millions of pounds, signing Downing up on a long-term deal. There's too many over-paid and very mediocre players in the Premiership who happily occupy starting berths at the expense of young British talent in the smug knowledge that they have that priceless quality that makes them supposedly near infallible - experience. Thanks for backing me up mum! Not... Do get well soon.

Which is fair enough but the consensus is from nearly all the guys who report back from reserve games on here (Roversmum, Waggy etc) Jay McEveley is an inferior left back to Andy Taylor. In which case, I can't understand why McEveley is currently second choice left back - unless Hughes simply favours experience over promise. I guess Taylor will get his chance if he continues to perform for Crewe. Last year McEveley and Gallagher did quite well on loan and Hughes has involved them this season, so I'm sure Taylor's turn will come. In the meantime, we have to put up with Gray regaling the world with his defensive talents. (Incidentally, I don't think Gray is that bad. He's a bit rusty since being ditched for a while).

I'd rather we didn't. If Tugay left, as great as he's been, it will concentrate minds on finding a replacement.

Whether Gray or McEveley are good enough has a bearing on whether Andy Taylor should be given a chance, though. What is the message being sent out to the reserves and academy?. Mediocrity will be tolerated as long as you're experienced...? I am more than willing to hear the views of people who have seen Taylor play regularly for the reserves. However, in all that I've read and seen, I cannot see why Taylor is not at least on the bench in the current left back crisis. Hughes has obviously ear-marked him as having potential - hence he's been involved in first team squads and even played for the first team for a few games during last pre-season. Call me an upstart but I don't believe that managers are always right in their choice of when to play youth players. Imo, that discretion is warped by a unfounded fear that the young player will mess up. Hughes has accused Wenger of that over Bentley, and I accuse Hughes of the same. We should be turning to the best youth players - not to the experienced players who have consistently proven that they're not to be relied upon.