At least with Olsson around, Ryan Woods doesn't have to play left back.

Gamst must not be sold unless for a ridiculous fee. He is integral to our team.

And how many Latin temperaments are you familar with?

Given the trouble kuqi caused Southgate and Riggott earlier this season, I wonder if Hughes will be tempted into starting with the Finn. I guess it's unlikely with the Flo-Bellers partnership looking promising. 2-1 Rovers. Unpredictable Boro lose, here's hoping.

Baros seems to score quite often against us, so it was nice to see him miss those chances. Phillips, also, doesn't mind a goal or two versus Rovers, so it was a surprise we kept the clean sheet.

Souey provides good soundbites. whether his insight into matches is up to much is a another matter.

Just a couple of points that I don't think anyone has mentioned. I hope Hughes gives Bentley another chance in central midfield. We really need someone with his skill, technique, passing and shooting ability to orchestrate the midfield. Obviously, to play in the position, you need positional awareness and a physical presence to provide a defensive shield to the defence. Bentley may not have displayed the latter but when the whole side played poorly, I don't think people can justifiably write off his future in central midfield. At least not until he has a few more chances. Secondly, I'm slightly disappointed that Sergio Peter has been dropped from the bench. Hughes was obviously unimpressed with his Arsenal performance but I think it slightly harsh to drop him after numerous impressive performances previously. Notably, when almost everyone (including Emerton) was crap against West Brom, he came on and did well. I just think he offers a different threat than our other midfielders, summed up by his cross for Bellamy versus Sunderland. I would have thought that him coming off the bench late in games could provide the same threat that Aaron Lennon poses to flagging full backs for Tottenham. But we won so that's all good.

Darlo nab Jemal Johnson on loan He should bag a fair load for them.

Garner seems to have lost his way of late but I'm sure he'll be back. Raff De Vita has made more of an impact since featuring for the reserves.

If Gamst'n isn't fit, I hope Peter gets a start with Bentley on the right or central and Emerton on the bench. We can win this but Villa are capable of putting in excellent performances out of the blue. They gave Chelsea a real game but are more than capable of being pathetic as well. Rovers 1 Villa 0

No coincidence that Pedersen wasn't playing in front of him. I think Pedersen's absence was crucial in a defensive and attacking sense. At times we had possession but didn't have the width in midfield to open up Spurs. Perhaps Hughes could have been bolder, rather than bringing back Emerton, played Bentley on the right and peter on the left. Anyway, roll on the next game, and UEFA cup football. Champs league is probably beyond us now.

Now on loan at Derby.

Peter is probably the best Rovers player to have been sent to Cercle (which doesn't say a lot, I know) but as you say, his arrogance and injury problems meant he didn't exactly impress. Apparently, he made it clear that he was above playing for a club the size of Cercle. And I have noticed that Mark Hughes has been very careful about not hyping Peter up. Almost every time he mentions him, Hughes refers to Peter's self-confidence (euphemism for arrogance maybe?) and emphasises he has still a lot to work on to improve his game. I think this is the right approach from Hughes and hopefully we see the best of Sergio. It's useful to have him on the bench because he offers a different threat to Pedersen.

Why resort to the tried and failed in Emerton? By that logic, when Rovers were looking for a new manager, they should have gone for a tried and 'trusted' guy like George Graham, Terry Venables or even John Gregory. Emerton did impress on the left wing once against Liverpool (when he made Josemi look rubbish) but hasn't really don't much there or in his favoured right midfield position. Peter has earned his chance with his impressive sub appearances, although he didn't do as well as he would have hoped versus Arsenal..

Amorous Amo? After all, the ladies quite liked him.

Actually, I think you'll find the REAL 'new Maradona' snubbed Souey's overtures and is some guy living off his surname.

Yeah, I think he has. I mean any English player that gets anywhere near the Gunners' first team usually goes straight into the next U21 squad.

I'm pretty sure we do. You know what, I think that Neil Danns could easily still have been a Rovers player had he had that bit of luck that Jon Douglas and Jay McEveley got with first team players getting injured. During one preseason under Souness he was involved in almost every first team game and didn't look out of place. We all thought that he was going to be a squad player for that season but Rovers shipped him out on loan to Oldham, i think it was, and things just went downhill from there until he went on loan to Colchester and started performing well for them. He's caught the eye of a number of teams; i think Sunderland are watching his progress and hopefully he gets a big money move and we get a slice of the fee.

Perhaps now we know why Feyenoord didn't give Emerton the right midfield position he craved back in his days in Dutch football. He has so many quality attributes but the final package is just disappointing. He must be a high earner and if Hughes decides he can't get any more out of him, he has to go.

The problem with Tugay is that he can easily be nullified if he's closed down quickly and subjected to strong tackles. And by virtue of his deep-lying position, if he loses the ball we are likely to concede because the other midfielders tend to be in front of him. Keeping Tugay for next year is all very well as long as we sign a replacement to play most of the games.

I too, have that sense of foreboding that Stead will score against us. However, if we win, I'll be happy for the guy (although his barbed words about Mark Hughes weren't very nice and smacked of sour grapes).

I'm going for a 2-2. We failed to beat them in 4 attempts (i think!) in the season that they became the Premiership's worst ever team in terms of points accumulated. However, this time they do not have Gavin McCann and we do not have Garry Flitcroft. Nor do we have Jon Douglas at right back, thankfully.

Don't know about that. Forget Ferguson's drivel about us not playing football but it's true that we weren't exactly exceptional to beat a defensively calamitous United team. We did what we had to do, as well as doing a fair job of imitating Man U's comedic talents at the back at times. Is it a step back or is it around about our current performance levels when you consider the West Ham FA cup defeat? If Bellamy can get back to full match sharpness, we will get better without doubt. Also, if Pedersen's not going to play, surely Sergio Peter must come in for his debut sooner rather than later. We are crying out for a flair player. I think the fundamental problem is finding an effective central midfield pairing. The current personel can't do it so it will have to be the summer before Hughes can rectify the problems. And no, giving Tugay a new deal is not going to be much help. At some stage we have to find an adequate replacement.

Boateng's deal is wholly deserved in comparison to Jon Douglas' deal for doing a solid job on the left wing in our 'Jon Stead to the Rescue' season.

1-1 Dour affair but a point not a bad result against in-form Everton.