Hughes did say he wanted to give Sergio Peter a taste of the action sooner rather than later, so QPR could he is debut.

Ahh.... good to hear the absconded Lady Luck being being talked about again. She may be gone but clearly absence makes Souey's heart grow fonder. Personally, I much prefer the inscrutable Hughes uttering his mantra with his left eye-brow raised, 'We were excellent from start to finish'. He says it a lot.

Managerial failure? Perhaps harsh. He has proven himself as a mediocre manager at best imo. Apart from Rangers and Rovers (but remember Glenn Roeder took West Ham up to sixth) he hasn't exactly impressed at the clubs he's been at. And there's been enough of them. You would have thought, having traversed Europe and got jobs on reputation not talent, he might have picked up some tactical nous, after all on the continent much more emphasis is put on that side of the game. Unfortunately, there was nothing coming. Of all the asinine things Souey did, the one that just tops the list of WHY????!!!!!!! was in pre-season last year why did he not try to work out his best side? I don't think he once picked his strongest side, merely mixing and matching in every game so that by the time the season started his mind was in a complete muddle. Hence, Vratty Gresko started in midfield having impressed there in a pre-season game against Bray Wanderers, I think it was.

Next Tugay or next Sheringham? Make up your mind because they mean very different things. Not many Prem teams play with a Tugay type playmaker. Carrick does it at Tottenham, I suppose. Most teams have a specialist holding midfielder who plays the deepest out of the midfielders and that player has a remit to play it simple and concentrate on defending.

He was a very rare talent and was just beginning to show his true potential before the accident. I wish him well for the future.

Rovers 1 Sunderland 1 Whitehead pen. Bellamy - off the bench to level things late.

I had convinced myself we were going to succumb to a Boro 'backlash'. To win today was awesome and is definitely testament to Hughes managerial talents and the players discipline.

Young German left winger signed from Mannheim. I think he might be needed today.

A lot of people cited sour grapes when the departing Norwegians, Martin Andresen and Egil Ostenstad, condemned Souey's training regime at Rovers but there must have been something in their claims. I think Hughes alluded to a lack of fitness amongst the players when he arrived. Although, (to pre-empt Flopsy ) the regime was good enough for us to get promoted (how much dosh did we have compared to Bolton?), win the Worthy Cup (sheff wed in the semis) and finish sixth (a season rescued by Duff's late flourish).

I get the same feeling that Boro will inevitably put in good showing to appease their disgruntled fans. With Boro's quality forwards, I think our defenders may struggle to cope; even more so if Mendieta and Viduka return to the team. I don't think it'll be a thrashing though. If we do win, it'll be considerable testament to Hughes' management skills. Boro 3 Blackburn 1 Yakubu 2, Mendieta, Bentley

Strange decision if it was his choice. Well done the U18s.

Apart from Bellamy, our team lacks attacking players who can make direct runs at the opposition and cause damage. Sergio Peter has done that for the reserves so surely he should be an option for the firsts, especially with Pedersen, Emerton and Bentley not exactly performing brilliantly. BTW Good luck to the Youth Team. A win over the Spuds (who seem to have the belief that they have the greatest youth players around - one of their many delusions) would be fab.

Interesting article, Philip. Rovers scouting system's probably nowhere near as structured as the big boys but during the Souey regime we did snap up young, relatively obscure players from the continent, particularly Germany - Sergio Peter, David Yelldell, Marc Sebastian Pelzer, Kevin Pezzoni. I don't know if the German scout/s has buggered off to assist Newcastle now (not a bad thing considering the high failure rate of our German signings).

Boskamp seems to think that Gally will be at Stoke for the season....

Paul Gallagher should be recalled in January. He's bang on form and has shown versatility to excel on the wings or up front for the Potters (2 goals today). I'm not saying he's going to be the saviour or anything silly like that but he seems to have refound the form that got him into the first team squad when he was 17/18 and we desperately need a decent goal threat to compliment/replace Bellamy. Alternatively, he could replace Emerton on the wings. Having said that, our defence seems to be our biggest problem right now. Gally can't play centre half can he...

It's a bit strange he doesn't play for the reserves. I know that reserve football's hardly the pre-cursor to Prem football but it would, you would think, keep him match fit and give him a bit of confidence (if he nabs a few goals). I'm sure Hughes has his reasons.

Kuqi in line for a start for the next game? He's doing a good job of proving doubters like me wrong. I wouldn't say he has actually got anywhere near proving that he is a Prem standard forward, that takesa couple of seasons at least, but he's on the way.

On reflection, is it such bad news? Obviously, we are not as effective a team without Bellamy. However, Hughes is keen to give Bentley a chance as a second forward, and with a target man alongside him, he may start showing why he was so highly rated in his early days. I think whether we cope with Bellamy's supposed injury all depends on whether Bentley takes things by the scruff of the neck and establishes himself as a Premiership standard midfield/forward.

Gallagher should be called back, if the loan deal allows for it, obviously. He hasn't even been playing up front for Stoke, but he has got a number of goals and shown some form.

Why Fergie Quit Rovers? To play second group stage Champs League, of course.

The only problem with playing Bentley and Bellamy upfront is the obvious one of not being able to play as many direct balls. Lets be honest, direct football has been quite a major part of our game (although not the only part, I hasten to add) and our players will have to adjust if Hughes persists with the B&B strike force. However, I think the second striker role may well be Bentley's best position. As for Todd's 'crap form' or not, depending on your stance - who was the Rovers player who performed a rather ineffective slithering excuse for a tackle in the build up to Darren Ambrose's goal for Charlton? I'm not sure who it is but from the position they come from, i thought it could conceivably have been Todd. Everyone goes through dips in form and hopeful Todd will regain his top form - Nelsen as well. Anyways, how we could have done with Stead today. Just to add, I am not overly disappointed with this result. When we iron out the defensive jitters, we will climb that league.

I think some of you are forgeting Souness' major foible after his abject handling of big ego players. Souness has no tactical nouse whatsoever. He admitted as much when he said that he wasn't a big one for tactics. He got out-thought by Martin O'Neil in the second leg of the Celtic tie and his nonsensical fantasies of Dominic Matteo being the next Damien Duff just summed things up. Yes, he dragged a floundering club up by its boot-straps when we seemed doomed never to return to the Premiership. He deserves praise for that and for taking us into sixth. However imo Sam Allardyce deserved more praise for getting his team of lower earners up after we pipped them to automatic qualification. Souness got the best out of players by giving them freedom to express themselves. The likes of Dunn, Duff and Jansen were a highly gifted bunch, needless to say, and they excelled at first. However, when things went the shape of the pear, these players needed tactical direction and that was not forthcoming from Souey. Souness achieved some good things at Rovers, but so did Gerard Houllier but I doubt the Liverpool fans remember him with much fondness.

Didn't know about this; talk about lucky escape... Rovers to win 2-1 Kuqi and Bellamy Ambrose for the Addicks.

Opponents and the occasional team mate (sukur!) don't have much luck with injuries either when they're up against Jay. Hope he recovers soon.

Very true. Trundle has technique and no pace. Kuqi has minimal technique, more pace and physical presence.