Is USABlue being proved right to doubt Hughes' credentials? I wouldn't say so yet, but some of his decisions have imo been naive. Playing Emerton out of position and refusing to give MGP or de Pedro a game. Having said that, the players he has at this disposal, namely in the positions of defensive midfield and centre half are atrocious.

3-0 Gudjohnson pen. Anyone else fancy a hat-trick?

It's not over yet. Who knows, a MGP and Stead inspired comeback may be on the cards. But that would be as likely as Roman Abramovich applying for unemployment benefit in the near future.

Gally was a goal machine for the reserve but sadly he hasn't replicated that for the first team. He's still young and should come back to form.

Emerton on the left? The guy's only just come to terms playing in his 'favoured position' and now he's being asked to play an unfamiliar role. One of Steven Reid's better games for us was last season against Chelsea so hopefully he can repeat that.

Hughes' Welsh record is not good if you look at it objectively. However, who was the last Welsh manager to lead his team to victory over Italy? I still believe Hughes will be a good manager for us because above anything else, he is a professional and a perfectionist. He's the sort that will examine everything in meticulous detail and that sort of attitude is a refreshing change. Remember, Souness start was very cagey but we went on to get promoted - so things can easily turn around.

I'm not claiming MGP has a god-given right to start on the left wing. However, I believe that Hughes is displaying poor management by not even giving MGP substitute appearances. Football is a lot to do with confidence. And a managers job is to ensure to the best of his ability that players' confidences are high so that they perform to their maximum. Look at what David Moyes has done for Kevin Kilbane's career - he looked an outstanding international player against France. A few years ago most were writing off his topflight football career, that's how awful he was for Sunderland. If MGP comes on as a sub and creates a chance or scores a goal, his confidence will return and his transition from a Norwegian league footballer to a Premiership player will be sped up. Keep him on the bench, however, his confidence - already dented by poor/average performances against Newcastle and Man U will only recede. And before you know it, we have a 1.5 million failure on our hands.

Because what Mark Hughes is doing is counter-productive and totally defies belief. The guy is a fairly big money signing. Fair enough he hasn't adapted - but what I can't understand is why Hughes isn't even giving him sub appearances. By depriving him of any playing time, he isn't getting a chance to adapt to the league.

Thommo may not be the ideal man to partner Ferguson in midfield, but he will be a damn sight better than anything Flitcroft or Tugay can offer.

Fair enough, but it wouldn't harm to give him some sub appearances. And if Matt Jansen and Brett Emerton have proven in the last few games to be good left wingers than I'm a Dutchman. Yours. Van Rover6

What has Pedersen done to fall foul of Mark Hughes? The only way he's going to adjust to the Premiership is if he PLAYS. At the moment, Hughes seems to hold a prejudice against him and will not give him time on the pitch. Stead has hardly been setting the Premiership alight this season but still get sub appearances (and justifiably so) because he hasn't turned a bad play over night. Amoruso and Matteo have been distinctly crap but are still getting games. Steven Reid has been injured since time immemorial and still gets a game after one reserve match. SO WHY OH WHY will he not play Pedersen. Especially after the guy has just played his best game for a while for Norway and he was showing signs of adapting in his cameo appearance against Bournemouth. The one fail-safe way of ensuring a new player never succeeds is to not play him.

I was fully supportive of the appointment of Mark Hughes but things are already beginning to worry me. Never mind losing to Bournemouth and being thrashed by Boro. But why does he refuse to play MGP? There is no logical reason for it. If he was atrocious in training he would not have been on the bench today. What Hughes is struggling to realise is that MGP is taking time to settle down at a new club. The best way to aid his transition is to give him playing time to build his confidence - even if it means substitute performances. It makes total rational sense to play MGP after he has just had his best game for a long time for Norway. A quasi-sane person would easily work out that after scoring for Norway he'd be chomping on the bit to prove himself against Boro. But no, Hughes sticks him on the bench and refuses to use him, instead opting for Emerton out-of-position. When THierry Henry was making a habit of hitting the advertising hoardings in his first year in the Premiership - did Arsene Wenger consign him to the bench and refuse him playing time?

If Fletcher played for us, don't you think he'd just be considered a very ordinary player. Because imo, that is what he is. Lacks pace, isn't the strongest of tacklers and is hardly a goal threat.

If Flitcroft and Tugay is our midfield partnership against Boro - I don't see much hope for us. Hughes is unlikely to risk giving one of the youngsters a go (although Danns does have a 24hr recall on his extended loan deal which indicates he is in Hughes thoughts) but I would prefer one of them to be given a chance ahead of Tugay. We might be able to accomodate one central midielder with limited mobility but two would be suicidal.

If I may talk about what happened on the pitch for a moment... England were very impressive. I haven't seen our national side play passing football with such effective ball retention ever. To think we created quite a few opportunities, scored two and barely let Wales have a sight of goal is quite amazing. You may say, 'it was only Wales' but they were playing a very defensive formation and players like Bellamy, Giggs and Hartson are a genuine threat for most. Rooney was outstanding and Lampard had a very good game. As I have stated before, imo the key to England doing well is fielding a genuine defensive midfielder. Butt's presence enabled the rest of the midfielders to express themselves going forward. Imo Nicky Butt is now indispensible, which means that one of Gerrard, Lampard or Beckham must make way. I'd drop Beckham (nice goal, shame about everything else) and play Gerrard on the right hand side of the 'diamond'.

Is it true that Dunn refused to shake Souness' hand on coming off in the second half of the game? Shame I missed it.

Can't see it myself.

Djorkaeff (nearest Rovers will ever have to an Armenian player btw) provides what we've missed since the days of Dunn and Duff at their best. That bit of flair and imagination to unlock defences. If only he was 10 years younger though.

A shame that we still have no decent midfield partner for Fergie. We need someone with a physical presence, a tenacious tackle and a steady passer of the ball. That rules out Tugay and Flitcroft. Neil Danns scored two goals for Colchester today and by all reports is taking the league by storm, surely worth a recall sometime.

Cannot understand why Hughes is giving Pedersen the cold shoulder. The guy needs time on the pitch to acclimatise with the Premiership. He may well have been bad so far but the signs were there that he was coming to terms with the English game and after his goal and involvement in Gallagher's goal versus Bournemouth, now is the perfect time to ease him in. Not even on the bench and Jansen on the left makes us very vulnerable down that side. Please see sense Sparky.

Just dredged this thread up to make the point that our current problems stem from central midfield. We just don't have a dynamic pairing who are capable of dominating a game. The big question that Hughes has the answer quickly is who is going to partner Ferguson - assuming that Ferguson is indispensible (he better improve on his Charlton performance in that case). Flitcroft, Thompson, Tugay, Douglas, Donnelly are the contenders, we need to find one who will work with Fergie. Imo Flitcroft just hasn't got the stamina any more and the same applies to Tugay.

Rooney, Van Nistelrooy and Ronaldo - now there's a half-decent forward line....

I thought Peter Taylor was in charge of the Under 21's Oops. Correction has been made.

But having scored that goal against Bournemouth, his confidence would have been up and his arrival to the pitch might have made the difference. Jansen wasn't having a good game so I just cannot see why MGP didn't replace him late on. I just hope that Sparky hasn't prematurely discarded MGP from the team.

Give over. I was disappointed that MGP wasn't brought on as well, but he hasn't exactly had a flying start to his Rovers career has he? You can't blame Hughes from trying to give Jansen a chance to prove himself. I'm surprised that Hughes chose Jansen in the starting line-up over MGP (not De Pedro, though) and would have thought the least MGP would have added to the game late on wouild have been a fresh pair of legs and a threat from long throw-ins. To be honest, I don't think there were many players who would have made a difference to tonight's game - we were under par as a whole, struggled to threaten the Charlton goal and it would have taken alot more than what MGP's shown for us so far to make an impact. I've got high hopes for MGP, but just because he was a star in the your home league doesn't mean he's gonna have the same impact here straight away. We've already got one player suffering from a lack of confidence (and quality service) in Jon Stead - it'd be a shame to see MGP suffer the same set back so soon after he's joined. I think you're a bit over-dramatic - Hughes needs 100% support from everyone at the moment - he's trying to get the best out of a squad of someone else's players. We can't go throwing our rattles out of the pram everytime one of our favourite players doesn't get a game. Gally's put in some decent showings for so far us in his short career at Ewood and he's no closer to getting into the team either. If MGP's as good as everyone says he will get his chance. I don't know what Hughes was playing at last night. It was obvious that MGP should have been brought on near the end. He scored the late goal against Bournemouth and with his confidence quite high because of that, he would have been just the man to pep up our attack.