Both goals yesterday.. I know it's League two, but man..!

Interesting, and Nelsen is just 77kg according to rovers.co.uk. Todd less than 75 kg, while the 185 cm tall Zura is 80 kg. I thought it was the other way around, with Nelsen at least 185cm.. oh well I disagree with you though, exiledrover, to a certain extent anyway. We tend to struggle with powerful and tall strikers, such as Campbell, Beattie and for that matter - van Nistelrooy. I don't know whether Zura could've done a better job alongside Nelsen with his alleged height, but I'm certainly uncomfortable with Todd against animals like Campbell.

Just seen his second goal on roversworld, fantastic goal indeed! He's in the XI for the match against Mansfield, it's currently still 0-0 after fifteen minutes of play.

Do we have a sell-on clause?

No, it is a regular loan deal, and I believe we can recall him after one month if we want to?

Forgot that, but he can be recalled..

Let him go, please! We have Andy Taylor and Vratti as backup on the left, and in the centre we have Zura/Taylor/Kuqi. (sigh)

I certainly disagree with you, 1864. Tugay had a few poor passes in his hour of play, but I think he distributed and kept the ball going well the major part of the game. Had some neat throughballs in the first half especially, and the commentator on Canal+ also had him as his man of the match. (I know, it doesn't prove anything, but at least a few people agree with me!) Tugay hasn't got the legs he had three years ago, but he can still provide that killer pass, in matches like this especially, and that makes giving him a new contract worthwhile in my opinion.

Don't know what to think btw, if we had won the two matches against Everton and W.B.A (which we should've!) - we would have had 46 points, in 4th place

My god, Sunderland are poor. No wonder Stead isn't scoring, the only player who looked remotely creative for them was Arca. We did make them look sharp though, once in a while. They could've taken the lead through poor defensive play by Rovers, I think it was Nelsen who didn't follow the other three. Good to see Bellamy score two, too bad his great shot didn't go one inch to the right, giving him his hattrick. Kuqi? WHY? This was clearly not the match for him, we did our stuff on the ground, it would've been the perfect match for Bentley alongside Bellamy the last few minutes. As for the rest of the team, we were allright throughout. Tugay was magnificent in the centre, with space and a few fantastic passes. I think Pongolle did well up front, but he needs to do things easy when he can, stop showboating. In general, Sunderland are too poor for assesment (sp?) of this match, it was a bit like playing Leeds in the cup. Feel bad for Stead, who is one of very few talented players in their team. Going down, going down..

Two games against West Ham.. but I for one will be happy with an early lead, Sunderland scores once every three games anyway. Friedel-Neill,Todd,Nelsen,Gray-Reid,Tugay,Savage,MGP-Bellamy,Sinama Pongolle Subs: Enckelman, Peter, Kuqi, Khizanishvili, Bentley .. and Stead on the bench for Sunderland!

Read again..

Derbyshire praised for his two goals, the first one a tap-in, the second one a classy finish with the outside of his foot. Reading a Wrexham board, they seem especially impressed with his pace..

Come on, you get the point - why argue? edit: not directed towards you Den, but aggyblue&ihb.

Not sure exactly how talented this young Gunning is, but it does show what a good academy can bring us. If Chelsea, Man Utd etc. were after him, and he has the potential to become a good Premiership player, then a great academy (with it's facilities and good coaches) to show and a reputation for giving youth a chance is our best chance to pick up the next Walcott, the next Rooney, the next Duff.

Trust Hughes and the board on this one, if we can use Inter-Toto as competetive friendlies without tiring our squad then great! And as Cletus says, we could need some practice in Europe

Taylor is back at Ewood..

Sunderland: Friedel Zura, Nelsen, Todd Neill, Reid, Tugay, Savage, MGP Bentley, Bellamy or summit..

Been thinking along the same lines for a while.. "can't see anyone become a premiership player" etc., based on a few matches is a bit unfair on the youngsters imo.

Youngster signs for Rovers

Wonderful, wonderful player. Still can't believe he signed for Pompey..

Hindsight.. can't see JJ staying for much longer tbh, unless he can get into the team and perform well this season. He's what, 21 now? With us probably signing a new striker in the summer, he'll be number 5 or 6 in the pecking order. Hard to tell though, it might also be Gally leaving, or one of the senior strikers..

Insane money for a mediocre player, but 42 matches in 18 months aren't really that shocking is it?

I'll take an arrogant Emerton any day, if it makes him run at defenders.

Emerton won't leave for 1m pound, unless Hughes desperately needs that million to bring in a new class player. I think Lucas & Emerton had some neat link-ups earlier in the season, but since then Bert has played very rarely. Tugay out, Bert in for Everton please.