Que another good post Christmas run then. I just pray that's the last we will have seen of this injury on the Admiral Guess Hughes was a little out with his "Weeks not Months comment".

I'm going for another 1-1. Citeh to frustrate us as Everton did a couple of weeks ago. Improved performance but still no win. Oh and obviously Dickov to score their goal just to rub salt into the wound.

Pleasure you do make a good point about last season, and it's true that similarly we werent hitting the back of the net last year too at this stage. However it is a concern-1 goal in 4 games is pathetic whichever way you wnat to look at it...and Glenn Roeder is getting stick from the media because they've only scored 3 from 3 games!!!

Anybody watch the Villa game yesterday? I've never watched him that much before and I thought that 6.5 million was a hell of a lot for Petrov, but man the guys class...how we could do with him here.

Hughes needs to give our 'starman' a good kick up the arse. It's fair enough if a player gives 110% every week, but players that have all the talent but not the desire aren't what we're needing right now.

I think it's a fair thread. Whilst some of our players don't exactly help themeselves sometimes, certain players in my opnion are more harshly treated than others. I posted it a while back but a couple of the sky pundits-Alan Macincally I think, believes that Todd imparticular gets different treatment from refs due to his 'thug' reputation.

Yes Phil all four. As Bobby G said we're showing no sings whatsoever of turning the corner yet. Most of Hughes' interviews these days are concentrated on penalties and sendings off anyway. Lets hope due to refereeing errors and individual errors that this won't continue to be the case. And as for being poor-we've not been overly poor after Pompey-I will admit that, but football relies on creating chances and putting the ball in the net, which we're doing neither of right now.

Perhaps a better debate for a thread like this would be 'Did we over perform last year'?

What annoys me is that after every game this season Hughesey has said "If we'd got one goal then Im sure we would have won quite comfortably" and other comments like "I really think we can push on from here". Managers need to tell it like it is "We're not creating any chances at the minute and it's a worry" would be a good start. If Hughes honestly believes that we're capable of getting one and then a hat load more in games like that then we should start to worry. I'm not trying to have a go but my annoyance at this thing, I think, stems from the souness days of "Lady Luck". Finally, can some people stop saying that we are where we are in the league because Pompey imparticularly and possibly Everton are "Near the top of the league". Would they be if they'd not spanked us and earned a point at our ground respectively?

The Rovers website said that it was definitely Neil who went to chest it back to Friedel for their second pen.

Brad the man the legend! It would appear again that we've created naff all even with Tugs back. Man Citeh game now becomes absoloutely huge. We Lose/draw that and I really would start to worry. Edit-Sky stats show we had ONE SHOT ON TARGET ALL GAME. Sheff Utd had EIGHT. I take it our solitary strike on target was the penalty? FFS Paddy Kenny could have been on holiday. We did have almost 60% possession though-if we ever knew what to do with the ball when we had it we could be a dangerous side.

Well that's it at the end of the day, hopefuly he wont have to play too many games for us. But if called upon he should be able to do a job. Lets just hope we arent forced to play Tood and Stephane together when playing against the pace of Thierry!

Hopefuly we'll have the success that Utd had back in the days of Bruce and Pallister with our very own un-pacey centre halves!

Fair point Flopsy, but still it would be nice for them to show a little consistency with their worldwide release dates. As roversyoyo said, the xbox 360 certainly looks thta much more appealing at the minute.

Whilst any competition is healthy Phil I just think that 5 would be one too many when all are fit. Can you really see Todd being happy to be benched again?-If is the case that he throws another hissy fit perhaps he should have gone before the deadline. My point is that none of the 5 will want to be dropped, and whilst it is in their contract to perform to wear the shirt, 3 good defenders will be unhappy come matchday. Don't get me wrong I think henchoz is a good defender, and I used to love him, but I just think a deal unti Jan would've been more sensible.

We would then have Zura, Ooijer, Todd, Henchoz and the injured Nelsen. The only sensible move here would be to offer him a deal until January. A one year deal would surely be too much provided Nelsen is back in a couple of months?

Remember Mourinho and Duff Here's hoping he is back anyway.

Looking at Nonda's record on the official site he hasn't started more than 7 games in one season since 02/03. This is worrying and lets just hope that the gamble pays off. He was almost world class quite some time ago...at least he has something to prove here I suppose.

Nelsen's out for God knows how long as I just put in another thread. I think this will be a 1-1 with Roberts getting off the mark for Rovers. If we do fail to win Saturday then already Citeh at home becomes a huge game.

Afraid not Den-according to the LET tonight he needs an OPERATION as we cannot cure his hamstring troubles. So when the mirror said around 1 week ago that he was out for four months they probably werent lying for once. We could be screwed if the boys dont get their act together at the back, we need our best player back asap.

The way Hughes was talking about him (Nonda), don't be suprised to see Roberts on the bench come Sat.

What a crock of ****, it's about time we stopped getting stiched up compared to the US/Japan etc.

I take it he was 'booed by his own supporters' as it says in that article because he didn't want to sign a new deal with Monaco?

I think you've hit that nail on the head Philly. As much as I hate Spurs, how can we compete with the amount of money that they've spent? And I know these argies will take time to settle at WH-but they're a cut above anything we have, and the rest of their teams not bad either. As you say it's gona be one hell of a battle to finish above teams such as Newcastle, West Ham, Spurs, Villa and to a lesser extent everton who have all thrown around millions like players are going out of fashion. The next month is so important-wina few and we'll compete with these teams, lose a couple more and we'll no doubt be battling with the rest of the league, ie anywhere from Bolton to Sheffield Utd.

Fair point on McCarthy...I'd hold judgement on Roberts just yet though.