Admiral Nelsen

Think that's where the smart money is. Even Charlton I think can put a big part of their bad patch down a silly number of injuries. Can see them picking up slightly. Wigan are a difficult one to suss out. I don't think their squad is very good, but they've spent plenty and they're definitely under-performing to be cut adrift at this stage. Trouble they seem to have is that when they've put in their better performances, they still haven't found a way to win.

I think he was unlucky even last season to not get on the score sheet more often. Don't think I've seen a player hit the post as often since Kalinic, who also seemed to have an uncanny knack for it. Really pleased to see him kick on. The sort of player he is will mean that he'll probably go through a few quieter spells in the future, but if he carries on the way he is that couple of million quid or whatever we paid is looking like small beer.

It's a fair comment that I'm not actually mentioning any replacements! My view of things is that say we have the money for two left backs (money we might've spent on Cunningham & Bell's contract) then I'd use the money for Cunningham either on him or our 'good' left back target, and use the Bell money on either a useful looking prospect from L1, available from a top flight team or similar for our 'decent/prospect/back up' target.

I think he still has the opportunity to put the performances in to warrant that. He'll get games, so if he plays like he did vs Bristol City & Wednesday (I was still frustrated with him against PNE even if others were impressed, but he's certainly had worse games) then I might be inclined to give him another couple of years on modest cash. I'll still need some persuading before I think it's a good idea though. He'll be 26 by the time the season's finished, so isn't likely to get heaps better, and more importantly doesn't seem to be doing a good job of ironing out bad habits. As keep a player who is borderline L1/lower championship standard, I'd leaning towards looking to use the money we would've spent on his wages on another understudy.

Wonder if it will be dependent on Richie finding a new club? I agree we're pretty well stocked there on paper but if Holtby is now seen as an attacker to cover Dack and Evans is out for a good while, we suddenly find ourselves 3 bodies lighter if Smallwood leaves. Having said that, unless we've got an obvious talent/good deal on our hands, I'd be inclined to see this as a chance for Davenport to stake a claim rather than bring in a short term solution.

Agree that we can't go forward planning to have him in the XI, but I wouldn't go as far as finished. Wigan's fans look pretty united in saying they looked more solid with him in the side, stats seem to provisionally back it up. Clearly his ability on the ball & set piece specialism is still there. Compare that to the likes of Gordon Greer, who was definitely finished when he came for his second spell. Charlie's biggest problem is his contract and his pedigree. If he was willing to be a squaddie and not be one of our top earners, I'd have no problem whatsoever in having him as a part of the squad.

Easy decision this one, well worth another 12 months.

Been absent from here for a few weeks (5-0 win totally coincidental to my return), so do we know much about Rathbone? Any good and does the interest look real?

I've been completely back and forth with this over the last 12 months. I genuinely thought there was development last year which went a bit under the radar given the team's drop in form. Fast forward to this season and he looks just not up to it, and just when I think my mind has been made up he puts in a couple of performances which make him look useful. I'm still in the thanks but no thanks camp, a couple of swallows a summer don't make and the sum total of his work since he walked through the door isn't where we need it to be for us to go up.

Losing Tosin is a very big blow, but Williams started the season well. Otherwise the team I would've picked. Come on Rovers!

And the Leeds win was a fluke

Agree that this is a game that we have to expect to win, but Wigan haven't been getting battered that often this year. I'd be more than happy with a win of any sort to keep the run going.

Tried to go for players who actually played enough games to get a fair account, not many of the Portuguese lot make it. Kean Orr Greer Sanogo'o Henley Feeney Murphy (c) Etuhu Gladwin Best Goodwillie Fair play to Chris Brown managing to stay out of the list!

Played a huge supporting role in the Bellamy season (as did the much maligned Kuqi, too). Bellamy & Hughes rightly take the credit for taking us to the next level, but there were big wins that season when Bellamy was injured and they were excellent. West Ham, West Brom & Portsmouth stand out, but I'm sure there were others. On January, agree with the need for a keeper. I'm pretty relaxed about another centre half so long as we keep Tosin. Left back is more urgent for me.

Tried to base it on their contribution over the whole decade. Something which jumps out immediately is the shocking lack of full back options. Eventually gone for Emerton at right back due to his immense efforts in keeping us up in K**n's first year. Most of the other players from the top flight either didn't play enough after relegation or were past their best for me to include. Also gone for a ridiculously attacking 442 to accommodate everyone. Robinson Emerton Hanley Mulgrew Olsson Conway Dunn Dack Hoilett Rhodes Graham Unlucky to miss out: Lenihan, Cairney, Gestede, Samba (immense for the short period) the Yak and for his good spells, Marshall. Duffy can still do one.

As much as I miss having him as manager, some of the ones under Big Sam were not much better!

I completely forgot that John Filan won it! What a horrendous fall from grace that was. Some other interesting ones from my era, amazed that Benni didn't win it in place of Bentley. Don't know if that says more about Benni's periodic drop off in form or that Bentley was just brilliant (probably a bit of both). Also put Marcus Olsson winning to the back of my mind! Just goes to show how difficult picking a player from this decade is when players like him have won it.

I always struggle to know how to feel about this fixture On the one hand, they are a glorified non-league club who have only had any meaningful success in their history because of the investment of a wealthy Blackburn Rovers fan, and who are at the very least behind Burnley, Preston, Bolton, Blackpool, Accy, all of Burnley's youth & women's teams and probably Chorley as Lancashire rivals. I don't ever want to lower ourselves to see this as a big game. At the same time, I come from Wigan and there's no getting away from the fact that we've had a few results against them over the last 10 years or which have been downright embarrassing. That and their manager is an absolute weapon. Hope we absolutely pump them.

I'd guess it was the certainty of the post give that he's hardly played, rather than the content, but I don't want to put words in his mouth. For what it's worth, it's hard to get away from how he's looked like a little boy in his cameos, but it's far too early to read anything into that in my view. I remember listening to a podcast with Gary Neville when he was asked if there was a Man U teammate he thought wasn't likely to make it, and he went on to say that he couldn't for the life of him see how someone of Paul Scholes' size and fitness could make it as a footballer when they were younger. Not for a second saying Buckley is going to be Scholes! But if he has got where he has based on talent and a brain, let's wait to see where they can take him before we say he's going to fall down the leagues!

Quick scout on their forum suggests that he was a bit of a whipping boy from their fans until fairly recently, who has won a lot of them over after having a good season so far. Having said that, the fact that he has 6 months left on his contract and the number of clubs involved makes it look like agent talk to me.

Trouble with picking up some good results is that it's possible to go a bit too far and see improvement in everything, but Nyambe's ball control has looked consistently better since his return to the side. Could just be a result of playing with better players, but long may it continue. Now he has his shirt back, the next thing for Nyambe has to be to keep it by staying fit. Promising that he has just managed a 3 game week without an injury, should he keep that up then he should keep getting better.

Not much to choose between a few of the names mentioned, but I'd go for Rhodes because of his character and how important he was in our darkest period. That team of 2012/13 must have been the most dislikeable in our recent history with the odd exception like Dunn & MGP. Having our one shining light being so humble and genuinely pleased to be at Blackburn Rovers really was like night and day with the likes of Murphy, Etuhu, Best and other hangers on who I've done my best to forget. His goal record throughout his time here was obviously exceptional, but for that first year his finishing was genuinely as good as anyone in the country. Absolutely flying, half a sniff and you were basically certain it was in the back of the net. Started missing a few as time went on, lost a bit of his edge, but for a spell it really felt as though he was the bit left of our club that was still big time. Says something about him that I was genuinely made up that he scored a hat-trick for another time at the weekend. Hard to think of any other former player that I would react like that to.

Of the upcoming games, this is the one where we really should be expecting three points. Birmingham and Huddersfield are certainly winnable, but much trickier on paper than this one. With that in mind, I wouldn't try to be too clever in selection until we have to be. Start off with the 'best' team, rather than who deserves to keep their shirt from Bristol. Bell, Johnson, Gally, Holtby and Bennett will get their chance over the coming games. No need to rush it. I'd go for the same team as Derby and try to kill the game early.

Nobody should be rubbing it in anyone's faces, we all want the same thing ultimately. Also this run of good form won't last forever, so a bit of humility all round wouldn't go amiss. At the same time, I'd say two things. One, there are always better options. When we had Kenny, Souness or Sparky, who is to say there weren't better options out there? The manager is the most important figure at the club and we should know better than most what the costs and risks of playing about with that position can do. Second, even though there are obviously valid criticisms of Mowbray (which I think have been drastically over played, but there we are) should he get us up he would've achieved a double promotion on a modest-ish budget and having to rebuild a squad from very little when he first arrived. In anyone's book, that would be an excellent achievement and one which deserves a crack at the big time. Dyche needed two attempts with the Dingles, and that's turning out okay. Anyway, nobody should be crowing about our upturn in form. Many of the Mowbray in crowd including myself were having a few doubts before Barnsley/Brentford, so for now I'm just going to carry on enjoying it and see how far it can take us.

Fabulous result. We were so far behind some of those sides at one stage. Swallows, summers etc. But with winnable games coming up, I'm getting excited!