Admiral Nelsen

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!

Bit of a missed opportunity, but a perfectly acceptable point under the circumstances. With Dack out for Saturday, I wonder if there could be a role for Bennett as a number 10? His best performance last season was Brentford at home when Dack was missing. Really made the most of his engine, pressing from the front. Obviously not as dangerous as Dack but capable of knitting play together. I imagine there will be a few changes so Holtby will probably get a spot elsewhere.

If ever there was a team to get bums on seats it was that one! I also thought a bumper derby crowd seeing us pump Burnley 5-0 would have skewed the overall figure, but surprisingly the gate was only just over 23,000

That was my feeling too, although surprisingly we've won there as much as we've lost since we've left the top flight. Not exactly a happy hunting ground but not as bad as I expected.

I'm amazed he's still there now. He's been under pressure for a while and that was before losing to Reading & Luton in the space of a week! They've got WBA tomorrow so they might just beat us to it.

Something which jumped out from watching Swansea's abject defeat against (admittedly a very impressive) West Brom was how their midfield seemed very lightweight and were forever being out fought & let the Baggies run riot. If they play the same side on Wednesday, Travis Evans & Dack should be licking their lips.

That's the issue for me. I'm not against bringing in more firepower, arguably we need it, but whoever we bring in is going to need to have the all-round game to be able to step into Graham's boots and contribute in our build up. If the young lad has the ability to do that, then great, but otherwise he can learn the game in someone else's team.

I'm not trying to be facetious when saying this, but you can just as easily say 'periods of good form, followed by a sudden awful dip, then back to good form'. In fact given the progress we've made (and for now, looks like we're continuing to make) I'd say that's a fairer way of putting it.

Wouldn't disagree, Tosin of the last few weeks looks a real upgrade on anyone we've had there in a good while, including Charlie. Only saying that in a different set up which plays to his strengths a little more then I can still see him looking at home at this level.