Admiral Nelsen

Wouldn't be against having Smallwood in somewhere, given he's had the last few weeks off, but I'd be more than happy with that.

Also, any excuse to post this

Loved that team so much. Difficult to convey to non-Rovers fans just how dirty we were for a spell. Potentially a starting XI that included Todd, Neill, Flitcroft, Savage, Bellamy, Dickov, Mokoena, Reidy and probably several more that I can't even recall off the top of my head. Madness.

6th from bottom. Not good enough

Rafa giving his press conference for tomorrow. No Shelvey or Diame, could well be short in the middle of the park. With a 6 pointer with Cardiff on their minds too, I think these are there for the taking.

Up and down, I thought. Started well, but tailed off towards the end. Remember him scoring a belter against Milton Keynes, and played well in the away game at Boro when we managed to draw after playing them off the park. Wouldn't want to be next to him in the trenches, I'll grant you.

Lambert brought in a handful of players in next to no time when at Rovers, and they made a fairly instant impact. Some, like Bennett & Graham are still mainstays, others, like Jordi Gomez & Tony Watt, played a big part in an uplift of form for a while, before we realised that he was on his way and our season petered out. If he can do the same in January, then you have a chance, although I agree with others that 50/50 is looking a bit on the optimistic side. I'm expecting a much tougher game on Saturday than it would've been just a few weeks ago, but given our home form over the last year or more, I'd be expecting three points for Rovers.

The big question mark on whether we do or not is still fitness, for me. He hasn't fallen to bits yet, like some may have predicted, but he has missed a few squads and has only managed one full game. He has time to prove more beyond the end of the season, which is good. His quality is undoubtedly there though, and I agree that playing in a back three is made for him. If we could get away with another 12 months with an option of another year in our favour, then brilliant, but I'm not sure if he'd accept on those terms.

The first post was about Nuttall and that, even if he's not the best, still is a mark-up on some of the dross we've had recently. I feel the same about our midfield, who I think sometimes get a bit of unfair stick. Simple as that, I'm not against improving any position if we can find better players. Agree completely about Travis by the way. It's fantastic when players of his promise are brought through, he clearly deserves to keep his shirt on current form.

And with Butterworth on the bench.

Agree. I still think that we'll be looking back at this season come May and look at it as having made good progress though. Looking at the Sheffield United model, another 12 months experience and the addition of David McGoldrick has clearly done them the world of good. Nothing stopping us doing something similar with a canny couple of additions. I don't think they'll be the starting two in a midfield pair that gets automatic promotion, but I do think that without being the most gifted that they've set a platform for us to compete with not far off every team we've played this year. Young Travis looks extremely promising, I suppose I've felt a couple of times that his emergence has been framed in a "thank god we've got someone to take the place of Evans/Smallwood" sort of way, and whilst both have their limitations, I think they're our best pair since relegation from the prem (even if we assume that Cairney was the best individually).

Have to say I feel very similar about our midfield. Whilst it's great to see young Travis coming in and taking his chance brilliantly, Smallwood & Evans have gone about their job more effectively than the likes of Murphy/Etuhu/Lowe/Williamson/Akpan/Guthrie/Byrne/Taylor/Tunnicliffe & Spearing managed to do.

Our soft underbelly has done us time after time this year, so I'm more than happy to get a horrible but resolute win in the way that we did. Six points off the play-offs is probably too much to make up with our squad, but when you consider that we've played Leeds, Sheff U & West Brom twice, as well as Boro & Derby away, these last two wins are still keeping our league season alive at the right end of the table. Whilst December was horrible, our last two wins have come against teams on a nine game unbeaten record & a four game winning streak. We're not ready yet, but there's clearly something there in this set up. One or two important additions aside, I don't think we're that far away.

We've not had much luck with scheduling over the last couple of seasons. Several potentially large followings have been dampened by being clustered together, this Christmas being a good example. 1,000 for this fixture is thoroughly decent for us I think, given we've just had yourselves, Sheffield & Newcastle in next to no time.

Over 900 sold this morning. With pay on the day, possibly just over 1,000.

Juries out on Nuttall for me. Last time out he seemed like he was physical with a knack for a goal, but severely lacking in the all round game needed to be a starter at this level. Had a huge amount to work on, even if he had some raw attributes to work with. Let's see if he's managed it.

In fairness, given that mid-table is looking pretty nailed on, this is one of those occasions when I wouldn't mind increased priority on a cup-run.

Wonder what, if anything we can read into this? Mulgrew is clearly fitness, but does this reflect keeping some powder dry for the FA cup?

Ha! Just looked again and yours is suspiciously close.

Hands up who predicted that one!

Back on Ben Marshall, he's not in the Norwich squad today, suggesting that he could well be off somewhere (not especially likely to be us). On the off chance that it is, I don't think it'd be an especially sensible use of funds, despite his obvious talent. Don't think I remember a player at Rovers who can be better summed up by 'feast or famine'.

I prefer the Steven Reid derby, but I'll take the scoreline!

Very impressive words, and to be fair his record has been equally impressive over the last 18 months. He might find that he's bitten off a little more than he can chew there though. We know better than most how difficult it can be to turn around a basket case team when there's high expectations and a cloud over the club. Getting Stoke back on track and at the top of the division might not be as easy as taking Luton through the divisions.

Without doubt the most technically gifted. Maybe of any era at our club but certainly within most of our memories of watching Rovers. Shearer's talent was different, as you rightly say. If you put guns against our heads and say 'who was better?', I think a large majority of Rovers fans would probably opt for Shearer simply because he was peerless at what he did (scoring goals, but plenty more besides). Can't claim to be an expert on football outside of Britain, but I'm not convinced there was a more effective number nine in world football in the 90s, other than the original Ronaldo. Thing which made Tugay so special to us though, apart from his ridiculous ability, was just how much he seemed to appreciate being here. We've had plenty of good players here in the last couple of decades, but it's much rarer to have one that 100% buys into the club, its supporters and its culture. Amazing player and amazing character. The sort you tell your kids and grand kids about.

It was indeed. Incidentally, Anderson jr has since found regular football at non-league Hartlepool. Only realised when his name popped up on Sky's vidiprinter the other week. Next to OG