That's what my pal said, he's not first choice when everybody is fit. Having said that he was really outstanding on Saturday in a rough and tumble game. Wether he could do it at our level I wouldn't like to say. I could see why we were looking at him though.

I'd like to see Chapman given a whirl out on the wing, especially away from home were he can catch them on the break. Bench Conway and Bennett and return Nyambe to right back.

It's obvious to me that with Evans and Smallwood playing you are effectively playing 6 at the back plus a goal keeper. That way you can only invite pressure and play most of the game on the defensive. As I said earlier if we were coming away with a succession of 1-0 wins a la Howard Kendall's team I might not like it but I could see the point. As it is we've had some real bangings this season and some of the football as been mind numbingly dull.

I went to the Rochdale V Sunderland game last Saturday. A very good pal of mine is a Sunderland fan and he got tickets, so him and his wife visited us for the weekend. . It was a pretty turgid sort of game, bags of effort but not a lot of skill on show. The one player that was head and shoulders above all the rest was that Dylan McGeoch who Rovers tried to sign last close season. What a good little player, a poor man's Tugay in the way he was always available for the pass and was always looking to spread the play. He was a shining light for Sunderland. He was for them what I thought Danny Murphy might have been for us. Rochdale had a good centre back who's on loan from Wolves, a big guy with a double barrelled name, he looked very capable although he was playing on the right hand side of a back three.

It's his inability up to now to sign players that genuinely impact the team that worries me as much as his defensive mentality. He seems to need to sign six players to get one that he's prepared to risk in the first team. Somebody reminded me the other day that it took him months at the start of last season to give Dack a starting place !

Not really no. He scored his share of goals and it goes without saying that he was the best left winger we've had in my time but he wasn't in the class of Andy Mac or Garner, Speedie, Benny Mac etc in front of goal. Finishing practice will help, don't get me wrong but if you haven't got that mental coolness in front of goal practice will only take you so far. From what I read Samuel was training twice a day but he was still a blunt instrument in front of goal and I suspect he always will be.

Confidence is a variable. Some days you have it, somedays you don't. I suspect Rhodes was low on confidence and has been since he left Rovers.

Good result for Villa given they were away, a goal down and a man down.

I don't agree. It's why some players can take penalties and some can't. Every pro player will be able to put 9 out of 10 in the top corner out on the training pitch. Put them in front of 80,000 at Wembley in a play off final and it's another story. The ability is still there but what's going on in their head has changed.

When one goes the other should hold their position and vice versa. They don't both have to stay at home.

Practice definitely helps with technique - shooting power, two footedness, good heading ability, these can be worked on but that coolheadedness when you're bearing down on the 'keeper comes naturally to the likes of Rhodes, Garner, Yakubu amongst many others. Jason Roberts could have practiced 8 hours a day but he would have always fluffed those chances he got when he had time to think about them.

Whatever Samuel's good points are finishing isn't one them. I also think good finishers are born and not made.

Even if they don't go up I don't think it's a foregone conclusion that Grealish will be on his way.

I'd like to see him coaching the first team instead of the wasters we have at the moment,

Unfortunately that sums his attitude up for me. He's more concerned with trying to stop the opposition than actually getting at them ! Anybody else notice those two stopping counter attacks ? It wouldn't be so bad if it was true and we were grinding out a succession of 1-0 or 2-1wins but we're conceding goals left, right and centre. The bloke has lost the plot.

True but as long as Lenihan is in the team we have one guy who likes a headed challenge.

Williams best position is centre half. His lack of real pace isn't as exposed there as it is out wide. I wouldn't have given Conway another year either. The fact that he did well last night only shows what we'd be like with a really good winger playing there.

It's an obvious statement to make but your two centre midfield players are the engine room of any football team. They should see more of the ball and cover the most ground of all the players in the team. They can set the tempo of the play and dictate whereabouts on the pitch most of the game is to be played. The can both support the front two and offer protection to the heart of the defence. Last night we had two lads playing there who had the desire, drive, athleticism and skill to do the job properly. They don't get nosebleeds when they cross the halfway line and they don't play like the goals are at the sides of the pitch instead of at either end. Why it's taken whilst now and last seasons euphoria to have been almost entirely wasted to select the two midfield players on best current form is a mystery to me.

Any win is a good win for me. To win playing well against a good side is a bonus. We can stop looking over our shoulders now I think.

Well I didn't see that coming . It's good to see us playing at a high tempo instead of the usual dull and un-inspiring stuff. Saturday will be more interesting now. I'll bet there'll be changes though.

I can't see beyond another defeat here.

John Robertson " lived out of the chip pan " but when it came to 3.00 on a Saturday afternoon he could do the business. Rovers 0 - Derby as many as they feel like scoring.

But I'll bet you they still put more effort into the game than we do, win lose or draw.

Imagine Caddis and Williams as wing backs, Jesus Christ ! That doesn't bear thinking about. Evans and Smallwood in midfield , Bennett and Whittingham attacking midfield with Dack on the bench. I wasn't at that game, did we actually have a shot on goal ? Like you say, reason to sack the guy on the spot !

What ever other criticisms of the team you can make rightly or wrongly do not let him try to tell me they are working hard. I know when a team is hard working and we aren't that team. A hard working team covers more yards, wins more tackles, wins more second balls, win more contested headers etc than their opponent . You don't need too much skill to do those things well . You just need fitness, desire and a will to win. When was the last time we had a real " hard working team " ?