They are gelling - they're playing together as a unit much more than they were. By gelling I mean; covering for each other, Ooijer adjusting to the speed of the Premiership, Emerton feeling his way into the right back position and Neill likewise on the other flank. If you don't think they were anything other than a complete shambles a few weeks ago, well you obviously don't know football. That doesn't mean that they can handle a big striker though, cos those two clearly can't. Which, y'know, was my point.

Well when you see a Tugay through ball to Neill (Red Bull game), you realise the movement is pretty good . The combinations on the wings at the moment are fantastic, Emerton and Bentley especially. We're really clicking at the moment, and part of me wishes we didn't have a fortnight break, the other part wants Friedel, Reid and Nonda back. As for the game, well the Wigan team isn't built to handle lively strikers like Jeffers (and what a game he had!) and McCarthy. Once we resisted the temptation to pump the ball up to the front two and instead looked to work it through the midfield and down the channels their central partnership was in for a difficult afternoon. All in all a good game, a well deserved win, especially considering Kirkland pulled off some heroic saves. A quick word about Ooijer and Zurab though - Nelsen can't get back soon enough in my opinion. It's not that either one is a bad player, they're just not physical enough, highlighted by the fact Heskey won everything in the air yesterday. Had me on the edge of my seat towards the end when Wigan were launching ball after ball into the box - fortunately we held out.

More down to the back four gelling and the front two tearing their defence to pieces with their movement - even Jeffers got in on the act on Sunday. Yes, Tugay can pass, but the amount of times players waltz past him is beyond a joke - I'd play him in a five man midfield, but not in a four, it puts too much pressure on the other three players. As for Savage not being there as a goal threat - well I think you'll find that's my point, ideally you're getting 5 goals a season from one of your central midfielders. If nothing else their late runs create space for other players.

Controversial in the fact that Premiership calibre players run past him like he's not there? I agree, given time, he's one of the best passers in the Premiership, but you're asking an incredible amount from his midfield partner - Savage at the moment, the best suited man in our team to handling it I suppose - who has to do the running of two men. This is one of our main problems - Savage (not that he's any good at it anyway, but I digress) is too busy/knackered doing Tugay's defensive work, as well as his own, to be able to break late into the box and provide that goal threat from midfield. I've got a season ticket in the Jack Walker stand, so no, that's not the reason.

Don't get me wrong, the man is an absolute legend. He's been an incredibly good player for Rovers, but his time has passed. The ball skills are still there, but the athleticism isn't. Quite frankly the man is a liablity, everytime he takes the field our midfield gets run over. Having said that, if Sparky thinks he can do a job, who am I to argue?

My only problem is the murdering of people in their beds. That implies that we'd have to go round at an ungodly hour - it'd be much easier if we murdered them whilst they were eating their tea in front of the tv - though that probably doesn't have the same impact, slogan wise

Boldin. Very impressed with Nonda, turned the game around against City and obviously bagged the winner against Boro. Provides the team with a physical threat upfront and, more importantly, allows McCarthy to drop deeper - he's ineffective leading the line, but a quality player when playing in 'the hole'. He must have been a serious player pre-injury, all that size, skill and pace - still, beggars can't be choosers and we should all be very happy to have him here.

Hendry could do a job for us, y'know if we're signing old players

Say, what?! Not quite sure when that happened, must have been when I left to get a pie.

Except Ashton's out for months, and anyone attempting to play Cole upfront on his own doesn't deserve a job in football.

So McCarthy isn't better than anyone we had on the books last season, perhaps barring Bellamy? What about Roberts, under the same conditions?

It's a tough one to judge right now. I'd suspect Hughes didn't have any transfer targets to pull the trigger on, so to speak, in midfield - our biggest weakness. I feel we're going to struggle creatively this year - Tugay is getting on, Bentley is still developing, the central two can't pick a pass and Pedersen/Gamst is invisible most games. Having said that, barring injuries; Nonda, McCarthy, Roberts, and Ooijer will all significantly improve our strike force and defence. Once Nelsen is back we should see a dramatic improvement in the central pairing at the back - not that Zura isn't class, but I feel Nelsen and Ooijer are a cut above. In the new trio upfront (quartet if you include Jeffers I suppose, but anything we get from him is a bonus), we're much better off than we were last season where we were essentially a one man team in this department.

I take if you've not been down to Ewood recently then. Absolutely shocked by this transfer, an unbelievable deal - it's unlikely our board held out at this valuation for such a player, so Crystal Palace must take all the credit

Four days to get a creative midfielder that's willing to get into the box and support the front two. I hear Steed is available As for a match summary, not much to say really. We had absolutely no chance of breaking down Chelski with Pedersen, Savage and Reid starting in a midfield four. The two central players cannot pick a pass, as the ever so critical gentlemen sat behind me stated, and were under each other's feet all game. Neither one had the intelligence to break forward and support the front two either - which is why McCarthy had to drop off so deep to receive the ball. The less said about Pedersen, or Gamst as he likes to be called now, the better - waste of space. Gallagher was little better, £1m for him right now is sounding very tempting. On the positive side, Ooijer is clearly a quality centre half, which makes three (along with Zura and Nelsen - Todd is too irrational to be classed as quality however talented he may be) and Emerton appears to have found his home at right back, though I'll withold my judgement until he is tested by an actual left winger. Bentley has come on leaps and bounds under Hughes, which is very encouraging. The front two are a few weeks away from clicking, but when they do (assuming we have a goal threat/support from midfield) then they'll be a huge asset to the side.

I see a problem in all three of those combinations.

Well, as it's Wiley I'd suggest the fact he pulled on the blue and white halves (or I suppose the away kit ) pretty much doomed him. Having said that, he's done this before and he'll do it again.

Funny, I see that as £800k plus whatever Burt was making this year (before his new contract, which is almost certainly a pay rise) down the drain. He's simply not good enough. I was very dissapointed with this move by Hughes - I'm sure there's an academy player (or a platoon of them) that could fill his role for a fraction of the cost, and who knows, they might impress the coaching staff in the process.

Probably should have paid more attention to the squad before this match - the World Cup was football overload for me. Nelsen is still injured eh? What's the estimate for his return? Also, what's wrong with Zura? Didn't realise he was injured. For 70 minutes or so, looked very composed on the ball, but his lack of pace/work ethic was exposed when not in possession, even against a poor side. In all honesty I'd rather give Taylor a shot at right back than Mokoena - I just don't rate him in the back four at all. He's great in a five man midfield playing the anchor role, but that's where his talents begin and end as a Premiership footballer.

No wonder we're losing then, a moment of madness from Hughes it seems. Mokoena can't defend for toffee, everybody and their brother knows that. Are Zura and Todd injured? That's the only way I'd choose that back four.

But fair.

You might want to establish some guidelines before you put that one infront of the F.A. Dawn French, for example, parading around in the buff wouldn't be my cup of tea.

We have a winner.

Jack Walker, Upper Tier. Crap atmosphere, cracking view.

A cheeky bid for N'Zogbia is in order methinks. Cracking player.

Wasn't Fettis about 5'3"?