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"?

Utter rubbish. There are a dozen quality English players Sven refused to select for one reason or another - such as Hibburt at Everton, numerous strikers, Parker, etc etc. The man is incompetent and has wasted a good portion of what some see as our 'Golden Generation'. In my opinion, however, there is a clear correlation between quality English youngsters coming through the Academy ranks and the influx of foreign players - survival of the fittest. Those that do make it through are invariably very good - in yesteryear those plying their trade in the Championship would be stars in the top flight, clearly that is not the case now. You're basing this opinion on one sample. I'll retort with Manchester City, Aston Villa and Middlesboro - how many young, promising, English players have come through their ranks recently? Exactly. Our Academy is vastly overrated based on it's production - right now we're desparate for anybody to break into the first team squad and as a result we're focusing our scouting network abroad.

Wenger's dubbing of Jeffers as a 'Fox in the Box' should answer that question. He thought he was getting a young striker capable of bagging 20 goals a season in L'Arse's system.

It could turn out to be a very shrewd signing. The lad obviously has talent and he's still young. If anyone is going to get this once promising career back on track it's Hughes and his coaching staff - both physically and mentally. I have no problems with this signing at all. Very much a low risk, high reward scenario.

How anyone can argue against the awarding of a penalty is beyond me, it's pretty much nailed on. Lucas has once again had a lapse in concentration and has gone diving into a situation that didn't require such drastic action. Very foolish.

Lampard should never pull on an England shirt again, he's been woeful the entire tourament. Same formation next game with Hargreaves holding for Carrick (who's distribution was excellent) and Gerrard. Lennon should also start, Beckham has done nothing to earn his place (thought that free kick has probably bought himself another year of Captaincy). We're unbelievably slow and need an injection of both pace and width - Lennon provides both.

Oh dear, he's comprehensively better than those in bold already, and a case could be made for many of the others. Yes, and they're a vastly inferior side without him. He makes both England and United tick, and he's still only 20 years of age. Frightening.