Eddie

I'm sorry, all hail the untouchable Hughes!

I was losing faith before, mainly based on league performances, the cup game yesterday added to it, just like the cup run last season somewhat saved it. If you think the football we have played over the past 10-12 games is good enough then that's fine. If you don't see any very serious problems in the current side then that is also fine. When I look at our team right now I see problems that have nothing to do with how much money we have to spend or even the quality of the players we have, but something that is going on in that team and the way it is being run. I do still believe that Hughes can solve that, but as I watch him make some very strange changes and decisions I am starting to think that maybe he can't.

From September to the end of December the amount of money you have doesn't matter, it's all about the squad of players and Hughes, mainly thanks to his own good work, has a good squad of players. The thing for me is that his job isn't simply to assemble a good bunch of players, he then has to get that good bunch of players to do something. Now maybe I'm making him a victim of the success he has had in the transfer market, but when you have a bunch of players that is better than most sides in the league then I expect you to do well, as I'm sure he does as well. I'm not being knee-jerk here, so people can't use that as a way to dismiss me, I may be wrong but I've been saying the same things for a while. This season has not been great, last season wasn't anything particularly special and was only really saved by the FA Cup Semi and the fact that we luckily got into Europe through the intertoto. Now people will come back to that by saying that being in an FA Cup final was special and to a certain extent I agree, but I'll always judge a manager based on the league unless he manages to bring in some silverware, which as of yet Hughes hasn't done and he won't do this year either. As I said, I'm not calling for him to go, but I just get that feeling that his time may be approaching. I'll back any manager we have through virtually everything, I've never called for one to be fired and I doubt that I ever will, but the Souness experience taught me to always judge them based on how they are handling the side at this moment in time. When I look at this side I look at a bunch of players who often seem lost, who don't know what the manager wants, now that is the biggest problem any manager can have. I hope he sorts it out, he's done some great things, he's a nice man and I would be happy to see him stay here for a long time, but it is the most important position at the club and we can't afford to allow someone to slowly rot when they aren't getting the job done. We're a few points of the champions league, that's great, but our recent performances have been more like bottom four rather than top four and by recent I mean the last 10 or so games, which is a fairly significant chunk of the season. We've gone out to three sides in cups who we really should have beaten, particularly two of them, and when you think about that in that sort of way it isn't good. I'm not impressed by Hughes at the moment. He has unhappy players, a side that appears to lack motivation and he doesn't seem to have everyone on the same page, whilst his faliure to address the problem we've had in central midfield worries me. I'll just say it once more though, I'm not calling for him to go.

I don't play told you so. I stuck by Souness until the very end, I was actually sad when he left, but I took a lesson from that. Manager's have shelf-lives, they lose teams, their game-plan is found out, I'm getting closer and closer to thinking that has happened to Hughes. I support the Chicago Bulls and after a couple of good seasons Skiles lost his team, they didn't put in the effort anymore, they weren't playing for him and he needed to go. The guy had done a good job, but it was his time. I'm happy to admit that I was wrong with Souness, I stuck by the cup-winning Souness, the 6th placed finishing, I don't want to do the same with Hughes. What's odd is that many of you accuse me of sticking by the Benni of last year, which perhaps I am and it is probably not right for me to set different standards for players and managers, but the majority of you who are most critical of me for sticking by Benni say that this is a new season and he hasn't produced the good this year, well this is a new season for Hughes and he hasn't produced the goods this year. I'm not going to give a manager carte blanche because he had one great season, one mediocre season and one heading towards poor season.

I'm not advocating getting rid of him, just that I'm losing faith in hime. It is based more on performances, his own decisions and the inability to improve certain aspects of the team and remove basics errors. I'm not really judging him on the results themselves. How anyone can't be seriously concerned with the level of performances for the past two months or so really worries me. It's a tough pill to swallow, but he has to be held accountable for them and they have been well below par. Is there a single person on this board who would have accepted being out of the UEFA Cup, League Cup and FA cup whilst sitting 9th in the table at this point in the season? You can defend him all you want with the fact that he doesn't have as much money as some others, but he gets a lot of money to do his job and I think he has a core group of some very good players.

I'm losing faith in him, big time.

Matty has had his chances and I've yet to see him impress when he's started. He's put in some very good performances off of the bench, but he doesn't have enough quality if he isn't coming on towards the end of the game to add that bit of pace and running.

Well if the government supplies it at the same price, if not less, which you would assume they would be able to do given the fact that drug suppliers make a huge profit and the government would have some advantages, then you would have to ask why the criminals would keep it at? I'm sure it would still be there, just like you see illegal cigs and alcohol sometimes, but it certainly wouldn't be anywhere near to the level it is at now. The usage might be the same, but at least the money wouldn't be going towards criminals who are just using it to fund other activities.

Benni is also very quick to praise. If he thinks you did the right thing he'll acknowledge it, even if the execution was poor. He's having a go at the rest of the team because he's frustrated, probably with both his own play and that of the team as a whole.

Agree with you there. On top of that his crosses weren't even that good. He put in three good balls (the two goals and the amazing miss), but let's be honest, only one of those was really at all difficult. We gave him space to run in and he did, it didn't take any real talent. Pedersen did far more than he did in the second half and that really isn't saying much.

I don't think he does, he was dropped earlier in the season, it's just that we don't have a replacement. Peter and Treacy are the only options, but Peter is either injured or has problems and Treacy has been suspended recently. You can't seriously suggest playing Dunn there long-term or moving Bentley there and having someone play right midfield.

They'd also make a fortune.

It appears to be pretty black or white for you too. I don't think Benni can do no wrong, he's been poor this season for the most part, but I don't think that's because he doesn't care and I don't think he should be sold. For me he still remains one of our best players, our best goalscorer and a player who we would be very foolish to let go unless we got a very big bid for him and had a good replacement lined up. Why can't a player just be out of form? It happens to everyone, but for some reason with Benni it means he's causing trouble. He's not playing well and on top of that he's scoring fewer goals because we aren't creating as many chances as the team isn't playing well. It's really quite simple to me, but for some reason people seem to be getting themselves worked up and are intent on blaming it on attitude. Also, say what you like, but I don't have any problems with his work ethic. He doesn't run as much as Dickov or Roque, but that isn't really his job. He really does quite a lot of running, but it seems to be overlooked by most on here. Of course, I don't go to matches and maybe they edit the tv coverage so that he moves around the pitch.

I don't get where people get this idea from that Benni doesn't want to score or play, but Roberts does. Please remind me which one of them recently handed in a transfer request? Simply because a player isn't playing well doesn't mean he doesn't care. Rovers fans seem to struggle with that unless they have become total favourites (perfect examples in the current side being Warnock and Samba).

Obviously he knows more than I do, but there's a bit of a difference between those two things, at least in my opinion. It would be like me saying that I could tell you that Derby will be relegated, but I can't tell you the score in their next game. It seems easier to see patterns and and trends, rather than predict specifics, particularly when those specifics could be changed by some very slight variations, which isn't really true when you're looking at the larger picture. I wouldn't trust a scientist who told us that the average temperature in 2020 will be 101°, but I'm willing to believe them if they make a general prediction based on a vast amount of research.

What you are essentially saying is that global warming is being manipulated, possibly even created or at least exaggerated, by the west in order to keep lesser developed nations down, but you haven't actually produced anything to support that theory, which is really quite a bold statement. Tell me how else I should take that statement. I'm not looking at whether or not you believe in global warming, not whether co2 causes global warming or global warming causes rising levels of co2, simply that last piece there. As I've said, so far the landmark international agreement regarding global warming places no requirements for reduction on the lesser developed nations, whilst the EU has also agreed to reduce emissions. I'm not saying individual parties won't use it to their advantage, of course they will, it is a political issue, but that doesn't mean it is being used on the international scene in that same way. I mean, let's look at car manufacturers, those furthest behind in terms of "green" cars are the American car manufacturers, in other words, any initiatives that are introduced will hurt them most and will actually help Asian producers. For an example on this, next year France is introducing a tax based on a cars green level, now this will pretty much price American cars out of the average persons market, it is highly beneficial to the Asian market as I believe that no popular Asian car will be on the wrong-end of this tax, one very popular French model will be.

Bazza, applause all round. You managed to retreat from your initial statement at record speed. I'm not going to argue with the fact that virtually every aspect of almost every international agreement has been totally ineffective and I won't disagree, as I said in my previous post, that global warming, like any other political issue that has ever existed, can and has been used as a political tool; but that is still a million miles away from it only being in existance, or at least popular, because western governments want to use it to hold back developing nations. You have absolutely nothing to back you up, it's simply crazy. It's one of those "well you can't prove it happens", we can't prove a ton of what science says happens, but that doesn't mean you can come up with some crazy alternative and think it deserves just as much recognition or is potentially as realistic. The fact remains that governments around the world, both in developed and less developed nations, recorgnise and support initiatives to reduce emissions. On top of that, many of the countries in the west that are most vocal when it comes to this are some who would have the least to gain from keeping less developed nations down; I mean you really can't tell me that Sweden are hell-bent on preventing China from becoming even more powerful. As I said, don't believe it if you want, but seeing as 99% of the scientific world believes something, if you are going to come up with an alternative and give it air-time, you better have some pretty impressive facts and figures to support it, especially when you choose to reject the generally accepted view on the basis that no one has shown you any hard proof.

We'd be pretty upset if that penalty had been given against us. It was a "foul", but if they gave those everytime then there would be a penalty from every corner. If they want to give them, then they have to start doing that, if not then you'll just see the odd one here and then and it will annoy everyone. It reminds me of Ooijer against Chelsea last year. You can't really complain because the ref is right, but you know that you'll come up the other end and see the same thing and there will be no whistle. That is the kind of thing that annoys me, I don't mind if they never call them, but don't call them once in a while.

Agree with you there. The reason I have no real problem with MGP is because he is obviously trying. He's failing horribly at the moment, but the effort is there. I don't know what has to be done to help him get back to his good form, probably the odd special goal or two, but I'm sure it will come back eventually. Hopefully it won't be too much longer.

Yes I'm sure the democrats will, but then the democrats also have fewer links with oil and several other business sectors that have a lot to lose from these sorts of agreements. The fact that they've decided to attend doesn't really say much, they have had so much pressure put on them over the past few years that if they hadn't turned up there would have been an uproar. The only real thing you can look at is that the one major treaty regarding climate change that has been passed by virtually everyone, that being the Kyoto protocol, has not been signed or ratified by the United States. To further that point, they kyoto protocol doesn't even set out any requirements for developing nations apart from the need for them to monitor their situation, the actual requirements relating to reductions are placed purely on already developed nations. I have no problem with you not believing in global warming, I think it's silly, as you have absolutely no scientific training and you are going against the vast majority of experts who spend their lives researching this, but still it hasn't been proven; however, to come up with some sort of a conspiracy theory that basically has nothing to support it is going a bit too far. Global warming can be used as a political tool, just like any other issue, but that doesn't mean that it has been created for political reasons. Gore wouldn't be back in the limelight without it, the democrats would probably have slightly less support, but they haven't paid off the scientific world just so that they can get a couple million (at most) more votes come 2008.

If that were the case, surely the United States would be leading the cause, rather than doing almost everything they can to fight it?

Yeah, but then everytime Rovers get a penalty I think they'll miss and whenever they then miss I'll say "I just knew he would". Maybe you're all different from me and others that I know, but I think a good amount of the time people expect players on the team they support to miss penalties, it's just a feeling of dread you get.

Very cold in Paris at the moment as well actually. It was a warm September and October with very little rain, but over the past two weeks it has started to get very cold.

Why would Roberts stay when Benni is his best pal? I find it far more likely that having Roberts in his ear is upsetting Benni. Roberts is the one who needs to go. If you have two bad eggs and have to get rid of one (and we don't actually know if Benni is a bad egg at the moment), then you ahve to get rid of the less talented one.

What I think some of you aren't getting is that I'm worried not so much because of our league position, but more our current team, form and finances, particularly when compared to those around us. Now I think this is the same for several others who seem to be equally concerned. There's a long way to go, we are still within touching distance of the top 4 and top 6, so this could still be anything from a horrible season to a fantastic (I suspect it will more likely be mediocre to good), so the league position isn't really why I'm worried. What worries me more is the fact that we can't defend, particularly from set-pieces, which is a problem we've had now for a while. I'm also really worried by the lack of options in the centre of midfield. As far as I'm concerned these are the two most important areas on a football picth. Without a top quality striker you can be organised and defend and try and grind out a result and you can do the same thing without quality wide players. Without the ability to get the ball and keep it and without the ability to defend when attacked you can't really do anything, as was shown by the fact that we scored 3 goals away from home in the premiership and came away with nothing.