Eddie

I think we were watching different games. Like the entire team, Tugay showed great touches and passes in small spurts, the majority of the time, like all of the rest, he picked out red shirts more than he did blue and white. His work rate was pretty impressive (by his standards).

Surely, even those of you who doubt what he could do for us on the pitch will admit that what he would do to the profile and merchandising of the club would be worth the transfer? Just to add, by simply mentioning the fact that it might happen both my mother and my sister enthusiastically responded that they would become blackburn supporters if he did, I am sure they are not alone in that respect (though they were joking, there was an element of truth and I have no doubt that I would find it much easier to convince them to go to a game).

I think we'd all love to see Tugay here for a few more years, but he'll be faded out. Even Sherignham, who has kept himself very fit, can only start a handful of games a season and is basically just a squad member.

Still a good player and so would be an improvement in that sense. Also, the things he would do for our merchandising and brand image would be massive. Wonderful signing, simply won't happen.

3-0 United..depressing day ahead.

I'm not saying that he didn't bring in anyone through lack of trying, but I am sure that there was someone out there. A good number of decent midfielders moved to and from premiership clubs this year, we could have gone for one of them. This isn't me calling for Hughes out or anything like that or saying that he should have signed someone for the sake of it, but it is his job and he recieves a very good pay in order to do it, I hope that he can find some sort of stop-gap for the next few weeks.

I remember that! Always a bit of fun.

Foreseeing the injuries is part of his job to a certain extent. We took a huge risk and it didn't pay off, unfortunately that is part of the territory of football.

How do you do that?

I've been impressed and I have to admit that I was sceptical when he signed. I thought of him as a poor man's Drogba and maybe he is (just this years Drogba rather than previous seasons). He has been better here than he has been anywhere else post-injury and I sure that he will improve. He's not going to be amazing, but he's a good player who will score goals.

That is true, IHB. However, he didn't score against Everton, Manchester United or Bolton reserves and only managed a goal against a premiership reserve side in the game against Boro, so he isn't scoring against the sides he plays that is closest to the level some believe he is already ready for.

It will be hard for him, though I suppose he is now 4th choice while Roberts is injured, one more down and he'll make it onto the bench.

Thing is, only 1 of those goals has come against premiership reserve opposition.

Wow, you saw much more into what I saw as being a lot of cameras filming a pretty boring game where Zidane did virtually nothing and showed little of any talent that he has.

To be fair, that is in part due to the fact that there were wes Basel fans.

Why is that? As for not playing the ball to Gamst, as he has no pace there is no point playing him the ball unless he is in a position to cross or shoot when you actually play the ball. It makes much more sense to give it to Savage who can then redistribute the ball.

With regards to Benni, you have to be there. If it were just a case of scoring tap-ins then we could all do it. His link up play has also been very good. As for the credit for his goal against Basel going to Gally, don't think so. If anything the credit should go to Bentley and Jeffers (I think) who linked up well on the right, particularly Bentley who did a nice back heeled flick to get the ball between two defenders, Gally just took a pretty rubbish shot when he had a bit of time and space in the area and the keeper made a mess of it. As for Nonda, he's looked good and Hughes obviously thinks he is second choice, so we have to trust him in that respect. Gallagher looks to be a midfielder now anyway, Nonda is a better player than Jeffers.

Friedel Emerton*, Zurab, Ooijer, Neill* Bentley, Tugay, Mokoena, Benni, Pedersen Nonda Would I actually do that? Probably not, but it is late and it doesn't really matter what I say, don't think Hughes reads the messageboard. *Currently have knocks, but probably won't be out for long.

Now, I don't want to appear overly critical of Hughes because I am a huge supporter of his and his staff and he has done wonderful things for the club since taking over; however, I don't think lack of funding can really be an excuse in this instance. The midfield problem was there for all to see during last season and it was a priority for most of us during the transfer window, but nothing was done. Now this might have been because of a small budget, but I can't see how. He decided to spend all of his money on two strikers, money well spent in my view, but if the board had come to him and said that he had "x" amount then he needed to manage that better. Even some sort of loan deal could have offered a less financially demanding option, but no additions were made (the same is true for the left back spot). If it ever comes out that Hughes was promised a certain amount and the board failed him by not producing the cash when deals had been arranged then that is fair enough, but I simply can't see that happening. For whatever reasons these two obviously weak positions (both in quality and depth) were not added to and we are suffering as a result. Transfer dealings are a major part of Hughes' job and up until now he has pulled off some wonderful deals, but he made a couple of mistakes in the summer.

We have no idea whether our lack of transfer activity was down to poor financial backing or the fact that Hughes couldn't identify a realistic target. I may be wrong here, but I was under the impression that the board would have backed Hughes had he said he had found someone he really thought would improve things, they have certainly never publicly failed him. For whatever reason, be it that they weren't able to find anyone or that their attempts failed, Hughes and his team didn't bring in anyone to add depth to the centre of midfield. That is part of his job, so if the blame is to go anywhere it has to be placed on him.

I don't doubt that he is capable, I'd actually would think that his pace, power, tackling and passing would make him a very good candidate, but I would rather we try something else and try and keep our first choice back four that were starting to look so good up until injuries hit.

It can't be Neill or Emerton. If you take either of those out of the left/right back spots then you really weaken the side.

I don't think we should accept the UEFA Cup as an excuse and I certainly hope that we don't hear it from any of our players or coaching staff.

I've found that as well. Second season and using exactly the same tactics and the same team (with two additions) the team is miles better.

Jeffers misses a good chance.