Eddie

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.

I saw it this summer when it first came out in France, really bad movie. Certainly a must not see as a football fan as you pretty much see nothing apart from Zidane panting and walking around, though he does smile once. I've never seen so many people leave during the course of a movie before.

At neither, saw both.

He clearly isn't third choice. Whenever fit all the other three have been started, Jeffers needs two of them to be out to get a game. Maybe he is a different player now, but I don't think I've seen enough of him to fairly judge that. A few minutes here and there as substitute with the odd longer performance make it hard to judge if a player is really up to it. On the basis that he isn't third choice for Hughes, who sees him day-in-day-out, then I'll have to say he isn't third choice for me at the moment. As for how Jeffers dispatched the penalty, it did show me that he's an ok penalty taker.

Zidane often placed his penalties (the World Cup final being a good example). Shearer only ever hit them hard really, but I think it is perfectly acceptable to try and place as long as you are committed. I bet you that if you put it down the middle everytime you'd have a pretty decent conversion rate.

I think it is very good and certainly shows an improvement on previous years. However, we must remember that this is a striker who hadn't scored for 18 months (or something around that mark) before last night and that record still stands in the premiership and it was only a penalty afterall. He isn't suddenly worth the £8 million all over again simply because he's put in some good 15-20 minute displays and can smack a dead ball from a few yards. He is certainly behind Nonda and Benni, if he can push himself above Roberts (hard to judge because we haven't seen much of either) is yet to be seen. The advantage he does have is that he is a very different style of player to the other three, who all have somewhat similar styles (particularly with Nonda and Roberts who rely so much on pace and strength).

I am quite worried that people want to see more of Gally and Jeffers. Don't get me wrong, I think both are doing well coming off of the bench, but I think they are Kuqiesque in this manner. Great subs and they offer us something different, but whenever you see them on the pitch for long periods from the start of the game they offer little, especially in the case of Gally. Jeffers has been more impressive then I expected, but he is certainly 4th choice for me in the strikers list (1st for penalties though).

Are you asking me?

Eurosport are showing highlights all day

Started a game with Rovers a couple of weeks ago and it is going ok. First season I lost in the first round of the FA and League Cup and had a bad run in the league and only avoided the drop on the last day thanks to a superior goal difference, though somehow managed to win the UEFA Cup. Second season things are going a bit better, got to the second round of the League Cup and was in the top 4 until about November but have now slipped down to 8th (though it is very tight) and progressed past the group stages in the UEFA cup.

The only sad thing is that his one fabulous goal a season has been used up. No more goals for Tugay for 12 months now.

I think that because no matter what we do we will have a weakened midfield that it is very important that we have our stongest defense, so don't play Emerton in central midfield. If we can return to the back four that was serving us well and was also good looking forward with Neill and Emo then I think that is the best thing for us. If we have to pursue with Gray on the left and Emo in the middle then we would be taking a problem and moving it to two places.

Well Villa have been impressive this season and with our injury worries and recent premiership form you would expect us to lose, but I'll still go for 2-0 Rovers.

I thought he played very well second half and if he keeps playing like that then I won't have any complaints.

Very good game and very enjoyable to watch. We weren't very good in the first half, but I thought that we were in total control in the second and deserved the win. Great goal from Tugay, soft penatly (but at least we scored one) and good to see Benni getting another goal.

Still can't win with Blackburn in the master league (fictional players).

Looks like superstella has snapped.

I know that it has been said that this game is on eurosport, but it isn't on their online tv listings.

It is idiotic, but simply because mistakes are being made is no reason to forget about the entire thing.