EGR blanking plate

My 1.9 had an issue where on light acceleration in 3rd gear there was a stutter, happened occasionally.

I read lots of threads, figured it might be the EGR valve, and when I got a remap, had the EGR deleted.

I figured that would sort it, but initially it kept doing it, then it appeared to fade away and is now seldom evident.

My query is, did I get the wrong end of the stick?? Should I have fitted a blanking plate as well, given that the purpose of the EGR delete via VCDS is to stop the eml coming on when the plate goes on.