CSA96

Still plenty of windows open England | Sep-01 | 11pm Spain | Sep-01 | 11pm France | Sep-01 | 7pm Italy | Sep-01 | 7pm Germany | Sep-01 | 7pm Netherlands | Sep-02 | 11pm Denmark | Sep-02 | 11pm Norway | Sep-02 | 11pm Scotland | Sep-03 | 5pm Belgium | Sep-03 | 11pm Austria | Sep-03 | 4pm USA | Sep-03 | 6am Turkey | Sep-04 | 10pm Portugal | Sep-04 | 12am Saudi Arabia | Sep-06 | 10pm Croatia | Sep-07 | 11pm Switzerland | Sep-08 | 5pm Czech Republic | Sep-08 | 11pm Poland | Sep-09 | 11pm Brazil | Sep-11 | Mexico | Sep-11 | Greece | Sep-15 | 10pm

Agree. Although he does look okay when the ball goes into feet. But when it's hit up to him at chest height or head height he looks uncomfortable, it's not his game

If he's here, probably yes

Because his wages are huge, he gets paid more every time he's named on a teamsheet and he set his stall out about not wanting to play in the Championship, presumably

Win this and it's been another good week. 7pts from a week with Millwall and Birmingham away in it is a good return. If it's only 4pts or 5pts then it's going to feel like a bit of a missed opportunity Win this and we move up to 7pts and will be on the cusp of the playoffs with two home games to follow before Wrexham away and the international break

Agree. I totally get that he wanted to take time to assess his options and search for that longer contract but having absolutely no preseason felt like a big mistake. Probably more of a mistake for Swansea than Ross because it’s going to write off a chunk of year one of that three-year contract, he’s got the money locked up

Done. Can close the thread already. 1st of September

I think he’s got something. But we do need to stop just whacking the ball at him above hip height and expecting him to make something of it. He’s not Larin, who can do that at times. Mubama is more agile and lively and we need to harness that with more passes off the shoulder of the last defender for him to stretch teams late in games when they’re tiring

Agree. Gives me Jos Hooiveld vibes. Good with his left, bit clumsy with his right and gives you some heart in mouth moments. But full-blooded, gives everything and will get his head on the end of a few set pieces too

Re: Larin / Mubama I do think we need to stop trying to carry on playing the exact same way we would if Larin was on the pitch when he’s not. Mubama looks decent enough when the ball is played into his feet and he’s hustling to get involved, but he’s not Larin in terms of his ability aerially or with his chest What he is, though, is agile and with more acceleration and pace and likes to play off the shoulder of the last man. So we should be getting Azaz or the deeper midfielders to try and turn the opposition defences around and get Mubama onto some through balls that we perhaps wouldn’t play for Larin, especially when he’s fresh legs against tiring defenders

Prayer circle for Daniel Peretz's health

I think the window has been a mixed bag, I am more pleased than displeased overall: - Our XI is probably able to be just as good as last season - Our depth is definitely worse behind Downes/Jander and maybe behind Larin, but better at CB (I never saw Quarshie as a viable option, let's see if Abbott is... I think he will be) - I'm pleased to only lose 2 of the 4: Harwood-Bellis, Charles, Jander, Scienza - Azaz and Downes are key and top players at this level and are both still here too - Absolutely ****ing delighted to finally be rid of Bazunu and McCarthy - Never expected to be able to sign Peretz permanently if I'm honest - Was worried Larin would just go elsewhere after how last season ended, he could've had other offers and isn't averse to changing countries - Pleased Bree came back, I'm not his biggest fan but he's solid enough at this level - Was a bit disappointed to lose Stewart but at the same time had said before I wasn't comfortable trying to get through an entire season with just him and Larin because of injury history/age - Still think we are a bit light out wide and in the GK department personally. I'll be praying nothing happens to Peretz as I don't rate Long whatsoever and I'm not sold on Matsuki (although he does turn in some good displays) on the right and the Edozie situation puts a ? on who can cover for Scienza However, I feel we are setting ourselves up to arrive at the January window with space in the squad and unspent budget, which can create some interesting opportunities. As seen with Peretz and Larin last January. Spors is obviously able to dig out some January finds if we want to Finally, we just need to do better over the first half of the campaign than we did last season... that shouldn't be too hard (famous last words) and then we'll arrive at January, as mentioned, with space and budget if there's something we really need to address or if we feel there's an opportunity which can put us over the top when it comes to the business end of the season Eckert wanted a squad of 23/24 and that's exactly where we're going to end up and I think the group assembled is enough to expect the manager to guide the team to playoffs, which is where my expectation level for this season is

Proper scrappy 1-1 under the lights, pretty much what I expected. Text my Birmingham mate yesterday to say I thought it would be a scrappy 1-1. They've only lost three home games in two years and matched our home record last season (44pts), so I'd have taken that pre-match. How good that point is probably depends on how we do up at Lincoln, if the week ends with 7 points from a possible 9 then that's a strong return

FT: Birmingham 1-1 Saints

Cracking finish from Matsuki... shame it's offside

Yeah, on replay that is fair actually

Tonda's seen enough. Larin hooked to the bench

Larin again, has to do better

Some HT entertainment

Proper EFL away performance so far, despite being unconvincing. Settled it down after the home team came flying out of the blocks. Then nabbed a goal just before HT

HT: Birmingham 0-1 Saints

Yeah, if you look around the league, teams that play one up front generally don't have 3/4 good striker options. It's two and then youth or a veteran