S-Clarke

No, I disagree. I think his hold up play in key moments is great, his ability to even get a small nick on it to play in others. Sometimes it bounces off of him, sure, but I think it would give him a disservice to say he doesn't offer us anything in the sense of holding it up or playing off him.

I don't believe he was Emery's choice, they seem like a bit of a broken club at the moment - I don't think Emery will be there much longer. I doubt he thought it would start like this, he's nowhere near the team.

Just solid, slows the game down when it needs to be slowed down. He really wanted that goal - he tried to be a bit too cute with it, then Larin stormed in like an absolute nutter to slam it in anyway so it didn't matter.

I just cannot see why he would be banned from football for a period of time. If what he had been doing was so hideous, why has he been allowed to start the season? If this was the crime of the century so many seem to believe it was, then surely he wouldn't be allowed to be back in the same job? The FA doesn't have a spying rule per-say, so they'll be making up whatever they want on the fly. I'll also add that the FA cannot punish the football club directly per-say, this is an individual approach - but hopefully they realise that anything daft would punish a club who has already been punished in some quite over the top ways. A fine and a touchline ban is all I can see, if it's anymore than that then the game is finished and it would leave me questioning what the point of it all is.

He's the perfect centre forward for this setup, fluid wide players and a mobile 10 - then this guy up top giving us that focal point. We look so fluid and it's built around how he holds the ball and moves the CB's around. Kudos to the scouts and coaches for identifying exactly the profile of player we needed to compliment the rest of our squad. He wasn't the sexiest name when we got him, but he is everything we needed.

There were a couple of really positive elements to us today, which in my eyes bodes really well for us setting ourselves up to be a very successful team this year. We were under the cosh for a good portion of that 1st half, we couldn't get into the rhythm of the game - but through grit and determination we seemed to be able to grind ourselves through it, not very pleasant to watch as we couldn't get going, but we showed a very good side to us where we just dug in and rode the storm. We seem capable of doing that these days, which hasn't been the case for some time. The other element was how clinical we were, Bristol City had much better chances - and more of them - but for the smaller amount of chances we had, we were clinical with them. We didn't need a bucket load, we are very efficient with Larin, Azaz, Matsuki in the attack - they're not the sort of forwards who need 5 or 6 chances to score. Those two elements are what pleases me the most, the ability to dig in when things aren't going our way, and to then follow it up with such a strong clinical edge where we can just kill a game in a matter of minutes. The best teams do exactly that. Larin just scores goals, I don't know what we've fed him since he came here, but the bloke is a machine. His hold up play is great, his touch and movement off the ball is equally as good...but his finishing is next level stuff, I don't think we've had as good a finisher as him since Ings was banging them in. I've certainly not felt this confident for a while as I do when I see him barrelling down on goal. I really enjoy the attack - either Fellows, Azaz, Larin, Leo. Or Matsuki, Larin, Azaz, Leo - it's so interchangeable and fluid, we can swap out Fellows and it still works. It's quite a scary attack because we can hurt teams from so many different angles. I enjoyed Muambas cameo today, that's what you want him to do - use his strength to bully CB's, keep the ball up top, make runs and stretch it - great assist and movement for the Azaz goal. I'm still looking forward to Dobbin making his mark here, looking back at his highlights the other day shows that he's a pretty tidy player when in form. Overall this looks like a proper team to me. It's been such a long time since I've felt a connection with a Southampton team, but this lot are starting to grow on me. Larin, Leo, Azaz, Matsuki, Keven, Peretz, Bree, Manning, Downes. It's become such a powerful and consistent spine at this level (special mention to Keven, he's only just come here but it feels like he's been here forever). To start the season on -4 and end game 6 on 10 points is great. We couldn't afford a slow start and we certainly haven't had one. One more game to finish this block off before a quite ridiculously long international break, but there we go.

He didn't have a proper pre-season, didn't play at the world cup. He won't play much at all this year, count me surprised if he gets to double figures. I liked Stewart when he was fit, but the when he was fit thing is the big issue - and without a pre-season or proper conditioning I think Swansea have walked into a bit of a disaster there. For their sake they're lucky they kept Vipotnik

I think he's a bit of a magnet for the ball, never shy's away from it and always competing for it - often comes out on top. Need guys like him, head on the line sorts. I think he's a really decent progressive ball playing CB too, some of his passes on the ground to split their midfielders were on point. 2 games in, a big fan.

Yeah, we kept hitting it long to him - I don't think that's his game. I think he's a spin in behind type of player, get the ball on the ground and let him turn a CB. He's the quickest forward we have, lots of upper body strength too. I think he can be a good attribute to us, as he's shown he can score goals at this level with Stoke. We just need to play him correctly.

Have you asked your Man City supporting friend what he thinks of him?

Reckon there is something financial in it? Appearances will trigger a big sum, or some sort of bonus, which we're trying to dodge? Only way I can make some logic of it. I don't see Ramsdale as a bad egg.

It'll probably be like the situation we had in 23/24. Bazunu 1st choice, Lumley 2nd choice, 3rd McCarthy third choice never seen. But when we needed a new first choice, McCarthy was the one they called on.

Ultimately I expected to lose players this window, but if I'm honest I felt we'd lose more than we have. We've managed to keep hold of Peretz and Larin, got those done early, which is huge IMO. You cannot underestimate the impact they've had on this team since January. Losing THB and Charles are blows, but those are two I expected to leave. If I'm honest I thought we may have lost Jander, Leo and Downes as well - but we've kept the group together in the main, which is a huge positive. It feels a little light up front, not going to lie. We've lost Archer who was an option, albeit a limited one, and Stewart who was contributing. Replacing those two with Muamba feels like a bit of a gamble, as we're counting on Larin staying fit - but we've got to be careful with him. Not too sure about Dobbin yet, I think he's struggling to find a place at the moment. He needs some time, similar to how Azaz needed time to find their feet last year. Not going to rate the window as that always ends bad, so I'll sit on the fence. Could have been a hell of a lot worse, but still feel we left ourselves a tiny bit short in attack.

He's keen, got a bit of a headless chicken look about him at the mo though. Ball seems to bounce off him, rather than sticking. He has pace/power though, so we just need to get him in behind rather than throwing long balls up at him. He's obviously very raw, be interesting to see how he develops.

Decent point really, draw probably fair. They had some big chances they should have scored, but likewise I think Larin missed at least one banker - he'll be disappointed with that. It was a bit of a scrap, when we did get time on the ball we looked the better side, but Birmingham pressed us hard and really frustrated Azaz - they were on him so quickly all night. I thought the subs (Matsuki and JWP) changed the game, and allowed us to regain the control and somewhat comfortably see it out I felt. JWP added some composure to the passing in CM, and it did make a difference to our ability to push up a bit - we weren't camped in our half, we had an out ball. Frustrating game from the attack, but Birmingham handled it well. Big fan of Keven, a bit of a skew in the first half, but he seems to be a magnet for the ball - which is a good trait for a CB. Fantastic header too, if he can replace that THB set piece goals then we'll be laughing. Onto the next one.

SSN all new low today. Feels like a long time since dildo's, blow up dolls and Redknapp leaning out of the car window. We've now had someone on a guitar performing a song in the studio about the signings made across all deadline days. I think that's the death knell for SSN!

This is also the first time in many years we have been outside of the PL for more than 2 years, so financially we will be feeling it. The club may say they are financially OK, but we will be haemorrhaging money without question. I'd say that the initial outlays of Larin and Peretz were big financial commitments too, not so much in fee - but salary/signing on fee, they're probably amongst the highest earners in this league.

It's a carbon copy of that Armenian bloke. You have to question who these people really are, blue ticks and all. There is no way they'd have all that specific info over a player, I'm sure most of it is made up from gust instincts and a 'feeling', polished up with stuff in the media.

The Stewart/Larin tandem worked well in the 2nd half of last season, I worry that we don't really have that. Muamba is young, but doesn't seem to be able to provide that same 'hold up' and 'play off of' approach that Stewart was able to do. Still early days though. As it stands, I feel our season is relying heavily on 3 things - Leo staying fit Larin staying fit Peretz staying fit If any of those is out for a decent period of time, you'd have to worry for us in terms of being competitive. The GK position worries me as Long is a third choice, but the club are treating him as the 2nd choice backup. The drop off from Long to Peretz is too big.

Tonda has said the Sports science stats support that he's the fittest he's ever been, in the best condition of his career. Certainly looks like it.

I saw on facebook that he was captured clapping the fans after the game yesterday, and then giving them all a calm down sign - I assume he was getting dogs abuse. He has then come out with the usual nonsense about ''The club have been used to this for 2-3 years,. maybe more'' - scar tissue and all that.

Have no gripes with THB, he earned the move. Gave us a good innings, didn't have the best of times in the PL, but a class above at this level. Will be a huge loss, both in leadership terms and his goals....he was a real threat from the back. Let's hope someone else can replace his goals...although going by his miss against Watford, maybe he'd lost his touch! Good servant for us though, leaves with my best wishes and will be watching his career with interest.

Or did they really miss out on Larin, for just 15% of the cost of Lankshear? I know who I'm having as my number 9.

Fill the squad with experienced players like him and we'll have a good time. His experience shone through today.

That was a really positive performance, one to blow the cobwebs away for sure. Once we settled, which took us about 15-20mins, we pulled Millwall all over the shop. The 3 in attack (Azaz, Leo, Larin) caused them absolute mayhem, Azaz particularly kept picking up clever pockets of space. He was immense once we got him into the game. Larin, as we all noticed last season, is deceptively quick. His movement in between those two centre halves was so sharp and quick, Millwall's defenders aren't the quickest - but they're not mugs, but he spun them a couple of times. His second goal though, fuck me, just outrageous. I was pleased to see Leo back in his groove, he was much more like the Leo I remember. Running, committing players, carrying the ball forward etc - made a huge impact today. He seems like such a top bloke as well, he's got a real connection with the squad and seems a really likeable guy. Bragg struggled for quite a bit of the game, but he grew into it once we had a bit more time in the middle. JWP didn't do any extraordinary, but he kept the ball and was always available for the ball - so it helped us slow it down and dictate it a little bit in the closing stages. Toss up for MOTM is between Larin, Azaz and Keven all 3 9/10's - I'll give it to Larin as he got the goals, but Keven didn't look out of place at all - in fact, he read the game like someone above Championship level. One of the best debuts we've had in recent years. When you look at the team playing like that, with the attack and then the options from the bench (Fellows etc) you do feel excited for the coming year. My dream would be to have THB right side and Keven left sided CB, that would be truly ridiculous.