S-Clarke

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.

I think we're paying them £2m

I think you need to look at this another way. When we were in the PL it's fair to say that he wasn't at the elite level we all craved for It was a fair argument that we felt we could potentially do a bit better, or at least add players around him so he wasn't in there on his own. But you need to realise where we are now, in the Championship, miles off of that PL team he was regularly part of. It's not fair to judge him based upon our expectations from then. In terms of where we are today, he's a great signing for the fee. He's clearly more than good enough for this level, and when you combine his set pieces with the arial ability of Larin and hopefully THB, we could be a big issue for teams. The only fair concern people have is his lack of physicality and that we haven't really replaced Charles 'lung busting' midfield runs in that sense, but we'll have to see how that pans out. No, he's not a world beater and he never was - but for where we are now, we'd be stupid to turn our noses up at this opportunity - certainly for the fee in question.

Bolton are sniffing around him apparently. Let me just say to anyone from Bolton - he's a world-beater, if you can get him for £1m then you've got a steal. He's a potential superstar.

It's like groundhog day with this guy. This must be his last chance. If he fails here, which looks likely, the only person mad enough to take him on would be that Forest Green Rovers owner. They're perfect for each other in fact.

I like the additions of 'experienced' players like this. Nothing wrong with 'yoof', but getting some experience down the spine of the team is also necessary (good experience, not Stephens experience) This guy has good top flight pedigree in Germany. Spors has certainly earned our trust with the Jander and Leo pick ups from Germany, but let's hope he's not another Downs.

He's certainly not been side-lined due to his ability at WHU, something odd going on with Nuno. (Baldie) He started well there a few years ago, popped up with a good few goals at the start of his time under Moyes who seemed to know what he was all about. I mean you cannot really complain about getting him for under £1m, that's frankly ludicrous really for a player of his ability. No, he's not a world beater, but if played regular I do believe he's better than this level currently.

Hopefully they don't introduce that ban at clubs over here, the only reason I go to games these days is for the pre match, half time and full time light shows and the Coldplay-style mobile phone light shows.