S-Clarke

This is clearly just a Dean Thornton recommendation, he's worked with him in the past.

Not that it directly impacts us this season, but Sheffield United's approach to the PL seems to be a little pointless. They lost their best attacking player to France, and have now agreed a fee with Burnley for their 2nd best player - Sander Berge. They might as well have stayed in the Championship. Looks like being a pointless miserable season for them.

Sounds like WHU are closing in on the Ajax CM for £40m Although one of the WHU mouth pieces has again said today that they're unwilling to go above £30m, and are looking for us to compromise to help them do the deal - umm, yeah that's not how it works.

Smallbone was the basis of it all for me, everything went through him. The tempo, the composure, calmed everyone else down. If we were a little more loose in that area it wouldn't have been as easy on the eye as it was. He may struggle against more physical midfields on his own, but technically he can run a game at this level.

I think we all saw the style last night, for once it wasn't a confused mix of all sorts, the players were totally on board with how to play and the structure was pretty obvious I felt. Two areas that do need some work, as others have highlighted, are CB and CF. Armstrong was a passenger for most of that game, feels unfair to Tella that he took that goal off of him! Armstrong is good for teams who suck up pressure and hit on the break, but in a team which dominate the ball he is about as useful as a chocolate teapot at this level. He could probably come from wide with another CF up top, but as a single man through the middle - no, not good enough and never will be. The most impressive thing for me though was how we saw that game out, I see neutrals moaning at Wednesday for not going for it - but we didn't let them, they couldn't get near us in those last 9 or so mins and that sort of game management was refreshing to see. Still way too early to come to any conclusions given that this first 11 will be totally different come September, but the implementation of a clear style was pleasing to see.

I think that's the stance we'll take, I genuinely believe we don't need to sell - we're just saying if you want our players, it's on our terms. Those terms will have to be both financially and timing in my opinion. We can't be entertaining bids on deadline day.

Yeah, that was naff. We usually get a good media effort on the eve of the season which gets the blood pumping. That was pathetically bad though.

I actually quite liked what Martin said earlier, speaks sense - we can't just aimlessly add more to this size of squad. I've seen some people on Twitter yapping on about crap like asset stripping, no investing etc, but any sensible operation isn't going to add to an already bloated work force. Needs trimming. If we go in to the season with what we have today we'll probably do ok, it's not like we're totally desperate for players if everyone stays here. I just fear a last week rush as clubs finally meet our asking prices, you just have to hope we have stuff lined up to press go on fairly quickly if that happens.

Our one time target Carlos Borges, and one who was seemingly destined for West Ham, has actually ended up signing for Ajax. WHU are having a total mare.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't he binned by Pep at City because he is shit with the ball at his feet, and doesn't suit the play out from the back style? I actually think Bazunu is really good with the ball at his feet, it's just the keeping it out of the net which lets him down!

Isn't this just a club branded version of the 'ifollow' service, which is offered by the EFL? The midweek games are all broadcast on the red button via Sky Sports, so if people already pay for Sky Sports don't be duped into also paying for this - it's not needed.

It's a position we're a little bit stocked in, with KWP and Bree - so it won't have the impact Lavia leaving will have, i.e no massive hole left from day 1. Be interesting to see if we replace him, or if we go with KWP, Bree, Larios and Manning.

Everyone has his price at any club in world football, and I'd say a £40m deal for someone we signed for £4m and has been injured for 13months isn't something to be sniffed at. Our model is about finding young kids, giving them a platform and selling them for a profit. We have made around £20m on him, that can't be sniffed at - so our model has clearly worked here. It's a shame, as I thought he'd feel inclined to stay given we'd nurtured him for a year - but it's a good opportunity for him, I doubt he'll play a great deal though.

Had good feelings about this guy when we got him, thought he'd fill the experience void. I never felt he never got much of a chance, so it's hard to be massively judgemental on him either way. In the few games he did play he wasn't great, granted, but it's hard to know if that's because he never had a chance to form any sort of relationship or run in the side. I think if we'd have used him right he'd have been decent for us, but sometimes they don't work out.

This will go down as one of our weirdest ever players, in my opinion. The start of his time here was just plain weird, there was no sensible explanation for it. He might have had an injury, but we didn't even get a player interview or unveiling. He probably had a handful of really good games in his time here, Man City sticks up there - but ultimately he was incredibly erratic in all aspects of his game. His fitness was questionable, but more so for me has been his commitment to the cause. It's plainly obvious he downed tools last year, and you don't need bad eggs like that around the place. To make a profit on a player with just 1 year left is a great bit of a business by the club. Surprised he got such a glamorous move to be honest, it'll be interesting to see how he does - raw ability wise he has the tools, but he has a Lemina attitude about him which will probably mean he becomes a bit of a journeyman.

On a pure results basis, this pre-season has been pretty horrific to say the least - but results in pre-season matter diddly squat, and more often than not the teams who have crap pre-seasons actually go on to be better once the season proper starts (That's the positive I'm hanging on...!) ST situation quite clearly still the problem, and it's really frustrating that we'll be starting our 3rd season in a row without sorting our ST situation out (unless someone comes in the door next week!). Lots of work to do with the squad makeup and so much still in limbo, it's really hard to say how it's going to look come the end of August and gaining any momentum looks increasingly difficult - got a nasty feeling we'll be playing catch up, but it's often more fun that way.

It did look bad on the images, but he's fine according to the man himself. Lucky escape by the looks of it. I'd be surprised if he doesn't end up out on loan, Sunderland is surely number 1 choice though. We'd have to do something very special to win ahead of them given how he's thought of there, and how he thinks of them.

We've got some great footballing experience in a key position, something we haven't had for many years - I can't remember the last time tbh? It should make a huge difference. I also like the ambition, talk is cheap and all that, but we've had years of hearing ''we're lucky to be competing with palace'' and ''we're grateful we're just in the PL' - so it's refreshing to hear the words 'win', and even Europe, no matter how crazily far away that seems right now. That sort of talk will filter down to the players, to the fans etc and it'll breed confidence. We went into games over the last few years acting like we were just lucky to be there, let's see a change in that mindset now.

Burnley have signed another winger, a guy we were linked with as well - Jacob Bruun Larsen.

Probably Charly, Stephens, Bednarek maybe. (and sadly probably Moussa and Aribo too). Lavia will probably be done and dusted by the weekend. JWP will stay if he has to, but I can see a fee being reached with WHU in the end. ABK is clearly hankering for a move massively, we just need someone to pay our valuation.

I thought he'd be decent, he had pedigree - I don't think he's played enough to be totally conclusive on him, but from the little we've seen I don't think he's suited to a ball playing role, doesn't seem to be able to recover pace wise either. As Erwin said, it's not necessarily about buying better players than we have, I don't think that should be the expectation at all - but it's about having players who are suited to the specific style of play we're trying to deploy in the club. Over the last probably 3 years, our style has been very, very confused - caught between two, mastering neither. The squad is a miss-match of players suited to different styles. We're not going to sign players more established or better than Salisu for example, but I'd expect us to find someone much more suited to what we're trying to do without breaking the bank. Of the current lot who are probably staying, I think Stephens is suited to a ball playing role - would be good to get him a similar style of player next to him though (I'll keep mentioning Ronnie Edwards as he is great)

To be honest I look at our current CB's, their profiles etc, the only one who could potentially deal with this sort of football is ABK due to his physical attributes. The others are for the bin if we're going to try and play this way, it will expose the likes of Bednarek, Stephens and co horribly. (it doesn't take much to expose them anyway tbf) To me it seems as if Martin is 'all in', there's no half-way house with his style - so in that case, we need to ensure we ship out Lyanco, DCC, ABK, Salisu etc and buy 2 or 3 new CB's who fit what we're trying to do (capable ball playing CB's would be a really good start). It's not beyond the possible for us to sign 3 new CB's 'if' the ones we have on the books do leave, as expected. I just hope we don't miss out on someone like Ronnie Edwards whilst we wait to get rid of the trash, he is absolutely perfect for what we're trying to do.

I think it's as simple as saying our defenders are utter trash, GK/CB's - big concerns in those area's, and we'll continue to concede goals no matter what the set up is with the selection of defenders we have.

Very good player, but there were links to PL clubs earlier - Bournemouth one of them I think Bristol City have scared off suitors with their £30-35m asking price though, so it's not something we can get near.

Burnley need to take this PL malarky seriously, pissing around with low-ball bids everywhere.