S-Clarke

He hasn't been infected by Russball, so he's free of all that pass back nonsense. It shows. You don't need to be an amazing player to move forward, but if you do have a tiny bit of quality when you do so it can make a huge difference.

Matski and Matsuki are quality. Who knew we had them both in our squad, maybe we don't need attacking additions afterall. In all seriousness he's someone I've liked the look of during pre-season, he's agile and can nip in and around in space. I wouldn't say he's a traditional CM, can probably play that 10.

First half was a bit dull and too slow, but we always had a tiny edge I felt - and then Archer got a good goal. Second half was much more of what I think Still wants from us. Purpose, driving forward and more control. We dictated that second half and Norwich had no real sniffs at all. Really good lively performances from Fraser and Archer. I've always liked the looks of Matsuki, and he's a really busy little player too - think he may chip in a bit this season. Mads slotted into the side like he's never been out of it, he's the sort of no nonsense sensible signing we need to continue doing. The most comfortable win since our Championship season last time out, it feels odd. (PNE at home I think)

It would be ultimate peak SR to extend Jack Stephens and sell Ronnie Edwards. We do have quite a few CB's, but he's one of the last I'd consider for dumping. Wood would come first.

It's been a bit shit to be honest, I think we've been the slightly more composed when we've strung a few passes together, but it's been rare. Wood comes across as thick as shit, like he's not all there. He plays and looks like it. The back 3 just confuses the lot of them too. It's been a bit messy. Lots of energy from Downes, but no real forward penetration and having Charles and Downes in there slows us down - without someone playing ahead in a 10. Fraser and Archer have been busy, albeit lacking a sharp enough touch. Archer with a great little finish. Highlight of the first half, feels a bit pre-season friendlyish. As we were though, not enough penetration up top and we're way too slow to build up. Mads looks our most accomplished player.

Think it was meant for Saint_Lambden who you quoted.

It's impossible to know really, it was all a bit tragic. We kept the momentum and completed the dream he had, but the money wasn't going to last forever - we needed alternative streams and creative ways of generating it, we're a tiny club in comparison with most in the PL so it was becoming more and more difficult to complete - esp with FFP/PSR coming into play, which kills clubs like us. We needed external investment and we tried so hard to find it, and ended up with Gao which was a laugh. What I would say is that Markus would be turning in his grave right now though, his entire vision has been bulldozed and demolished by SR. There is a genuine possibility we could be back to where we started if SR don't sort their shit out.

It's weird because he's never really played 3 at the back at any previous club he's been at. It's stuff like this which makes you wonder if tactics and style/shape is being dictated above the manager, but surely not. That would be a bit too far fetched.

I'd like to see Stewart get his first 90mins for us, it would be a good test of his condition.

I think Still said this match would be around managing minutes. Fernandes didn't have as a complete pre-season as the rest, and played all the game at the weekend - his first 90mins I think. That's my positive slant on it anyway.

I wouldn't say that's good enough myself. Azaz alone is a 100% upgrade on what we have, so I wouldn't be unhappy with that at all. He's a good player at the top end of this league. Rak Saki - no idea if he's any better than what we have in Edozie, or even SAA who we let go. He's not what I'd call an instant upgrade, which is what we need. He's another kid with potential upside. The loans will be where the value is IMO, that's where I think we may pull off some surprising deals. We had no idea on the THB last season, he'd just been promoted from this league as a Champion with Burnley, so that was a huge pickup. I'd expect similar status loans.

El Khannouss may be staying at Leicester - It could be posturing and forcing someone to bid more money, but like with us keeping hold of Matty, that would be a good bit of news for Leicester.

We've known we've needed better in attack and 10 all summer, since July, yet all we've managed to sort so far are two unproven kids/project signings from 2.Bundesliga, a third choice GK and a smart pickup at RB once Suguwara was off. I'm hoping so much that we're all proven wrong and we end the window with such a good squad, but my positivity feels more ill-judged as the days tick down, of which there aren't many left.

Yeah I'm with you on this. If that is how it ends though, with Edozie back in the fold because we couldn't find anyone better, it's a pretty shocking fail from this new recruitment setup it has to be said. Probably an even bigger fail of who went before, if that was possible. I'm primed for the classic excuse ''We only add if they're better than we have, if they're not then we won't panic''. That translates to we're shit at scouting or skint, or a mixture of both.

I don't think they want to sell him particularly, they've rebuffed our approaches quite a few times. It's probably a case of the 'price being right' then they may deal. I think they see him as a talent and so do we, but the Sheffield United loan has raised some eyebrows as he didn't impact the league as I expected him to do.

But the problem came when the taps ran dry, he hadn't developed enough partnerships (no one wanted to deal with him) or commercial revenue at that point, so he was still totally reliant on the so called trust fund. Kat rightfully pulled him up on that and regained some control. We still had some momentum which carried us through the next 2 seasons, but once the money taps had dried up it was obviously going to start going downhill, and it became very much a sell before we do anything model. The problem which compounded all of this is that once we did get some money, we splurged it all on the wrong sorts and big mistakes, PSR then came in and made it even more difficult because of our lack of commercial revenue. I include SR's ill-fated windows and also Ross Wilson and Les Reeds waste of the VVD fortune. I said it at the time but it felt as if Cortese had built everything on sand really, without a genuine stream of money there was no foundation and it didn't take much for the walls to start crumbling down.

I liked Rak-Sakyi, but his loan at Shef U raised some eyebrows as he did diddly squat. He's got genuine ability and pace though, certainly adds to what we don't have. I'm just not quite sure if he's any better or any more proven than Edozie that's all.

Taylor is another of those good lads to have around, we've got a lot of those. I don't think he's of the required quality anymore though and we are already stacked at LB. (Assuming Wellingtons injury isn't bad that is)

BBD going makes sense, he wasn't even in the squad at the weekend. I imagine someone will take him on loan, no one is going to pay a fee for him. He's got some qualities for the right side I'm sure, but we're not that side as we like to play football. If we can shift Taylor, Edozie, Aribo, BBD, ABK, Sulemana, Onauchu, Suguwara then that's a huge chunk of wages and deadwood gone from the club, which is something we all wanted us to do 100% We now need to make sure the quality comes in the building to replace those. It just seems like we've got such a short period of time to do so much, if it goes as we need it to go I don't think we'll have ever seen the likes.

Is that because he's a sensible signing, but with no huge future sell on/upsale?

I just hope we build a decent enough team to support him, as he's wasted in the squad as it is. I'm being patient, but the next few days are going to have to be epic at this point. More Roesrlev level signings out of the blue required.

Yep you've nailed it. It's not that we have a personal problem with George Long, it's that we shouldn't have been targeting squad filler for GK when the GK's we have already aren't good enough. We should have targeted someone who was better than both, or at least with the ability to be better than both. We've now got 3 really poor goalies, one less poor than the rest, but it's put us in a really awkward place. McCarthy helped us get over the line in our last Champ season, but that was over a small sample period. He's now 2 years older and he's not someone I want in our goal for a prolonged period of time. As you rightly point out, Bazunu has recently returned from a serious long-term injury. It really isn't beyond the realms of possibility that he'd pickup a knock or a tweak which could put him out for months.

He reminds me of KWP in that sense, I think he'd more than happily get his head down and crack on if a club didn't match his valuation. That's why there's been less noise around this one IMO, whereas Dibling was constant - he clearly wanted out.

He was a total knob, I know people who were at the club at the time and it really wasn't an enjoyable environment. There were no easy roles or slot in and take the salary in quiet. He took no shit, no one got an easy ride. If you didn't do what he wanted, you'd know about it. He had the ego the size of a planet. However, that approach did enable us to ensure we had people running at their maximum when they were here, whereas in the years after Koeman and co (once his involvement was totally removed) it felt like everyone had a free ride and roles were being given to less qualified individuals. Kruger was the most polar opposite you could have found really.

I find it odd that he hasn't landed anywhere yet. Surley he rejected Burnley's contract offer on the expectation that he'd get a better club, it just hasn't materialised yet. He got 18 goals from CM in the Champ last year, so it's not like he's squad fodder. He'd be an instant upgrade on Downes or Charles in terms of that style of CM. It would make sense - dump Smallbone, bring in Brownhill, but as it makes sense it won't happen.