S-Clarke

Yeah, horrendous. Not much more to be said really. Not even close to being a competitive team. It looks very much like an early season game, lots of rustiness etc, but for the wages and rep some of our players have, they have been technically horrendous. None of them seem to be able to control or pass a football. I don't like 3 at the back, never have done. I think it confuses the entire shape. Charles lost on his own in the middle, Fernandes isn't a partner in the CM role - he needs to push higher. We need better alongside Charles. We need such an injection of quality in the attacking wide area's though, but sadly what we have out there is almost £20m plus worth of it, which we need to ditch first, and none of it is good enough. A real problem area for us. (I'm not including Downs in that, way too early)

Every summer we're linked with a 'coup' level signing, but we never manage to pull it off. I'm not getting myself excited over Eduard until there's more evidence to support an actual move. It's all hope and speculation right now.

Pretty poor, didn't do much. More sub appearances for Anderlecht than starts. He was injured and in and out of the team too. I hoped it would be the season that announced him, but sadly it was just more of the same form Sam - so the club are well within the rights to ditch him at this point.

I notice that ABK isn't even mentioned or spoken about anymore, not even included with the 'Aribo/Edozie/Dibling' cohort training separately. I can only assume he's not even present at the club and is keeping fit away from the group. He's always been proven to be an incredibly bad egg around the place, he has been kept away by multiple managers. It can't just be rumour at this stage. I'd personally accept buttons for him, just to get him out of the club.

I don't think Aribo is part of the squad anymore, he'll be off sonnish. I thought the use of BBD yesterday was quite telling too. We threw everyone on the pitch at the end, even Ross Stewart, but he stayed on the bench. I'm sure the club are hoping for a bid to come in for him too. One of the worst attacking players I think we've ever had, almost certainly not suited to any form of high pressing football.

Factoring in wages and loan fee, apparently it 'could' set Everton back £25-30m to sign Grealish for just 1 season. Seems a daft investment if I'm honest.

I'd say the 10 would be the purchase, either Rudoni or Eduard (i'm not trying to spell his last name). Then use the loans to fill out gaps and lift the quality over the rest of the squad. Keep the loan possibilities open until the end and we could maybe grab a CM and a wide attacker as starting loans with PL quality. Defo need to focus on paying $$$ for a 10 now though.

Very strange takes. Leave them to believe what they want I guess, they're beyond deluded. They'll come down with a bump sooner rather than later with reality hits.

Yeah there was a bit of a tap from Coady, which just moved him those inches away from getting to the ball. No drama though, Stephens was there!

100% what I said yesterday, it sounds jokey but it must have been a reason. He favoured the ball cyclers in Downes and Smallbone who just crab the ball. I'm not entirely convinced Downes is a good fit for us now, but we'll see. Part of my feeling for him has bene soured by his mid-season antics though. Charly was another one who saw a forward pass and made it, but unsurprisingly he was also ushered to the scrap heap.

Just to give some fair balance, we did win quite a few games in the final mins in the last Championship season too. Whilst fitness comes into play, you've also got to factor in the strength of the substitutes in comparison with the opponent. Inevitably quality will wear teams down. But one thing I did notice yesterday was the ''who gives a shit about philosophy, just get as many strikers on the pitch at once and push the CB's up'' - and it worked. Under Martin we'd have spent the final 10mins passing between CB's and CM's.

Who believes in this guy? | FollowFollow.com

Not really seeing any negativity, there's nothing better than a last min win. There needs to be realism with it though, it wasn't perfect. It would be daft to stand there and proclaim it was all unicorns and rainbows, it really wasn't. Great feeling today, long time coming, but there's a lot of work to be done.

He's got his fans up there already.

I saw some commentary, apparently the fans are going absolutely mental at some of the subs. Boos at 60mins.

My feeling is that he'd be even better with someone more mobile and stronger alongside him. I wouldn't say no to £15m for Downes if it was offered, allowing us to go and buy some proper power in there. I think that's what we still lack.

I've never been sure why Sheff U are up there as peoples favs to win Top 2 this year, I don't think they'll be anywhere near. Lost two of their best players in their CB and Souza in CM.

That was my takeaway too, a bit clumsy on the ball. Didn't really see his pace. He'll only get better.

How the fuck can he say that? The ref was all for them. I didn't mention the ref above as it would have been too much of a rant, but it was like he'd been promised a role in a Hollywood film if he'd favoured them. I've not seen such a one-sided ref performance in such a long time, it felt blatant.

Yes, this is a good post. It really did highlight the fine margins. I'm pleased for him that it fell his way though, it's weird to say that a save in the 85th min with us 1-0 down contributed to us winning the game. It was a big moment though! Like you say, I hope the keeper we bring in is more than just squad fodder. We need someone to pressure him and be good enough to step in.

We were looking at a RB early doors, but that was more down to the uncertainty of Suguwara I think. Now Suguwara has had no takers, we're pretty much set at RB I think. I hoped he'd have been better today though, I thought we looked better when he was off the pitch which isn't a good look.

He's always been a good player in my eyes, but the loan has done in the world of good. What you notice with him is that he plays the ball through the lines, he likes to be progressive with it through the middle. He liked doing that in his first season with us as well, maybe that's why Martin didn't like him? He preferred the ball cyclers in that position, not someone with a bit of gumption and initiative to play a ball forward. The sort of player you build the team around. I hope he's one of the lads with a new contract in the offing.

Can't fault him today, he delivered. Covered for the roaming and confused Edwards quite a few times.

As soon as I saw that line-up I had a bit of a sinking feeling. I never enjoy us with 3 at the back as I feel it confuses us, and the lack of presence up top (Armstrong through the middle) was a worry. I doubt we'll ever see Armstrong through the middle again t hough. The first half played out as many of us expected. No presence up top, ball not sticking, no real efforts, and a very confused and disjointed back 3. I thought Edwards was awful, he didn't seem to know his position too well and he was somewhat uncomfortable I felt. The two full backs were 'OK', but not as expressive as I felt they'd be - certainly not on the Suguwara side. Midfield struggled. Charles individually was good, but I'm not sure if it's just me but it doesn't feel like this proactive/high press style really suits Downes. I don't think he has the mobility for it, it'll be interesting to see how he adapts as the season goes on - but I wouldn't say no if Ipswich came knocking with a £15m bid tomorrow if I'm honest. The penalty was the result of a break and a very confused backline pressing up too high. Edwards was clumsy as I think Stephens would have got there - maybe there was a lack of communication in that moment. Pen was a pen and that was that. The rest of the half followed the same theme with us really lacking any threat or quality in the final third. The second half started much the same way, as expected without any subs. But once we switched to 4, removing Armstrong and Suguwara we looked much better. We had more of a presence (although Downs didn't do much), but it felt like we had some mobility in that attacking third with Fernandes - but he can be much better than that. We pretty much penned them in after that point, and we really should have scored before we did, but we still gave up so much space on the break - only thanks to a last ditch from Stephens and a great save from Bazunu did we get anything from that. When we signed Manning I read that he was good at Free Kicks, but I didn't realise he was JWP levels good - that was on par with anything JWP stuck in for us, totally out of the blue! It felt like it was going to be something like that which would get our goal though! The winner was unexpected, we did pen them in and we really did wear them down, but I didn't expect us to win it. Great ball by Charles and then Manning does well to control and play the ball across, that wasn't an easy finish for Stephens by the way - he could have shanked that! Overall, I thought it showed some positives in terms of mentality, desire and fitness in the closing stages - those are big positives for me. But negatively, the quality needs lifting in the attack - you can't deny that, especially not after the first half. We need 2 or 3 additions in that final 3. We can't rely on Archer in a wide position or Armstrong through the middle and expect to compete. MOTM is a tough one as I felt it was all a bit sluggish, but I'd give it to Charles. I thought he was good on the ball and progressive with his passing through the line (forward passing I'd add). Good to start with a win, but not getting too excited just yet - there's a lot of work to do if we are to be competitive in the top end this year.

Pretty rubbish game if we're honest. Birmingham were better in the first half, but they huffed and puffed a bit. Ipswich were utter useless for the majority, but I think they're still finding their rhythm The ref ruined the game I think, he kept stopping the flow of it and had no real control. The pen just summed it up.