S-Clarke

I want him to be a success so much, but I just can't see it. I don't know what he does, or what he can offer. He would be no where near my starting 11 at the moment, at least 2 players should be ahead of him. He has a lot of work to do. He doesn't even look interested anymore.

Sounds like quite a good pre-season in that case. Able to rotate the entire squad and give everyone minutes, exactly how it should be. Don't think pre-season games should be seen as a definite opportunity for anyone to get 90mins. The majority all have some mid-week minutes with their international sides as well. I think our pre-season has been very nicely structured this year. Good results, good prep, good teams, and a genuine improvement in the side from game to game.

Cardiff have shown a decent bit of ambition in this window, quite a tidy team they have there now. It's not been a case of throwing players at it either, just intelligent signings down the spine to enhance the quality. I think Hull have made a couple of good additions for a team at their status as well. If I were a Palace fan though, I would be absolutely bricking it. As it stands, they will do well to hit double figures. They look completely out of their depth.

Bit of a transfer update from our ''rivals''. It's not as straight forward for them, either. http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/west-bromwich-albion-transfer-update-5696072?

It's quite incredible really. I don't think he'll ever play for the U21's

2 already done. We want a striker, that's our priority.

Same as last season unfortunately. Did jack all. Gave the ball away, hassled off it, flung his arms back at times in frustration. Guly offered more in the 1st half.

What we should do is now replace fox, go out there and buy a better left back than Fox full stop. The new fullback then replaces shaw, Fox continues as cover until Shaw is back. Then once shaw is back, Fox leaves...evolution of the squad....but we're probably going to have our hands forced here.

It'll be a long one, you could tell by the way it happened and how he reacted. Absolute nightmare for us.

It was alright, decent work out. Can't read too much into it either way. Wanyama looks like a beast, will add to us a fair bit I reckon. Lovren looked a tad slow at times. Shaw's injury looked really bad, don't think we'll be seeing him for a while.

To be honest, this does kind of put our home shirt colour change into perspective.

Blimey, what a weird site it is seeing one of our players on the Fifa cover. Quite odd though, thought Kagawa would be a more obvious choice....weird.

It's absolutely impossible to say that. Even more so that he isn't even involved in our setup anymore. Players who look like drifting away at 15, can have an unbelievable year and just kick on beyond recognition. It happened with Bale and will happen again. There's no way anyone can make such a strong statement, as we all know youth players can be very fluid and not look like producing anything, and the next minute... I also rate JWP highly, after August last year I thought he was going to stake a claim - but it never really happened after that. He is an incredibly talented player though, and why anyone would even try to compare him to Bale or Walcott is beyond me. Totally different physical players and skill sets. If you want to compare JWP to anyone then it should be the likes of Wiltshire and co. You only have to watch him for 30mins to see the class oozing from him.

At least we have a healthy football debate on here for once!

Yep.

Don't do it to yourself Saint Garrett! He had an excellent season last year, despite many saying that it's time for him to go and move to the MLS. He was probably one of the best midfielders over the course of last season. Consistently in 15 or more goals from central midfield. We need to make the most of having a player of his quality in an England shirt, as beyond him in the short-term...there's no one anywhere near his class.

They still need someone who can score.

I think you're misreading Alpine here. I don't think he's suggesting Andy Carroll is a better player, just that he'd be picked if he was fit - which is right. I think it's more of a dig at the Enlgish FA than Lambo himself. It's not a PR stunt though...

Let's hope he's not injured this time We're not exactly going to have anyone in the build up to the West Brom game...

I remember watching that the evening it broke. A rovers fan came on here to say he'd heard, and it spiraled from there. I remember coming home for lunch on the Monday and i think Tik-Taks was breaking it? Went back to work buzzing....I think he just felt the right signing at the right time for so many reasons, and boy did it pay off.

Southampton FC ‏@SouthamptonFC2m We are delighted to announce that Rickie Lambert has been named in the England squad for next Wednesday's game against Scotland. #saintsfc Expand

Holy jesus.

True, but there have never been many positive stories about this fella. He's either falling out with the fans due to his poor form, getting remmoved from the squad for a period of time, or beating up his team mates...

Yep, he's a nutter. Also, he's only scored 14 goals in 70 games for Werder Bremen . Great. Worth every penny of £13m...

Good stuff Bear, hope you can keep this up for all the games this season! A nice refreshing read!