I suppose it goes without saying when following the Blues that we'll continually be subjected to massively varying degrees of emotions.

I, like many of you I'm sure, arrived at Goodison Park last Saturday in a reasonably happy frame of mind, fuelled by victory at West Brom but also the news of additions to our squad (long overdue yes, but at least new faces). There appeared to be a slight sense of optimism in the air. By 5 o'clock of course my mood had changed considerably...........by 6 o'clock I was no better.

The manager had talked rationally about the day's defeat, where we went wrong, the defining moments etc. What was alarming though was the frank admission of our Club currently not being equipped to win Premier League football matches. Why should this be the case? Ten of Saturday's starting eleven played top flight football last season, the majority featuring prominently throughout the campaign. Ten of Portsmouth's side did likewise, their eleventh was a lad just turned 18 with 4 Premier League outings behind him. Are our current players not good enough? Have we, in such a short space of time, fallen so far behind our competitors?

Needless to say my mood was lifted again late on Monday night. The big money buy had arrived. A player it appears we've tracked for some time and despite the complications presented by the UEFA Cup draw, still succeeded in getting him to put pen to paper.

And we know this one's fit and raring to go, just a shame he won't be able to assist us in our initial European battles. So that's it, our squad (at least until January) is complete. Not quite the numbers we probably anticipated back in May or June and also minus the proposed capture of Victor Obbina due to work permit issues.........again the highs and lows of being Blue.

However, as David Moyes has said all along it's not a numbers game but a quality issue. Let's hope that once our complement of injuries have cleared up we've enough of that quality to be deemed capable enough of winning football matches.