Those who are no longer with us.

No, no. Not the dead. I thought i'd take a brief moment to summarise how our big name players from last season are getting on at their new clubs.

Scott Dann (Blackburn Rovers)
His performances have certainly been below what he was producing at Blues BUT he still doesn't seem fit to be fair. A few of the goals that i've seen Rovers concede this season have shown Dann losing his attacker far too easily leaving him standing in complete nowhere, hands-on-hips when the ball is in the net. I expect him to get better but maybe not enough to avoid a second successful relegation.

Craig Gardner (Sunderland)
Hardly seen him. Scored a great goal in the win over Stoke but has yet to establish himself. Seems very much a rotation player. It may take a few injuries and suspensions to his teammates for him to get a real opportunity to shine.

Sebastian Larsson (Sunderland)
I would say he's performed best out of our recently departed. Scored a cracking volley at Anfield on the opening day and seems to be as threatening as ever from his set piece deliveries. Set up Bendtner's goal yesterday with a clever back heel. Looks to be a key man for the Mackems this year.

Ben Foster (West Bromwich Albion - Loan)
A bit inconsistent it would seem. He's pulled off the odd world class save but has also fluffed a couple. Baggies fans are probably thinking they could have saved their money on just keeping Myhill as both seem to be performing just as well for their respective clubs.

Cameron Jerome (Stoke City)
I've not seen too much of him but from what I have seen he is showing flashes of the player we signed from Cardiff. However, I did see some highlights of the game against Besiktas and he wasted about a minute of fine work by Ryan Shotton by just fluffing a shot straight to a defender. On the whole he seems like he has a new lease of life at Stoke but has yet to shake of those three and a half years of the McLeish effect. IS playing with a smile now though.

Kevin Phillips (Blackpool)
He's doing what we all knew he would - sticking the ball in the onion bag, a couple of them being belters. However his has dropped down to what is arguably his level at his age. But saying that, he was never given the opportunity with us in the Premier League. A big player for Blackpool this campaign.

Barry Ferguson (Blackpool)
Seems to have carried on at Blackpool from where he left, however he is making the odd forward pass and run into the oppositions area. Not so much Barry "The Crab"; as labelled by ours and Rangers fans. Again, could prove a key player for Blackpool this season but in saying that, it was the right time for him to leave Blues.

Last but not least......

Roger Johnson (Wolverhampton Wanderers)
The worries I had of big Roger when he was without Scott Dann by his side seem to be getting highlighted at Wolves even worse than what they did in the second half of last season. Don't get me wrong, I do rate RJ as a defender. He puts his head in where others wont and will block shots and make key clearances until the cows come home. His problem is that he requires a centre-half with a bit of intelligence next to him to keep things organised.

Very much like a child who falls off their bike after thinking they can ride it after being shown just once, Roger Johnson has blindly accepted this captaincy forgetting the fact he has no organisational skills whatsoever. Perhaps more worryingly is that he seems to have let complacency creep into his game almost as if he's believing too much of his own press. Those who witnessed him step aside and show Jonas Gutierrez towards the direction of the goal yesterday against Newcastle will know exactly what I mean. To summarise, RJ has (perhaps rather satisfyingly) been the worst performer of those we have lost, but it is only early season.

SCT

PS - Of course there are more that have departed, but I simply haven't seen enough of the likes of Lee Bowyer, Matt Derbyshire, David Bentley etc to pass suitable comment yet.