| Quick thoughts having finally watched whole game 10:20 - Aug 7 with 4127 views | SomethingBlue |
Christ, watching that added time live must have been frightful. Broadly that was first 20 min dicey, middle 60 min absolutely fine, last 25 min bad. On the opening day, away against a Sunderland team that came into the season with momentum and confidence of their own, it's hardly a catastrophic mix and in the end we came out the better in a match either team would argue they could/should have won. Excellent appetiser for this season's Championship overall, you would think.
I think we did see that, to get out of this division in the next two or three years, we'll need a bit more athleticism and size in there than we currently possess. We looked fine in both those regards last season but this is a different ball game. The evolution from Morsy and Luongo (both of whom went from strength to strength yesterday btw) is going to be key and the same applies to other areas. It looks as if there will be games where Chaplin/Broadhead/Burns look too lightweight collectively if we aren't able to move the ball as we'd like.
Broadhead though, what a player. It was a brilliant interception and run from him that got us up the pitch for his opener, not sure if that's been commented on. That pass to Hirst was a work of art too. As good a footballer as we've seen at Town for some time; we do need to make sure we give him a platform to play though and that's where physicality comes in.
Good performances from all the defence, I thought. Davis was perhaps our best player on the day. Donacien showed, against a very tough opponent, that he's a more than decent deputy but you'd always want Clarke in there if he's fit – partly for those reasons of athleticism and getting us up the pitch.
Fine result to come away with and I just think it's nice that, even if the next couple weren't to go our way, we've got points on the board early and know we can come to one of the trickier venues and win. I suspect we'll need a couple of very good additions if we're to really challenge over the next nine months, but we will be OK overall and I think we're in for plenty of fun. |  |
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| Quick thoughts having finally watched whole game on 13:16 - Aug 7 with 572 views | cressi |
| Quick thoughts having finally watched whole game on 11:05 - Aug 7 by tractorboy1978 |
Winning the midfield battle is going to be absolutely key every week at this level. Morsy has gone from the best combative central midfielder in L1 to a solid 'middle of the road' midfielder at this level. That's not a criticism, it's just realism - he is a solid Championship midfielder but he is going to be facing an opponent as good as if not better than him every week in this division. |
Don't agree reference Morsey christ one game at a good side thought he played well. | | | |
| Quick thoughts having finally watched whole game on 13:22 - Aug 7 with 549 views | JakeITFC |
| Quick thoughts having finally watched whole game on 11:48 - Aug 7 by SomethingBlue |
That's how it feels to me instinctively and it's probably how things will turn out – which is fine as long as there's enough feeling of upwards momentum and enough entertainment to keep the fans buying tickets ahead of next season. There ought to be. |
I don't know - I came away from this weekend feeling the opposite.
Was worried that we'd go into the Sunderland game and have a bit of a rude awakening that the League One team from last year wasn't good enough but I thought that whilst Sunderland troubled us with their pressing and an upgrade in terms of fitness and athleticism than what we have been used to, almost all of the moments of real quality were ours. In many ways I feel like that barrage at the end and the sticky start will have really given McKenna and co a yardstick to which we have to be ready for each week, and that is as valuable as the result.
I managed to watch the Southampton, Blackburn and Leicester wins on my weekend away and the overall feeling I get is that this league is going to competitive and games will be won on who can take their chances - yesterday was as positive a start in that respect as could have happened. |  | | |
| Quick thoughts having finally watched whole game on 14:03 - Aug 7 with 512 views | OldFart71 |
As the Yanks say "Don't get your panties in a wad" Listenening to the commentary anyone would think that Sunderland were Masters of the universe and Town were mere mortals. I for one , apart from the glaring ten yard miss anyone would think that Sunderland were superhuman and that he hadn't a chance in hell. Yes they controlled it, but don't forget this was our first foray outside of Division One for four seasons. It takes time and as for comments on whether we have the players I think we conclusively answered that. Hirst for instance, one chance, one goal. Whilst it may be necessary to add a couple more to the squad we looked in decent nick and how many times do we see teams down to 10 men play better than 11. The Lionesses today played better with ten. No they didn't have the attacking ability of Sunderland but quite often the spare player doesn't know what to do as they don't have a player to mark. | | | |
| Well here's a blast from the past on 14:08 - Aug 7 with 502 views | BlueBadger |
| Well here's a blast from the past on 12:19 - Aug 7 by Kev_W |
Yes, it is me! |
That's precisely something an imposter would say..... |  |
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| Quick thoughts having finally watched whole game on 14:12 - Aug 7 with 490 views | SomethingBlue |
| Quick thoughts having finally watched whole game on 13:22 - Aug 7 by JakeITFC |
I don't know - I came away from this weekend feeling the opposite.
Was worried that we'd go into the Sunderland game and have a bit of a rude awakening that the League One team from last year wasn't good enough but I thought that whilst Sunderland troubled us with their pressing and an upgrade in terms of fitness and athleticism than what we have been used to, almost all of the moments of real quality were ours. In many ways I feel like that barrage at the end and the sticky start will have really given McKenna and co a yardstick to which we have to be ready for each week, and that is as valuable as the result.
I managed to watch the Southampton, Blackburn and Leicester wins on my weekend away and the overall feeling I get is that this league is going to competitive and games will be won on who can take their chances - yesterday was as positive a start in that respect as could have happened. |
Oh I agree it's hugely positive! And I think all your points are fair. I do think we'll face sides who have cutting edge to augment what Sunderland threw our way at either end, so we'll have to be better there and in time I'm sure we will be. I think also that a lot of these games will be so close that it'll be almost a toss of a coin who wins. Do I think we have enough to be on the right side of that the majority of the time? Not sure yet but I definitely think we will compete, which for me means middle of a fiendish league and try to improve from there. | |
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| Quick thoughts having finally watched whole game on 14:21 - Aug 7 with 454 views | JakeITFC |
| Quick thoughts having finally watched whole game on 14:12 - Aug 7 by SomethingBlue |
Oh I agree it's hugely positive! And I think all your points are fair. I do think we'll face sides who have cutting edge to augment what Sunderland threw our way at either end, so we'll have to be better there and in time I'm sure we will be. I think also that a lot of these games will be so close that it'll be almost a toss of a coin who wins. Do I think we have enough to be on the right side of that the majority of the time? Not sure yet but I definitely think we will compete, which for me means middle of a fiendish league and try to improve from there. |
I think if we can get into September with 8 or 9 points on the board, Clarke back, Taylor integrated and maybe two or three additions of real quality (none of which I think are *too* pie in the sky) then we will be right in the mix this season. | | | |
| Quick thoughts having finally watched whole game on 14:27 - Aug 7 with 436 views | Herbivore |
| Quick thoughts having finally watched whole game on 14:12 - Aug 7 by SomethingBlue |
Oh I agree it's hugely positive! And I think all your points are fair. I do think we'll face sides who have cutting edge to augment what Sunderland threw our way at either end, so we'll have to be better there and in time I'm sure we will be. I think also that a lot of these games will be so close that it'll be almost a toss of a coin who wins. Do I think we have enough to be on the right side of that the majority of the time? Not sure yet but I definitely think we will compete, which for me means middle of a fiendish league and try to improve from there. |
I think what will make the difference for us is the quality we have in the final third, individually and as a unit, and our defensive shape. 25 minutes in yesterday, Sunderland had dominated the ball and had all the territory, and yet we'd had the better chances and limited them to almost nothing. I appreciate what you've said about them lacking cutting edge, that's partly down to how they've adapted to play without a proper centre forward, but that system also contributed to them ending last season in excellent form and managing to score a decent number of goals. I think we can be better than we were yesterday, Luongo has hinted as much, but all things considered there were loads of positives that make me think we can be more optimistic than aiming to finish smack bang in the middle of the pack. |  |
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| Quick thoughts having finally watched whole game on 14:38 - Aug 7 with 416 views | BiGDonnie |
| Quick thoughts having finally watched whole game on 14:27 - Aug 7 by Herbivore |
I think what will make the difference for us is the quality we have in the final third, individually and as a unit, and our defensive shape. 25 minutes in yesterday, Sunderland had dominated the ball and had all the territory, and yet we'd had the better chances and limited them to almost nothing. I appreciate what you've said about them lacking cutting edge, that's partly down to how they've adapted to play without a proper centre forward, but that system also contributed to them ending last season in excellent form and managing to score a decent number of goals. I think we can be better than we were yesterday, Luongo has hinted as much, but all things considered there were loads of positives that make me think we can be more optimistic than aiming to finish smack bang in the middle of the pack. |
Agreed. I think people (mainly people on here) are massively underestimating us. We'll only get better. I've got us finishing in the top 4 and still think that'll be the case.
Very excited to see who we bring in this next week or so. |  |
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