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Relief we got the win but I'm still feeling we will struggle. We have so far made extremely difficult work of two of our relegation rivals at home.
Hopefully with time the players will get a better understanding. It all looks a bit off at the moment, patches of decent play but a lot of loose play and players not quite on the same wavelength.
Really hoping that win helps them a lot and I'm proved wrong.
We need to get points on the board
We can worry about hairstyles , patterns of play and the analysis of wether or not our football is pretty enough once we have a bit of stability
We havnt had that for several years and have been a soft touch
It's no good us going a few games again with nothing to show except zero points
Very pleased we got 3 points yesterday
The season starts now
Positives
Only a few hit and hope long balls, whereas that was Wednesday's main tactic
We played through the thirds
We can score
We have a deeper championship grade squad, although yesterday bench was a bit midfield heavy
Not convinced
the forward line isn't right, O'Dowda and Ugbo are not inside forwards (for differing reasons)
Left back looks extremely dodgy at this moment in time in a back four
McGuiness and Goutas are not Morrison and Bamba or Hudson and Turner even
Happy with the progress, i definitely think we are a bt under cooked fitness wise, but games will get us there by the dark nights
very pleased with the result and can see green shoots of recovery with the general performance overall . Can only see the team gelling over the coming months
based on yesterdays performance my only reservation is our left back looked out of position many times . Thought Ralls had a good game too
I’m feeling positive although a win yesterday was so important for confidence and the longer we went without a win the more pressure that is added.
Two tough away games coming up and then the jacks at home which which has hardly gone in our favour in recent times.
I think it’s going to take time to gel, we need more confidence but I like the look of the squad, at least 2 more players needed, maybe 3.
We lost at home to QPR and we struggled at home to beat Wednesday, so obviously things are far from ideal. But there's definitely been some improvement. We have a midfield for a start. The DM role that Siopis plays has taken a lot of the dirty work off Ralls' plate and has given him the chance to get forward more and be more creative. I thought neither Tanner nor Colwill looked out of place yesterday. I'm looking forward to a more settled, less worrisome season. On evidence thus far, I can't see us breaking the top 10 though. Fine by me. For now.
I don't think we have had a bad start to the campaign, if we can get our best 11 fit and playing regular it should be an entertaining season
It's difficult to analyse how we're doing. We've been more than decent in two away games against teams from last season's Premier League, losing 3 points in injury time and, on other days, we could have won both. We've also been crap at home against one of the worst Championship sides over the last year and had to rely on a monumental cock-up to beat a side that had lost all 3 games this season, and even made them look world beaters for a while.
We look better when we absorb pressure and hit teams on the counter than we do when trying to break down sides. Our first half at Leeds and second half at Leicester were really encouraging.
Looking at the side that ended last season and the one that currently starts, I would say
Alnwick v Allsop - Alnwick all day long. Glad Allsop is sulking and wants out.
Kipre v Goutas - Kipre.
Kaba v Ugbo - draw. Both didn't offer a great deal in open play but get into the right positions to score goals.
Sawyers v Ramsey. Tight one this......
Meite v Etete. Meite, but early days.
Philogene v Grant. Philogene.
Siopis v Wintle. Can't judge on one performance.
Robinson has disappeared despite having a decent season though Tanner looks ready to make the step up. We're worse in defence than we were last season, based on McGuinness now being our best centre back. That's not knocking McGuinness, but Kipre was first choice last season. Simpson is our next choice and that's scary enough for Bulut to need to bring someone else in.
So, in terms of personnel, we haven't made huge strides away from last season and we were never likely to do so with the embargo and Vinnie's wallet being padlocked. Somehow I feel that we're starting to build something but January will tell us more. Playoffs are miles away. Even with Ramsey, I don't feel we'll be much higher than mid table but bottom half. Given how shit we were, that's still progress.
If we lose the derby in 4 weeks time I think we'll be in trouble as Swansea are possibly worse than us at the moment.
I was feeling positive anyway, yesterday made no difference, we can all see the improvement, we are scoring a few goals
The Negative people on here will still find fault even if we go on a 10 game winning streak and top the table, they will find something wrong, its just the way they are, leave them to it and crack on enjoying what we have
Buoyant
Anyone not skipping away from the ground yesterday is following the wrong sport. What it’s all about a 98th minute winner
I thought we played ok yesterday. It’s only QPR that has been a dreadful performance so far and in fairness I’m not sure they’ll be the whipping boys everyone seems to suggest as a narrow defeat to Ipswich and Southampton in successive weeks since
We could’ve won at Leicester, a minute from winning at Leeds. Yesterday was a patched up front 3. Our start has been fine just really need that striker in as the final piece of the jigsaw.
Huge moment that though and hopefully it will instill some belief now
Bulut seems determinedly a four at the back man, but we don’t really have the option of playing three at the back at the moment if things were going really wrong with four. There’s no evidence that he thinks Ng can play as part of a three, so it’s Simpson (Bulut preferred going with no centrebacks on the bench on Saturday despite one of them being taken off in the previous game because he’s finding the transition to the British game tough) or nothing.we need another centreback that the manager trusts more than a striker, good though someone like Keiffer Moore would be.
Not arguing with any of that assessment, his effort for getting himself out of a hole he's caused for himself is viewed as great defending by some. McGuinness technique is never the most comfortable and decision making poor. Siopis was similar in that respect which was a concern on Saturday but its only his first game so I'll wait on him. The City crowd love an all action trier and both were crowd pleasers on Saturday.
Going back to the central pairing Goutas is finding his feet physically and it'll be interesting to see how he adapts to the Championship.
By Championship standards it's still a weak squad. Not the weakest, but close. By way of comparison, this is our squad from 2020/21, the season before we really started to struggle at this level [20+ league appearances] :
Bennett
Morrison
Flint
Bacuna
Vaulks
Ralls
Moore
Murphy
Smithies
Nelson
Pack
Wilson
Ojo
Hoilett
Glatzel.
Yes, a couple of not-so-good there, but a solid but not spectacular squad that overall was much, much stronger than ours now - only Ralls remains.
Does Ronnie O'Sullivan just pat himself on the back if he wins 10 games on the trot? Does Guardiola not look to iron out any issues if Man City win 10 on the spin?
There's always room for improvement in anything. Some fans just enjoy the ride, some enjoy looking more deeply at things. Neither is right or wrong.
A lot of people seem to think QPR and Weds should have been an easy 6 points, but when on earth have there ever been easy games in the Championship? Especially when teams are on bad runs and fighting for points.
I'm sure Leicester and Leeds fans would have earmarked us as easy wins. It just doesn't work that way in this league.
As for us, it's going to take at least 15-20 games in my opinion to gauge what kind of season we're in for. But so far I'd say it's been a mixed bag. Bulut already touched on the mentality of the team and I think changing that is just as crucial as changing the level of performance. I'm certainly encouraged that he's shipped out (or is trying to ship out) most of what I would deem deadwood (Ojo, Allsop, Vontae-Campbell, Sawyers, Harris, Watters).
In terms of their replacements, it's early days. Some of them are undoubtedly improvements, and some of them are not. Centre back is obviously the problem position, and I wonder if the plan is to just get to January with whatever we can get, and then pay a fee for someone (Kipre, ideally). Conversely, I think we have far more quality and options in attack, and a fully fit Robinson (and, in a perfect world, Kieffer) could/would be huge for us.
We've looked a bit nervous (especially at home) and I can't say I'm impressed with the fitness levels of some players. But we were excellent for long periods away at Leeds and Leicester, and as bad as the QPR game was we still hit the bar twice and really shouldn't have lost that game. Very fine margins.
In summary: ask this question again at the end of October.