Observations From The First Game

[Nick Jansky]

Can’t really draw too many conclusions from the first game of the season. But what is perfectly clear is that the squad has been in decline for a few years now. We have wasted so much money on transfer fees, wages and loans, and not just last summer, and have gone dramatically backwards since Berge and Ndiaye left. So we need to understand where we are and set expectations accordingly.

The blame is collective, and falls on owners past & present, managers, coaches, scouting department. At the moment it’s a club going backwards.

 

[Nick Jansky]

Wasn't until TV cameras showed Phillips in the stand I realised he wasn't on the bench. Hard to think whose place he takes on it. Blaster or Jario would be unlucky to lose a spot on the bench at least

He’s not going to be fit for a few games yet, by which time I expect us to be picking up injuries.

 

[Berkshire Blade]

He’s not going to be fit for a few games yet, by which time I expect us to be picking up injuries.

Probably so especially with two positions he could fit in. Obviously it depends on our financial outlay if it's worth it and I doubt we will ever know that either way

 

[ATL Recs]

Defensively did OK, the rest was very poor though. It's going to be a long season if we don't bring in a left winger, another striker, a big bastard centre midfielder like Vini and another centre half. Lots gets said about Cannon, and most of it is correct, I've seen very few worse professional footballers. Slow, weak, constantly on his heels, loses every foot race going, even when he's 70/30 favourite. No redeeming quality. Midfield is not mobile enough. McGuiness did OK today but last season shows that's the anomaly rather than the norm. O'Hare is too slow and too small, loses most physical duels for the ball even when he should be favourite. Yes, he runs around a lot, but we need more than that.

We only did ok due to cooper and their inability to finish

 

[ATL Recs]

Ffs
Both our CHs were basic at best when composure would have worked in our favour
Some of Tangangas distribution was shocking and the other ones ability to not make positive passes from the halfway line shoed his limitations
Thanks to Cooper we got a point today
Because that was like watching a team with no identity or plan

 

[BazWainwright]

You think one was ineffective ?

Well, he pulled up after eight minutes with a hammy.

So, yeah.

 

[Frank the tank]

Well, he pulled up after eight minutes with a hammy.

So, yeah.

I thought so

 

[Dnblade]

Both sides looked like they were in a pre season mode.
Coops and Mcguiness were the stand outs for us.
Brum better than us up until the final 3rd,but looked there for the taking,but then again so did we.
No Brooks and Hamer on the wide showed,front 2 were ineffective.
Brum had an extra man in midfield,looked like 4231 v our 442.
Our ball retention was poor,hardly tested Beedle's about until late when One and Campbell came on
Take the point though,and move on.

 

[Dave]

View from Turkey many Efes deep.

Cannon would struggle to get a game at Goodwin mid week.
Mcguinness looked solid attacking the ball, same with Tanganga however both poor on distribution.
Donovan is mctee 2.0. will struggle first half of season and grow. Give him time.
Bamford - cant live off scraps
O'Hare isn't Hamer so don't play him at LW when his best attribute is pressing from the front.
Campbell may have just signed a 3 year deal for completing the bleep test but my fucking god he's a lazy bastard. Seen Higdon run around more.
Both full backs fine
Cooper back to his best
Peck and Rothwell no issues with.

Subs wank and offered nowt

Really disappointed not to rub it into the bluenose who as worn the same top for 7 days straight in the hotel resort I am on.

UTB

 

[Bladesman]

 

[Dave]

He's not wrong, both teams wanted to play it forward however we would have both done better as rugby league teams.

 

[BazWainwright]

Wasn't until TV cameras showed Phillips in the stand I realised he wasn't on the bench. Hard to think whose place he takes on it. Blaster or Jario would be unlucky to lose a spot on the bench at least

I am puzzling why Jairo doesn't get a nod for midfield over and above even Peck. The bloke is a higher level quality and over all a better player than either Rothwell or Peck.

Philips had better get ready to roll his sleeves up and start shitting tiffany cufflinks for the badge. His not-so-impressive outings last year, his dismissal against the grunts and then his absence afterwards doesn't fill me with joy and belief he will energise United into a strong winning streak.

Blaster was largely absent when he came on. I do think people have a lot of misplaced faith in the lad.

Our midfield is built and briefed to basically go through the motions and break up play. Birmingham's midfield today had a collective of misfits and whingers and weren't much of a challenge. God knows what we'll do if we face a decent arrangement with positional capability and the ability to hunt us down and dispossess us.

 

[mattbianco1]

Bamford and Cannon... then Campbell were pointless cogs today.

Nothing against any of them players. Its down to Wilders tactics.

They had 2 absolute giant centre backs and we decided to play it in the air constantly.

I remember 1 shot on target... when Bamford was played through on the floor.

Thats on the manager, not the strikers

 

[djbaldken]

Fortunately it unfortunately, depends which way you look at it I only say first 65 minutes as my firestick packed in .
Defensively we were ok. That's all. Just ok. Tanganga was excellent and Mcguiness did what he had to do Sereki and McCallum were also good enough. Although there were a couple of occasions when with the right pass or decision making ,Birmingham should have scored
Mid field was shocking. No creativity at all. Which left Bamford and Cannon with nothing. Although Cannon is proving to be not worth his place.
Apart for an early spell I though Donavan was anonymous too.
Gonna be a long hard season.
We need a solid CH . Whoever it happens to be.
We need a creative midfielder. Will that be Philips? We wait and see.
9th Or 10th I reckon.

 

[ancientblade]

shocking performance lucky not to be on the end of a similar scoreline to last seasons opener we made birmingham look like top 8 contenders and their not 1 point a fantastic result for us

 

[HeCanDoMagic]

On the basis of today's game;

One needs a run in the team.
Burrows over McCallum.
Rothwell improved, he's more effective when we have teams penned in.
All our centre mids are too similar.
We need wingers.
We need creativity.
Cooper back to his best.
Mid table looms.

 

[Kenworthy’s Tash]

That bloke is totally delusional

 

[Bladesman]

 

[Blacksea]

Based on what happened today,this season could well unravel in the same way that Selles did last season,we had 15 minutes of proper football and then the game changed when Birmingham seemed to work out what was happening and got a series of corners,set pieces and we never got out of our penalty area for about 10 minutes, culminating in the McCallum challenge in the area and their man going down like he'd been shot..
After that period of play,the game completely changed and the players lost all semblance of control,with nothing coming from the bench on how to get it back again.
We gave them time and space to build up attacks at will and we just defended our area,they dictated the pace and direction of play and we had no response, nobody took responsibility to get on the ball and get us up the pitch in a meaningful way.The full backs gave their wide players opportunity to deliver crosses into the box almost at will,sometimes actually running away from the opponent about to cross the ball instead of getting to them and stopping it.
The centre backs and Cooper kept us afloat for long periods of the game,but that's not going to happen game after game against the better teams.
Recruitment of the correct kind is going to be under more scrutiny than ever after yesterday,and also Wilders tactics and game management to get the most out of the squad he's already got,which after yesterday is looking dubious at best.

 

[Barnette]

How much longer are we going to have to watch this dross. Pathetic negative performance. If that's the blueprint for this season....seriously who wants to watch it??

 

[Birdwell Blade]

Can’t really draw too many conclusions from the first game of the season. But what is perfectly clear is that the squad has been in decline for a few years now. We have wasted so much money on transfer fees, wages and loans, and not just last summer, and have gone dramatically backwards since Berge and Ndiaye left. So we need to understand where we are and set expectations accordingly.

The blame is collective, and falls on owners past & present, managers, coaches, scouting department. At the moment it’s a club going backwards.

Well said. Nailed it.

 

[BazWainwright]

He’s not going to be fit for a few games yet, by which time I expect us to be picking up injuries.

So he's joined us as he left us, not ready to play.

Again, I'm not getting too aroused about his arrival back at the Lane. I think there's a player in there, I just think everyone else has given him a swerve given his inconsistency and injury record and hey presto, he's back at BDTBL sat in the stands watching our midfield make a bad job of it all. We have an on-paper capable midfield. Peck, Rothwell, Philips, Arblaster and Riedewald should be easily able to deal with what the Championship has in the middle of the park and if you add O'Hare in front of that then you are talking a decent solidity and ability to carry the ball forward - on the deck. I know it's stupid to ever imagine we put ten passes together from the front of our back four to Bamford or One or Campbell's feet (let's not even consider Cannon, eh?) and it result in a decent chance or a goal. Yesterday even Coops booted the ball aimlessly into empty grass. The ball does come out from defence but as soon as Peck or Rothwell gets it, it either goes backwards or sidewards. There's never any receivers and runners into space, give-and-go or anyone pointing at an area they are about to run into. Yesterday looked like we'd never even trained together before, let alone done a pre-season programme. No one could see any strategic moves or predict where runners like Donovan and O'Hare were running into or where Bamford wated it. The crossing was non-existent and you have the likes of Bamford ... he feeds off stuff like that.

There is so much to do and we have Swansea next away who crushed Stoke City at home.

 

[ancientblade]

have to say im not callum o'hares biggest fan but hes totally wasted stuck out on the left and its a similar situation when wilder played hamer out there we might as well have started burrows left midfield for me if were playing 2 strikers it has to be bamford and one with o'hare given a free role cannon once again showed no desire to put himself about and played like a player who knows he will be moved on