Positives apart from the 3 points against Preston

[Keen Blade]

Fantastic performance and result, we could have racked up a cricket score with a bit more composure.
Souza is either playing for a move, or he's decided to knuckle down. Personally, and unfortunately I think it's the first. He would be the best destroyer in this division by a mile, but a destroyer that can play a bit as well.

Whether he stays or not , I reckon we need another big mf destroyer as cover.
Our other 5 or 6 mfs are talented but not really physical enough for the Souza role.
My head tells me he's on the move but my heart hopes he's decided to stay and be the best DM in the league.

 

[Keen Blade]

Thought Gilchrist looked excellent - proper defender, strong, committed, tried to get forward and was better on the ball than I thought he’d be. Promising debut.

If we get a RB in then Gilchrist could probably cover for Souza

 

[Grey Blade]

No fkin VAR!

We can celebrate a goal immediately now

 

[Keen Blade]

Davis was selected ahead of Gbric.
So it's Davis's jersey to lose.
So our "new no.1 Gbric" is surely on his way out.
And there are real grounds to believe we will get a proper replacement.

 

[singaporeblade]

Personal, I think credit needs to go to Chris Wider and the backroom staff. For installing the belief, too play with freedom. Midfield looked full of life and expression. Solid start Blades loved it

And actually fitter at the start of the season compared to previous campaigns?

 

[SGBlade]

Not sure about that. Madley seemed to like giving them a free kick when they were essentially fouling our player and then falling down.

He didn’t get everything right but at least we didn’t have to wait five minutes every time he wasn’t sure. So nice to have a game with out VAR. Definitely one of the best things about the Champ.

 

[SGBlade]

Agree largely positive but would add:
I think we need pace up front. Sayki would provide and maybe Campbell. Also need to work on deadball crosses into the box. Just as bad as last season.

Yep - brooks was great but he’s only a young lad still and will blow hot and cold, so two fast / wide attackers to compete and cover (potentially Rak Sakyi and Campbell if we get them) are a must.

Then just a keeper (hopefully Cooper) and another number nine to compete with / cover for Moore (I’d have loved McB in this team) and I think we have the makings of a top six side.

 

[Melbourne Blade]

Watched extended highlights and some of the play was excellent with an opportunity to become sublime once everything gels and players get more matches under their belt.

Moore could have had a hattrick on any other day with the opportunities created. O'hare is class, Vini was unplayable and Burrows and Gilchrist settled in perfectly.

I'm genuinely excited about this season now. Only one game down but it could be as fun as the season we went up under Wilder.

 

[Champagneblade]

Still don’t quite agree we started on -2.

Are City starting on minus figures with their 115 charges?

How many did Wednesday get docked for defrauding the Coop of 16m?

We were late payers and we paid. Surely our penalty should have been financial and to those we owed the money to?

 

[VictoryBlade]

Fans were absolutely rocking.

Makes a refreshing change to win on the road, granted we are in the division below but still!

Agreed, just great to win again! Yeahar!

 

[Edgar Allan Poo]

Couldn't get to the game so got to bed at reasonable o'clock. Zzzzzzzz

 

[John Street West Terrace]

Not to be out of a game by half time & in the pub on 70 minutes , back pressing teams & strong work ethic , to be able to celebrate a goal without having to immediately look a screen to see if it was gonna be chalked off . For a player being tackled not auditioning for falling victim to a sniper , for looking forward to going back to a game of football again , for seeing my side playing slick confident football , for seeing a clean sheet , for seeing our fans happy , to win a game of football convincingly …. It feels like somebody has took a skip off our back

 

[Sothall_Blade]

14 of the 20 man squad were aged 25 or under.
8 were aged 23 or under.
Only 3 of them older than 30.
The players we are rumoured to be chasing are all under 25 too (Cooper, Campbell, Rak-Sakyi)

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

I was out all of yesterday and only caught the second half on the radio. It sounded like a great performance with the midfield really clicking. A good start that surpassed my expectations, as Deepdale has never been a happy hunting ground. As an added bonus the -2 points debacle has been put to bed quickly, so now we can crack on with the season.

I still think we need more bodies in as we will struggle when injuries/suspensions kick in.

 

[Sheffsteel]

I was out all of yesterday and only caught the second half on the radio. It sounded like a great performance with the midfield really clicking. A good start that surpassed my expectations, as Deepdale has never been a happy hunting ground. As an added bonus the -2 points debacle has been put to bed quickly, so now we can crack on with the season.

I still think we need more bodies in as we will struggle when injuries/suspensions kick in.

Try to watch the game.
First 10 minutes was even, we hoofed it to Moore about 3 or 4 times and I thought, this long ball style doesn't bode well
but once we score with a lucky goal, we settled really well playing some calm composed short passing football for the next 80 minutes.
O'Hare makes a massive difference because he shows for the ball and his 1st touch and close control is sublime meaning our players can pass to him even when he's marked up. This takes the pressure off the whole midfield because we can keep in simple and retain possession.

Remember the Blades v Palace game last season, it was pretty similar but the other way around.

PNE looked like a set of individuals who had just met where as we looked a team. We even looked fitter than them.
Even our defence looked really composed because they could take long breathers. having very little to do.

Think we can play better in attacking areas but it wasn't needed. A surprisingly comfortable win.
However there is validity in saying this was more about PNE being poor, rather than us being so good.
Forgot the 2-0 scoreline, 3 or 4-0 would be a better reflection of the game.
Also the stats don't show how composed our players looked, we totally controlled the game making it look easy.
Reminded me of some of our performances in league 1 a few year back, when we ended up with 100 points.

 

[Badger Blade]

First clean sheet in the league since we beat Brentford was a good sign for us.

Or a really bad sign for Preston...

 

[Stretch]

It was a completely dominant performance.

Fast passing, great movement and loads of creativity.

We will only improve further as more players come in.

Noone had a bad game, and it says something when Hamer is your worse player, having scored an absolute pearler.

Even the fringe / youth players (Siriki and Peck) looked very comfortable.

The togetherness at the end of the game and the sheer looks of joy on the faces of players and management. It's early days but it really did take me back to the peak Wilder days for a while.

 

[munksyb]

That was proper exciting football, which is exactly our style
The teamwork will come, Wilder admitted we are a schooled side, and need a bit of time to gel as a team
But the officials were appalling.
When Moore was rugby tackled in the area being the most blatant non-decision I’ve seen in a while

 

[mattbianco1]

Burrows.

Absolute quality both defensively and in attack.

 

[loyalblade95]

Positives:
Anel and Robbo throwing themselves against shots and crosses.
Moore leading the line (the goals will come)
Brooks looks good in his new position and looks a good outlet for the counterattack

Negatives:
Just a bit wasteful in front of goal but that will get better

 

[wak1889]

I'm currently at a sausage and camper van festival in Utoxetter, but if i can put in a performance like that on returning home to our lass in the morning she'll give me a 9 outta 7.

Some of the campest vans provide the sausages for free , so I'm told

 

[LBA_Blade]

Positives:
Anel and Robbo throwing themselves against shots and crosses.
Moore leading the line (the goals will come)
Brooks looks good in his new position and looks a good outlet for the counterattack

Negatives:
Just a bit wasteful in front of goal but that will get better

I heard Moore had us down for a 2-0 and didn’t want to ruin his bet but in all seriousness, last season that would have cost us massively. We didn’t create too much but scored twice, and could easily have been double that hopefully with a couple of additions and more gelling on the training pitch, things start to click. Definitely a positive showing