Positives apart from the 3 points against Preston

[Lightsoot]

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.

 

[KoppedOff]

So much to be positive about, plenty mentioned already.

I’ll throw in the amount of times we were first to a loose ball and a 50/50 and how many times we “nicked” it off them when they were in possession. Not seen that for a while. We just just looked so much better and so much more up for it.

 

[Dnblade]

No fkin VAR!

 

[Rochdaleblade]

Clean sheet. Can't remember the last one

 

[metalblade]

Excellent away win with the bonus of being able to celebrate goals without the fear of VAR

 

[Foxy]

No fkin VAR!

It was also nice to not have to stop every ten seconds with someone deciding to fall over and whinge.

 

[moody1889]

Hamer Brooks O Hare were brilliant they could be our Ndiaye MGW Berge this season


Thought Souza and Arblaster bossed the midfield we need to keep our team intact and build now.

Brilliant start.

 

[Dnblade]

It was also nice to not have to stop every ten seconds with someone deciding to fall over and whinge.

Yes,good to see players getting challenges in,and getting on with it.

 

[103SecondsOfMagic]

Here’s another

4 lads who came through the academy were on the pitch tonight

It was actually 5! Ben Whiteman too

 

[CopenhagenBlade]

Burrows was better defensively than I expected. Gilchrist was excellent. Some of the passing was a bit off, but that will come. Tougher challenges to come but an excellent start

 

[Gimli]

Difficult to say what kind of season we will have and I know Preston are the epitome of standard championship team, but we looked miles better than them so a very promising start!

 

[184blade]

It’s a different game without VAR
and credit to Preston, no diving and rolling about like they’d been shot.

 

[vas borbokis]

Keeper made what I thought looked a really good save when called upon and looked solid enough all night. Well done Davies. Let's get a first choice keeper in though!

 

[snb69]

A comfortable away win with clear potential for the team to improve, what's not to like

 

[foggy72]

I was pleasantly surprised to see brewster's hamstrings not snap after 10 minutes of being on the pitch

 

[Lord Eddard Muir]

O'Hare looks different class. He's going to be right up there with Fleck and McGoldrick in the pantheon of our all time best free transfers.

 

[diplomat]

I liked burrows too .. hamer tried few tricks didn't work , kept going and really came into it ... bench looked weak .. couple of attacking players...... wete laughing

I think the way we are going to play this year we must not groan when Hamer/Brooks/O’hare try something and it doesn’t come off because we need to give them licence and enjoy the fact that we can allow that in this league and not be immediately punished. I agree, Hamer gave it away and was sloppy at times but when he’s on the pitch things like that can happen and it was perfect timing to take the pressure off and we weren’t throwing a 0-2 away.

I liked burrows too .. hamer tried few tricks didn't work , kept going and really came into it ... bench looked weak .. couple of attacking players...... wete laughing

 

[diplomat]

Clean sheet is huge for the back 4 and keeper as we only had 1 last season. Gives us confidence that we don’t have to score at least 2 to win a game

Or six

 

[Stewy]

Totally agree mate .
Last year we tried nothing out of fear..
Lads are confident with the flicks , back heals ..
We want confident players.. taking responsibility...

 

[diplomat]

First and foremost getting rid of the minus points. I was worried a couple of poor results early could snowball and heads drop quickly.

Secondly, it’s worth remembering that we have had a high churn of player and are playing in a new formation on top of that. Preston aren’t the best of sides, but they’re typically not the worst either. Weirdly our goals were a bit “lucky” in how they came about, but we had more than enough other chances to negate that point.

‘The harder I try the luckier I am’ someone once said, or something. We showed a lot of good qualities tonight. I hope we don’t sell anyone and add to this group.

 

[Bladesman]

It was also nice to not have to stop every ten seconds with someone deciding to fall over and whinge.

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

 

[knowsnowt]

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.

 

[Fatlad666]

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

 

[Fatlad666]

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.

I'm waiting now, 2 caravans down on the left

 

[knowsnowt]

I'm waiting now, 2 caravans down on the left

I'm up for an electric hook up!

 

[JOEYDEE]

Looked like all the lads were really enjoying themselves for once !
All big genuine smiles in front of the fans at the end ..even the so called 'unhappy' ones,Souza,Anel and Hamer great display for the first game.

 

[Yewsman]

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.

 

[BladeInIreland]

I'm so fucking giddy. Enjoyable football is back on the menu.

 

[The Fox]

Apart from the win good to see smiles at the end. Some great team spirit and togetherness from the team .

 

[Sheffsteel]

The main positive for me was

1: Midfield- For the first time in a few years we had an operational midfield....where we actually showed for the ball and played some one touch possession football. We're not there yet but with O'Hare, Hamer and Arblaster......we have the makings of bringing back memories of the Coutts, Fleck, Duffy midfield magic.
2: Style of play- We looked quite well drilled and looked a team....we resisted the temptation to drop deep defending holding on.
3: New players- all looked more than decent

Think back to the promotion season under Hecky.
In that season we had dominant 20 minutes to 30 minutes.....then we'd sit back defending deep in numbers.

Tonight the first 10 minutes was quite even but once we scored we dominated the next 80+ minutes.
We never dominated any match for so long in our promotion season.....we relied on moments of magic by individuals (mainly N'Diaye and sometimes McAtee. Whereas tonight it's the team cohesion and team skill that's capable of scoring from anywhere.