Quite a few got a chance to see the new players/manager etc. with it being on tv and streamed.
Finished all square at 1-1.
After the first 90+ mins, what do you think? A solid point in an early days away fixture, or two points thrown away? (Or both!)
Who stood out?
Over to you.
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Comments
Fluky goal even though im sure a small minority of our fanbase will find a way to blame Ben Haim.
Still plenty to be optimistic about, played some lovely football at times, should be entertaining this season.
One final point, some good honest british player pro behaviour lead by McCormack, not seen a team on mass go down so easily for quite a while, not much to like about their style.
Wiggins was absolutely awful and I fear his decline may be permanent
Harriott...there are no words
Bikey was solid at the back, won everything in the air and played intelligently.
Don't want to slander anyone but will just say if Bob wants to play two up top he really needs to sort out the centre of midfield. JJ cannot play in a midfield 2, so either have Cousins in there or find a partnership in the middle that works.
Disappointed we lost a lead, but there are positives we can build on.
Thought we lacked legs in midfield second half not sure they are all up to full speed yet although it was very warm conditions which wouldn't have helped. TBH did not instill me with confidence, Bikey solid and keeper kept us in it with a great save second half at 0-0. Wiggins distribution still poor, Solly better second half. Tucudean should have scored when one on one first half after a great ball from Gudmundson but he did well to get onto it. Buyens breaks it up a bit but not in Diego's class thus far. Cousins did well in the unusual role he was asked to play at LM. JJ was JJ and sent over the corner for our goal but he needs younger legs around him! Pleased with a point all things considered and we do pose more of a threat up front more than last season on this showing.
Fair result in the end, would have taken 1-1 before kick off. Igor Ventokele impressed me, seems the poacher we've been missing. Very unlucky for Harriott not to put us 2-0 up, an inch lower and would have been game over.
We played a lot better in the second half, and you can tell they haven't played much together, but passed it around with more success later on. Their equaliser was very unlucky too, deflected off Ben Haim (who needs to convince me more overall).
Andre Bikey was a beast, winning most if not all headers. Chris Solly played great again, very pleased he is back.
Hendo (GK) seems solid too, with a great save to deny their striker (forget when it was).
Overall, happy with a point and am optimistic once we've gelled more as a team. Was important not to lose.
We were so unlucky not to win that, but it just shows the importance of taking your chances when you get them.
It was a very, very encouraging performance & I am looking forward hugely to the rest of the season now.
Overall I'm pleased!! Igor looks a class act. So does gudmundsson and bikey was brilliant either him or Solly man of the match. We looked good going forward and can see igor causing a lot of defences trouble this year. Also it was a cracking game, credit to both teams. However I do believe JACKSON needs to up his game, he's to sloppy and has no pace what so ever.
And Harriots chance keeps playing in my mind as it probably does he's too. But come on!! You've got to finish those at this level..
All in all I have a lot of reasons to be optimistic this season.
Something to build on and some encouraging performances although I must admit I thought Jackson was poor and Gudmundsson pretty anonymous except for that great through ball which Tucudean should have buried.
Overall far more positives than negatives and Vetokele looks class. As Wheresmeticket says, we are going to be some side when it all gels and the style of play was very easy on the eye.
As for Harriott I think everyone's being a bit harsh. It was hardly miss of the century. Even though it was an open goal he still had players around him getting ready to close him down if he took an extra touch.
I'm over the moon with how our signings are looking. There was a clear gap in class between us and Brentford, though they looked far more organised and gelled.
Surprised that a lot were praising Henderson. I thought he came flapping at a few crosses and there was a clear lack of communication between him and the defence on a couple of occassions.
I thought Tucudean's chance was easier than Harriots. Harriot not to blame for that result, we did not play well. But it's a long season and we finally have a team who have a chance to compete.
Bikey was impressive, as was Igor. Jackson was not. As Jaddick said above, he doesn't look good in a midfield 2. Needs to up his game or he could lose his place to Moussa or Cousins.
It was a player? Should of scored simple as
Overall more positives than negatives. Central midfield still a problem area for us and clearly we need another decent striker.
Overall I felt we should've won, had Harriott not missed an open goal, it would've been 2-0 and game over. Admittedly there was a defender in front of him, but the least he could've done would be to hit the target.
Obviously Vetokele is the standout player, working non-stop all game and not sure I saw him lose the ball once. Superb hold-up play as well as his attacking movement. Gudmunsson played very well too, though he's very left footed.
Centre midfield is the main worry from this game, both Buyens and Jackson looked slow and at least 2 yards behind the play for the whole 90 minutes. Jackson in particular was giving away numerous stupid fouls in our half.
Onto the next game now, once this team gels we'll have a very solid squad for the season coming.
JJ had a poor game save for one corner, buyers did a lot of work. Gud and Igor showed some nice stuff as did Tuc who was unlucky that the GK came out so quickly
We need to play 2 up front as there wasn't enough support when TUC went off
The positives being we can use the excuse that's it's only the first game of the season. We improved (not difficult) in the second half. We didn't lose. Were trying to play football and it looked half decent at times, Henderson looked strong and I liked the look of Gudmundsson's creativity and think Vetokele will get us some goals this season. CB's looked mostly solid as we were last year.
Nothing to say we're any better than last season but will be interesting how things settle down over the next month or two.