Just got back from the match and feel very disappointed tonight after the optomism i had this morning. But, it is one game in a very long season so it's important we all try and remain positive and not worry too much over tonight's result. Swansea and Norwich both lost their first games last season, as did we in 2007/08 so we can look to that for comfort. If we play like we did tonight and bury the chances that we had we should be in for a good season. Hopefully Matty had an off day as all strikers do and will put those chances away he had another day. The main negatives for me tonight were the aforementioned strikers, Gulasci and Mckenna. Gulasci didn't seem confident at all and was caught out a few times. Hopefully it's a one off but he looked very nervy tonight and like ourselves Blackpool had several good chances they should have scored. Mckenna went missing for me and didn't command the midfield like he should ahve done, hopefully he had an off night like Gulasci. Plenty of positives though. Cairney looks to have found the form he had in early 2010, Rosenior and Chester look as good as ever, Brady looks like a great player and Dudgeon a good replacement for Dawson. Brady maybe did too much at times but he looks a class act who will hopefully be here for the full season. Overall, a disappointing night but there is no reason for anyone to panic just yet. As i said, teams lose there first games and go on to do well, it's just one game in a long season. Had we put our chances away we'd have been looking at a decent performance but our sloppiness in front of goal cost us and we cannot afford to be as wasteful as tonight again. 5 live said it was a close game which was representative of how close the league is, and showed it will be a tight season in the Championship. We wouldn't be garaunteed a promotion campaign tonigth had we won, so by the same token we can't expect a relegation fight. A good result on Tuesday then it's onto Ipswich which will be tough but we should fear no one. It's gonna be a rollercoaster season and a lot will change. Keep the faith everyone. UTT
I could echo most of your sentiments. From my nice warm bed at the unearthly hour of 4.45am I tuned in and put on my headphones hoping for a positive start to the season. Gulasci looked like a bag of nerves throughout the game and has nobody to give the ball to in an effort to build up an attack so is reduced to 'hoof-ball' every time. Tom Cairney lacks pace and a right foot but his free kick deserved better and could have changed the game. Brady is over anxious and needs somebody to work with, to work to and to work off. He's trying to do it all on his own. Maybe McLean. A good striker could well have converted the chances that Simpson, Barmby and Fryatt had and could have finished with a double hat-trick. We have nobody with that quality. Rosenior was everywhere as usual and impressed me as being one of the few who could be classed as 'above average' in this league. Not too impressive but we did create those chances so we can expect better.
Keep the faith. Not the start we wanted and fair to say plenty of scope for improvement. Always best to take whatever positives we can. I am struggling to find many, things can only get better, we move on.
