Blackburn Home preview

I dont believe it...Hey Ho Tayo scores on his debut!

 

Oh yeah, get in there!

 

Well, I love my silence, and just following BBC sports text......but that does sounds a bit promising and he has tried out several newbies.

 

I look forward to reading all the reports later. Not hearing a single word of commentary, my hunch has gotta be not a bad start to the season and will have sent fans away a bit happier. And by the end 7 new players for the 1st team!

 

My iFollow is working fine, gaffer. My subscription automatically renewed and whilst the live stream wasn't available today due to the game being televised the commentary is working

 

Good result considering the way the game played out. Standout player was clearly Gwion Edwards today and I look forward to watching more of him. It was a patchy game but I expect us to improve as the nerves of playing in the Championship dissipate from the lads that have stepped up over the next few matches.

Happy with what I saw overall from the opening game of the league campaign.

 

We are in need of somebody to take over the left wing role, it doesn't suit Sears at all. Maybe Edun will be that man, he looked lively when he came on.

 

Well scored early and late (now just have to concentrate on not conceding in the middle) Two new lads did really well, scoring on debut and our ex-manager now doing time in Skys studio.

 

I thought it was an encouraging performance overall. I’m happy with the point, as we deserved something from the match, and the reaction of the players. The way we controlled the ball in the second half is something I’ve not seen us do for some time.

I think there were some defensive frailties, which is not surprising given our lack of options at the back. I know it’s only one game in, but I thought Donacien struggled throughout. He was bailed out by Bart in the second half when he laid on a great chance for a Blackburn attacker. Woolfenden came on and looked pretty decent. The midfield trio of Skuse, Chalobah, and Downes were fine, but I thought we lacked an attacking edge and desperately wanted to see Dozzell come on. Chalobah grew into the game but for every two good passes he made, he seemed to squander possession easily with his third. Downes was average and rightly taken off.

As someone rightly mentioned before, Edwards was our stand out player and had me on the edge of my seat whenever he bombed forward (particularly in the second half). Edun, who came off the bench and scored the fortunate equaliser, looked a handful and was assured on the ball. Sears was lost, disappointing, and should have been substituted sooner. Harrison did well in patches but was too withdrawn retrieving the ball, which meant we sometimes lacked options in the final third.

I think the style of football has noticeably improved, and it was nice to see goals in the first half, but it will understandably take time for the team to click. This lack of understanding is most noticeable when we move forwards with the ball, as our attacking moves frequently broke down due to miscommunication and a lack of understanding. I’m hoping time will heal that.

 

All in all, an encouraging start. Perhaps Freddie's days are numbered and we have seen the best of him 2 seasons ago?

 

I think so Gaffer, although we probably would have struggled more up against an opponent willing to take the attacking initiative.

I think Sears will be a squad option going forward. I’d prefer to see Edun start down the left. I also think Skuse struggled with the tempo in the second half. We probably need an experienced player in the middle, but I’d be tempted to try a Chalobah, Dozzell, Nydam trio in the middle.

 

I thought a draw was probably a fair result.

Positives, Edwards (obviously) showed some good touches/turns,worked hard tracking back.Chalobah looks a strong player with the eye for a decent pass.

Down side,poor defensively,need a right back and another centre half,Sears had a disappointing game overall.

Lots there for Hurst to work on but it's early days.

 

Rome wasn't built in a day.

Just back from the game, glad I went- always enjoy going to Portman Road.

Thought that was quite a mixed game, some positives / negatives.

Hurst wanted more footy played from the back / which had mixed results.

Realistically we need to see where we're at come transfer deadline - appears Waghorn going will allow 3/ 4 in. They are desperately needed IMO.

Players -

Bart - Not his best. Maybe could have held onto the ball in the build up to Blackburn's first. Distribution not great.
Spence - Poor until subbed off ( get well soon )
Knudsen - Decent game from Jonas. Chambers went mental at him in stoppage time when he was taking forever to take a throw in. Rightly so! Get on with it, lets try and win the thing. HOWEVER, did show he has some quality distribution in locked with 3/ 4 superb pings to Edwards wide right.
Chambers - Not a fantastic display IMO. Bit shakey. Again with Jonas, showed has far better distribution than showed under Mick. Clearly playing to instructions.
Woolfenden - I thought did pretty darn well when he came on. Knocked the ball out with a couple of very ambitious raking balls, but tried them.
Donacien - Looked poor at CB, better at RB but not sold. It's debut, only just arrive. Jury out. Wish well for the season.
Skuse - Decent today Cole. Some good distribution, broke up play well. One superb header where really put his head in where it hurt.
Chabolah - Boy did he frustrate me. Strong as an Ox, and makes the difficult look easy. However, when he has time on the ball gave it away needlessly and looked like could get caught in possession. Decent debut though, will improve.
Downes - Very very busy. Tidy in possession, I like Downes. Good little player and deserves at worst to be in the 18.
Edwards - Very decent debut. Need to see the header back but looked a quality finish from the other end. Capable of skinning man for fun at times, though final delivery very poor. I think also weak and a stronger side may bully. But we'll see, hoping he does the business.
Sears - Today confirmed what we know - worst town player on pitch. Sure, got an assist but not remotely good enough. Doesn't make angles, hides, very very poor footballing brain. Needs to be shipped out or just not played. Even worse when down the middle, like playing with 10 men. Goodbye ( thanks for memories )
Harrison - 5050. Harried well, but didn't time runs at all well. Not a bad debut, but if he ends up being out #9 I don't know what his goal output is likely to be?! We'll see.
Edun - Very decent I thought, and deserves a start at Rotherham. Bright, trying to make things happen, well played! Off and running with a goal.
Morris - Did well in limited time. One very good drag back and unlucky. Offered a bucket tonne more than Freddy. Should get minutes again at Rotherham.

Like said before, BIG week for us. Shame to see Dozzell play no part, but a marathon not a sprint. Need some creativity, badly missing it today. Three water carriers CM did not go down at all well with me but it's a point, we're off and running and lets see what this week brings

 

Don't see a lot of point picking out individuals for praise or criticism because the team clearly needs time - apart from Spence (who I would be surprised to see pull on a Town shirt again after that) and Sears who really gave us nothing. That said I've put down my thoughts but only for this game.

It was a mess - we looked like the away side. Hurst has a LOT of work to do - but there were some big positives.

There were two games - up to 37 minutes and after 37 minutes and the difference was LUKE WOOLFENDEN.

PASSING and TEMPO

We were slow. We got caught in possession over and over again. We couldn't find a team mate with a pass for long periods of the game. It seemed to be everybody. Hopefully this is bedding in. But I really felt we lack quality and for large parts of the game I was questioning whether overall we have a set of players able to compete in the Championship. It was that bad.

DEFENSIVELY

Before Woolfenden came on defensively we were a shambles. We were trying to get the ball forward too quickly and we were not able to mark the Blackburn forwards. It looked to me like the right ball would get them in every time and the only reason it was only 2 in the first half was that Rovers lack quality.

I was blown away when after just a few minutes Woolfenden dropped deep to demand the ball off Bart and set up play from the back. Able to pick out a long cross field pass, forward pass or keep possession, we have a footballer on our hands here!

Donacien looked so much more comfortable at right back and Woolfenden looked the part in the air and has got to be our most promising prospect for several years.

With Bart / Knudsen / Chambers / Woolfenden / Donacien we have a competitive back line - but we need strong competition for all four positions.

MIDFIELD

and actually... this leads onto the attack as well... but we cannot afford Skuse and Chalobah. Skuse got 'stuck in' and you can see what Chalobah could be capable of but they are both too defensively minded and Skuse has no pace. This meant that Sears was effectively playing in an attacking midfield role.

ATTACK

And this left Harrison too isolated until Morris came on. Apart from the last ten minutes we created so little. I like Harrison, he did some good things, worked hard, you can see he is a player. But playing him as a lone striker is going to get us nowhere, he's not that Jamie Vardy type who will go direct at goal and finish most of the one on one chances he has.

PLAYERS

Woolfenden - deserves MOM for me.
Edwards - took his goal well, came to life at the end but was anonymous for the rest of the game. Promising.
Morris - made the difference when he came on.
Chalobah - shows promise but was flaky. The CDM cannot afford to lose possession as often as he did.
Donacien - looks particularly strong at right back.. he's a good defender but I don't think he has the presence to play at CB.
Edun - looked lively when he came on. Looking forward to seeing more.
Harrison - He can really cause trouble in the forward line, but not an out and out ST. Will be great linking up with a ST or as a wide forward.
Sears - lazy, slow. Assist for the first goal but dead wood.
Spence - awful. Lost us the game. Hope to never see him in a Town shirt again.
Bart - at fault for the goal but wouldn't want any other keeper in that goal for us.
Downes, Skuse - anonymous, really. Doubting Downes' quality and Skuse' effectiveness in a midfield with Chalobah.
Chambers - Shouldn't be up to a 19 year old to lead the backline. Looked to others to set play up from the back. Needs to improve fast.
Knudsen - One of the first names on the team sheet.

BLACKBURN

They are apparently favoured to have a good season - on this evidence they lack quality in goal, defensively and in midfield and will struggle.

It will be really interesting to see whether some of the problems are solved vs Rotherham - particularly our system which isolated Harrison.

EDIT: I've heard Hurst's interview and that Spence was possibly concussed and feeling sick. I still think Donacien is a far superior option at right back.