Against one of the favourites for automatic performance. Every player had a good game for me and to say we had so many making their league debuts for us, you couldn't tell. Playing Daniel's geggenpress at speed caused so many problems for Fulham, especially in the first half. We thoroughly deserved the three points, in my opinion. I have to give a special mention to Andersen, though. I thought he was simply superb. If he and the other new lads have given us a glimpse of what their standard performances are to be like, then mid table security is achieveable. Confidently playing it around at the back may mean I have the odd heart palpitation this season! Well done on today, lads. You've certainly set yourselves high standards for this campaign.
Missed first home game is so many years as on holiday. But it was the chosen game in all the bars. Watching from telly and seeing replays etc I was hugely impressed. Was nervous about a new back five but they played very well. Midfield bossed it. We were much the better side even without Woodrow on form today but that will be inevitable. Most impressed by pressing game and energy. Wilks will get a few yellows for misdemeanours but very strong and skillful. Good how we did the buzz words ‘game management’ at the end. My eyes firmly now on what we can do with Stendel.
to a man the team was immense today a thoroughly enjoyable day in the sun watching the reds! we made fulham look very ordinary for the majority of the game and loved wilks ovation when subbed and the irritation he caused! quality!!
Sat on St Aidan's beach, just south of Bamburgh. Sun, sand, sea and the tarn game on mi phone. Blissful.
I'm going to get carried away after one game and enjoy what was just a brilliant afternoon at Oakwell. There was something about us today, on and off the pitch, that at the age of nearly 45, took me back to the 81/82 side after their promotion the previous season. A manager loved by all, a team with a mix of ability, fire in their bellies, that fights for every point and is confident in its ability to the point that it doesn't matter who the opposition is, we'll play our game, attack, and try to win the game. Its brilliant to watch, rather than being paralysed by a fear of losing, we go for the win. If it doesn't work, or the opponent is better on the day, then fair enough. I remember a quote from Elton John after that 81/82 side had lost 3-1 at Watford (who had Blissett, Barnes et al). He said "It was a pleasure to see a team come here and play attacking football and try to beat us". I don't know what the next 45 games will bring, but that quite nicely sums us up for me.
Yes. But depending on whether a team let us have the ball or whether they try and dominate possession, I think you’ll see you different sides of our play. We saw it last year and teams are only wiser and better a league up. Over to Daniel to fast track the new players and potentially find other tactics that nullify the options tactics against us
We've always had the ability to do things that have left me scratching my head, good and bad. Absolute extremes of performance in 10 days. The optimist in me is hopeful that we will remain competitive. We can't produce a Fulham performance every week, especially in the Championship, but we've shown what the team is capable of. But play like we did last night on a regular basis and we will be in trouble.
This is what concerns me. It's been said on here many-a-time, does DS have a plan B,C and D? and of equal importance, has he got the talent to change up during the game? I suspect the first point is covered (to a certain extent) but I'm not sure about the second.
I think we can change it up to some extent, but we don’t have a target man. Just like we’ve seen against us, hitting a front man long can allow pressure to be taken off us, regain shape and start higher up the pitch. We did that a lot last season. My perception is that was a transitional tactic until we got more technical players and extra pace and we’ve shifted style directly rather than adapt slowly. I think we have added pace and technical quality, but sometimes you have to out think, out battle and out fight, and at this time we don’t have that. I think the key will be if we can encourage teams onto us and keep shape, then counterpress. We’ve found several times now the genius way to counter our natural style is just let us have the ball. I guess the way we negate that is being effective and hurting teams that way too.
I don't believe that's DS's preference. He would rather (I think!) go down the wings get behind the defence and strike through the inside right / left channels. Or play it to feet through the middle and then a telling pass from Bahre or Mowett. But then, as previously demonstrated, I know two thirds of F.A. about football. Modern or ancient.
I agree that’s the preference, but last season we did hoof it a fair bit. Seeing as we can’t do that now, only other out ball I can see is ball over the top and turn the opponent using our pace
