Up to 75 mins I thought they had the better attack but we had the better defence. Then our subs changed that. Leaburn running the channels & Olaofe quicker & more powerful than Chuks. And then the cherry on the icing on top of the cake.....his Knibbs who was the fox in the box.
Up to 75 mins I thought they had the better attack but we had the better defence. Then our subs changed that. Leaburn running the channels & Olaofe quicker & more powerful than Chuks. And then the cherry on the icing on top of the cake.....his Knibbs who was the fox in the box.
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Great finish as well, don't know if he did it deliberately... But Harvey placing it in a way so it deflected in off the Goalkeeper seemed really smart, rather than aiming for the open goal, and so giving him an opportunity to get a hand to it.
Absolutely zero clue how we set up next game... assumed knibbs coming in as a 10, but thought Carey was absolutely phenomenal today. Ramsay and Jones their usual self. Let's 1-0 our way to promotion again. Great effort from the lads
Clean sheet ✅ Relentless in the press ✅ Kept going right to the end as the opposition tired ✅ Jones is a monster ✅ Ramsay making it look easy ✅ Coventry everywhere✅ No way past Edwards ✅
Plus encouraging debuts from a lively Carey and Apter and a debut goal for the Knibbster.
Not sure how good Watford are but a very encouraging start. Sweet to be the only promoted team to win on the opening day.
Oh and how much more entertaining is Championship football?!? Brings home what a slog League One has been.
Regardless of result.which was brilliant .championship is sorlds ahead of league one
Apter reminds me of Andy Reid! Wand of a left foot.. looks a good signing! Squad looks strong. Got our subs at the right time. Good start.. championship is such a good league! Good to be back… and Wrexham hahaha
Apter weighs about as much as Andy Reid’s left calf
Fun fact: the last three times we won our opening Championship game (19/20, 15/16 and 08/09) we were relegated. So that's fun!
15/16 and 08/09 teams had absolutely zero backbone whatsoever . Bowyer was unlucky - although if you look at the team that played Blackburn in the opening game , I am staggered we won that !
Clean sheet ✅ Relentless in the press ✅ Kept going right to the end as the opposition tired ✅ Jones is a monster ✅ Ramsay making it look easy ✅ Coventry everywhere✅ No way past Edwards ✅
Plus encouraging debuts from a lively Carey and Apter and a debut goal for the Knibbster.
Not sure how good Watford are but a very encouraging start. Sweet to be the only promoted team to win on the opening day.
Oh and how much more entertaining is Championship football?!? Brings home what a slog League One has been.
Not forgetting: Almost certainly winning when we score first ✅ Scoring an important goal after the 90th minute ✅ The ref being a bit pants. ✅ The Sky cameras focussing for way too long on the managers and other random stuff while the ball's in play ✅
To be honest I would have enjoyed that even if it had ended 0-0, but 3 points is much nicer. I really like the look of Apter - he's more wing than back but Edwards is more back than wing so it balances out nicely, and he's got Ramsay behind him which helps. That little flick to Carey up the right hand side had me drooling, and I think their understanding definitely helps. Also like the look of Tanto (was it him blocking the keeper for the goal?) but I think Kelman needs a slightly different style of play from us to be really effective. But it's early days yet.
What a result. Know its early days but very confident of Ramsay, Jones and Edwards making the step up without any issue. Baah is a real handful and Edwards dealt with him really well.
Apter and Carey both excellent all game. Kelman disappointing but we cannot expect him to be the same up top as Godden. Different players and he'll need someone to play off to be more effective.
Tanto and Miles both excellent off the bench and it's great to see Miles haring after the ball again. Brilliant from Knibbs at the end and the camaraderie already looks to be there with the new signings.
I'm now off to Borough Market for beers in the sun and steak later at Hawksmoor. That along with the mighty Charlton winning and Wrexham losing in the 96th minute make for a pretty perfect Saturday!
All the new boys look very decent. Kelman didn’t offer much but had a flash of a chance that he almost took, I feel like with a bit more games him and Campbell are gonna work well together - I could see him working some space for him at times. Although he’s now got miles banging the door down for a game
Carey I think is going to be some player for us, all the good bits of play in the first half came from him and he has a touch of class about him. Knibbs is going to get 15 goals this season isn’t he? What a great player to bring on for the final 15.
Only poor game was docherty. Lost everything and seemed so off the pace
but fantastic that we’ve gone against an established championship team and looked comfortable and very much at home. Bodes very well!
My guess is that Watford will be a mid-table side and we more than lived with them.
Watford had some good runners and put some dangerous crosses in but our keeper, more on him later, had few real saves to make.
Certainly, their keeper was the busier.
If that is an average, as in midtable, Championship side that we'll be alright but the sample size is far far too small.
On the new players:
Kam. Not sure, didn't come a couple of times when he need to and didn't inspire confidence.
Bell was classy but a few heart in mouth moments when he turned with the ball. Did well as LWB too.
Carey very good and a threat in the box, worked his socks off.
Apter was another positive, plenty of good crosses and shots and also tracked back well.
It didn't work for Kelman. We didn't really play to his strengths but he didn't win, or at least disrupt the centre half, in the way that Godden did but early days.
Olaofe's hard running was effective and how didn't earn a free kick late on.
As for Knibbs, came on late, closed down but didn't see much of the ball. Until the 95th minute that was. Right place, right time.
Just like last season we finished strongly and snatched the points, hopefully a feature of this campaign as well. Watford seemed to have settled for the point late on and paid the price.
Silliness at the end when Jones fist pumped the away end but they had been calling him an onanist so the moral of that story is don't give it out if you can't take it back.
Only another 45 games to go and I'll take 1 - 0 in all of them.
We seem to be dogged by success at the moment, no matter what we do. Playoff semi-final: win. Playoff final: win. First game of the season: last minute winner. Top of the league for a time.
On a more serious note, I thought all the new players did well. Kelman and Carey were perhaps a bit quiet, but the cameos by Tanto and Harvey Knibbs were just what we needed.
Bell looked classy, although the fella sitting behind me was convinced he was going to concede a goal by being too relaxed on the ball.
The standard of play was definitely 20% up on last season, and I think we may well improve over the next four or five games.
Not convinced it was really working with a little fella up top though, and I think I saw enough in Olaofe to believe he might be wasted as a 15 minute impact player.
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… but there is a Panama.
Pwopper South London.
We've been getting a lot of extra smooth, polished - "Clean sheet wins". The record on his charlton album is starting to display a sense of reality.
Perhaps the 5 year plan also knocked on the door as soon as he vanished 😱
Didn't look out of place against established Championship opposition. Jones was a monster as was Edwards.
Carey looks a hell of a player. Apter brilliant. Olaofe came on and their defenders couldn’t cope.
More comments to come but we looked like a championship team competing and that’s all I can ask. Excited for the season ahead!
Almost certainly winning when we score first ✅
Scoring an important goal after the 90th minute ✅
The ref being a bit pants. ✅
The Sky cameras focussing for way too long on the managers and other random stuff while the ball's in play ✅
Apter and Carey both excellent all game. Kelman disappointing but we cannot expect him to be the same up top as Godden. Different players and he'll need someone to play off to be more effective.
Tanto and Miles both excellent off the bench and it's great to see Miles haring after the ball again. Brilliant from Knibbs at the end and the camaraderie already looks to be there with the new signings.
I'm now off to Borough Market for beers in the sun and steak later at Hawksmoor. That along with the mighty Charlton winning and Wrexham losing in the 96th minute make for a pretty perfect Saturday!
Carey I think is going to be some player for us, all the good bits of play in the first half came from him and he has a touch of class about him. Knibbs is going to get 15 goals this season isn’t he? What a great player to bring on for the final 15.
but fantastic that we’ve gone against an established championship team and looked comfortable and very much at home. Bodes very well!
My guess is that Watford will be a mid-table side and we more than lived with them.
Watford had some good runners and put some dangerous crosses in but our keeper, more on him later, had few real saves to make.
Certainly, their keeper was the busier.
If that is an average, as in midtable, Championship side that we'll be alright but the sample size is far far too small.
On the new players:
Kam. Not sure, didn't come a couple of times when he need to and didn't inspire confidence.
Bell was classy but a few heart in mouth moments when he turned with the ball. Did well as LWB too.
Carey very good and a threat in the box, worked his socks off.
Apter was another positive, plenty of good crosses and shots and also tracked back well.
It didn't work for Kelman. We didn't really play to his strengths but he didn't win, or at least disrupt the centre half, in the way that Godden did but early days.
Olaofe's hard running was effective and how didn't earn a free kick late on.
As for Knibbs, came on late, closed down but didn't see much of the ball. Until the 95th minute that was. Right place, right time.
Just like last season we finished strongly and snatched the points, hopefully a feature of this campaign as well. Watford seemed to have settled for the point late on and paid the price.
Silliness at the end when Jones fist pumped the away end but they had been calling him an onanist so the moral of that story is don't give it out if you can't take it back.
Only another 45 games to go and I'll take 1 - 0 in all of them.
UTA
We seem to be dogged by success at the moment, no matter what we do. Playoff semi-final: win. Playoff final: win. First game of the season: last minute winner. Top of the league for a time.
On a more serious note, I thought all the new players did well. Kelman and Carey were perhaps a bit quiet, but the cameos by Tanto and Harvey Knibbs were just what we needed.
Bell looked classy, although the fella sitting behind me was convinced he was going to concede a goal by being too relaxed on the ball.
The standard of play was definitely 20% up on last season, and I think we may well improve over the next four or five games.
Not convinced it was really working with a little fella up top though, and I think I saw enough in Olaofe to believe he might be wasted as a 15 minute impact player.