Bristol City 1 v 1 Coventry City EFL Championship Saturday, 24th August 2024 Kick-off 12:30 |
Southampton At Newcastle United The Preview Saturday, 17th Aug 2024 10:09 It is the opening day of the season and today up to 3pm will possibly be the happiest we will feel for another 8 months, but it is better to get a trip to Newcastle done early, rather than face a six pointed against a fellow relegation battler. Perhaps i have started this preview on a pessimistic note, but I am a realist and I am not so naive to believe that we are going to jump right back into the Premier League and start challenging for the top 10. Our task is a simple one, finish the season outside of the 3, that is the first step in rebuilding the club back in the top flight, if we can do that, then we can take the next step and that is building a strong squad again. We start as one of the favourites for relegation, although that is mostly based on the fact that we are newly promoted and those who like a bet probably see us as a good option for the drop, so money has gone on. But we may just surprise a few people, especially as we have signed two new players on the eve of the season, Cameron Archer & Lesley Ugochukwu, the striker and central midfielder we needed, however we go into this game without a new goalkeeper and that is something we have had to address and do so fast. But the fact that we will probably have Alex McCarthy in goal today might actually help us achieve something at St James Park, even if it is only a narrow defeat. Russell Martin is going to have to modify his possession football game, McCarthy cannot play with his feet, so we surely cannot play across our goal as we did for much of last season, we will have to go long when under pressure as we did in the final games of last season. It is anyone’s guess what team that the manager will put out, pre season was mainly one of 22 man squads all getting game times and even in the final two home friendlies we did not seem to put out what looked like a starting XI. The cynic in me says that the only real question is where Captain Jack plays, will it be the centre of defence, full back or central midfield, I am guessing that as Lesley Ugochukwu was probability not signed in time that it will be as the holding midfield player. Elsewhere I hope that Kyle Walker Peters plays, perhaps at left back with Yuri Sugawara on the right, or possibly we could play a back three with these two used as wing backs, a central midfield trio with two upfront. So although it is hard to see anything but a defeat in this game, it is about keeping it tight and showing that we can compete and achieve our goals this season. The fans seem to be behind the team, over 3,000 making the journey up to Newcastle to watch a game from the same height as the planes on their approach to nearby Newcastle airport. Anyway lets end on a good note, the final hours before the season are ones to be enjoyed, we still have hope and optimism, well at least most of us do, we rarely start a season well so those hopes and dreams are usually dashed within 90 minutes, but we also usually recover well as the season goes on and so I am not that bothered about the result in this game, St James Park has not been a happy hunting ground in recent years, it is all about putting in a good performance and then we get down to business next Saturday against Nottingham Forest, now that is a must win game. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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