It was good to be back wasn't it? The First game of the season sees a return of beer before lunch, remembering why you don't go to the bookies, and the beginning of a collective emotional rollercoaster of controversy mixed with expectation and a plunge into the unknown. What can you actually expect from the first game of the season, apart from a teenager scoring a screamer on his debut in front of the Kop? … something tells me I'm into something good…
Pre season? Means nothing. Last season? Who cares. First game of the season? Don't read much into it if you lose – but, it means everything if you win. We all know which school of thought we're in this time around, but what can we really take from yesterday and what can we really expect from the season ahead? Maybe the only thing to take away is that the first game of the season is the only one game a year there's no argument over team selection? Probably..
Every successful team is built up of a strong spine with flair/pace sprinkled around it, and always alongside having impact from the bench – irrelevant of playing style. You think in 2013 we had Jonny Mac (and Duke) Davies, Mccardle, Jones, Doyle and Hanson, supplemented by Reid, Wells, Thomo, Hines etc with the likes of Connell as our ole Gunnar Solskjaer off the bench.
This year you can see a new spine forming with some real genuine flair around the edges. One of the most striking factors though was our obvious squad depth with Dieng / Poleon making a real impact – and we have more players to come back! Through the middle Doyle (apart from the 9th minute!!) KP, Kilgallon, Vincelot, Reeves Mccartan, and Wyke when he's back, all look solid and it represents a strong spine to build off - with the likes of Poleon, Law, Jones and Omari bloody Patrick (!) to all slot in and provide that extra bit of flair any good team needs.
Also I thought we dealt with Blackpools aggressive approach attempting to slow the game down incredibly well; we didn't let it affect us. Especially on Wykes return I think this squad will be able to mix our obvious attacking flair and creativity with more physicality that always has to be present. On top of that you can't underestimate the useful guile and something hilarious gamesmanship from Tony Mac – it genuinely helps the team in more than one way. This is an important mix for when we come up against teams like Blackpool, home and away, who think they can bully us because of the style we play.
We do like a bit of bite in a team don't we? To quote bantams banter themselves – what happens when you try kick a bantam down? They get back up and claw the…outta yer!
What was obvious yesterday was this squads desire and passion. Not everything they did came off but they kept going. We didn't get on their back, they stuck together and players coming off the bench were rarring to go. I think Dom Poleon had two liters of fizzy pop before he came on..! That mentality and togetherness is what gets you across the line successfully in May.
It's hard to know though what will count as successful come the end of the season? Every year for the past six years we have seen tangible progression so surely success would be promotion – I.e. Automatically or a win at the play off final would be going better this year.
Is it as simple as that? Maybe building a core and bringing through a young team to stay together for five years would be classed as success? League one is nice and comfortable, so why rush to get out?
I disagree. Agreed it wouldn't be the end of the world if we didn't go up because of our long term plan but I do really think to keep this wave of success going we should be going up this year. It's hard to judge the quality of other teams without seeing them play yet, but even with the so called big boys who are spending money like it's nothing, I don't see anyone to fear.
Valley Parade is a fortress, we have a strong and technically gifted side but also we have a cracking coach who is obviously gifted tactically and seems to be a great man manager. If the chairmen support him and give him what he wants, I don't see anything else stepping in our way. I do hope the sagas such as Gordon Greer gate don't become to much of a regular occurrence. But to sum up, if you set your targets high, you might do better than you thought you ever could.
..Something tells me I'm into something good..
@Lewiskilminster