saintant

We desperately need a creative midfielder and probably as the number one priority.

Sous-chef maybe 🙂

Don't know where you get your info from but below is a direct quote from Kevin Friend of the PGMOL 'We're basically looking for examples where it clearly hits the arm unjustifiably, hands above the head, away from the body, to deliberately block the ball from going into the box or into the goal.'

Give me strength 🙂 I'm pretty sure the rule about handball is that players must not use them to make themselves bigger and more likely to block a shot. I get it's not natural to have your arms tucked in but explain to me why most players do it on a regular basis - they do it because they know they run a big risk of conceding a penalty if their arms are not tucked in. I'm pretty sure if that had been in the Premier League VAR would have supported our penalty claims.

His arm was clearly away from his body in an attempt to make himself bigger. These days players generally tuck their arms in to show they are not seeking to gain an advantage. Their defender held his arms away from his body so stonewall penalty for me particularly as it was a shot on goal from Charles.

There are enough at the club and particularly Adam Lallana who could have had a word in Will Still's ear the minute he declared he intended playing AA through the middle. Adam is a coach now and should have made his feelings known - maybe he did and was ignored but hopefully lessons have been learned because this mistake has been replicated too many times. It hasn't worked, didn't work yesterday, has never worked and never will work.

Yeah, imagine if we'd lost 🙂

If you've seen the clip of his moment of unbridled joy on the pitch after the game that should tell you more than seeing him answering the usual mundane questions from a journalist.

It was the first game of the season so I expected a certain amount of ring rust. A look at other results and performances tells me we are not alone although I watched Bristol City and they were superb. We will get stronger, we will get better and we will bring in new players including creative ones. Any sort of win on the opening day is a big bonus especially for us because we are notoriously slow starters. My biggest take was the increase in our fitness levels and that helped get us over the line against a tiring Wrexham.

Not so sure I agree. Wrexham rode their luck at times - Robinson could have had a couple of goals, he hit the post and their keeper also made an instinctive save that he knew little about. After Robinson hit the post AA had two bites at the cherry and was unfortunate that both were blocked. Fraser had a shot that literally hit their keeper with him knowing little about it. We had two massive shouts for penalties and I feel both should have been given - one a blatant handball and the other a shirt pull when their player held on to Quarshie's shirt for quite a few seconds. Robinson and AA both had stabbed shots that they didn't make the most of and there was a header from maybe Charles that went straight at their keeper. Add in the two goals we scored and also a look at the game stats will show that Wrexham struggled to keep us at bay. We weren't as bad as a lot have made out. Lots to improve on and I'm confident Will Still will study the game and learn a great deal from it.

Well my half time prediction was way off and I hadn't realised how good this Bristol City side is. They passed and moved intelligently, played between the lines and defended well when they had to. They could be the dark horses this season. Excellent performance from them.

Stats say it all and that's what I saw.

Blimey, looks like we're certs for relegation judging by these marks and comments.

4-1 now - I'll give up tipping results 🙂

Yeah, that was crazy. Will Still mentioned the one that led to the penalty so hopefully he will address that in no uncertain terms because it was just bonkers.

Sheff Utd v Bristol City was a very good first half. Both sides looking more assured than we did today. They both move the ball much quicker and sharper than we did today. BC winning 2-1 but think SU might well turn it around second half. We'll need a marked improvement but should be better having a victory under our belt.

Think he held up the captain's armband as some sort of gesture of defiance though he should realise he owes the fans plenty and this game doesn't automatically wipe out all the mistakes he's made in the past. Couldn't fault him today so that's the standard he needs to maintain allowing for the odd blemish.

Stewart starts up front for me. Would probably swap Edwards for Wood because the former looked well off the pace today.

Kudos to the Chef 🙂

I doubt even Will Still would admit this as being a strategy. However, kudos to him for having the balls to throw every forward on the pitch and it somehow worked. But he's a much brighter thinker than to ever use this as anything but a desperate measure and not a strategy.

Don't think anybody hates them.

According to the laws of the game we should have been awarded two penalties and I get that the match would have taken a totally different course if Edwards had been sent off.

Wow, wasn't expecting that finish to the game. The biggest take for me is how fit we looked right to the end and that helped get us over the line as Wrexham tired. Ref was useless and denied us two stonewall penalties. Thought Robinson was very good and will get better with games, Quarshie too did well apart from the odd mistake but he'll also improve with minutes. Bad call from Will to play AA through the middle, it's never worked and never will - Stewart should lead the line after his cameo today. Shout out to Jack Stephens - did little wrong today and came up with a great last ditch tackle and, of course, the winning goal. Baz also defied his critics, including me although I did say I'd seen improvements in the preseason games and wonder if the new coach is helping - anyway, he kept us alive with the save before we equalised. Ryan Manning did brilliant off the bench, superb free kick that JWP would have been proud of and a good take and cross to set up the winner. Clearly we do need to bring in some quality creative players/wingers and hopefully the Dibling money will let us do that. It was actually an entertaining game though probably wouldn't be saying that but for our two late goals. Enough promising signs to be optimistic.

Edwards looks far too slow for this level.

That's a fucking penalty.