General impression is that while not pretty, a change in approach was taken (points for trying), and was for the most part pretty effective. It eliminated the ridiculous press traps we suffered at the hands of Rotherham. We played most of our passes further up the field. We played long balls out from Fisher in particular - amen. There is still a crushing resistance to crossing the ball; opportunities to cross are squandered in favor of the backwards pass. Oh well, one step at a time.
Allen and Fulton were an effective combination - Allen again a busy player, full of class. Did we miss Grimes? I don't think so. It seemed to me that Allen/Fulton were more on the front foot, being more direct with the ball.
The two "offside" situations - Piroe and Cullen - illustrated clearly the focus and finishing ability of each player. Cullen finished with aplomb. Piroe converted it over the bar from 4 yards out .... takes some doing that. Cullen starting on the bench is a nonsense. From the limited angle of the tv cameras, Cullen looked onside the moment the pass into him was played. He may have recovered from an offside position, which may have confused the linesman, but when it mattered most he was onside. Martin has to stop playing either / or with Whitaker and Cullen. It's Cullen #1, Whitaker #2, and Piroe #3 ... I'm even less impressed by Piroe the more I see of him, and a #8 he is not. All that comes to mind is that Piroe plays against Darling in training and comes across as a world beater, where in fact he's just beating somebody that shouldn't be in our squad.
Not Cooper's best game, but he's ours, he's got talent, he's got a turn of speed, he's willing to work his balls off ... persevere.
I'm more convinced than ever that Martin reads this forum. But even if he doesn't, he had to try something different, more of the same was just going to advance the spiral down.
Next season is now one game old. None of us rated a positive result before the match, see the poll above. It could have been ugly, but it wasn't, and a better decision here and a tad more quality there and the result could have gone the other way. Not pretty football, but pretty effective. We lost but there are tangible positives to be taken, perhaps we've reached our bottom and starting to turn the corner and trending up. Will Martin persevere with the adjustments? Tune-in for next week's thrilling episode.