First impressions.

[ncfc4eva 0]

Voicing first impressions can leave you looking rather silly if proven wrong but given the huge changes here I''m sure we''ve all been pretty open with them.

I try not to be knee jerk in my reactions but something about these changes and what I saw on Sunday worried me.

Firstly the team selection baffled me. Shipping goals and leaving Tettey on the bench was my first concern. I don''t like this 3/5 at the back formation in this league. The back 4/5 is the last thing any team should be f***ing about with. (If you want promotion of course).

You can find the odd gem from lower or foreign leagues but more often than not, you get what you pay for.

Husband (boros 3rd choice Lb), Franke, who quite frankly looked like a competition winner, Zimmermann who for all his size and stature clearly needs an experienced cb next to him and Martin. We all know what Martin does (or doesn''t) bring to the table. I sat there and missed Bassong and Bennett. Wow.

I understand the wage bill etc all came into play but could we not have found some lower league defenders in England who are far more aware and capable? Bring back a back 4. With what we have available Pinto Martin Zimmermann and Husband are the 4 I''d start with.

We''ve all had our say on the Nelson incident. I feel the fact he reacted like that after just the FIRST game of the season tells a story. You can almost imagine how training goes, Jerome pinging in 30 yarders, running and working hard, picking up the balls and cones whilst Oli has a smile on his face throwing grass at Pinto. Jerome has duped Farke and I just pray it doesn''t take him long to realise what most of us already do. Jerome scored a good amount last season but it''s the ones he doesn''t score. The sitters he shanks in a tight game we''ve worked ourselves into etc. We look a far better team with Oli in it. I can''t believe we''ve even had to have that conversation. I feel even the players feel that, reflected in Oli''s ''celebration''. Players talk believe it or not.

Wildschut looks much improved, Maddison a real star and Reed could fit in there quite nicely. Add Tettey Wes Oli and possibly Murphy for Wildschut and you have movement, youth, experience and some unpredictable quality.

We WILL improve but let''s not sell ourselves short here. We should be pushing for at least top 6 but if we persist with that back 3/5, no defensive cover and leave Wes and Oli out of the squad then we are looking at a very mediocre season. Full of apparent empty possession. (Something that on this occasion Sunderland figured out early and were happy to let us do).

This could all go very well indeed if lessons are learnt. The attitude and enthusiasm seems to be instilled, getting the mental side of the game is most of the battle, add some quality on top of that and we''re on to a winner. It''s the amount of quality though that right now is a little bit of a worry. If we are going for promotion of course.

Otbc

[Barclay seats 4849 the 3rd 0]

For what it''s worth , an excellent post . No ranting , just observation , and using knowledge gained from what we have been watching .

Spot on in my opinion , I hope Farke is as astute as we need him to be . We need another striker and CB no doubt about that .

Seriously think that Gunn is well off Declan Rudd too , but like I said on another post , De Gea also looked carp to begin with .

[BroadstairsR 2,273]

Sensible.

Was it team selection or tactics?

Spent enough miserable moments last season concerned about team selection -- in out in out shake it all about --- to have the problem it raise it''s ugly head again so soon.

Vrancic came and went. Give him a chance he''s shone in pre-season.

Nobody but Farke seems to have wanted Jerome before Oliveira.

Pinto is now fit and up for it. Why use Russell the back up?

Where''s Alex?

Tactics? I too have little time for three at the back. It seems to be the current in thing but if it was that effective it would have been the norm long before now. Perhaps we lack the quality to use it to it''s best.

[hogesar 10,770]

Dear god.

[Barclay seats 4849 the 3rd 0]

Any more to add Hogsarse ? If not I shan''t reply next time .

[ncfc4eva 0]

I was hoping you''d reply Hogesar, always fun hearing your ''thoughts''.

I think changes in team selection is to be expected for a while. Many players havnt stepped into this league before so will take some time for the cream to rise!

I''m happy with possession football but we seemed to freeze a little bit when we had it. We didn''t move it quick enough so never stretched them or got in behind. We also didn''t go direct at times when Sunderland quickly figured us out. Imo changes in personnel will help massively with that.

I''m not quite sure what type of player we have in Vrancic? Although comfortable with the ball is he a sitting player? A box to box howson type or someone to bridge the midfield and attack? I feel he could get overrun and lost in many games.

[daly 551]

Broadstairs wrote Where''s Alex

Alex Neil is in Shithole Preston and AP is injured and on the club receiving Social Security Benefit

[Guest]

Didn''t see anything of the game and only McGeady''s goal so can''t comment other than to add that the opinion seems to be that we are too slow in our build up and the CB''s, particularly the German lads, need to become aware of the aerial and set piece threat in this division.

That sounds fair enough and I would expect DF to have noticed these problems and plan to sort them out on the training pitch.

Roll on next game.