BRUM IS BLUE!

Football is back! What an atmosphere as well, Blues are well and truly on the rise and it’s going to be an exciting year!

Friday night didn’t quite go our way but that’s fine things don’t always go the way they should and it’s important that we don’t get disheartened. We dominated a team that are supposed to be favourites for promotion and made them look like relegation fodder.

I’m going to get it out the way early but how terrible was that ref? He made the first half hour all about him but looked as though he’d never watched a game of football before, let alone officiate one. We’ve been used to poor refs in League One but you would expect the standard to be higher in the Championship however that guy had no control over the game and tried his hardest to hand Ipswich a victory, even Howard Webb has struggled to support the decision saying it sits in the “grey zone”. He must therefore be gutted the Tractor Boys could only manage to secure a draw.

I hope we’re not rueing too many decisions throughout the season and I do appreciate he got some things right. The handball, while soft, was a penalty but how did he work out 8 minutes added time? Was it all the time wasting from their keeper he was adding on? If so why didn’t he show the guy a yellow?

Our opening goal quite clearly should have stood as well, I have no clue how he disallowed it and I think most people watching thought the same, not just Blues fans. If the goal had stood as it should we’d have been two goals up and their pen wouldn’t have mattered. Kyogo and Stansfield together look a formidable duo so hopefully we’ll see plenty of goals this season, Coral will have to reach deep into their pockets.

Blues controlled the game well and dominated throughout, we had the better chanced and moved the ball around with confidence. It was great to watch, especially after last season where teams would sit back rather than play football. If I’m going to have any criticism it’s that we need to take more chances, we saw last season that Blues just seemed to want to pass the ball into the net rather than shoot, if we’d taken more of the chances we created we would have been two or three up and the penalty wouldn’t have mattered. I do hope the attacking options we now have will lead to this change as we settle into the season (As I believe it will).

At the very least last nights performance is a great indication of the season to come. Many fans of opposition clubs think we’re still the same club that imploded season after season but hopefully now they’ll realise we’re not just here to make the number up, we’re not just here to finish mid-table, we’re here to make a statement and progress!

It was the first night of seeing what the new signings bring to the team and they didn’t disappoint. While there is likely to be a few new faces to still come through the door the additions that are with us currently have offered some serious quality. Neumann and Klara at the back are an absolute unit of a pairing, as the season goes on I expect this to be a formidable partnership that becomes increasingly difficult to get past.

Bright on the right looked good to me, pushed forward often enough and looked a quality player. That said I’ve since had feedback from some of the lads that watched on the tele said he came across a bit erratic which looking back I can understand, it is a case of bedding in still though so I think all the promise significantly dwarfs any erratic concerns.

It was great to see Dimmy back in Blue and Doyle’s substitute appearance was without controversy, unlike Dykes substitute appearance, but I think Kyogo was the new signing that impressed me the most. One thing that does strike me is the sheer quality and depth that’s within the squad now (And we know from Davies that there will be a couple more players in), it’s exciting of course but I think it’s where we should be so long may it continue.

While it certainly feels like a robbery I’m going to look at it like a positive, there was some excellent football on display and every player fought for the badge. We did of course start last season off with a 1-1 draw and we all know how that went. All in all a great evening and hopefully another record breaking season?