Well, now Sam knows what it's like at Upton Park – frustrating mostly and pretty annoying, but I don't feel too down after today's game. For a start, it could have knocked a few players back down to earth if they thought this season was going to be easy. It's not and we are the team everyone wants to beat, so we have to match the extra yards they put in. Next, it will give Sam more of an idea of what he needs to fix, a striker certainly and some cover at left back for sure. There were also some very good individual performances for us to build on.
So, let's look at who did good. New boys Matt Taylor and Joey O'Brien were real stars of the show. Taylor could hit a golf tee with a pass from 50 yards if asked and the signing of Carew makes even more sense if he will be the end of some of those set pieces. O'Brien looked assured at right back and could be a good freebie for us. Of our boys, I thought Reid and Noble both had excellent games. I'm probably not alone in being slightly disappointed at Kevin Nolan. I understood he would play more off the striker but more often than not, he was deep in the midfield battle and unable to offer support. Not that Piquoinne was holiding the ball up with any splendour, I'll be very disappointed if he starts for us again. Illunga didn't have the worst game, but I did think he was an accident waiting to happen and so it proved. It was very sloppy defending for the goal, I don't blame Green really and felt a slippery ball just went past him.
Anyway, I'm not going to dwell on this game too much, it was disappointing and a lesson learned, let's hope we can improve and put it behind us quickly and settle into our new division, up the 'ammers….