THE FIRST fan’s view of the season has been written by Matty Roper who looks at reasons to be optimistic after Saturday’s 2-0 win over Wigan:
“After Saturday’s opening day victory, can we be optimistic? Simple answer – of course we can – but it has to be controlled.
“I’ve seen a few people voicing that we are going to win the league, hold your horses! There’s 45 games to go.
It was a superb performance against one of the favourites for promotion in this division however, and I was pleasantly surprised when leaving the Ricoh with a hard-earned, well-deserved three points.
“Admittedly, after a drab pre-season I thought we may find our tough start too much, but we rectified our wrongdoings and put in a display worthy of winning any game.
“So, how did it all fall into place for the Sky Blues? Firstly I think you’ve got to look at the defence, they were excellent.
“The acquisition of Sam Ricketts has brought an extra level of organisation to our team and with Reda alongside him, our central defensive partnership looks formidable.
“Chris Stokes and Jordan Willis both did well thwarting the Latics out wide also, as did Aaron Phillips when he came on.
“If we defend that admirably all season then Lee Burge will be offered suitable protection and we certainly have foundations to build from.
“In the midfield areas, John Fleck and Romain Vincelot play such an important role – the latter being the ‘signing of the summer’ in my opinion.
“We’ve been lacking a tough-tackling enforcer in midfield for years and we’ve finally got one in the Frenchman, although he knows how to play football too.
“The role he plays in the side is hugely important as he shields the back four whilst allowing Fleck more freedom to dictate the game and hopefully score some goals.
“The attacking midfield three of Jim O’Brien, James Maddison and Ruben Lamieras were a nuisance also and they posed various questions to Gary Caldwell’s side.
“Sitting behind Adam Armstrong, they complimented him well and we were unlucky not to win the game by a wider margin as some intricate play lead to a number of chances.
“All in all, there wasn’t really any faults with the performance but we need to stay grounded.
“With the lack of physicality in the final third, we may struggle in some fixtures when teams play different systems and every game poses different challenges to overcome.
“The signs were very positive however and with a few more additions in the correct areas we could be in for an improved season.
“I’m not going to say a playoff push just yet though, I’ll start looking at the league table when we’re ten games in or so.
“In Mowbray we trust. PUSB.”
