Solid start for new look Addicks...

What a start to the season!

Yann on target again as a rampant Bournemouth make poor old Mark Robins the earliest winner of the sack race I can remember.

Millwall (poor deluded souls) talking about promotion already! After a two nil win against a Leeds team in absolute turmoil.

It’s got it all, The Championship.

Having watched the highlights and listened to the live commentary on BBC London, although disappointed we couldn't make our chances pay and get off to a winning start at Brentford, I’m encouraged by the performance as a whole.  To be honest I felt a bit for Harriott when that ball thudded against the cross bar and bounced down and away from the goal.

A few glaring observations from the opening display. In Vetokele and Tucadean we probably have enough goals to ensure safety. Vetokele’s hard work and tenacity however does need to be complimented by more of an out and out striker than Tucadean looks to be.  Peeters it would seem see’s something of this in Harriot, and perhaps over time the youngster can step up and move in from the wing into a striker’s role as Thierry Henry did at Arsenal.  If not we do need to get someone in that number nine shirt who can do the job. The prospect (however much it seems to be evaporating) of Delort signing still excites me a great deal.

Henderson when called upon looked the real deal. Confident, assertive and comfortable coming off his line. In front of him, Ben-Haim looked the weakest link.  Bikey looked assured and I would imagine quite intimidating in the face of opposing forwards.  I’d much rather see Morrison paired with Bikey to add some level headed culture to the centre of our defensive line.

The midfield’s problem, if it has one, is balance. It’s a case of putting the pegs in the right holes, and not squares in circles.

In Jackson, Buyen’s AND Cousins we have three decent central defensive midfielders, who can break play up, and play simple and effective passes to create attacking moves. Playing Cousins out wide I think has now been proven over time to be a bit of a waist of talent. Guddmunson looked promising out wide, and once Moussa is fully fit our flanks could be sorted.  Perhaps we may even see Wiggins move further forward with Wilson at full back and Moussa switched to the centre to give that creative attacking spark at the expense of either Jackson or Cousins dropping down in the pecking order. Plenty of food for thought for Peeters.

I won’t be attending the Cup game tomorrow night (work!) but now really can’t wait for Saturday’s home game against Wigan.

When I looked at the opening three fixtures I did not feel all that confident, but after the promise shown on Saturday, if we can pick up four points from Wigan and Derby – which I think is absolutely doable, the season going forward looks so much more enjoyable than the stagnation that we have seen over the last two seasons.