' THERE IS HOPE BUT ONE OR TWO NOT UP TO SPEED '

Cardiff City 1-1 Fulham

Attendance 15,429

When I read the team sheet the only surprise for me was the inclusion of Alex Revell, I thought out of Doyle, Ameobi and Revell, the former Rotherham was the least likely to grab a starting place.

City started brightly and in particular Scott Malone, the full back who I have been very critical of since his arrival, as the game went on Malone was having a solid game defensively but he was very much joining in our attacks.

For the first 10 minutes City were dominant and we looked much better than we did for the most of last season.

Joe Ralls, Anthony Pilkington and Joe Mason were taking City forward at every opportunity.

The game went a bit stale for the next 20 mins with neither side impressing.

Thirty minutes in and City were going for the jugular, Malone again involved, he fought for the ball three times to win it in challenges and the result was that Mason had a good shot saved by the Fulham keeper.

Half time came and City could have been disappointed not to have been in the lead.

The second half got underway and it was pretty even from my view of it until Simon Moore got himself in a spot of bother, Ben Pringle crossed the ball but the flight of it took it towards our crossbar which obviously caught Moore in two minds, he tried to take it off the bar but only managed to fumble it straight into the path on an attacking Fulham player.

It gave Fulham the boost they needed, the cottagers pushed for a second goal and on times City lived a little dangerously.

But credit to the team, they kept going and failed to throw the towel in, substitute Craig Noone cut in from the right hand side and curled a beauty of shot into the top corner.

Overall I think a draw was a fair result, City were the better team in the first half but Fulham edged the second forty five.

There were many positives today, performance was a lot better than we saw last season.

Connolly and Malone had good games at the back, the midfield worked well though I will add the Dikgacoi looked slow from the first minute and you just knew he would not complete the full ninety.

Joe Mason was full of running in the first half and must have had five shots on goal himself in that half.

It wasn't the best football ever, I am not going to make bold predictions either but what I will state is this, that was a much improved performance and with a little bit of quality to the spine of the team the makings are certainly there to give hope to winning football matches.

The signs are good.

Carl, Well Slade is more than happy,with his squad,fitness ect ect so time will tell
Tan says he's backed him, Slade says he is happy.

Let's hope for a good season

Great report Carl, Thanks

Two points, Connelly (one of my favourites) gave the ball away too much and was beetwen nearly every time by the forwards second point Reell was excellent in pre-season , so he had to have a start, at least we now know iy will have to be someone else with Mason

We would have lost that game last season,thats a positive

Good read Carl, agree with all of that

Malone surprised me today, and Pilkington had a great game.

Important not to lose the first match.

The signs are good.

I think that is wishful thinking. A draw was a fair result as both teams were about the same level. There was a better togetherness than last season however other than Pilkington & when Noone/Ameobi came on there was very little creativity and I cannot see us scoring many goals. How on earth Ravell started I will never now. He may have wanted to play a tall striker but Ravell was a waste of space. Would have preferred to see Doyle because Ravell's threat in the air was non existent.

There was nothing today to suggest that we will finish in the top half of the table,

I was well pleased by today's showing.

There was creativity and we had several chances before Noone's goal but we failed to take them. The coaches should work on finishing and composure this week because we can't afford to throw opportunities away.

Really impressed with Pilkington, Ralls and Malone. Ravel and Whittingham were the only players I was a bit disappointed with.

However, C Noone's equaliser was something VERY special and should stick £1m on his valuation .

I can see us doing very well this year.

We must keep Marshall and we need to sign a striker with pace if we've got any chance at all. The football was much better though....Trollope' s influence?

The signs are good.

I think that is wishful thinking. A draw was a fair result as both teams were about the same level. There was a better togetherness than last season however other than Pilkington & when Noone/Ameobi came on there was very little creativity and I cannot see us scoring many goals. How on earth Ravell started I will never now. He may have wanted to play a tall striker but Ravell was a waste of space. Would have preferred to see Doyle because Ravell's threat in the air was non existent.

There was nothing today to suggest that we will finish in the top half of the table,

Its early days yet.

First real report I have read and its sounds like the snippets I have heard.

Sounds like the average fan is happy with the performance against one of the top teams in the division. My early prediction is that if one of the strikers can make and break it this season we will surprise a few. Too early to predict if we are top 6 but definitely not relegation material.

I agree with that report wholeheartedly. Very fair, although I thought we deserved overall to win. Encouraging, and Malone was my MOM today.

Will there be a MOM vote, by the way?

I thought it was a decent performance today. We deserved at least a point. Malone and Pilkington stand out players. Why is whitts getting boos already? Some people know fa about football. I do think we need a striker. Mason ran and got some good positions but not clinical enough today i would of brought Doyle on for him when noone equalised

Fair result and fair report apart from Connelly. He was awful apart from one goal saving challenge he failed in positioning, tackling and passing

We were better than Fulham today but we are far too slow in attack. We won't break teams down very often in open play as we are too pedestrian, given the opposition plenty of time to regroup and defend in numbers.

Slade must have looked at his squad before the game and picked the slowest starting 11 imaginable.

Has there ever been a slower midfield than the four that started today?

I thought it was a fair result with nothing much to choose between the teams. I don't think either of these teams will be in the mix for promotion this season, although Fulham may be stronger when a few players return from injury. I never pay too much attention to the first game or two of a season, as you often get some strange results while players are bedding in and getting to know each other. Still need a few games before we know which direction we are heading in.

Could have been worse today, we could have lost! Some positives ...Mason, Digkakoi, Pilkington, Malone, Ralls and Connolly and a wonder goal by Noone. However, still an awful lot to do in midfield in particular. A shocking lack of pace and creativity. If we can build on the skills of Ralls and Digkakoi here we could see a distinct improvement

Could have been worse today, we could have lost! Some positives ...Mason, Digkakoi, Pilkington, Malone, Ralls and Connolly and a wonder goal by Noone. However, still an awful lot to do in midfield in particular. A shocking lack of pace and creativity. If we can build on the skills of Ralls and Digkakoi here we could see a distinct improvement

You are joking, I hope.

Connolly is an accident waiting to happen. Terrible defender. He and Revell must be replaced if we are to do anything this season.

Connolly is an accident waiting to happen. Terrible defender. He and Revell must be replaced if we are to do anything this season.

Connolly had a touch like ted bundy today and I counted FIVE basic passes that went stray within the first half as for revell well we wouldn't have missed him if he had got taken off after five minutes to be fair. I thought we done ok today like carl said in op but it was a touch better than the end of last season so theres hope

Could have been worse today, we could have lost! Some positives ...Mason, Digkakoi, Pilkington, Malone, Ralls and Connolly and a wonder goal by Noone. However, still an awful lot to do in midfield in particular. A shocking lack of pace and creativity. If we can build on the skills of Ralls and Digkakoi here we could see a distinct improvement

You are joking, I hope.

Connolly is an accident waiting to happen. Terrible defender. He and Revell must be replaced if we are to do anything this season.

Yes agree on Ravell. With Connolly we haven't got msny other options with Manga anf Turner out. But with a better midfield formation there is likely to be less pressure on the defence.

Agree with scott malone, I thought he was terrific today, as was diglochoi, but mason and connelly were pretty awful and out of their depth, but encouraging first game overall.

fair report carl BUT that performance is not going to bring fans back
slow build up every corner hit to the back post
we are so easy to read
i will back slade but he must change things from last year
4 4 2 away will not work
no pace up front joe mason please prove me wrong