So, two games in and what can we deduce? Basically - we're set up exactly the same as last season. Solid at the back (bar a few shaky moments from Mr Carr last week), but we're still likely to struggle for goals unless we get some more creative players in before the transfer deadline.
Mcleish is still after N'Zogbia, and he would fit the bill well, but could bring a little unrest to the dressing room and also, that could pave the way for McFadden's move to Celtic, and that's an idea I'm not too keen on.
So, with a front line consisting of the 6ft8 lamppost Zigic, who doesn't seem to want to move, Cameron Jerome who has less technique on the ball than all of our grandparents and Kevin Phillips already injured for a large proportion of the season, where else are the goals going to come from?
A) Set Pieces: Ridgewell, Johnson and Dann will chip in with a fair few goals from set pieces this season, as we've already seen at Sunderland on the opening day. I have no worries about this.
B) Matt Derbyshire: a bit of a wildcard, this one. On a season-long loan, he looked quite sharp when he came on this weekend but who knows how he will get on. Only time can tell.
C) Midfield: Larsson - unlikely, Ferguson - no, Fahey - not good enough, Bowyer - past it?
Step forth Craig Gardner.
Gardner is the player that blues have been missing for the last few seasons. Although he has always been used as a utility player across the midfield and even at right-back, his performance on Saturday shows that to utilise him properly, he has to be played in the centre alongside Barry Ferguson, or in the long run, the similarly composed, tough tackling Michel.
Bowyer's dip in form at the end of last season is a sign that it's time for him to be used more sparingly this term and Gardner's box-to-box style and ability to pop up with a goal or two could make the difference this season from us simply avoiding relegation, to getting some decent results and maybe sneaking another top 10 finish.
In conclusion, I'm confident that we shouldn't have to worry
about relegation - we should be comfortable. But in order to
get out of that bracket of clubs like Bolton, Wigan, Blackburn, Wolves and Stoke, with no disrespect to them, something is going to have to change.
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