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Wigan Athletic 0 Blackpool 4
Everyone is talking about Blackpool, top of every sports report and no doubt banner headlines in the sports sections tomorrow. This is yet another surprise in the Ian Holloway rollercoaster journey, and probably the most astonishing of all. Each result in the playoffs was always on the cards - beating Nottingham in the semis, beating Cardiff at Wembley. But who could possibly have forecast a 4-0 away win for the first result in the Premiership? - JS
Well simply being back in the big time really. .. . and then the game started and we just carried on from last season talking about the skill, passion and entertainment value showed by our team. - DM
Was it a fair result?
Yes it was. Blackpool achieved this win in the same way as they won the playoffs, passing and running and playing for each other. Wigan players were individually skilful and clearly had a lot of talent but they didn't play as a team. Also, Blackpool came and attacked with four forwards, and they got what they deserved. It could easily have been more, in fact, and Wigan's morale dropped badly. Even in the second half when they regrouped, the home team could not play together well enough to break down the visitors. - JS
Absolutely a fair result, we deserved no less and could have had more! I'm not greedy though, 4-0 was fine! - DM
Who was the star man?
Ian Holloway. There really wasn't one individual Blackpool player who turned the game, although you could pick out Harewood, Adam and Vaughn. But there wasn't a single player in tangerine who didn't play their hearts out. Taylor-Fletcher fully deserved to be the first Blackpool goalscorer in the Premiership, and Ormerod has set a record which will probably never be beaten, playing for Blackpool in all four divisions. The main credit must go to Holloway, not just for his motivation of the team but also for his talent for finding the right players - all the new signings looked as though they had been playing in this team for years. Cathcart slotted in perfectly alongside Evatt and looked excellent, allowing Baptiste freedom on the right. Harewood looks on this performance exactly what Blackpool need. He clearly has an eye for the goal, and he won a lot in the air, but he also did a lot of great work on the wing, using his size and skill to beat his man. Grandin had some very clever moves when receiving the ball with his back to goal. Coming on as substitutes both Sylvestre and Basham did well, and I suspect that we will see more of Basham in coming games, and the expense of Brett. - JS
I'm going to give my Man of the Match to GTF. He scored the all important first goal and for an hour he was exceptional both up front showing skill, movement and guts as well as at the back where he made some important contributions. Also he didn't half let Halsey know what he thought about the disallowed goal! It may appear harsh on Harewood (2 goals) and Charlie who put in an excellent and superbly disciplined performance for the team - even ending up at centre forward, but GTF it is for me. - DM
Who was the villain?
No-one at all, it was the perfect start. Baptiste made a silly push to give away a free kick right on the edge of the area, but the wall smothered it, and Grandin failed to score when clean through. But both of these players fully made amends with excellent displays overall. - JS
No villains today, every one a hero. - DM
Did the opposition play well?
No. Individuals did some clever individual things, but as a team they were like a bunch of strangers. Misplaced passes, failed marking and poor goalkeeping. Blackpool will be lucky to find another team this poor, but that said a lot of the reason for this was the way Blackpool played. - JS
Only for the first 10 minutes where they looked quite dangerous but had no guts after we scored.- DM
Did the opposition fans make an impression?
The Wigan stands were not much more than half full at the start, and almost empty by the end. Early on they were singing "Premiership? You're having a laugh!" but before half time we were singing that back at them. By contrast Blackpool packed their end of the ground with nearly 4,500 fans and not one of them will have left before the final whistle. - JS
A lasting impression of them booing their team off and on again at half time and by leaving in their droves well before the end. Marvellous!! - DM
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Arsenal away. Surprising as always, Ian Holloway was quite subdued after the match, and certainly did not come across as triumphant or cocky. He felt that he had been slow to react to Wigan's change of tactics in the second half, and said he was off to figure out how to stop Blackpool being ravaged by Arsenal next week. He is right - Blackpool's tactics invite big victories or big defeats, and one crucial question for this season is how the team, the club and the fans respond when things start to go wrong. - JS
Let all the new lads settle in - they all look to have great potential. Still need to add a couple of strikers plus full backs to cover particularly for the excellent Crainey. - DM
DVD available now of the Wigan game. All 90 minutes. £4.99. club shop or via www.cannystore.com.