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* Official Pre-Season Games Thread *
- Thread starter AberYid
- Start date
Wriggly
Banned
what a trophy
:lol: at that wee trophy. Bale's face too.
clevelandspur
Pascal Chimbonda
Very good display for a friendly by us. Brilliant work by Siggy on the goal and his set pieces always look dangerous we may have a real star on our hands.
I thought Hudd and Livermore looked off the pace.
Surprisingly I thought Bentley played pretty well, one of our best players in first half, Carroll looked very good when he came on
I thought Hudd and Livermore looked off the pace.
Surprisingly I thought Bentley played pretty well, one of our best players in first half, Carroll looked very good when he came on
africanspurs
Justin Edinburgh
is it true what i am hearing? could it be true? am i living the dream?
DID BALE REALLY PLAY AS A FORWARD LAST NIGHT!!!!!!
DID BALE REALLY PLAY AS A FORWARD LAST NIGHT!!!!!!
clevelandspur
Pascal Chimbonda
haha yeah, he looked just how you would expect a winger to look playing striker. Didn't really work
Shocker!
A few thoughts on last night:
Walker - Utterly abysmal passing. I mean really brick, missing Lennon on a couple of simple 10 yard passes and ****ing up various others. Surprisingly good deliveries though. Communication with Lennon seemed to be a big issue.
Dawson - Classic hoofing to the left wing/no-one from Daws today. He had a good game otherwise, but we really have to start questioning whether this lack of composure really suits our first team. Hopefully in future he'll be instructed to pass straight to Vertonghen/Gallas who are both comfortable on the ball.
Vertonghen - I know plenty of people have been lauding this guy as the next Ledley but I'm yet to be convinced. He has looked defensively shaky whenever he's played for us, let's just hope its an issue of bedding in to a new team. He was in an awful position to be even attempting the tackle that gave away the penalty, by that point he was out of the race and diving in was always going to result in a penalty. NY's finishing was brick all game, if he had left his man Gomes might have cleared up or got a goal-kick. Maybe he was just trying to impress, whatever it was, let's hope he'll be a bit more focused when the league starts because he hasn't looked it so far.
Hudd - Forgot how good this guy is, when he gets up to full fitness he will be a very, very handy player. Just wish he could actually shoot! I know he's scored a few bangers but he has never been consistent.
Sigurdsson - I thought his touch was loose all game, and the defender was an absolute mug for his goal, but he took it brilliantly. Again, hopefully it was just the fitness difference between us and NY. He will certainly chip in with a lot of goals when he plays, but it'll take time for him to involve himself as VDV does. Lots of people complained about VDV dropping too deep last season and it seems Sigurdsson is happier to stay up the pitch.
Bentley - Another solid performance. I think he has shown enough so far to get a few breaks this season.
Bale - I thought he was mediocre up front in the first half, he wasn't suited to playing with his back to goal and lacks strength and aggression when holding the ball, along with the nous to protect it properly. He was much more of a threat in the second half. Playing him up front is an interesting option but not one we should be relying on.
Kane - He is simply not good enough. Far too lethargic, loose touch, not good enough for us at the moment. Could do with a couple more years out on loan.
Jenas - Decent performance from JJ. Thought it was interesting that when he came on we moved away from a 2 deep-1 forward in CM and Livermore became more of the sole holding player with JJ linking up box-to-box and Sigurdsson higher up. JJ was given more attacking freedom than either of our deep players last season, and I think this sort of role, recycling possession and getting up and down to provide an option, is one that suits him and nullifies his weaknesses, restricting him to shorter passing. Moutinho would be the dogs gonads in this role and JJ would be a good deputy.
Townsend - again a direct threat, but again not good enough on the ball for me. I don't think he'll ever be more than an impact sub for us. Would love to be proved wrong as he looks exciting, but he's already 21 and needs to start maturing soon.
Everyone else was solid. The team as a unit showed a lot more fluency in their football than in past games, dominating the game after the first 15 mins (particularly the second half though). I think as long as we get Adebayor and hopefully another striker in, we're in a promising position. Really can't wait to have Sandro and to a lesser extent Parker back. This is gonna be the season he hits the big-time in terms of recognition.
Walker - Utterly abysmal passing. I mean really brick, missing Lennon on a couple of simple 10 yard passes and ****ing up various others. Surprisingly good deliveries though. Communication with Lennon seemed to be a big issue.
Dawson - Classic hoofing to the left wing/no-one from Daws today. He had a good game otherwise, but we really have to start questioning whether this lack of composure really suits our first team. Hopefully in future he'll be instructed to pass straight to Vertonghen/Gallas who are both comfortable on the ball.
Vertonghen - I know plenty of people have been lauding this guy as the next Ledley but I'm yet to be convinced. He has looked defensively shaky whenever he's played for us, let's just hope its an issue of bedding in to a new team. He was in an awful position to be even attempting the tackle that gave away the penalty, by that point he was out of the race and diving in was always going to result in a penalty. NY's finishing was brick all game, if he had left his man Gomes might have cleared up or got a goal-kick. Maybe he was just trying to impress, whatever it was, let's hope he'll be a bit more focused when the league starts because he hasn't looked it so far.
Hudd - Forgot how good this guy is, when he gets up to full fitness he will be a very, very handy player. Just wish he could actually shoot! I know he's scored a few bangers but he has never been consistent.
Sigurdsson - I thought his touch was loose all game, and the defender was an absolute mug for his goal, but he took it brilliantly. Again, hopefully it was just the fitness difference between us and NY. He will certainly chip in with a lot of goals when he plays, but it'll take time for him to involve himself as VDV does. Lots of people complained about VDV dropping too deep last season and it seems Sigurdsson is happier to stay up the pitch.
Bentley - Another solid performance. I think he has shown enough so far to get a few breaks this season.
Bale - I thought he was mediocre up front in the first half, he wasn't suited to playing with his back to goal and lacks strength and aggression when holding the ball, along with the nous to protect it properly. He was much more of a threat in the second half. Playing him up front is an interesting option but not one we should be relying on.
Kane - He is simply not good enough. Far too lethargic, loose touch, not good enough for us at the moment. Could do with a couple more years out on loan.
Jenas - Decent performance from JJ. Thought it was interesting that when he came on we moved away from a 2 deep-1 forward in CM and Livermore became more of the sole holding player with JJ linking up box-to-box and Sigurdsson higher up. JJ was given more attacking freedom than either of our deep players last season, and I think this sort of role, recycling possession and getting up and down to provide an option, is one that suits him and nullifies his weaknesses, restricting him to shorter passing. Moutinho would be the dogs gonads in this role and JJ would be a good deputy.
Townsend - again a direct threat, but again not good enough on the ball for me. I don't think he'll ever be more than an impact sub for us. Would love to be proved wrong as he looks exciting, but he's already 21 and needs to start maturing soon.
Everyone else was solid. The team as a unit showed a lot more fluency in their football than in past games, dominating the game after the first 15 mins (particularly the second half though). I think as long as we get Adebayor and hopefully another striker in, we're in a promising position. Really can't wait to have Sandro and to a lesser extent Parker back. This is gonna be the season he hits the big-time in terms of recognition.
africanspurs
Justin Edinburgh
clevelandspur
Pascal Chimbonda
Agreed, hate to be harsh on Kane because he is so young but he is the only striker currently with our first team and it is very worrisome. He is nowhere near ready to be near our first team this tour has really just highlighted that.
This is the only thing I think Bale has going for him. In principle he could definitely adapt to the role, but as I said in another thread, it his combination of balance and power, giving him the ability to be strong at speed, along with his stamina that give him his physical presence, he is not strong enough to back in and use his body to protect the ball. Nor is he aggressive enough, an attribute which as proven extremely useful for Modric in particular for overcoming physical weakness. Technically, I don't think he is suited to playing with his back to goal, he is a much more direct player and dropping deep and bringing others into play didn't suit him, he doesn't have the nous to craft passes when under pressure in these situations and is better suited to playing in a wide role with a bit more space to work with.
Hahaha, AS, I was at game, saw the lineup and went "wish africanspurs was here"
Bale was better than most people have made out, the interesting part was not only did AVB play him as a striker, but he played him as striker with orders to attack the ball in the air (headers), what most people miss out on, is that's how he scored his goal.
Rorschach
Sonny Walters
It looked from the replays that Walker was deep, playing the attacker onside.
Didn't catch that, cheers, Walker is the weak link in our team at the moment for me (striker aside). Got a bright future though and I suppose the only way to develop him is to play him!
Re Bale as an aerial threat - he should be providing this with movement off the wing to the back-post anyway, I don't think this warrants playing up up front. Excellent header from the corner, but again the NY player was poor. Bale got decent service, but the ball just didn't seem to stick. Time will tell how good he can be in that role I guess.
Vert was suckered by Cahill, I was behind the goal, very soft penalty.
Pandy,
re JJ/Bentley, neither impressed me, while didn't do too much wrong, both slowed down play too much, and opted for the sideways ball too often.
re Sig, yes the defender let him in, but the move was a drill I saw in practice the previous day, nice to see practice -> game -> goal
Tom, bit of hit and miss for me, both the Pool and NY games you saw his impact, but in both he made very bad giveaways that would have probably led to a goal in the PL (no judgement, he's been out a long time)
Townsend/Carroll/Kane I all liked, all need some work, but some good in all and would play any of them before JJ/Bentley
Agree, looking forward to seeing this team back with Sandro/Parker and Ade/JD/new striker up front.
Pandy,
re JJ/Bentley, neither impressed me, while didn't do too much wrong, both slowed down play too much, and opted for the sideways ball too often.
re Sig, yes the defender let him in, but the move was a drill I saw in practice the previous day, nice to see practice -> game -> goal
Tom, bit of hit and miss for me, both the Pool and NY games you saw his impact, but in both he made very bad giveaways that would have probably led to a goal in the PL (no judgement, he's been out a long time)
Townsend/Carroll/Kane I all liked, all need some work, but some good in all and would play any of them before JJ/Bentley
Agree, looking forward to seeing this team back with Sandro/Parker and Ade/JD/new striker up front.
clevelandspur
Pascal Chimbonda
^ The support sounded excellent in NY yesterday. I was in Baltimore and very impressed with the size and passion of support in the States really is growing