2025/26 pre-season

[Muttley]

I'm still thinking about that game in partnerships.

I don't see much wrong with Romero / VDV and I'm falling in love with the Porro / Kudos combination already. However, I've seen nothing in pre-season to get me excited about the equivalent left side. Today's combination of Spence and Johnson was simply woeful. BM walked through it every single time and we know putting Davies there won't make any difference. Udogie is clearly first choice.

In midfield it was first run out today for the Palhinha / Bentancur partnership. They did do some good work defensively but I didn't feel that they added much to our attack. Sarr seemed to be disconnected from them and he certainly had no partnership with Richi of note. Not Sarr's fault though as he's clearly helping his gaffer out by filling in there.

I'd like to see this team with Udogie for Spence, Tel or Odobert for Johnson and Solanke in for Richi. Obviously, we are going to need to think more about the 10 position.

 

[SubZero]

That's all well and good, results aren't important in pre season but you still work on things in these games. The facts are issues with our squad that were there last season are still there, and have been compounded by Maddison's injury - and we are apparently expecting to compete on all fronts.

Our midfield and attack is pretty average, you didn't need a poor defeat to Bayern to tell you that...

The post may or may not have been intended to be taken too seriously. And I agree with you, this is the bar for how good we have to be to compete in the CL. Safe to say we look a few puddings short of a picnic, but early days and all that.

 

[afsoc4life]

Didnt watch the friendly but one thing I do know is any team hoping to finish top 4 better have multiple credible goal threats

Can any 3 of Solanke, Richarlison, Kulu, Kudus, Brennan, Odobert, Tel give us 15 to 20 goals in the Premier league this season? That is your answer to Spurs finishing top 4.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

I'm still thinking about that game in partnerships.

I don't see much wrong with Romero / VDV and I'm falling in love with the Porro / Kudos combination already. However, I've seen nothing in pre-season to get me excited about the equivalent left side. Today's combination of Spence and Johnson was simply woeful. BM walked through it every single time and we know putting Davies there won't make any difference. Udogie is clearly first choice.

In midfield it was first run out today for the Palhinha / Bentancur partnership. They did do some good work defensively but I didn't feel that they added much to our attack. Sarr seemed to be disconnected from them and he certainly had no partnership with Richi of note. Not Sarr's fault though as he's clearly helping his gaffer out by filling in there.

I'd like to see this team with Udogie for Spence, Tel or Odobert for Johnson and Solanke in for Richi. Obviously, we are going to need to think more about the 10 position.

Pre season you mix up your line ups
We were missing 4 starters and Abby more because I really really hope we don’t start with Johnson left wing

It was Pahlihnas first start fir us after a few days training
No 10 playing
No left winger playing
No CF playing (Richy ain’t a CF)
We can address some or all of these things pretty quickly IMO

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Didnt watch the friendly but one thing I do know is any team hoping to finish top 4 better have multiple credible goal threats

Can any 3 of Solanke, Richarlison, Kulu, Kudus, Brennan, Odobert, Tel give us 15 to 20 goals in the Premier league this season? That is your answer to Spurs finishing top 4.

Kulu, son and Maddison between them had around 60 goal involvements (would include supplying each other)
I’m very confident in Solanke and Kudus
Johnson is a possibility but not playing the way we did today … not a chance
Richy can get double figures if he is fit… we don’t see that often of at all
If we’re honest
Tel and Odobert are curve balls
But you will not get goals and good chances against good sides playing with no creative lynbchpin and it doesn’t have to be a central player
Imagine Kudus and another specimen on the other side. That’s a different dynamic for a start

 

[Muttley]

I'm also trying to re-imagine that game with one of these 2 formations.

Vic
Romero, Danso, VDV
Porro, Palhinha, Bents, Udogie
Kudus, Solanke, Tel/Odo

or this

Vic
Romero, Danso, VDV
Porro, Sarr, Palhinha, Bents, Udogie
Kudus, Solanke

Part of me thinks it would be way more equipped in tough away CL first halves without Madds or Kulu to get the 3 at the back working.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

I'm also trying to re-imagine that game with one of these 2 formations.

Vic
Romero, Danso, VDV
Porro, Palhinha, Bents, Udogie
Kudus, Solanke, Tel/Odo

or this

Vic
Romero, Danso, VDV
Porro, Sarr, Palhinha, Bents, Udogie
Kudus, Solanke

Part of me thinks it would be way more equipped in tough away CL first halves without Madds or Kulu to get the 3 at the back working.

Or we make sure we address the fact that Maddison isn’t getting younger and get another player in

 

[thfcsteff]

Had a minor argument with my miserable mate
We haven’t improved
Were relegation candidates
We’re brick
We haven’t improved
So I did say we have signed some actual players, 2 will start and the other 2 will get a lot of game time
But.. we’re missing 40% of the first 11… again
He didn’t seem to recognise that
How we fix that, I don’t know. But we haven’t regressed despite what people think IMO

As we have all discussed, the squad remains imbalanced for the competitions we are in. This restricts who we can bring in of course, which in turn means (IMO) we are losing an opportunity to take advantage of our CL status in the market...I wonder if Frank will Odobert as a Damsgaard 10? He could certainly train him into that. A trio of Richy, Odobert in that Damsgaard role and Kudus could be useful (in a 4 2 3 1)...I know, I rejected the idea of Odobert as a 10 last week but our options are receding...personally think Kudus there with Johnson on the right could be good too...

 

[Bedfordspurs]

As we have all discussed, the squad remains imbalanced for the competitions we are in. This restricts who we can bring in of course, which in turn means (IMO) we are losing an opportunity to take advantage of our CL status in the market...I wonder if Frank will Odobert as a Damsgaard 10? He could certainly train him into that. A trio of Richy, Odobert in that Damsgaard role and Kudus could be useful (in a 4 2 3 1)...I know, I rejected the idea of Odobert as a 10 last week but our options are receding...personally think Kudus there with Johnson on the right could be good too...

The latter is something worth trying if we don’t go out and invest (which we should)
Odobert has shown nothing to me that makes me think he can play 10. I think his decision making is his weakest part so that’s a big no for me
Richy worries me still. He should be gone for his own sake as much as ours. He won’t last 4 games again before he breaks down

 

[Gutter Boy]

Today's combination of Spence and Johnson was simply woeful. BM walked through it every single time and we know putting Davies there won't make any difference. Udogie is clearly first choice.

Spence really isn't half the player at LB as he is at RB. Ange's (lack of) formation covered that up a bit, but in an organised setup it shows.

 

[Legohamster]

Richi must be the only striker in the world when signing Jackson is an upgrade.

 

[Bishop]

Richi must be the only striker in the world when signing Jackson is an upgrade.

Should have never bought this guy and failing that should have sold him after the first year. We love to hold on to players until their social value has diminished to 0.

 

[Bishop]

As we have all discussed, the squad remains imbalanced for the competitions we are in. This restricts who we can bring in of course, which in turn means (IMO) we are losing an opportunity to take advantage of our CL status in the market...I wonder if Frank will Odobert as a Damsgaard 10? He could certainly train him into that. A trio of Richy, Odobert in that Damsgaard role and Kudus could be useful (in a 4 2 3 1)...I know, I rejected the idea of Odobert as a 10 last week but our options are receding...personally think Kudus there with Johnson on the right could be good too...

I think Frank is reticent to love Kudus into a position that he has struggled with previously and at the same massively weakening his right hand side by putting Johnson there. I think he's trying different things out with Johnson to see what he can get out of him, he's tried him on the right, the centre and now the left and he's had 0 impact so far. Maybe under desperation he makes the change but there's a decent chance that it makes the team weaker in his eyes overall.

 

[Welshspur60]

Our squad as it stands is very poor, with Madders and Kulu out long term.
We need a quality striker, a couple of decent attacking mids, and probably a left sided cb who can cover lb too.
Years of terrible recruitment has led to this. The money has been spent, but on punts like Tel, Sarr, Gray, Bergvall and Oderbert. Of these only Bergvall looks a top player. Romero and Porro the only standout buys really. I think Kudus will be a good signing.
We overpaid massively for average journeymen like Solanke and Richarlson.
2 weeks before season start and we have a worse squad than last season.

 

[braineclipse]

Our squad as it stands is very poor, with Madders and Kulu out long term.
We need a quality striker, a couple of decent attacking mids, and probably a left sided cb who can cover lb too.
Years of terrible recruitment has led to this. The money has been spent, but on punts like Tel, Sarr, Gray, Bergvall and Oderbert. Of these only Bergvall looks a top player. Romero and Porro the only standout buys really. I think Kudus will be a good signing.
We overpaid massively for average journeymen like Solanke and Richarlson.
2 weeks before season start and we have a worse squad than last season.

Compared to what time last season? The start. The end? Times when we also then missed key players to injuries? Or imagining last year's squad injury free?

We're lacking some key ingredients, we're probably lacking a standout attacking player. But the squad to me has a lot of strength and potential in it. Missing Solanke, Kulusevski and Maddison at the same time, Maddison and Solanke in particular being players at lack options for is bad for us no doubt.

 

[SpurMeUp]

Did anyone think we’d be amazing without giving Frank time to work? Baby steps. We’ve lost 3 of our best attackers. But more importantly we need to let the side settle, develop and be rebuilt. You can do that over night, it take time.

 

[Kandi1977]

Pre season you mix up your line ups
We were missing 4 starters and Abby more because I really really hope we don’t start with Johnson left wing

It was Pahlihnas first start fir us after a few days training
No 10 playing
No left winger playing
No CF playing (Richy ain’t a CF)
We can address some or all of these things pretty quickly IMO

Who's Abby, and why do we miss her?

 

[braineclipse]

I'm also trying to re-imagine that game with one of these 2 formations.

Vic
Romero, Danso, VDV
Porro, Palhinha, Bents, Udogie
Kudus, Solanke, Tel/Odo

or this

Vic
Romero, Danso, VDV
Porro, Sarr, Palhinha, Bents, Udogie
Kudus, Solanke

Part of me thinks it would be way more equipped in tough away CL first halves without Madds or Kulu to get the 3 at the back working.

Even without changing formations Solanke makes a big difference imo.

If Frank sees a back 3 as a good option for us he doesn't seem to be working on getting that integrated in the team now (based on preseason).

I think our issues are more down to personell available than formation.

We lack press resistance and ball progression. We also lack our two best holdup players in Solanke and Kulusevski (time will tell how good Kudus will do at that, I think quite good). So when we go long it's usually ineffective and we struggle to play out.

As we have all discussed, the squad remains imbalanced for the competitions we are in. This restricts who we can bring in of course, which in turn means (IMO) we are losing an opportunity to take advantage of our CL status in the market...I wonder if Frank will Odobert as a Damsgaard 10? He could certainly train him into that. A trio of Richy, Odobert in that Damsgaard role and Kudus could be useful (in a 4 2 3 1)...I know, I rejected the idea of Odobert as a 10 last week but our options are receding...personally think Kudus there with Johnson on the right could be good too...

The obvious thing we need is a creative #10 that's good enough to be a regular starter. Then players like Odobert, Kudus, Kulusevski etc can be seen as options there perhaps. But as regular starters at this point, I don't think so.


This is the "problem" with Palhinha. As a signing he mekes a lot of sense if we fix our issues with ball progression and press resistance in other ways. Kudus will help, I think Odobert will be good, Solanke back will help. But losing Maddison is huge and instead of fixing those issues we are (with the players actually available) left crossing our fingers that Bergvall and Gray are ready to rock and roll. Until we get a creative ball progressor in.

 

[Muttley]

Or we make sure we address the fact that Maddison isn’t getting younger and get another player in

Of course, but if that player isn't available then you need to get creative. I like that we're going in for Nico Paz but do feel he might need an assimilation period. Not sure we could just throw him into the team in a new league and new country at 20 years old. He'll be a second half season player at best. In the first half he might come to prominence in some but might also be used more from the bench.

My point was you can play the same way and put square pegs in round holes e.g. Spence, Sarr and Johnson. Alternatively, you can pick your best players and find a formation that works better. Pre-season can be for experimentation so sticking the 3 centre halves out together might have had a strong case. Frank is no stranger to using it in certain games at Brentford.

We absolute need another baller in though. I'm just not sure from where in this current market.

 

[Legohamster]

Did anyone think we’d be amazing without giving Frank time to work? Baby steps. We’ve lost 3 of our best attackers. But more importantly we need to let the side settle, develop and be rebuilt. You can do that over night, it take time.

No and I dont think anyone is saying that, losing every single week in the league is damaging and will take some time to recover from