Pre Season Friendlies 2023/24

[Bad Wolf]

Smallbone is absolutely dreadful. But he'll get away with it for the next 4 years because he's an academy boy and he MIGHT have potential maybe possibly. Despite the fact he spent last season at a lower midtable Championship who's fans don't rate him.

[Convict Colony]

Martin out 

[trousers]

So, notable players not involved today...

Perraud

Larios

Bednarek

Bella-Kotchap

Aribo

S. Armstrong

Sulemana

Edozie

Diallo

Tella

Ballard

Onuachu

 

Anything to read into any of those omissions or just down to international duty and/or fitness?

Edited 12 July, 2023 by trousers

[Lallana's Left Peg]

Like the way we play but a massive injection of confidence, bravery, or new players and quality is needed in the final third as we build up nicely and then turn into a pub team with little idea of how to play to score goals.

[hypochondriac]

Now that's over who do we think might thrive with these tactics? Bazunu perhaps? Smallbone, Tino, Meghoma. Any of the other youngsters look up for it? I, certainly think we improved in the second half. 

[macca155]

Not a bad knock about. Tino looked absolute class, we'll struggle to keep him sadly.

Thought Smallbone had more impact than JWP. Dibling's 2nd stint was more impressive. Bazuna looked confident.

Djneppo was ..well the usual.

[Patrick Bateman]

1 minute ago, trousers said:

So, notable players not involved today...

Perraud

Larios

Bednarek

Bella-Kotchap

Aribo

S. Armstrong

Sulemana

Edozie

Diallo

Tella

Ballard

Onuachu

 

Anything to read into any of those omissions or just down to international duty and/or fitness?

Just shows how bloated the squad is!  I'd hope Saints could keep Tella out of that list.

[Sussex_saint]

2 minutes ago, Bad Wolf said:

Smallbone is absolutely dreadful. But he'll get away with it for the next 4 years because he's an academy boy and he MIGHT have potential maybe possibly. Despite the fact he spent last season at a lower midtable Championship who's fans don't rate him.

disagree. apart from that shot at the end I thought he looked good.

[santolijador]

Based on 1 whole pre-season performance, I know who I want to start the season as our No1 GK... Gav looked fairly assured and pulled out a great save. Distributed well as well. 

Second half was better, I quite like this 2-3-2-3 set up in possession - will hopefully get the best out of Tino and Manning and potentially Meghoma depending on his development. 

Does anyone know why Ballard wasn't involved today? Is he injured? 

 

[Master Bates]

Not bad

[hypochondriac]

Sounds very much like we need some new attacking players. Would make sense why we've been linked with some wingers. I'd personally sell Che Adams and bring in someone new. 

[revolution saint]

1 minute ago, trousers said:

So, notable players not involved today...

Perraud

Larios

Bednarek

Bella-Kotchap

Aribo

S. Armstrong

Sulemana

Edozie

Diallo

Tella

Ballard

Onuachu

 

Anything to read into any of those omissions or just down to international duty and/or fitness?

Adam Armstrong was second half. Missed the first half but think you’re right on the others.

[Bad Wolf]

2 minutes ago, trousers said:

So, notable players not involved today...

Perraud

Larios

Bednarek

Bella-Kotchap

Aribo

S. Armstrong

Sulemana

Edozie

Diallo

Tella

Ballard

Onuachu

 

Anything to read into any of those omissions or just down to international duty and/or fitness?

Crap, injured, crap, leaving, crap and leaving, leaving, not fit, away with an England youth team, ultra crap, sadly probably leaving, no idea, probably leaving

Would be my guess.

[OttawaSaint]

If the tactic is to win games 3-2 we've got to get a lot better at creating and finishing chances. No matter how much we pass around at the back to keep possession is going to help if we can't even threaten the oppo net let alone score a goal. Hope we have a playmaker and a striker on the way...

[hypochondriac]

4 minutes ago, Bad Wolf said:

Smallbone is absolutely dreadful. But he'll get away with it for the next 4 years because he's an academy boy and he MIGHT have potential maybe possibly. Despite the fact he spent last season at a lower midtable Championship who's fans don't rate him.

Eh? They liked him and he looked like one of our better players. Bizarre comment. 

[macca155]

1 minute ago, hypochondriac said:

Now that's over who do we think might thrive with these tactics? Bazunu perhaps? Smallbone, Tino, Meghoma. Any of the other youngsters look up for it? I, certainly think we improved in the second half. 

Bazuna, Tino Lavia, JWP, KWP, Salisu, and Smallbone will all cope but how many of them will still be here.

[CSA96]

4 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Now that's over who do we think might thrive with these tactics? Bazunu perhaps? Smallbone, Tino, Meghoma. Any of the other youngsters look up for it? I, certainly think we improved in the second half. 

By no means comprehensive (I saw more of 1st half than 2nd) and I will have probably overlooked some...

Looked comfortable / competent with possession game: Bazunu, Bree, Livramento, Walker-Peters, Ward-Prowse, Smallbone, Doyle, Alcaraz, Dibling + possibly Sam Amo / Meghoma

Notably did not look competent with it: McCarthy, Lyanco, Stephens, Djenepo

You would add that Manning and Charles will go into the first list

Edited 12 July, 2023 by CSA96

[goodymatt]

Tella not playing is a concern, perhaps we won’t be able to convince him to stay?

[OttawaSaint]

1 minute ago, revolution saint said:

Adam Armstrong was second half. Missed the first half but think you’re right on the others.

His post says S. Armstrong...

[Bad Wolf]

Just now, hypochondriac said:

Eh? They liked him and he looked like one of our better players. Bizarre comment. 

No they didn't. Go and read their forums. According to them he was awful and then had a decent two months and then went back to being awful toward the end.

[Zorba]

Selles out! 
When does the new bloke start?

 

[Convict Colony]

Seriously though thought the lad on the right did very well and was our best player in the 1st half, carlos whilst out of position all half looked dynamic, not much else to talk about in 1st half, didn't see the 2nd half but team at least didn't concede.

[hypochondriac]

Just now, CSA96 said:

By no means comprehensive (I saw more of 1st half than 2nd) and I will have probably overlooked some...

Looked comfortable / competent with possession game: Bazunu, Bree, Livramento, Walker-Peters, Ward-Prowse, Doyle, Alcaraz, Dibling + possibly Sam Amo / Meghoma

Notably did not look competent with it: McCarthy, Lyanco, Stephens

You would add that Manning and Charles will go into the first list

Bree didn't look great to me. Agree with the rest. 

[saintant]

Thought the youngsters did well in general. Also,Tino excellent, KWP good in patches, Smallbone neat and tidy but he does keep it very simple and doesn't try much offensively. Djenepo a headless chicken. Adam Armstrong did ok. Bazunu made a great save - more of that please.

Free kicks in dangerous positions were wasted every time because the tactic is clearly to retain possession rather than put a cross into the box - don't think the fans will put up with that for long - makes zero sense.

Not a bad work out overall for an opening friendly.

 

[Bad Wolf]

Just now, Convict Colony said:

Seriously though thought the lad on the right did very well and was our best player in the 1st half, carlos whilst out of position all half looked dynamic, not much else to talk about in 1st half, didn't see the 2nd half but team at least didn't concede.

Yes. Very impressive. I'd never heard of him two hours ago but thought he was very brave.

[Turkish]

10 minutes ago, SotonianWill said:

Bazunu really is the perfect goalkeeper for this style of play

why does it mean the opposition never have a shot on target?

[trousers]

2 minutes ago, OttawaSaint said:

His post says S. Armstrong...

I did mistakenly include 2 Armstrongs in my original list but deleted one immediately after I posted 

Edited 12 July, 2023 by trousers

[CSA96]

2 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Bree didn't look great to me. Agree with the rest. 

Maybe he just looked better to me because he was alongside Lyanco 

[macca155]

2 minutes ago, goodymatt said:

Tella not playing is a concern, perhaps we won’t be able to convince him to stay?

You can't play Sulemana and Tella in the same team. One or both has to go. Burnley seem OK with £15 million so suspect a deal has been agreed

[Luke SkyWalker-Peters]

34 minutes ago, miserableoldgit said:

What was Salisu doing just just standing there for about 30 seconds (it seemed like it!) with his foot on the ball?

Helps draw out the opposition press to allow easier passing through it. Brighton's great season and England's U21 Euro winning tournament was built around Levi Colwill doing this.

[Dusic]

Three observations:

1. Notable use of inverted full back, Tino especially found himself in central midfield a lot

2. Obvious in this style you need CBs who can pass and receive well - arguably none of ours can, and central midfielders who can beat a press. Unfortunately Lavia showed how big a miss he will be

3. Felt for Mara and Adams as no service. Really lacking potency from the wide positions in our squad and hard to see where the likely 70+ goals needed for promotion would come from.

[Saint_clark]

7 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

Just shows how bloated the squad is!  I'd hope Saints could keep Tella out of that list.

Exaggerated by the fact a lot of kids involved today though. 

[ecurnew02]

Perhaps reading too much into a single pre-season match but if we're going to be playing Russell Martin's way, we need CBs that are better at passing. 

[hypochondriac]

6 minutes ago, Bad Wolf said:

No they didn't. Go and read their forums. According to them he was awful and then had a decent two months and then went back to being awful toward the end.

Looks pretty well liked to me 

[Saint_John]

Same old problems that we saw last season under Selles.

High risk passing out from the back when half the receiving players DON'T WANT the ball.

No movement from the forwards (standing still next to the defenders until the ball comes near them).    

Defenders marking ZONES not the opposition players.

No tracking of runs from the midfield.

IMO Martin will be gone by Xmas if he carries on with Selles system

[saintant]

2 minutes ago, Luke SkyWalker-Peters said:

Helps draw out the opposition press to allow easier passing through it. Brighton's great season and England's U21 Euro winning tournament was built around Levi Colwill doing this.

Looked as though he was actually delaying because Caleta-Car was showing signs of a slight injury.

[Ed Rooney]

2nd half was ok in possession until they passed it to Djenepo 

[Saint Fan CaM]

1 minute ago, Saint_John said:

Same old problems that we saw last season under Selles.

High risk passing out from the back when half the receiving players DON'T WANT the ball.

No movement from the forwards (standing still next to the defenders until the ball comes near them).    

Defenders marking ZONES not the opposition players.

No tracking of runs from the midfield.

IMO Martin will be gone by Xmas if he carries on with Selles system

Kind of what I was thinking. Pass stats up…we’ll be fine. 😳

[Fabrice29]

Just now, Saint_John said:

Same old problems that we saw last season under Selles.

High risk passing out from the back when half the receiving players DON'T WANT the ball.

No movement from the forwards (standing still next to the defenders until the ball comes near them).    

Defenders marking ZONES not the opposition players.

No tracking of runs from the midfield.

IMO Martin will be gone by Xmas if he carries on with Selles system

Love that you think it's a "system" and Martin problem that A) players don't want the ball, B) forwards don't move, C) defenders don't mark properly and D) midfielders don't track runs.

[Ed Rooney]

5 minutes ago, Saint_John said:

Same old problems that we saw last season under Selles.

High risk passing out from the back when half the receiving players DON'T WANT the ball.

No movement from the forwards (standing still next to the defenders until the ball comes near them).    

Defenders marking ZONES not the opposition players.

No tracking of runs from the midfield.

IMO Martin will be gone by Xmas if he carries on with Selles system

Other than that your feeling quite positive following the first pre season game against champions league 1/4 finalists though yeah ? 

[hypochondriac]

13 minutes ago, Saint_John said:

Same old problems that we saw last season under Selles.

High risk passing out from the back when half the receiving players DON'T WANT the ball.

No movement from the forwards (standing still next to the defenders until the ball comes near them).    

Defenders marking ZONES not the opposition players.

No tracking of runs from the midfield.

IMO Martin will be gone by Xmas if he carries on with Selles system

Who had first 90 minutes of preseason in the pants pissing sweepstakes? 

[Midlandsaint]

17 minutes ago, Saint_John said:

Same old problems that we saw last season under Selles.

High risk passing out from the back when half the receiving players DON'T WANT the ball.

No movement from the forwards (standing still next to the defenders until the ball comes near them).    

Defenders marking ZONES not the opposition players.

No tracking of runs from the midfield.

IMO Martin will be gone by Xmas if he carries on with Selles system

Unbelievable bed wetting 

[manji]

13 minutes ago, Saint_John said:

Same old problems that we saw last season under Selles.

High risk passing out from the back when half the receiving players DON'T WANT the ball.

No movement from the forwards (standing still next to the defenders until the ball comes near them).    

Defenders marking ZONES not the opposition players.

No tracking of runs from the midfield.

IMO Martin will be gone by Xmas if he carries on with Selles system

You must be simple. It was a practice match FFS. Nice and slowly for you. By……the……beginning…….of…..the…….season…….we…….will…….have……played…..more……..games……..and……the……team…….will…be……quite…..different.

[CB Fry]

20 minutes ago, Saint_John said:

Same old problems that we saw last season under Selles.

High risk passing out from the back when half the receiving players DON'T WANT the ball.

No movement from the forwards (standing still next to the defenders until the ball comes near them).    

Defenders marking ZONES not the opposition players.

No tracking of runs from the midfield.

IMO Martin will be gone by Xmas if he carries on with Selles system

Russell Martin has had a fair crack of the whip.

It's not working out so he should just fuck off now.

[Luke SkyWalker-Peters]

2 hours ago, Bad Wolf said:

Can't say I've heard of Meghoma! It'll be good to see more of Amo-Ameyaw though, is he the one who came on against Liverpool and looked the brightest player on the pitch?

Meghoma is one of the two players (along with Amo-Ameyaw) that we pinched from Spurs academy at 16 last summer. Forced them to change their pay structure this year to avoid the same again. I believe Levy got us done for tapping them up and a slap on the wrist. Not that he'd ever do such a thing...

I watched some of the England U17 games at the Euros and can honestly say that he was one of the best players on the pitch most games, which says a lot. He has only just turned 17, so might not feature much this season, but he seems to have all the technical, mental and physical tools.

He started most games, but came on late against Switzerland for their World Cup Qualifier match having already been knocked out of the tournament. He had a huge influence, and from being 1-2 down, he helped them get a 4-2 win. Here is his super sub performance in that game:

Amo-Ameyaw did get his debut against Liverpool. Meghoma and Dibling were not available for that match as they were at the Euros with England U17. He certainly looks lively and played very well for the B team last season.

Dibling hasn't kicked on as I suspect Southampton have hoped, but there are games where he looks dominant (Aston Villa in the FA Youth Cup last season as an example). I don't think his "preseason" with Chelsea did him any good. He is a big lad for a winger, must be at least 6ft, so it isn't a surprise that he has struggled while he is 16/17 as he will still be growing and filling out the frame.

[revolution saint]

37 minutes ago, OttawaSaint said:

His post says S. Armstrong...

It didn't initially - edited later.

[Boris Karloff]

I don't think Mara is going to survive this system. I think there's probably a player there if he's running on to through balls or cut backs.

But he doesn't look comfortable with his back to goal and it looks like our build up is going to be so slow this year that he would have to play this way.

Same with A Armstrong, he's no good with his back to goal. Adams is a little more so. 

[whelk]

What was the score?

[disconnect]

48 minutes ago, OttawaSaint said:

That's a poor effort from Smallbone after a very good set up. 

Haven’t checked the end of this thread (to see he scored a hattrick) but remember his finishing was woeful

[RedWillie]

19 minutes ago, whelk said:

What was the score?

2.0 to Benfica. Goals in first 10 min and 1 min before H.T. changed entire team at H.T.