Pre Season Friendlies 2024/25

[Convict Colony]

Sounds like for once I made a good choice logging off at 0-0

Hopefully a keeper appears in 2nd half and some goals for us

[Lee On Solent Saint]

2 minutes ago, austsaint said:

It's the one big worry I have with RM.    He seems to have too much faith in players like Manning, Stephens, McCarthy.

Seems to be far too loyal to certain players. 

[goodymatt]

I like Edozie, fantastic dribbler, but the end product is often not there. Is he improving in that regard? I’m not too sure.

[Saint Fan CaM]

Fuck me Manning is a waste of a shirt. Still.

Edozie looks ok.

[Hopper]

Just now, goodymatt said:

I like Edozie, fantastic dribbler, but the end product is often not there. Is he improving in that regard? I’m not too sure.

Marginally. He needs to get the ball across the 6 yard box and ‘in that area’ quite often looks up plays the ball a touch too late and behind the attackers. 

[CSA96]

1 minute ago, goodymatt said:

I like Edozie, fantastic dribbler, but the end product is often not there. Is he improving in that regard? I’m not too sure.

This is my problem with him. He's what, 60 games or so into his career with us now and I'm still not seeing an improvement in end product. He's still quite young though, I suppose - although he is three years ahead of Sam Amo and you wouldn't think that

[Saint Fan CaM]

Oxford looking the better team all over the pitch.

[Master Bates]

10 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

Sounds like for once I made a good choice logging off at 0-0

Hopefully a keeper appears in 2nd half and some goals for us

No matter who the goalkeeper is, I doubt they'll score us goals.

 

Lots of subs, Downes, Aribo, Sugawara and more

Edited 31 July, 2024 by Master Bates

[LeG]

We are going straight back down with Macca as No.1 Surely RM is pressuring SR behind the scenes. I refuse to believe we will stick with him. I will ask the question and report back.

[gallaghert366@yahoo.com]

5 minutes ago, goodymatt said:

I like Edozie, fantastic dribbler, but the end product is often not there. Is he improving in that regard? I’m not too sure.

Will struggle in the Premiership.

[trousers]

Just now, LeG said:

We are going straight back down with Macca as No.1 Surely RM is pressuring SR behind the scenes. I refuse to believe we will stick with him. I will ask the question and report back.

Cheers @LeG. Surely there's someone in the club with a modicum of footballing intellect that can see what'll happen if we don't get in a decent PL level keeper?

[Hopper]

Much stronger team for last 30. Not quite Gillingham levels of performance to this point but not far off!

[CSA96]

A load of changes from Russell Martin just now

Saints: McCarthy; Sugawara, Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Stephens; Smallbone, Downes, Aribo; Dibling, Armstrong, Edozie

[Hopper]

Discipline of shape and tempo and selection of passes already vastly improved. 

[Dr Who?]

5 minutes ago, gallaghert366@yahoo.com said:

Will struggle in the Premiership.

Scotland? 

[trousers]

Looking much better now (obviously)

[obelisk]

Saints looking pretty blunt in attack.

[trousers]

Edozie so frustrating 

[Nordic Saint]

27 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

McCarthy will be our number one until Baz is fit. I have no doubt about that.

Surely, not everyone at the club can be that blind and stupid? What's the point spending all this money on outfield players when with McCarthy in goal we're going down anyway. As Clough used to say, the goalkeeper is the most important player in the team.

[trousers]

Tangential thought: Oxford not got a shirt sponsor this season?

[Nordic Saint]

39 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

McCarthy will be our number one until Baz is fit. I have no doubt about that.

We can only hope that's not true because if it is, we're f---ed.

Edited 31 July, 2024 by Nordic Saint

[CSA96]

Sam Edozie beats his man and dribbles down a blind alley... again

[obelisk]

I assume the plan is to see how often Saints can pass the ball around outside the final third before handing over possession. Making Oxford look very comfortable.

[Disco Stu]

We aren't half boring to watch when the opposition has us sussed.

[CSA96]

Sam Edozie beats his man and dribbles down a blind alley... again

[trousers]

Things we learned tonight then...

- we desperately need a PL level keeper

- there's a good reason why Manning never made it as a central midfielder

- Russ needed to waste 45 minutes in a season preparation match to work that out...

- an end product continues to elude Edozie

- our first 11 is half decent, the rest are distinctly average 

- it's going to be a long season...

("Yeah, but it's only a meaningless friendly... Blah blah")

Edited 31 July, 2024 by trousers

[CSA96]

FT: Oxford 2-0 Saints

[Golac's Cunning Stunts]

3 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

We aren't half boring to watch when the opposition has us sussed.

problem is, it isn't hard to suss us out as Martin has already told every opposition team how we will play. No surprises for any oppo manager

[skintsaint]

Well that was a bag o'shite. Glad I got tickets for Sat now.

[stknowle]

58 minutes ago, SouSaint said:

We are going to concede an embarrassing amount of goals this season I fear. 

This, my friend is my fear. Worried about topping that embarrassing 0-9 shit.

[Saint86]

First 60min pretty much the backup team and newer players. Conceded 2 goals through sloppy errors passing around at the back - rather here than in the important games, and as per the start of last season, i guess the style needs to bed in.

After most of the starting 11 came on (last 30min or so) we looked comfortably the better side, don't think they had a shot, carved them open a few times - but no finish applied / no one on the end of a cross.

BBD and a new striker will make a big difference.

Macca did not impress between the sticks, albeit with a fairly makeshift / new defence in front of him.

Edited 31 July, 2024 by Saint86

[Saint Fan CaM]

8 minutes ago, trousers said:

Things we learned tonight then...

- we desperately need a PL level keeper

- there's a good reason why Manning never made it as a central midfielder

- Russ needed to waste 45 minutes in a season preparation match to work this out...

- an end product continues to elude Edozie

- our first 11 is half decent, the rest are distinctly average 

- it's going to be a long season...

("Yeah, but it's only a meaningless friendly... Blah blah")

All true, however what worries me is Oxford looked a better TEAM, whereas our lot looked like a bunch of strangers. Most Prem teams will have enough quality in individual players that would see them through and produce twice the performance that Saints showed tonight, but no, somehow we conspired to make Oxford look superior to us in EVERY conceivable way. That worries me more than replacing McCarthy, although obviously that’s a big concern too. On tonight’s showing we’ll get hammered this season - a very long way to go Russ.

One bright spark - Suga looks to be a great KWP replacement.

Edited 31 July, 2024 by Saint Fan CaM
After thought

[Nolan]

very much the case of what we'll see if Bednarek and Stephens get injured.

I've no doubt the Wood and Edwards will make the grade, but they will be 3rd and 4th choice initially.

McCarthys ball control was diabolical at points.

Edited 31 July, 2024 by Nolan

[Golac's Cunning Stunts]

8 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Conceded 2 goals through sloppy errors passing around at the back - rather here than in the important games,

Martin sets up the team to pass around at the back. We got away with it in the champs. We will be punished for it in the prem, no doubt about it. We don't have good enough players to do it

[Luke SkyWalker-Peters]

41 minutes ago, CSA96 said:

This is my problem with him. He's what, 60 games or so into his career with us now and I'm still not seeing an improvement in end product. He's still quite young though, I suppose - although he is three years ahead of Sam Amo and you wouldn't think that

He got 6 goals and 3 assists for us in the league last season after getting 0G and 0A the season before. How have you not seen an improvement?

Edozie is developing well. He is only 21. Tella was 23 when he moved to Burnley and scored his first ever goal in the league. You need to adjust your expectations.

No-one is saying that Edozie is the next Saka, but considering he is only 21 and that he only cost £5m, he is both developing well and performing at expectations for his cost.

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

6 minutes ago, trousers said:

- an end product continues to elude Edozie

- our first 11 is half decent, the rest are distinctly average 

- it's going to be a long season...

("Yeah, but it's only a meaningless friendly... Blah blah")

I agree, these friendlies give some useful pointers and if they were that meaningless, they wouldn't play them. What I noticed was:-

- The Vicar (of Dibley) played the whole game so reckon he is part of RM's plans. Could well be a sub in league games.

- Where are our chances going to come from? Today, they looked to Edozie to run down the left and cross but he still can't seem to provide that end product and to THB to lump a meaningful pass through the middle. We need more options.

- Do like Sugawara. 

- Would like us to sign Fraser. Not too sure the flat back four will work in the premiership

[Saint Billy]

Didn’t see the game but sounds like a big wake up call. Also no surprise that McCarthy is still a massive liability.

Without a decent goalkeeper in the Premiership we will be easy pickings.

 

[verlaine1979]

8 minutes ago, Luke SkyWalker-Peters said:

No-one is saying that Edozie is the next Saka, but considering he is only 21 and that he only cost £5m, he is both developing well and performing at expectations for his cost.

Wasn't Edozie 10m?

[lambtiss]

1 hour ago, goodymatt said:

I like Edozie, fantastic dribbler, but the end product is often not there. Is he improving in that regard? I’m not too sure.

In 34 games last season, many as a non starter, he scored 6 and had 3 assists. I think that's a, reasonable return for a 21 year old. 

[SaintsFan86]

3 minutes ago, verlaine1979 said:

Wasn't Edozie 10m?

Think Edozie and Larios cost us a combined £10M - Something to do with helping Man Citys sister club Girona sign Romeu.

[Luke SkyWalker-Peters]

I'm pretty sure I watched an interview with Martin where he suggested the players were going to be fatigued for these two games. That made sense to me as it was otherwise weird to drop the level of competition from Ligue 1 sides down to League One and Championship, when building up for the season.

But, clearly tonight they were looking fatigued. I'm assuming the scheduled late kick-off was to give them time to do a serious fitness session at Staplewood before the game. I didn't realise teams did this until I saw the England Rugby team talking about it in the build-up to the World Cup. They were absolutely awful in their pre-World Cup friendlies - including losing to Fiji for their first time ever - but they had been doing enormous fitness sessions throughout the whole process, then come the World Cup they were one of the fittest teams, played really well coming 3rd.

Anyway, one would hope that Saints would perform better despite being massively fatigued, but I suspect that there isn't really much to read into these two games and that more of a sense might be found from the games next week. Who knows, we don't know their training schedule, but to me, they looked exhausted pretty much throughout the game. There were mental mistakes and huge amounts of space for Oxford to exploit throughout, which tends to only happen to exhausted teams at the end of games (or to a Hassenhuttl team after minute 60 lol).

Or perhaps we have regressed to a league two level in a week. Who knows.

[Maggie May]

2 minutes ago, Luke SkyWalker-Peters said:

I'm pretty sure I watched an interview with Martin where he suggested the players were going to be fatigued for these two games. That made sense to me as it was otherwise weird to drop the level of competition from Ligue 1 sides down to League One and Championship, when building up for the season.

But, clearly tonight they were looking fatigued. I'm assuming the scheduled late kick-off was to give them time to do a serious fitness session at Staplewood before the game. I didn't realise teams did this until I saw the England Rugby team talking about it in the build-up to the World Cup. They were absolutely awful in their pre-World Cup friendlies - including losing to Fiji for their first time ever - but they had been doing enormous fitness sessions throughout the whole process, then come the World Cup they were one of the fittest teams, played really well coming 3rd.

Anyway, one would hope that Saints would perform better despite being massively fatigued, but I suspect that there isn't really much to read into these two games and that more of a sense might be found from the games next week. Who knows, we don't know their training schedule, but to me, they looked exhausted pretty much throughout the game. There were mental mistakes and huge amounts of space for Oxford to exploit throughout, which tends to only happen to exhausted teams at the end of games (or to a Hassenhuttl team after minute 60 lol).

Or perhaps we have regressed to a league two level in a week. Who knows.

Thank you for this post.  

[davefizzy14]

Although disappointing tonight, we still have three more friendlies to go before the start of the new season and certain things can be worked on in training. It is quite evident where we need to strengthen still.

Edited 31 July, 2024 by davefizzy14

[Saint Billy]

3 minutes ago, Luke SkyWalker-Peters said:

I'm pretty sure I watched an interview with Martin where he suggested the players were going to be fatigued for these two games. That made sense to me as it was otherwise weird to drop the level of competition from Ligue 1 sides down to League One and Championship, when building up for the season.

But, clearly tonight they were looking fatigued. I'm assuming the scheduled late kick-off was to give them time to do a serious fitness session at Staplewood before the game. I didn't realise teams did this until I saw the England Rugby team talking about it in the build-up to the World Cup. They were absolutely awful in their pre-World Cup friendlies - including losing to Fiji for their first time ever - but they had been doing enormous fitness sessions throughout the whole process, then come the World Cup they were one of the fittest teams, played really well coming 3rd.

Anyway, one would hope that Saints would perform better despite being massively fatigued, but I suspect that there isn't really much to read into these two games and that more of a sense might be found from the games next week. Who knows, we don't know their training schedule, but to me, they looked exhausted pretty much throughout the game. There were mental mistakes and huge amounts of space for Oxford to exploit throughout, which tends to only happen to exhausted teams at the end of games (or to a Hassenhuttl team after minute 60 lol).

Or perhaps we have regressed to a league two level in a week. Who knows.

If fitness was the issue against Oxford god help us in the premiership.

[skintsaint]

Might as well sign up and play this chap in goal....

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/soKXjKTE7p3jXAtg/

[Challenger]

1 minute ago, davefizzy14 said:

Although disappointing tonight, we still have three more friendlies to go before the start of the new season and it is quite evident where we need to strengthen still.

Been evident for a couple of seasons now. SR have said they will not make the same mistakes as the last Premier season. Not seeing it.

[davefizzy14]

2 minutes ago, Challenger said:

Been evident for a couple of seasons now. SR have said they will not make the same mistakes as the last Premier season. Not seeing it.

What I am saying is added quality is needed.

[hypochondriac]

Hmm. Not helpful to overreact but a few worrying things here. Playing out from the back - we know we are going to do it but prem teams will make us pay unless it's perfect. Crap keeper - surely the club are aware that we need a new one? Lack of a cutting edge and lack of chances - badly need that decent AM and clinical striker. Bereton Diaz will have his work cut out if he's expected to shoulder too much of the burden alone. Confused formations - Martin said he doesn't care about formations which is find very curious. He might mean that he wants us to be fluid so that we can play different systems but sometimes it looks a mess and like we don't really know what we want to do. If we play like that in the prem we will get mullered. We were best in the prem when the football was simple and everyone knew their job really well. I'm not convinced we will be able to be a success with players switching around and being fluid because we will end up as the jack of all trades and master of none. I am worried we are going to concede some absolutely woeful goals this year. 

Martin has earned the right to attack this season his way but I do have my doubts that it will work out. If we're stuck to the bottom in November with a few hammerings under our belts and our young centre backs taking a battering it's going to be tough to stick it out. 

Edited 31 July, 2024 by hypochondriac

[hypochondriac]

I'd also question the logic of signing both Edwards and Wood. Yes both are low cost so relatively decent fees, but it means we are relying a heck of a lot on bednarek and THB to perform well enough to keep us up and they shipped a ton in the championship. I think I'd have preferred signing Edwards and then an experienced older pro to share that load with bednarek. 

[Luke SkyWalker-Peters]

12 minutes ago, Saint Billy said:

If fitness was the issue against Oxford god help us in the premiership.

I didn't say fitness was an issue, I said that they were exhausted during the week (and likely before the game) by their strength and conditioning department to a) build very high levels of fitness fast and b) make the match very hard work to replicate the exhaustion felt late in a Premier League match.

They won't be doing massive weights and cardio sessions just before Premier League matches, so it really is no comparison.

Perhaps the team just have massively regressed since Montpellier, but to my eyes, when players that have only played 30 minutes look shattered, its because they are in the middle of an extremely intense fitness schedule.