I was speaking to a colleague whose brother is a Championship footballer a few weeks ago. He mentioned his brother was going to get 60 minutes on Wednesday and 30 the Saturday after. It seemed the players knew in advance who would play in what friendlies a few weeks before and the conditions/scoreline during the game had little bearing on the starting 11 or subs. I guess the management teams view them differently than supporters. it certainly has made me look into the details of the game far less.
Every cub will have a different approach. Having being around the professional game in a coaching capacity for over 15 years I can tell you that pre season is all about fitness and tactics. Getting your team in shape in both senses of the word. What I find peculiar is that we haven't played with a centre forward and seem to rely on an out of possession game over a possession game, resulting in a counter attack philosophy. I hope this changes with either personnel coming back or new arrivals as it really isn't a 'bums on seat' style of play.
