The first team were quite crap, lacked ambition and creativity. I first put it down to Anderlecht being ahead in preseason...however the Arse kids showed everyone else up. Having said that, we hit the bar and everything could have been different. Thought Anderlecht unlucky not to beat the Arse, but the Arse kids were full of energy and just kept going forward. Our second team were miles better, there were some very promising passages of play...even Puncheon was up for it. Nice take by the Jay Rod. The pens at the end only offered the promise of fun of watching a Tommy trying to save a penalty...and of course he didn't. Bit shameful that during the game the home support gave ironic cheers when he stopped a soft shot, funny though.
If what you are saying about Shaw is true (and many people have praised him) it does make me wonder why we are close to signing another left back, the second in two years. Finally, I know people are criticising Forecast but the bigger question should be just how can we keep our second choice goalkeeper in form, clearly not playing for a long time - especially like in the case of Bialkowski - has had a detrimental effect on their career.
In an interview on Player, Nigel said that Tommy had left, then corrected himself and said Bart. Freudian slip methinks.
I just don't think Adkins rated bartos so didn't give him much chance etc. I think when we bring in another keeper he will be given any chance he can. Shaw maybe class but to have him at 2nd choice this season maybe a little much. I would tend to introduce him slower into our squad.
All the youngsters were just full of confidence, didn't care about who they were playing. Shaw looks to have a bit of pace about him to which was good to see and made some very good tackles, I think what he needs next is a loan spell just to get competitive games in and gets some experience. But next season for sure I could see him push for a start. What was interesting, Harding didn't even feature but was amongst the subs. Curious to see what might happen with him.
Just noticed that Portsmouth's game against Havant and Waterlooville was cancelled because of waterlogged pitch...5-a-side I assume
I'm not gonna go into it too much because I can't be bothered, but Shaw looked very good, Stephens looked good, Chambers looked lost, Rodriguez' header was ace, and Ward-Prowse was awesome, some talent he is. Tommy Forecast was hilarious. Lucas Biglia was head and shoulders above all else.
I meant hilariously good, of course. Certainly not hilarious that he genuinely looks worse than keepers I've faced in five a side.
I've heard about Real being interested. He was just ridiculously good against both us and Arsenal. Obviously you can never tell too much from pre-season but you could see he was a class above.
Why are people getting worked up about a keeper who will not play a single competitve game for Saints this season? Strewth.
Who's getting worked up? He's hilarious, everybody was cheering when he made the most simple of catches.
Anderlecht looked far more match sharp than us or Arsenal. Thought our youngsters looked assured and JWP looks like a real prospect. Thought we played some pleasing stuff in the second match with Stephens and Seaborne played out from the back well. Jay Rod took his goal well too. He'll score a good few if we give him the best service we've got. Decent day out even if the football wasn't quite the high standard we're used to. Forecast is crap too.
