The whole game is available on youtube if you're interested. Skip to 9min03 for our hilarious line-up. Their goal is at 15min30. Have to say I'm disappointed we conceded in that way.
Good to see the new guys played well, it sounds a bit poor though and losing to San Jose it might be pre season but I find it embarrassing. On to the next one though
Aston villa scraped a draw against Wycombe and Tottenham failed to score against Colchester so far this pre-season. Manchester United and Manchester city have both lost as well I believe to opposition I'd consider far weaker than the Earthquakes.
Frankly I couldn't a give toss about other teams pre-season games Beefy, I'd just like to see my team put away opposition like the Earthquakes.
Correct, but it's just to illustrate what goes on in pre-season it has no bearing at all into the success of the season and is about fitness and preparation. Nothing can be read into it at all. I know this is all in vain as every year it's the same old story.
Robert Snodgrass said: “You don’t want to be playing against opposition at this stage and beating them five or six. You want to be testing yourself all the time because this is what the Premier League is all about. You get tested week in, week out. I think you want that as footballers. I know on a personal level I want that challenge because I set myself targets and goals that I want to achieve. You want to try and do it against the best.” The Earthquakes are well into their season and far more prepared than us. It was a tough workout and therefore served it's purpose as a pre-season fixture.
I watched the whole game last night after telling myself I'd just check out RVW and go to bed. There were some individual performances that really excited me. Redmond was the one I'd pick out in the first half and several times he linked nicely with RVW who again looks the real deal. I thought Pilks looked sharp too and Howson was driving forwards well but his passing was a touch sloppy. As a team though they weren't gelled yet and it shows but that will come. The defence on this tour is pretty makeshift so I won't cover that and they got caught several times but they kept having to change things around so never really settled into a rhythm. Gafaiti looks like a talent though. In the second half we made a few changes and I thought we played better for a while. Fer in particular looked great, powerful and hard to move of the ball with a penetrating pass that was getting players into good positions. I didn't like him played against Tettey though he's basically a better version and having both of them play was pointless. Ruddy looks damn good and snoddy looked like he always does. After this it got a bit sloppy and disjointed as more changes were made. Fox was pretty anonymous Bennett was on the left and spent too long going forwards. In general I went to sleep pretty excited at no point did we play out best XI and it showed but we've added some exciting new weapons redmond can get behind defences, RVW's movement is great and Fer could be our most important player this season. Will be good to see a more settled side develop and play together.
After having a bit of sleep after watching the game and enduring the commentary, i would have to say that all in all, it wasn't that bad, we were pretty sloppy at times in possesion, butthats what these games are for to get the team gelling more and getting used to each others movements on and off the ball For me it was more interesting looking at our new guys, I thought Redmond looked pretty handy at times and willing to try and take on his man and go past him, Fer looked like he could be our main man this season, as you could see a certain touch of class about him already at this early stage
Whilst I am not panicking or overly disappointed by this result, it is pre-season after all. I've got to disagree with you in one respect. The "nothing can be read in to it at all" last pre-season we lacked creativity and goals. Now correct me if I'm wrong here, but wasn't that the case for the entire season? Like I say, no panicked here, great to see some of the qualities the newbies will bring, time and fitness will hopefully bring improvements but if we don't start bagging a few once we have returned to Blighty, then I will start getting nervous! Bah!
Dorados 0 NCFC 3 But for some curious reason those goals don't count? Guess they must have been down to luck! Oh well, maybe we'll stay lucky.
If that's directed at my post(and I can see why, although I think I may have left a crossed wire here) what I'm saying is a) I don't agree that pre-season results are completely meaningless, as well as fitness; confidence, team understanding and pattern, are important. b) the main point I was making is that, once back in Blighty, once the fitness is improving and the understanding and cohesion etc, then if we're not scoring or creating then I'll be worrying! As I said I'm not worried, scoring 3 against any opposition is good, earthquakes were stronger, but neither result matters one jot c.f. Those once our fitness is improved and we at least have most of our senior defenders and generally a fuller squad available. Bah!
'EARTH' 'QUAKE!' Thank god I'm not one of their fans. Personally I never brought into the San Jose love affair and used to cringe when I saw City fans walking around Carrow Road in Earthquake's shirts. Totally agree with you DH it's very disappointing, that's a League One standard error.
Results this early in the pre-season mean absolutely nothing. I couldn't give a **** if we win, lose or draw. They've barely played any football to even think about getting results or getting any form.
I don't think we can take a lot from these games, particularly the defending as our defence is incredibly makeshift, like Bath said. But when we get to the Sociedad and Panathinikos games, I'll start to get concerned if the same problems remain. By then I'd expect fitness levels to be up, and the line-up to look closer to what Hughton wants to use next season. If then we're still failing to create chances, and keep the ball in attacking areas, I'll be concerned.
Once we get to the domestic friendlies I think we'll have a more settle idea of a 1st XI. Then they can start to really gel together.
i made a little bet with myself this morning that three posters would over react to last night. well, two out of three isn't bad thankfully one of them has his brain engaged it's a fitness exercise. nothing more, nothing less.
Have you watched it supers? I wouldn't recommend the whole thing but there's some interesting moments. Think Fer in particular could be great for us.
no i haven't watched it. do you know why? cos it was a fitness exercise. you learn nothing from it. i understand why people were curious though, cos of the new boys, but that really was the only reason for even contemplating watching it or indeed the friendly prior to it. the players will have had to work hard for 45, 90, 180 minutes, however long they've played, in difficult heat and it'll do wonders for their fitness. much rather them being given a decent test or two than having a kick about against fakenham and winning 10-0. never seen the point in that other than it helping the opposition make some money. you don't improve your fitness by not putting any effort in.
