Hair Half the reason I'm glad we won today was that playing City is much better for our preparation than a squad of chicken farmers, but then, we always beat City anyway so, maybe we should swap games, ha.
Japan/China same diff. Somewhere in Asia. Thought the first team Utd lost to were meant to be fairly dire. Not the most recent defeat.
They won the first one 5-1 mate, I know this as I was backing them next goal after every goal, haha. I do like a bet.
Damnit. I'm sure they lost one before the one a day or 2 back. Who the hell was that against? Why do i actually care? I don't really. I'm sure Moyes has lost 2 out of 3.
I didn't get to see the game, but everyone is saying Sunderland deserved to win. Preseason should be first about figuring out who will start and who will be on the bench, then finetuning formation, tactics, etc. So I'm not concerned about the loss, but now am worried about Vertonghen as well as Dembele. Chadli had better be extra careful.
No need for sour grapes mate this was not our first team. We were missing N'Diaye, Diakite, Fletcher, Cattermole and Ji. 3 of them would be in our first 11.
You obviously know your team better than I do, but I was under the impression that Cattermole is persona non grata at the SOL now?
Hes not good enough to be in our starting 11 anymore, he's lost that to Cabal. He could still be an inportant squad player for us though if he sorts his injury problems out!
I read that he'd been left out of the pre-season tour and had his number taken away or given to someone else.
He was left out the squad due to injury from last season. He still hasnt kicked a ball yet this pre season. The squad numbers that were given in this tournament are not our official squad numbers for next season. Cabal had his number today, so the rumours started. Hes only recently signed a contract, so i very much doubt he'd be kicked out, we'd lose too much money!
Bale who deservedly won player of the year last season makes the spuds spurs. Defoe needs to be on the pitch addibuyore reminds me of that useless streak of Danish Gooner we had for a while...not enough in the box to cause damage. We have been linked with Hudd, well his passing is good defensively hopeless, he enabled one of our debuts to take his chance well. We would however be interested in Danny Rose, Jack Colbeck did well, shackled Lennon but Rose going forward is better. Fridel your mom? Our big USA forward missed a couple of chances that Fletcher would have done better with but with makeshift RB and LB and with debuts taking the place of regulars we looked completive. I reckon your high defensive line helped us as we had pacy players that could get behind them easier. AVB may need to revise his tactics
Thats a lot to read into a preseason friendly in terrible conditions. AVB's tactics seem to work pretty well last season on our way to 72points and we have strengthened the squad since then too.
Fair points, you were streets ahead of us last season and I would have preferred you in CL than the Gooners, particularly as Chelsea winning the Cup kept you out also, you were sort of owed one if there was any justice in the world. Personally I always worry about a high defensive line, I recall when Torres first played for Liverpool, and we had a high defensive line and he stuffed us with his pace. You do need a forward of proven ability, I thought you might take a sort of gamble on Benteke, but there is lots of transfer season left..Hudd is good but needs a minder for defensive work..so I am not sure where that leaves him, I do not want him at Sunderland but will have Rosie back. I hope you hang onto Bale cos unless you bring in some other really good players he is what lifts you out of the mid table squabbling. Which is where I want us to be this season if PDC can meld all the new players into a team and not do a QPR.
Cheers, yeah the high line did worry me at first and looked particularly vulnerable early on last season. I don't know if anyone else agrees but for me the keeper makes a big difference. Lloris is much more a sweeper-keeper which helps cut down the gap between the high-line defenders and the goal. Friedel played yesterday and despite being a good shot-stopper his game is totally different and it impacts how good we are defensively. You also need some quick defenders in order for them to get back, which Dawson is not one of and Verts got injured. That won't have helped either (i didn't actually watch the game but basing this on previous matches) I like Hudd, but i fear he is finished at Spurs other than as backup or in an injury crisis. Our game has moved on from when he was an important player for us which is a shame as he can be a rolls royce of a player. Bale gives us an extra dimension but i don't agree he lifts us out of mid-table. If we sold Bale and bought nobody else in i would still expect us to finish 5th-6th. Bale didn't hit top form for the first couple of months last season and was also out injured for a bit after xmas, both times our form held steady. Lloris, Kaboul (when fit), Verts, Sandro are all top players. Pauly must be pretty good too although its not guarenteed he'll adapt at Spurs yet. Then we have players like Lennon/Gylfi/Dembele who while they might not start week in week out for the top 4 clubs would get into most other teams easily. Don't mention strikers around here, we've been after one for YEARS, since Berbatov really. Expect Sunderland to improve on last year. I am not a fan of O'Neill or his particular brand of football so swapping him out will be a good thing even with no other changes. I don't like Di Canio as a person but you have to hand it to him, he seems to have united the squad and improved performances in a number of players already.
Just noticed the result v Sunderland.Are we off again?Are we doing our yearly European mess up and treating competitions as friendly games? Come on....3-1 to bloody Sunderland! I guess our Spurs have just gone to Asia as tourists.Football matches very secondary on their agenda! Will we get our fingers out by the start of the season do you suppose?
