Thought Rod looked better when Catts went off actually but he's becoming a massive disappointment. Larsson showed them both up, he really is the heartbeat of the team.
They did score from it mate! The first goal was from the passage of play immediately after Pants making that ridiculous pass. Even Rodwell bollocked Pants after the goal for it
I wouldn't say Donny raised their game, in fact they were trying something a bit different. The team to start didn't have a striker, there were 6 defenders and 4 midfielders. The subs were mainly from the youth team(McKay, Carberry, Mandeville, Lindley and Pugh), the others from the development team(Marosi, and Whitehouse). Teams throughout the leagues use friendlies for fitness, trying out different formations and tactics so I wouldn't worry too much about your team, your manager is probably doing the same.
Words of sense from a neutral! Cheers and I totally agree! Pre season has never been about results - it's about finding what does and doesn;t work - a manager learns far more from losing a game than he ever will from winning 5-0
Seems a bit flimsy to me , why is league 1 team be beating a premiership side, Are they better prepared/fitter for the new season, both teams play their 1st game Aug 8th Are their players better then premiership players or is their players attitude better (wonder how much in wages each club paid their stating line up)
I wouldn't think most of Donnys players are any better than Sunderland have but they do play as a team and play for each other, their attitude and effort is also good. As for wages £2k to £3k is their average although the young'uns that were played last night are on a lot less.
Hereford v Newcastle (70's) Chelsea 2-4 Bradford? It shouldn't happen and normally doesn't in competitive matches but occasionally it does. Happens a lot more in friendly games though We beat spurs pre season last season! Sadly we had a crap season That's why pre season results never bother me
Rubbish. We beat your lot in preseason a couple years ago, means nothing. Chelsea played pretty much their strongest team against New York's reserves / youths recently and got stuffed 4-2. It's meaningless.
SO are Donny players better the Sunderlands or just can be bothered to put some more effort in., both teams season start on the same day
It's like talking to a brick wall . If I had to guess I'd say the Doncaster players were probably much more up for it as they wanted to "take a scalp" whereas we were there purely for fitness.
Were we though? - that's the point. You know what my first thought was after that game? - "Never mind lads, you'll be a few grand richer at the end of the week." (Naturally, I exclude Beading and Watmore - they had something to make an effort for - plus Lens and Kaboul who haven't got the Sunderland attitude/habit yet. The others didn't appear to me like they gave much of a damn about fitness or anything else)
Both goals came from individual mistakes. hard to analyse the goals beyond that. First goal, the narrow midfield meant there was nobody picking up the late runner, billy jones left his marker to pick him up, he saw him sooner but because John O'shea was ball watching Jones was on two men while O'shea stood in nomans land just watching the ball float over. 2nd Goal was Rodwell's poor clearance.
I would have thought with the new season only a week away for both teams they would be equally fit (well really I would expect the premiership team to be fitter) dont think just turning up and not matching a lower league team is a good prep , lets hope Leicester dont want to 'take a scalp'
Did you not think we improved second half though? I agree we sat off them 1st half, particularly deep and lethargic. The intro of Larsson made so much difference, all of a sudden we were working to get the ball back and Donny couldn't keep it from us.
How you work that out? Different facilities, techniques, budget, environment, all a factor. We've just been off for high humidity training(as many prem clubs have which lower division teams can't afford), we'll be ropy going into the new season but the benefits in the long run will be great. A preseason at home will lead to better fitness early in the season.
And Graham actually, not just Seb. Graham isn't good enough but he hassles defenders more than Fletcher. Saying that, a couple of my farts probably caused their CB more problems than Fletcher
When i played football manager, my team was crap in the friendlies, completely different to when the season started.
I'm focusing on what my pal who was there, one of the lads I go game withsaid and as such an opinion I know can be trusted. 'Lens could be the best player we've seen in our lifetime, Rodwell isn't a footballer'. Ha.
