A casual, gentle stretch of the legs. Barely out of 1st gear. A reasonable run out so far all in all.
From what I saw, mainly second half, it was a decent run out for City. We looked the better team in the last 20 mins of the game and S'lands scrappy winner in extra time from a free kick was against the run of play. Couple of new names as subs ? Jarvis and Beckett ??? Result not important, avoiding injuries was and I think we did.
Do you remember when we lost 4-0 to Crewe pre season 2008/9? O my Lord was the poodle chorus loud that day.
I just seem to remember that we lost to Chesterfield in a pre-season game around that time. Maybe my memory is not what it was. Edit I just looked back and we played them 4 days before the Crewe game but won 3-0.
It's obvious what happened.... Our usual high pressing style was put off when Terry learned that the Sun'lan players had chronic sh its, so told the lads to socially distance....
Tbh I can't remember when we were actually good pre season .. seems the results don't matter and the performances are always a bit iffy til the main event starts .. wouldn't worry bout it .. time to see what we're like after the first half dozen ganes then we'll have a better understanding
As I wrote last week, we had a good preseason under Hateley. One of the best I can remember. Then grim reality struck on the first day of the season at Mansfield.
We split the squad, something which I don’t think is conducive to good preparation for the season. You want your first XI gelling. I get that match fitness is important, but you also need that understanding building. Sunderland looked like they had their **** together (though that’s not saying much) whereas we looked disjointed in parts.