Saints team in this morning’s training game with Brighton: 3-4-3 McCarthy; Kayi Sanda, Wood, Edwards; Sugawara, Matsuki (Akachukwu 47’), Bragg, Welington; Dibling, Stewart, Robinson
Interesting some of those names included thus morning; some of those being cast aside? Or just sharing minutes around a ridiculously bloated squad? Or both?
A mix of the youth that isn’t too far away, but unlikely to be involved (except Robinson who I just have no idea how he isn’t considered first choice on the left at this stage), players returning from knocks (Dibling and Matsuki) and presumably, those not considered first choice. Pretty concerned that that leaves Stills first choice attackers (not including striker) as BBD, Fraser and Armstrong. Not enough pace or creativity and that’s being kind. Also Baz is going to be no.1 for a third season for us. Third time lucky for not being the worst GK in the league?
Whilst the first few games aren’t the be all and end all of the season, and teams are still figuring everything out from new players settling in, any comings and goings of players and possibly new managers learning about their squads/tactics, I still think they are really important for a side like us. Remember last time we came down and (from memory) we played Sheff Weds and Plymouth early on. Both performances were mediocre and we won both with late goals. I know we then lost 4 in a row pretty soon after that, but I think scraping through those games and getting 6 points from them really gave the players belief. This was obviously early on with Martins style of play that everyone was learning, but just getting points on the board and a couple of wins must’ve done a world of good to the players confidence after a relegation season the year before. If we lose to Wrexham and Ipswich I can see the fans getting annoyed quickly (same as Nathan Jones time here) and the players confidence remaining low for however long it takes to pick them up again. Sure we should have the talent in the squad to be winning games consistently at this level, and even if we lose the opening few games whilst everything is settling we could still go on a playoff run, just think it’s so important to get that first win early and release some of the negativity from last season.
Yeah, just a bit worrying. From the little I have seen of Still, I really am not keen. Every pre season performance has been woeful and player selections seem poor as well. Admittedly, it is very early on so I am in no way going to form a judgement based off a month or so of pre-season. Hopefully a few incomings help him out because things need to improve sooner rather than later.
What I am pleased about is that we seem to finally recognise physical attributes are key to long term progress. Signing bigger, stronger, faster players is a really important change and should lead to some success!
Feels like Sugawara will be on his way and although I think he would be good in the championship, can’t say I’m hugely disappointed and a new right back with a bit of pace would be welcome.
To finish top 6 you can get away with dodgy performances and being mid table at Christmas. The key thing is knowing your best team in time for the playoffs. It’s a bit annoying that, say, Stephens is ahead of Edwards, but, over the season the best players will come to the fore, and those not good enough will be replaced. As always it depends on how good the manager is. At the moment we just don’t know. So until we do, there’s no point being too negative or positive.
It really might be that he’s using Sugawara to help tutor Matsuki. They’ve always been picked together during preseason.
Pleased im not watching this afternoon. Matsuki, Edwards & Robinsons were some of the only players I was looking forward to watch.
But it says an awful lot that, with our vast resources at this level, we are talking about being able to stay close and push for play offs. We should be striving for top 2 as the target, and play offs as a disappointing back up, especially with Leicester facing a deduction.
So presumably Bazunu Bree/Edwards Stephens/Edwards/THB Quarshie/THB Manning Charles Downes Fernandes Armstrong Archer/Downs BBD/Archer Aribo, Fraser, Edozie, Smallbone and Taylor all in contention off the bench as well. Does show how massive the squad is! Suspect in the case of Robinson, Sugawara etc it was more a case of giving them a full 90 as opposed to 45 mins or whatever?
Some of them will be involved, just didn't want to have too many players sat on the bench and getting less than 45 mins as a result, apparently
Well yeah, obviously that’s the aim. Winning every single game is the aim. But in reality there are a bunch of other teams with the same target. Also we have a new manager and what will be largely a new squad. There will be bumps along the way.
Fair enough, I was going today if anyone had heard of an extra game being played this weekend to get everyone good minutes. first we’ve seen of Bragg and Alachukwu being around the senior team
Said it a few times I think a good start is massively important for Still given how impatient fans are nowadays and that the fan base is still carrying last season's hangover. Fixtures really haven't been too kind either: Big banana skin potential in Wrexham Possibly our toughest fixture of the entire season in Ipswich Then two matches we really should be winning in Stoke/Watford And then of course the skates... If we have a rough start in those first four then that Pompey game becomes almost season defining for Still as sadly plenty of people would definitely turn on him if he didn't win it.
