Well if he isnt I'd really want to ask why he is helping other these people get fit and showcase their talents rather than giving his own players an important warm up session? If he isnt thinking of signing them then it's bad management. Seriously.
It was the usual messy pre-season game. Koren and Chester looked by far our best players. Stewart looks exactly the same as last season(scared ****less) at one point Cooper screamed to him 'just ****ing run round them'. Mclean really didn't look good enough to play for Rochdale, never mind us, ditto East, who was terrible. Townsend looked great when he came on, decent on the ball, strong in the tackle, vocal, I was very impressed. Cooper looked twice as good as Bruce when he replaced him, he'd be an absolutely pointless signing. Prossy is a bit Crouchlike and though he did miss a sitter, he looks like he'll be a handful.
Maybe SB likes two players for every position and thinks I've got a failed centre forward, poor first touch, cant score playing RM who can i get to copy that??
Worrying that Stewart appears to be continuing with his form from last season. Hope he can get out of this dip in form soon.
Im not too worried about Stewart, he didnt do any worse than the rest, the team performance lacked fluidity and to be fair he seemed to get doubled up on a lot today. I was very impressed with devitt, always looked to make himself available and was very tidy
Totally agree surely he should be giving players he thinks will be in first team squad match practice instead of people who are training with us to keep fit while looking for another club, it doesnt make sense.
Have to agree with Bum_Chinned_Crab and others that playing ***an and Hughes isn't any use to us at all. I just hope it isn't because we are going to sign them. Like Party I didn't mind him when he was with us but we wouldn't want to sign him a third time would we?
lets just call it 'an absolute sitter' then. i thought he did very well, by coincidence perhaps, until he missed that. i wonder if we will see mark cullen again, and he knew it at the end refusing to shake opposition hands in an obvious strop!!
after today it was blatentley obvious in playing the likes of ***an and hughes that we are incredibly threadbare in good squad players. how long before nicky barmby is back and playing!!!!
Was an alright game to be honest! Second half was a bit of a mismatch because of all the subsitutions. Anyone care to tell me what happened with Cullen at the end? This is news to me. Also to weigh in on Proschwitz; other than the missed opportunity I was pretty impressed with the lad! His movement was cracking and he obviously wants to play the best he can because the first sign of an error and he was fuming at himself. BUT for me there was only one standout player for city (and a lot will probably disagree with me)... I thought Paul McKenna was absolutely terrific yet again. HAS to be playing first game of the season. Just a few more points. 1. The pies inside the ground were FANTASTIC. 2. I think someone on here was being a bit naughty chanting "Barmby Army"... anyone care to own up? 3. We need a chippy right outside the ground. Simple. 4. Was nice seeing some other Not606ers on the train home!
With regards to bringing in another winger, if we can't get Elmohamady, Liam Lawrence would be a good cheap option - I know he's injury prone, but despite this, he finished last season with 11 assists - Koren was our highest assister last season with 7, then Cairney with 5 - puts it into perspective. Would love us to stump up the cash for Chris Burke or Elmohamady though.
Was it anyone here who did the Barmby Army and the Fish Out! Dolan Out chant! Talk about blasts from the past I thought Townsend was excellent as it happens, but ***an, McLean and Stewart didn't convince me (although Stewart clearly is a confidence issue.) A shame Aluko didn't get more time on the ball, I was looking forward to seeing him.
I agree Townsend looked good when he came on. Looked like he could overlap with the winger well. Cam looks very short of confidence. Always stopping the ball rather than knocking it and running past the defenders.. Proz looked good though didn't win many route one headers. Shame we seemed to hit it up to him way more than was useful. Aluko had way more about him on the wing than cam did.
Thanks OLM that sums up everything very well, it's a pity HDF don't give as clear assessment of a game like that.
Yes it was good to talk to a fellow Not606'er on the way home According to Phil Buckingham he thinks that SB is contemplating whether to offer ***an a short-term deal. Koren was impressive today. His shot should have been saved by the keeper, he parried it into his own net. I was pleased with what I saw from Proschwitz. His hold-up play was good unfortunatly he missed a sitter but he nearly scored a volley with the side of his foot in the second half. Cooper looked tidy to me should be ahead of Bruce in the pecking order but I doubt that will be the case. Stewart looked poor which is a huge shame but hopefully he'll get better in the upcoming weeks. Any idea why Dudgeon was playing RB?
I was sat behind the Barmby Army lad, he was trying to make a point by getting it on the recording that was going on behind us, I don't know him but I see him at almost all aways. After ***an and Hughes came on, he was calling for all sorts of old players to come on, we even had a Stuart Pearson chant at one point and a Waggy, Waggy, Waggy chant. I forgot to mention Amos, I was quite impressed, I'll be amazed if he's not our No.1 this season.
