I tell you what, injury issues and potential outgoings aside, the match demonstrates just how badly we missed the trick of signing Moutinho. We are crying out for a quality creative midfielder - a midfield 3 of Paulinho, Dembele and Sandro is all well and good but if the battering ram approach fails then what? Amazing how a friendly against a decent side shows just how many holes we still have to fill.
Presumably this is a long way from our starting 11 against Palace which doesn't leave a lot of time for the team to prepare.
Plus AVB doesn't just buy and chuck them into the first team. If he does what he did with Lloris then expect bedding in time - perhaps some cup games before they fully break into the first team. I'm ok with that I suppose - chucking half a new team together and then expecting them to gel instantly is a huge ask.
Well done Harry. Actually been our shining light this match. Would've done his confidence some good too.
Let's hope Levy is watching very, very carefully. Lesson No.1 - don't take to the field with no defenders and expect to be able to play football.
Just noticed that Chadli was deployed more centrally and Siggy left wing... Very odd seeing as both players natural positions are the ones the other was playing in. Townsend on for Chadli by the way.
Having watched him in the Confederations Cup, I can think of a couple of reasons - he's slower than Neptune's orbit of the sun, and his tackles are so late he connects on a player who wasn't there when he made the tackle ten minutes ago. ITV's assertion we were playing "two midfielders" at the back implies they obviously never watched Sunderland last season.
is this the balanced proper squad we have when we sell our star players, no wonder fans are excited about the season.
I know it's only a friendly but it's still annoying that we put out a team like that especially the centre of our defence. Against Falcao that was always going to happen. All I can say is Baldini and co better have a central defender or 2 lined up or we are in trouble!!
Reports say the Chiriches deal has collapsed which is a big worry. Seems like we were expecting his signature which is why Caulker was allowed to go, but now the Steaua president has supposedly broken the deal off at least for the time being. Doria of Botafogo MUST be considered in my opinion, this lad has a massive future. With Baldini's knowledge of Brazil, I'd like to think he's had a look at the lad.