Versus FC Utrecht

[Quasar]

1-0 down...but how are we playing

[Charnwood]

1-1 result. Last min penalty from McGoldrick.

[BLUEBLOOD]

1-0 down...but how are we playing

1st half left to right
2nd half right to left

[Charnwood]

1-0 down...but how are we playing

1st half left to right
2nd half right to left

Or

First half right to left & 2nd half left to right...

It all depends which stand you were in!

[hallamblue]

Very underwhelmed tbh. Mick hadnt played a recognised first 11 in any if the pre season games. Todays game was another one that lacked cohesion and continuity. I knowtit's pre season , but combinations and understandings need to be honed surely in these games?

bright points?

1. First half Bishop looked bright
2. Emmanual, at Right Back - comfortable on the ball, soild defender, and great at getting forwards on the overlap.

second half.

1. Jonas looks to be a definate unearthed gem. He's aggressive in attack, soild uncompromising in his tackling, and has an awesome shot on him and long throw in. £350k?? An absolute bloody steal!

2. Bru looks class when he came on.

3. McGoldrick starting to look like his old self. Will he sign a new contract? I doubt it.


overall today, we lacked any kind of kille, clinial finishing. We sat very deep for most ifbthe game. After the visitors scored, we simply coukdnt getbthe ball off them. A classice example of patidnt, chess like oassing by the Dutch team, which at times was at walking pace , literally. I was in danger of falling a sleep tbh .

We sat so deep , that we never pressed them for the ball. Players not wanting to get injured for the big ko in a weeks time?

[Quasar]

Not too bad then

[Andym]

Very underwhelmed tbh. Mick hadnt played a recognised first 11 in any if the pre season games. Todays game was another one that lacked cohesion and continuity. I knowtit's pre season , but combinations and understandings need to be honed surely in these games?

bright points?

1. First half Bishop looked bright
2. Emmanual, at Right Back - comfortable on the ball, soild defender, and great at getting forwards on the overlap.

second half.

1. Jonas looks to be a definate unearthed gem. He's aggressive in attack, soild uncompromising in his tackling, and has an awesome shot on him and long throw in. £350k?? An absolute bloody steal!

2. Bru looks class when he came on.

3. McGoldrick starting to look like his old self. Will he sign a new contract? I doubt it.


overall today, we lacked any kind of kille, clinial finishing. We sat very deep for most ifbthe game. After the visitors scored, we simply coukdnt getbthe ball off them. A classice example of patidnt, chess like oassing by the Dutch team, which at times was at walking pace , literally. I was in danger of falling a sleep tbh .

We sat so deep , that we never pressed them for the ball. Players not wanting to get injured for the big ko in a weeks time?

I agree with most of this. Bru was one of few bright spots as he injected a but if urgency and the ability to play a quick ball. McGoldrick does look much sharper and it was a wonderful run that led to the penalty, but he and Bishop would do well to occasionally release the ball sooner. A poor performance which was just a training exercise, most players hardly bresking a sweat. A week before kick off I had hoped to see a better performance. The ease with which our defence was carved open on a few occasions was particularly worrying.

[Bluemike]

Pretty much as Hallam & Andy have said to be honest. It has been a pretty underwhelming pre season schedule in truth, I understand the early games being experimental and a fitness thing but I at least expected the last Two games to see us go with what we regard as our recognised starting 11, it was close yesterday and due to Berra not being available next week and Parr carrying a knock I suppose we were limited in that department.

There wasn't an awful lot to get excited about but Teddy Bishop shone in the first half while the new lad Knudsen looks the part, Liz has summed him up pretty well, his throws are going to be something else, any throw down the opponents penalty area will be like another corner to us and will no doubt create opportunities, he clearly likes to get stuck in too and his overlaps caused problems for the defence, very impressed with the early signs.

As critical as I have been where Didsy is concerned I have to say that he has really impressed me in the last two friendlies and looks much more like the player who was being chased by Leicester, if he can stay fit and maintain his levels of performance it will be like aanother massive new signing, I thought we had seen the last of him in a Town shirt and will be happy to be proved wrong, when it all starts to click we will have so many options going forward, from what I have seen of us in pre season it is Maitland-Niles & Fraser who hold the key for us this season, if they can get the supply right down the wings we will have a great season.


The results of our pre season will not have anyone bigging us up and maybe that is a good thing, MM clearly isn't concerned and neither should we be, it all starts for real next Saturday when players will start putting their bodies on the line as opposed to going through a fitness exercise which is what we witnessed yesterday, we have the manager, the talent and the squad depth, lets go out and do it. Brentford here we come.

[hallamblue]

There is no doubt that we have an attacking option in the squad to be envied..It is without doubt our major strength now. Conversely our defence , which been our major strength (when Mick first took control) now looks decidedly shoddy, limited in options and suspect at best. This is a remarkable indicator of just how far the squad has developed under McCarthy in a relatively short time that a once strong point ( our defence) can now be so overshadowed. IMO the defence unless added to more, will be our major stumbling block to promotion.

For me areas needing changes are.

1. GK. Neither are good enough
2. Right back. Chambo is wasted there and does not "fit" with the teams growing ability to counter attack.
3. CB pairing is currently weak. Sorry but Smith has to be replaced. He's too one dimensional and is the main "hoofer" in the team. We need a CB that can do more than just header and hoof.

Question. Is Parr good enough? He looks likely to miss out on left back now as we appear to once again have the best left back in the division. Will he stay if he has been displaced yet again. Is he becoming a bit of a sick note?

[Bluemike]

I am not sure the defence is our weak link, we just need to get the main Four together and fit at the same time, we do have options here now too. From my point of view I can see Parr being played at RB when fit and to be honest when we played him there before he looked better than he has done at LB. I think Parr...Chambers....Berra....Knudsen would be very strong, we also have Smith to bring into the equation and whatever we all think MM will use him at CB, it is down to Smith as to how much he plays, if he does not do it then the line up above will possibly be used, if he does do it then Chambers will again be an option at RB where to be honest I am not as anti this as many seem to be, he has improved over the last year and in my view as many goals came down Ming's side as they did Chambo's, we will also see the emergence of Josh Emmanuel & Josh Yerworth as the season progresses, in fact if Parr is out next Saturday then Emmanuel will get a very early taste of Championship action.

The goalkeeping situation is a bit of a conundrum, I really cannot make up my mind who I prefer, again yesterday Bart did a couple of good things and a couple of poor things, Gerks will always get more stick than bart as he is one of the scapegoats when things go wrong but there are parts of his game that are definitely better than Barts, I think they are both solid without being spectacular, would I like another keeper to be signed, Yes but it aint going to happen, that much is defin ite as MM feels he has Two very good number 1's so that is that, the defence will have to cut out the silly lapses and protect whoever is between the sticks that much better.

As for Knudsen being the best LB in the divison already, that remains to be seen LOL, far far too early.

[herforder]

Agree with most of the above - one thing for certain is that Tabb isn't a LB! However, for a 'friendly', I actually quite enjoyed the match, and saw glimpses of what might be in the second half. I would say that Didsy is a nailed on certainty to start at Brentford - just like Tabby, he's different class! I think there might be more to the Parr story than we are being made privy to.

But, whoever starts on Sat, we need to get much closer to opposition wide men; move the ball faster out of defence and hit our own wide players earlier - I felt we were caught a bit in transition, between last season's style of play, and realising that we now have pace and width. Need to copy what Utrecht did yesterday in that respect. But all is good!

[hallamblue]

Im picking up a little undercurrent regarding Parr as well. I thought MM post match comments were interesting when he said something along the lines of ...."Parr 's got a thigh strain or something....perhaps he'll be feeling better now he's just seen that (Jonas) debut".