Team v Swindon

As Bright kept saying, this was all about getting minutes in the legs and practising what the manager has been drilling into them during the week. Apparently, it's been an intense week with everything being done at speed (even the water breaks were only a minute). Lots of practice at [passing forward through the lines. Did it show in the game? First half not really as we didn't get control of the game often enough but much better second half with some neat interplay (also a number of misplaced passes).

Who looked good?

First half - no-one was that good although Eddie did well for his 2 goals. Hughes and, for the most part Ozoh, looked ok as did Mingueza. Adamarola was poor IMO and JRS and Esse ineffective. The 2 Academy defenders didn't disgrace themselves. Mitchell seemed to be AWOL.

Second Half - França looked lively and showed good composure for his goals. Good to see Doucoure getting stuck in. Drakes-Thomas did well as did Benamar. Their link up play was generally good. Canvot looked confident,; Devenny was sloppy to start with but improved. The others, apart from Johnson were ok.

As for Johnson - sorry but as has already been said - even worse than last year.

Well that's my take. I'll leave others to agree or disagree.

BTW, Wharton's absence was because of slight ankle knock
 
doombear said:
As Bright kept saying, this was all about getting minutes in the legs and practising what the manager has been drilling into them during the week. Apparently, it's been an intense week with everything being done at speed (even the water breaks were only a minute). Lots of practice at [passing forward through the lines. Did it show in the game? First half not really as we didn't get control of the game often enough but much better second half with some neat interplay (also a number of misplaced passes).

Who looked good?

First half - no-one was that good although Eddie did well for his 2 goals. Hughes and, for the most part Ozoh, looked ok as did Mingueza. Adamarola was poor IMO and JRS and Esse ineffective. The 2 Academy defenders didn't disgrace themselves. Mitchell seemed to be AWOL.

Second Half - França looked lively and showed good composure for his goals. Good to see Doucoure getting stuck in. Drakes-Thomas did well as did Benamar. Their link up play was generally good. Canvot looked confident,; Devenny was sloppy to start with but improved. The others, apart from Johnson were ok.

As for Johnson - sorry but as has already been said - even worse than last year.

Well that's my take. I'll leave others to agree or disagree.

BTW, Wharton's absence was because of slight ankle knock
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Good to hear about Drakes-Thomas; hope we see more of him in the future although we're not short of right sided players. How did Rio Cardines go?
 
Teddy Eagle said:
Good to hear about Drakes-Thomas; hope we see more of him in the future although we're not short of right sided players. How did Rio Cardines go?
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Difficult to say as he had to split the 2nd half at RWB with Imray so they only got 20 minutes or so each. What I will say is that Imray was more visible (to me at least) than Cardines but I don't think the latter did badly. MIngueza was RWB 1st half.
 
I’m trying not to be to negative due to it being first game but my goodness passing and especially at the back was abysmal. Could easily have been 3:2 down at half time as first half team much poorer than second half team. That might also be down to Swindon 11 poorer in second half? Trying to think of anyone that came out of this game with positivity, perhaps Franca? Others all guilty of bad passes and lack of control at times. All that said, it was a first friendly of season and we won 5:1 🙂
 
OneStevePerrin said:
I’m trying not to be to negative due to it being first game but my goodness passing and especially at the back was abysmal. Could easily have been 3:2 down at half time as first half team much poorer than second half team. That might also be down to Swindon 11 poorer in second half? Trying to think of anyone that came out of this game with positivity, perhaps Franca? Others all guilty of bad passes and lack of control at times. All that said, it was a first friendly of season and we won 5:1 🙂
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Thats our 1st game with only 1 of our recognised centre backs available, it is a game thats all about minutes in the legs rather than performances. Hence a fair few square pegs out there that we'll never ever see in a competitive game
 
These 'games' are usually little more than training sessions. In days gone by we probably wouldn't even have known it took place. Still, interesting to see what shape he went with. I'd imagine that might tell us something.
 
In his post match interview Sage said of the players used today 'only 5 or 6' would be used in the first team this season.

There's a danger in taking this too literally, but my calculation they would definitely include Canvot, Mingueza, Mitchell, Hughes and Johnson.
That leaves question marks over the likes of Nketiah, Franca, Esse,Ozoh, JRS, Sosa and Doucoure, some of whom have been linked with moves away.
 
PatrickA said:
In his post match interview Sage said of the players used today 'only 5 or 6' would be used in the first team this season.

There's a danger in taking this too literally, but my calculation they would definitely include Canvot, Mingueza, Mitchell, Hughes and Johnson.
That leaves question marks over the likes of Nketiah, Franca, Esse,Ozoh, JRS, Sosa and Doucoure, some of whom have been linked with moves away.
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That looks right although if he's fit enough Doucoure could replace Hughes. If he carries on the way he's started Franca could get in too. Johnson's place must be looking a bit shaky while the window is still open.
At least the bench is getting a bit stronger.
 
Thought Ozoh and Adaramola were dire, Nketiah looked lively, Franca looked lively, Doucoure was very solid and showed his class on the ball, Hughes controlled the first half with some very clever balls, Mingueza was average, Drakes Thomas looked class, Esse was decent, Imray good, Brennan Johnson absolutely terrible and I don't think he made one accurate pass and none of it matters in the slightest but great to be watching proper football again.
 
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