26-07-2018, 14:10
Negatives:
We were pretty shocking in the first half really, and also at the start of the second, we woke up from roughly the hour mark and the last half hour was very positive. They could and probably should have been at least 3 up at half time - they carved us open at will and had 2 other one on ones before finally scoring in the 2nd half. Very concerning how easy they cut through us when countering with pace. Diakhaby could be both a positive and a negative really - first impressions would be that he's similar to VLP, where VLP has trickery Diakhaby has pace to get into really good positions, but his decision making and execution when in said position was off.
Positives:
Sabiri looked decent, much more physical than I expected in the middle of the park and a few decent passes too (definitely need Hogg/Williams in there though to avoid being cut open so easily). Flo and Smith both had good games down the right, pushing on and causing problems on the overlap. VLP looked good - very positive on and off the ball and ran himself into a couple of positions where he was unlucky in the end. Pritchard is a class act - said when we signed him last year we didn't use him enough but he's seen plenty of the ball this pre-season, his set pieces were also good. Mounie played very well but once again wasn't given the service he needs, one decent ball and he nearly scored with a good header. Depoitre as bright as ever and took his 2 goals very well. Hamer MOTM and definitely offers genuine competition for Lossl.
We were pretty shocking in the first half really, and also at the start of the second, we woke up from roughly the hour mark and the last half hour was very positive. They could and probably should have been at least 3 up at half time - they carved us open at will and had 2 other one on ones before finally scoring in the 2nd half. Very concerning how easy they cut through us when countering with pace. Diakhaby could be both a positive and a negative really - first impressions would be that he's similar to VLP, where VLP has trickery Diakhaby has pace to get into really good positions, but his decision making and execution when in said position was off.
Positives:
Sabiri looked decent, much more physical than I expected in the middle of the park and a few decent passes too (definitely need Hogg/Williams in there though to avoid being cut open so easily). Flo and Smith both had good games down the right, pushing on and causing problems on the overlap. VLP looked good - very positive on and off the ball and ran himself into a couple of positions where he was unlucky in the end. Pritchard is a class act - said when we signed him last year we didn't use him enough but he's seen plenty of the ball this pre-season, his set pieces were also good. Mounie played very well but once again wasn't given the service he needs, one decent ball and he nearly scored with a good header. Depoitre as bright as ever and took his 2 goals very well. Hamer MOTM and definitely offers genuine competition for Lossl.