I was expecting to see the fancy new dugouts tonight. Have to wait for the Bristol Rovers game I suppose. I arrived with about 20 minutes to spare but I found it chaotic outside with Lisa Squires wandering about with a fistful of tickets selling them to random people for cash money, this helped with the queue for the box office, then there was an incomprehensible announcement about numbers 17-20 or something. When I first encountered the general melee the CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER Tony Keohane was outside observing the operation that HE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR. I assume that Tony Keohane came up with the idea of club staff wandering random queues with fistfuls of tickets taking cash money, and this Keohane innovation will now be a regular feature. People near to me were sceptical that that the tickets from the wandering sellers were actually genuine. Tony Keohane knows best, and reports I have heard that he has previously had to apologise to co-workers for being a bully are surely exaggerated, he is a man to take responsibility after all isn't he? Tony Keohane would not blame the scenes tonight on others, but man up and take responsibility.
There was some kind of big deal thing going on with people in front of the stand at half time, but whatever was being said I found inaudible, as was the substitute announcements, as was the colour contrast on the big screen (and font size) when trying to see the names of the players. Whatever Brian Cole was saying was undermined by the technology, but also undermined by his lack of skill in making clear announcements. Enunciation pace and diction is nothing to do with being posh, but everything to do with clarity of communication. I think that even with a properly functioning PA system Brian Cole is a failure vocally. if there had been an emergency at the ground this evening I dread to think what would have happened because communication generally was sub standard. Maybe the head of communications Tom Rubashow could sort it, or maybe it is a safety issue and somebody else's responsibility. My advice is to test the system, get people with clear speaking voices, and have a plan to deal with getting in and getting out of the stadium safely.
Phillips made a couple of good saves. No chance with either. Dijksteel was the standout player, playing out of position. Destroyed Murphy 3 times by turning inside. Barnes was a little at sea on the left against a good winger and will learn from it. Got better as the game went on and more than capable as Solly's understudy. Sarr was solid. Some good passes. Gave the ball away for their second but out back 4 were all over the place as Norwich had 3 quick free kicks prior to the goal in quick succession.
The ref was poor. Didn't let the game flow at all.
A good run out against a decent Norwich side who should finish in the top half of the league above this season. We are still a long way off from Bristol Rovers. We need a new keeper to compete with Phillips, another CB as we only have 3 if you don't include Lennon who has been out for almost 12 months. Another winger, maybe even 2 if Marshall is out long term and another striker. Ideally someone who will actually score some goals. Ipswich will be interesting as the squad will no doubt be stronger but we have no depth to our name.
BTW anyone who was there is a real fan, the rest of you are plastics
I looked to fly over just for this match then return by the closest flight got me in at 21:20.
Oh well, I'll try for one day turnaround against Ipswich on Saturday. Can't miss a home pre-season friendly. This commute is really going to wear on me though...
Very impressed with Dijikstel, Sarr, Fosu & Clarke - I've finally found out what a no.10 does....and he does it pretty well. Barnes looked all at sea in the first half but mainly because he was up against a good winger & has only played U23's level & not Championship.
I thought we looked the better team for 60 mins, but their 2nd goal killed us, and then with substitutions disrupting play & then losing our creative players in Holmes & Fosu made the last 15-20 mins pretty average. Wasn't that impressed with KAG or Hackett Henry Irving Lovechild, but then they only had less than 10 mins & as said above, the game was over by then.
I think, as most poster have mentioned, that I am still concerned about where the bl***y goals are going to come from. Lots of very good one touch footie, but once we get to the oppositions box we don't seem to know what to do. Holmes, Fosu & JFC will all try to shoot, but if their path is blocked then we have no other outlet. Our crossing is still woeful & if we do get the ball in the box there is no-one there to finish it off.
Summary: work in progress - 7/10 but with a decent striker & a proven goalkeeper (not that Phillips did anything wrong, but if he gets injured on Saturday.........) then an 8/10 could be achieved.
Unbelievable! Coming out the ground tonight. Three blokes slagging off Clarke! Typical of some of our fans! GIVE THEM A CHANCE!!!!
There's always a fall guy early on and I fear Clarke may become that guy
FYI - I agree with you about giving him a chance, just commenting on what I've picked up across twitter etc
Not to quote myself but....
Okay I'm too lazy to look up what exactly I said. But I'm pretty sure it was after the first game in Ireland I said Clarke would be a Marmite player. I don't think he's bad, and I think he could be useful with his movement and his running at defenses in the last 20 minutes of a game when defenses tire, but I don't know that he has the end product to be a regular starter.
Also, there's talk on upgrading various positions and players, but Novak and Crofts are usually the names thrown around. I don't particularly rate either of them as individuals. But I think we would be really hard pressed to drastically improve on either given their roles in the squad in this league.
Crofts is probably our fourth choice central midfielder, and I'm glad to hear Dijksteel had a good game, I thought he looked good in Ireland and the last few minutes against Dover. I hope he and RCC put pressure on Crofts in that role. On his bad days Crofts looks nowhere near mobile enough, not technically gifted, and gives the ball away cheaply. But on his better days, against Dover in the second half for example, he breaks up play and starts attacks. I think we'll struggle to find a player who is a huge upgrade on hi,, and I think our best bet is hoping that Dijksteel is ready to make the step up to fourth choice central midfielder.
Regarding Novak, he has scored goals in this league, and he had the reputation of working hard before he came to us. He showed neither last season. But he's big and at least at one point was mobile, the type who can, at least in theory, play the lone forward role. Again, I struggle to see where we would go to make a huge improvement on him. I feel like any player with the technique and athleticism required to play that role would be able to go to a club at a higher level. To me the best option would probably be a youngster from a big club (I think I've mentioned David Faupala of Manchester City before).
Right now we're in a comparatively good position where it's not just that we need bodies, but we need players of a certain quality.
Just a few thoughts! Had we just signed Sarr, people would be raving about him. In terms of Dijikstel, seeing him play in a few youth games, he stood out as something special.
In relation to Novak. I don't see the point of a big player if they are not dominant in the same way Magennis is. But Novak has scored goals and played at a higher level, and if I was his manager, I would like to know what has changed.
There was some kind of big deal thing going on with people in front of the stand at half time, but whatever was being said I found inaudible, as was the substitute announcements, as was the colour contrast on the big screen (and font size) when trying to see the names of the players. Whatever Brian Cole was saying was undermined by the technology, but also undermined by his lack of skill in making clear announcements. Enunciation pace and diction is nothing to do with being posh, but everything to do with clarity of communication. I think that even with a properly functioning PA system Brian Cole is a failure vocally. if there had been an emergency at the ground this evening I dread to think what would have happened because communication generally was sub standard. Maybe the head of communications Tom Rubashow could sort it, or maybe it is a safety issue and somebody else's responsibility. My advice is to test the system, get people with clear speaking voices, and have a plan to deal with getting in and getting out of the stadium safely.
Phillips 6 nothing wrong with the goals, alert and quick distribution. Dijksteel 8.5 Welcome to first team football. A star in the making. Gangly, strong, fast, determined. Not to mention played out of position! Probably my man of the match. Got caught a few times but there's now a lot of fans who have seen him and will be excited. Bauer 7 Pretty solid but should have scored with his header Sarr 8 Really good. His distribution is very good and looked calm and assured. Likely to surprise a few this season Barnes 6 Got caught out a few times by their winger (who tbf cost more than our team) but I've seen him cynically grab someone who has beaten him 4 times in pre season so is going to pick up a lot of bookings until he eradicates that. Fosu 7 Tricky but kind of on the periphery of things. Still think he'll prove to be a great signing. Crofts 5 Can be great at breaking up play but his passing is just not good enough. This season is likely to see him on the bench and coming on to shore things up for the last 20-30 mins I think Forster-Caskey 7.5 Tidy. Effective. Looks to be the one that can unlock the door - if he can stay fit Holmes 6.5 Get your head down and work hard sunshine. You had a great season, have been subject to loads of media attention but don't take your eye off the ball. Not seen much to write home about in pre season yet. Not convinced he looked after himself sufficiently before pre season.... Clarke 6 Best I've seen of him...but still not much to get excited about. Some nice twists and turns but little end product Magennis 7 Lonely up top on your own. One classic Josh moment where he chased down his own flick-on but his cross wasn't good enough. Best ive seen in pre season from him which is understandable as he was a couple of weeks behind. We definitely need another striker because he isn't prolific enough yet
Charles-Cook 7 Mr utility was in all sorts of positions and did what he does. Lots of pace, brave, wins the ball back. Up until this season I've not really "got" him but now I do. Bundles of energy too. I like him a lot after pre season. Lovely chap too
others subs 6
Reeco had a decent shot late on but all i've seen him do so far is score a couple of goals. Literally nothing memorable bar goals - not a bad trait tbf. One impressive display of his pace last night as he tried to recover a ball he'd lost. Looks like he needs to fill out a bit as he's very wiry. Novak - Meh Couple of lay-offs and knock downs. Needs minutes.
That's all I can think of really. Not disheartened to be honest - lots of regulars didn't play and it was a decent run-out. We won't come up against many teams as strong as Norwich and we held our own for large periods. Some lovely football. Much better than the dross of the last couple of season but goals still appear to be a problem.
Can only echo what others have said about Dijksteel - really hope he gets a look-in in the the first team when the season starts. He's got both the intelligence and the strength to make it at this level.
Playing Barnes at left-back was tough on him. He was skinned a number of times in the first half, though he did do rather better in the second.
Don't get the logic of playing Crofts for the whole game (that sentence could probably have ended after 'Crofts').
Clarke's an interesting one. At times he was dropping very deep, which means that Magennis is isolated as he was so often last season. There were some nice touches from him, but he also misplaced a number of lay-offs and was shrugged off the ball a few times. Got visibly and audibly frustrated later on. Don't think he'll score too many this season, so I'm not sure where the goals are going to come from.
As for Sarr - a couple of nice passes do not a defender make. I though he was caught out for their second when the winger nipped in ahead of him and laid it across for Naismith, but that may be unfair. Our defending from corners was a bit wobbly, and that's surely his (and Bauer's) domain. I assume two of Bauer/Pearce/Konsa will be our first choice partnership.
Having read the rave reviews of Fosu at Stevenage, I was a tad disappointed with him tonight, but all wingers blow hot and cold I suppose. Stewart didn't take the brief chance he had either when he came on.
Overall we had nothing to feel embarrassed about, but the lack of firepower is a big worry and we don't seem to be a particularly physically strong team either. In League 1, that can take you quite a long way.
Can only echo what others have said about Dijksteel - really hope he gets a look-in in the the first team when the season starts. He's got both the intelligence and the strength to make it at this level.
Playing Barnes at left-back was tough on him. He was skinned a number of times in the first half, though he did do rather better in the second.
Don't get the logic of playing Crofts for the whole game (that sentence could probably have ended after 'Crofts').
Clarke's an interesting one. At times he was dropping very deep, which means that Magennis is isolated as he was so often last season. There were some nice touches from him, but he also misplaced a number of lay-offs and was shrugged off the ball a few times. Got visibly and audibly frustrated later on. Don't think he'll score too many this season, so I'm not sure where the goals are going to come from.
As for Sarr - a couple of nice passes do not a defender make. I though he was caught out for their second when the winger nipped in ahead of him and laid it across for Naismith, but that may be unfair. Our defending from corners was a bit wobbly, and that's surely his (and Bauer's) domain. I assume two of Bauer/Pearce/Konsa will be our first choice partnership.
Having read the rave reviews of Fosu at Stevenage, I was a tad disappointed with him tonight, but all wingers blow hot and cold I suppose. Stewart didn't take the brief chance he had either when he came on.
Overall we had nothing to feel embarrassed about, but the lack of firepower is a big worry and we don't seem to be a particularly physically strong team either. In League 1, that can take you quite a long way.
Phillips 6 nothing wrong with the goals, alert and quick distribution. Dijksteel 8.5 Welcome to first team football. A star in the making. Gangly, strong, fast, determined. Not to mention played out of position! Probably my man of the match. Got caught a few times but there's now a lot of fans who have seen him and will be excited. Bauer 7 Pretty solid but should have scored with his header Sarr 8 Really good. His distribution is very good and looked calm and assured. Likely to surprise a few this season Barnes 6 Got caught out a few times by their winger (who tbf cost more than our team) but I've seen him cynically grab someone who has beaten him 4 times in pre season so is going to pick up a lot of bookings until he eradicates that. Fosu 7 Tricky but kind of on the periphery of things. Still think he'll prove to be a great signing. Crofts 5 Can be great at breaking up play but his passing is just not good enough. This season is likely to see him on the bench and coming on to shore things up for the last 20-30 mins I think Forster-Caskey 7.5 Tidy. Effective. Looks to be the one that can unlock the door - if he can stay fit Holmes 6.5 Get your head down and work hard sunshine. You had a great season, have been subject to loads of media attention but don't take your eye off the ball. Not seen much to write home about in pre season yet. Not convinced he looked after himself sufficiently before pre season.... Clarke 6 Best I've seen of him...but still not much to get excited about. Some nice twists and turns but little end product Magennis 7 Lonely up top on your own. One classic Josh moment where he chased down his own flick-on but his cross wasn't good enough. Best ive seen in pre season from him which is understandable as he was a couple of weeks behind. We definitely need another striker because he isn't prolific enough yet
Charles-Cook 7 Mr utility was in all sorts of positions and did what he does. Lots of pace, brave, wins the ball back. Up until this season I've not really "got" him but now I do. Bundles of energy too. I like him a lot after pre season. Lovely chap too
others subs 6
Reeco had a decent shot late on but all i've seen him do so far is score a couple of goals. Literally nothing memorable bar goals - not a bad trait tbf. One impressive display of his pace last night as he tried to recover a ball he'd lost. Looks like he needs to fill out a bit as he's very wiry. Novak - Meh Couple of lay-offs and knock downs. Needs minutes.
That's all I can think of really. Not disheartened to be honest - lots of regulars didn't play and it was a decent run-out. We won't come up against many teams as strong as Norwich and we held our own for large periods. Some lovely football. Much better than the dross of the last couple of season but goals still appear to be a problem.
I think your last 7 words sum up why I'm nervous about Sarr. He has demonstrated in every game I've seen that he has two or three mistakes a game in him and when we're not prolific the other end, that's ultimately going to cost us points.
Before Saturday the club need to arrange to employ staff to sell tickets and to open North Lower. The club need to fix and test the PA System. The club need to get an announcer that can announce and for announcements generally to be crystal clear, and if for crowd management or safety reasons the announcements need to be thought through properly and repeated. There were about 2.5k people in last night and if there were something like 3.5k in on Saturday the club can't run things as they did yesterday. It was unsafe.
Phillips 6 nothing wrong with the goals, alert and quick distribution. Dijksteel 8.5 Welcome to first team football. A star in the making. Gangly, strong, fast, determined. Not to mention played out of position! Probably my man of the match. Got caught a few times but there's now a lot of fans who have seen him and will be excited. Bauer 7 Pretty solid but should have scored with his header Sarr 8 Really good. His distribution is very good and looked calm and assured. Likely to surprise a few this season Barnes 6 Got caught out a few times by their winger (who tbf cost more than our team) but I've seen him cynically grab someone who has beaten him 4 times in pre season so is going to pick up a lot of bookings until he eradicates that. Fosu 7 Tricky but kind of on the periphery of things. Still think he'll prove to be a great signing. Crofts 5 Can be great at breaking up play but his passing is just not good enough. This season is likely to see him on the bench and coming on to shore things up for the last 20-30 mins I think Forster-Caskey 7.5 Tidy. Effective. Looks to be the one that can unlock the door - if he can stay fit Holmes 6.5 Get your head down and work hard sunshine. You had a great season, have been subject to loads of media attention but don't take your eye off the ball. Not seen much to write home about in pre season yet. Not convinced he looked after himself sufficiently before pre season.... Clarke 6 Best I've seen of him...but still not much to get excited about. Some nice twists and turns but little end product Magennis 7 Lonely up top on your own. One classic Josh moment where he chased down his own flick-on but his cross wasn't good enough. Best ive seen in pre season from him which is understandable as he was a couple of weeks behind. We definitely need another striker because he isn't prolific enough yet
Charles-Cook 7 Mr utility was in all sorts of positions and did what he does. Lots of pace, brave, wins the ball back. Up until this season I've not really "got" him but now I do. Bundles of energy too. I like him a lot after pre season. Lovely chap too
others subs 6
Reeco had a decent shot late on but all i've seen him do so far is score a couple of goals. Literally nothing memorable bar goals - not a bad trait tbf. One impressive display of his pace last night as he tried to recover a ball he'd lost. Looks like he needs to fill out a bit as he's very wiry. Novak - Meh Couple of lay-offs and knock downs. Needs minutes.
That's all I can think of really. Not disheartened to be honest - lots of regulars didn't play and it was a decent run-out. We won't come up against many teams as strong as Norwich and we held our own for large periods. Some lovely football. Much better than the dross of the last couple of season but goals still appear to be a problem.
I think your last 7 words sum up why I'm nervous about Sarr. He has demonstrated in every game I've seen that he has two or three mistakes a game in him and when we're not prolific the other end, that's ultimately going to cost us points.
Will he be a lot more assured and better alongside Pearce though.
The latter is more of a leader and is probably our calmest Centre-Back, whilst Bauer is good he can also be very error prone
I think young players should be given the opportunity to play in unfamiliar positions to further their development, but it should absolutely, 100% not come at the cost of the first teams results. Solly will not play 46 games and I don't know if I'd be comfortable playing a 20 year old centre mid at right back in those circumstances. However, looking at the team now there are areas that need more urgent attention.
Phillips made a couple of good saves. No chance with either. Dijksteel was the standout player, playing out of position. Destroyed Murphy 3 times by turning inside. Barnes was a little at sea on the left against a good winger and will learn from it. Got better as the game went on and more than capable as Solly's understudy. Sarr was solid. Some good passes. Gave the ball away for their second but out back 4 were all over the place as Norwich had 3 quick free kicks prior to the goal in quick succession.
The ref was poor. Didn't let the game flow at all.
A good run out against a decent Norwich side who should finish in the top half of the league above this season. We are still a long way off from Bristol Rovers. We need a new keeper to compete with Phillips, another CB as we only have 3 if you don't include Lennon who has been out for almost 12 months. Another winger, maybe even 2 if Marshall is out long term and another striker. Ideally someone who will actually score some goals. Ipswich will be interesting as the squad will no doubt be stronger but we have no depth to our name.
We have four centre backs without Lennon. Baeur, Pearce, Konsa. Sarr.
Going by the reviews for Billy Clarke I wonder if in the League he'll be one of these players a lot of fans dont notice but will be doing a lot of hard work that goes unrewarded from the stands.
i.e. When he plays and we win, people will think that he'll probably be the player who'll cost us if we're playing against stronger opposition... If he doesnt play and we lose it'll be because we werent strong enough going forward.
Clarke will be very good one game in seven, even the reason for a good result. He will be caught in possession and intimidated a lot, but then produce great specific moments of skill and vision. I can't see him being consistent. Hope I am wrong.
BTW anyone who was there is a real fan, the rest of you are plastics
I looked to fly over just for this match then return by the closest flight got me in at 21:20.
Oh well, I'll try for one day turnaround against Ipswich on Saturday. Can't miss a home pre-season friendly. This commute is really going to wear on me though...
Excuses, excuses. Stop moaning and bring negative and support the club.
BTW anyone who was there is a real fan, the rest of you are plastics
I looked to fly over just for this match then return by the closest flight got me in at 21:20.
Oh well, I'll try for one day turnaround against Ipswich on Saturday. Can't miss a home pre-season friendly. This commute is really going to wear on me though...
Excuses, excuses. Stop moaning and bring negative and support the club.
Comments
Have to wait for the Bristol Rovers game I suppose.
I arrived with about 20 minutes to spare but I found it chaotic outside with Lisa Squires wandering about with a fistful of tickets selling them to random people for cash money, this helped with the queue for the box office, then there was an incomprehensible announcement about numbers 17-20 or something.
When I first encountered the general melee the CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER Tony Keohane was outside observing the operation that HE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR. I assume that Tony Keohane came up with the idea of club staff wandering random queues with fistfuls of tickets taking cash money, and this Keohane innovation will now be a regular feature. People near to me were sceptical that that the tickets from the wandering sellers were actually genuine.
Tony Keohane knows best, and reports I have heard that he has previously had to apologise to co-workers for being a bully are surely exaggerated, he is a man to take responsibility after all isn't he? Tony Keohane would not blame the scenes tonight on others, but man up and take responsibility.
Unless that is just West Stand Block E...
Whatever Brian Cole was saying was undermined by the technology, but also undermined by his lack of skill in making clear announcements.
Enunciation pace and diction is nothing to do with being posh, but everything to do with clarity of communication. I think that even with a properly functioning PA system Brian Cole is a failure vocally.
if there had been an emergency at the ground this evening I dread to think what would have happened because communication generally was sub standard. Maybe the head of communications Tom Rubashow could sort it, or maybe it is a safety issue and somebody else's responsibility.
My advice is to test the system, get people with clear speaking voices, and have a plan to deal with getting in and getting out of the stadium safely.
Dijksteel was the standout player, playing out of position. Destroyed Murphy 3 times by turning inside.
Barnes was a little at sea on the left against a good winger and will learn from it. Got better as the game went on and more than capable as Solly's understudy.
Sarr was solid. Some good passes. Gave the ball away for their second but out back 4 were all over the place as Norwich had 3 quick free kicks prior to the goal in quick succession.
The ref was poor. Didn't let the game flow at all.
A good run out against a decent Norwich side who should finish in the top half of the league above this season. We are still a long way off from Bristol Rovers. We need a new keeper to compete with Phillips, another CB as we only have 3 if you don't include Lennon who has been out for almost 12 months. Another winger, maybe even 2 if Marshall is out long term and another striker. Ideally someone who will actually score some goals. Ipswich will be interesting as the squad will no doubt be stronger but we have no depth to our name.
Oh well, I'll try for one day turnaround against Ipswich on Saturday. Can't miss a home pre-season friendly. This commute is really going to wear on me though...
Very impressed with Dijikstel, Sarr, Fosu & Clarke - I've finally found out what a no.10 does....and he does it pretty well. Barnes looked all at sea in the first half but mainly because he was up against a good winger & has only played U23's level & not Championship.
I thought we looked the better team for 60 mins, but their 2nd goal killed us, and then with substitutions disrupting play & then losing our creative players in Holmes & Fosu made the last 15-20 mins pretty average. Wasn't that impressed with KAG or Hackett Henry Irving Lovechild, but then they only had less than 10 mins & as said above, the game was over by then.
I think, as most poster have mentioned, that I am still concerned about where the bl***y goals are going to come from. Lots of very good one touch footie, but once we get to the oppositions box we don't seem to know what to do. Holmes, Fosu & JFC will all try to shoot, but if their path is blocked then we have no other outlet. Our crossing is still woeful & if we do get the ball in the box there is no-one there to finish it off.
Summary: work in progress - 7/10 but with a decent striker & a proven goalkeeper (not that Phillips did anything wrong, but if he gets injured on Saturday.........) then an 8/10 could be achieved.
Okay I'm too lazy to look up what exactly I said. But I'm pretty sure it was after the first game in Ireland I said Clarke would be a Marmite player. I don't think he's bad, and I think he could be useful with his movement and his running at defenses in the last 20 minutes of a game when defenses tire, but I don't know that he has the end product to be a regular starter.
Also, there's talk on upgrading various positions and players, but Novak and Crofts are usually the names thrown around. I don't particularly rate either of them as individuals. But I think we would be really hard pressed to drastically improve on either given their roles in the squad in this league.
Crofts is probably our fourth choice central midfielder, and I'm glad to hear Dijksteel had a good game, I thought he looked good in Ireland and the last few minutes against Dover. I hope he and RCC put pressure on Crofts in that role. On his bad days Crofts looks nowhere near mobile enough, not technically gifted, and gives the ball away cheaply. But on his better days, against Dover in the second half for example, he breaks up play and starts attacks. I think we'll struggle to find a player who is a huge upgrade on hi,, and I think our best bet is hoping that Dijksteel is ready to make the step up to fourth choice central midfielder.
Regarding Novak, he has scored goals in this league, and he had the reputation of working hard before he came to us. He showed neither last season. But he's big and at least at one point was mobile, the type who can, at least in theory, play the lone forward role. Again, I struggle to see where we would go to make a huge improvement on him. I feel like any player with the technique and athleticism required to play that role would be able to go to a club at a higher level. To me the best option would probably be a youngster from a big club (I think I've mentioned David Faupala of Manchester City before).
Right now we're in a comparatively good position where it's not just that we need bodies, but we need players of a certain quality.
In relation to Novak. I don't see the point of a big player if they are not dominant in the same way Magennis is. But Novak has scored goals and played at a higher level, and if I was his manager, I would like to know what has changed.
Dijksteel 8.5
Bauer 7
Sarr 8
Barnes 5
Fosu 7
Crofts 5
Forster-Caskey 7
Holmes 7
Clarke 6
Magennis 6.5
Charles-Cook 7
others subs 6
Dijksteel 8
Bauer 6.5
Sarr 8
Barnes 5.5
Fosu 7
Crofts 5.5
Forster-Caskey 7
Holmes 7
Clarke 5.5
Magennis 7
Charles-Cook 6.5
Dijksteel 8.5 Welcome to first team football. A star in the making. Gangly, strong, fast, determined. Not to mention played out of position! Probably my man of the match. Got caught a few times but there's now a lot of fans who have seen him and will be excited.
Bauer 7 Pretty solid but should have scored with his header
Sarr 8 Really good. His distribution is very good and looked calm and assured. Likely to surprise a few this season
Barnes 6 Got caught out a few times by their winger (who tbf cost more than our team) but I've seen him cynically grab someone who has beaten him 4 times in pre season so is going to pick up a lot of bookings until he eradicates that.
Fosu 7 Tricky but kind of on the periphery of things. Still think he'll prove to be a great signing.
Crofts 5 Can be great at breaking up play but his passing is just not good enough. This season is likely to see him on the bench and coming on to shore things up for the last 20-30 mins I think
Forster-Caskey 7.5 Tidy. Effective. Looks to be the one that can unlock the door - if he can stay fit
Holmes 6.5 Get your head down and work hard sunshine. You had a great season, have been subject to loads of media attention but don't take your eye off the ball. Not seen much to write home about in pre season yet. Not convinced he looked after himself sufficiently before pre season....
Clarke 6 Best I've seen of him...but still not much to get excited about. Some nice twists and turns but little end product
Magennis 7 Lonely up top on your own. One classic Josh moment where he chased down his own flick-on but his cross wasn't good enough. Best ive seen in pre season from him which is understandable as he was a couple of weeks behind. We definitely need another striker because he isn't prolific enough yet
Charles-Cook 7 Mr utility was in all sorts of positions and did what he does. Lots of pace, brave, wins the ball back. Up until this season I've not really "got" him but now I do. Bundles of energy too. I like him a lot after pre season. Lovely chap too
others subs 6
Reeco had a decent shot late on but all i've seen him do so far is score a couple of goals. Literally nothing memorable bar goals - not a bad trait tbf. One impressive display of his pace last night as he tried to recover a ball he'd lost. Looks like he needs to fill out a bit as he's very wiry.
Novak - Meh Couple of lay-offs and knock downs. Needs minutes.
That's all I can think of really. Not disheartened to be honest - lots of regulars didn't play and it was a decent run-out. We won't come up against many teams as strong as Norwich and we held our own for large periods. Some lovely football. Much better than the dross of the last couple of season but goals still appear to be a problem.
Playing Barnes at left-back was tough on him. He was skinned a number of times in the first half, though he did do rather better in the second.
Don't get the logic of playing Crofts for the whole game (that sentence could probably have ended after 'Crofts').
Clarke's an interesting one. At times he was dropping very deep, which means that Magennis is isolated as he was so often last season. There were some nice touches from him, but he also misplaced a number of lay-offs and was shrugged off the ball a few times. Got visibly and audibly frustrated later on. Don't think he'll score too many this season, so I'm not sure where the goals are going to come from.
As for Sarr - a couple of nice passes do not a defender make. I though he was caught out for their second when the winger nipped in ahead of him and laid it across for Naismith, but that may be unfair. Our defending from corners was a bit wobbly, and that's surely his (and Bauer's) domain. I assume two of Bauer/Pearce/Konsa will be our first choice partnership.
Having read the rave reviews of Fosu at Stevenage, I was a tad disappointed with him tonight, but all wingers blow hot and cold I suppose. Stewart didn't take the brief chance he had either when he came on.
Overall we had nothing to feel embarrassed about, but the lack of firepower is a big worry and we don't seem to be a particularly physically strong team either. In League 1, that can take you quite a long way.
Just need a keeper, winger and a striker then.
The club need to fix and test the PA System.
The club need to get an announcer that can announce and for announcements generally to be crystal clear, and if for crowd management or safety reasons the announcements need to be thought through properly and repeated.
There were about 2.5k people in last night and if there were something like 3.5k in on Saturday the club can't run things as they did yesterday. It was unsafe.
The latter is more of a leader and is probably our calmest Centre-Back, whilst Bauer is good he can also be very error prone
Phillips
Solly Pearce Konsa Da Silva
Forster-Caskey Kashi
Holmes Fosu Marshall
Magennis
is a decent starting 11, but
Maynard-Brewer
Djiksteel Bauer Sarr Page
Crofts Aribo
Ahearne-Grant Clarke Watt
Novak
is not sufficient back up. Goalie, attacking mid and striker all need seeing to as well. Same old, same old.
i.e. When he plays and we win, people will think that he'll probably be the player who'll cost us if we're playing against stronger opposition... If he doesnt play and we lose it'll be because we werent strong enough going forward.
Dijksteel 8.5
Bauer 7
Sarr 8
Barnes 6
Fosu 7.5
Crofts 5.5
Forster-Caskey 7
Holmes 7.5
Clarke 6
Magennis 6
Charles-Cook 7