Starting XI Decisions
If there was ever a case for mis-reading a room, it would be evident in my assumption that the starting XI for the trip to the MKM would be very much loaded with the 2nd/3rd string but I couldn't really have been more wrong!
With an away match, three days after Hearts and a much bigger game against Betis to come on Saturday, I fully expected the side to start against Hull to be filled with the likes of Lavery, Aleksic, Abdullahi etc - offering them all a last chance to impress before decisions on their
short-term futures are made.
Instead, Le Bris effectively went as strong as he possibly could (with what was available to him), possibly with the view of doing a number on Hull and getting a couple of the new boys off the mark in Red and White (Blue), and getting some confidence into Elizer Mayenda.
It may have backfired slightly as a strong team on paper before the first whistle brings with is a degree of expectation amongst the fanbase. So to turn up and lost the game in such a manner will only evoke criticism. Some of it will be fair... as a unit, Adingra, Talbi, Diarra, Le Fee, Mayenda and Sadiki would have been expected to dominate a team that only avoided relegation to League One on goal difference last season.
Hull were actually pretty decent in parts and whilst we went in to the break at 1-1, it was very much the second (or third) string that lost the game when it looked very much men-against-boys.
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Photo by Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty ImagesDefensive fixes needed sharp(ish)
One of the more obvious points to make, but it’s such a big one it does bear mentioning - in our defensive third there seems to be quite a lot of work left to do both on the pitch and in the transfer market.
Now we cant be hyper-critical - all things being equal, Harrison Jones isn’t going to make a career for himself at Left-Back, and Jenson Seelt is still getting back up to fitness and sharpness following his spell out, but we do seem to have gotten ourselves into a habit of conceding quite silly goals against perceived lesser opposition.
This will ring alarm bells of sorts, possibly with the calamities of Southampton last season still fresh in peoples minds, but its important to put things in a little perspective. There will almost certainly be another CB coming in (possibly two) before the season starts to partner up with Dan Ballard, and we’ve yet to see new left back Reinildo make an appearance on the subs bench let alone the pitch.
For now I’m quite relaxed about it as the back five (including the GK) that starts against West Ham will be very different from the one we saw last night.
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Photo by Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty ImagesGood run out for the new wingers!
The biggest thing I’ll be taking out of the game is that for Adingra and Talbi, it was just the individual performances they will have hoped for, such has been their start to life as honorary Mackems.
Both have been really quiet in their appearances so far, which has led to some really knee-jerk and unfair criticism of our new wingers. With that, last night saw a first goal for the club for the Ivorian Adingra, who also looked for the first time to get in behind his fullback and showed some very nice pieces of skill throughout the first half.
More importantly however I feel was the first half performance of Talbi. He looked as confident on the ball as we’ve seen him so far as he also looked to get in behind the Hull left-back, and pulled off a few drag backs and Cruyff-turns before making a great run and square pass inside to provide the assist for our goal. In previous games, he looked a little unsettled and perhaps had a preference to choose a more “safe” option where we as fans might expect a moment of magic but this was by far the most positive and promising 45 for us so far.
Here’s hoping the both of them can use that first half to really kick themselves into the next gear as the season opener looms ever-closer.
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Photo by Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty ImagesEchoes of Last Season?
We might be winless in our last four pre-season friendlies, and for some that might be cause for concern or some sort of mini-meltdown, but for me (at least at the moment) I reflect back on those last six games of last season prior to the playoffs where we we equally winless.
We approached those games as a mini-preseason... an opportunity to get players up to speed and to prepare for the games that matter the most - and that worked out pretty well for us didnt it!
Lets not forget that these games have seen us without O’Nien, Cirkin, Reinildo, Isidor, Mundle, Rigg and Patterson, plus we have the pending scarf-pic of Granit Xhaka so whet our appetites. There is no reason to think anything other than we are refusing to rush back the ones who need time, we are giving minutes to those that need it, and not wasting our time giving minutes to those who will not have an impact on our season (Ba, Auchiche, Hemir etc).
For me, the real preparations for West Ham starts now, with two more friendlies for “The A-Team” before it counts. We wont be seeing all three midfielders going off at the same time, we wont see Harrison Jones at left-back, and we wont see 8 changes on 70 minutes... and because of that, I’m going to start my judgement of the team and our season, from next week and recommend our readers do to!
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Photo by Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty ImagesMore from rokerreport.sbnation.com:
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