Calum Mills says…
Sunderland’s debutants impress
Granit Xhaka and Reinildo looked great. You could see their experience shining through and overall, the team looked better for it.
Xhaka was unlucky not to bag an assist on his debut with a lovely ball over the top for Simon Adingra to run on to, and I think VAR awards the goal.
Reinildo looked very composed on the ball, which you’d expect from someone with as much top tier experience. Could he potentially do a job at centre back? Yes. Would I prefer to see him deployed at left back instead of Harrison
Jones? Absolutely.
We need to sign a centre back soon as heading into the season without a reinforced back line and relying on a natural left back to deputise in the middle is a bit of a worry.
Another defensive lapse
We can’t keep giving away goals from defensive mistakes.
Three daft goals to concede against Hearts and then switching off from a corner is criminal, and we’ll get mullered by the opposition when the season starts if it continues.
Luckily, it’s pre-season and it doesn’t matter in terms of league progression, but we have to learn and we have to learn now.
A lack of goal threat…again
I think we’re struggling with one striker up top and for me, we have to get someone closer to Eliezer Mayenda.
He had a few neat touches in the first half but he had to drop relatively deep at times to receive the ball. However, he definitely has the pace to get in behind and get on to balls over the top, which we saw in the first half — only to see Chemsdine Talbi dribble it into touch.
For the doom and gloom mongers already hammering social media: it’s pre-season. Get over it.
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Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty ImagesCiaran McKenna says…
A promising performance against good opposition
We showed glimpses of a good side and there was some nice football played between the lads.
Some quick, one-touch passing emphasised the talent in the squad and showed the signs of progress and cohesion between the players — both old and new.
The new players are starting to grow into their own and show the fans the reason the club bought them.
Captain Xhaka
Leading the Lads out on his debut didn’t have any effect on him.
He was cool, calm and collected throughout, never putting a foot wrong and keeping the pace of the game firmly within his grasp. He was (seemingly) robbed of a brilliant assist and it looked like he communicated with the team well in the game.
Hopefully, after some more time with the team, this relationship will only flourish and he can take these young lads under his wing.
Highlighting the need for a centre back
I was very impressed with Reinildo and he appears to be a great signing, but putting him at centre back strikes me as a limitation of his ability. I feel for Harrison Jones as he’s a young, right-footed midfielder who I assume has never played left back before, but he was awful yesterday.
This was a clear weakness in the side that Betis saw early and looked to exploit.
If we can get at least one big, capable centre back in and move Reinildo into his native left back position, we would look a much better and more balanced team.
The goal we conceded today put our lack of centre backs under the spotlight.
Stay switched on, lads!
I’m aware that it’s only pre-season and there’s no reason to panic, but I feel like we should be making fewer mistakes than we are at this point.
Yesterday, I felt we performed better than at Hearts and Hull City (despite defeat), but the errors we’ve been making are quite alarming.
The lackadaisical pass from Noah Sadiki late on at Hearts and Enzo Le Fée’s uncharacteristic lapse of judgement in the lead up to Hull’s opener could perhaps be evidence of not being on our marks for the start of the season.
Against Betis, we didn’t make any glaring errors like those two, but we still made silly and avoidable errors. I’m sure that in two weeks’ time, we’ll give our best showing against West Ham.
John Wilson says…
Granit Xhaka impresses
We got to see Xhaka in action and after all the build up, he didn’t disappoint.
Continually looking for probing passes, breaking up play and keeping the ball moving, I can tell that in the real heat of battle, he’ll be even more impressive.
Although the pace in general was pedestrian, I was very aware that the quality is on a higher level and bar has been raised around the whole team.
A solid debut for Robin Roefs
He didn’t have a great deal to do but seeing him come off his line and collect high balls played into the box was very refreshing.
He’s a tall lad, and he picks balls out of the air with ease. On this evidence alone, his distribution is also very good, looking to set up attacks. A promising debut.
Another blank in front of goal
Eliezer Mayenda tried to make something happen up top but yet again, chances were few and far between.
Our best openings were mostly from the wings, but their goalkeeper was hardly tested. It’s a conundrum that I’m sure Régis Le Bris is well aware of.
A fragile defence
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to tell you that we need to strengthen the centre of our defence and I’m sure that the recruitment staff will be working flat out to put this right.
This was a typical friendly in many respects.
It wasn’t fast and furious and nothing was done in anger. Fitness is key, and looking at shape, building patterns on the pitch.
Just like when we ‘coasted’ to the end of last season, when the stadium is rocking against West Ham, the tempo will be there, the fight will be on, the game faces will be on, and I’m looking forward to seeing the opening team in fighting mode.
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Photo by Michael Driver/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesJoseph Tulip says…
A settled-looking team
For a squad which has undergone so many changes this summer, we now have a good idea of what the starting eleven will be on the first day of the league season against West Ham.
There may well be more arrivals but with a completely new midfield, we played some good football at times and looked as though we’re starting to gel as a team.
You never see ‘full pelt football’ in pre-season, but all of the lads looked bright and keen to make an impression, with new skipper Granit Xhaka leading by example.
Simon Adingra shines
This was my first time seeing the new players in the flesh and I was impressed with each of them, but Adingra really caught my eye with a skilful display, especially during the first half.
He was a box of tricks at times on the left, taking on his man and making some intelligent runs.
It’s early days for all of these new lads but I liked what I saw from Adingra, who also linked up well with our central midfielders.
Stadium changes
The artwork and the concourses look good, as do the early signs of sprucing up the outside of the stands with a new lick of white paint — certainly on the East Stand.
There was a fairly relaxed vibe and it was good to see signs of our preparations for the Premier League both on and off the field.
A lack of substitutions
I’d liked to have seen a few more players get a run out, especially Patrick Roberts and Dan Neil, so it’ll be interesting to see how things play out in the weeks to come.
Although it’s great to see exciting new players, it’s hard to see some of our promotion-winning side being left on the sidelines, but sadly there’s no room for sentiment in a ruthless results-based business.
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