[Official Site] REDS HELD BY HARROGATE

REDS HELD BY HARROGATE
Match Reports

A 2-2 draw in the penultimate friendly of the summer

A young Reds outfit played their part in an entertaining pre-season encounter at Wetherby Road this evening.

Continue reading on the official site...

 

Can @Loko the Tyke explain Nicholas Caddento me. I'm not sure if he's good at anything.

 

You really are a boring lovely person hemsie.

So predictable.

Cadden played 30 minutes before being subbed off - as planned - as he’s nowhere near match fit and needed minutes.

You will have known this. You make it your business to equip yourself with facts - when it suits your agenda.

But you still chose to slyly dig him out anyway.

If it had been a pre-pubescent child from Chelsea’s academy you’d be singing his praises for stepping in to play when being nowhere near fit to do so.

Nicky Cadden has the attributes to be amongst our better players this season.

He might not turn out to be good. But I’ll bare my arse on the town hall steps if he doesn’t work out to be more effective than our superstar premier league academy stars from the past like Ike Ugbo or Isaac Christie-Davies.

Out of interest, who would you say were our best players over the past five or ten years, and where did we get them from?

 

But your problem. It just isn't on a screen. He and the LCB tonight looked poor. He looked poor again on Saturday in my opinion.

You spoke highly of him. I went and spent time watching him and spotted several problems. Those problems haven't gone anywhere.

Will these problems stop Barnsley from achieving this season? yes.

 

These professionals need sacking and replacing with you immediately. Or even sooner.

 

I'm not sure why you mention Chelsea but anyway.

If the reasons are he ain't fit then I'm sorry but that isn't good enough. He knew he was leaving FGR. He could have gone and got himself fit with someone private like Moon looks to have for example or gone and got a very nice Holiday in and trained with other professionals in the sun like Ryan Tafazolli. see below.

 

If I ever start a band I'm calling it Hemsworth Tyke and the Inexplicable Scapegoats

 

Talking of positive clips, the first clip I stumbled across was the hat-trick he scored for Forest Green. I thought, this guy's got something. I didn't watch it and think 'this guy is a worldbeater' but credit where it's due.

We need to see him in several competitive (league and cup) games to form a sensible and fair opinion, something that Phil hasn't afforded Cadden. It's a very unusual mentality to actively look for ways to bash a guy - a new signing for your own club no less - before he's kicked a ball in anger. But c'est la vie. Maybe Phil will sleep better at night if Cadden is an utter failure and we finish 15th. At least then he could say he got something right, but to what cost, and would it really make him happy?

 

My take on the game.

First half, scarily similar to last season. Far too patient build up play, particularly Jasper Moon, who seemed content with opting to pass to either Sraha or Williams, and not look for an outlet further up the field. That being said, neither central midfielder dropped deep to receive the ball, or made sufficient movement to create space. In the end, to try and get forward, we essentially had Sraha trying lofted passes down the left for either Cadden or Jalo to chase. The latter doing better than the former, it must be said.

Harrogate were more than happy to sit back, and then try and go route one. They'd identified both Sraha and Moon as lacking pace and exploited that on numerous occasions in the first half, one occasion resulting in the opening goal.

Both Marsh and Jalo up front showed a lot of energy, and it was obvious that any sort of equaliser would only be crafted by one of those two, and probably from nothing.

In the 2nd half, we were much improved. Thomas got into the game more and helped us push further up the field. Harrogate didn't sit as deep in the 2nd half either, which helped is find more space in midfield. Thomas was given a bit more licence to drift out of position, and all of a sudden, he looked a different player. He linked up well with Jalo, who looks a very good prospect, but he didn't have the same synergy with Hondermarck, and the two often cancelled out each others movements.

Moon looked more composed, and more confident in the second half too. Sraha started to get the basics right more consistently as the game went on, but I do think he'd be better in the middle of a back 3, rather than on the left.

When we got in front, we looked alright for a 10 minute spell. But then concentration seemed to wain later on. The number 7 (I believe it was Nejman) didn't look particularly ready to be playing this level of football. And whilst he was offering the outlet between defence and midfield that we'd been missing, he constantly gave the ball away, which ultimately led to the equaliser, and if not for the post, Harrogate's winning goal.

I take comfort from the fact that a lot of the players on display won't be thrust into the first team all at once. The senior players clearly had a bit more quality, with the exception of Jalo, who looks a real prospect.

My MOTM was Luke Thomas.

 

Well it didn't take long to find the new whipping boy, now that Vic and Palmer haver left did it?

 

And Nicholas Cadento no less, our new Italian left back!

 

Luke Thomas might be our most experienced player soon. It's a shame we don't play with out and out wingers though.

 

Get ready for a season long assassination of "Mr J Norwood" and "Mr N Cadden".

 

si signore!

 

I've always thought he'd make a good wing back. One thing he has on his side is his work rate, and I always thought when we signed him that he was good at tracking back.

 

Our Sicilian slacker, James Norwoodnetti!

 

I can't wait......

 

Good to see Marsh on the scoresheet. He's one I'd expect us to be using off the bench & for cup games. Scoring goals seems to be our major issue at the moment. Good to hear Thomas played well. Maybe we can utilise him this season.