A few notes on yesterday's "friendly"

The first thing that I have to say was that it wasn't exactly played in a friendly spirit. I'm sure anyone else who thought that would blame the officials for that. I suppose you could say they were a bit better in the second half, or rather they weren't so noticeable. It was obvious our players were wound up about it as well, Hammill, Hourihane and Winnall especially so. Who could blame them?

Adam's first half performance was outstanding and I couldn't help thinking that if he kept that up then Mr Koeman might have been making enquiries about him before going home. He ghosted past defenders, got shots away and delivered good crosses - just as he was doing last season. But, just as last season, he got NO PROTECTION from the referee. I get the impression that they are reluctant to blow up for fouls in friendlies, but this fool chose to ignore most of the indiscretions against us while penalising some fairly innocuous challenges on their players. But, then again, isn't it always like this?

But just one final word on the discipline side. CH got pulled up more than once for a talking to. AH showed clear and obvious dissent time and time again and then, inevitably, SSW got an unnecessary booking, presumably for saying too much. It's hard to criticise them for this but, with these new rules on "referee baiting" coming in this season, we might find ourselves with two or three players suspended before October is out. Other clubs will study our discipline weaknesses, play on them, and get an unfair advantage. We just need to be careful that's all.

As far as the match went, no one could deny that we were second best for most of it. Yes, there were periods, especially in the first half, when we played some lovely stuff and made some really good chances. But we were wasteful all through to be honest with both Winnall and Bradshaw getting underneath headers instead of placing them downwards. Payne missed a sitter after the keeper parried a hard shot to him and we had efforts cleared off the line or brilliantly saved. Credit them with creating chances against a good side but it was so frustrating seeing them all being wasted like that.

Contrast that with the opposition's finishing. All three of theirs were clinically finished with Barkley's sublime turn and cracking drive being the pick of them. You could argue that the first should not have happened at all though because seconds before one of ours was lying injured in their half after being clattered and then Hammill was blatantly fouled before taking some kind of retribution and giving them a scoring chance. Mirallas took it brilliantly, you can't deny that. Davies did well to get his hands but it was such an accurate, fast rising shot that he had no chance of keeping it out.

It was inevitable that once they got a second goal it would be game over, and so it proved. The Reds didn't give up though, but the match was lost. We were up against far superior opposition and you only have to look at the changes in the second half to illustrate that point. I mean absolutely NO disrespect towards Scowen and Payne but we were bringing on ex-Wycombe and Dover players and they could call on England internationals like Barkley and Cleverley.

It was an enjoyable game though and the crowd appreciated the efforts from both sides. Maybe they were a bit cynical at times and got away with more than they should, but that's the way football is sometimes. It was nice to see Mason Holgate get a good round of applause when he went off and he reciprocated it. Shame that John Stones couldn't make it but he has other more pressing matters to deal with - hopefully this week! I'm glad I went but it was a disappointing end to our terrific winning run.

Life has suddenly got harder, but then we already knew that, didn't we?

 

You have to remember the substitutions that were made yesterday would not have been made in a normal game.. I saw enough in the first half and periods of the second half where it is coming together and I am optimistic.

 

I'm optimistic as well, don't get me wrong. We were always going to lose yesterday, whoever we put out. The squad is coming together nicely but is still a bit short in a couple of places. The big unknown for me is how Bradshaw and Winnall will play together. I think they may be too similar to be effective as a pair.

I hope I'm wrong about that but it's a case of wait and see for all of us. Nobody really knows how the early weeks of the season will go.

 

People often make too much of subs made in friendlies. They change the game, but obviously the reason for them is the try things out, not like in real games when their goal in to change the game for the better, not just to experiment

 

I'll wait and see what Barnsley Player shows. I don't really recall the "indiscretions" you talked about. However I believe that Hamill should have had a yellow given the new view on player behaviour.

 

Well according to the EFL list of officials Mr Bankes resides in Merseyside!!

 

Interesting! Maybe he came over on their team bus?