Thoughts on the game.

[G 0]

Stand out players for me, Da Laet he looked very solid and sharp was impressed by him. And Fox, he looked really class his passes were spot on.

I didn''t a bad performance from anyone really although Barnett looked a bit rusty. Hoolahan was his usual self same with Martin. Bennett looked lively, not afraid to come inside very quick. Morison impressed me aswell, done alot of running, not slow and strong. Pilkington got about 20 minutes, not afraid to run with the ball by the looks of it, good touch and an eye for a pass. Johnson didn''t look great to me but I''ve only seen these players once.

From what I saw we had alot of good individual performances but we didn''t look very good going forward even though we had the ball alot. Now, I don''t know if this is because Lambert wants us to keep the ball more when we have it knowing what we will come up against in the PL but I would have liked us to have gone forward with the ball more often and really gone for it more.

Anyone else thoughts?

[GJP 79]

[quote user="G"] Bennett looked lively, not afraid to come inside very quick. 

 Johnson didn''t look great to me but I''ve only seen these players once.  [/quote]

 

I thought Bennett looked lively and eager but never really produced anything of note. Zaragoza read him fairly easily.

 

Johnson was hit and miss. Some good stuff but other times he wasn''t on the same wavelength as his colleagues.

[LinkNR9 0]

Agree with most of the above. De Laet looked assured, but Barny looked ring-rusty and lost a surprising number of headers. Naughton needs to play on the right, looked much more comfortable there. Bennett looked OK, but didn''t seem to want to take on the full back when one-on-one. Morison worked hard off the ball but lacks that killer bit of pace; Jacko seemed quite threatening when he came on.

I was impressed with Pilkington''s run-out, he could develop into one hell of a player, especially with the way he runs at players at speed.

I think that our ability to convert the few goal-scoring chances that will probably come our way will decide if we stay up or not.

[G 0]

Croft has injured his ankle and chris Martin has injured his hamstring again, no idea how bad though. I agree Jackson looked as good as when the season ended. We need to create more IMO though.

[GJP 79]

[quote user="LinkNR9"]

Agree with most of the above. De Laet looked assured, but Barny looked ring-rusty and lost a surprising number of headers. Naughton needs to play on the right, looked much more comfortable there. Bennett looked OK, but didn''t seem to want to take on the full back when one-on-one. Morison worked hard off the ball but lacks that killer bit of pace; Jacko seemed quite threatening when he came on.

I was impressed with Pilkington''s run-out, he could develop into one hell of a player, especially with the way he runs at players at speed.

I think that our ability to convert the few goal-scoring chances that will probably come our way will decide if we stay up or not.

[/quote]

Thought Morison held his own in terms of pace. Most of the Zaragoza players were quick across the turf and Morison did his man for pace more than once.

 

Pilkington is a good player anyway but I''m not sure that 20min appearance was enough to form such a strong opinion on him.

[G 0]

You''re right but I saw pilkington make a nice run through a few players and made a couple nice through balls...

[Sir Ecat 0]

Oh how we struggle to drum up positives from a match against mediocre opposition who were more interested in berating the ref than putting on any real performance.

If we had any real quality we would have brushed them away. Our front line will be feeding off set piece scraps all season.

[Mason 47 1,371]

Looked to me like a possession training game really. Not that we didn''t attack at all, just that we seemed to have ''keeping the ball'' at #1 and anything else second. The amount of times we set up a passing triangle inside our own box in favour of hitting long, for example. It was a pre-season friendly all over. In my opinion if this had been a game for points we would have pasted Zaragoza who played right in to our hands in terms of reacting (mainly to anything Holt did) and only really looked dangerous for 10-15 minutes after half time.I''m afraid that we won''t be winning the Premier League on this form though [:(]

[Petriix 2,834]

[quote user="Sir Ecat"]Oh how we struggle to drum up positives from a match against mediocre opposition who were more interested in berating the ref than putting on any real performance.

If we had any real quality we would have brushed them away. Our front line will be feeding off set piece scraps all season.[/quote]Binner alert!

[Carlos Valderrama 0]

That would be the same Zaragoza side who beat Real Madrid last season. They are as good as anyone we will be looking to pick up points against next season so it was a good work out IMO.

I thought we looked OK. I know its only pre-season but there were a couple of moments last night that if we repeat against quality prem opposition we will be punished. Wasnt hugely impressed with Morison but saw enough to think that he could be a handful when he gets up to the level.

Would have been interesting to see what Vaughn could have added with his pace and skill as I thought Jackson looked a handful when he came on. Agree that Pilkington looked a great prospect, little but ginger in the tackle still but cant blame him really.

Things that disappointed me most were Holt driftingto the byline, we need him in there hurting teams not crossing the ball. David Fox for all his lovely passing quickly needs to develop a physical side to his game and start tackling. Ruddy, good keeper just doesnt inspire huge amounts of confidence. I want him to do well I am just always wary he is going to have a howler.

Big positive for me was Kyle Naughton. That boy does look a quality footballer and will be a massive asset next season, on either side. Both Martin & Tierney are going to have to bring there A game to get in ahead of him. I would imagine that is probably why he is here.

And lastly. What a horrible, niggly, nasty little team Zaragoza were.

[GJP 79]

[quote user="Carlos Valderrama"]That would be the same Zaragoza side who beat Real Madrid last season. They are as good as anyone we will be looking to pick up points against next season so it was a good work out IMO.  [/quote]

Sort of.

 

It was a "weakened" Real Madrid side they played and there were only a few Zaragoza players there last night that featured in that game against Madrid. They also benefitted from a huge howler by Casillas early on in the game.

 

And they weren''t particularly good last night - they didn''t keep hold of the ball well at all and I think that''s something we would have been expecting them to do.

[SnakepitCanary 0]

[quote user="GJP"]

[quote user="Carlos Valderrama"]That would be the same Zaragoza side who beat Real Madrid last season. They are as good as anyone we will be looking to pick up points against next season so it was a good work out IMO.  [/quote]

Sort of.

 

It was a "weakened" Real Madrid side they played and there were only a few Zaragoza players there last night that featured in that game against Madrid. They also benefitted from a huge howler by Casillas early on in the game.

 

And they weren''t particularly good last night - they didn''t keep hold of the ball well at all and I think that''s something we would have been expecting them to do.

[/quote]

That''s abit harsh though. It was there second or third pre season game and the weather was terrible. Of course they wouldn''t be able to keep the ball well, we didn''t either. I thought considering most of their first team players were on the bench that they did very well.

[Carlos Valderrama 0]

That would be the same weakened Madrid side that still featured Ramos, Higuain, Kaka and Benzema, plus a handful of other international players. Really really weak.

[GJP 79]

[quote user="Carlos Valderrama"]That would be the same weakened Madrid side that still featured Ramos, Higuain, Kaka and Benzema, plus a handful of other international players. Really really weak.[/quote]

Hence why I put it like this:

 

"Weakened"

 

Deary me.

[GJP 79]

[quote user="SnakepitCanary"][quote user="GJP"]

[quote user="Carlos Valderrama"]That would be the same Zaragoza side who beat Real Madrid last season. They are as good as anyone we will be looking to pick up points against next season so it was a good work out IMO.  [/quote]

Sort of.

 

It was a "weakened" Real Madrid side they played and there were only a few Zaragoza players there last night that featured in that game against Madrid. They also benefitted from a huge howler by Casillas early on in the game.

 

And they weren''t particularly good last night - they didn''t keep hold of the ball well at all and I think that''s something we would have been expecting them to do.

[/quote] That''s abit harsh though. It was there second or third pre season game and the weather was terrible. Of course they wouldn''t be able to keep the ball well, we didn''t either. I thought considering most of their first team players were on the bench that they did very well.[/quote]

It''s not harsh - they just didn''t play very well.

[Carlos Valderrama 0]

[quote user="GJP"]

[quote user="Carlos Valderrama"]That would be the same weakened Madrid side that still featured Ramos, Higuain, Kaka and Benzema, plus a handful of other international players. Really really weak.[/quote]

Hence why I put it like this:

 

"Weakened"

 

Deary me.

[/quote]

Hence why I am implying that swapping 80m euros worth of Ronaldo for 50m euros worth of Kaka cant really be described as weakening your team.

Deary me indeed!!

[GJP 79]

[quote user="Carlos Valderrama"][quote user="GJP"]

[quote user="Carlos Valderrama"]That would be the same weakened Madrid side that still featured Ramos, Higuain, Kaka and Benzema, plus a handful of other international players. Really really weak.[/quote]

Hence why I put it like this:

 

"Weakened"

 

Deary me.

[/quote] Hence why I am implying that swapping 80m euros worth of Ronaldo for 50m euros worth of Kaka cant really be described as weakening your team. Deary me indeed!![/quote]

Yeah...I know...I was being ironic.