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ricardo

Ricardo's report v Real Sociedad

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I have never been keen on pre-season friendlies, no matter who the opposition but after 3 months without football I didn''t take much persuading to fork out my tenner. It was a lovely evening for it, warm but not as sticky as of late and it was a pleasure to turn up at what was a very green and lush CR.It was a fairly cagey opening with both sides feeling each other out and the crowd trying to sort out the new faces. After 10 mins Snoddy burst down the right and was eventually crowded out for a corner. His delivery was superb and Leroy Fer nodded goalwards only for RVW to deflect it into the net. A bit of a scramble but nice to see him get off the mark. There wasn''t a great deal of goalmouth action in the opening half but RVW certainly looked quick and accurate with his hold up play and passing. For my part I thought Fer stood out by a country mile. He''s big, strong and has a good first touch and I predict he will be immense for us this season.Nathan Redmond also impressed with his speed and quick feet but needs to learn when to release the ball rather than beat every player on the park. Hopefully this will come with experience. I also thought Olsen did well but then so did Garrido when he replaced him after the hour markThe Spaniards were much more lively after the break and treated us to some wonderful pass and move football that eventually reaped it''s just reward when Vela netted the equaliser. City looked fairly solid but Russell Martin had to be at his best with a couple of good blocks and interceptions to keep things level. A great pass by Fer and a cross by Redmond almost brought a second City goal and towards the end a Real defender had to clear over his own bar with Hooper closing in but truth to tell the Spaniards spurned a couple of glorious chances to win it.All in all I was pleased with the performance. The money looks well spent and the problem now for CH will be who to play.

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[quote user="Twitchy"]Nice one Ricardo, now I now the wait can''t be too long.[/quote]Bangers as an excuse for fingers "know"

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I would disagree with Garrido, felt like the moment he came on he got ''done'' twice, with one being the link up to their goal. However all of the other players mentioned I would generally agree with. Redmond needs to learn very very quickly if he is to cement a regular place in the team up against Premiership quality. Too many times did he choose to take 1-2 players on rather than give-and-go.

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Ricardo,Interested to hear your (and others) thoughts on Johnson tonight, usually he brings "bite" to the midfield (to coin the common term for it) with his controlled aggression and dogged closing down, for me tonight I thought he looked just plain aggressive and looking for trouble rather than the ball.  Some of the challenges were borderline reckless in honesty, sometimes the intent to chop a player down was blatant.

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[quote user="Michael Bates"]I would disagree with Garrido, felt like the moment he came on he got ''done'' twice, with one being the link up to their goal.[/quote]Agreed...Wasn''t their right midfielder was called tailor?  He stitched Garrido up twice within about 30 seconds.

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Agree with your report, summed up very nicely. Agree 100% about Fer, i was surprised to see him playing in the Wes position but he looks like he will be our best player this season by a country mile. Similar to Yaya Toure in a lot of ways, from the way he walks to his strength and vision - he played a couple of beautiful killer balls which i haven''t seen at Carrow rd since Lansbury was here. It makes you wonder whether we need another AMC, if this is Fer''s main position i would look to replace Tettey and bring in some competition to Johnson.
Redmond has a lot of talent but you are spot on about his development, hopefully with more experience he will learn to release the ball a bit earlier - he looks very similar to he Murphy twins in that respect. He did play one delightful ball to Fer at one point, who unfortunately put it wide
RVW looked a bit off the pace, but i expect we will see a different side to him when the games are competitive.
Ollsson looks good, would like to see him push on more, but that''s a problem we have had with our full backs in several games last season, I expect that comes from the management. Garrido had a mare for their goal, I expect Ollsson could be in the starting 11 on the 17th
Not the most entertaining game, but these friendlies never are and the lack of atmosphere never helps, but great to see the new player, would highly recommend that people attend saturday''s game, although the club have overpriced these friendly games for adults.

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[quote user="JayNCFC"]Ricardo,Interested to hear your (and others) thoughts on Johnson tonight, usually he brings "bite" to the midfield (to coin the common term for it) with his controlled aggression and dogged closing down, for me tonight I thought he looked just plain aggressive and looking for trouble rather than the ball.  Some of the challenges were borderline reckless in honesty, sometimes the intent to chop a player down was blatant.[/quote]Personally, I like Johno. A bit limited in some aspects of the game but in my eyes he is a vital part of the team. He would certainly be my pick before Tetty but not all agree with that I''m sure. He took a bit of stick tonight so no surprise to see him dish some out.

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[quote user="ricardo"][quote user="JayNCFC"]Ricardo,Interested to hear your (and others) thoughts on Johnson tonight, usually he brings "bite" to the midfield (to coin the common term for it) with his controlled aggression and dogged closing down, for me tonight I thought he looked just plain aggressive and looking for trouble rather than the ball.  Some of the challenges were borderline reckless in honesty, sometimes the intent to chop a player down was blatant.[/quote]Personally, I like Johno. A bit limited in some aspects of the game but in my eyes he is a vital part of the team. He would certainly be my pick before Tetty but not all agree with that I''m sure. He took a bit of stick tonight so no surprise to see him dish some out.[/quote]I think BJ knows he is in direct competition with Tettey for that 3rd midfield spot, Assuming the other 2 are Fer and Howson. And he is trying extra hard to stand out. I think we''ll see BJ used in the away games and Tettey at home

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Thanks Ricardo, good report as always.

I generally agree but I''d also give a mention to Whittaker. While he looked a bit out of his depth at times, especially early on, late in the game he made 3 immense last ditch challenges in the box, any of which could have given RS a goal.

Also I paid close attention to RVW and he had little of the ball but when it did come to him, he generally played a superb pass. Good to see him off the mark even though it won''t be on any goal of the season tapes. Only downside for me was that he wasn''t able to take the chance when he was one on one with the keeper but he only had a split second.

Overall I felt it was a promising performance against quality opposition who weren''t afraid to foul when it suited them.

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[quote user="ricardo"] For my part I thought Fer stood out by a country mile.
[/quote]

Looking at that game in isolation I thought Fer was less impressive than RVW, Redmond and Olsson.

 

I thought he looked better when he dropped deep in the second half but overall I thought he struggled a little bit with the pace of the game.

 

Of the players here last season I thought it was another fine performance from Howson and Whittaker also played well.

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Agree with most of the above. Still think part of midfield needs a bit more steel to work with Fer well.

Olsson and Garrido clearly different. Nice to see Olsson bombing down while Garrido, although skinned twice still put in some decent crosses.

Redmond perhaps needs to run and look up to find that killer ball after doing the hard work.

RvW has awareness and pace and more to come of. Didn''t really get the ball to Hooper to see what he can do. RvW did seem to link with Fer well.

Did think, what hasn''t been mentioned, is Turner got done for speed a few times - ok, still recovering/building self up after only just getting back.

I''ll end with "Fer the Wolf" this season.

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[quote user="GJP"]

[quote user="ricardo"] For my part I thought Fer stood out by a country mile.
[/quote]

Looking at that game in isolation I thought Fer was less impressive than RVW, Redmond and Olsson.

 

I thought he looked better when he dropped deep in the second half but overall I thought he struggled a little bit with the pace of the game.

 

Of the players here last season I thought it was another fine performance from Howson and Whittaker also played well.

[/quote]

I agree with this.

Having seen the Braga game as well I felt that Fer has far more influence in one of the more traditional midfield roles. His range of passing including being able to switch play with raking cross field balls that are pin point to a toe, is far better suited to playing that bit deeper - he also gets to push the opposition around a bit more which is something he is very good at too.

What did make a difference was Wes taking over that role. His intricate passing and skill showed us why we need that sort of creativity going forward, but what we lost was that real bite further forward to pressurise the opposing deep midfielders.

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The way I saw it was a game of 2 halves.Same players (for 65-70 minutes in the main) different tactics

1st half we were trying to go forward, Howson and Fer looking to get forward more and you could say more attacking all round. We looked good going forward and midfield pushed further up pitch.

2nd reminded me of soooo many games last season when we played too defensive, Howson was holding back (bearly getting out of our half) , Fer wasnt trying to get forward and we tried to use Redmonds pace more, leaving RVW too isolated at times.

Now I am going to assume that the players were told to play the 2 ways for Chrissy H to take a look. I know which looked better and more likely to stop defeat than the other and I hope that my theroy has some basis and the manager can see attack is the best form of defense.

Of course I could be completely wrong and the players tired after half time but is just seemed different tactics from my seat.

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[quote user="priceyrice"]Agree with your report, summed up very nicely. Agree 100% about Fer, i was surprised to see him playing in the Wes position but he looks like he will be our best player this season by a country mile. Similar to Yaya Toure in a lot of ways, from the way he walks to his strength and vision - he played a couple of beautiful killer balls which i haven''t seen at Carrow rd since Lansbury was here. It makes you wonder whether we need another AMC, if this is Fer''s main position i would look to replace Tettey and bring in some competition to Johnson.
Redmond has a lot of talent but you are spot on about his development, hopefully with more experience he will learn to release the ball a bit earlier - he looks very similar to he Murphy twins in that respect. He did play one delightful ball to Fer at one point, who unfortunately put it wide
RVW looked a bit off the pace, but i expect we will see a different side to him when the games are competitive.
Ollsson looks good, would like to see him push on more, but that''s a problem we have had with our full backs in several games last season, I expect that comes from the management. Garrido had a mare for their goal, I expect Ollsson could be in the starting 11 on the 17th
Not the most entertaining game, but these friendlies never are and the lack of atmosphere never helps, but great to see the new player, would highly recommend that people attend saturday''s game, although the club have overpriced these friendly games for adults.
[/quote]Funny you should say that but I said to my brother-in-law, a Chelski fan, at a bbq a month ago that Fer has the physique to develop into a Yaya Toure type player. We can dream !!!

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I also went to the game last night and I agree with most of this but not all, here is my take.
RVW - Looks like he has something about him. He reads the game very well and his anticipation is excellent, he read the back pass which gave him the one on one chance which unfortunately he could not put away and a couple of time read some knock downs from defenders. Also his hold up play was very good and passes out wide. A couple of criticisms though, he is to lightweight which I think most prem defenders will try to take advantage of early in games with crunching tackles, needs to bulk up IMO. He also he did not seem at all happy to come off in the 2nd half, he just seemed a bit down beat, I would liked to have seen him turn to the crowd to acknowledge our support. He also had a bit of a go at Redmond a couple of times when he tried to do to much and lost the ball, something like "when I make a run give me a through ball" or something like that IMO was said. Good game overall.
Fer - Looks a great buy but I don''t think the No10 role he played at the start of the game is his position. TBH I do not think he had a great game, he was not linking the play like a No10 should and was going a bit lost at times. He did however make a good run and Redmond almost put him in with a ball over the top but it just went through to the keeper. I thought when he switched the the CM(or DM) role he came more into the game. he was now starting to break up the game and making intelligent passes out wide or simple pass and moves with Howson to open up space for himself to pick a pass. I think he needs a bit more fitness and match sharpness to get upto the pace of the game but you could see he is great player and one to look forward to.
Redmond - Also looks a good player and a great prospect but you can tell he his a young player because at times he was trying to much and looked a bit like a headless chicken when trying to take on every player on the pitch. But you can see why Hughton wanted him. He can beat a player and put a nice ball into the box but he needs to learn fast not to to over do it and make the right pass, one run he would do something good and then another to much and give it away. Things will come with experience and age but when Pilkington is fit I think he will get the starting spot but overall Redmond for 2mil + addons... F''ing bargain for an english player.
Olsson - Had a blinder of a game and would have been my MOTM. He has great upper body strength and the pace to go with it. Olsson was very solid defensively and equally adept going forward, he would offer himself on the overlap which he done a few times and when receiving the ball he had the pace to get to the byline and put a ball into the box. When Olsson went off we deferentially lost some pace and the overlap option.
Garrido - Came on half way or so into the second half for Olsson. He seemed to struggle to get upto speed with the game and got beat by the Sociedad winger on more that one occasion. He had an OK game but I would say on the performance Olsson had he has a real fight for the LB spot and may not start the Everton game if Olsson has another blinder in the next friendly. We have though two good players for the LB position which will mean who ever starts there has to play well week in week out which can only be a good thing.
Hooper - OK we only got to see him for a few mins but he has a similar playing style to Ricky I would say, makes good runs and plays on the shoulder. He got into a good position for a Redmond cross late on but was just short of making a connection. IMO he is also a "little" overweight, if Delia was worried about pie sales after loosing Holt she may have found her man to stop the fall in sales!... I only kid! :) but Hooper could do with shedding a few pounds TBH, I don''t know if he had much pre season with Celtic so this could be a factor. 
I wont go into the rest of the players since we know most of them and what they can do but I will say we still look a bit suspect at the back without Bassong there which I think most of us know and I would say a new CB singing is one of our highest priorities at the moment. Also a No10 IMO since we need someone that can link up the play and feed our strikers as well as being a goal threat. That is if we are going to continue with the 4231 formation which it looks like we will since Hughton never even thought to give 442 a go. This will enable Fer to play in CM/DM place which IMO looked his most effective role. I know a lot of people will say Hoolahan is our No10 and should be first choice but I am afraid for me he just does not offer that goal threat and the ability to run past the strike and get into the box when needed, plus in a lot of games last season he got singled out and when he was out of the game in that formation we have zero chance to do anything. I know even with a new signing it might be the same but to play that formation effectively that is what we need. I guess Howson can also play more attacking but does Hughton really like pushing him forward? to me it seems he is training him to be more defensive.
I just hope that Hughton plays 442 a lot more at home but unfortunately for you guys that go every week it does not look like he will. Now if this is because he does not think he has the strikers for it I don''t know, obviously RVW and Hooper are very similar and I am not sure they would work well together but he did not even try Becchio upfront with one of them. Maybe he just does not rate Becchio and his days are numbered or if he sees him as a complete backup I don''t know but it would be nice to see the movement of Ricky and Hooper with a strike partner to see if they get more chances. 

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I think, before we worry about the defence, we should remember the quality attackers Sociedad had in their side. Not least Carlos Vela, who was our undoing in the end. Many premiership sides don''t have the same threat going forwards.

As for last night, I thought Fer was excellent. Olsson was too. For me, they were the stand out players. Regardless of whether sign another 10, I imagine Fer will be used in the more advanced role against the better sides to give more solidity to the midfield. It was very much a 451 to start and more of a 4411 when Wes came on. All in all a good workout for this stage. A win against Panathanaikos would cap a decent pre season.

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I know its dangerous to read too much into pre-season friendlies but overall it looked a tidy performance - definitely better in the first half. We still seem a little slow and hesitant going forward and Real Sociedad showed the quick one touch penetrating passes in the second half that we could do well to try.Olsson looked strong and pacey. He gave a really committed performance and tried hard to stake his place in the starting XI.Fer is a big unit!!  He seems to be athletic and techically good and to have that languid style which is quite deceptive. He obviously has a good all round game as he looked useful both in the advanced and more deep positions, showing different skills. Him and BJ would be a physically awesome pair in midfield.Howson worked really hard (particularly in the first half), always trying to find space to receieve a pass. He looks more confident on the ball than most of last season.Redmond showed some blistering pace and clearly has loads of potential. He tried to take on too many players at time but he will learn when to release the ball and be more aware of what is going on around him. I can see why some may be a little diappointed with RVW on this showing but I thought he had a decent game. I was very impressed with his movement off the ball. As soon as we regained possession he was busy making runs and losing his marker but we must be able to release the ball quicker to him if we are going to make best use of his talents. The 2 wingers were particularly poor at this. Redmond will learn from experience but on at least half a dozen time when I saw RVW make a serious amount of space with a run but Snoddy had his head down and was charging towards a couple of defenders, focussed on taking them on, or turning back to hold the ball,  when the easier option was to slip the ball through to RVW. RVW is different to what we have had up front recently. We have a new strike force with different styles and skill to what we have had, but we will need to be smarter and quicker with the service to make best use of RVW (and Hooper).Russ Martin deserves a honourable mention. He was composed and organised and I thought had a really good game - especially as he was playing on the left side of the 2 CBs. He does the job calmly and reads the game well so he makes it look easier that it is - and the performance can be  easily overlooked.Overall, I''m still not sure what our best line-up is or where some players best fit in. We may have some more clues on Saturday. The pre-season injury list has been a bit worrying as missing some or all preseason training can be difficult to recover. My main concern is at Centre back - Bassong has been a star in that position and I''m not sure how long it will take before he is back fit enough to come back into the team. Turner looked a little rusty (fair play he been injured) but I think we look a little short of quality in depth there. Someone to compete with Wessi for the creative spark would be really nice too.

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Thanks Ricardo, always enjoy your summaries! Wasn''t at the game and only saw the YouTube summary... does look like we''ve got some great players in. Question for the guys who went to the game: Do we really need another striker? I guess some help for the central defence would be a priority

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Great to have some reports of the game, particularly interesting re the new guys. Feeling seems to be generally positive. However I also watched the youtube video, and I know they are only highlights so to be treated with great caution, but it did look to me as though our defence was being cut apart rather frequently. At around 6.28 in the video the ease with which their full back got into space on the overlap looked alarming and there were a number of times when runners from midfield seemed not to be picked up that well. Not being there obviously means I can''t judge this at all or put it into proper context, but I''m interested in hearing from any of those who were- do you feel this is just a result of watching highlights or was it an issue?

Cheers

TW

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[quote user="ROBFLECK"]Thanks Ricardo, always enjoy your summaries! Wasn''t at the game and only saw the YouTube summary... does look like we''ve got some great players in. Question for the guys who went to the game: Do we really need another striker? I guess some help for the central defence would be a priority[/quote]
Depends really down to formation. If we stick with the 4231 then possible not but it would not be a bad idea to give the option to change shape during a game. For me an incoming No10 could also cover this if he is able to play in a top 2 with either Hoops or Ricky, Toiv is the obvious one who can play in both roles and I think Quag can too. when playing 2 up top we could have a midfield 4 of Pilk/Howson/Fer/Snod or something Similar. Either way I don''t think another striker would be a bad thing aslong as he is the right player and maybe someone young with potential, I guess a loan deal for a young up and coming striker for back up might not be a bad thing just not who we had last year though ;).

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