Pre Season 2021

OldCastleSwift

Alves on for Lanzini. Gone to a back three. Looks like Antonio has gone wide right in a 3-4-3.

MrsGrey

OldCastleSwift said:

An Antonio shot goes out for a Brentford throw in.

This second half performance hasn't been great...

Keep up the good work :-)

OldCastleSwift

Well, a win's a win but I think Brentford did more than enough to get at least a draw.

Benrahma, Fornals and Lanzini did well, but no-one else really covered themselves in glory, IMO.

Hoping for a step up (and a few more options) for the Atalanta game.

Lukerz

Considering the lack of options; no Areola, Ogbonna, Coufal, Masuaku, Rice, Souček, Bowen & the fact we are yet to make an outfield signing, we have not done too badly today & against Celtic. Yeah it’s not perfect, due to it being pre-season & these games you do take with a pinch of salt & the performances are normally patchy, but we’re doing ok.

Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes

I can't personally look at a pre-season game with half the first team missing and worry about it not being a perfect performance.

We did fine, and we look fit. And a lot of first-team players played most or all of the game, which is a bonus.

Brother_Sledge

Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes said:

I'm starting to hope Jesse doesn't come back, as it will give Benrahma more game time.

Similarly, I am not sure Pereira is a priority with Benrahma improving and Lanzini looking more like his old self , Fornals deserving a place and if we get a decent Striker like Tammy then Antonio can play a bit wider so if we hang on to Bowen and Yarmo sticks around as backup we have reasonable cover.

alderz

I don’t think ‘reasonable’ cover is enough this season. We need actual competition, and I do think that Pereira coming in would provide that. I also have thought for a long time that Fornals long term future will be at CM. He’s good on the ball, but even better off it. Pereira coming in could allow that to happen on occasion

Yeoldhammer

we also will lose Benrahma to AFCON right ?

alderz

Yeoldhammer said:

we also will lose Benrahma to AFCON right ?

Yes, if he’s selected. Which he will be.

OldCastleSwift

So, for our marquee pre-season event, it's looking increasingly likely that our match day squad will be weaker than the one that beat Southampton.

I'm guessing Areola will get a game, so we're looking at:

Areola
Coufal Dawson Diop Cresswell
Soucek Lanzini
Bowen Fornals Benrahma
Antonio

Fabianski, Johnson, Masuaku, Alves, Noble, Yarmolenko, Oko-Flex

Lukerz

I would imagine our final 11 will be the one that starts at Newcastle:

Fabianski
Fredericks - Dawson - Diop - Cresswell
Noble - Lanzini
Bowen - Fornals - Benrahma
Antonio

Areola, Alves, Coufal, Johnson, Souček, Rice, Yarmolenko

Maybe Ogbonna & Masuaku included depending on their fitness.

IronHerb

We'll start Rice, Coufal and Soucek imo.

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

Think Rice will be touch and go to start

Definitely think we'll see Soucek and Coufal

OutcastLondoner

Isn't it pretty normal that players returning from international tournaments miss the first game or two of the season? I'm sure I remember that from other years - why wouldn't it be the same now?

buffybegood

OutcastLondoner said:

Isn't it pretty normal that players returning from international tournaments miss the first game or two of the season? I'm sure I remember that from other years - why wouldn't it be the same now?

Because we've got a desperately small squad?

OutcastLondoner

I assume they don't play because they're not fit enough yet, not because they don't feel like it. We've seen it so many times before with Antonio - play him even when he's had to go off in a previous game and then we lose him almost straight away again for several games. Great if they can play but I won't be at all surprised if they don't.

ScotHammer

buffybegood said:

OutcastLondoner said:

Isn't it pretty normal that players returning from international tournaments miss the first game or two of the season? I'm sure I remember that from other years - why wouldn't it be the same now?

Because we've got a desperately small squad?

Agree.

It was a slow start that cost us last season, so we do need a strong team from game one. Our small squad may mean we have no choice, which is very worrying.

claretandbluesky

Not sure how fitness can be an issue, whilst most of our payers were on a beach somewhere our Euro players were training and playing three games in a week and then some form of knockout stage the following week. They couldn't have lost that much fitness in three weeks holiday after the Euro's! Soucek could run marathons so to imagine he wont be fit enough to face Newcastle I can't understand.

Lukerz

I can tell you now, if I Coufal, Souček & Rice start v Newcastle, we will lose. We can’t have 3 players who have been in training a combined 4 weeks, with no match minutes, play in a PL opener. I imagine all 3 will get 45 v Atalanta but be on the bench v Newcastle.

MrsGrey

Lukerz said:

I can tell you now, if Coufal, Souček & Rice start v Newcastle, we will lose. We can’t have 3 players who have been in training a combined 4 weeks, with no match minutes, play in a PL opener. I imagine all 3 will get 45 v Atalanta but be on the bench v Newcastle.

Bookmarked! ;-)

buffybegood

OutcastLondoner said:

I assume they don't play because they're not fit enough yet, not because they don't feel like it. We've seen it so many times before with Antonio - play him even when he's had to go off in a previous game and then we lose him almost straight away again for several games. Great if they can play but I won't be at all surprised if they don't.

I think there's a bit of difference between coming back from injury and coming back from a summer break; I agree it's not ideal if any of them have to play, but maybe not quite the risk of doing so when you're returning from an injury.

OldCastleSwift

Lukerz said:

I can tell you now, if I Coufal, Souček & Rice start v Newcastle, we will lose.

I think we'll have more chance of losing if they don't. A Noble/Lanzini midfield pivot in a PL game?

Lukerz

Noble/Lanzini/Fornals it will be 👍

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

Well they returned to training 6 days ago, that means they (Coufal, Soucek & Yarmo) will essentially have had over2.5 weeks of training in time for Newcastle from when they started

Guess a lot depends on how long they play against Atalanta, if they are only given 45 minutes then it's probably unlikely they will start but if they get 60 minutes think we'll see them

Tbf the only player I think NEEDS to start out of the 3 (because no chance Rice starts imo) is Soucek as we have fredericks/Johnson at RB and Yarmo isn't part of the first XI even when fully fit

Lukerz

Like any returning player, they will get 45 minutes v Atalanta & that’s it. No way is that suitable to start.

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

Lukerz said:

Like any returning player, they will get 45 minutes v Atalanta & that’s it. No way is that suitable to start.

Bowen got 70 minutes on our first pre-season game after training for 5 days and followed that up with a full 90 minutes 4 days later

Yes they were played at a pace of a friendly but wouldn't surprise me if they were given an extended run out

Lukerz

Oggy’s back in training

Lukerz

So, looking at the photos, it seems the youngsters who took part in many of the friendlies (Forson, Oxoflex, Baptiste, Alese, Odubeko etc) have now permanently gone with the U23s, so our current available squad for Atalanta is now:

GK: Fabianski, Areola, Randolph, Martin
CB: Ogbonna, Dawson, Diop, Alves
FB: Cresswell, Johnson, Fredericks, Coufal
CM: Rice, Soućek, Noble, Lanzini, Coventry
AM/WG: Bowen, Yarmolenko, Benrahma, Fornals
ST: Antonio

No sign of Masuaku in any training pics so he’s not looking like being available for a while.

buffybegood

Lukerz said:

No sign of Masuaku in any training pics so he’s not looking like being available for a while.

That's disappointing, didn't he play 45 mins v Aldershot?

Whitehorsehammer

I thought he played 45 minutes the other day.