Pre-season Friendly - Servette (N), Friday 8th July:

OldCastleSwiftOldCastleSwift
edited July 2022 in Men's First Team
Thought I'd get this going as our first pre-season game is only a week away. Presumably the internationals are unlikely to feature given they'll only start training on Monday, so based on what we've seen from the Scotland training camp we'll line up something like:

Fab
Ashby Zouma Ogbonna Cresswell
Coventry Lanzini Fornals
Oko-Flex Antonio Benrahma

And the rest of the U23s making up the bench alongside Dawson and Diop.

Very light in terms of first team options, but as always, building match fitness is the priority at this time of year.
«13

Comments

  • HamstewHamstew
    Loss
  • WHU_Champo_league_in_7_yearsWHU_Champo_league_in_7_years
    Don't we start with two fixtures on the same day

    So theoretically we could do with 44 players right? A 1st half and 2nd half XI in both
  • IronHerbIronHerb
    8 July Servette
    12 July Ipswich
    12 July Boreham Wood
    16 July Reading
    19 July Rangers
    23 July Luton
    30 July Lens
  • MrsGreyMrsGrey
    We have a separate pre season thread.

    At the moment can't merge.

    So decide which one you want to keep and I'll close the other
  • OldCastleSwiftOldCastleSwift
    WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years said:

    Don't we start with two fixtures on the same day

    So theoretically we could do with 44 players right? A 1st half and 2nd half XI in both

    I've been thinking about this. There's only 10 days until these fixtures so I can't see many, if any, new faces before then. If we follow last season's example of playing a mixture of first team and U23 players for both games, and assuming everyone is fit and ready, we're looking at:

    Areola
    Coufal Zouma Ogbonna Cresswell
    Coventry Soucek
    Oko-Flex Antonio Fornals

    and

    Fab
    Ashby Dawson Aguerd Johnson
    Rice Lanzini
    Vlasic Bowen Benrahma

    The benches will then comprise of Trott, Randolph, Diop, Longelo, Masuaku, Alese, Forson, Chesters, Nevers, Potts and maybe the young NI youngsters we've bought in recently, so we probably have enough players to cater for both fixtures.
  • HainaultHammerHainaultHammer
    edited July 2022
    OldCastleSwift said:



    Areola
    Coufal Zouma Ogbonna Cresswell
    Coventry Soucek
    Oko-Flex Antonio Fornals

    and

    Fab
    Ashby Dawson Aguerd Johnson
    Rice Lanzini
    Vlasic Bowen Benrahma

    I know the opposition aren't PL standard, but I still reckon fielding just ten players is asking for a loss...
  • OldCastleSwiftOldCastleSwift
    HainaultHammer said:

    OldCastleSwift said:



    Areola
    Coufal Zouma Ogbonna Cresswell
    Coventry Soucek
    Oko-Flex Antonio Fornals

    and

    Fab
    Ashby Dawson Aguerd Johnson
    Rice Lanzini
    Vlasic Bowen Benrahma

    I know the opposition aren't PL standard, but I still reckon fielding just ten players is asking for a loss...
    🤦‍♂️

    Does make it worse though, because we'll need another couple of players.
  • OldCastleSwiftOldCastleSwift
    According to Ex, the international players aren't back for another week, so I'd be surprised if any of them will be in a position to play on the 12th.

    If that is the case, I have no idea how we'll field two teams.
  • LukerzLukerz
    Who said we were fielding two sides?
  • HamstewHamstew
    Lukerz said:

    Who said we were fielding two sides?

    because they can't be in two places at once 🤣
  • OldCastleSwiftOldCastleSwift
    Lukerz said:

    Who said we were fielding two sides?

    We have two games on the 12th
  • LukerzLukerz
    That would explain it
  • IronHerbIronHerb
    We do have an U23 squad at our disposal.
  • FortuneseekerFortuneseeker
    IronHerb, Wouldn’t that require playing some youth players? 😉
  • OldCastleSwiftOldCastleSwift
    edited July 2022
    We do, but for the two games we'll need at least 36 players, given that most players rarely play the full 90 minutes in their second pre-season game.

    From what I've seen of the training photos and videos, we only took Fabianksi, Cresswell, Zouma, Fornals, Antonio, Lanzini, Dawson, Ogbonna, Benrahma, Diop, Masuaku, Coventry, Alese, Ashby, Longelo, Forson, Trott and Potts to Scotland. That's 18 players, including only 11 first teamers. Enough for one of the Wednesday games, at a push.

    So the other 18 will have to come from the rest of the U23 squad and the U18s.

    There's a chance some of the internationals may be available; Rice has certainly been at some kind of training camp over the last few days judging by his Insta account, but I don't think we'll be flush with players for the first couple of fixtures.
  • buffybegoodbuffybegood
    It does seem odd to arrange 2 matchs on the same day quite so early in the pre-season, but what do I know?
  • Expat_HammerExpat_Hammer
    buffybegood said:

    It does seem odd to arrange 2 matchs on the same day quite so early in the pre-season, but what do I know?

    I think that it was the same last year
  • whupathmanwhupathman
    Expat_Hammer said:

    buffybegood said:

    It does seem odd to arrange 2 matchs on the same day quite so early in the pre-season, but what do I know?

    I think that it was the same last year
    we did, only with more players :)
  • Expat_HammerExpat_Hammer
    whupathman said:

    Expat_Hammer said:

    buffybegood said:

    It does seem odd to arrange 2 matchs on the same day quite so early in the pre-season, but what do I know?

    I think that it was the same last year
    we did, only with more players :)
    Maybe we'll do rush goalie this year =)
  • MrsGreyMrsGrey
    edited July 2022
    OldCastleSwift said:

    According to Ex, the international players aren't back for another week, so I'd be surprised if any of them will be in a position to play on the 12th.

    If that is the case, I have no idea how we'll field two teams.

    On the photo spread on the club site is says that the international players will be back later this week.

    They'll be fine for 45 minutes on the 12th. (That bit's imo, not from the club site)
  • OldCastleSwiftOldCastleSwift
    MrsGrey said:

    OldCastleSwift said:

    According to Ex, the international players aren't back for another week, so I'd be surprised if any of them will be in a position to play on the 12th.

    If that is the case, I have no idea how we'll field two teams.

    On the photo spread on the club site is says that the international players will be back later this week.

    They'll be fine for 45 minutes on the 12th. (That bit's imo, not from the club site)

    Back for the routine testing at Rush Green, I believe. So they may not be training until Friday/Saturday.

    I'm sure they've all looked after themselves during their breaks* though, so yeah, hopefully they'll have enough to contribute something on the 12th.


    *Not sure whether Bowen has been in the potato fields this summer as he's been away with Danni Dyer all summer
  • PrestonHammerPrestonHammer
    She's been in the potato fields with him.
  • KuchinghammerKuchinghammer
    His very own sweet potato??
  • HamstewHamstew
    I've seen Rice on Instagram and he's been doing training on his own.
  • OldCastleSwiftOldCastleSwift
    With Matty Cash and Zac Clough, weirdly.

    Just Googled it; they're at the Elite Sports Academy in Dubai.
  • Ravel49Ravel49
    Not with Mason Mount 😯
  • OldCastleSwiftOldCastleSwift
    Diamantis_Are_Forever said:

    Not with Mason Mount 😯

    He saw Mason earlier in the summer. There were pictures of them on bicycles. One of the Chalobah brothers was there too, I believe.
  • HamstewHamstew
    Cough Stalker
  • OldCastleSwiftOldCastleSwift
    You follow one footballer around the world with a telephoto lens for six weeks and you get called a stalker.

    This country 🙄
  • HamstewHamstew

Sign In or Register to comment.