Pre Season Friendlies 2021 | Page 12 | Vital Football

Pre Season Friendlies 2021

If gold doesn't work, red wouldn't work either.

It's the shirt itself that's the issue, specifically the blue and white stripes as it doesn't have a solid colour base at the back, which would have made any numbers far easier to see. Putting numbers over stripes is a nightmare. The back of the shirt needs to be covered in either blue or white entirely (not both) with a different colour shirt number. Keep the stripes solely on the front.
 
If gold doesn't work, red wouldn't work either.

It's the shirt itself that's the issue, specifically the blue and white stripes as it doesn't have a solid colour base at the back, which would have made any numbers far easier to see. Putting numbers over stripes is a nightmare. The back of the shirt needs to be covered in either blue or white entirely (not both) with a different colour shirt number. Keep the stripes solely on the front.

I've always thought the same - just have the back of the shirt as one colour. It's a minor thing but I think it makes sense so folks can clearly make out the numbers / names.
 
Stoke didn't play the full first team but it was still a pretty decent side with Clucas, Chester, Powell, Ince and Batth. It was a good workout for us, quite competitive without being too intense.

Stoke looked very composed in posession and had some good movement, they also played a high press that made it difficult for us to play out from the back and through central mid and forced us to go long more than we'd probably like. Those attributes meant we looked a bit trepidatious as it was a level way above most L1 sides and our preseason so far. But as we started to aclimitise to the game we started to play a bit, get men forward and pose a threat. We ended up the better team by the end of the first half.

I think it was good Stoke tried to stop us playing our game as we will obviously face a lot of that over the season and it's encouraging that we were able to adapt and overcome the challenge their tactics posed.

I'm not sure if many of our lads really wowed (it's presesson) but no one was poor either- everyone was pretty decent to good.

Jones - couple of iffy moments but couple of good saves too. Not sure if he got his angles wrong for their goal or if the strike left him no chance.

Darikwa caught in possession for Stokes goal and wasn't able to get forward much as he normally does but was otherwise pretty decent.

Long - unspectacular but reliable / solid, probably the best game I've seen from him.

Whatmough - got caught in possession badly early on but besides that moment of madness he made a very good first impression. A cut above the defenders we had last season.

Pearce - was ok, got a couple of good balls in but exposed a couple of times defensively. Like Darikwa probably not able to get forward as much as usual.

Naylor - struggled to get on the ball due to Stokes high press but made some strong defensive contributions when Stoke started to apply some pressure and looked dangerous from set pieces.

Power - like Naylor struggled to get on the ball and dictate play due to Stokes approach but as you'd expect worked hard with lots of energy. His set piece delivery was good.

Edwards - had some good moment and was willing to run at players but was coming inside more to get involved in play rather than hugging the touchline looking to cross. Didn't get any good crosses in for Wyke.

Assgaard - some very good moments and one of our better players in the first half. He's like another Lang where you could tell early on he obviously got something about him. Would've had a goal if Stoke keeper hadn't pulled off a great save. Like Edwards was coming infield to get involved in attacks round the box rather than staying wide looking to cross.

Lang - playing as the no10 rather than on the right but still did what Lang always does, very direct running at players and shooting at every opportunity. Good goal and will be disappointed he didn't get a second. Came off at half time with ice bag on his quad but hopefully just a precaution. Need to get him tied down to a new deal asap.

Wyke - starved of any real service so did very little. But we knew that before a ball was kicked- he'll get you goals if we get him plenty of crosses into the box but unfortunately we just didn't do that on the night. He suffered from Stokes high press limiting the width and crossing opportunities for the full backs. He was up against some strong centre halves but didn't win as headers as you'd hope from long balls. He's more another Grigg type poacher than a Kieffer Moore target man - that's not necessarily a bad thing but we just need to play to that.

Keane - we were missing creativity in the first half but Keane added that when he came on. Looked classy and made a big difference and laid goal on plate for Humphrys.

Humphrys - he's built like a tank, very energetic and lively didn't really get a chance to show his ability to run with the ball or powerful shot but good to get a goal.

Blackett-Taylor - not on that long but had a couple of exciting runs that got everyone off their seats.

Scott Smith, Robinson, Eardley, Carragher, Massey, McHugh all came on and none of them really had enough time to impress but no one did much wrong either.

First half we did miss an Evans type deep sitting play maker to try and by pass Stokes high press. That's not a knock on Power or Naylor they are both good players but it's not really their game and we probably could do with that option in the squad.

We possibly also missed a little creativity in the final third. Edwards, Assgaard and Lang were working hard and posing a threat but Keane added a little extra creativity around the box.

We also lacked width as the full backs were pinned back more than we'd like and that limited the chances to give Wyke the type of balls he needed. I think the way we played and the way Stoke played suited Humphrys a lot more than Wyke and to get the best out of the latter we probably need to look at what we can do a little different tactically. So there was plenty to learn and work on but Richardson will be largely pleased with what he saw.

It is interesting that the final home game of the old era before everything went to hell was a victory against Stoke and the first home game of our clean slate / new beginning is also a win against Stoke.
 
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Stoke didn't play the full first team but it was still a pretty decent side with Clucas, Chester, Powell, Ince and Batth. It was a good workout for us, quite competitive without being too intense.

Stoke looked very composed in posession and had some good movement, they also played a high press that made it difficult for us to play out from the back and through central mid and forced us to go long more than we'd probably like. Those attributes meant we looked a bit trepidatious as it was a level way above most L1 sides and our preseason so far. But as we started to aclimitise to the game we started to play a bit, get men forward and pose a threat. We ended up the better team by the end of the first half.

I think it was good Stoke tried to stop us playing our game as we will obviously face a lot of that over the season and it's encouraging that we were able to adapt and overcome the challenge their tactics posed.

I'm not sure if many of our lads really wowed (it's presesson) but no one was poor either- everyone was pretty decent to good.

Jones - couple of iffy moments but couple of good saves too. Not sure if he got his angles wrong for their goal or if the strike left him no chance.

Darikwa caught in possession for Stokes goal and wasn't able to get forward much as he normally does but was otherwise pretty decent.

Long - unspectacular but reliable / solid, probably the best game I've seen from him.

Whatmough - got caught in possession badly early on but besides that moment of madness he made a very good first impression. A cut above the defenders we had last season.

Pearce - was ok, got a couple of good balls in but exposed a couple of times defensively. Like Darikwa probably not able to get forward as much as usual.

Naylor - struggled to get on the ball due to Stokes high press but made some strong defensive contributions when Stoke started to apply some pressure and looked dangerous from set pieces.

Power - like Naylor struggled to get on the ball and dictate play due to Stokes approach but as you'd expect worked hard with lots of energy. His set piece delivery was good.

Edwards - had some good moment and was willing to run at players but was coming inside more to get involved in play rather than hugging the touchline looking to cross. Didn't get any good crosses in for Wyke.

Assgaard - some very good moments and one of our better players in the first half. He's like another Lang where you could tell early on he obviously got something about him. Would've had a goal if Stoke keeper hadn't pulled off a great save. Like Edwards was coming infield to get involved in attacks round the box rather than staying wide looking to cross.

Lang - playing as the no10 rather than on the right but still did what Lang always does, very direct running at players and shooting at every opportunity. Good goal and will be disappointed he didn't get a second. Came off at half time with ice bag on his quad but hopefully just a precaution. Need to get him tied down to a new deal asap.

Wyke - starved of any real service so did very little. But we knew that before a ball was kicked- he'll get you goals if we get him plenty of crosses into the box but unfortunately we just didn't do that on the night. He suffered from Stokes high press limiting the width and crossing opportunities for the full backs. He was up against some strong centre halves but didn't win as headers as you'd hope from long balls. He's more another Grigg type poacher than a Kieffer Moore target man - that's not necessarily a bad thing but we just need to play to that.

Keane - we were missing creativity in the first half but Keane added that when he came on. Looked classy and made a big difference and laid goal on plate for Humphrys.

Humphrys - he's built like a tank, very energetic and lively didn't really get a chance to show his ability to run with the ball or powerful shot but good to get a goal.

Blackett-Taylor - not on that long but had a couple of exciting runs that got everyone off their seats.

Scott Smith, Robinson, Eardley, Carragher, Massey, McHugh all came on and none of them really had enough time to impress but no one did much wrong either.

First half we did miss an Evans type deep sitting play maker to try and by pass Stokes high press. That's not a knock on Power or Naylor they are both good players but it's not really their game and we probably could do with that option in the squad.

We possibly also missed a little creativity in the final third. Edwards, Assgaard and Lang were working hard and posing a threat but Keane added a little extra creativity around the box.

We also lacked width as the full backs were pinned back more than we'd like and that limited the chances to give Wyke the type of balls he needed. I think the way we played and the way Stoke played suited Humphrys a lot more than Wyke and to get the best out of the latter we probably need to look at what we can do a little different tactically. So there was plenty to learn and work on but Richardson will be largely pleased with what he saw.

It is interesting that the final home game of the old era before everything went to hell was a victory against Stoke and the first home game of our clean slate / new beginning is also a win against Stoke.

Thanks for providing player ratings.
 
The thing is I now really want us to keep up this pre-season 100% record - so Nob End is like a cup final 😁😁😁
 
I noticed Cousins didn't feature at all against his old club on Tues and no mention of why, hope It's nothing serious.

Presumably just a precaution as no point risking anyone if they aren't quite right.

Not sure if it was mentioned elsewhere but Viv was photographed sitting on the bench last night in his Wigan tracksuit.

So he's still obviously part of the group and not just coming in for physio. It's a bit of a strange one.
 
Might get a few more away fans now and a more competitive team playing us. I didnt realise they had scheduled 2x games in 2x days:

Manchester United's pre-season friendly at Preston on Saturday has been called off after "small number of positive" Covid-19 cases were identified at the Premier League club.
 
Probably just keeping their options open. He would definitely be a good squad player to have around.

If the contract offer is still on the table for Viv and he is thinking about staying he should probably needs to decide asap - as if we sign either or both of Jordan Jones or Blackett Taylor that contract offer will probably be gone.

I was greatful for Viv's contribution last year but I really like the look of Jones and Blackett-Taylor looked exciting in his cameos so I'd probably prefer those 2 over Viv.
 
For anyone who can't get to the DW tonight the match is being streamed on Preston's I-follow you just need to register on PNE site and cost is £4.49
 
What’s going on? We play PNE tonight, but they wer also playing Man U tomorrow. What sort of team was coming to us when they were expecting a 16,000 crowd against them. That match had just been postponed according to the Mirror due to COVID at Utd. Perhaps we will now get their first team which I thought we were always getting on
 
What’s going on? We play PNE tonight, but they wer also playing Man U tomorrow. What sort of team was coming to us when they were expecting a 16,000 crowd against them. That match had just been postponed according to the Mirror due to COVID at Utd. Perhaps we will now get their first team which I thought we were always getting on

They were dividing the squad in half - one set of players for our game and the other for United - with us most likely getting the second string. Presumably with only 1 preseason game left it will be the first team now.
 
For anyone who can't get to the DW tonight the match is being streamed on Preston's I-follow you just need to register on PNE site and cost is £4.49
"For supporters not able to attend this game, a live video stream will be included as part of the £4.49 monthly pass, which you can purchase here by selecting ‘Audio Monthly Pass’. " - doesn't this mean that we have to subscribe to a rolling monthly contract on auto renewal?
 
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"For supporters not able to attend this game, a live video stream will be included as part of the £4.49 monthly pass, which you can purchase here by selecting ‘Audio Monthly Pass’. " - doesn't this mean that we have to subscribe to a rolling monthly contract on auto renewal?


Well, yes it does, but you can cancel any time up to 5 days of renewal. I can't go to night, but I've signed up to watch it