Pre-season games | Page 8 | Vital Football

Pre-season games

So many fantastic performers today it's difficult to know where to start... :emoticon:16

From the back is as good a place as any;

DDV: Not been a fan of his but he had a great day. Commanding and collected anything that made it into our box. Very good with the ball at his feet (which the main reason BR bought him in the first place) and excellent throw-outs too. Outstanding double save from their penalty. I'm much less concerned about a Gordon injury after today's showing.

Ralston: Had McGeady in his pocket from the off and even nut-megged him at one point! His performance was summed up nicely when McGeady brought him down for our penalty. Composed throughout and very impressive!

Miller: He had a fine game. Nice turn of speed saw him able to keep forward balls in play that looked certain to go out. Nice footwork and passing too. More impressive than Sinclair on our left today in both directions!

Ajer: Outstanding performance. The only thing missing from his game on Wed night was maybe the confidence to bring the ball out from the back. I'd imagine BR had said as much to him because he done it fantastically well today. The kid is just a wonderfully gifted and natural footballer who oozes class on the ball. He dictated the play from the back with ease. Coped with everything defensively and linked well with KT at the back. A 19 and 20 year old CB pairing!
Just a pity Kolo is no longer there because I'd have had him working exclusively with Ajer. The bhoy has a huge future in the game and will only get better the longer he plays.

Ntcham: Another composed and assured outing from ollie. His passing and movement are superb. Not afraid to get stuck in too. He'll be flying once he's fully up to speed.

Kouassi: Superb performance from him. A dominant, high energy and tenacious display. Mopped up and passed with ease. Easy to see now why we were so keen to get this kid signed.
Between illness and injury he's had to cope with a lot of setbacks since joining us in January, not to mention adapting to a new country, language, style of football, etc. Got to remember too that he's only 19. He's going to be a star and a massive player for us!

McGregor: Unplayable at times today and Sunderland will be glad to see the back of him. He has this natural ability to just ghost into goalscoring positions. It's an invaluable quality that simply can't be taught. He's also a natural and composed finisher. Took his three goals with the ease you expect from him - including his penalty. Has to start against Rosenborg (and I said that before today's game).

Hayes: Tidy performance from him and took his goal really well. Full of running and always willing to track back and put his foot in. Surely has to start ahead of Forrest on the right v rosenborg!

Forrest: I've been harsh on him in the last three games because quite frankly he's been pish poor. He saw little of the ball today but linked play a few times. He's not the answer up front but at least it keeps him off the wing. Shouldn't start the 2nd leg unless there's no other alternative.

Sinclair: Not great again today. His touch just seems to be off at the moment but he showed for every ball and kept at it. Bit of a worry with the 2nd leg in mind. Maybe give Miller a chance there and play Scotty as the striker.

Armstrong resembled last seasons Armstrong when he entered the fray. Benyu again looked lively when he came on. Rogic had a good run out. All the other subs coped well, apart from Ciftci.

Ciftci looked like an unfit player who shouldn't have been on the pitch tbh.
Can only hope some desperate bastard of a scout mistook one of our other players for Cftci the unshiftable and recommends the big lump to an even more desperate bastard of a 2nd division club in outer Mongolia.

I'm now fuckin knackered after writing all that pish and am off to drink lots of Guinness and whisky!

Highlights
[YOUTUBE=4XV4eHwFsTc]
 
I missed the game as was too busy drinking craft ale! Haha! Was out some friends at a gin and craft ale festival. I was surprised at how many first team players or at least ones most likely to start at the moment were actually involved.

Great recap Tic, really appreciate that. So we started with KT and Ajer as CBs, then Bitton came on and Sinclair went off so I'm guessing Miller then moved up to LW, KT out to LB and then Bitton came in at CB? So when KT went off, who went to LB? Did Hill go and play there or did Miller move back and someone else moved out to the wing?

I followed some of the game on Twitter and most of the Tweets mentioned Miller or Ralston or both! Seems they must have had very good games!

Even if Griffiths is fit enough to start on Wednesday, he's not going to be fit enough to play the whole game, so someone will have to come on and play up front instead of him at some point. A lot of people are suggesting that will be Forrest now but from what Tic is saying, he still didn't have a particularly good game.

Calmac (loving that nickname btw) seemed to run the show and he has the ability to do that. He had something to prove as well though as he's been pushed to the outskirts of the team a little bit. BR clearly has faith in him to come in and do a job whenever and wherever he's required but he's not one of the outstanding players in any one position. A great sort of player to have at times though.
We should remember that he got double figures when on loan at Notts County in half a season and that was from him playing in the role behind the striker. Is that where he played on Saturday or was he still in the midfield 3? This is the thing I don't always get, sometimes we play players out of position just to get them in the team and I can understand that if it's just a sub appearance but Calmac was always an attacking midfielder in his younger days. Deila moved him out to the wing because he was a muppet and now we see him being used in a more central midfield role. The central midfield role can work for him don't get me wrong but at the end of the day he and Rogic both play best when in that role behind the striker.

I saw Kouassi play earlier in pre-season and I thought he looked brilliant! Hopefully we get to see more of him this season. It will likely mean having to give Brown a rest more often but I don't really think that's too much of a problem as long as you've got that energetic, combative midfielder controlling things in the middle of the pitch which is what I've seen Kouassi do and assume he did the same on Saturday.

Hopefully this has been enough for Ciftci to show teams he's still alive and someone will be desperate enough to take him off us!
 
Hope you enjoyed your day, wee_od. I took a tour of my whisky collection :emoticon:57

CalMac did indeed play behind the striker. Can't recall where Hill played, mate. Pretty late in the game tbf

I'll stick my other thoughts in the CL thread as they'll be more relevant there.
 
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