Preseason Matches - useful or bad news?

[Welshtel]

With Trippier out for the first game at least (probably) and the possibility of others being injured preseason, how useful is the practice of playing full games before the season begins?

I appreciate that a good run out is useful to tighten up attitudes and competitiveness but if we lose players to injury and have a bad start to the season, we have already lost points. When we are pushing for the title and every points is vital (and we HAVE to fine tune the point scoring to get maximum grip on the title) we need to make sure that there are no injuries.

Is there an alternative to playing competitive matches to get us run up for the start of the season or is it vital to have a real snap shot of our readiness?

Is it worth the effort to play real opposition?

 

[Departed]

Very useful on several fronts.

1) Fitness
2) Integration of players
3) Promotion of the club and the sport
4) Shirt sales in North America - or wherever they go

 

[Welshtel]

Yeah good points '80', shirt sales are important but important enough to lose players through possible injury? I know it's not a given that players are going to get injured preseason but we have lived on the fringe of success for years and "maybe", we have needed to maximise our resources. Kane was out for what, 10 weeks last season , (I know it was not through reason injury). in total? What if we had NO players out, we would have won the league. Why not maximise their fitness and rest periods, giving them alternative run outs, less likely to cause injuries?

Us winning the league would promote the club a great deal of course.