cookeh Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 Got to say I'm a little worried by our preseason fixtures. With all due respect to the team involved.. We're lining up: Some non-league chumps. 2 teams who were playing English 4th tier last season. A rubbish team from Scotland who just lost to a terrible side from Luxembourg over 2 legs. A 3rd tier Portugese team. A team just promoted from the Portugese 2nd tier who's best player by a distance in 36. and a team from the lower end of the Portugese top tier. You could argue that preseason is about fitness and working on patterns and tactics, but it's also about getting up to speed for the start of the league campaign. There's a massive gulf between all these teams and clubs in the Championship. This lot make the Blunts look good, so I'm genuinely worried that when we run out at Deepdale in 3 weeks we're going to be very much behind the curve, having had leisurely knockabouts for all our preseason matches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradowl Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 2 teams from Portuguese top tier will be a good test... http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/portuguese-primeira-liga/table Doncaster Rovers are a decent side and will be up for it being a local club. Rangers backed by 10,000 supporters will be biggest test of lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curren Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 would you rather us play premier league sides that would more than likely throw a bunch of kids in or a side like Mansfield and Doncaster that will have players wanting to catch the eye and make a statement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
East Suffolk Owl Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 Spot on my thoughts too.... Couldn't we have done some kind of tournament at Hillsborough invited a couple of minor European teams and possibly Doncaster or Rotherham and spread it over a week ...it would make far more sence..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArmyBarmy Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 Nothing wrong with playing lower sides, they're bang up for it and give us a test. We're hardly gunna go out and play Barca, Arsenal, Chelsea etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenhgate Owl Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 don't get more glamorous than Doncaster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradowl Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 4 minutes ago, ArmyBarmy said: Nothing wrong with playing lower sides, they're bang up for it and give us a test. We're hardly gunna go out and play Barca, Arsenal, Chelsea etc Its near impossible to play these sides when they jet off to other side of planet playing in front of 80,000 earning millions for clubs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArmyBarmy Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 1 minute ago, bradowl said: Its near impossible to play these sides when they jet off to other side of planet playing in front of 80,000 earning millions for clubs. That's my point. We ain't gunna get them. We need a side hungry and up for it to get out side match fit and you get that from he sides we've got lined up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoOkOut Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 Pre season really means fuckall really it doesn't matter if it's alfretom or atletico Madrid it's just a run out for the players and most of them are only half hearted. They will all know the real deal starts at deepdale in a few weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookeh Posted July 18, 2017 Author Share Posted July 18, 2017 Alfreton seems to be a charity game and fair enough, something easy just to get the ball rolling.. But could we not then at least find some League One opponents, rather than League Two? If not one of the 2 teams that missed out on promotion, Bradford say. Premier League would be nice, to test ourselves, and sure, we won't be playing Chelsea, but why not someone like Watford? We've got a bit of a relationship there is seems, and they've got a game against Villa, so were up for playing a Championship side. And for a tour, can't we do better than a club in Portugal's non-professional league? Could we not go to France or Germany and get a lower end Bundesliga or Ligue 1 side? I'm just worried that we're not testing ourselves at all. With, perhaps, Vitoria aside these should all be 'win at a canter' type games and we're not really going to be stretched or tested until Preston come at us. For reference, Preston's 3 games before they play us are Newcastle, Burnley and Fleetwood (who make Leagoe One playoffs last year). Preston will be well tested, we run the risk of still being on holiday and I'm worried we'll pay for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swiss Toni Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 Pre season is about getting players match fit and injury free. So long as they're semi competitive matches I'm not too bothered about playing any big guns. Basically 18 teams in our league are the same as last season so nothing new there really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ballmeist Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 I'm more worried about the quality of defending in the Mansfield game. You think we'd have been working on set pieces after last season .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest oz_owl Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 9 minutes ago, cookeh said: Alfreton seems to be a charity game and fair enough, something easy just to get the ball rolling.. But could we not then at least find some League One opponents, rather than League Two? If not one of the 2 teams that missed out on promotion, Bradford say. Premier League would be nice, to test ourselves, and sure, we won't be playing Chelsea, but why not someone like Watford? We've got a bit of a relationship there is seems, and they've got a game against Villa, so were up for playing a Championship side. And for a tour, can't we do better than a club in Portugal's non-professional league? Could we not go to France or Germany and get a lower end Bundesliga or Ligue 1 side? I'm just worried that we're not testing ourselves at all. With, perhaps, Vitoria aside these should all be 'win at a canter' type games and we're not really going to be stretched or tested until Preston come at us. For reference, Preston's 3 games before they play us are Newcastle, Burnley and Fleetwood (who make Leagoe One playoffs last year). Preston will be well tested, we run the risk of still being on holiday and I'm worried we'll pay for it. You are worrying for literally no reason. Relax my friend and you will enjoy the pre season much more. Premier League teams are usually at least a week behind Championship teams in terms of their conditioning work. Even if they start a full strength side you will get a host of subs, and a team playing at much less than 100% intensity. In terms of prestige it's nice for sure, but in terms of a test it's likely to be much less than a game against a local lower league team. Either way pre-season is ALL about fitness and tactics. The results mean very little. As fans we read far too much into these games, because we want our team to win every game at least 4-0. Trust that the coaches know what they're doing in terms of preparing the players the right way. As has already been mentioned, it's not like we have a team of newcomers to the division who don't know what to expect. The only thing you want is to get through this period with zero serious injuries. Particularly to centre backs... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daftpenguin Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 Doesn't matter and you're putting too much stock into it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoOkOut Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 37 minutes ago, cookeh said: Alfreton seems to be a charity game and fair enough, something easy just to get the ball rolling.. But could we not then at least find some League One opponents, rather than League Two? If not one of the 2 teams that missed out on promotion, Bradford say. Premier League would be nice, to test ourselves, and sure, we won't be playing Chelsea, but why not someone like Watford? We've got a bit of a relationship there is seems, and they've got a game against Villa, so were up for playing a Championship side. And for a tour, can't we do better than a club in Portugal's non-professional league? Could we not go to France or Germany and get a lower end Bundesliga or Ligue 1 side? I'm just worried that we're not testing ourselves at all. With, perhaps, Vitoria aside these should all be 'win at a canter' type games and we're not really going to be stretched or tested until Preston come at us. For reference, Preston's 3 games before they play us are Newcastle, Burnley and Fleetwood (who make Leagoe One playoffs last year). Preston will be well tested, we run the risk of still being on holiday and I'm worried we'll pay for it. Jesus Christ... You really don't need to get this hysterical about who out oppo are in pre season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belfast owl lad Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 1 hour ago, bradowl said: Rangers backed by 10,000 supporters will be biggest test of lot. we could play rangers at ibrox in front of 50,000,they would pose as much of a threat as third lanark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owl 44 Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 Fulham played a near full strength Chelsea squad last week. They lost 8-2. Would rather our lads have a good few run outs and build confidence than get slaughtered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Road Runner Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 1 hour ago, cookeh said: Alfreton seems to be a charity game and fair enough, something easy just to get the ball rolling.. But could we not then at least find some League One opponents, rather than League Two? If not one of the 2 teams that missed out on promotion, Bradford say. I agree, playing a league one team would be better. Ideally like league one Doncaster away keeping it local with a bit of an edge would have been spot on. Never mind eh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prince Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 Getting thumped big time in a friendly against a top side isn't gonna fill the players with confidence. All about time to get fit and ease into games again after the summer break. The quality of the opposition doesn't matter as much as getting players match fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HIGHERSTATE Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 Think Evans had Mansfield fired up. Or somehow encouraged them to be hungry for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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