Re: Newtown Updates
Posted: 29 Jul 2018, 16:12
Not seen much of pre season, only Dudley Town up to yesterday. Thought the difference between that game and yesterday was massive. Newtown looked a very well organised, efficient side but as mentioned elsewhere on this thread the tempo was not quite what perhaps we might expect in a few weeks time.
Ahmed Ali has also been mentioned on here numerous times and rightly so, he looked excellent yesterday, his movement and willingness to just do the simple things without trying to complicate the game was great to see. The first half formation (playing without wide players in midfield) helped us in seeing Tonks and Kelly get forward well and it was noticeable when the substitutions were made at half time we then played with two wide midfield players and after the first 10 minutes or so of the second half we again looked decent. It was nice to see us play the ball on the floor with confidence and intent. All eyes were no doubt on Ebanks-Blake, who certainly reminded me of Isedyn Christie in that despite not being fully match fit was cunning enough to win us free kicks and link up the play.
We certainly appear to have a really decent squad of players with numerous options, hopefully we'll see them grow over the coming weeks and months. Although it was a friendly and pre season game I'm optimistic of the future, albeit cautiously as mentioned before - we've looked good pre season before.
Ahmed Ali has also been mentioned on here numerous times and rightly so, he looked excellent yesterday, his movement and willingness to just do the simple things without trying to complicate the game was great to see. The first half formation (playing without wide players in midfield) helped us in seeing Tonks and Kelly get forward well and it was noticeable when the substitutions were made at half time we then played with two wide midfield players and after the first 10 minutes or so of the second half we again looked decent. It was nice to see us play the ball on the floor with confidence and intent. All eyes were no doubt on Ebanks-Blake, who certainly reminded me of Isedyn Christie in that despite not being fully match fit was cunning enough to win us free kicks and link up the play.
We certainly appear to have a really decent squad of players with numerous options, hopefully we'll see them grow over the coming weeks and months. Although it was a friendly and pre season game I'm optimistic of the future, albeit cautiously as mentioned before - we've looked good pre season before.