PieEaterWestYorksRoyal The reality is we're not ready for the season and the match reflected that. We all knew that before kick off so we learned little.
If they played like a bunch of strangers, it's because they were a bunch of strangers. The next week needs to be a big one for recruitment and squad building, otherwise we'll definitely have a slow start.
+1
I was thinking that Spain was a waste of time. I didn't see any pattern to the play, no high press, no interplay. Just a battle and hoofing. Predictably we lost the midfield battle, and rarely tested their defence.
Having said that 2-0 to us at half time wouldn't have been unfair, it seemed we missed an open goal and McIntyre put a free header wide. I wasn't clear on their goals, but one seemed to be a lucky deflection and the second a well taken shot right in the top corner.
The leaking of goals, and the lack of an attacking threat are the same familiar issues we had at start as last season. I think we'll struggle.
I agree with that. The Ehib miss (I'd want to see the highlights before saying how bad it was) and the header from the corner were our best chances and might have been scored on another day.
We still looked a bit lost when it came to the final third: often looking dangerous upon reaching the edge of the penalty area and then slowing the play down through lack of ideas as to what to do next, leading to the chance being lost or some tame effort from the edge of the box. This could be a cohesion thing, as there was a number of times where players played passes others weren't expecting or made runs which the player on the ball didn't seem to notice. It was certainly better than the Wimbledon game however.
Your analysis of their goals was what I saw - a deflected effort for the first and a strike no keeper could reasonably be expected to save for the second. Sutton didn't really threaten at all in the first half and I can't really remember them doing much in the second outwith their two goals.
I'd say Hutchinson really stood out to me in the first half, as did Azeez. Djorkaeff (or whoever had #7 on their shorts) was the player who I though had the most about him among the second side that played. It's hard to know how much to read into individual performances, especially from a single match.