Tweet
The first ER outing of 2025/26 and the Yorkshire weather was overcast with patches of sunlight bursting through.
A portent for the season ahead?
Thankfully as the game started the sunshine came out just as the players did.
Schmidt starting was a bit of a novelty - on this showing he looked far from match fit, a bit short on confidence and as a result tried too hard and didn?t look good enough. If Bogle had been playing the final score may have looked very very different.
What a joy to have a left footed left back who can both defend and attack, run with the ball and pass it well. His link up play looks good and he seems comfortable taking the ball in tight spaces under pressure - who knew such left footed creatures existed!
Nmecha I wasn?t sure about pre game but he looks full of intelligent running and had either the ball fallen for him a couple of times or Aaronson and Schmidt been a bit more accurate he may have snaffled a goal. He has a lot more pace than Piroe so the ball over the top is an option with him.
Stach and Longstaff both look good - technically composed and just look comfortable on the pitch - Stach was playing pushed up a fair bit and seems to be able to pick a pass and not panic.
Aaronson is an unsolvable problem in that he reads the game pretty well and is full of running but is so lightweight he just constantly gets muscled off the ball. He looked like the ****ager in midfield rather than Harry Gray. Shame but he is too weak for English football.
Second half saw a fair few subs and Byram showed how poor Schmidt is at right back.
Meslier looked like a calamity waiting to happen and for good measure almost crippled our shiny new left back. He surely will leave - he wasn?t being shown much love by the South Stand.
Piroe has a great touch and reads the game well but just looks slow at this level -even in a friendly.
Ramazani looked excellent when he came on and at times terrified their left back - far more than Gnonto had. Surely, he has to be close to starting - he is quick, great touch, dribbles with good control and is pretty direct. Whatever tiff Farke has with him someone needs to mend that asap.
We played some really good one and two touch football at times but whilst there were moments of flowing football the game could never really escape the feeling of a pre season friendly. The ref seemed determined not to give fouls in the box as we had two clear one shouts (Nmecha and Gnonto) that weren?t given.
Villarreal at times were pretty late with a lot of tackles but not sure at what stage of their preseason it is but they had a few players who had obvious quality and extra gears available that they didn?t need to show.
Definitely need to invest in a ST and number 10 but some very promising times may be ahead and the sunny skies could have been a sign of brighter times ahead given the strongest XI was not on the pitch together.
The kernels of a very good side are there just need to add a few more and get rid of any chaff and husks.
MOT
A portent for the season ahead?
Thankfully as the game started the sunshine came out just as the players did.
Schmidt starting was a bit of a novelty - on this showing he looked far from match fit, a bit short on confidence and as a result tried too hard and didn?t look good enough. If Bogle had been playing the final score may have looked very very different.
What a joy to have a left footed left back who can both defend and attack, run with the ball and pass it well. His link up play looks good and he seems comfortable taking the ball in tight spaces under pressure - who knew such left footed creatures existed!
Nmecha I wasn?t sure about pre game but he looks full of intelligent running and had either the ball fallen for him a couple of times or Aaronson and Schmidt been a bit more accurate he may have snaffled a goal. He has a lot more pace than Piroe so the ball over the top is an option with him.
Stach and Longstaff both look good - technically composed and just look comfortable on the pitch - Stach was playing pushed up a fair bit and seems to be able to pick a pass and not panic.
Aaronson is an unsolvable problem in that he reads the game pretty well and is full of running but is so lightweight he just constantly gets muscled off the ball. He looked like the ****ager in midfield rather than Harry Gray. Shame but he is too weak for English football.
Second half saw a fair few subs and Byram showed how poor Schmidt is at right back.
Meslier looked like a calamity waiting to happen and for good measure almost crippled our shiny new left back. He surely will leave - he wasn?t being shown much love by the South Stand.
Piroe has a great touch and reads the game well but just looks slow at this level -even in a friendly.
Ramazani looked excellent when he came on and at times terrified their left back - far more than Gnonto had. Surely, he has to be close to starting - he is quick, great touch, dribbles with good control and is pretty direct. Whatever tiff Farke has with him someone needs to mend that asap.
We played some really good one and two touch football at times but whilst there were moments of flowing football the game could never really escape the feeling of a pre season friendly. The ref seemed determined not to give fouls in the box as we had two clear one shouts (Nmecha and Gnonto) that weren?t given.
Villarreal at times were pretty late with a lot of tackles but not sure at what stage of their preseason it is but they had a few players who had obvious quality and extra gears available that they didn?t need to show.
Definitely need to invest in a ST and number 10 but some very promising times may be ahead and the sunny skies could have been a sign of brighter times ahead given the strongest XI was not on the pitch together.
The kernels of a very good side are there just need to add a few more and get rid of any chaff and husks.
MOT
Comment