It was a money play and a way for Howe to assess the youth players he took along.
Don't think the result makes much difference.
Performed poorly against Spurs.. and just beaten 8-0 against A-League All Stars..
I thought we were supposed to be raising our profile.....
It was a money play and a way for Howe to assess the youth players he took along.
Don't think the result makes much difference.
I don’t take any notice of preseason friendly results and so take even less notice of this one.
I agree, though, that if this was a commercial exercise then it seems strange. If I was paying to watch the toon in Oz, I’d want to see the star players on the pitch.
I get the impression that the MCG game was the main (only?) event and this game was a kick about for the youngsters against a local side, tacked on.
Jeez - I hadn't seen that - which shows how meaningless it is to me I guess.
But, boy, that is not a good look, to say the least......... You can't be growing a "product" if your product is going to get tonked 8-0
Aye, the optics aren't good, young team or not.
Aye never good to take a humping however it depends on who's optics we're viewing through.
If EH had told the higher ups 'I want to showcase the quality of the academy player to gauge the level of players we've got in the youth set up' he made his point that the majority of the youth we have on the books are not good enough to come through the ranks and that this is an area needing major investment and development.
So a bad result might have a major long term benefit for the club as a whole.
Either way taking a mauling is never good for anyone.
I mean at the end of the day, after a long season and then a game against Spurs . . . that we won to highlight a point, even if we played poorly - isn't the sign of a good team, winning when playing badly.
We were never going to put out all the first team again 2 days later.
Yes - it's **** for the Aussie fans and I'd be massively pissed if I was them but I get why he's done it, highlighted the point that below first team we need money spent.
Futher end of the day, earned us £3 million which is the equivelent of 49K a week on wage bill for next season.
Oh, aye, definitely no blame attached to Eddie here.
Just glad it's done now.