Quote Originally Posted by Spikefaethesouth View Post
Personally speaking I don't think it make any difference who the opposition is for friendlies as they are nothing more than training sessions for players to gain match fitness where typically a great number of substitutes are made.
Match fitness is the fundamental and it is good to build that up with these fixtures but only a couple of them should be against these sorts of opponents. To push on ahead of the season we need to be playing teams which operate at a higher intensity on game day even if it was to play against an 11 with reserves like we did against Newcastle all those years ago.

Especially with trialists it could be so easy to say that is what we are looking for when you are playing against teams you are expected to beat. We want to see what they are like when (in the words of boyzone) the going gets tough. Do they sink or swim? I would rather we had players who may not be flashy but give you a 7 no matter the opposition than players that star against the lower teams. We need to build a foundation and backbone for a squad in which we can then start adding those match winners.