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Ramsey on the camera as he takes pic of the travelling fans:
ramsey_braga.jpg
Alnwick, NG, McGuinness, Goutas, O'Dowda, Meite, Wintle, Ralls, Grant, Robinson, Ugbo start the second half.
That's 10 changes with Alnwick the only players keeping his place after the break.
Thought we played well considering its a second team and they are set up stronger
Evans , Collins looked good interestingly he didn't change the keeper Rubin is a frustrating player I do wonder what position is his best ?.
When's the last time we had so much pace going forward? It's nice to see.
What do you reckon on their keeper?
Really encouraging 2nd half, two good teams on display. There's a few real credible threats about us now for the opposition to fret over - not seen that for decades - makes a change from the norm of there being no credible threat. Goutas is class, O Dowda teams up well with Grant who has real pace. Ugbo although we've seen only little looks to have that footballers nous about him that Etete only dreams of having. The quality up front shines some light on those in the team who don't stand out quite as much - NG, Wintle, McGuiness and Ralls are fine enough and themselves a class apart from the 1st half line up, but McGuiness ain't Goutas' standard, NG and Wintle sometimes look like little boys and Ralls does little wrong, but one could only imagine what Ramsey and another class apart centre mid pairing with him could do for us and the attack.
Braga are not shy of a sideways or backwards pass.
To answer my own question, I’ve not got a clue how good or bad he is - the only save I saw him make, the ref gave a goal kick for! Lots of things that were positive and allowances of course have to be made for the fact that we had three forwards playing together for the first time in the second half, but that shot off the line by Keiron Evans in the first few minutes was closer than anything we managed in the second half with what I’m sure was regarded as our A team.
One other slight whinge, why did we insist on taking outswinging corners all game? Whatever the reason, they didn’t work.
I only tuned in 20 mins or so in so missed Evans' effort but caught it back on the highlights which I've videoed. Keeper came way off his line and it trundles goalward - saying that it did make contact with the keeper to give it that bobble, taking the sting out of it...decent effort. Evans played in Colwill nicely later on, with Colwill making a decent attempt at a shot at the tightest of angles before it ran out of touch - so some encouraging stuff from the 1st half. Did seem like two better teams were out on the pitch in the 2nd half with Braga also bringing on better players too in answer to our improved quality - their number 10 was a real handful. As you say having Grant and Robinson, Ugbo and Meite play for the 1st time together should take time, and the small pitch wasn't very conducive to getting the best out of them everything was a bit crowded.
A few decent individual performances. We certainly have more pace than for a number of years.Still think we need a bit more in defence.
Only saw the first half.
Collins looked comfortable on the ball passing it well.
Evans looked tidy, nobody else stood out for me.
Silly penalty to give away and the ref didn’t give us anything.
WOL had Adams, Grant and Goutas as the better performances. Could see some of the highlights during the post-match interviews, Grant was getting around their RB with ease.
I'm really hoping we go with Collins at left back, O'Dowda in front of him and Grant as the striker instead of Ugbo.
I caught most of the second half, Goutas, O'Dowda, Grant, and Robinson stood out for me the last three mostly playing down the left-hand side.
I missed Collins but based on last year's performances, we should be strong down that wing with O'Dowda and Grant supporting.
It's hard to judge a friendly as who knows how hard the teams were trying, but I saw more positives than I was expecting, but it looked like there is still a hell of a lot of work to do in just over two weeks because most of the players haven't worked together for very long, and that showed with the passing.
Manager comments:
"The game for us today was really positive." Erol began. "In the first half we needed to create more chances, but we did not give many chances to the opponent, apart from the penalty they scored.
"In the second half we pushed a lot to change the result, and we created a lot of chances. At the end we lost 1-0, but I was very satisfied.
"It was also the first game for Karlan [Grant], Yakou [Méïté] and Iké [Ugbo] altogether. We will continue to play together like this, and we will have a better adaptation.
"We don't have to forget, they [Braga] finished their league in third position, and they will play for Champions League qualification. That shows what kind of quality their team had, so I hope we can continue like that."
The gaffer also commented on the performance of debutant Karlan Grant, with a look ahead to his team selection for our remaining pre-season fixtures.
He said: "They managed it well together, Karlan and [Callum] O'Dowda. We were very dangerous from our left side. I hope they continue to play like that.
"From our right side, we have to manage it a little bit better. Because Yakou has had fewer training sessions, he needs to get fit, but we have time to get him fit before the season will start.
"Today, I was trying in the second half to be close to the starting eleven. This will show also in the game against Porto, and also the last game when we play against Wycombe.
"Then I will be more clear who will start in the first eleven against Leeds United away, but until then, there is enough time to think a little bit about it."
Interesting so O'Dowda as left-back ahead of Collins then, that might change although O'Dowda and Grant did work well, and Alnwick in goal.
Highlights are up on CCTV.
What the **** was that ref? Was it just someone from the Braga clubhouse?
Just been informed, that it was an embarrassing watch, all you could hear was some morons singing that Abertawe Town paedophile rubbish
Embarrassing
No, but it indicates that the Manager is looking at both fully before he finally decides can either be a number one or number two or does he definitely need a keeper and bomb one out?
As he played Alnwick first, could that mean he is currently ahead in the Manager and Goalie coaches thinking?
They are trialists if you like, but I suppose that applies to every player with a new Manager.