Not so good in the first half, thought Louis was at fault for first goal , cannot comment on their second as missed it. Second half brought on Davide and Daniel and were better team especially last 20 minutes. Good crowd of 398 for pre season friendly.
Yes Phil, I thought we were pretty poor in the first half. Sure it's early days but I didn't see much about the present combination (or rather lack of it) between Ben Pope and Kenny which appealed. Ben looked unfit and his early attempts to muscle his way into the game lacked finesse. Kenny, in contrast looked fit and ready. But, I've always felt he is a great squad player, a superb option to have on the bench for a frenetic last 20 minutes to turn the game around, but not a starting player to win us promotion.
Indeed, Daniel and Davide looked much better when they came on for the second half. With all respect to Ben and Kenny; they in terms of their individual ability look a class above - but we urgently need to find a way of bringing them fully into the game.
One player who impressed me was Ansuh. He has been in and around the club for a while now, but I thought there were clear signs today that he can step up and be a first choice player. He was making real efforts to thread the ball through to the forward players and he showed a physicality which has been lacking in his game in the past. Perhaps the converse could be said of Jack Dixon. I really thought he had gone back a season or two with his overly physical challenges. This was a friendly for goodness sake! Fortunately it was well refereed and Milwall showed exemplary restraint.
Two more big positives were Craig Stone and Jake Elliot. Craig looks the experienced proffessional he is, he was talking all the time raising the game of those around him. And what a good old school headed goal he got from an Ollie long throw to power into the back of the net! In the Sean Ray era, we had central defenders getting into double figures for goals in a season. We need that again. I liked Jake. He showed a very positive attitude, got forward well and was obviously listening to Craig. And Aaron, and Lanre showed pability and enterprise.
So, a lot of positives; but, oh dear, the defence is far far from right. I know with Chris we are committed to playing it out from the back. That is not going to change in his tenure, but somehow if we are to get out of this league we must find a way of not gifting half a dozen scoring opportunities to the oppostion. (Yes, I thought there were at least that many and it was no credit to Milwall that they didn't exploit them).
We miss Sam Beale. If he is not to return, we need a quality full back very soon. (How many times has that been said!).
So, an entertaining friendly with much to look forward to as matters unfold, but a lot of work to be done. Here's hoping!
Great review Geoff, cheers ...I didn't get to the game, not a great lover of friendly matches, but whats happened to Sammy Adams , is he away ? injured ? I just hope he is still on board as he still has a couple of seasons at least in him in my opinion.
