A word of caution: Wolves were awful. I was with two Wolves fans (my brother and our cousin) in the East Stand, and they're now fairly sure a) McCarthy will be sacked by Christmas and b) Wolves will be relegated. Slow, immobile, and unambitious. Karl Henry even did the schoolboy thing of falling to the ground and picking up the ball to get a free-kick out of the ref. (The free kick that they scored from looked soft from where I was too.)
I was generally pleased with Leeds, though. Sam and Gradel are both quick, direct players who run at opposition (although I didn't think they provided *much* width; the both seemed to cut in where possible). Gradel didn't play like it was a friendly and gave Van Damme a hell of a time (VD eventually sub'd rather than be dismissed, I think, after crocking Naylor). The Kilkenny/Johnson/Howson triumvirate in the middle worked well - I don't think I'd ever realised how quick Johnson is; he's no Walcott, obviously, but quicker than I'd thought. Connolly doesn't seem to offer much that Bromby doesn't, but did well. Bessone wasn't good, but I believe that's now contractually stipulated for all LUFC left-backs. Of the subs, Bruce was assured, Somma was lively, and Higgs made one particularly good save which would put him ahead of Kasper if I had to pick. Ed. On 1 August 2010 12:45, DAVID NATTAN <[email protected]> wrote: > After the worying debacle that was the Bury defeat it was great to see the > performance and result against an average Prem team. > The first visit of the season to ERis always a special moment when you walk > into the stadium and think "I'm home" > 2 good results post Bury had given us some opimism but Wolves were likely > to be a diifiuclt test especially with Snoddy joining Paynter on the injury > list. > We played a 4 5 1 formation with Beccho on his own up front - like many > fans I have some doubts over his ability but he has a decent scoring record > and no-one can doubt his work rate and that is a big thing for a > lone striker. We got great width, first time in ages with genuine wingers in > Sam and Gradel (who was brilliant) and the two genuine full backs provided > support with their overlaps. Connolly looked very assured,Bessone less so > when asked to defend. Kilkenny was allowed to stroll around in front of the > back 4 spraying the ball about, Howson and Johnson providing the workrate > and the box to box stuff. Naylor before he went off injured looked solid as > did Collins and Bruce impressed in the short time he was on the pitch. Still > not convinced about Schmical who let a free kick straight into the corner > but did make a couple of decent saves, I think I would start with Higgs who > made one cracking save > Our goals were a cracking long range effort from Max,a cool close range > finsih from Sam after a great run and cross from Max and finally a good > downwards header from Johnson. > So a week to go before the real thing and,yes it was only a friendly BUT it > was encouraging - just a shame I am off on hols on Tues and will miss the > first few games > Dave > _______________________________________________ > Leedslist mailing list > Info and options: > http://mailman-new.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist > To unsubscribe, email [email protected] > > MARCHING ON TOGETHER > _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: http://mailman-new.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected] MARCHING ON TOGETHER
