Post by jdl on Jul 24, 2016 1:11:47 GMT
My first game this season (and my last until 3 Sept!!).
It was great to be back but very odd to be watching football in shorts and sunglasses!
The stadium is looking really good, and the new pitch looks much better than the old one (although it's a very curious shade of dark green - the old pitch looked pretty much like real grass, but this one looks quite artificial). Not so impressed with the new 'security' though - not allowed to take a bottle of Coke in with me! Even at West Ham we were allowed to take in drinks, we just had to remove the cap. This was explained as "the new FA rules" - is it? Seems more like an attempt just to get more money out of us to me. I don't mind giving money to the club, obviously, but this just felt sneaky - not the friendly club of old.
It was 'pay what you like', and, still being pissed off about losing my Coke, I only paid a fiver. I felt bad about this afterwards, as the takings were being donated to the Stand Up for the Stones fund, and I would happily have paid more if I had known that in advance. They really should have publicised this better. But perhaps they did? There were posters outside the gate, but I was too busy being shaken down and relieved of my lethal bottle of Coke to be able to read them...
As for the game itself, I wasn't expecting too much, I just wanted to see the new players. But, despite being a friendly, we put out pretty much our first choice team and both sides seemed to be up for it - there were several fouls and even a minor outbreak of handbags. So, taking it as a 'proper' games, I'm afraid I was a bit disappointed. Our defence looked a bit leaky and occasionally asleep on the job, and we still don't seem to have discovered how to score goals. There were an alarming number of over-hit passes too (have they been training on a wider pitch?!). I was quite impressed by Lokko, who looks a good buy (although we were at the wrong end to see much of his goal), and Murphy looked OK - industrious and willing, if not producing quite the end product we might hope for. But I hardly noticed Greenhalgh at all, in fact I'd forgotten he was on the pitch until he was subbed! BJT seemed to have a quiet game too. DD was his usual self - looking the part and promising much, but not quite delivering.
Usual caveats apply here - I would never put myself forward as any sort of exert on football, so others may have seen a different game - plus we tried out our new seats in the second half and were more than a little distracted by the fact that they weren't anywhere near where we thought they were going to be (and by the realisation that we are going to be looking straight into the sun, come the shorter days!). And, of course, this was only a friendly, and we all know how poorly they predict a season.
But, if this was a good example of how good the new squad are, it's a bit worrying. Play like they did today, and I can't see much more than a long, drawn-out relegation battle.
Still, my record on these things is as crap as my knowledge of football, so we're probably In for a cracking, fun-filled season! Here's hoping.
It was great to be back but very odd to be watching football in shorts and sunglasses!
The stadium is looking really good, and the new pitch looks much better than the old one (although it's a very curious shade of dark green - the old pitch looked pretty much like real grass, but this one looks quite artificial). Not so impressed with the new 'security' though - not allowed to take a bottle of Coke in with me! Even at West Ham we were allowed to take in drinks, we just had to remove the cap. This was explained as "the new FA rules" - is it? Seems more like an attempt just to get more money out of us to me. I don't mind giving money to the club, obviously, but this just felt sneaky - not the friendly club of old.
It was 'pay what you like', and, still being pissed off about losing my Coke, I only paid a fiver. I felt bad about this afterwards, as the takings were being donated to the Stand Up for the Stones fund, and I would happily have paid more if I had known that in advance. They really should have publicised this better. But perhaps they did? There were posters outside the gate, but I was too busy being shaken down and relieved of my lethal bottle of Coke to be able to read them...
As for the game itself, I wasn't expecting too much, I just wanted to see the new players. But, despite being a friendly, we put out pretty much our first choice team and both sides seemed to be up for it - there were several fouls and even a minor outbreak of handbags. So, taking it as a 'proper' games, I'm afraid I was a bit disappointed. Our defence looked a bit leaky and occasionally asleep on the job, and we still don't seem to have discovered how to score goals. There were an alarming number of over-hit passes too (have they been training on a wider pitch?!). I was quite impressed by Lokko, who looks a good buy (although we were at the wrong end to see much of his goal), and Murphy looked OK - industrious and willing, if not producing quite the end product we might hope for. But I hardly noticed Greenhalgh at all, in fact I'd forgotten he was on the pitch until he was subbed! BJT seemed to have a quiet game too. DD was his usual self - looking the part and promising much, but not quite delivering.
Usual caveats apply here - I would never put myself forward as any sort of exert on football, so others may have seen a different game - plus we tried out our new seats in the second half and were more than a little distracted by the fact that they weren't anywhere near where we thought they were going to be (and by the realisation that we are going to be looking straight into the sun, come the shorter days!). And, of course, this was only a friendly, and we all know how poorly they predict a season.
But, if this was a good example of how good the new squad are, it's a bit worrying. Play like they did today, and I can't see much more than a long, drawn-out relegation battle.
Still, my record on these things is as crap as my knowledge of football, so we're probably In for a cracking, fun-filled season! Here's hoping.
