Pre-Season Part 4

Bart does Silly Walk after Dropping Bollock

The final two matches of pre-season were a home friendly against West Brom and an away trip to Yeovil which both ended in 2-2 draws. Bart started the Baggies match in goal and was staking his claim quite well until he fumbled a tame cross straight to the centre forward who wasn’t going to miss from 2 yards with an open goal. Jack Cork scored his first goal for Saints with a decent header from a Harding free kick before the Baggies took the lead again. We equalized when a very slim looking Sir Rickie rose to power in a back stick header following a Butters left foot cross. All in all this was a pretty good run out aside from the injury picked up by Arsenal’s Alex Chamberlain. Replacing Chambo on the wing post-injury was Steve de Ridder who looks like a real crowd pleaser with his willingness to take people on though all the tricks and stepovers and stuff will see him booted up in the air on numerous occasions.  He seems to have a decent delivery on him as well so very promising.

We played well in the first half of the Yeovil game and took the lead just before half time when David Connolly scored for the 4th time in pre-season following a neat free kick move. Following some chronic ‘wrong-side’ marking from Jose Fonte, Yeovil were awarded a penalty which Paul Wotton smashed in. 2-1 up with a superb individual goal by Johnno Pace which was wasted by more slack marking allowing a free header for an equalizer. Aside from Johnno’s goal, the highlight of this game was Nigel’s post match interview when it emerged that Dean Hammond had the squirts.

With pre-season over and as a write, no more new faces in the building and on the bus... what’s the team going to be for the Leeds game. In my opinion…

Davis will be in goal despite Bart probably playing more in pre-season. Maybe this is down to Nigel knowing what Kelvin can do and wanting a good look at Bart. Any chance Bart had of starting the season would have gone with the shocking bullock he dropped against the Baggies. Butterfield will edge out Richardson at right back and likewise Harding will keep Dickson out at left back. Dicko hasn’t played much pre-season which may be down to a slight injury and my reservations about Harding will be tested as a result. In the centre it looks like it will be Fonte and Seaborne who has a lot to do to prove he’s good enough to be a starter. When we’re under pressure he can look a bit like Stevie Wonder playing in the dark. Again though, maybe Dan’s been playing most of pre-season because the manager knows what Jaidi can do.

Assuming Chambo is not 100% fit, I think Guly do Prado will start on the right of midfield with of course, Adam Lallana on the left. The centre will feature Jack Cork and I’d be surprised if it’s not Dean Hammond alongside him unless he’s feeling weak after his efforts on the toilet. Up front will be Sir Rickie and the main man of pre-season, David Connolly, barring a training injury in the next two days.

The five man bench will take a bit of choosing but assuming he picks a keeper I’d go for Bart, Jaidi, Chaplow, de Ridder and Chamberlain. The bench players are going to have to be real impact players this year and I’m sure we’ll hear that Adkins-ism several times before the season is out. In that starting XI you have the Gulyman and Jack Cork who can play in a number of positions so all bases covered. Listen, it’s as simple as that.

Or I could be completely wrong. Personally I can’t wait though the big question is of course….

Will the Chuckle Brothers be sat near me again this season…? Tune in for the Leeds report to find out. Next up though is the League 1 Minus 10 Championship Preview as soon as I can find anything at all to say about Barnsley and when I’ve filtered out all the swear words on the paragraph about P*****.

Bring it on and Come on You Reds and all that stuff.

Shall we sit behind him again ?