Just back from the game

Fantastic evening for me and the daughter, as we had a phone call last week asking her to be the mascot (for free!) so got the tour of the changing rooms area and behind the scenes. Got a happy daughter with a fully signed shirt.

Turner not the sharpest tool in the shed in the changing rooms and slipped off his keks behind daughter's back - causing much hilarity from the players.

Fun fact - 30 minutes before the match started, major plumbing explosion above the tunnel, water cascading from the ceiling and lights cracking and buzzing, stewards running round panicking - fun!

The match itself was fun - good to see the new signings making an impact. Sadly, Howson seems to of slipped back into 'being unable to kick the ball' mode. Hopefully we can have the Howson from end of last season back again soon.

Nathan Redmond though - simply wow. Every time he made a run you could tell the was a genuine threat. The pace of that boy! And the ball just seemed to stick to his foot. One one memorable event it took five Real players getting stuck in before he lost the ball. And the workrate too. One to watch, I'm sure.

Good to see Wolf opening his account, although as another poster suggested, he didn't seem to get a lot of service.

Snodgrass worked hard, and had a wicked strike deflected at the start of the second half.

Bunn looked so nervous most of the game. we definitely missed Ruddy and Bassong back there. And WHY won't he pick up the ball? One particularly dodgy kick landed right at the foot of a Real midfielder and we were lucky not to be punished for that one. Ruddy was in attendance though, as was Seb, and hopefully they'll be back soon.

Olsson seemed as effective as Garrido, and when he got the ball seemed eager to get it up to Redmond on the wing.

Sadly, possession wise we seemed to be the same team from last year apart from a couple of spells in the 2nd half. Sitting back, waiting, trying to do the long ball counters. When we did have possession, passing back seemed the order of the day (again apart from a couple of spells in the 2nd half).

All in all though, encouraging signs, and we held our own well. Would still like to see us holding the ball and going forward more! I wish preseason was longer so we could get a couple more games for the guys to figure out each other a bit more.

Posted By: Bungle, Aug 6, 23:38:24