We didn't exactly have the best pre-season preparation did we ?
And it's evident that off-field events have interrupted our preparation for the season, in the spurs game.
Slow off the blocks, looked lethargic, disjointed passing and movement.....boy, for once I actually kinda wished we actually had a CL qualifier to play for prior to this match.
So let's see...
We had Stevie's court case meaning his mind was definitely distracted throughout the summer.
Alonso and Mascher's case of staying or leaving (x1000) meant we're not quite sure who will be leaving and how we should prepare our tactics for the new season. Alonso's departure left a big gap to fill and we definitely lacked preparation time in adapting our game to fill Alonso's void. I'm sorry to say this but Lucas is clearly not the answer. Even when he played well (for his standards) in the Spurs game, he still looked ordinary to me. Didn't do anything noteworthy in terms of passing it forwards and running the midfield engine of this team. He's probably the best player in the world in passing the ball backwards and sideways, and yet still manage to put his team on panic at times.
Torres's participation in the Confed's meant he had little rest. Ok that's not a valid excuse but I just felt he looked extremely exhausted in the last few games, including pre-season.
Our defence also looked like they require time to re-adjust themselves to learning how to play with one another. We have 2 new additions in Johnson and Insua.
Babel's still shit.
Not to mention we got thumped in a few pre-season games and hardly looked like scoring at all.
Ok the last few points may come across as desperate but I still somehow feel the Mascher and Alonso saga has definitely took up a lot of Rafa's time and mind, so much so he had little time in preparing the team properly for the start of the season.
Maybe I'm just thinking too much...
And it's evident that off-field events have interrupted our preparation for the season, in the spurs game.
Slow off the blocks, looked lethargic, disjointed passing and movement.....boy, for once I actually kinda wished we actually had a CL qualifier to play for prior to this match.
So let's see...
We had Stevie's court case meaning his mind was definitely distracted throughout the summer.
Alonso and Mascher's case of staying or leaving (x1000) meant we're not quite sure who will be leaving and how we should prepare our tactics for the new season. Alonso's departure left a big gap to fill and we definitely lacked preparation time in adapting our game to fill Alonso's void. I'm sorry to say this but Lucas is clearly not the answer. Even when he played well (for his standards) in the Spurs game, he still looked ordinary to me. Didn't do anything noteworthy in terms of passing it forwards and running the midfield engine of this team. He's probably the best player in the world in passing the ball backwards and sideways, and yet still manage to put his team on panic at times.
Torres's participation in the Confed's meant he had little rest. Ok that's not a valid excuse but I just felt he looked extremely exhausted in the last few games, including pre-season.
Our defence also looked like they require time to re-adjust themselves to learning how to play with one another. We have 2 new additions in Johnson and Insua.
Babel's still shit.
Not to mention we got thumped in a few pre-season games and hardly looked like scoring at all.
Ok the last few points may come across as desperate but I still somehow feel the Mascher and Alonso saga has definitely took up a lot of Rafa's time and mind, so much so he had little time in preparing the team properly for the start of the season.
Maybe I'm just thinking too much...
