Pre-season Friendlies

Din

Din

Well-Known Member
Beat King's Lynn 2-1 in our first friendly yesterday. We were 1-0 down in the 66th minute when we decided to sub off 9 of our first team players and replace them with lads from the under 23s. By the 73rd minute we were 2-1 up.

Make of that what you will :D
 
Fenway Frank

Fenway Frank

Well-Known Member
Mrs Frank recently said to me that I hadn’t taken her for a night out in some time. Being a loving, caring husband I took her to Kings Lynn :)
We played 3-4-2-1, Klose, Zimbo and Raggett, Steipermann left, Passlack right, Trybull and Leitner in the middle with Srbeny up top and Hernandez and Picachu just behind.
The first half was typical Norwich, everything played in front of Lynn , Picachu made some nice runs and got quite involved early on, we had a few crosses into the box but didn’t create too much. Passlack doesn’t look like a right back to me, he’s very positive but left gaps behind, he also comes inside quite a lot and got into the box a few times. Will be interesting to see how he progresses, I’m feeling hopeful about him. Steipermann however, looked liked he hadn’t seen a football in a couple of years, not two months !
Second half and Wildschut and the young right back came on ( Alfie ? ) Alfie is really pacey but quite slight, not sure if he’ll be pushing the first team squad quite yet. Lynn went ahead, created down their left.
As Din has said, wholesale changes on about 60 mins and the game changed. The U23’s were more positive, played more long passes looking for the front players who were looking to get behind and this put pressure on the Lynn back four. Aransibia and Idah took their chances well, unlike our first team front players they look like scoring when a chance is created and seem confident about it too. Idah is always on the shoulder of the defence looking to get behind. Special mention for Phillips, I thought his range of passing is excellent.
Overall, it was the first pre season so I should really judge too much but it has to be said, I’m now concerned as it was same old Norwich, we desperately need a goal scorer.
If you haven’t been to the Walks then I would recommend it.
I got a photo with Mo Leitner after the game too :)
 
Fenway Frank

Fenway Frank

Well-Known Member
Right back was Max Aarons, don’t know who Alfie is :)
 
Dubai Mark

Dubai Mark

Active Member
From what DF said before and after the match, after double sessions he only took first team squad members who could handle a run out fitness wise, and the U23's are further along with their fitness. Anyway, I have learnt over many years to basically ignore pre season results and judge the team after a few games in to the season.
 
Fenway Frank

Fenway Frank

Well-Known Member
A 3-1 win at Lincoln, Rhodes involved in two of the three, goals for Hernandez, Maclean and Thompson.
 
David Evans

David Evans

Active Member
I was at the Lincoln game so I thought I'd put together a snap report of the players I saw, the view was not great from where we were seated so first half I saw more of our defense and more of the attack second half, just something to bare in mind.

McGovern/Matthews - neither keeper had a huge amount to do, both fairly comfortable but neither inspired me much, I hope we strengthen here.

Klose - A good performance, solid defending, quality player.
Zimmermann - Had some shaky moments early on but grew into the game.
Godfrey - Got stuck in making some great headers and tackles, hope he will be given his chance this season.
Raggett - Oh dear, just doesn't fit our team or system, loan out.
Aarons - Looks good considering he's only 18, impressed, one for the future.

Stiepermann - Didn't have a great season and last night he did not look, backup at best.
Passlack - Excited about this one, some real quality on the ball, could be a key player for us.
Tettey - Looked a bit sloppy and lazy at times but otherwise okay.
Mclean - Good debut, nice goal.
Lietner - Quality from start to finish, can sense he's going to be a key player for us next season.
Wildschut - Runs the ball into defenders will alarming regularity, poor performance, can't see him making the first team cut.
Thompson - Great to see him back, thought he bossed the midfield, great goal.
Hernandez - Like a modern day Huckerby, terrorized the Lincoln defense, hope to see more of him.
Trybull - I'm struggling to remember what Trybull did in the second half, so I'm just going to assume he was okay.
Marshall - His position on the pitch couldn't have been further away from me, another one I'm struggling to remember, Lincoln didn't have much joy attacking on the left so again I'm assuming he did okay.

Pukki/Srbeny - Honestly when we attacked in the first half I had a hard time from my worm's eye view telling who was who and what was exactly going on so difficult to judge but I wasn't overly impressed with Srbeny, Pukki looked lively and nearly scored.
Rhodes - What a signing this could be, looked quality, Grant Holt-esqu, hassling defenders, winning the ball, intelligent play, next season's talisman? We shall see...

Anyway, overall I thought we looked pretty good, some time to gel is needed, the opening 10-20 mins had me a bit worried, we grew into the game though, I think we were a bit shocked by the intensity of Lincoln, they were really up for it but that second half from us was quality, loved it. Apologies if I've got anything wrong or mistaken, as I say the view was pretty poor and there were a lot of changes and strange formations happening so I probably struggled to keep up and notice everything that happened. Be interested to see what others thought.
 
morty

morty

Moderator
Staff member
Pre season behind closed doors against Crawley town. 120 mins, four quarters of 30 mins each.

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morty

morty

Moderator
Staff member
I was at the Lincoln game so I thought I'd put together a snap report of the players I saw, the view was not great from where we were seated so first half I saw more of our defense and more of the attack second half, just something to bare in mind.

McGovern/Matthews - neither keeper had a huge amount to do, both fairly comfortable but neither inspired me much, I hope we strengthen here.

Klose - A good performance, solid defending, quality player.
Zimmermann - Had some shaky moments early on but grew into the game.
Godfrey - Got stuck in making some great headers and tackles, hope he will be given his chance this season.
Raggett - Oh dear, just doesn't fit our team or system, loan out.
Aarons - Looks good considering he's only 18, impressed, one for the future.

Stiepermann - Didn't have a great season and last night he did not look, backup at best.
Passlack - Excited about this one, some real quality on the ball, could be a key player for us.
Tettey - Looked a bit sloppy and lazy at times but otherwise okay.
Mclean - Good debut, nice goal.
Lietner - Quality from start to finish, can sense he's going to be a key player for us next season.
Wildschut - Runs the ball into defenders will alarming regularity, poor performance, can't see him making the first team cut.
Thompson - Great to see him back, thought he bossed the midfield, great goal.
Hernandez - Like a modern day Huckerby, terrorized the Lincoln defense, hope to see more of him.
Trybull - I'm struggling to remember what Trybull did in the second half, so I'm just going to assume he was okay.
Marshall - His position on the pitch couldn't have been further away from me, another one I'm struggling to remember, Lincoln didn't have much joy attacking on the left so again I'm assuming he did okay.

Pukki/Srbeny - Honestly when we attacked in the first half I had a hard time from my worm's eye view telling who was who and what was exactly going on so difficult to judge but I wasn't overly impressed with Srbeny, Pukki looked lively and nearly scored.
Rhodes - What a signing this could be, looked quality, Grant Holt-esqu, hassling defenders, winning the ball, intelligent play, next season's talisman? We shall see...

Anyway, overall I thought we looked pretty good, some time to gel is needed, the opening 10-20 mins had me a bit worried, we grew into the game though, I think we were a bit shocked by the intensity of Lincoln, they were really up for it but that second half from us was quality, loved it. Apologies if I've got anything wrong or mistaken, as I say the view was pretty poor and there were a lot of changes and strange formations happening so I probably struggled to keep up and notice everything that happened. Be interested to see what others thought.
Thanks for the report, nice one!
 
G

gerryinromania

Well-Known Member
Many thanks dj. Seems as though we have a player to put good balls in box. Hernandez ?
 
dj161

dj161

Well-Known Member
yeah both balls put across by Hernandez, looked a good player last season, he'll hopefully improve too now as he's been in the country for several months and should be settled in and will get a full pre season under his belt for us
 
Din

Din

Well-Known Member
Squad announced for our tour of Germany this week. No massive surprises, main talking points are Nelson misses out and Martin is going but with the under 23s. Farke clearly doesn't see him playing a part here next season, which to be fair is good news. Even so to be in the under 23s you have to wonder whether Farke and Martin have had a bit of a falling out maybe. Other possible surprises are that Pinto and Wildschut both travel despite looking likely to leave.

Vrancic and Tettey also don't travel because of injury. Vrancic is expected to be out to the end of August so will miss the start of the season. A shame as he was probably one of our best players in the 2nd half of last season, but I suppose it might give someone like Thompson maybe an opportunity. Tettey I don't know how long he's out for. Hanley is also carrying a knock but is obviously travelling so it's not too bad.

Squad in full:

Max Aarons, Emiliano Buendia, Todd Cantwell, Ben Godfrey, Grant Hanley, Onel Hernandez, James Husband, Timm Klose, Moritz Leitner, Jamal Lewis, Ben Marshall, Remi Matthews, Michael McGovern, Kenny McLean, Aston Oxborough, Felix Passlack, Ivo Pinto, Teemu Pukki, Sean Raggett, Jordan Rhodes, Dennis Srbeny, Marco Stiepermann, Louis Thompson, Tom Trybull, Yanic Wildschut, Christoph Zimmermann.

Was able to watch the games online when we went on a tour of Germany last year, so I'm hoping to do the same again, particularly the Wolfsburg game. Obviously pre-season doesn't tend to mean anything apart from getting players fit, but even so it's nice to watch the games.
 
Din

Din

Well-Known Member
Aaaaaaaaaand we're 1-0 down in less than 20 seconds :D
 
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