[Albion] Villarreal friendly 10/8/24

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

This isn't a 'new' feature of his play, numerous videos before he came to us, showed his ability with interceptions. He is a ball winner and his tackling skills are amazing!

Scarily mature for a young lad that's just turned 20

 

[dwayne]

Scarily mature for a young lad that's just turned 20

Born winner. Gets his head down and does everything he can for the team. Contrast this with enciso who probably has more natural talent but so far has only shown he's in it for himself

 

[Bodian]

You don’t learn much from the four easy games we have had in our pre season. I would rather have seen them pitted against at least one better side , to see what they are really made of . We have some difficult games in the early season - a few games in we will know more.

I think that's under playing Villareal.

Regular top-ten finishers - just as we're aiming to be!

 

[Hometownglory]

It was a solid performance and we have had a really encouraging preseason. I dont know why though but the fixtures look incredibly daunting this year. I'm certainly not AS confident as last August. I feel we are in for a ride guys!

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

Haven’t read the whole thread but heard pints are now £7 (up from £5.70) can anyone confirm if this is true?

Need a scapegoat after a positive 4-0 after all

 

[MattBackHome]

Two reasons I absolutely cannot wait for this...Firstly I genuinely reckon this team/manager will get us into the Champions League, Secondly, and more importantly, it will be my Sons 1st ever live Albion match.

Sorry for quoting myself but Saturday was utterly brilliant.

Obviously I am going to be proved correct in my prediction that this will be the most successful year ever for the Albion - we are fantastic. And MBH.Jr(#2) absolutely LOVED it and wants to go again, and again, and again...

 

[Marshy]

I watched the pre season games on line, but was still suprised at how quick Minteh is.

That boy is dynamite and a pest for defences.

Loving how dangerous we look on the counter and how hard we press all over the pitch

Add Bart, Pervis potentially and a new right back in and we are looking very promising.

 

[Farehamseagull]

A lot of that was down to the excellent defensive work form Mitoma and the complete lack of tracking back from Minteh. Despite all the Minteh positives and plaudits, I think Herzeler will be in his ear about his defensive work. Having said that, Barco was surprisingly excellent defensively, his positioning was scary at times (although this seemed by design/tactics) but his recovery’s and interceptions were spot on - didn’t expect that from him.

Back on topic, I found it funny that after all the deep dives and breakdowns of Hurzelers tactics, we have ended up with a 442 (although to be fair at times it was melding into a 4213 with JP dropping deep)

Barco was just brilliant, the system seems to suit him perfectly. His challenging and covering were superb all game, total commitment, culminating in the 'challenge' when he completely took the Villareal player out on the touchline with a brutal barge/body check. Even in a friendly I thought he was going to get a card then!

His delivery is brilliant too. He's another cracking signing, Pervis has got a lot to do to get back into the team when he's fully fit.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Born winner. Gets his head down and does everything he can for the team. Contrast this with enciso who probably has more natural talent but so far has only shown he's in it for himself

Disagree about Enciso. Before his injury, he made some fantastic assists and was starting to look very much a team player.

 

[dazzer6666]

Disagree about Enciso. Before his injury, he made some fantastic assists and was starting to look very much a team player.

Agree….he was sensational at the start of last season

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Agree….he was sensational at the start of last season

Yep, made the injury all the more frustrating!

 

[Silverhatch]

Pre-season… ha, nothing can prepare you for a Dycheing.

 

[Dave the hatosaurus]

Barco was doing exactly the same on the left and coming inside when we were pressing but he pressed better, dealt with their threats more efficiently and was able to recover more effectively than Veltman with his greater pace.

I watched them both closely as it was one of the most intersting parts of our play yesterday and there’s no doubt Veltman struggled.

I wondered about replying to this post as you are obviously quite firm in your view on this matter, but on reflection i would just like to point out that the words "there's no doubt" are wrong because that would imply that everyone is in agreement when simply reading my post would tell you that i am not.
Unless of course the words "there's no doubt" were to be preceded by the words "in my opinion"