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Cambridge Match Thread

dounavilla

By dounavilla
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DamsonwoodVillan Newbie

DamsonwoodVillan

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Green looks a tricky player indeed. Hepburn-Murphy certainly looks like he knows where the back of the net is as well. Great run out for them. 

Learnt nothing much more from that really. Quite a poor performance defensively I felt. They should have had at least one goal. Gollini looks like he has a presence at least. 

I don't think Toner can really threaten the first 11 and for me Baker is better suited to the Championship than Okore. 

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Paul33 Proficient

Paul33

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Messy looking line-up that didn't really work too well in any area of the field !

Sinclair's goal was a worldie and once again hints at how good he CAN be. RHM's goal came about twenty seconds after the restart after a scuffed clearance but he showed both strength and composure to finish.

Cambridge created quite a few decent chances - which was a bit worrying. A half decent team would have punished us to the tune of three or four goals. Okore was strong, powerful and looked fit for once but ..... his positional sense is still woeful and was all too often the wrong side of the guy he was supposed to be marking. Toner worked hard but looked the 6th/7th choice CB that he is .... didn't impress. Bennett caught the eye going forward and also delivered some decent corners - definitely worth keeping him.

Midfield was owned by Grealish who spent most of his game trundling left or right but rarely forward ..... refused to shoot on the three or four occasions when he had the chance to so no real change but very much involved and looked very confident and composed. Was looking forward to seeing Tshibola but he was pretty disappointing ..... big guy who was solid defensively but never really contributed much going forward and gave away a few sloppy passes too. Gardner - slightly better than Tshibola but again quite average as a creative force - never made a difference.

Bacuna played wide most of the game but rarely took on his man and was just plain average and dull and "so what". Sinclair and RHM were both lively whippets but despite making many runs, rarely received the ball because we once again had nobody capable of seeing the runs or making the passes.

It was just a warm-up and it wasn't the strongest side and nobody knows what the players were asked to do but it could easily have been last season but against weaker opposition. Twenty passes to reach the half way line, twenty passes across the half way line and then somebody passes it back to the CBs ..... then repeat until somebody gives the ball away !

We need a player or two who instinctively wants to run FORWARD with the ball - to get the opposition backpedalling and we need a player or two who can play with his head up and who can see the forward pass and who can make that pass to feed the guys up front.

Last mention to Andre Green. A complete breath of fresh air when he came on. This kid doesn't just have pace to burn but he DOES play with his head up, he has great feet and he looks a very exciting prospect. At 18 (yesterday), it is no wonder big clubs are on to him ..... he could be the most exciting forward to come out of Villa Park for a very long time and we MUST keep hold of him !    

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BOF Grand Master

BOF

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A match report.

Posting on @Stevo985's behalf.

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Went down to the Cambridge game last night so thought I’d give a little write up.
Very enjoyable evening as a start. The ground was much better than I expected, the pitch especially was in excellent condition for a lower league team. I was actually questioning whether it was real or artificial before the game it looked so flawless.
Attendance was good. Just under 4,000 (which I’m led to believe is a pretty high attendance for a Cambridge game) with around 850 being Villa fans, which I thought was excellent for a Tuesday night pre-season friendly in Cambridge.

Onto the game. Very much a bit part lineup. We lined up 4-3-3: 
Gollini; 
Bennett, Toner, Okore, Lyden;
Grealish, Tshibola, Gardner;
Bacuna, RHM, Sinclair
Can’t really read too much into the lineup, other than Gollini was captain, which I thought said a lot seeing as there were other people out there who you’d have thought would be in front of him on seniority.
The game was very very comfortable. Our first two goals came relatively early on. Sincalir firstly with a wonderful goal. Dribbled past a couple of players before curling one in off the bar (I think). Then shortly after the restart, a scuffed clearance from the Cambrideg keeper gifted us the ball. It was squared (possibly by Sinclair again) to RHM and he slotted home from close range.
After that we never really got out of first gear. Cambridge had a few chances to be fair to them, one especially where their striker tried to lift it over Gollini but instead placed it straight into the keeper’s arms. But that was probably the only time Gollini was really tested. Our defence especially looked very relaxed, not necessarily in a good way. 
Toner seemed rather over confident, gifting the opposition the ball a few times, and I’m not sure Okore broke into a sprint all night. They took it easy to say the least, which probably flattered the Cambridge attack.
The second half continued much as the first, but near the end we scored a third goal, which was nicely worked. Green had come on for the anonymous Bacuna and he made a good run down the right to the byline, pulled the ball back which was well dummied by Suliman and hammered home by Gardner.
That was about all she wrote. As comfortable as you like and nothing spectacular but all good fun. I’d imagine the Boro game will be a lot more fiercely contested than last night.
Some player comments below:

Gollini – very little to do. But he looked confident and assured. He came for plenty of crosses and free kicks, although he seemed a little reluctant to come for corners, but they were the opposite end of the ground most of the time so I may be doing him a disservice. He’s very vocal and very confident, constantly looking for the ball back to feet if we were on the backfoot. He also speaks a lot of English. Or if he doesn’t he’s learnt all the footballing clichés for goalkeepers! Promising.

Bennett – solid enough. A few runs forward but he left most of the attacking to Sinclair. Had a couple of shots from deep runs which was promising. Didn’t really notice him much which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Toner – think he had a poor night. First half especially he looked too complacent, playing silly passes and giving the ball away. Solidified second half but didn’t look good enough on that showing.

Okore – So comfortable. Barely ran, didn’t get out of first gear. It was all effortless. Not always the best result but he looked untroubled most of the night.

Lyden – decent game. Got forward quite a lot although his final ball wasn’t great. Seemed solid enough in defence.

Tshibola – fairly quiet. Didn’t do anything to make me sit up and notice, but again seemed very comfortable so wasn’t exerting himself. Did nothing wrong.

Gardner – probably my MOTM. His range of passing seems excellent. He was spraying the ball the width of the pitch and landing it on a sixpence. That being said he had hours on the ball and the players he was passing to were often in acres of space, so wouldn’t be jumping to many conclusions. At times played extremely deep, even though Tshibola looked to be the player deployed the deepest. Gardner was constantly dropping into defence to pick up the ball.

Grealish – probably the most composed of our players on the ball. Got forward more than any of the other midfielders but didn’t produce an awful lot. Looked a level above most of the people out there but with little end product.

Sinclair – had a game that typified him. Started very well, looked the best player on the pitch and scored a wonderful goal. Then disappeared for most of the rest of the game.

Bacuna – didn’t do anything. Actually thought he’d been subbed at half time for a while. Completely anonymous.

RHM – Looked lively with the ball played in front of him, very quick. But he’s incredibly lightweight. Anything played in the air or into feet and the Cambridge defenders dominated him. Think he’d be better off playing off a bigger striker.


Subs:
Green – breath of fresh air. Came on and did more in his first run than Bacuna had managed all game. Looks a talent, hopefully he can cut it at a higher level.
Suliman – didn’t notice much of him but a lovely dummy for our third goal.
Sanchez – another one who had a game that typified him. He took the ball down from the air at one point, jinked past 2 players and pinged a wonderful pass out wide. Then 2 minutes later passed straight to the opposition and then tried an outside of the foot ball to the wing that failed miserably. Caviar and Cabbage.
Veretout – Not sure he touched the ball to be honest. Not enough for me to comment if he did. What I did notice was how completely unintegrated he appears to be. At half time the subs came out to keep warm, as you would expect. They were all passing between themselves but Veretout just spent 6 or 7 minutes doing keepy ups on his own about 30 yards away. Kicking the ball in the air and catching it like a 9 year old waiting for his mates to turn up. Eventually Sanchez came over and did some passing with him but they didn’t appear to speak.

Honourable mention to the group of lads near me who spent the whole game excited to see, and commenting on, the performance of our new signing, Tommy Elphick. I didn’t have the heart to tell them it was Toner they were meticulously analysing the whole time
 

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