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Friendly Rovers v Sunderland

Boz

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Anyone going tonight?

Unless Duffy's confirmed, it seems unlikely that we'll have added to the squad for this contest. Maybe a new trialist? Otherwise a chance for Micky to do some experimentation, as even if McNulty doesn't come, it's likely we'll have another striker by the start of the season, so this can't be a dry run for the opener.

Aside from Max Power's departure don't know much about personnel changes for the Mackems over the summer.

I'll probably try and catch on ifollow.
 
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Yes, I am going. It will be interesting to see how we get on, as Sunderland are closer in standard to a 'good' League Two team than the other sides we have faced in pre-season. They still had a pretty small squad the last time I checked.
 

bigmart

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Still no Macdonald Maguire or Morris with Duffy on the bench
 

bigmart

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The Sunderland side looks to be mainly youngsters with a few exceptions.
 

Boz

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Fairly uneventful first half, with Murphy being the busier keeper.
 

Ian

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OK first half in patches with the defence looking fairly comfortable but looking very lightweight up top.
 

Sparky

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Couldn’t make it tonight so interested in any reports. Especially how we looked in the final third. Like Saturday v Warrington we’ve not scored in open play albeit a much higher standard of opposition today
 
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I thought it was another encouraging performance. We were visibly sharper than in previous games and there was plenty of evidence of the workrate and pressing without the ball that Mellon always demands. Sunderland perhaps edged possession overall, but we looked equally dangerous and were the more likely side to win the game in the closing stages.

Feeney had an excellent first half and was more like the player from the middle period of last season. He really is a class act when he is confident and in form. I was impressed with Duffy after half time; clever and comfortable on the ball and I will be happy if we have offered him a deal. I was impressed again with MacManaman, Watson and Cogley and I thought Mani led the line well.

It was significant that we did not look any more likely to concede in the fist half with NKP and Davies at the back than when Clarke came on, despite them going up against two international centre forwards. That certainly would not have been the case when the likes of Manny and Nelson were here.

Glatzel showed some lovely touches and worked hard, but seems wasted defending in the left back position.

The obvious weakness again was the lack of a focal point in the eighteen yard box, but hopefully that will eventually be addressed.
 
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Ian

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That's the first time I've seen the lads over 90 minutes and we looked pretty solid overall. Few little scares but Murphy did well saving a few shots and there is certainly the basis of a good team there. I thought Mani played quite well and it pretty quick from a standing position nearly catching the Sunderland defenders out a few times. He would be great to play alongside if we can find a goalscorer from somewhere. Glatzel looked good and can certainly make a difference but I thought Duffy made a real difference with his ball control and decision making. He has a very good touch and can certainly cause problems.
 

Sparky

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Disappointing to hear glatzel was on the left again. Early on v Warrington he had to do a little bit of tracking back and I was scratching my head.

Otherwise sounds positive. A clean sheet and glad to hear Feeney was looking more like his old self. You forget he was in my opinion one of our players of the season before we had our slump. Thanks for the report RLC
 

Boz

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I watched the stream, with Sunderland commentary. There were positives in terms of team-work, work-rate and our football was easy on the eye. However the fact the sponsors gave Knight-Percival the MoM award and I thought Murphy was a contender gives an idea of the direction of travel, against an opponent who had one or two more experienced players, notably Will Grigg, but were predominantly youngsters. Rovers, when we had possession in dangerous areas mainly seemed to run into dead ends or attacks broke down. A Feeney shot from distance was the closest we came to scoring, a Mcmanaman run into the box and shot drifting away and a bit of a scramble in the second half the others of note.

Feeney looked to be carrying a bit extra weight, but was one of the better players in the first half. Glatzel was comfortable on the ball, but didn't offer much as an attacking threat. Duffy played better than at Warrington, but still not convinced.

The aspiration was to have something approaching our starting xi playing in this game, which clearly didn't happen. As others have alluded to, we need that goal-scoring forward, there just don't seem enough goals in the current squad and I am now getting concerned with the opening game only 11 days away.
 
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I thought making Knight Percival man of the match was very strange, a typical sponsor's decision really. He was solid, but Feeney, Spearing, Duffy and Cogley all had better games in my view.

The Sunderland side we played tonight was better than most, if not all, of the teams we will come up against in League Two next season. They are hardly a typical League One club, and I doubt any League Two team we play will have two Irish internationals up front.
 

Sparky

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Interesting you mention Feeney boz as I thought he looked a bit rotund v Warrington
 

ADD

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Thanks for the reports all.
MM seemed pretty happy with the performance especially defensively which is encouraging. He also mentioned that we simply didn't get the ball in the box often enough despite good build up play so much so that having a top striker in there wouldn't have made much difference! Over all however sounds like a decent performance which bodes well.
 

Boz

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Thanks for the reports all.
MM seemed pretty happy with the performance especially defensively which is encouraging. He also mentioned that we simply didn't get the ball in the box often enough despite good build up play so much so that having a top striker in there wouldn't have made much difference! Over all however sounds like a decent performance which bodes well.
Think have to bear in mind that the full-backs had to do a lot more defending last night, so Cogley, though he linked well didn’t go up so much, while you could understand Merrie as a makeshift left-back sticking to defending. However there were a couple of occasions, one when Mani broke away but there was nobody in support so he had to hold the ball pending reinforcements and another when Duffy played a good ball to Glatzel in the box, but he ran into a dead end. You could also argue that having a top striker would make more happen.
 
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Yes, I think if we had a proven striker the creative players like MacManaman and Duffy would be more willing to just put the ball into the box. There were occasions last night where we were overplaying a bit, and reluctant to cross the ball.
 
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