On Friday we asked whether Mauricio Pochettino would reveal his hand in the friendly against Real Sociedad, we now have the answer.

Some might say that the starting line up for the final pre season friendly against Spanish team Real Sociedad gave some hint as to the Argentinian's thoughts about his starting line up against West Bromwich Albion, but the truth is in many positions Pochettino had little real choice in his starting line up.

In fact the game threw up more worries than it did positives, last season Luke Shaw came to the fore in pre season, in this game he was stretchered off with potential knee ligament damage that could see him on the sidelines for what is at the moment an undetermined period, over at right back Nathan Clyne didn't play any part meaning that if both Shaw and Clyne fail to pass muster next weekend then we could have problems at right back.

Callum Chambers once again filled in for Clyne and it was also pertinent to note that Jack Cork came on for the final half hour and it could be that with Clyne having had little pre season that Cork who has played in the position before, might be preferred to the youngster if Clyne isn't considered fit enough.

Other than that it was the usual mix and match with the squad with every position and 22 players in all getting a game.

The 4-3 result was pleasing, but as said at the beginning of pre season, nowadays results mean nothing, its good to see a win and its good to see some goals, but friendlies are no longer any gauge of how good a team is, they are merely steps in getting players fit and used to playing games, Real Sociedad themselves used almost as many players as Saints.

The crowd of 8,434 was reasonable, but at £18 a ticket I knew many season ticket holders who felt that it was just too much money for a game of this nature, up until recently aints used to get big gates at their friendlies, by keeping the prices low they perhaps took more money through the gate, had a decent crowd and atmosphere, but perhaps more importantly encouraged the younger generation to come along and get the bug, perhaps next season thinking will change of ticket prices.

Photo: Action Images

brady100 added 09:38 - Aug 12 Massive blow with Shaw likely to be out for a considerable period, particularly as Danny Fox is just not good enough for the premier league. RB is also a worry, some very poor defending on Saturday which looks indicative of pre season so far. Lets hope its not a case of déjà vu.
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Boris1977 added 10:46 - Aug 12 Same old same old. Saints well worth their lead and looked comfortable but out of nothing Real got back into the game thanks to saints Sunday league defending. And so the pattern was set for the match. We are going to have the same issues as last season so look forward to long periods of domination where we might score but we'll be pegged back by bad defending. Wagamama looked good and strong though but midfield was never a real concern was it ?

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Dystopia added 10:55 - Aug 12 I think the starting line-up was a strong indication of how Pochettino would have started against wba, it was the same line-up he seemed to favour last season with the addition of Lovren and Wanyama and with replacements for clyne (injured) and Yoshida and Ramirez who probably won't start due to playing in Japan on Wednesday. Obviously it won't be his final decision but I think he played that line-up to finalise what he has in his mind as our line up for Saturday

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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 13:21 - Aug 12 Lots of positives and negatives from the game. Most worrying was the lapses in defence. The 1st goal we conceeded was pathetic all round, the 2nd Chambers failed to get a decent challenge in and the 3rd was too easy for Real to play through us and Boruc should've kept it out. On the plus side, we scored 4 goals all from different players, and we looked like we had plenty more goals in us. It was good to see Lallana on the scoresheet, we need a decent tally from him this year. And Schneiderlin once again showed how effective his forward runs can be. Wanyama = Beast! Also, Puncheon once again proved how useful he can be at grabbing a goal. I wouldn't expect him to start ahead of J-Rod but he's a good player to bring on. He could once again score some important goals for us this season. So can Poche sure up the defence ready for WBA? That's where his focus needs to be. He'll prob be without Shaw, Clyne and Yoshida as well. It'll be a massive test. I expect Cork will play RB if Clyne doesn't make it, it's a big ask to expect Chambers to be solid there. WBA will start with Anelka or Long up front, which doesn't really require the aerial dominance of Hooiveld.

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mcguirk added 14:59 - Aug 12 'the 3rd was too easy for Real to play through us and Boruc should've kept it out' - Davis was in goal for it, but yes it was terrible keeping and defending.
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ExiledSupporter added 21:54 - Aug 12 Why is it that despite considerable changes in defence and no small amount of money spent on "better" players we seem to continue to defend so amateurishly under different managers with different systems of play?
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DJI added 08:29 - Aug 13 Based on our first half showing on Saturday, I would say we got to see the likely Squad for WBA with the exception of Jos. Clearly MoPo has a problem with Gaston and Yoshida both having to travel to Japan and back this week as I suspect they would be his normal picks instead of Guly and Jos. So I think the team he fielded first is the most likely starting line-up. In truth, we had a better fluency going forward with the first 11 then after when it got changed. It did get back to something resembling it late on when JWP and Punch came on but in-between, we lost our momentum. As the match goes, I was impressed by our speed and movement going forward; an improvement on last year. Wanyama looked the real deal in the centre, breaking up play and pushing us forwards; I think he will be a real stand-out in the BPL this coming season. The defending was poor though! Morgan/Shaw were amateur for the first, a bit of luck for their second as that was never meant as a pass to their winger, and as for the third, have we never heard of tackling!?

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Boris1977 added 08:32 - Aug 13 ES, the issue is one of trust and luck. The last solid back centre back partnership we had was our Claus and Killer. They complemented each other perfectly. Claus grew into a stylish premiership CB and Killer's aggressive style complemented it. They built up a trusting partnership quickly, thus understanding each others game, which is where the bit of luck comes in. That trust and understanding hasn't happened since which is one of the main reasons we have had defensive issues since. The defensive coach must also take responsibility for the defensive fallibility.

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