With less than a fortnight to go before the 2019/20 Premier League season begins, Ralph Hasenhuttl will now start the fine tuning of his squad.

Ralph Hasenhuttl was not happy in having to split his squad for the recent trip to Macau and felt that it disrupted his plans for the season.

Now he takes what can be seen as his fullest squad yet and as good a clue so far as to his thinking for the coming season, his squad has a few notable faces missing, not least Jack Stephens who finds himself out in the cold with Yoshida, Jannik Vestergaard, Jan Bednarek and Wesley Hoedt all being preferred.

Ralph had this to say.

“We have worked very hard so far in the first four weeks of pre-season to turn the last wheels and get prepared for a very tough campaign,” the Austrian said ahead of the travelling party’s departure from their Carton House training base.

“I think the guys are working very hard; I like the way they train, I like the way they are listening and I think we are in a very good way. We had a good trip back from Macau and we stayed in UK time so we could immediately continue working hard here in Dublin.”

He has also confirmed that although he will mix and match a little for this game with most getting time on the pitch, that for the home friendly with Koln it will be more of a first XI for most of the game.

“We will again play with one team for 45 minutes and make some changes for the next 45 minutes like we did in the last few games. Against Koln, I think we will play longer with the first XI.

“It is a good chance for everybody to show up once again and I hope the opponent shows us a few problems because it would be good to show us a few things that don’t work in our shape then we will know what we need to work on.

“I hope to see a few things that are missing; that is the most useful thing for us during this period of pre-season, knowing what you can improve in the last two weeks.”

Feyenoord will provide the sternest test so far in pre season and perhaps the toughest of all having finished third in the Eridivisie last season.

Photo: Action Images

darthvader added 09:48 - Jul 28 A few things missing? I can tell you.. Decent quality experienced centerbacks
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highfield49 added 10:19 - Jul 28 I think every supporter has the same concern darthvader. If he can get the current central defenders to perform to the required level turning water into wine and sows ears into silk purses will be history. Hope you can prove us all wrong Ralph.
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SaintBrock added 10:37 - Jul 28 "Moving a few little cogs here and there" is strictly what he said. Fine tuning implies he knows his best starting XI which clearly he does not at the moment. I suspect what he meant was that he is still trying to match-up partnerships and triangles to see which ones work best and we'll see a few more shuffles in Rotterdam and v Köln.
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janecook added 11:00 - Jul 28 Not long to go in the Transfer Window and we still have the same Defence that let in 65 goals last season? Its not looking good for the new season. Still at least Jack Stephens has not gone to Holland.
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djtsaints123 added 11:28 - Jul 28 i cannot believe with all the supposed knowledge in the back room staff the infamous black box we haven't found a central defender truthfully we have one premier cb in bednarek the others are back up at best yoshi has been third choice of four managers as above poster stated our current defence leaked 65 goals Unless we resolve this problem however good ralph is we will be bottom 6 again. The clock is ticking.

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RedandWight added 21:13 - Jul 28 I have to agree with all of the above, watching the highlights of Feyenoord V Saints I was pleased with our attacking prowess but defensively we were awful: no one seems to know where to stand, no one seems to know how to mark, attackers weren't closed down until they had got their shot away....as everyone has pointed out it is the same defence that let in 65 goals last season. The positive news is surely we are about to announce the signing of a new CB one with experience not one for the future!

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