Saints travelled to Wealdstone's ground to take on Watford in the 3rd of their pre season games and it stepped up the ante a little but still not to 100%, there were plus points and minus ones as well, but ultimately it wasn't a game where we were playing at full throttle.

Pre season is not about firing on all cylinders, it is about a gradual build up of fitness and aligning that with forming what the manager will see as his best formation and personnel to play in the side.

So this was not a Saints side who were playing at full pace, you felt that they were out there to yes step up there work rate, but ultimately to find their feet in what looks like being a new tactical formation for the team next season.

Pre season is about the squad being brought to it's peak condition as the season begins, not two weeks ahead of the start.

Watford however are a week ahead of their pre season with the opening of the Championship programme next Saturday and this was a game where they were looking to win and be almost at their peak.

In terms of line up, it has become clear from the games played so far that Ralph Hasenhuttl is looking to play with three central defenders, flanked by two wing backs, a central holding pair with an attacking midfielder in front of them and two strikers.

The problem with this game was that he only had two genuine strikers in his armoury and he opted to give them a half each and that made the formation a little lop sided when we went forward.

In goal Gavin Bazunu got his first 90 minutes in a Saints shirt, he looked the part, clearly happy with playing with his feet, he was very mobile and almost a sweeper behind his defence, what struck me was his mobility, when he played the ball out he didn't just sit back and admire his work, he was looking to provide an outlet should we get closed down.

In truth he didn't have much to do in terms of saves, but he did the rest well.

In front of him were a trio of Salisu, Bednarek & Bella-Kotchop, they coped well, but at times could not seem to get any sort of partnership going, Jan Bednarek held the centre, but he seemed to spend half of the time berating his partners rather than leading them, in truth playing this formation needs an organiser and with two youngsters in this game it fell on Bednarek and he isn't that man.

In truth his body language was not of a man who want to be at the club, at the end of the game he seemed to distance himself from his team mates and reluctant to join them in acknowledging a group of Saints supporters, if I'm honest Saints need to get a fee for him and reinvest it in an experienced leader to gel the back line, too many times we got caught out of position.

The wing back roles were filled by KWP on the right and Moussa Djenepo on the left, I think with Djenepo we have to be open minded about whether he can fulfil this role, in truth he has done it before and I think Ralph Hasenhuttl feels that this is his natural position.

In the centre of midfield Romeo Lavia held it alongside JWP with Stuart Armstrong in front, up front Adam Armstrong had Joe Aribo for company.

This appears to be the preferred line up now, aside from Ralph will play it with two specialist strikers up front with the arrival of Mara hopefully ahead of the season.

So what can we take from this game ?

Firstly that this was not a game that we can use as a barometer for the season, you felt that we held something back and we were looking to get comfortable in how we are now going to play and to look to hold the ball rather than plough forward at full pace.

Secondly that in this line up we are still short of a key player or two, we need leadership in the centre of the defence, I know I have been saying this for a few years now, but although for much of the game we were holding off Watford without too much problem, as was shown by the fact that Bazunu didn't have a save of real note to make, they did catch us on a couple of occasions where we were not playing as a unit in the back three.

Thirdly that we need another striker, the good news is that we have that in our latest signing Mara, but in this game it left us short of an outlet in the final 3rd, hopefully that will change by the time we run out at Spurs.

We can moan about the lack of a striker, the manager knows the problem and we are dealing with it, so it is no use judging our attack on this game, perhaps even not the next two, but when our transfer business is finished.

The final verdict is that this was a Watford side in their last game before the season starts, they were a week ahead of us in preparations and playing at almost full pelt, yet we held them fairly comfortably without breaking too much sweat, in a weeks time Saints will have completed their pre season programme and it is a vital week with two games, after that we will start to have some idea of whether things are going well or otherwise.

Overall if I was Ralph Hasenhuttl I would feel my team had stepped up a gear a little, they had followed the orders, not tried to be too clever and that this game will have answered a few questions for the manager.

Pre season is not about results, it is about getting fitness, developing tactics and fine tuning this to all fall into place when the League season begins, not about tonking teams two weeks before the season and hitting a peak two early.

Photo: Action Images

schatfield added 23:42 - Jul 24 Jeez, how many moaners on here. Seriously, you guys should give up on supporting your local club and try something else instead, you are going to moan yourself into an early grave at this rate.
1

felly1 added 00:23 - Jul 25 Hi Saintmark66, Yep those were pretty disastrous moments, particularly the first defeat to Leicester. That really hurt and I think that shocked the club and fans to the core. Ultimately, with a fairly average side, and without much spending power we've topped the league playing really exciting attacking football and we many neutral admirers. I guess I just like Ralph's managerial style and persona. We're still in the Prem, plenty of ups n downs, some nice football. Happy days.

1

Blogs 31 bloggers

Portsmouth Polls