Pre-season 2021/22

[eamonn]

Does our pre-season ever go too well though? It's usually a mixed bag in terms of results.

[Brazilian Villain]

I seem to recall there was one season under DOL where we won all (most of) our pre-season games then struggled in the league.

[Steve67]

We are not going to start the season with Steer in goal, Bogarde at centre back, Aaron Ramsey and El Ghazi in the side.  There is a lot of work still to do with Traore and Sanson to come back with Mings, Jack, Luiz and Emi too.  It's a covid affected pre-season and a pain in the arse but by the Sevilla game, I expect things to have settled down. In the words of Randy Lerner, pre-season is such a false narrative.

[OCD]

I seem to recall there was one season under DOL where we won all (most of) our pre-season games then struggled in the league.

Probably where my hang-up of an undefeated pre-season comes from.

[TonyD]

Will Jack play in the next friendly?

[VILLA MOLE]

ahhh i have missed those saturday post match hyperboles 😀

[PaulWinch again]

It’s a pre-season tune up I wouldn’t worry. Out of interest what provoked Wesley’s reaction?

[jwarry]

Neither Wesley nor Davis are adequate back up for Watkins

Made all the more difficult for them by just how good Ollie is.

Funnily enough Kienan came into his own when Wesley went off.  He clearly is a confidence player and needs to go somewhere to score a few goals. I’m not ruling him out for the longer term but Wesley oh dear

[Legion]

Neither are good enough. Barry and Archer from the U23s offer far more but are both largely untried and unproven at this level at the moment. We need a decent back-up to Watkins.

[Richard E]

I don’t see the point of sending Keinan out on loan. If we don’t rate him enough to have him here then we may as well sell him.

[Des Little]

I have to agree. There’s no room for sentiment if we want to be serious contenders - Davis wouldn’t be within a mile of top six squads, as much as he tries. We need better.

[Legion]

https://www.stokecityfc.com/news/2021/july/Mini-Highlights-Aston-Villa/

[Dave]

I don’t see the point of sending Keinan out on loan. If we don’t rate him enough to have him here then we may as well sell him.

However it makes more economic sense to sell him the summer after he's scored 12 goals for Stoke or Swansea than it does now. If we sell him tomorrow he's a £2m sale. Knock in a few goals next season and he's an £8m sale.

[Legion]

Agreed. A lot more regular game time at a lower level might prove useful.

[tomd2103]

https://www.stokecityfc.com/news/2021/july/Mini-Highlights-Aston-Villa/

Only pre-season, but there looked some huge gaps in midfield again where their players carried the ball in.