Not much to write about really, hot humid conditions led to a slow game in which we did OK without threating and a weakened Malaga team had the better of it, without looking like scoring. However a poor parry from a cross from Freidel led to the winning goal.
Malaga could have had two players sent off but frankly who cares. But we hd some good performances, Lichaj for me at RB showed great promise and was MOTM, Cuellar in his proper position did well, young showed bags of Energy, but Sidwell and NRC disappeared too much.
Not too much to get worked up about !
And thanks to those who have read this, the blog got over 2000 hits from KO and this was for only a friendly, I can not always do this (I do go to games you know !!) but let me know what you think of it.
23:22 – Final whistle blows as Freidel saves and game is over 1-0 defeat
23:17 – 3 minutes left and shot over from Osbourne
23:11 – Booking for Sidwell
23:09 – GOAL – Malaga score from a weak Freidel parry from a cross, seen that before should not just push out into the oppositions path
23:07 – From a long Lichaj throw, shot blasted over by Osbourne
23:00 – Cuellar heads over from a corner
22:58 – Albrighton involved in a nasty clash with the Malaga defender, he should have been sent off, deliberate rake down the back of the leg
22:55 – Bannan and Osbourne on Petrov and Young
22:52 – Harewood on for Carew
22:50 – save again from Friedel, we look tired, no subs yet
22:47 – Lichaj has some throw on him just did one at least 40 yards
22:45 – good block from Lichaj to stop a goal bound shot
22:41 – Lots of Malaga subs
22:34 – 2nd half starts, no changes
22:17 – Not a lot to shout about, a really nasty injury to Heskey, very hot there and just the one chance with a great save from Friedel
22:13 – Petrov booked for a foul from behind
22:00 – great save by Friedel
21:54 – Halfway through, pretty slow paced as expected but we look fine, Young in a free role since the injry, NRC making a play for the first team
21:43 – No real chances, Malaga slightly on top but Young looks dangerous
21:34 – Heskey has a bad knock after a clash of heads, Albrighton on
21:30 – Kick off, with an American commentator, interesting
21:00 – Team Friedel, Lichaj, Cuellar, Davies, Shorey, Reo-Coker, Sidwell, Petrov (c), Young, Heskey, Carew. Subs: Bannan, Albrighton, Harewood, Lowry, Clark, Guzan, Parish, Herd, Osbourne.
So Petrov is now the club captain ? also interesting to see that NRC is on the right and playing despite rumours he could be the next one out.
20:50 – No team news yet
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ian, you didn’t seem surprised that no luke young – he was named in the peace cup squad – do you know what’s up??
no mate, just started to train after an injury why risk it ?
wow, still from last season… missed that. cheers.
lichaj’s looking settled enough – nice game to throw him in to.
got say and even though this is only a friendly that Lichaj could do a job there for some games, difficult to tell as game is so slow !!
yeah, i’d agree with that mate. he’s always had a decent report card – just had an injury or two. he’ll be 21 later this year. at this age, he should be forcing himself into consideration if he’s going to be good enough. same with some of the other “kids” for that matter.
thats right but Albrighton I think has the talent, so does Bannan and I reckon we will use them as the replacements for the likes of Harewood, Salifou and the ones who never got a game because they were not good enough
nice commentry dude
thanks