What do pre-season results really tell us?

[dholliday]

Note the poll question is about the result, the final score. Review of performances are more subjective.

Every summer there's a debate on here about how meaningful or not pre-season results are. Personally, I think they're important. Go into the season lame, with some players lacking in confidence & sharpness, and we risk a slow start to the real deal, playing catch-up for the rest of the season.

Let's compare ours with the top 6, and no way am I counting that ridiculous 22-0:

Everton 1 - 1 Bury
0 - 0 Lille (we lost on pens)
0 - 1 Porto
0 - 3 Blackburn
1 - 4 Rennes
(uff)

Chelsea 1 - 1 Inter Milan (Chelsea win on pens)
1 - 0 Perth Glory
(only found two, but both wins still)

Man Utd 1 - 4 RS
1 - 1 AC Milan (Man U win on pens)
0 - 0 San Jose
1 - 1 Club America
(not too hot from Jose, RedCafe probably nervous, but still a win vs Milan is something)

Man City 3 - 2 Bayern
1 - 2 RS
0 - 1 Dortmund
(all three vs pedigree there, that last win vs Bayern will have perked them up)

Spurs 2 - 2 Barcelona (Barca win on pens)
4 - 1 Roma
(exciting stuff!)

Arsenal 5 - 1 PSG
1 - 1 Athletico Madrid
8 - 0 Boreham Wood
(wow, massive confidence boost vs PSG there)

RS 7 - 0 Chester
3 - 2 Tranmere
0 - 0 Bury
2 - 0 Blackburn
1 - 3 Dortmund
2 - 1 Man City
4 - 1 Man Utd
(ffs)

3 things to take away here:

1) our lack of goals against average opposition is not gonna do our cause much good.
2) the only team the top 6 also played was Blackburn, while we lost 0-3 they beat Blackburn 2-0.
3) the top 6 pre-season results have something positive at least for the fans & players to take away, even if just pen-wins against Milan sides.


Pre-season friendlies are still match-time (even partly-competitive...some are decided on pens after all), the fans still follow and a little of that will carry over into the season proper. I for one feel we desperately need a good result vs Valencia (the first quality opposition we've faced too). A good result will give us all collectively a little positive rush. Another depressed performance resulting in defeat may result in a slower start to the season than we'd like, with the fans losing patience a little quicker than had we had a decent pre-season.

 

[nsno-chris]

That Michael Keane is pure dog turd

 

[Berenger]

You can tell if your defence is completely gash.

 

[EFCccc]

That Ronald McDonald truly ruined us.

 

[ArtetaMoney]

That anyone who can run the 100m in less than 16 seconds, is a real threat to us.

 

[Blue Sky]

That we are light years away from top 6

 

[alpethsm]

I don't think the results are particularly important. For example the Porto game where we played relatively well and lost 1 nil, that didn't concern me at all.

The manner of playing is however important, just because they're not competitive games doesn't mean you can't see issues. Blackburn was very concerning, lots of ineffectual possession, misplaced passes and a slow confused looking defence. Results are generally indicative of performance, you can lose 1 nil by being unlucky, no one loses by 4 goals being unlucky.

We clearly are easy to get at on the break and don't create enough and don't have a good enough finisher...issues all over the pitch.

I know we will get some new players / some others will return but the issues noted above are issues we have had for years and all we are really doing is seeing the same problems with the same players. That said, I think 12th-8th in the league too.

 

[Blue Jk]

That most our players are quite crap at the minute tbh

 

[Eggs]

..they tell me we’re a poor side. Hard to see us turning things around with this group of players.

 

[COYBL25]

That we have a lot of players that aren't very good, with the human Snail, Keane being at the head of the queue

 

[barneygumble]

Davy Klaasen, Yannick Bolasie, Michael Keane cost a combined £75m.

None of them can get near our team, and we still have two of them stinking the gaff out.

 

[ToffeeTim]

They've shown our chronic lack of athleticism and the need for defenders.

This preseason will either prove to be a blessing because it showed us exactly where to strengthen.

Or it will be a precursor for a dull season of nothingness were we come midtable and leak goals for fun due to our diabolical centre backs and un-arsed midfielders.

 

[ah11984]

You're better off comparing our pre-season results with the likes of West Ham, Leicester, Bournemouth, Newcastle.

 

[neil999]

Results aren't important, it's the fact that we are playing terrible and none of the squad players seem to be able/want to step up

 

[dannyboy]

They tell us we are still a complete mess. The only saving grace is that it is only pre season, but if people think we are going to turn it on when the league starts then they are probably going to be in for a shock.