I don’t particularly like friendlies, but I still found myself tuning in to watch Town play Hamberger SV on the club’s official live stream. Town ran out 1-0 winners in a solid but unexciting performance against a decent second-tier German team.
Here are a few of the players that caught my eye during the game. It’s worth remembering that preseason doesn’t count for a great deal, but until the season starts it’s all we have to go off.
Lewis O’Brien
I was very impressed by O’Brien’s work rate and composure in his first-half performance (the entire XI was switched at half-time). He aggressively pressed the opposition, made some smart tackles and looked comfortable in possession.
The year on loan at Bradford must have done him a lot of good, as he looks like a professional footballer on the pitch, rather than a youth player that is trying to fit in. He wasn’t afraid of getting involved in physical battles and had a good awareness of what was happening around him.
Adama Diakhaby
I was very critical of Diakhaby last season but there were signs of his true potential on display against Hamburger SV. While he still has a questionable first touch, he was our most potent attacking threat for long periods. His raw pace frightened opposition defenders and forced them into mistakes, leading to a few situations where he was able to get in behind the lines.
I was pleased to see that the rest of the team were looking to take advantage of Diakhaby’s speed. Balls were played up to him early, which gave him the opportunity to run at the opposition. The goal he scored was the icing on the cake but it was the kind of short-range tap-in that anyone could have put away.
Ryan Schofield
Another academy player that returns to the squad after a loan spell last season. There wasn’t a lot of goalmouth action from which to judge the young keeper but he looked good from what I could see. He made one smart reflex save to push the ball over the crossbar and his distribution was ambitious and mostly well-targeted.
With Jonas Lössl leaving the club, Hamer under contract but out of favour there is a chance for Schofield (or Coleman) to stake a claim for the No 1 spot. It’s likely that we’ll see a new keeper brought in soon, but I wouldn’t be disappointed to see Schofield kept on as our second-choice keeper for next season.
Jon Gorenc Stankovic
I must admit that my attention on the game waned in the second half after both teams made a raft of substitutions and the game fizzled out, but I did notice that Stankovic continued the good form that he had towards the end of last season. He was playing in central defence alongside Rarmani Edmonds-Green and played with composure and a touch of class.
Stankovic was a commanding presence at the back when Hamburger attacked but it was in possession that he looked at his best. His long-range passing was excellent and he was able to pick colleagues out high up the pitch to start off attacks. I hope that our Elphick and Schindler are the first-choice pairing in central defence next season but, given the ages of those two and the rigours of playing in the Championship, I expect we’ll see plenty of Stankovic this season.
Honorable mentions
There were other players that looked pretty good in this friendly.
- Tommy Elphick looks a commanding presence at the back and a natural leader.
- Jonathan Hogg was his usual combative self
- Alex Pritchard doesn’t look to be in his natural position out on the left wing but still produced some good moments
- Matt Daly had some nice touches but was a bit too easily muscled off the ball by a physical team