City 1 Real Valladolid 0
I hope Nigel Pearson learnt something from this match as I’m not sure I did. It was fairly typical of a pre-season friendly although the players played their hearts out; rather surprisingly there were several bookings, two for each side.
Three of our new signings began the match – Weale, Wellens and N’Guessan – and it was a great relief to the City fans to see Matty Fryatt come on in the second half, and of course score the only goal of the game in his usual impressive style.
Of the 11 who started, nobody particularly stood out although the defence was solid; Bruno Berner was impressive at left back, to suggest that Mattock may not get a place in the starting line-up. Morrison played the first half at right-back and was replaced at half-time by Luke O’Neill, who I had not seen play before. Both did a reasonable job and O’Neill’s tackling was spot-on on a couple of occasions when there could have been danger.
Wellens is a busy player but did not dominate the midfield as I had hoped, but it is early days and he shows considerable promise. Weale had very little to do but what he did do he did competently. I particularly liked the way he came out of his box to snuff out danger. N’Guessan was busy but made little impact before he was substituted for Fryatt, to enthusiastic applause……
I was rather surprised not to see Tunchev and he didn’t come on as a sub; perhaps he is still being eased back after such a long lay-off. The central defensive pairing of Hobbs and Brown coped pretty well with the attacks from the Spanish team and rarely looked vulnerable. They, together with Berner, played the whole match and the only other players to do so were Weale and Steve Howard.
Gradel came on for the second half, closely followed by Nicky Adams and Robbie Burns. I have always liked Adams and was heartened to see how well he got stuck in, and Gradel was also pretty effective.
Pearson is reported on the City web site that he thought it was a poor game due to the Spanish side’s spoiling tactics, and I wouldn’t argue with that view. On the way back to my car I heard someone say: ‘We’re in for a long hard season, that was c**p’. A bit harsh I thought but time will tell. So the right result but a bit disappointing; hopefully the Championship will prove more exciting.
City (4-4-2): Weale; Morrison, Hobbs, Brown Berner, Oakley, A King, Wellens, Dyer, Howard, N'Guessan. Subs O'Neill (46 for Morrison), Gradel (46 for King), Adams (53 for Oakley), Fryatt (60 for N'Guessan), Burns (77 for Dyer). Not Used: Logan, Tunchev, Dickov, Powell, Neilson, Chambers, Ajdarevic, Verma.
Goals: Fryatt Booked: Morrison, Howard
The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent the views of the Foxes Trust organisation