Learnings?

First off, the back four looks solid enough, but I think we would have expected that anyway.
It is impossible to judge the strikers as they got shag all service and what they got was so high that it was meat & drink to the Pats back four giants. Colinb P was definitely more lively than Dolye..
Midfield is obviously a worry. The thing is, Greg and Conor played well enough - in their own way. Unfortunately we don't need two of them if we want to control games. It's been said before, but I think George needs to be tried in midfield. He is the only creative player who might fill the role.


Now my preliminary worry about Dolan....Carey on the right of midfield. He covers wll enough, but gives nothing going forward. His distribution last season was poor so pushing him further forward isn't going to solve that. I hope it was just because George was out.. we'll see on Friday.

What is a little worse though is that at 0-0 at home, Dolan brought on Buckley for Carey. Buckley is a centre midfielder, not a winger and will not cross the ball or pass players. Not his fault, that's just not his style. It was also his debut - talking about presssure. Coming on at home in a crap match! Warren, who can pass players and on his day is very lively, would have given a more offensive option, as indeed would Colin T.

Major dose of the blues..

Agree with you, SSS, Warren should have replaced Carey.
Still, it was known in January that we needed a few more players and with the exception of Doyle, we are still awaiting those players.
1- 1 , 2- 2 any draw but a nil all.:(

As pat dolan didnt sign players preseason i was hoping he would be holding off till the end of the english season to see what players will be relised. fingers crossed.

Another big problem I saw was that we haven't figured out how to use the wings yet which was a prob last season as well. Woods keeps drifting infield although in the 2nd half he did a small bit better. Carey is deffo out of position at right mid. Very reluctant to move forward and kept too close to Greg/Conor in the middle. There were several times in the 2nd half that if Carey had made a run ahead of the ball on the right he would have got the chance for a decent cross. I'd play George on the right next game as he seemed to play better at the end of last season when he played in midfield for a few games.

I know service was extremely poor, but Doyle needs a bit more time. Colin P should be starting up front (unless he put's George up there).

One other thing from yesterday, I was outside the ground at about 3pm and Dolan was outside talking and signing autographs for anyone that stopped to chat to him. Good sign to see, hope he can keep that kind of interaction with the fans up....