Marseille.

We are moving the ball much quicker than last night but a lot of thst is due to them not closing down like Betis did. We always look better when we are allowed space and time.

King and Wilson seem to be playing morr as a front two than one in behind and look mpre effective for that.

Daniels not on it defensively which is a worry.
 
Can someone at the match get a photo of the scoreboard please? Even in a friendly that's a pic worth having.
 
Bad leave from someone there. Shame.

On replay, looked like Cook although maybe he couldn't reach it so perhaps wasn't a leave at all.
 
Brooks definitely looks dangerous in the last third of the field with lots of clever little passes. I'm not sure he looks entirely comfortable out wide but he could turn out to be an excellent acquisition based on what we've seen so far.
 
All in all, a great performance until the fifth went in. Thereafter a much more defensive display and then we looked so much more vulnerable after Ake went off, but no real surprise considering it was a makeshift choice slotting in for him. Hopefully nothing to worry about there.

Once the youth players were all on then it was pretty much one way traffic.
 
Great match.
Some thoughts:

1. King has his scoring boots back on. Good news for us.
2. Wilson. See 1.
3. Fraser. Seems even faster than before. I used to call him Fraser the Laser because he ran straight through defenders. But he seems to have picked up new dribbling skills - like a turbocharged Pugh, or a more direct Ibe. Probably my MOM.
4. A Smith. One of the best games I've seen him play and one of our most exciting players on his day.
5. Brooks looks very good and will hopefully become a huge player for us.
6. S Cook played fairly well but made a few mental errors.
7. Hyndman when he came on looked lively and played some beautiful long balls, however, towards the end got a bit sloppier.
8. Daniels, I thought, defended quite well and won the ball back from their attackers numerous times.

I wouldn't tinker much with today's starting lineup v Cardiff!
 
I think that was a decent showing by us.
Marseille were without Thauvin, who banged 20+ last season, and play maker Lopez, but I had heard of and seen all their players bar one that were on show today.

They certainly would never come up against pace like ours in Ligue1. Some seem quite bemused by it.
Marseille will pretty much always be top 6 here, and I expect that this season.

Enjoyed the spectacle of us racing in to a 5-0 lead against last seasons Europa finalists.

The French commentary team and analysts were very impressed with our tempo 1st half, and how we cut through them with ease.

If we played with the starting XI throughout, we might have won 6 or 7 one.

Quite optimistic for the Cardiff game.
An opening day win will do wonders.

AFCB 8/10
Marseille 5/10
 
Cardiff are about to play Betis in 15 minutes. Not that it really means anything come the real deal next week but could be an interesting marker.
 

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