Markus Liebherr tournament

Well mixed result and performance. First game saints beat werder Bremen 3 0 with goals from connolly lallana and guly. Connolly, lallana, chamberlain, all looked sharp, Cork looked a neat player and played lovely ball for Connolly's goal, Bart looked good in goal, Fonte and seabourn solid. second game sainst lost 2 nil to Bilbao though 2nd goal was last kick of game. No Lambert which was a worry presume injured? Doble played up front and looked stronger and held the ball up well but we were ropey at the back. Jaidi made several errors and not up to match pace. Schneiderlin made a few sloppy passes and his error lead to first goal.

At end of the day a good work out as far as friendlies go, good 45 minutes for everyone some promising signs Cork looks good and even Hammond played well alongside him. Would like another big striker, doble might gain from loan spell where he plays as opposed on the bench plus a CB.

Sure NA will be pleased with the workout and like the format of the tournament.

Thanks Matty. Hope Lambert's absence is nothing to worry about. No appearance by the new boy?

No sign of the new boy, guess to soon. Interesting comparison between the two teams. First team looked threatening with lallana and chamberlain and Connolly lively, also they played out from the back most times. second team lees of a threat, lots of long kicks from Kelvin out to Forte on left for him to head on. Worked for the first 3 times then opp figured it out plus Kelvin reverted to his normal kicking so they were going anywhere!

Dcision will be who starts alongside Cork, hammond looked ok yesterday, Schneiderlin looked rusty and mad several errors, Chaplow does get froward more so would he be a better fit?

couple of morons booed chamberlain but he got a decent reception from rest and all credit to him as he put in a good performance and wasnt at all coasting , handled the pressure very well for a youngster.

According to Nigel Adkins in an interview on Radio Solent, Lambert is fitter than he's ever been but for a slight twinge in his back. They didn't want to risk him in a friendly.

Makes sense not to risk him but we saw last year he is a player if he does get injured can take him time to get back to match fitness.

Intersting Guly played up front first game and while he didnt seem to really know the position he still managed to score. Same as b4 didnt seem interested on occassions then would run half the length of the field to win the ball back!! Guess he will remain unpredictable but does have a goal scoring capability which is so important.

Be interesting this season as think Bart could well challenge Kelvin

Lots of fans have spent a large amount of money on season tickets and new shirts so forking out £16 for adult tickets is a tough choice and to be fair it was still a friendly. So think any criticsim of fans not going is out of order. Yes it would have been nice to have a bigger crowd but if that was the aim suggest the club need to be a bit smarter next year in pricing and arranging and announce earlier and not be so secretive in the build up.