Pre-Season Thread 2017/18

Lost 2-1 to Udinese, who were masters of the dark arts. Very good at conning free-kicks out of the referee and tactical fouls he didn't notice. For that reason alone it's a worthwhile workout - we need to know how to deal with teams who do that week in, week out in the Premier League. We need to know how to deal with serial con-artists to make sure we're not mugged into anything daft. For that reason, a friendly against a team of Forestieris was probably a good idea. Their number 9 made 3 spectacular dives in the first half alone, complete with Wilhelm screams heard from row DD of the upper tier of the Fantastic Media Stand. He was on the touchline at the halfway line for one of them! The small child behind me had him twigged, mind - that was highly entertaining, listening to his observations of the game. Kept a whole row of people entertained in a lukewarm second half.

That we looked leggy is no surprise, considering that the team had a double training session this morning. Bright enough first half, great goal from Ince, pegged back due to a tired backpass from Cavare, who looks a long way short of match fitness. I personally thought he was OK, but he seems to be dividing opinion among Town fans. They won it through a soft free-kick that came off the woodwork that we didn't react to, but again it was a makeshift second-half back four. But Hefele got 15 minutes, Smith announced he's back in full training, and I can't say any of the other central defenders did much wrong.

The sour note of the game was the 'fan' sat next to me. With stands being closed I was in the family stand - completing the set of stands I've watched Town in in this stadium. The guy next to me was swearing like mad, so I asked him to moderate his language. He waited five minutes then, charmingly, said, "If you tell me not to fucking swear again, I'll fucking knock you out, you fucking boring cunt." Family area. Kids all round.

We managed to arrange a friendly against a Feyenoord team which apparently was made up of quite a few first teamers and held them to a draw.

Any Sunderland fans here?

Going down tomorrow for the game, not had a friendly down south for years always a class day out.

The Audi cup starts today, all live on ITV4 for UK members from 4:30pm.

First up is Atletico Madrid v Napoli followed by Bayern Munich v Liverpool.

Phwoar I bet this was fun

Don't know anyone that didn't have a rip roaring good time.

I'm a bit concerned with the number of injuries we've had in pre-season. Smith and Hefele have only just come back from injury. Hogg is out of the start of the season. Cranie is out for several weeks. Others have had knocks and come back. I have a feeling a handful of players will be under-cooked fitness-wise for Crystal Palace. Sounds like today's performance was a million miles from up to scratch, too, though we did come back from 3-1 down to get a draw against Stuttgart. Torino next.

That lad who got knocked out with his head on the Union Jack pillow giving Tommy Robinson his photo opp probably didn't (And all the others who ran away)

Yeah that's a shame obviously, I can't fault their intentions though.

Very good performance which should have come with a win this afternoon v Torino. 2-2 in the end against the Italian equivalent of Everton, dominating the second half. But for an errant last-minute shot from Depoitre, we'd have come away from our last pre-season game with a creditable win.