Pre Season Friendlies 2025/26

[Football Special]

Anyone recommend a good tree to watch from? 

[Master Bates]

1 hour ago, Football Special said:

Anyone recommend a good tree to watch from? 

There's an old oak tree, i'll go tie a yellow ribbon from the old oak tree so you know which one 

[StrangelyBrown]

13 hours ago, gio1saints said:

Will Smallbone seems a quiet unassuming good guy and not short of grey matter I’d hope.

So I find it, almost, inexplicable, that he has not either been told or worked it out for himself what he might need to do to maintain at least a horizontal trajectory in his professional career for the next few years. 
 

As @Gloucester Saint said above He needs to improve his physicality. It’s quite literally his livelihood at 🥩. 

Why? Multiple factors : As a Midfielder he will not win most of his headers in this league - sure he’s not 6ft3 but it’s mainly, imo, because his explosive energy is limited ( relative to other pro athletes in his position not civilians) by the capacity of his musculature. And his timing for approaching those impacts sucks, again all imo. And it’s arguable this in turn has preconditioned him mentally to accept he will come off second best in aerial combat. Similar to his general tackling ability. He often cannot muscle players off the ball because, imo, he lacks the explosive pace to get into the right position to shield it ~ nor the mass to bounce players off him (see Tyler). And in a straight shoulder to shoulder he almost always comes second. IMO he is (currently) mentally preconditioned to accept in one on one tussles he majorly loses. He has to rely on timing -and he’s just not nippy enough for that way of doing it ( see Kante). 

What he does have is a good engine for middle and long distance running. Good visual awareness and propensity to run. We’ve seen him arrive late edge of box and slot in goals so we know he CAN score. He’s a not as good JWP as @Gloucester Saint also noted. 
 

IF he’s going to play in Will Stills team it’s only if Flynn is injured because Flynn is better than him. Playing him AND Flynn is not going to deliver the kind of powerhouse football we’re expecting. Or only if the rest of the team have mega characteristics that compensate. But frankly a player that can do all the things Will can do PLUS physicality is an obvious upgrade for Stills team imo. He will be a v good squad player but not starting-if he stays at Saints imo. 

I agree with most of this but I'm not sure he's got a good engine - he looks like he's blowing within a small number of minutes and can't keep up with the pace of the game. It's actually one of the things I've been most surprised with as an athlete with his build ought to be able to keep running and running.

[gio1saints]

Compared to his teammates he still is upper quartile though - low bar perhaps ~ and probably reflective of a weakness we all suspect throughout the team - below par athleticism. Which  Spors seems to have prioritised resolving. 

[sad saints fan]

On 14/07/2025 at 10:52, goodymatt said:

 

Will we get any information about these games ? Teams /Scores etc

[Saint Scott]

GAME ONE

Full time: Saints 1-0 Gillingham

Saints: Ramsdale, Bree, Stephens (c), Quarshie, Welington, Smallbone, Downes, Armstrong (Dibling 30), Fraser, Robinson, Archer.

Goal: Archer (27’)

GAME TWO

 

Full time: Saints 3-1 Gillingham

Saints: Bazunu, Sugawara, Wood, Taylor (c), Manning (Kayi Sanda 45), Charles, Matsuki, Edozie, Dibling (Aribo 15), Brereton Díaz, Stewart.

Goals: Stewart (11’), Dibling (13’), Matsuki (57’)

Edited Tuesday at 15:18 by Saint Scott
Lineups

[CSA96]

First 60 minutes: Ramsdale; Bree, Stephens, Quarshie, Welington; Downes, Smallbone; Armstrong (Dibling, 30), Fraser, Robinson; Archer.

Second 60 minutes: Bazunu; Sugawara, Wood, Taylor, Manning (Kayi Sanda, 45); Matsuki, Charles; Edozie, Dibling (Aribo, 15), Brereton Diaz; Stewart.

Edited Tuesday at 15:20 by CSA96

[saintant]

Will Still continues his unbeaten record.

[spyinthesky]

I know its a pre season friendly at Staplewood and 2 x 60mins games.

However recollect that we lost away at Gillingham, in fact well beaten, in a League Cup game in the early stages of Mr Martins tenure.

[hypochondriac]

9 minutes ago, spyinthesky said:

I know its a pre season friendly at Staplewood and 2 x 60mins games.

However recollect that we lost away at Gillingham, in fact well beaten, in a League Cup game in the early stages of Mr Martins tenure.

Very hard to draw implications from friendly games but I'd much rather win them than be scrabbling for positives. 

[sockeye]

A friendly against a weak side yes, but good for those four to be scoring. Long may it continue.

[Neil]

5 different scorers in just 210' of the first two pre-season friendlies.

Happy with that... (unless the Gills players played the whole 120' and were just knackered!)

[S-Clarke]

Matsuki is certainly playing himself into the forefront in the first couple of games, I thought he looked really tidy against Eastleigh - albeit it was just a training game.

Certainly looks good enough to have around as a squad player, and adds some depth we didn't have last time out in the Champ.

[Matthew Le God]

 

 

[CB Fry]

60 minute friendlies is a thing is it? I don’t remember it happening before.

Feels like a good idea.

[Jack]

Some decent moves and finishes in the 2nd game 

[coalman]

12 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

 

 

The Dibling - Edozie - Stewart goal is a lovely move.

[saintant]

Looking sharper for sure. Gills pen looked a bit soft. Good moves for goals by Stewart and Dibling.

[AlexLaw76]

13 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

60 minute friendlies is a thing is it? I don’t remember it happening before.

Feels like a good idea.

Guess this could be about 60 mins each for the other game this week?

 

[Turkish]

bit harsh on Stewart

[Suhari]

Crikey. We are doing playing-forwards, running into space and shooting things.

Not seen that for a while.

[Football Special]

1 hour ago, CB Fry said:

60 minute friendlies is a thing is it? I don’t remember it happening before.

Feels like a good idea.

Becoming more common for behind closed doors training ground friendlies,  clubs like it away from spotlight , no fans, not official fixtures can make up their own arrangements to suit training plan like these 60 min x 2 matches , makes sense really 

[Harry_SFC]

Early signs showing that we are looking to get the ball out to the wide players to cut the ball back as much as possible. Sensible, just need a decent winger or two first! 

[Danbert]

From that I thought Bereton Dias looked alright. Perhaps he'll come good now he's not being asked to play in last season's horseshoe formation, which I thought left him very alone.

[coalman]

12 minutes ago, Danbert said:

From that I thought Bereton Dias looked alright. Perhaps he'll come good now he's not being asked to play in last season's horseshoe formation, which I thought left him very alone.

To be fair all our attackers looked very alone last season. Nice to see a concerted effort to get behind the other team and players making overlapping runs.

[gio1saints]

54 minutes ago, Harry_SFC said:

Early signs showing that we are looking to get the ball out to the wide players to cut the ball back as much as possible. Sensible, just need a decent winger or two first! 

My observation is that we have obviously been practicing the under lap ( as opposed to the over-lap) in which a runner moves into a space somewhere between the ball holding wide player and the near post edge of the penalty area - something we’ve done in the past but not all that regularly last year. 
From what I saw v Eastleigh and from the limited excerpts of Gillingham it’s happened a lot more often than statistical chance. It’s a planned move alright. 
BBD -for all his deficiencies in my book- does have the football nous and technique for this - as the wide guy giving the pass that is -not as the runner - JR could have passed the ball many times for wellington who made countless ( fruitless) underlapping runs - but ultimately he managed something adjacent to it with his ball for CA to score for instance. On the other wing first half AA was not really supported enough by bree to do that nor was RS making the right runs( nor is he frankly the right player to make that run) whereas SE working with TD second half we saw multiple examples of under lapping passing. Causing problems in penalty area. 
Yep. It’s a thing. 
IF that’s Wills plan then the wide player is essentially a decoy and it’s the full back or wider mf needs to have leg speed and a decent left foot/right foot to either shoot or pass to the feet of our knows where to be incoming forward. 

Edited Wednesday at 07:10 by gio1saints

[leesaint88]

13 hours ago, CB Fry said:

60 minute friendlies is a thing is it? I don’t remember it happening before.

Feels like a good idea.

Didn't we have it at St Mary's a number of years back? When we had a mini tournament? I'm sure each game was 60 minutes rather than 90. 

[trousers]

12 minutes ago, leesaint88 said:

Didn't we have it at St Mary's a number of years back? When we had a mini tournament? I'm sure each game was 60 minutes rather than 90. 

Are you thinking about the Markus Liebherr Memorial Cup? That was 3x 45 minute though... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markus_Liebherr_Memorial_Cup

 

 

[leesaint88]

2 minutes ago, trousers said:

Are you thinking about the Markus Liebherr Memorial Cup? That was 3x 45 minute though... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markus_Liebherr_Memorial_Cup

 

 

That's the one. Knew the playing time was reduced, didn't realise it was only 45 though. 

[Badger]

14 minutes ago, leesaint88 said:

Didn't we have it at St Mary's a number of years back? When we had a mini tournament? I'm sure each game was 60 minutes rather than 90. 

Think we had a three team tournament of 45 minute matches, with Bilbao and Werder Bremen once (2012 or 13, thereabouts) at St Mary’s. 

[coalman]

14 hours ago, CB Fry said:

60 minute friendlies is a thing is it? I don’t remember it happening before.

Feels like a good idea.

Given the size of our squad it gives more match time to more players as well as more info to the new manager. Very forward thinking.

[chiknsmack]

4 hours ago, Danbert said:

From that I thought Bereton Dias looked alright. Perhaps he'll come good now he's not being asked to play in last season's horseshoe formation, which I thought left him very alone.

He's very one-footed, as you can see from the last goal where he refused to put in a cross with his left. Even the balls into Manning on the underlap were with his right.

He's not a left winger. On the off chance we play two up front he can play on the left of a two - cutting inside and shooting like he did against Lazio a year ago - but if we were playing two up front he wouldn't be in front of Stewart, Archer, or Downs for me.

I also don't particularly want Manning anywhere near the starting side either (was it his shirt pull for the penalty?), so the two of them gelling together in a friendly against Gillingham is of zero value IMO.

[sockeye]

3 hours ago, Badger said:

Think we had a three team tournament of 45 minute matches, with Bilbao and Werder Bremen once (2012 or 13, thereabouts) at St Mary’s. 

Think that was the Liebherr Cup or something along those lines, happened the two years after his death. The second one had Arsenal and Valladolid or something like that?

[CSA96]

31 minutes ago, chiknsmack said:

He's very one-footed, as you can see from the last goal where he refused to put in a cross with his left. Even the balls into Manning on the underlap were with his right.

He's not a left winger. On the off chance we play two up front he can play on the left of a two - cutting inside and shooting like he did against Lazio a year ago - but if we were playing two up front he wouldn't be in front of Stewart, Archer, or Downs for me.

I also don't particularly want Manning anywhere near the starting side either (was it his shirt pull for the penalty?), so the two of them gelling together in a friendly against Gillingham is of zero value IMO.

It was Matsuki for the penalty I think

[jamesfp1]

Is Fernandes injured?

[jasonbenali]

2 minutes ago, jamesfp1 said:

Is Fernandes injured?

Late back due to the U21 tournament I believe

[ChristopheVAFC]

Tomorrow sees a behind-closed-doors friendly between our two clubs at Southampton's training centre.

According to the latest information, there will be 2 matches of 60 minutes each, with 2 different teams.

There will be no live video feed, no real-time score information, and the clubs will publish information after the match, nothing else...

It's a shame, but if it helps our two clubs to have a good season afterwards...

[Matthew Le God]

1 minute ago, ChristopheVAFC said:

There will be no live video feed, no real-time score information, and the clubs will publish information after the match, nothing else...

Southampton had a similar game vs Gillingham on Tuesday. Two 60 minute games behind closed doors at the training ground, and they did make a highlights video.

 

[Turkish]

5 minutes ago, ChristopheVAFC said:

Tomorrow sees a behind-closed-doors friendly between our two clubs at Southampton's training centre.

According to the latest information, there will be 2 matches of 60 minutes each, with 2 different teams.

There will be no live video feed, no real-time score information, and the clubs will publish information after the match, nothing else...

It's a shame, but if it helps our two clubs to have a good season afterwards...

I cant see anything else than 8-0 Saints over the two games. 

[ChristopheVAFC]

2 minutes ago, Turkish said:

I cant see anything else than 8-0 Saints over the two games. 

I wouldn't go that far, my friend, but I think the most important thing is to work well and for the matches to go well, after that the score won't be the most important thing for me.

[Turkish]

Just now, ChristopheVAFC said:

I wouldn't go that far, my friend, but I think the most important thing is to work well and for the matches to go well, after that the score won't be the most important thing for me.

no, its to win with no mercy. Why do you think its behind closed doors? It's because the police feared for your fans safety due to the reputation of the DEF our notorious hooligan element. No such thing as a friendly with those nutcases.

[BARCELONASAINT]

now now Turkish play nicely 😆

[trousers]

 

 

[ChristopheVAFC]

 

by https://www.va-fc.com/articles/29228

-----------------------------------

A Draw and a Loss for VAFC Against Southampton in a Friendly
For the first time in their history, VAFC and Southampton faced off in a warm-up match this Friday, July 18th, at the English club's Staplewood training ground. Members of the Sport Republic group for two years, the first teams of the two clubs had never met before. The two matches played this Friday therefore cemented the connections that now exist between France and England.

Because it wasn't just one match, but two separate one-hour encounters played at Staplewood with two completely different team lineups on each side.

An Intense, Committed, and Balanced First Match

In the first match, VAFC clearly matched the Championship team, with an intensity more akin to a competitive match than a friendly. Physical and committed, the match started well for Valenciennes, who opened the scoring in the 17th minute thanks to Baghdadi, who was well-played by Courtet. VA then came close to doubling their lead when Baghdadi passed to Ipiélé, whose shot went just wide of Ramsdale's goal (26th minute).

But England responded with Brereton Diaz's volley missing the target (27th minute). In the second half, Southampton pushed for an equalizer and finally found the net in the 47th minute with a cross shot from Archer. A rather logical draw after a solid, technical, and committed performance from VAFC.

Southampton-VAFC (1-1). Goals: Archer (47th minute) for Southampton; Baghdadi (17th) for VAFC

VAFC: Louchet - Abu, Coeff, Thomas (cap), Wahib - K. Diomandé, Rouai - Ipiélé, Baghdadi, Appuah - Courtet

Southampton: Ramsdale - Bree, Stephens, Wood, Manning-Charles, Downes (Sesay, 36th), Edozie, Fraser, Brereton Diaz-Archer

A second match in favor of Southampton

For the second match, things were a little more complicated for VA. Dominated from the start, the Red and Whites conceded the opening goal in the 11th minute, thanks to Armstrong's lurking effort after Stewart's shot hit Justin Lacombe's post. A Valenciennes goalkeeper had to pull out all the stops just before halftime, deflecting a header that was heading into the net (28th).

In the second half, VA attempted to respond with a Nyemb shot that went wide of the English goal (38th minute). But it was Oyewusi, late in the match (57th minute), who created the best opportunity with a cross back into the box that was blocked at the last moment. Ultimately, Southampton won the second half, marking the end of an intense training camp in England for Valenciennes. Their next match is this Wednesday, July 23rd, against Feignies (6 p.m.) during the season-ticket holders' fan day.

Southampton-VAFC 1-0. Goal: Armstrong (11th) for Southampton

VAFC: Lacombe - A.Diomandé, Niakaté (Kebbeh, 31st), Tremoulet, Koum - Belloumou (Boissier, 31st), Collet (Moursou, 31st), Sissoko (cap) - Buades (Kouakou, 45th), Oyewusi, Kouakou (Nyemb, 31st)

Southampton: Mc Carthy - Sugawara, Kayi Sanda, Quarshie, Taylor - Welington, Smallbone, Aribo - Armstrong, Robinson, Stewart

[trousers]

4 minutes ago, ChristopheVAFC said:

Southampton: Ramsdale - Bree, Stephens, Wood, Manning-Charles, Downes (Sesay, 36th), Edozie, Fraser, Brereton Diaz-Archer

Downes coming off after 36 minutes... Hopefully nothing serious...

[hypochondriac]

Good to see Archer and Armstrong performing well in preseason. If we do keep Armstrong and in a dream scenario I think even an attack something like 

Armstrong Fernandes/replacement Edozie/Robinson

Archer Downs/Stewart 

Should see us up there as favourites for promotion. 

Edited 18 hours ago by hypochondriac

[trousers]

And Bazunu not featuring in either game... Can we read anything into that...? 

[hypochondriac]

1 minute ago, trousers said:

And Bazunu not featuring in either game... Can we read anything into that...? 

Hopefully! 

[hypochondriac]

From what Alfie House has said, sounds like we weren't great in the friendly and possibly because we are absolutely knackered after a 9k run yesterday and loads of hard work. Can I be the first to say excellent news! 

[Suhari]

11 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

From what Alfie House has said, sounds like we weren't great in the friendly and possibly because we are absolutely knackered after a 9k run yesterday and loads of hard work. Can I be the first to say excellent news! 

And a bit of a 'fiery' game too I understand.

Good. A team that has trained hard, is tired from a long run, and is then together in something of a battle. Get some fitness and heart into them!