Saints took another step forward in their pre season planning with a win against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

In many respects though Nigel Adkins put out not quite a second string XI, but one that heavily featured players that are not likely to be first choice next season, Gazzaniga, Stephens, Hammond, Chaplow and Puncheon unless the manager knows something we dont, arent likely to be the first names on his team sheet, add to that the likes of Lambert & Schneiderlin were missing supposedly with knocks and this was very much a game where some players were given a rest and others with less game time given their chance to show the manager what they can do, although there were eight substitutions made, most were made in the final 20 minutes.

But do those selections signify anything, the fact that Stephens was preferred at centre back before Seabourne could be a clue to Adkins thinking about his squad, the failure to bring in a right winger so far this pre season and Jason Puncheon starting whilst Steve De Ridder only got a 15 minute cameo could well be another, although it would be a brave man who felt that Gazzaniga getting the full 90 minutes was anything other than making sure that the reserve keeper got some meaningful match action in pre season.

Other than that it was standard pre season fare and Im sure that Nigel Adkins will have been very happy tohave had a look at one or two players for an extended period although how much can actually be read into in regard to their performances and the result is negligible as nowadays most friendlies are more training games than contests.   

Photo: Action Images

saintwiz added 10:17 - Aug 5 What was the attendance?
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slynch added 10:33 - Aug 5 How did the players perform?
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SaintNick added 10:38 - Aug 5 The attendance was 3,978 including 402 Wolves fans, the article was called Saints V Wolves The Verdict, not Saints V Wolves how did the players perform :-)
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DJI added 10:39 - Aug 5 It was interesting to note that for all their time on the pitch yesterday, neither Jack Stephens or Jos gave away fouls. Jose comes on for the last 20 minutes and gives away two or three quite quickly! He still worries me as, if he continues to do this in and around the 18yd line, we will get hammered in the Premiership. I disagree with your thoughts on the team selection as we also have another game on Tuesday at Bristol City and I expect Nigel to pick another 18 man squad for that, thus allowing for everyone to get nearly 90 minute run outs. Puncheon certainly stated a claim for the right wing position yesterday and linked up well with Clyne. I am also surprised you haven't mentioned the positives from the game. Some of our attacking moves were superb and better than last year. In fact Billy's goal was beautifully worked with simple, quick passing across and into a packed Area, with a dummy leaving Billy to slot home. As for Punch's goal, a great tackle on our 18yd line by Jos cleared the ball up field and within seconds, Adam had 3 or 4 players running at defenders in all directions with an option to pass into. He chose Punch and he fired it into the bottom corner. Pre-season is a bit more than a training session Nick, especially at this moment when we are trying out new things to prepare for the Prem. Yesterday saw more of the new formations and Lallana playing a more central role once again. It also saw more effective wing-back play and some good midfield movement.

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michaeljoycetf added 10:47 - Aug 5 Thanks DJI, your post told us what we wanted to know, much more informative than ' The Verdict' which didnt amount to much today.
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SaintNick added 10:52 - Aug 5 Im sorry to disapoint you all, but I do believe that pre season matches are now glorified training sessions, the chance to try out new formations etc and rarely played at 100% effort. I would love someone to agree to write their own match report for all the games this season to contrast my own views on the games. Any Takers ?
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1teeminants added 11:09 - Aug 5 Im not sure Nick goes to these games so cant treaky comment am i right nick forgive me if im wrong ? My thoughts on yesterday Puncheon Hoovield And Clyne were easily the best layers on the pitch for os yeaterday. Clyne looks a very good player and linked well with Puncheon who also played well and had agoal goal with a driveinto the corner.I think you may be surprised Nick and Puncheon may well start against Man City.

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Natural_Order added 11:16 - Aug 5 These articles are always heavily opinionated so very amusing when the views of others are taken so sensitively - always a good read though as so much to disagree with.....
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SaintNick added 11:28 - Aug 5 Of course these articles are heavily opinionated, they are aimed at giving my opinion, I try not to cover the action points of the games as such, you can read that sort of thing on the official website, thats why its called a "Verdict" & not a report Football would be very boring if we all agreed on everything
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legod7 added 11:34 - Aug 5 "I would love someone to agree to write their own match report for all the games this season to contrast my own views on the games. Any Takers ? " Here we go again. Same old Nick. Anyone disagree with him and he throws his rattle out of the pram.
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1teeminants added 11:38 - Aug 5 sorry about the crap report above my computer has been playing up but it is ok now . I shall continue: Although it was a training game and wolves didnt really test us, our passing and movement was good and we had a good shape about us. Wolves had several players on show who played in the premiership last season . Fox also played very well in addittion to those mentioned above. As someone who has seen most of the freindlies this season i would say the stand out players for me so far are Jos Hooiveld , Danny Fox, Nathaniel Clyne, James Ward Prowse, Billy Sharp, Jason Puncheon and Luke Shaw. If you consider that Ward Prowse, Puncheon, and Luke Shaw would probably not have been considered by most fans and the manager to be in the starting line up before the freindlies started ,this would probably expain why we have not been too active in the transfer market recently. Maybe Adkins is seriously considering starting all or some of them ? Risky maybe but i think he is thinking this. I did state a few weeks back that having these young players was like having new signings on board but many didnt take me seriously and some even suggested the likes of Shaw would be loaned out to get experience whilst others mocked me for daring to think that we could play youngsters and comparing it to the poortfliet disaster.. I think you may see a new centre back before the City Game but not much else. We need someone strong to play alongside Hooiveld. Hooiveld wll be fine imo.

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DelBollo added 12:03 - Aug 5 You keep up the good work, Nick. Love your articles! Best regards from a norwegian Saint.
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SaintNick added 12:14 - Aug 5 legod7, how is asking someone to write a contrasting view to my own, throwing my toys out of the pram, surely Im being open to my opinion being challenged, or would you prefer if i just banned those that disagree or locked threads. Delbollo, thanks for the kind words what part of Norway do you live in I have family who are norwegians
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RonManager added 12:18 - Aug 5 Seaborne ffs
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DJI added 13:40 - Aug 5 So your "Verdict" Nick is that this was a waste of time and we learnt nothing new? Is that a reasonable summary? Where is your "Verdict" on what you saw on the day in the "Saints v Wolves" other than you considered it a waste of time and essentially considered as your verdict that most of those featured won't be in the starting eleven, so nothing was learnt about us? Do you not have an opinion on the new formation we are playing? Do you not have a thought about new boy Clyne and the revitalised Puncheon perhaps challenging for a place over previous favourites in the squad? Or perhaps your verdict on how the two goals we made were well worked and that showed promise in this training game? People look at this web site for an opinion that is different to the OS, as you rightly say. But sadly there wasn't an opinion that offered any insight into what we can expect coming out of these training games apparent from maybe these 11 men won't feature in our starting 11.

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st_bangkok added 14:13 - Aug 5 Jeez some of you are pr1cks. Can you even read English and determine thus what Nick says?
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redandwhitedee added 15:17 - Aug 5 Look.this nick guy clearly doesn't go to any matches. The fact his last verdict mentioned that arsenal won the match, when it was actually his own team says it all. His verdicts are those of the daily echo, so we can't expect him to have any real insight. Give the guy a break.. !
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SaintNick added 16:45 - Aug 5 If anyone on here believes that i dont go to any games then they clearly know nothing about me, as i said Nigel Adkins will have found out the answers to the questions he was asking in his team selections, I dont think a decent game in a friendly constitutes a revitalised puncheon for that matter either, the only thing that matters is our ability to compete with 19 other premier league teams. As for the formation we are playing, given that half of our probably starting line in the league season werent playing and that neither was Rickie Lambert who would be pivotal in whatever formation played, then no I havent much comment on it, as i said friendlies nowadays give little insight as to the coming season, they are just chances to watch a bit of football without bothering about the result

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hmmm added 18:53 - Aug 5 Nick, indeed these "Verdicts" are your opinion. And rightly so. But at least admit when you didn't go to a match. We know you didn't go to the Arsenal game. And it looks very likely that you didn't go to this one as well
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DJI added 19:38 - Aug 5 It is an interesting comment that Nick just makes regarding the formations. For the past few weeks, the Squad management have made a big thing of talking about a new formation they are trying out and yesterday, Crozzer said "We have had success over the past couple of years playing with a very fluid 4-4-2 or 4-diamond-2 so we are looking at a different way to continue to win games of football". He continued with "“I think there has been real progression from the Anderlecht game to where we are now and the players are getting a better understanding of what we want." So as Verdict on Saints v Wolves, it would seem they saw it much more than just chances to watch a bit of football without bothering about the result, and they also seem to see it as an insight as to the coming season. As for the retort of my comment on the revitalised Puncheon, it would seem that you were either not there yesterday or, you are the only one that hasn't noticed the significant improvement (he set up the first goal, scored the second, and also scored in one of the other matches, unlike Rickie)?! Of course it is in the League that it all counts but if the pre-season games are a gauge for the Management on where we are at, then this match showed up many positives as well as a few negatives. I also feel that Adkins is still not sure of his starting 11 and don't consider Ricky as much a shoe-in as Nick does.

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GNSaint added 20:46 - Aug 5 ffs leave Nic alone, grt article as always,. I'd much rather (and look forward to) reading your write up than any other. "I would love someone to agree to write their own match report for all the games this season to contrast my own views on the games". How funny to see there are no takers... mugs!
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redandwhitedee added 20:46 - Aug 5 Anyone who had been to any of the pre-season games would agree that lambert does not deserve a place even on the bench.others are trying harder and getting resuts.
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st_bangkok added 06:33 - Aug 6 Agreed GN Saint, there are all too many cowardly types who come on this site berating Nick or indeed anyone with an opinion that does not match theirs, but ask them to step up and they conveniently ignore the question. It takes some guts to put your head above the parapet etc. I shall relaunch my far east slant again this season and give my two pennies worth as and when i can catch a game on TV here.

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