[Spartak] Friendly with Sandyford Rovers

Another pre-season friendly, another dismal defeat.

We arrived at Marlay for a friendly with a team called Finreddy, but they never showed. To ensure that we had a game, we drafted a team that was training one pitch over, and gave them our training bibs.

Playing 4-4-2 again, the starting lineup was Dermot, Keane, Cooney, Benson, J. Tannem, Brehony, Maher, Mohan, Gibney, MacAuley, Dawson.

We were very poor. While we did play some decent football, one dissatisfied players aptly described our approach as "old women's football." Shy into the tackle, we lack greatly in any sense of urgency.

My play was poor again. I have started to pass the ball poorly and I am not happy with that. Having said that, I was not the worst on the pitch, and I have set myself high standards for the coming season.

Playing at left-back, I have yet to feel comfortable in the position. Considering the lack of workrate in front of me, I also would prefer to move into midfield. Missing true competitors, I cannot help but fear for our soft centre. Once the competitions start at the weekend, I wonder how some of our players will respond to the physical nature of the game.

Another major issue is the lack of players training. Again, this needs to improve.

My posts on this topic have been very negative, and with good reason. I now have genuine concerns for the coming season for our team. The Sunday team appear to be moving in the right direction, at least, and it is good that they are setting the standards for training, attitude and committment.

The Saturday team now needs to respond, step up and be counted. I do not want to play through another season like we had last year.