The one where Luiz gave us a lot Toluc-at

1: Luiz showed and has shown a lot so far. He looks like a more sure footed, confident version of himself. We’ve all known he has the technical skill but too often he hasn’t made the best decisions or trusted his abilities. That seems to have been corrected. The runs he’s made off the ball thus far, his control with the ball at his feet and the finishes he’s had, it’s all been at a level and quality that we’ve yet to see consistently. Let’s hope he can carry this over into the regular season. 

 

2: Party in the front, shaky in the back. All the defensive problems we had and goals we conceded were to be expected given that it was nowhere near the actual composition of what our backline will be. Lots of miscommunication or no communication at all. We also didn’t have Brad between the sticks barking out orders. I think we can also expect that in the regular season some of those spaces will be closed down a little more quickly. There were also a number of challenges that I think we’d get a bit more stuck into when it counts. No disrespect to the prestige of the AmFam but the primary objective tonight was don’t get hurt. Unfortunately…

 

3:  We got hurt. Caleb appears to be ok but that looked like a pretty serious knock he took to the head. Looks like Chol also did a hammy. Dude takes one shot and goes down. To be fair, he’s not really used to taking them. Not really sure what Pineda saw in him that made him want to experiment with him as a 9. Still, not biggest loss if he is out. No disrespect but he is a deep depth piece. 

 

4: With Chol coming out it gave Jackson the opportunity. I have some big hopes for him this year. He’s never really been able to stake his claim with the first team but with Josef gone, he really could see some minutes behind our new Greek God. He did have a pretty good year with 2’s despite the 2’s being pretty much near rock bottom of the table. But he just once again hasn’t shown much. He had a golden opportunity at the end and he just didn’t take it. He needs to use his size and strength to do better. 

 

5: Ajanni Fortune is one for the future. The kid is dripping in talent and he had a lovely little flick on assist. I would have actually like to have seen him have some more minutes but he was productive with the time he had. He’s been a rising star with the 2’s and I hope he can continue on that trajectory.