Pre-season: Saints v Ajax reaction

 

 The Saints resumed pre season this afternoon going down 1 - 0 to Ajax in what was a competitive friendly encounter.

Fresh from a 4 - 0 mauling of Celtic, Ajax were always going to be daunting opposition, proving this in the opening 20 minutes with neat passing and interplay keeping the Saints firmly behind in the possession count. But as the game progressed, the Saints found their feet and began to put together decent moves but failed to find an end product.

The Saints had several scoring opportunities, with Rodriguez, Sharp and Lambert all guilty of squandering chances. The Saints looked threatening from the wings, demonstrating neat passes and overlaps on the 18 yard box, spoilt only by straying offside on occasions.

However, in the 65th minute the impressive Aras Obiliz collected a pass from a neat one-two on the edge of the 18 yard box, after a mistake from Fonte, to nip past the Saints defence and fire left footed across goal into the side netting to beat Kelvin Davis.

The period following the goal saw a flurry of activity on the Saints bench with Adkins keen to rotate his squad and protect the likes of Lambert and Rodriguez, affording run outs to the like of Chambers and Shaw. As expected this disrupted the closing moments of what was one of the more competitive friendlies Saints have played in.

Picking out the positives

• Nathaniel Clyne

Clyne made a very promising debut playing the first half at right back. He announced himself to fans with a crunching tackle in the opening minute to prevent a cross. The new signing made several incisive runs up the wing, providing Guly with overlap options and even cutting infield at times. It seems Saints have made a very astute signing.

• Ward-Prowse

Today's perfomance belied the youngsters age; at only 17 Ward Prowse was terrier like in midfield. On several occasions he found himself in good attacking positions and made a number of cutting passes through the midfield.

Clues from Nigel

• Formation

Adkins appeared to opt for a 4 3 3 formation with Lambert flanked by Guly and Rodriguez. Lallana appeared to play in a free role with Ward Prowse and Schneiderlin charged with defensive midefield duties. Both fullbacks looked to get forward.

Whether this was a trial run or the potential starting formation for the opening game of the season is difficult to determine. In terms of effectiveness, Rodriguez seemed ineffective when playing out on the left and appeared to leave Lambert isolated in the centre.

• Personnel 

Although still early in pre-season it seems Clyne will be Adkins first choice at right back, with Fox at left back. Ward Prowse was impressive but one would assume that Davis would fulfill the central midfield role when he recovers from his hernia operation.