Obviously all comes with the caveat of it being a friendly where priority, one, two and three is to not get injured.
Ortega I like. He's lightyears ahead of Steffen. Should be saving that first goal all day though. Made a few nice saves second half, even thought he did well for their second.
Lewis, he's 17 and it shows. I like his confidence in himself though. Great experience for him, but a good few years away from being involved competitively.
Gomez, neat and tidy debut, not much else to add, been here a week.
Phillips. Lots of work to be done from him, just doesn't seem to know where to be. Has the technical ability to play for us but that's redundant if you don't grasp the system. Always predicted he will be. Slow burner. Hopefully his injury was very minor, the suggestion seemed to be a dislocated shoulder, he's either the hardest man on earth if it is, done it many times before so that the pain is minimal or it wasn't a dislocation. Hopefully a jarring.
Palmer, as I said at halftime, belongs at our level but doesn't have the physical attributes or intensity to play as an 8, the wing is where he will feature most for us, silky player and great sterling-like movement for the goal.
Alvarez, lots of good busy work from him, his link up play coming short is top notch, his hold up play however needs a lot of work. Should have scored a hattrick but he got a goal that should help him along.
Wilson-Esbrand,
Shame about Mbete, he looked completely zoned out when he was stood, hopefully nothing more serious than some concussion.
So long as the Phillips issue isn't serious, Mbete is nothing too bad and there's no hidden injuries, there's more than enough value for us from tonight. Still don't want to see us playing friendlies mid-season though.