Football bites you in the bum if you are not ready

I was a bit surprised so few first team players participated in the opening preseason friendly against Pinkafeld yesterday.  We are in Champions League qualification action in 12 days and there are only two friendlies between now and then: against Wiener SC in Saturday and St Gallen on Tuesday.  There is a lot of work to do in those two games.  Lincoln Red Imps impact on our collective memories is still fresh, I hope the same is true of Neil Lennon, who was freshly installed at Hibernian at the time.  Football bites you in the bum if you are not ready, as Neil’s fellow-Irishman, Brendan Rodgers will attest.

Our Champions League opponents, Sarajevo, were also in action yesterday, losing 2-0 to Slovacko, who finished seventh on the Czech top flight last season.  Results count for nothing in these games, which are all about fitness, but you would rather see an opponent struggle to score and keep clean sheets than to prosper.

There is a very good chance we will add at least Christopher Jullien to the squad before facing Sarajevo, I’m not convinced we will add any more in the coming days, not that we could expect a new arrival to go straight into action so soon.