Opinion: Are Pre-Season Games Important?

Pre-season games are built into every clubs fixture list up and down the country at this time of year no matter what level of football is being played. It is entrenched in the sport and is deemed to be important for the upcoming season. But for me, I feel that many people value them too highly. So what is good and bad about pre-season?

Firstly, I think that there are too many. At the start of pre-season, many infuriating keyboard warriors will tell me that these matches are for fitness and therefore important. Fitness can clearly be achieved via other means instead of just game time. Gym work, swimming and cycling have all been proven to enhance fitness, so if a player can do that, then actually they work harder and gain more muscle mass and cardio fitness than by running up the pitch and having a breather every time the ball goes out of play.

Having said this, it does give you match sharpness. This is the ability to read the game and react to game situations. Yes, videos can be watched and analysed, but it is that natural instinct that can be rehearsed during increased game time that can really enhance a players footballing brain. Its not all about how fit they’re because that can be worked on in other ways, but how fast their mind works.

For me, the biggest advantage to these pre-season games is having players gel and new players learn the style of the club and play in the way that the manager wants. This is why I believe that the players that will play with each other week in week out should form a team as the pre-season fixture list progresses so they get to have almost a telepathic knowledge of their team mates.

When Rowett splits the squad in half, I hope that he does this by having one team whereby there are partnerships created. For example, both of the first choice centre backs should be on the same team. This enables them to work together in a match and replicate what they will do every Saturday. Also, if it doesn’t work then Rowett can switch it and experiment. You could have the two best centre backs in the world but if they don’t play well together, then they won’t be able to keep clean sheets and therefore pre-season is the perfect time to make changes.

Therefore it is very important to have pre-season matches but not for fitness or for personal skill to be developed but for partners to flourish. Many people say to me that these friendlies are good because they show us who will play well in the coming season. This is just not true. Some players switch off in non-competitive games whilst others haven’t got as much match sharpness as others because they’ve not been at the Euro’s. There are reasons, but it is not a scouting mission, it is a friendship creation.