Finland firepower impresses Brad

After watching the goals fly in against Celtic from the other end of the pitch, Brad Friedel saw plenty of positives in our latest pre-season friendly.

We turned on the style to run out 6-1 winners against a youthful Celtic team in Helsinki on Saturday – Harry Kane, Roberto Soldado, Lewis Holtby, Erik Lamela, Christian Eriksen and Emmanuel Adebayor all getting themselves on the scoresheet.

Goalkeeper Brad was only beaten once when Jamie Lindsay’s effort crept over the line towards the end of the first period, but the American stopper insists the confidence gained by our attacking players after their performance at the opposite end can only be a good thing.

“It was really good from an attacking standpoint,” said Brad, who also kept goal in each of our three matches on the recent Tour of the United States and Canada.

“It’s the first time Ade’s had a run-out and he got himself on the scoresheet with the penalty and Christian Eriksen scored a wonderful free-kick – not to mention all the other goals.

“Andros also showed his skill and pace on the first goal with some really good passing and movement as he picked out Harry. When you score a lot of goals, it gives the attacking players real confidence.”

Turning his attention to our meeting with Schalke at White Hart Lane next Saturday – our final warm-up match before the Premier League season begins on August 16 – Brad confirmed things are falling into place nicely on the pitch.

“It’s more minutes under the belt with each match and I think all the lads are adapting really well to Mauricio’s tactics,” he added.

“We’ve got one more game before the big kick-off against West Ham, so every 90 minutes matters for us.”