Tom's Tour preview

Two years on from his participation in our last trip to the USA, Tom Carroll is under no illusions about the strengths of our opponents on our forthcoming tour.

Midfielder Tom, who spent the bulk of last season on loan at Queens Park Rangers, was in our travelling party as we played MLS giants LA Galaxy and New York Red Bulls – as well as facing Liverpool – over in the States in 2012.

This year’s excursion, which will see us play twice more in America and once in Canada, is now less than a week away – with highly-anticipated matches against Seattle Sounders, Toronto FC and Chicago Fire on the agenda.

Based on his prior experiences, Tom knows we’ll have to be at our best if we’re to emerge from those matches on the winning end of the scoreline – especially as all three sides are coming into the games mid-season.

“I thought it was a good experience when we went to America last time,” said the 22-year-old. “There are some good sides out there and the MLS is perhaps a better league than a lot of people think it is.

“We saw when we played our last games in America that the teams have some good players who are really fit, so our games this year should help us in our preparations for the season.”