Tuesday’s Friendly Round-Up
Liverpool march on with goals coming from all over the pitch as they fire another four goals to see off Valerenga. Zaki “the pie-eating Egyptian” as Wigan’s official site are cruelly labelling him, hits his second winning goal in two games, while Stoke get three (count ‘em) goals to nick a win against Championship Southampton.
Here’s the notes and teams from last night’s games…
Valerenga 1 Liverpool 4
Liverpool’s strong pre-season continued as they moved to seven pre-season games unbeaten with another fine win against Valerenga in Olso.
Goals from Alonso, Torres, Benayoun and Ngog did the damage as Rafa fielded a strong side in preparation for next Wednesday’s Champions League Qualifier with Liege.
Alonso got things started with a beautiful curling effort after Keane had fed the Spaniard 20-yards out. Liverpool lost skipper Steven Gerrard to a thigh strain shortly after but Rafa’s side continued to dominate regardless. They failed to add to their lead however and, against the odds, were pegged back by the Norwegians minutes after half-time.
That sparked Liverpool into life and prompted Torres to fire them back in front just a minute later. The striker got on the end of Kuyt’s header before finishing cooly. Benayoun then added to his pre-season account with another fine individual goal - beating three defenders before firing past the keeper. Ngog wrapped things up with his second goal in as many games.
Rafa’s selection at last offered us major clues as to his thinking for the forthcoming tie with Liege and the Premiership outing to Sunderland. Cavalieri got his chance in goal but surely Rafa will keep faith with Reina as his number one.
The back four of Arbeloa, Dossena, Carragher and Agger looks settled, although Skrtel was forced out of this one with a knock. Benayoun must surely be in line for a start after consecutive goals and some fine form in pre-season - although his future is in doubt with Roma sniffing around. With Babel, Mascherano and Lucas out it also appears that Alonso will get starts if he stays at Anfield.
The Gareth Barry situation could change things of course, as could tonight’s injury to Gerrard. We will doubtless know more in a weeks time when Liverpool take on Liege.
Liverpool vs Valerenga:
Cavalieri, Arbeloa (Darby 68), Dossena (Insua 68), Carragher (Hyypia 45), Agger, Benayoun (Pacheco 68), Gerrard (Spearing 24), Alonso (Plessis 54), Kuyt (El Zhar 76), Torres (Ngog 68), Keane (Nemeth 68).
Darlington 0 Middlesbrough 5
Southgate fielded the younglings in Boro’s penultimate game of the pre-season.
A brace from Adam Johnson and goals from Emnes and McMahon plus a Darlington own goal, gave Boro the victory.
While the Boro lineup offered few clues as to Southgate’s thinking for the opening game against Spurs, Johnson’s goals and performance will act as another reminder as to his potential both to Southgate and to fantasy managers looking for a cheap midfield option.
Johnson will hope for another opportunity to impress in Boro’s last friendly as they take on Sparta Rotterdam on Friday evening.
Middlesbrough vs Darlington:
Jones; McMahon, Johnson J (Saiko 67), Williams, Bennett; Owens, Shawky, Walker, Johnson A (Smallwood 80); Emnes (Craddock 59), Porritt (Franks 67).
Havant & Waterlooville 0 Portsmouth 4
A brace from Ben Sahar and goals from Johnson and Mvuemba saw a Portsmouth side breeze past their non-league opponents.
Sahar opened his Portsmouth account after just 7 minutes, receiving a Mvuemba through ball to fire past the keeper. He then grabbed his second from a Little delivery just before half time.
The final two goals arrived in the closing minutes as Mvuemba blasted a long range effort from a Utaka pass and Johnson fired home after being put in by Hughes.
Redknapp made a host of changes to the side that faced Oxford just 24 hours earlier with Davis, Johnson, Utaka, Hreidarsson and Little coming into the side. It’s likely that very few of these players will be in the starting lineup for the Community Shield on Sunday, so there’s little to be gleaned from this one.
Portsmouth vs Havant & Waterlooville:
Ashdown; Johnson, Primus, Wilson (Duffy 46), Hreidarsson; Little, Davis (Christophe 74), Hughes, Mvuemba; Sahar, Utaka
Hibernian 0 Wigan 1
Amr Zaki is quickly becoming a hero figure with the Wigan fans after scoring his second goal in as many games to hand Wigan the victory at Hibs.
Zaki benefited from some great work by Sibierski who broke up a Hibs attack and set Valencia on his way. He found Zaki in the penalty area who duly fired the ball home with a clinical finish.
Wigan dominated throughout and looked particularly dangerous from wide areas - Kapo and Figueroa on the left and Melchiot and Vanlencia on the right, proved a real handful all night.
Zaki is clearly emerging as a very decent gamble for a budget striker. He boasts a superb scoring record in Egypt and has clearly hit the ground running at Wigan. Much will depend on how quickly he can open his account in the Premiership but he is certainly worth watching in the first few weeks if you’re not keen on a gamble from the off.
Figueroa meanwhile appears to have made the left back spot his own. He was a menace in this game, bombing forward to supply a number of crosses and also demonstrated his shooting ability with one thunderous drive. Given Wigan’s defensive form at the JJB, he looks like a very decent alternative to Scharner.
The Austrian missed tonight’s game through injury, as did Kirkland, Taylor and Koumas. Steve Bruce will be hoping to have Kirkland and Scharner back for Wigan’s final friendly, against Utrecht on Sunday. If they fail to make that one, they both look major doubts for the season opener at West Ham.
Wigan vs Hibernian:
Nash; Melchiot (Montrose 45), Boyce, Bramble, Figueroa; Valencia, Palacios, Brown (Sibierski 58), Kapo (de Ridder 45); Zaki (Thomas 70), Heksey (King45).
Southampton 2 Stoke City 3
Dave Kitson grabbed his first goal in Stoke colours as Tony Pulis’ outfit earned their fifth win in six pre-season games.
Kitson wasted no time in this one, firing Stoke into a lead after just 2 minutes, smashing home from Sidibe’s flick on. McGoldrick levelled things up for the Championship side by half-time as both managers rang the changes at the break.
Pericard, who replaced Cresswell on 37 minutes, handed Stoke back the lead, skipping round a Southampton defender to fire home from range. Two minutes later however, John headed an a second equaliser for Southampton.
With the game heading for a draw, it was smart work from Pericard that helped seal the win for Stoke. His mazy run caused panic in the Southampton defence and Hatch knocked the ball into his own net in all the confusion.
Stoke suffered injuries to both Dickinson and Shawcross and Pulis will need to check on their fitness prior to Stoke’s final friendly against Osasuna on Friday. Leon Cort’s return from an Achilles problem in this game was at least some compensation for those knocks.
Liam Lawrence travelled with the team for this one but wasn’t fit enough to play a part. He was close to a return though and Pulis will hope to have both him and Fuller back in the side when Stoke play their final pre-season game against Osasuna.
Stoke City vs Southampton:
Simonsen (Sorensen 46); Griffin, Cort (Buxton 63), Shawcross (Cort 79), Dickinson (Wilkinson 28); Delap, Olofinjana (Diao 49), Pulis, Cresswell (Pericard 34); Sidibe (Pugh 49), Kitson (Parkin 49)
Panda Bear
TorresMagic
Ibracadabra
Fran
llama
Yogesh
Looser
Anelka or Adebayor for the start of the season?
Please help…
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If you have the cash I’d say Adebayor.
What do people think about this telegraph team, okay or a little too much Arsenal…
M Almunia
B Sagna
D Agger
G Clichy
M Laursen
A Young
F Lampard
C Fabregas
T Walcott
D Bent
R Van Persie
.2 to spare so could upgrade Laursen to Brown or Neville but not Bosingwa.
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Reply by TFF Jase on August 6 9:36 am:
Edge,
Doing Telegraph game also, but note your lack of Liverpool attacking threat. Torres, for instance, has been selected by 48% of people playing and you could end up behind loads of people if Bent does not start for Spurs. Torres = goals = loads of points.
Maybe too many Arsenal players, but they have favourable opening fixtures until you can make transfers in this game. Swap Agger for Dossena maybe and bring in Ash Cole for Laursen, as Villa’s lack of recognised full backs could mean no clean sheets for them and Laursen’s threat from set pieces could not be as prominent this season.
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Can anyone provide a list of probable starting line-ups for each of the teams for the opening weekend?
Would be really helpful in selecting players - particularly when looking for bargains or early season money-makers.
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Reply by Mark on August 6 9:00 am:
Hi Bob. I’ll be providing all these in the team news section from next Monday as per usual.
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Reply by Bob on August 6 9:06 am:
Great……except I’m going on holiday on Saturday and won’t get to a computer until I’m back!!
It’d be really useful is someone could provide an indicative list of starting line-ups in the next of couple of days so that I can enjoy my holiday without wondering if Figeroa and De Ridder are going to make the Wigan XI, etc!
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Reply by Mark on August 6 9:09 am:
I’ll see about putting some provisional ones up before the weekend. For now though Figueroa yes, De Ridder maybe - I would say Kapo is slightly ahead of him though.
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Thanks.
This is my squad at the moment:
Reina / Schwarzer
Gallas / Lescott / Cahill / Figeroa / Carvalho
Petrov / Fabregas / Osman / Giggs / Reo-Coker
Yakubu / Anelka / Ashton
Can’t decide between Anelka and Adebayor up front.
Not sure about Lescott - good fixtures, but pricey.
Reo-Coker was the best 5.0 option I could find! Any better for 4.5/5.0?
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Bob - Its a tough call between Anelka & Adebayor as both have a good start game wise. Anelka has been on fire pre season though.
Reo-Coker is a dodgy choice as his goals & assists will be non existent as usual & he is always good for a few bookings & the odd red card. So might be better taking a gamble on a sub with potential to score such as Parker (West Ham) or Geovanni (Hull)
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I wouldn’t touch Reo-Coker with a bargepole! Gets far too many cards for my liking and not a reliable source of points.
Geovanni (£5m) at Hull should be a decent buy, especially if he’s played up front as he has been in a few pre-season games.
Kim Do-Heon (£4.5m) is a regular for WBA and seems to be in amongst the goals and assists pre-season.
Think Johnson (£4.5m) at Boro has also been mentioned elsewhere as a decent budget buy.
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Reply by Mark on August 6 9:49 am:
I like Brunt at WBA - hogs set pieces, decent stats last season - a good option at 5.0 when the Baggies fixtures look okay.
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Anybody got any thoughts on the Bolton team. I realise they will play with a 4-5-1 but use the 2 wide midfielders to support Elmander.
I have had a look at Gardiner as he played on Monday but am unsure if they will favour Taylor come the start of the season. I notice Gardiner is down as a defender in FPL & thought that could be a decent pick if he is playing that far forward especially with Boltons kind start to the season????
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Reply by Mark on August 6 9:52 am:
Taylor should certainly start on the left, with Davies likely to get the right-hand side. Gardner’s starts are likely to be limited I would say.
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Regarding Anelka or Adebayor choice, I have been advised that Drog is training and expected to be fine for the season start.
Despite Anelka’s fine pre-season form, we cannot guarantee that he will start over or even along side Drogba. And if he does play along side Drogba, he is not such an attractive point scorer as Drog takes over the ‘main man’ role.
For these reasons, I have played safe and swapped Anelka for Adebayor in all my teams.
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Reply by Mark on August 6 12:00 pm:
I’m not sure on Drogba’s status and I still think he’ll miss out with Anelka starting. Having said that my current thinking is to cover Chelsea’s form and goals with Lampard and opt for Adebayor or RVP up front. That’s changing roughly every 45 seconds though.
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I can’t understand why anyone would choose any players from the promoted teams when the budget you’ve got means you don’t have to. These teams can go games without scoring. There are exceptions, like K.Jones at sunderland last season. Gordon did ok too. But still, a big risk to take from the start of the season, given that (a) at these low prices replacements are few and far between and (b) only about 2 of 33 players do well for these teams - not good odds.
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Anyone else going with Giovanni Do Santos at Spurs? (£7m). He’s been playing in all the pre-season games & got a few goals. Looks a bargain or am I missing something?
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Reply by Phil Pino on August 6 12:56 pm:
Stevie, it’s because people get drawn to putting stars in their team rather than building a strong ’squad’. So you need weaker cheaper players, mostly from the promoted teams. However, i’m with you, i like a good all-round squad, but that’s not to say i still won’t do rubbish.
Jam, i agree dos Santos looks tempting. However, he’s a slight lad and might not cope well with the full pace of the PL. Also, Ramos’s line-up is far from settled. Like any new signing, it’s a gamble to throw him straight in. I’ll be watching and waiting.
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Reply by Mighty White on August 6 1:11 pm:
Ive gone with Dos Santos looks awesome and he is only £5m in the mail. if he doesnt do well depending on the money go for Jenas or Bullard they are also cheap in the mail but it depends which league you play.
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bolton have just agreed a fee for danny shittu from watford, if it goes through (and he’s not overpriced) could be a great addition to fantasy football team. scores loads of goals from set pieces and with boltons early fixtures favourable, it all looks good. thats if shittu starts…..
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My team to start:
Cech (Jones)
Evra, Carvalho, Clichy, Cahill (Figuoera)
Lampard, Arteta, Young, Downing (Little)
Adebayor, Ashton (F. Campbell)
Any wise heads willing to point out glaring mistakes and improvements will be much appreciated.
I’m doing so many different fantasy games I don’t think I’ll muster up the time and effort to rotate a pair of cheap keepers even though it sounds like the thing you absolutely should do. I’ve gone for Cech and plan to leave him there for the long haul.
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Reply by Seven Foot Lemming on August 6 3:15 pm:
It seems like you’re not planning on keeping a close eye on your squad, so it might be best to swap Figueroa and Campbell for nailed-on starters in case you need them for automatic substitutions.
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I have a couple of choices to make and any input would be greatful.
1) Reina or Howard
2) Ashton or Zaki
I can afford the most expensive options, but I am seriously thinking about gambling on Zaki, which would help me improve my midfield.
Also who will be in goals for ‘Boro???
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alves and downing would be the obvious choices , but maybe tuncay and wheater may bag a few from defence.
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Reply by Akers on August 6 7:59 pm:
Ok cheers, but I meant who will be the starting goalkeeper.
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i think turnbull will get the nod in goal but its too big a risk to choose
one. if u need a budget keeper then jump on the schwarzer band wagon! if u can spare an extra half mil then go for jaaskelainen as i have: (im not changing this team anymore!)
reina, jaaskelainen
bale, terry, vidic, clichy, figueroa
fabregas, young, essien, de ridder, do-heon
van persie, alves, zaki
what do ppl think? chose essien over bentley but not too sure??? also, ppl in the know, is zaki worth the risk? i think he could be a real gem
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ahhh , now that , i really dont know , because both keepers are just 4.0 on fantasypremleague so i could do with 1 of them!
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Hi guys, what do you reckon of my squad?
Jaaskelainen (Schwarzer)
NevilleP, Jagielka, Terry, Steinsson (Figeroa)
Fabregas, Geovanni, Lampard (Do-Heon) (Guthrie)
Torres, Persie, Ashton
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anyone reckon diarra of p’mouth is a good buy at 5.5?
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