Continuing the round-up of recent friendly fixtures, let’s move on to Saturday’s games which found Man City, Everton, Stoke and Villa all slipping to defeats and thousands disgruntled fans leaving grounds muttering that pre-season friendlies mean nothing…

As if we needed proof that millions won’t buy City overnight success, Mark Hughes side left the Vodacom Challenge in South Africa without the silverware after slipping to a 1-0 defeat in their rematch with Kaizer Chiefs. Hughes will have scrambled around for some positives from the game however and with Adebayor completing 90 minutes in Sky Blue for the first time, he must just have one. Dunne, Onuoha, Craig Bellamy and Shay Given also got their first starts of the tour and we can expect City’s lineup to firm up even further when they travel to Barnsley on Saturday.

In this game, Hughes employed a 4-4-2, with De Jong and Barry in central midfield roles and Petrov starting out on the left. Bellamy partnered Adebayor up front throughout the 90 minutes. Robinho appeared as a second-half sub for Petrov, suggesting that he could be being earmarked for a permanent role wide on the left, allowing Santa Cruz, Bellamy, Adebayor and Tevez to compete for the strikers positions. That would certainly inflict damage to the Brazilian’s output this term. In fact, you have to predict sporadic returns for almost all of City’s attacking players. Heavy rotation looks very likely, particularly when you consider that Stephen Ireland didn’t appear in this game – a player who is surely assured of regular starts after last season’s form.

Aston Villa’s pre-season form continued to stutter as they went down 1-0 to Malaga in the opening game of the Peace Cup. O’Neill’s side lost out to a late goal, in a game of few incidents. Nonetheless, the Villa boss will be concerned given the strength of his lineup – it saw a full debut for US right-back Eric Lichaj but aside from that, there were plenty of familiar names on show which should have been enough to see Villa gain a result. O’Neill’s growing concerns will also stretch to the availability of Emile Heskey for Wednesday’s game with Atlante. Heskey was stretchered from the field early on in this one and could well be rested from Wednesday’s game as a precaution.

Everton were another Premier League side on the wrong end of a 1-0 scoreline. A 27th minute goal from Argentine veteran Ariel Ortega was enough to give River Plate the win in Edmungton Canada. Steven Pienaar, Jack Rodwell and Joseph Yobo all made their first appearances of the pre-season as Moyes started with Jo up front and a five man midfield. Fellaini was pushed forward in support of the attack. That’s likely to be a trend that Moyes follows for a while, although Yakubu’s return to fitness could see him reassess that ploy. Early on in the season though, and with Everton’s fixtures looking kind, Fellaini looks a decent proposition given his impact last season. Bookings are always a concern with the hair-helmeted Belgian international, although there were signs towards the end of the season that he was beginning to curb his temperament. Everton take on an MLS all stars eleven on Thursday.

Tony Pulis suffered defeat yet again in pre-season as Stoke went down 2-1 at Championship Preston. Former Preston striker Richard Cresswell got the Premier League side’s goal, after Liam Lawrence had missed a first-half spot kick. Pulis gave a first start to new signing Dean Whitehead in midfield, in what was a very strong Stoke lineup. His inclusion left Delap on the bench so his chances of regular starts, despite what he brings from long-throws, looks under threat given that Lawrence and Etherington look set for the wide roles. However, Delap did appear as a sub and his long-throw did set up the Stoke goal in this one – giving Pulis food for thought.

Lawrence’s penalty miss hints that he could be handed those duties for next season, although it should be noted that Ricardo Fuller hasn’t featured in pre-season as yet due to international commitments. He is likely be a factor when it comes to spot-kicks, although it should also be noted that Pulis is making plenty of noises about targeting another striker and one that offers Stoke pace up front.

Paul Hart’s Portsmouth were far from convincing in their friendly with non-league Basingstoke. A 0-0 draw doing little to persuade the bookies to reassess their pre-season odds on the likelihood that Pompey will flirt with relegation next season. Hart’s lineup was somewhat experimental with 10 changes arriving after the break, although both Kranjcar, Nugent and Distin were starters. Portsmouth did at least follow this result with a convincing 6-1 win on Monday night against another non-league side, Eastleigh. Nugent notched a hat-trick in that one, on the eve of Crouch’s departure to Spurs. Younes Kaboul, Paris Cowan-Hall and Danijel Subotic got the other Pompey goals.

Bolton began a tour of Germany with a 1-1 draw with Borussia Monchengladbach, Gavin McCann with a volley from Elmander’s knock-down. Megson went with a 4-5-1 formation here, with new signing Sean Davis slotting into central midfield alongside McCann and Mark Davies. Bolton look likely to continue with this formation come the season kick-off, particularly away from home. Davis could be worth a look then if he shows signs of getting beyond the front man in support of the attack. Bolton are in Holland next and take on Den Bosch this evening.

Bobby Zamora appears to be clinging on to his Fulham career after firing a brace in their 3-3 draw with Peterborough. Dempsey put Hodgson’s side ahead initially before Zamora got in on the act. It was an almost full strength selection from the Fulham boss, with only keeper Stockdale and striker Nevland, the only unlikely starters come the season kick-off. Fulham now go into their Europa League thrid round qualifier with FK Vetra, starting with the first leg on Thursday. Those games should give us definitive information on Hodgson’s thinking for the coming season, although I’m not expecting too many surprises.

Blackburn’s Paul Gallagher is another striker playing for his future – he figured from the bench for Rovers as they earned a 1-1 draw with League One Leeds at Elland Road. Gallagher’s spot-kick clawing Rovers level after a Beckford opener for Leeds. Sam Allardyce missed the game as he continued scouting for a new striker – that left assistant boss Neil McDonald in charge and he put out a strong side. New signing Nzonzi again started with Andrews in central midfield, Diouf and Gamst-Pedersen took the wide berths. Up front, Rovers went with McCarthy and Roberts, although with Rovers clearly still shopping for strikers, neither will go into the season assured of a starting role. Rovers next take on Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday.

Mick McCarthy saw his Wovles side fall to a 2-0 defeat at Championship Bristol City. Nenad Milijas did show glimpses of his potential here though, the one encouraging sign for McCarthy and an early heads-up for us fantasy managers. Miligas started off in central midfield but was played off the striker in the second-half before being subbed on 70 minutes. Wolves face Walsall in another friendly this evening.

Obvious fantasy targets in Hull City’s lineup continue to remain elusive. That’s not helped by the fact that Mendy was shifted to right-back in Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Sheffield Wednesday, while Geovanni featured only as a second-half sub in a wide position. Kilbane started at left-back in this game, while Halmosi was given a start on the left of midfield with Fagan wide right. Folan and Cousin were paired up front. Phil Brown made just three changes in the second-half with Geovanni and Barmby coming off the bench to replace the strikers – that saw Fagan shift up front, with Geovanni given a free role from a wide right position.

Hull have now landed in Beijing where they will take place in the Barclays Asia Trophy, beginning with a game with Beijing Guoan on Wednesday before taking on either West Ham United or Tottenham Hotspur at the weekend.

Finally, Burnley triumphed over Portland Timbers via a penalty shoot-out on their tour of the US. The game ended 2-2 after 90 minutes with goals from Caldwell and Thompson, leaving it to keeper Brian Jensen to become the hero with shoot-out saves. Burnley have returned to these shores with Accrington Stanley lying in wait this evening.