The Big Friendly Catch Up – Saturday

A sizeable Saturday programme of pre-season games means only one thing – another catch-up post detailing all the relevant goodness…

Saturday’s games included Chelsea’s narrow scrape at Reading and Arsenal’s last gasp victory over Athletico Madrid, both of which I’ve covered in previous articles. Elsewhere, top four pretenders Man City struggled to a 1-1 with draw with Barnsley at Oakwell, despite fielding a multi-million pound lineup that included Adebayor, Toure and Robinho. Substitute Martin Petrov spared Mark Hughes an embarrassing defeat with a last gasp equaliser.

Hughes was without a string of players through injury. They included Tevez, Barry and Dunne who are expected to return in pre-season. Santa Cruz was missing and he could well continue to miss the pre-season with a knee injury. Kompany was also out with a foot injury and it’s been confirmed that he will miss the start of the season, with an operation on the cards.

Despite their absence, this was a strong City side, sent out in a 4-4-2, with Ireland and De Jong in central midfield and Adebayor partnered by Bellamy up front. Wright-Phillips and Robinho occupied the wide roles. But, despite their presence and despite creating chances, City failed to convert territorial advantage into goals. Hughes’ side have now scored just two goals in four pre-season outings, losing two and drawing one. They’ll be looking for improvement when they face Rangers on Wednesday, followed by old firm rivals Celtic next weekend.

Paul Hart endured a miserable Saturday afternoon, watching his side put to the sword 4-0 at the hands of Benfica, whilst one of his new signings, Steve Finnan, limped off with a reported hamstring problem having been introduced as a second-half sub.

Birmingham also suffered defeat at the hands of Championship Forest. McFadden pulled the Premier League newcomers back into the game late on but McLeish saw Forest claim the 2-1 win with a last gasp Earnshaw goal. Injuries to Martin Taylor (ankle) and Marcus Bent (hamstring) added injury to insult in this one. Both are currently being assessed by the club’s medical staff and are due scans later today according to reports.

A second Birmingham squad that included the likes of Sebastian Larsson and Lee Bowyer, followed this up with a more convincing 4-0 win over Cheltenham on Sunday. O’Connor, Phillips, Larsson and Fataki with the goals.

Wigan also fell to Championship opposition, losing out at Norwich 3-2. N’Zogbia had given Roberto Martnez’ side the lead, before the Championship side drew level. Jason Scotland then set up Cho Won-Hee to restore Wigan’s lead before Norwich took advantage with two goals in the final 15 minutes.

Again Martinez went with a lone striker in this one – starting with Rodallega and replacing him with Scotland in the second-half. N’Zogbia again appeared to benefit from this system with his second pre-season goal – his form is beginning to warrant some attention as a mid-price midfield prospect.

Burnley fans will be fidgeting uncomfortably after watching their side go down by a 2-1 margin to League One Leeds. David Edgar’s debut goal for Burnley the only real positive to take from a morale-sapping defeat.

Tony Pulis’ Stoke faired slightly better at Derby but twice surrendered the lead in a 2-2 draw. Goals from Lawrence and Fuller had given Stoke the advantage before Derby pegged them back. It was a strong Stoke lineup in this one, with Abdoulaye Faye and Shawcross restored to the defence after overcoming niggles. Etherington did miss out with a tight hamstring, so his place went to Delap. Kitson and Beattie again started up front, although Fuller staked a claim with an eye-catching peformance after coming off the bench. Interestingly he replaced Beattie rather than Kitson. It was Kitson who supplied the assist for Fuller’s second-half goal.

Blackburn Rovers were also held at Championship opposition, drawing 2-2 with Sheffield Wednesday. The goals came from Jason Roberts and Ryan Nelsen, while Diouf missed a penalty kick for Rovers. One major point of interest here was that Warnock lined up on the left of midfield for the first time in pre-season, with Gamst-Pedersen ousted to the bench. Should Warnock maintain that more advanced role, it would obviously make him more attractive as a low-to-mid price defensive option across the fantasy games.

Sunderland’s impressive pre-season continued with a 2-1 win at Celtic. Kieran Richardson and Kenwyne Jones giving Steve Bruce’s side two goal advantage before the home side rallied to no avail. Richardson’s form behind the striker in the 4-5-1 continues to catch the eye then. He’s now scored three goals in the last two games and, like N’Zogbia at Wigan, has promoted himself in our thoughts as a possible mid-price midfield solution.