Friendlies Round-Up – Thursday and Friday

Ahead of a busy 24-hours of upcoming friendlies which sees as many as 12 Premier League teams take to the field, we cast an eye back over the action from the previous couple of days. Christian Benteke and Romelu Lukaku served a reminder of their capabilities ahead of Villa and Chelsea’s double Gameweek 1, Arsenal ended their tour of Asia with a fourth straight win, while United scraped a draw courtesy of goals from Shinji Kagawa and Wilfried Zaha.

BNI Indonesian All Stars 1 Chelsea 8
Having utilised a 4-2-3-1 formation in each of Chelsea’s opening pre-season wins, Jose Mourinho rolled out a 4-3-3 and watched his side register their most impressive performance of the summer so far. The Blues boss started with Eden Hazard and Victor Moses on either side of Demba Ba up front, while Marco Van Ginkel was handed the most advanced central midfield role behind the Senegal striker. Hazard looks to be ahead of Ba in the pecking order for penalties after opening the scoring from the spot and the Belgian also grabbed an assist before making way on the hour mark. Ramires and Romelu Lukaku (on as a second-half sub for Ba) both produced two goals and an assist, while Ba, John Terry and Bertrand Traore added a goal apiece as the visitors ran riot. Mourinho made seven alterations to his side at half-time and a further three on the hour mark, with only Gary Cahill lasting the full 90 minutes.

After the game, Mourinho gave an injury update on a trio of his midfielders to the Blues official website, whilst also revealing he is delighted with John Terry’s return to full fitness at the heart of defence:

“Lampard is okay to train Monday so Monday he will join the group. We protect every little situation and today we protected Schurrle, we sent De Bruyne home but Lampard preferred to stay and have treatment here with the group. Monday we are ready to have Lampard, Schurrle and De Bruyne working with the team, and with the six guys that arrive to train on Sunday who played in the Confederations Cup….Terry played well and trained very well and never missed one minute of any training session, and that is very important because we trained very hard for 15 days and some of the days for two sessions. Every 45 minutes he played, he played well and I am very happy with him.”

Lukaku also spoke to the press after yet another impressive display. The Belgian has now found the net in all three of the Blues’ matches and despite playing just 45 minutes in each of those games, has racked up a total of four goals and two assists. With a double Gameweek 1 now confirmed for Mourinho’s side, he’s certainly making a strong case for consideration as the first-choice forward for the season ahead, wasting little time in continuing the type of form that harvested 19 goals on loan to West Brom last year:

“I’m feeling good, the team winning is the most important thing, along with the fitness. It’s nice to score two goals, but the reason I’m happy is the team has improved a lot since the start of pre-season and we’ve done better in each game we have played. Of course I am pleased to have scored in every game. It’s a good habit and it’s nice to help the team, whether that’s with goals or assists it doesn’t matter but it’s a nice feeling. Fitness-wide I feel good, very well, and no injuries so hopefully that will continue in the next couple of weeks. Matches are getting easier to get through, but the road is long and there is still plenty of room for improvement in the weeks to come.”

Cerezo Osaka 2 Man United 2
It’s just one win in four under David Moyes now for United after yesterday afternoon’s draw. Robin Van Persie and Danny Welbeck shrugged off knocks sustained in the previous match to start together up top, while Shinji Kagawa made his first start of the summer against his former club. The Japanese midfielder grabbed a goal (Ryan Giggs supplied the assist) but also missed a spot-kick before making way for Wilfried Zaha just before the hour mark – indeed, his replacement snatched a draw with his first ever goal for United just prior to the final whistle, finding the net thanks to an Anderson assist. Moyes made seven alterations as the match progressed, with only Andres Lindegaard, Chris Smalling, Rio Ferdinand and Welbeck handed the full 90 minutes.

After the game, Moyes discussed both goalscorers and went on to revealed Kagawa will be given another few days’ break due to his recent Confederation Cup commitments – somewhat frustrating for Fantasy managers as we look to assess the midfielder’s form in light of his relatively kind pricing across the Fantasy games:

“We’ve given Shinji more holiday because of his football with Japan in the summer. We try and give all players four weeks, if possible, and Shinji hasn’t quite had that time. So we’ll give him another week’s rest. I think Shinji’s going to do some training with the club, so he can have some more time at home in Japan. He’ll do some training here….Wilfried has done well. He’s done well in the games. He’s quite quiet and still getting to know everybody. I think he’s performed well. He’s had an impact in the games. We just want to try and bring him along nicely. I think tonight will help him. He’s showed players he can make things happen. At Manchester United we want all players to score goals and he’s come up with an important goal in the last minute.”

Urawa Red Diamonds 1 Arsenal 2
The Gunners ended their four-game pre-season with a 100% record after a hard-fought victory yesterday afternoon. Laurent Koscielny recovered from the knock that forced him out of the previous match and was one of only four players to be handed 90 minutes by Arsene Wenger, while Wojciech Szczesny took his place on the bench after a recent back problem. After a goalless first-half, Arsenal went ahead through one of their substitutes after Theo Walcott teed up Lukas Podolski to find the net, while youngster Chuba Akpom slotted home his fourth goal of pre-season after an Aaron Ramsey pass.

Olivier Giroud failed to find the net for the first time in four appearances but the Frenchman revealed he is confident of making a real impact in the campaign ahead. With six goals to his name in the first three friendlies, Giroud feels that greater familiarity with his team mates will be crucial to the Gunners chances this term, while he also discussed the possibility of new frontline acquisitions as Arsenal look to seal a deal for Luis Suarez:

“We have more knowledge now. Santi, Poldi, me – we were new players last season. We also didn’t lose anyone during the summer for the first time in a few years. That is good for us, and [so is the fact] we know each other much better as it will be easier for us to win more games. We just need a better start this season….I have heard a lot of things and I know we need a striker. But the most important thing is the team. It does not worry me but that is why I look forward to September because we will know the team then and the players. It will be good for the team and me as well to have another striker as we will have more competition. I could play with him or without him. We will see.”

Crewe 1 Aston Villa 5
Villa’s first pre-season win coincided with Christian Benteke’s first start of the summer as Paul Lambert’s side racked up the goals last night. With Gabby Agbonlahor returning from injury, the Villa boss was able to name his first-choice front three and watched on as Benteke rattled in a hat-trick, while Andreas Weimann also impressed with a goal and assist. Lambert named a strong starting line-up, with Antonio Luna at left-back and fellow new boy Leandro Bacuna handed a spot in the midfield three – the latter was the only player to last the distance as Lambert made 10 changes on the hour mark and vindicated his manager’s decision by firing home the fifth to cement a strong display.

With a double Gameweek 1 on the horizon, albeit away to Arsenal and Chelsea, Villa’s attacking assets are expected to pick up in investment as a result of the remaining uncertainty over the Blues’ likely frontline starters – post-match, Lambert was clearly delighted with how his side performed:

“It was good to have Gabby and Andi back, Christian played an hour too. It was Helenius’ first 30 minutes too since Germany. We have Tonev, Okore and Bennett to come back too. It was very pleasing. The performance was very good. We were disappointed to concede a goal. But the way we played, the application, the performance levels, it was very, very good. There were a lot of pluses. It was potentially a tricky game, Crewe are a good side. I thought we started very well and performed very well. Things are going quite good at the minute. We are getting there. There’s still a long way to go though. There’s still a lot of work to do. But you can see when we’re on top of our game, we’re a good side.”

In Other News
Andre Villas-Boas admitted Jan Vertonghen is uncertain to be fit in time for Spurs’ opening game of the season at Crystal Palace. The Belgian sustained ankle ligament damage in a rain-soaked match against Sunderland over in Hong Kong in midweek and has since undergone scans on the problem – while Villas-Boas still has Michael Dawson, Younes Kaboul and Steven Caulker available at centre-half, he admitted he’s a little fearful of further injuries, with the more flooding expected ahead of today’s match against South China:

“He’s (Vertonghen) going to be most likely out of training for two to three weeks. Hopefully we can have him back sooner. He is just about on the deadline for the first game of the season. Hopefully, we can see a bigger recovery time with him…The conditions are extremely poor, but there is nothing we can do about it. We’ve lost one player through injury – and, if I can be sincere, I would prefer not to go ahead. It’s our responsibility – and if the authorities decide to go ahead, we will play the game.”