Friendlies Round-Up – Wednesday

Iago Aspas is amongst the goals again as Liverpool register a sixth straight summer victory. Jose Mourinho is without David Luiz and Juan Mata as Chelsea taste defeat at the hands of Real Madrid, Adam Johnson fires Sunderland to a narrow win, Pablo Hernandez and Jonjo Shelvey are out of Swansea’s trip to Malmo this evening, while Stephen Quinn may miss Hull’s opener at Chelsea with a hamstring problem:

Valerenga 1 Liverpool 4
The Reds maintained their 100% pre-season record with an easy win in Norway last night. Brendan Rodgers made nine changes from the side that started in the weekend win over Olympiakos – with only Joe Allen and Iago Aspas retaining their places – and the latter once again impressed; his shot rebounded off the bar, allowing Luis Alberto to open the scoring, before the former Celta Vigo man fired home the second to notch his fourth goal in six appearances. The Reds boss utilised the depth of his squad by making 10 changes at the break, allowing Martin Kelly and Raheem Sterling the opportunity to further extend the visitors’ lead.

After the game, Aspas was once again the subject of his manager’s praise. With a superb opening schedule ahead, investment in Liverpool’s attacking assets looks a viable tactic and while Philippe Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge have earned plenty owners across the Fantasy games – despite the latter failing to feature over the summer so far – Aspas could prove a cheaper differential option if his current form continues. Certainly, his manager has been thoroughly impressed:

“I thought he was excellent again tonight, When you watch him, his movement is outstanding. If you look at the movement for the second goal, he made his first run when Stewart Downing had the ball. The line was blocked for him and he made a double movement to come in again. Obviously he was there to finish. He’s a goalscorer, that’s the reason we brought him in. It was a lovely chip that hit the crossbar [for Alberto’s goal] and it eventually came out, and we got a goal from that as well. He’s a really exciting player and in and around the box he can make things happen. He works his socks off as well. He’s done very well over the course of pre-season.”

FC Midtjylland 0 Sunderland 1
The Black Cats continued their impressive pre-season with a narrow win away to the Danish league leaders last night. Paolo Di Canio made three changes from the side that played Man City in the recent Barclays Asia Trophy match, with Kieran Westwood getting the nod in goal ahead of Vito Mannone, while Carlos Cuellar and Valentin Roberge were drafted into the back-four as Craig Gardner and Wes Brown dropped out. Further up the field, Sunderland are beginning to look settled in terms of selection –Adam Johnson and Emanuel Giaccherini were again fielded on the flanks, with Stephane Sessegnon tucking in behind Jozy Altidore in light of Steven Fletcher’s ongoing ankle injury. Johnson grabbed the match-winner (his first of the summer) thanks to an Altidore assist in a match that saw Di Canio make six changes as the second period progressed, with new boys El Hadji Ba, David Moberg Karlsson and Modibo Diakite amongst those introduced from the bench.

Despite the victory, Di Canio was far from happy with the performance. Alluding to the display of one of the club’s “French speaking players”, which was believed to be an under-par Stephane Sessegnon, the Italian admitted:

“I was disappointed with the attitude. The attitude is crucial. We can talk about tactics during the season or technical mistakes that can be improved by practice, but the attitude is the thing you don’t know. Some of my players are new, so I don’t know. I would not be arrogant enough to think I can discover their attitude in two hours of playing, but it can change for whatever reason. Yesterday was a big opportunity for all the players to show we are ready to start the season strong, but some of them failed to complete the mission. I have to make sure they change their mentality otherwise we will have a problem.”

Di Canio also explained the absence of Wes Brown and Jo Dong-won, who both failed to travel for the match. The Black Cats boss revealed the former is set to be a key figure in his plans for the campaign ahead:

“Wes had a little problem and we decided not to risk him on the day. He has had a very good pre-season, which was a surprise for everyone, even him. We didn’t want to risk him because he’s an important player now. On the day of the game he was running again. And today he can train harder because I want him to be available as soon as possible. It’s good for us that we have a player of his ability in our squad, and it is important to us that we have him able to play for us next season. As for Ji, he has been out for a few days, but we expect him to be back in training in the next few days. So at this moment in time, we do not have any real worries about either of them.”

Chelsea 1 Real Madrid 3
The Blues tasted defeat for the first time this summer as Jose Mourinho was downed by his former employers. Chelsea lined up in a 4-3-3 formation with Frank Lampard making his first appearance of the summer alongside Ramires and Marco Van Ginkel in midfield, while up top, Oscar and Eden Hazard flanked Romelu Lukaku. In defence, Branislav Ivanovic and Ashley Cole were handed the full-back roles, with John Terry partnering Gary Cahill at centre-half in front of Petr Cech. Lukaku teed up Ramires for Chelsea’s only goal before making way for Fernando Torres in one of six second-half changes, with the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Andre Schurrle and Victor Moses also emerging from the bench.

David Luiz missed out with a minor hamstring problem, while Juan Mata was also omitted from the matchday squad – after the match, Mourinho gave an update on their fitness ahead of Saturday’s final friendly of pre-season:

“I don’t know if David Luiz and Mata will be back for Roma, they have some small problems, Mata a new one and David Luiz a problem he had in the past, a muscular injury he had before the Champions League final. They are working with the physios in Washington instead of travelling here. We’ll see if they can join the team and play a little against Roma.”

In Other News
Jonjo Shelvey and Pablo Hernandez have both been omitted from Swansea’s Europa League trip to Malmo this evening. The Swans travel to Sweden with a 4-0 first-leg advantage as they look to clinch a place in the group stages and with plenty of midfield additions over the summer, Michael Laudrup is expected to make some alterations to his starting XI, with Nathan Dyer and Jonathan de Guzman set to benefit from the duo’s absence. With their Gameweek 1 home clash against United just over a week away now, the Swans boss played down concerns over the pair’s fitness and expects them to be ready in time to face David Moyes’ side at the Liberty:

“We have a couple of players not here. We didn’t want to risk Pablo because we are talking about a muscle injury. He’s already training, but we will wait and he will train today and tomorrow and with the squad on Friday. The players are off for the weekend and hopefully he will be 100 per cent for Monday. Jonjo is sick – yesterday he had a fever. We spoke to the doctor last night and we agreed to see how he was this morning to see if he was better but he is worse, so that is why he has not travelled.”

Hull are sweating on the fitness of Stephen Quinn after the midfielder picked up a hamstring problem in the club’s friendly loss to Eintracht Braunschweig. Steve Bruce revealed yesterday the Tigers are awaiting scan results, with Quinn now rated doubtful for the Gameweek 1 trip to Stamford Bridge:

“It looks a bad one on first impressions so I wouldn’t have thought he’ll be fit for Chelsea, which is the big blow. Up until now we’d had a few knocks and a few strains but nothing that will keep anyone out for long, so it’s a big blow to lose Quinny. He got his foot caught and pulled his hamstring. We’ll not know the severity of it until we get home but he feels it just walking. That’s obviously a worry but I really can’t say how long it will be until we scan it.”

Having missed only four of 46 matches last term, Quinn’s security of starts – allied with three goals and six assists in 2012/13 – had offered Fantasy managers a reliable route into the cut-price bracket across the Fantasy games. One of the very few relatively appealing 4.5 priced midfielders in Fantasy Premier League (FPL), his potential absence lessens the number of budget options and perhaps furthers the prospects of Palace’s Jerome Thomas as a cheap fifth midfielder for those looking to pay under 5.0.

Tim Krul believes he is firmly on course to make Newcastle’s opener at City on Monday August 19. After undergoing a shoulder operation towards the end of the previous campaign, the Dutchman has built up his fitness and made his first appearance of the summer on Tuesday evening against Glasgow Rangers. Krul was given 45 minutes by Alan Pardew but insists he is ready for the season kick-off:

“I’ve had a great couple of weeks training with all of the lads. It has been all about getting the confidence of making a few good saves again. You can train when you’ve been injured, but the best test is always to get back out there, and train again. I’ve just been focusing on the game and making saves. I’ve been training hard to get back in time. “Everything has worked to plan so far. The schedule I’ve had with the physios has worked well. It’s been spot on. They kept me back at one stage because the training was going well, but it’s all about the new season now.”

While Krul is confident of his availability, Pardew was a little more tentative when discussing his keeper’s fitness after the Dutchman missed 14 matches of the 2012/13 with a number of injuries. Given how crucial he is to the Newcastle cause, it seems likely that Krul will get the nod for the Etihad clash, with another 11 days left to step up his fitness:

“Looking at Tim, he’s been out for a long time. He is one of the best keepers in the world, so we want him up to speed. That means we have to be careful. We must make sure that he returns properly, and is fully fit for the season.”