Scout Scribbles – Midweek Friendlies Round Up

Bojan Krkic nets his first goal for Stoke in a narrow loss at Schalke. Bafetimbi Gomis gets off the mark at new club Swansea, Luke Shaw is dropped due to fitness concerns as United play out a goalless draw against Inter Milan, whilst Glenn Murray notches his fourth goal of the summer for Palace:

Bojan Strikes for Stoke
The Potters’ tour of Germany ended in a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Schalke last night. In his second appearance for Mark Hughes’ side, the summer signing from Barcelona hit the headlines with a superbly taken goal and, according to the match report, turned in a highly impressive display from a spot on the right of a 4-2-3-1. Having made his debut in the role in “the hole” last weekend, it remains to be seen where Bojan’s likely role will be – Peter Odemwingie has yet to return to action after playing for Nigeria in the World Cup and could well take up the wide role again, though, allowing the Spaniard a central berth behind the lone striker.

Marko Arnautovic missed a spot-kick for the Potters, with both Charlie Adam and Jon Walters off the pitch – although question marks remain over the overall penalty pecking order, it remains to be seen whether Adam or Walters will earn a place in Hughes’ starting XI for the season ahead, potentially boosting the Austrian’s chances of retaining duties in spite of last night’s miss.

In terms of personnel, Steve Sidwell, Walters, Phil Bardsley and Andy Wilkinson missed out with minor injuries, whilst, like Odemwingie, Geoff Cameron has yet to feature after playing for his country in Brazil 2014.

United Held By Inter
Louis Van Gaal’s side played out a goalless draw against Italian outfit Inter Milan last night. Once again, the Dutchman continued with his 3-4-1-2 formation and fielded Phil Jones, Jonny Evans and Chris Smalling as his three centre-backs, though after the game, he admitted he is still looking to strengthen at the back:

“The first match was zero goals, the second match was a fantastic goal by Pjanic, an error from the goalkeeper and a penalty given by the referee, and today again zero goals. So we are doing well but we are looking for defenders, because a lot of defenders have gone. We have to replace them but I like also like Michael Keane and Tyler Blackett.”

After criticizing Luke Shaw’s fitness levels the day before, Van Gaal benched the former Southampton man, and with Rafael currently sidelined due to a groin problem, Ashley Young and Antonio Valencia got the nod at wing-back. Shaw was utilised as a second-half sub in the goalless outing and, as his manager explained:

”Luke is working very hard and he was lucky because normally I would have played Reece James, but he was a little bit injured. And so I asked him in spite of a very heavy training session this morning and I think he did very well.”

Speaking on his fitness after the game, Shaw – the most popular defender in the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) game with over 30% ownership – concurred with the Dutchman’s assessment as he looks to step up his fitness ahead of the season opener against Swansea in 17 days’ time:

“It’s something I totally agree with. To play in this formation you have to be really fit. I am fit but I am not at the high level he demands. I have got to get fitter to get up and down (the wing). It’s something I have got to work on…I didn’t come into United thinking it would be much harder. That’s something that I think I made a mistake on…I want and need the staff to push me on so they can do what they want. It will only help me in the long run. I wasn’t meant to play (against Inter) so I trained on Tuesday morning. Me and the staff decided it would be better to push me in a harder training session. But I came on and played 45 minutes. I felt great. I could have played another 45 so that’s something that shows there is a progression there after the last game. The focus is now to get fitter and fitter and to be flying by start of season.”

Gomis Opens Swans Account
The Frenchman was amongst the goals as Swansea ran out comfortable 2-0 winners over Exeter. Handing a starting role up front, Gomis headed home a Neil Taylor cross for the opener and also hit the woodwork before substitute Wilfried Bony – in his first appearance of the summer – teed up Josh Sheehan for the second. Garry Monk handed 21 players game time, giving Gylfi Sigurdsson the night off after his weekend double at Plymouth, and post-match, the Swans boss admitted he was still far from certain over his starting XI for the upcoming campaign:

“Pre-season is about building fitness and working on a few different things that we’ve been trying. So now is a good time to implement that and that’s what we’ve been doing in the games so far. There are improvements to be made, fitness and sharpness to come, while we are tweaking things in terms of positions and personnel which will be the case until the start of the season. We are trying a number of partnerships all over the pitch. We use these games to work on different things and see what works and what doesn’t, so it was a good exercise for us.”

Jutkiewicz Nets in Clarets Loss
With just over a couple of weeks until the season gets underway, Sean Dyche seems to be settling on a starting XI. The Burnley boss made just two substitutions over the entire 90 minutes of a 2-1 defeat at local rivals Preston, with the likes of new boys Matt Taylor and Lukas Jutkiewicz handed starting berths – the latter grabbed The Clarets’ only goal to take his tally to three for the summer and strengthen his hopes of a regular role until Sam Vokes recovers from a knee ligament injury. At the back, Michael Duff (4.0) in FPL, lined up alongside Jason Shackel, Kieran Trippier and Ben Mee to remain on Fantasy radars as a potential budget defensive option.

R’s Midfielders in the Goals
Harry Redknapp’s side were held to a 2-2 draw by Leyton Orient last night. Junior Hoilett and Joey Barton grabbed the goals for the Premier League outfit, who once again lined up with a three-man defence, with Danny Simpson and Armand Traore fielded as wing-backs. At 4.5 in FPL, Simpson may well afford us an out-of-position option if Redknapp continues with the same formation, whilst Traore could offer an alternative 4.5-priced midfield differential in the budget bracket – he’s owned by 0.6% of FPL managers compared to the similarly priced Marc Albrighton, who currently sits in 12% of squads. As many as nine players were afforded 90 minutes apiece but with a friendly against Southend this evening, Redknapp rested the likes of Rio Ferdinand in order to cope with the busy schedule.

Mandron Fires Black Cats to Victory
With a game against Nacional on their schedule this evening, Gus Poyet fielded many of Sunderland’s Under-21 side for a 1-0 win over Portuguese side Recreativo last night. The Black Cats boss handed the likes of Liam Bridcutt, Alfred N’Diaye, Valentin Roberge and El Hadji Ba roles as second-half subs as Michael Mandron grabbed the only goal, though little can be gauged from such an experimental line-up.

Murray Nets Again for Eagles
The Palace forward was forced to play as a makeshift centre-half in Monday night’s 3-0 win over US side Richmond Kickers after four defensive team-mates were sidelined with “niggles”, according to Tony Pulis. Sidelined for most of last season through injury, Murray still found time to net his fourth goal of the pre-season – more than any other player so far – to underline his flourishing form ahead of the new campaign and potentially bring him onto Fantasy radars as a budget forward option. Peter Ramage and Marouane Chamakh were also in the goals in a game that saw Pulis omit Joel Ward, Scott Dann, Damien Delaney and Paddy McCarthy from the squad as a precautionary measure. This allowed Adrian Mariappa his first start for three matches at right-back, whilst Jerome Williams was once again selected on the left of defence – he has now started all four of Palace’s pre-season friendlies this summer, but has yet to be listed in Fantasy games thus far.