Scout Notes – Pre-Season Round Up – Friday

Rickie Lambert scores twice on his debut as West Brom put four past Bristol Rovers. James Chester is deployed at right-back on his first start for the Baggies. Watford fall to a 1-0 defeat in their final summer friendly, whilst goals from Tokelo Rantie and Marc Pugh aren’t enough to stop Bournemouth from losing at home to Cardiff.

Bristol Rovers 0 West Bromwich Albion 4

Having penned a two-year deal with the Baggies just hours prior to kick-off, Rickie Lambert bagged a brace on his debut for the West Midlanders. The first was a fortuitous deflected effort, while the second was a neat finish from a James McClean cross. Craig Gardener and Victor Anichebe rounded off the scoring for the visitors.

Tony Pulis deployed his troops in a 4-4-2 set-up, with Boaz Myhill in goal, James Chester at right-back, fit-again Craig Dawson and Jonas Olsson in the heart of defence, and Chris Brunt at left-back. A midfield four comprised of Gardner, Claudio Yacob, James Morrison and McClean supplied the ammunition for strike pairing Saido Berahino and Lambert. Pulis made eight changes over the course of the second period, with the likes of Anichebe, Brown Ideye, Darren Fletcher, Stephane Sessegnon and Callum McManaman earning minutes off the bench.

Pulis talked up Lambert’s influence after the final whistle, insisting that the veteran will have a key part to play, both on and off the pitch in the season to come:

“Rickie’s played at lower level and each time he’s stepped up he’s done well. He did exceptionally well at Southampton and probably feels he deserved more games at Liverpool. But it’s not just on the pitch that he will important, but off the pitch too. He’s a great lad and in Saido we have a wonderful talent, along with other youngsters we have. We hope the way Rickie conducts himself and how he acts will be good for him and our other young players. You cannot have enough role models. He’s been brought up through the lower leagues. When you get the chance to work down there you want to get the chance to claim everything you can – that ambition and drive remains and I hope we see the full benefits of that and I hope the other players do too.”

Bournemouth 2 Cardiff City 3

With a match against Hoffenheim to follow this evening, Eddie Howe fielded a mix of fringe players and first-team options as the Cherries’ relinquished a 1-0 lead at the Vitality Stadium. Tokelo Rantie kicked off the scoring by rounding the Cardiff keeper and slotting into a vacant net, while Marc Pugh fired home a driven finish to offer hope of a comeback in the final 20 minutes.

Charlie Daniels, Andrew Surman, Simon Francis and Sylvain Distin were the other notable inclusions in the starting XI, with the latter reportedly impressing in central defence. Yann Kermorgant was forced off on 35 minutes with a heel problem, Howe confirmed post-match.

Watford 0 Sevilla 1

Quique Sanchez Flores named a strong starting XI for the Hornets’ final pre-season friendly clash against Rojiblancos. Keeper Heurelho Gomes was protected by a back four of Allan Nyom, Sebastian Prodl, Craig Cathcart and Ikechi Anya, who took up the left-back berth. Sticking with his favoured 4-2-3-1 set-up, Etienne Capoue and Valon Behrami occupied the double pivot, while Miguel Layun, Ighalo and Steven Berghuis supported lone striker Troy Deeney.

Gabriele Angella, Ben Watson, Jose Holebas, Matej Vydra and Juan Carlos Paredes were afforded run-outs in the second 45, but Almen Abdi (knee) and Jose Manuel Jurado (muscular) sat out this encounter with minor knocks.

Taking stock after the defeat, Flores conceded that due to the influx of new players over the last couple of months, he is still no closer to knowing his likely starting XI for next weekend’s opener at Everton:

“I don’t know, we have one week more and it is difficult. We are incorporating players every week which is good news but that makes it difficult because we are then having to explain to the new players what we want from them in the system, the model and the way we want to play…Today we played a deeper defensive line in the first half and it was difficult to stop their players. In the second half we played with high pressure and a different style…We are trying to create a good balance between defence and attack. I wasn’t that happy with the football in the first half because after we won the ball we then rushed and we lost possession and the chance to build the play. I understand the players need to make mistakes in order to advance. So I am not very sad.”