Scout Notes – Pre-Season Round-Up

With four Premier League sides – Crystal Palace, Liverpool, Swansea and West Brom – all in action over the next few hours, we roll out a first re-cap of the summer fixtures to date this evening.

Listed below is a match by match breakdown of all the encounters so far, with details of goals, assists and line-ups.

We’ll be publishing a round-up of the latest results tomorrow, while all the pre-season scores, scout notes and form players are being captured and collated in our Pre-Season Section.

Carolina RailHawks 2 West Ham 2

The Hammers’ brief American tour ended in the early hours of this morning with no wins, a couple of goals and a 40-minute bad weather delay as their sights now turn to their UEFA Europa League third qualifying round first leg on July 28.

Skipper Winston Reid (who managed a goal at both ends of the pitch) was teed up for the Hammers’ first by Andy Carroll before the big Geordie put his side ahead thanks to a cross from new wide man Sofiane Feghouli.

Slaven Bilic rang the changes, with nine players swapped from the 46th minute onwards, and the lack of continuity, hot and humid conditions and the threat of further thunderstorms conspired to produce a second-half of little quality or incident – on the pitch, at least.

Although Sam Byram started both matches at right-back, it’s worth noting that Michail Antonio did not fly out for the US tour due to the recent birth of his child.

West Ham XI: Adrian (Spiegel 46), Byram (Makasi 63), Reid (Henry 63), Burke (Rice 63), Cresswell (Page 46), Obiang (Poyet 63), Noble, Feghouli (Quina 63), Samuelsen, Lanzini (Browne 63), Carroll (Martinez 46).

Seattle Sounders 3 West Ham 0

Slaven Bilic used no fewer than 21 players to start the club’s two-match tour of America on July 5, handing debuts to new signings Sofiane Feghouli and Havard Nordtveit, as well as youngsters Antonio Martinez and Domingos Quina.

Former Valencia star Feghouli caught the eye and quickly formed a partnership with another summer signing (from the same Spanish club), Toni Martinez, when the pair came on at half-time. The latter is expected to be eased into English football through the Hammers’ development squad.

In addition to the above-mentioned Antonio, Bilic is having to make do without star midfielder Dmitri Payet and defenders James Collins and Angelo Ogbonna as the trio rest up after their Euro 2016 campaigns. A fourth international, Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Darren Randolph, is likely to leave the club in search of regular first team football, whilst rumoured Sunderland target, Diafra Sakho, stayed behind in London due to a back problem.

West Ham XI: Adrian (Spiegel 46), Byram (Feghouli 46), Page, (Cresswell 46), Reid (Henry 46), Rice (Burke 46), Poyet (Nordtveit 46), Noble (Obiang 46), Browne (Quina 46), Samuelsen (Lanzini 46), Makasi, Carroll (Martinez 46).

Tranmere Rovers 0 Liverpool 1

A second-half strike from Danny Ings earned Liverpool victory in the first of a busy pre-season campaign which will also take in trips to America and Germany.

In a match that took place last Friday, Ings captained a completely changed second-half Liverpool line-up, firing home after good work from Academy player Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Coach Jurgen Klopp handed debuts to new signings Sadio Mane, Joel Matip and Loris Karius in the first period and had to delve deep into the club’s playing resources as a dozen internationals are yet to return to training following Euro 2016 duties.

Liverpool XI: First half: Karius; Flanagan, Matip, Lovren, Smith; Lucas, Brannagan, Ejaria; Kent, Mane, Firmino.

Liverpool XI: Second half: Bogdan, Randall, Ilori, Wisdom, Moreno; Stewart, Chirivella, Alexander-Arnold; Markovic, Woodburn, Ings.

York City 0 Middlesbrough 6

Middlesbrough boss Aitor Karanka was another to field 22 players as his newly-promoted side swept aside York City last Saturday.

Karanka was without new signings Victor Valdes, Bernardo Espinosa and Viktor Fischer and promotion winners Ben Gibson and Grant Leadbitter, but he will have been encouraged by the second-half performance of January capture Jordan Rhodes, who hit two goals in a lively showing.

David Nugent and Adam Reach supplied a goal and assist apiece, whilst wide man Albert Adomah also managed to get his name on the scoresheet.

Middlesbrough XI: First half: Mejias, Nsue, Baptiste, Morris, Husband (Friend 27), Pattisom, Forshaw, Adomah, De Sart, De Pena, Nugent.

Middlesbrough XI: Second half: Konstantopoulos, Halliday, Jackson, McGhee, Friend, Clayton, de Roon, Carayol, Downing, Reach, Rhodes.

Woking 1 Watford 1

New Watford boss Walter Mazzarro tried out a 3-5-2 formation for the Hornets’ first friendly of pre-season on Sunday, shifting to a flat back-four just after the hour mark.

Dutch winger Steven Berghuis opened the scoring midway through the first-half with a deflected strike (courtesy of an Ikechi Anya assist) as Mazzarro tinkered with both formation and personnel, giving new signings Abdoulaye Doucoure, Jerome Sinclair and Isaac Success debuts after the break.

One notable absentee was club captain Troy Deeney, who was left out as a precaution after sustaining a slight knock in training, while Almen Abdi wasn’t involved due to sickness.

Watford XI: Gomes (Arlauskis, HT); Nyom, Britos (Rowan, 85), Hoban (Success, 67); Amrabat (Holebas, 59), Capoue (Guedioura, HT), Suarez (Watson, HT), Berghuis (Doucoure, HT), Anya; Ighalo (Sinclair, HT), Vydra (Oulare, HT).