Scout Notes – Pre-Season Round-Up

Roberto Firmino is at the double as Liverpool sweep aside Fleetwood Town. Wayne Routledge serves up two goals and an assist as Swansea opener their pre-season schedule with a win, though Palace and West Brom struggle for a cutting edge.

Fleetwood Town 0 Liverpool 5

A brace from Roberto Firmino sealed an easy Liverpool win in their second summer outing, but it was the contributions of two newcomers that caught the eye.

Serbian midfielder Marko Grujic, a £5.1m January buy from Red Star Belgrade, opened the scoring, earned a penalty and was a major physical presence during his 45-minute stint, while Academy star Ben Woodburn scored and provided two assists in a highly promising display as a half-time replacement for Sadio Mane on the left flank.

It wasn’t such a good evening for Danny Ings. The England international was the match-winner last time out, but he missed a penalty against Fleetwood and struggled to make his mark throughout, as did Lazar Markovic. The Serbian winger, back at Anfield after a season on loan at Fenerbahce, has been a peripheral figure in both pre-season matches to date.

Lucas Leiva, with his first competitive goal in six years, was the other scorer, with another Academy youngster, Ryan Kent, delivering two assists and left-back Alberto Moreno chipped in with one.

Centre-half Mamadou Sakho might have been cleared of all wrongdoing regarding a failed drug test, but the French international won’t be playing anytime soon as he has an Achilles injury. With Martin Skrtel now a Fenerbahce player, that leaves Dejan Lovren and Joel Matip as the Reds’ likely first-choice pairing at the heart of the defence.

Liverpool XI: First half: Karius, Flanagan, Lovren, Matip, Moreno, Grujic, Alexander-Arnold, Stewart, Markovic, Mane, Ings.

Liverpool XI: Second half: Bogdan, Randall, Ilori, Wisdom, Smith, Lucas, Brannagan, Ejaria, Kane, Woodburn, Firmino.

Philadelphia Union 0 Crystal Palace 0

Crystal Palace kicked off their preparations for the new season with a hard-fought draw against in-form Philadelphia.

Manager Alan Pardew gave every one of his outfield players a run-out, with debuts for James Tomkins and Andros Townsend, and the pair came the closest to scoring in an otherwise tight and tricky encounter.

While Pardew was particularly pleased with the impact Townsend made, an injury concern over Tomkins cast a slight shadow over proceedings.

“James [Tomkins] got stretched twice in his first two moments in the game and he’s just got a little strain so that was a bit of a disappointment, but I don’t think it’s going to keep him out for too long. Andros showed why he is going to be an important player for us. I thought he was the real highlight of the game for our team.”

Sullay Kaikai was another with injury issues, a calf strain forcing the midfielder off early in the second half, whilst Pardew also confirmed that midfielder James McArthur could miss the club’s first couple of summer friendlies:

“He’s got a little problem with his knee, so we’ll have to see how that is. He only aggravated it yesterday, so I don’t think he’s going to make the Cincinnati game (on Saturday), but fingers crossed for Vancouver (on Tuesday).”

Crystal Palace XI: Speroni, Ward (Croll 66), Kelly (Delaney 46), Dann (Tomkins 46), Fryers, Boateng, Mutch (Sako 66), Townsend (Lee 60), Puncheon (Wickham 46), Kaikai (Zaha 54), Ladapo (Campbell 60).

Charlotte Independence 0 Swansea City 4

Goals from Oliver McBurnie, Kenji Gorre and a Wayne Routledge brace gave Swansea a great start to their two-date American tour.

Assists came from Angel Rangel, Modou Barrow, Jack Cork and Routledge.

Swans manager Francesco Guidolin used all of his 21-man squad during the match, handing a debut to Ajax signing Mike van der Hoorn at centre-half.

The Swans travel to Richmond on Saturday, with Guidolin expected to give run-outs to goalkeeper Gerhard Tremmel and last season’s top scorer Andre Ayew, who was given extra time off following international duties.

Ashley Williams, Neil Taylor, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Lukasz Fabianski, Ki Sung-Yueng and Jefferson Montero will join up with the squad towards the end of the month after a busy summer of tournament football.

Striker Bafetimbi Gomis has not travelled to America as he seeks a move away from the Liberty Stadium.

Swansea XI: First-half: Nordfeldt; Naughton, Kingsley, Rodon, Fernandez, Britton, Cork, Gorre, Dyer, McBurnie, James. 


Swansea XI: Second-half: Vickers; Rangel, Roberts, Amat, Van der Hoorn, Fer, Fulton, King, Routledge, McBurnie, Barrow.

West Brom1 Paris-Saint-Germain 2

A David Luiz own goal was all the Baggies had to show for a combative clash with French champions PSG.

The Brazilian defender turned a Sadio Berahino cross into his own net early in the first-half before goals from Adrian Rabiot and Lucas Moura turned things round for the Parisians.

Manager Tony Pulis chopped and changed throughout, experimenting with formations and personnel. West Brom started with a 4-4-2 and swapped to a 4-4-1-1 after the break, with 20 players getting pitch time and the team’s back four enjoying an average age of just 18 in the second-half.

The first-half side was closer to what Pulis would consider a standard starting XI, with new signing Matt Phillips stationed wide right, while midfielder James Morrison made a return from injury after the break.

The one worry for Pulis concerned Albion starlet Jonathan Leko, who took a knock and had to be subbed off after 43 minutes.

West Brom XI: First half: Foster; Dawson, Fitzwater, Olsson, Pocognoli; Phillips, Fletcher, Field, Leko (Roberts 43); Berahino, Rondon.

West Brom XI: Second-half: Myhill; Wilson, Fitzwater, Howkins, Field; Roberts, Morrison, Yacob, McManaman; Gardner; Lambert.