Scout Notes – Pre-Season Round-up

A strong showing from Manchester United’s new £26 million man Henrikh Mkhitaryan was the highlight of a busy day of pre-season matches.

Jose Mourinho’s United bow was one of eight Saturday matches, with Chelsea and Stoke also in action.

Wigan 0 Man United 2

Manchester United defender Luke Shaw returned from a 10-month injury lay-off as Jose Mourinho’s first match in charge ended in victory at Wigan.

Left-back Shaw played the opening half against the Latics, but it was new Borussia Dortmund signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan – utilised as a number ten – who caught the eye in a fluid 4-2-3-1 United formation.

The Armenian international made his debut, as did Eric Bailly, in a side still missing a raft of stars given time off following their international exertions, most notably Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Second-half goals from Will Keane and Andreas Pereira, with Juan Mata involved in both, gave United a 2-0 win, but Mkhitaryan’s display in the first period, during which he dovetailed impressively with Memphis Depay, was the match’s main talking point.

Mourinho was certainly impressed…

“He is magnificent the way he thinks about football, he thinks very quickly and it’s so sweet how he touches the ball. He can play in different positions behind the striker. He doesn’t have the sharpness yet but his performance was very positive.”

And the United boss was equally positive about Shaw.

“I was expecting him to start the pre-season with some limitations – a little bit of weight and less sharpness. But the physical point of view is good and more than that, the mental point of view is good. The kid was great in the summer. He worked every day at the training ground to try to be ready for this.”

Man United XI: Johnstone (J.Pereira 82), Fosu-Mensah (Valencia 46), Bailly (Tuanzebe 82), Blind (Blackett 74), Shaw (Jones 46), Carrick (A.Pereira 46), Herrera (Varela 74), Lingard (Januzaj 46), Mkhitaryan (Mata 46), Memphis (Young 46), Wilson (Keane 46).

Burton Albion 3 Stoke City 0

Stoke manager Mark Hughes used 20 players as his Potters side started their pre-season campaign with a heavy defeat to Championship new boys Burton.

If the result was less than impressive, Hughes was satisfied with the work-outs he could hand to three long-term injury victims from last season, Jack Butland, Glen Johnson and Marc Wilson.

“We wanted to get Jack back for the first day of pre-season and we’ve done that. He’s been back in training for three to four weeks and he looks as good as new. It was pleasing to see Glen and Marc out there as well. Losing guys like that last season was a big blow to us but they are fit and well and looking forward to the new season.”

Hughes employed a 3-5-2 formation, with Johnson and Eric Pieters as wing-backs, though skipper Ryan Shawcross played no part in the match after complaining of stiffness in his back.

Shawcross’ continued troubles with back injuries is already a concern, then, which could raise a flag for those considering Stoke’s defence as a source of value. The switch to three centre-backs is interesting, however, and could surface at least one budget option.

Stoke City XI: Butland (Haugaard 45), Wilson (Bardsley 45), Wollscheid (Taylor 86), Muniesa (Edwards 79), Johnson (Molina 70), Lecygne, Adam (Telford 70), Imbula (Waring 63), Pieters (Choulay 70), Bojan (Shenton 63), Joselu (N’Goy 63)

Rapid Vienna 2 Chelsea 0

Antonio Conte’s first match as Chelsea coach ended in defeat, but news of the £32 million capture of Leicester midfielder N’Golo Kante would have sugared the pill for boss and fans alike.

Without a number of stars still recovering from international duty, Conte started with a 4-2-3-1 formation, employing Diego Costa as the lone striker. However, it should be noted that Ruben Loftus-Cheek was often pushed up in support of Costa in attack with Conte’s formation resembling almost a 4-2-4 at times.

Indeed, by the end of the match, Conte had switched to two up front, Nemanja Matic amd Costa making way for Bertrand Traore and Loic Remy.

With their opponents having five weeks of training and a competitive match under their belt already, it was no surprise that a sluggish second string Chelsea failed to impress – or that Kante’s signing dominated the post-match talk.

Chelsea XI: Begovic; Ivanovic, Terry, Djilobodji, Baba Rahman (Aina 45); Mikel (Chalobah 58), Matic (Traore 78); Willian (Kenedy 72), Loftus-Cheek (Oscar 45), Moses (Atsu 80); Diego Costa (Remy 72).

FC Cincinnati 0 Crystal Palace 2

A goal each for Jordon Mutch and Wilfried Zaha gave Crystal Palace their first win of pre-season, with new signing Andros Townsend again impressing.

The winger fed Zaha for the Eagles’ second goal after Mutch had reacted quickest to a Frazier Campbell slip to fire home from range in the first-half.

Palace manager Alan Pardew is still without a number of players recovering from their Euro 2016 experience, but Mile Jedinak and Yannick Bolasie have now joined up with the squad. James Tomkins sat out the match after picking up a knock in the goalless draw at Philadelphia and James McArthur is still yet to feature on the club’s North American tour.

Post-match, Pardew played down an injury to Zaha, who left the stadium on crutches, though the winger is likely to miss the Eagles’ clash against Vancouver Whitecaps on Tuesday:

“He went over on his ankle but hopefully he’ll just have a little bit of swelling on that – it might take a couple of days to go down, that’s all.”

Crystal Palace XI: McCarthy (Perntreou 76), Ward (Puncheon 59), Kelly (Dann 45), Delaney (Croll 59), Fryers, Boateng, Mutch, Sako (Townsend 45), Lee (Kaikai 73), Zaha (Berkeley-Agyepong 73), Campbell (Ladapo 45).

North Ferriby United 0 Hull City 2

Hull’s second match in 24 hours involved just one senior squad member, Ahmed Elmohamady, with manager Steve Bruce handing a debut to new Wimbledon signing Will Mannion in goal.

Hull City XI: Mannion, Clackstone, Tymon, Barkworth, Rodgers, Batty, McKenzie, Elmohamady, Olley, Bowen, Luer.

Doncaster Rovers 0 Middlesbrough 2

Middlesbrough coach Aitor Karanka again fielded entirely different teams in each half as he continued to evaluate his pre-season options.

Stewart Downing’s deflected effort opened the scoring in the first half, with Alex Pattison adding a second late on.

Karanka handed Viktor Fischer and Marten de Roon their debuts after the break, with fellow summer signings Bernardo Espinosa, Victor Valdes and Antonio Barragán travelling but not named in the squad.

The ‘Boro boss was keen to downplay the significance of his personnel choices..

“We are working hard, and have a lot of new players who weren’t here last season. For that reason, it’s difficult to train tactics – we’re thinking more about the physical side.”

Club captain Grant Leadbitter (hernia) will miss the start of the season, while Daniel Ayala has yet to shake off an ankle issue to appear in pre-season. Full-back James Husband has been ruled out for three months with a dislocated shoulder sustained in the win at York.

Middlesbrough XI First Half: Mejias; Nsue, Morris, Gibson, McGinlay, Clayton, Forshaw, Carayol, Downing, De Pena, Nugent.

Middlesbrough XI Second Half: Konstantopoulos; Halliday, Baptiste, Jackson, Friend, De Sart, De Roon, Reach, Fischer, Pattison, Rhodes.

Richmond Kickers 2 Swansea City 0

Swansea shared West Ham’s US pre-season experience when a major thunderstorm forced manager Francesco Guidolin’s side to endure a long in-match delay.

The teams were sent to their dressing rooms just before half-time, emerging 95 minutes later after the storm had finally passed.

That, and Guidolin’s decision to field entirely different sides in each half, rendered the match little more than an evaluation of fitness, although Andre Ayew was used up front in his first pre-season start, with Leroy Fer and Jay Fulton employed in midfield and Wayne Routledge, skipper on the night, in the number ten role. They were supported on the flanks by Daniel James and Mo Barrow.

Swansea City XI First half: Nordfeldt, Roberts, Naughton, Amat, Fernandez, Fer, James, Fulton, Routledge, Barrow, Ayew.

Swansea City XI Second half: Tremmel, Kingsley, Rangel, Rodon, van der Hoorn, Britton, Cork, King, Gorre, Dyer, McBurnie.

Kidderminster Harriers 1 West Brom 2

Saido Berahino bagged a brace for the club he seems determined to leave as Tony Pulis fielded a strong side against their West Midlands’ neighbours.

Berahino, who rejected a new four-year deal at the Baggies earlier in the week, was on target in each half, pouncing on a Kidderminster error for his second after being set up by striker partner Salomon Rondon in the first period.

Pulis opted to give all his starting XI a full 90 minutes against the non-league outfit.

West Brom XI: Foster; Gardner, Dawson, Fitzwater, Field; Phillips, Fletcher, Yacob, Leko; Berahino, Rondon.

Meanwhile, an Albion XI skippered by James Morrison and featuring Boaz Myhill, Sebastien Pocognoli, Rickie Lambert and Callum McManaman played a simultaneous game at Stafford Rangers. The Baggies won 2-1, with goals from Lambert and Andre Wright.