Scout Notes – Pre-Season Round-Up

Riyad Mahrez nets a superb opener as Leicester get the better of Celtic. Promoted frontmen Andre Gray and Jordan Rhodes take their summer tallies to four strikes apiece, Southampton new boy Nathan Redmond bags a brace, whilst a trio of midfielders are amongst the goals as Ronald Koeman kick starts his Everton career with a victory.

Portsmouth 3 Bournemouth 3

Bournemouth equalised twice but ultimately had to settle for a share of the spoils in a six-goal thriller against their south coast rivals.

Lewis Grabban, Jordon Ibe and Dan Gosling were on target for the Cherries, with Ryan Fraser and Rhoys Wiggins providing assists.

Coach Eddie Howe had to make do without a number of players at Fratton Park.

Steven Cook was due to have a precautionary scan over the weekend on a thigh issue picked up on the club’s US trip, although Howe is confident the key defender will miss no more than two weeks of action.

Elsewhere in the treatment room, striker Benik Afobe is expected to return to light training at the start of next week following a knee injury. On-loan Nathan Ake was rested as a precautionary measure, whilst Adam Smith has yet to return to action, having missed the end of the previous campaign with a groin injury.

Bournemouth XI: Federici, O’Kane, Francis, Daniels, Wiggins (Butcher 83), Fraser (Ibe 45), L Cook (MacDonald 45), Arter, Pugh (King 45), Grabban (Mousset 45), Wilson (Gosling 45).

Bradford City 1 Burnley 4

Andre Gray continued his fine pre-season form with another two goals – doubling his summer tally – as Burnley scored three in five first-half minutes.

George Boyd crossed for Gray to head home after 15 minutes and the striker doubled the lead two minutes later from a Dean Marney through-ball.

Ben Mee’s header from a David Jones corner rounded off the scoring burst, with Michael Kightly adding a fourth late on.

Burnley boss Sean Dyche was able to field two Euro 2016 returnees – Stephen Ward and Tom Heaton – with new signing Nick Pope replacing the latter in goal after the break.

A comprehensive victory for the Clarets was marred only by Ashley Barnes coming off with a hamstring injury and his replacement, Lukas Jutkiewicz, then succumbing to a similar complaint of his own.

Post match, Dyche rolled out an update on the duo:

“Ashley felt his hamstring and that’s why he just walked straight off. I’ve told the players to do that. There are no heroes at this stage and as soon as they feel anything at all they have to head off, because then there’s a shorter recovery period. We hope it’s a minor one, but we’ll have to wait and see. Lukas was going to come out for the second half, but his hamstring was tight when he was warming up, so I said not to push it. We want people fit.”

Burnley XI: Heaton (Pope 46), Darikwa (Lowton 73), Keane (K Long 73), Mee (Tarkowski 73), Ward (Lafferty 66), Arfield (Ginnelly 81), Marney (Ulvestad 66), Jones (O’Neill 81), Boyd (Kightly 73), Gray (Agyei 66), Barnes (Jutkiewicz 44, (Hennings 46))

Barnsley 0 Everton 3

A strong Everton side made short work of Barnsley and handed new manager Ronald Koeman a pre-season victory.

The Toffees had already kept a clean sheet in a behind-closed-doors match against Czech outfit FK Jablonec last weekend, and they did it again in Yorkshire – without either Phil Jagielka or John Stones, who had a minor muscle strain.

Mason Holgate and Brendan Galloway deputised for the two England internationals, but there was plenty of experience on show across the pitch, with Kevin Mirallas opening the scoring from a free-kick and Gerard Deulofeu latching onto a Ross Barkley through-ball to double the lead.

Barkley then scored himself to cap a fine second-half performance as Everton employed Koeman’s high tempo pressing game to good effect.

Joel Robles was preferred in goal for this opening friendly, with Maarten Stekelenburg unused from the bench – both are priced at 5.0 in the FPL.

Everton XI: Robles, Davies (Coleman 45), Galloway (Mori 45), Holgate (Pennington 75), Baines (Oviedo 60); Lennon, Gibson (Grant 60), Besic (McGeady 60), Mirallas (Cleverley 60), Galloway (Barkley 45), Deulofeu (Tarashaj 60).

Scunthorpe United 0 Hull 2

Hull might be without a manager and a large chunk of their senior players, but they continued their unbeaten pre-season run with a regulation win at Scunthorpe.

Shaun Maloney and Abel Hernandez struck either side of half-time, with Robert Snodgrass and Sam Clucas providing the assists.

Caretaker manager Mike Phelan had to make do with what little resources are currently at his disposal, recalling Josh Clackstone from an U21 training camp to partner Curtis Davies in defence and using Clucas and Maloney in central midfield. Adama Diomande also made his first appearance of pre-season.

With Allan McGregor sidelined for months due to injury, Eldin Jakupovic (priced at 4.0 in Fantasy Premier League) was praised for his performance by the local media as he looks to strengthen his claim to be the club’s number one goalkeeper in the Scot’s absence.

Hull XI: Jakupovic, Elmohamady (Barkworth 76), Clackstone, Davies, Robertson (Tymon 46), Diame (Bowen 60), Snodgrass, Maloney (Olley 76), Clucas, Luer (Hernandez 46), Diomande (Odemwingie 60).

AD Alcorcon 2 Middlesbrough 2

Alvaro Negredo and Victor Valdes were handed their debuts as Aitor Karanka’s side ended all-square with the Spanish second division outfit, AD Alcorcon.

Negredo made an instant impact, netting after fellow new boy Gaston Ramirez’ shot came back off the post, and the Spaniard almost doubled his haul before being replaced at the break.

That was one of five alterations made by Karanka at half-time, with Jordan Rhodes replacing Negredo in the usual 4-2-3-1 set-up. The former Blackburn man is clearly intent on nailing down the lone striker role and maintained his fine summer form by netting a fourth of pre-season, courtesy of a Carlos de Pena assist.

Middlesbrough XI: Valdes (Mejias 46), Barragan (Nsue 46), Morris (De Sart 71), Gibson (Baptiste 71), Friend (Reach 71), Clayton (Forshaw 71), De Roon (Fischer 71), Adomah (Stuani 46), Ramirez (Nugent 46), Downing (De Pena 59), Negredo (Rhodes 46).

Celtic 1 Leicester City 1 (Leicester win 6-5 on penalties)

The Sunday press are now linking Riyad Mahrez with a move to Arsenal, but the Player of the Year seemed to thoroughly enjoy his first pre-season run-out for the champions.

The Algerian marked it with a typically stunning goal, cutting in from the right and firing home with his left.

Ranieri used the Celtic match to field all three of his new signings, with centre-half Luis Hernandez starting ahead of Marcin Wasilewski at the back. One of that pair will be expected to be given the nod at Hull on the opening day, with Robert Huth serving a suspension from last season.

Hernandez’ long throws a consistent and potent attacking weapon throughout a contest which saw Ranieri deploy Demarai Gray in behind lone striker Leonardo Ulloa in the first half.

Leicester XI: Zieler (Schmeichel 46); Amartey, Hernandez (Okazaki 62), Morgan (Wasilewski 62), Chilwell; Mahrez (Fuchs 70), Mendy (Simpson 46), Drinkwater, Albrighton (Schlupp 46); Ulloa (Huth 62), Gray (Musa 46).

PEC Zwolle 0 Southampton 4

A goal from Charlie Austin, a Nathan Redmond double and a late penalty for Pierre-Emile Højbjerg gave Claude Puel’s men a comfortable win in Holland.

Puel ran the rule over 21 players, but Dušan Tadić missed out and the Euro 2016 quartet of Steven Davis, Shane Long, Ryan Bertrand and Fraser Forster were also absent having only returned to training in midweek.

Defender Maya Yoshida made his first start of pre-season as Austin finished off some good work from Oriol Romeu before the striker played in Redmond to score his first goal for the Saints.

His second arrived not long afterwards and was a typical individual effort before the 4.5 priced Højbjerg opened his own Southampton account after winning and then converting a penalty.

After the match, Puel revealed he expects Tadic to quickly recover from a minor leg complaint:

“I think Dusan can play in the next game. We just took the decision to leave him for this game. He felt just something in his leg and I think for the next game, or perhaps for Saturday, no problem, he can play.”

Southampton XI First half: Gazzaniga, Martina, Yoshida, Van Dijk, Targett, Romeu, Clasie, Ward-Prowse, Rodriguez, Redmond, Austin.

Southampton XI Second half: Gazzaniga, Valery, Stephens, Jones, McQueen, Højbjerg, Reed, Hesketh (Turnbull 71), Isgrove, Gallagher, Olomola.

Preston North End 1 Stoke 1

Ryan Shawcross and Marko Arnautovic returned to the fray as boss Mark Hughes again experimented with a three centre-back system.

It was the second successive time Hughes had tried the formation, using Philipp Wollscheid, Shawcross and Marc Muniesa in between wing-backs Glen Johnson and Erik Pieters.

Charlie Adam and Giannelli Imbula sat in central midfield while Arnautovic, Joselu and Bojan rotated positions up front.

Mame Diouf, Peter Crouch and Julian Ngoy then came on as the Potters reverted to a 4-2-3-1 after the break and it was Diouf, working from the right wing, who equalised from a Bojan pass.

After the match, Hughes conceded he’s still happy to tinker with his tactical approach at the moment:

“We used three different formations throughout the game today, starting off with three at the back which is something that new to the lads. That is something that could be an option to us next season – there are positive aspects to it but there are problems that it brings too, which we need to look at and address. There is certainly no harm in having more strings to our bow though.”

The news that 19-year-old winger Ramadan Sobhi is almost certain to join the Potters in a £5 million move from Egyptian champions Al Ahly will add to his option as the club prepare for a ten-day US training camp.

Stoke XI: Butland; Johnson (Bardsley 65), Shawcross (Ngoy 46), Wollscheid, Muniesa, Pieters (Taylor 80); Adam, Imbula (Lecygne 75); Bojan (Shenton 65), Arnautovic (Diouf 46); Joselu (Crouch 46).

Rotherham Utd 1 Sunderland 2

David Moyes watched his new club beat Rotherham through goals from Fabio Borini and Charles N’Zogbia.

The Black Cats’ new boss might seek to tweak the 4-3-3 formation put out by stand-in coaches Paul Bracewell and Robbie Stockdale, but the system worked well, with Wahbi Khazri and Fabio Borini either side of Jermain Defoe and Jeremain Lens, Charles N’Zogbia and Jack Rodwell starting in midfield.

Borini opened the scoring from an N’Zogbia pass before the French trialist sealed the win late in the second half.

Sunderland XI: Pickford (Mannone 46), J Robson, Kone (E Robson 84), Kaboul (Ledger 77), van Aanholt, Rodwell, N’Zogbia, Lens (Greenwood 88), Khazri (Gooch 64), Borini (Watmore 55), Defoe (Honeyman 75).

Bristol Rovers 1 Swansea 5

Andre Ayew, starting up front for the second match running, scored early as Swansea put four past their opponents in the first half.

Ayew found the top corner with a free-kick after Jack Cork was fouled before Leroy Fer stole possession and ran through to make it two.

Stephen Kingsley was the next on the score sheet when his cross looped into the net and Kyle Naughton rounded off a clinical first period with a fourth.

Wayne Routledge made it five after the break from a Cork assist.

Jefferson Montero and Ki Sung-Yueng, along with a quartet of Euro 2016 stars that includes Gylfi Sigurdsson, are still yet to join up with the Swans.

Swansea XI: Nordfeldt (Tremmel 62), Naughton, Fernandez, Amat (van der Hoorn 77), Kingsley (Rangel 62),Britton (Fulton 62), Cork, Fer (King 77), Dyer (Barrow 77), Routledge (Gorre 80), Ayew (McBurnie 62).

Watford 0 Anzhi Makhachkala 0

Watford’s Austrian tour ended in a uneventful goalless draw played out in sweltering conditions.

Coach Walter Mazzarri again employed a 3-5-2 system, with Christian Kabasele handed his first start alongside Craig Cathcart and Miguel Britos in defence.

If the Hornets’ fans had little to enjoy on the pitch, there were points of interest off it, with reports of a £16 million bid for Lille midfielder Sofiane Boufal and a loan move for Arsenal defender Calum Chambers.

Watford XI: Gomes (Pantilimon 46); Kabasele (Prödl 61), Cathcart (Nyom 61), Britos (Rowan 82); Anya (Zuniga 65), Watson (Amrabat 61), Capoue, Doucoure (Mason 75), Holebas (Suarez 61); Deeney, Sinclair (Vydra 61).

Karlsruher 0 West Ham 3

West Ham’s previously underwhelming pre-season finally moved up a gear with a convincing victory in Austria.

The Hammers made a fast start against their German opponents when Andy Carroll headed home an Enner Valencia cross and Sofiane Feghouli continued his fine July form by doubling the lead with a shot from 20 yards.

Substitute Ashley Fletcher rounded off an eye-catching performance when he finished smartly from an Aaron Cresswell pass late on, but the full-back’s match ended not long afterwards when he was forced off by a challenge that soured an otherwise good night for the Hammers.

Coach Slaven Bilic, who partnered Havard Nordtveit with Winston Reid at centre-half and again used Michail Antonio as a right-back, had mixed feelings as his side prepare for Thursday’s UEFA Europa League tie against NK Domzale in Slovenia.

“We played as a team, we were compact, we saw some great things and it was a good result. The only downside of this game is that we have to see what is wrong with Cresswell. He got injured and it didn’t look that good. We will have to assess it.”

West Ham XI: Randolph, Antonio, Nordtveit, Reid (Rice 85), Cresswell (Makasi 85), Feghouli (Martinez 85), Noble, Kouyate, Tore (Byram 64), Valencia (Fletcher 75), Carroll (Obiang 64)