Scout Notes – Pre-Season Round-Up – Part Two

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scores less than four minutes into his Manchester United debut. Chelsea’s Eden Hazard nets twice in his first summer outing, Roberto Firmino is amongst the goals as Liverpool see off AC Milan, whilst Leicester are hammered by Paris Saint Germain.

Following our earlier round-up, here’s our summary of the key events from Saturday’s late kick-offs.

Man United 5 Galatasaray2

Zlatan Ibrahimovic needed little time to announce himself to Man United fans last night.

The Swede showed just why he’s the second most popular forward in the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) game by firing an acrobatic opener less than four minutes into his Red Devils’ debut.

Jose Mourinho named Henrikh Mkhitaryan on the right of a 4-2-3-1, with Wayne Rooney tucked in behind the lone striker and Anthony Martial on the left.

Not to be outdone, Rooney bagged a brace, with one arriving via the spot after Ibrahimovic’s half-time replacement, Marcus Rashford, was brought down in the box.

Second-half subs Marouane Fellaini and Juan Mata were also in the goals and Michael Carrick emerged from the bench to provide an assist.

It was Antonio Valencia who stood out for United last night, though – the raiding right-back served notice of his intentions for the season ahead by assisting three of the Red Devils’ goals. Priced at 5.5, the Ecuadorian is shaping up to be a decent differential on the back of this display – he sits in just 1% of FPL squads compared to Luke Shaw’s 16% ownership.

After the match, Mourinho conceded yesterday’s outing was all about building up fitness levels after United’s proposed clash with neighbours City was cancelled last week, thus leaving his players one less pre-season fixture:

”The most important thing was to play, to give minutes to the players. To the ones that played less, they played 30 minutes. To the ones that played the most, they had 60, 65 minutes. They need to play. We lost a week in China and some of the boys who played today, they trained for two days. We made that decision to give them 30 or 45 minutes of the game, feeling that it would be better for them than even a double training session. I am happy that out of such a big group we have just Timothy [Fosu-Mensah] and Chris Smalling with little injuries and apart from them, no injuries and everything looks like it’s going well”

Man United: De Gea (Romero 67); Valencia (Memphis 67), Bailly (Rojo 67), Blind (Jones 67), Shaw (Darmian 67); Schneiderlin (Carrick 46), Herrera (Fellaini 46); Mkhitaryan (Lingard 46), Rooney (Mata 67), Martial (Young 46); Ibrahimovic (Rashford 46).

Paris Saint Germain 4 Leicester 0

Claudio Ranieri named a somewhat experimental side as Leicester suffered a chastening 4-0 loss at the hands of the Ligue 1 champions in the early hours of this morning.

With Jamie Vardy still sidelined after undergoing wrist surgery, the Foxes opted for a 4-4-2 set-up, with Leonardo Ulloa and Shinji Okazaki starting up front before new boy Ahmed Musa replaced the latter at the break.

Ranieri started with new signing Luis Hernandez and Ben Chilwell at full-back, whilst Daniel Amartey was partnered by summer acquisition from Nice, Nampalys Mendy, in the centre of the park. The duo struggled to cope with PSG as Leicester still come to terms with the departure of N’Golo Kante to Chelsea over the summer.

The Leicester manager made numerous changes over the course of the second period, with only four players – Kasper Schmeichel, Robert Huth, West Morgan and Ulloa – handed the full 90 minutes in a match to forget.

After his side’s defeat, Ranieri conceded that the Foxes missed both Kante and Vardy and reckons Riyad Mahrez may be affected by the recent talk over his future:

“Of course when you lose a player like Kante it is normal you have to arrange something different. Also without Vardy we lose something of our strength. Riyad maybe he is distracted from all these rumours and speculation. But that is also experience for my players. It is important he understands, stays with us and improves his fitness. He has to play for the team like last season.”

Leicester XI: Schmeichel; Hernandez (Simpson 46), Huth, Morgan, Chilwell (Fuchs 46); Mahrez (Gray 66), Amartey (Drinkwater 46), Mendy (King 66), Schlupp (Albrighton 46); Ulloa, Okazaki (Musa 46)

Real Madrid 3 Chelsea 2

Eden Hazard emerged from the bench to score twice in his first appearance of the summer under Antonio Conte.

The Blues boss made just two changes to the side that beat Liverpool in midweek, bringing in Oscar for the suspended Cesc Fabregas in central midfield, whilst Pedro took the place of Victor Moses on the left of a 4-2-4.

Chelsea’s defence did little to convince after heading into the break three goals behind, though Conte’s decision to ring the changes gradually allowed his side to claw their way back into contention – particularly when Hazard was introduced after the hour-mark.

Stationed up front, the Belgian fired home a Nathaniel Chalobah pass just 15 minutes after entering the fray and bagged a second ten minutes later thanks to an assist from Michy Batshuayi.

After the defeat, Conte’s words on the situation up front will be of particular interest to Fantasy managers. The Italian talked up Hazard’s potential in a central role and also admitted he is uncertain whether Diego Costa will remain with the club for the campaign ahead:

“Eden Hazard played 30 minutes and he is recovering a good shape. I like him in this position, like a forward, and he can be a good solution for us. Also playing as a winger. To play as a second forward he must improve his shape but he is working and he knows his shape can a lot in the same way as the other players…I can say that today Costa is a Chelsea player. He didn’t play in these games because of injury and if he solves the injury and I see in training he’s in good shape, it can be possible to see him in the next game against Milan. But I can tell only this. Today Costa is Chelsea’s player. Tomorrow if you ask me if Costa will remain with us, I don’t know.”

Chelsea XI: Begovic (Courtois 45), Aina, Cahill, Terry , Azpilicueta; Oscar (Chalobah 45),Matic; Willian (Cuadrado 45), Traore (Moses 75 ), Loftus-Cheek (Batshuayi 45), Pedro (Hazard 65).

Liverpool 2 AC Milan 0

Substitutes Divock Origi and Roberto Firmino both found the net as Liverpool bounced back from the midweek loss at the hands of Chelsea to see off their Serie A opponents earlier this morning.

Jurgen Klopp gave Georginio Wijnaldum a debut in the double-pivot as he rolled out a 4-2-3-1, with Adam Lallana, Sadio Mane and Philipp Coutinho lining up behind Daniel Sturridge in the first period.

The versatile James Milner was preferred to Alberto Moreno at left-back before moving into the centre of the park as Klopp made six changes at the break.

Moreno and Milner’s replacement, Sheyji Oyo, supplied the assists as the Reds boss made a total of ten alterations, with only Simon Mignolet afforded the full 90 minutes.

Klopp explained his decision to make so many changes and conceded it’s all about boosting players’ fitness levels at this point, with the season now less than two weeks away:

“We still have to work on everything. This is a time for fitness. We use the games but they aren’t Premier League games so we don’t need to think about them too much. It’s more intense than during the Premier League season. We have to train. I am fine with how we are in this moment but we still have a long way to go. On Sunday there will be another session because only a few players played more than 45 minutes. All the rest can train normally. Then Monday next game.”

Liverpool: Mignolet, Alexander-Arnold (Clyne 45), Lovren (Randall 75), Klavan (Wisdom 75), Milner (Ojo 62), Henderson (Brannagan 75), Wijnaldum (Moreno 45), Lallana (Stewart 45), Mane (Markovic 45), Coutinho (Firmino 45), Sturridge (Origi 45).

Monpellier 1 Sunderland 1

The Black Cats’ 100% summer record came to an end with a 1-1 draw against Ligue 1 outfit Montpellier yesterday evening.

Fabio Borini opened the scoring with his third pre-season strike – courtesy of a Lee Cattermole assist – whilst Wahbi Khazri and Jeremain Lens went close and Duncan Watmore hit the woodwork for the visitors.

Borini, Vito Mannone, Lamine Kone and Tommy Robson were the only players to feature from start to finish as Moyes rang the changes over the course of the match.

Worryingly for the Black Cats boss, a couple of those substitutions were enforced after Jan Kirchhoff and Billy Jones were withdrawn in the first half. Given that they were already without Patrick van Aanholt, Jermain Defoe and Jack Rodwell, Sunderland’s injury situation looks concerning ahead of their season opener at the Etihad.

After the match, though, first-team coach Robbie Stockdale reckoned the club’s problems aren’t quite as bad as they seem:

“I think our injury picture probably looks a bit worse than it actually is. Jan went off with a little hamstring strain. He will have a scan, which is standard, and we won’t know too much about that for a few days. Billy came off with a hip problem, but it was more of a precaution. Jack picked up a little niggle in training on Friday, but that’s all it was. Jermain is progressing very well actually. I wouldn’t like to put a date on it, but we are confident that it is not half as bad as we originally thought. Anyone who saw Patrick play last year will know that his fitness levels are fantastic…if it had been a competitive game rather than a friendly then he would have played.”

Sunderland XI: Mannone, Jones (Larsson 31), Kone, Kaboul (O’Shea 72), T Robson, Kirchhoff (N’Zogbia 25), Cattermole (E Robson 84), Watmore (Gooch 66), Khazri (J Robson 72), Lens (Asoro 66), Borini

Plymouth 0 West Brom 0

Tony Pulis handed seven players the full 90 minutes as West Brom failed to find a way past Plymouth.

New boy Matt Phillips featured from start to finish along with Ben Foster, Craig Dawson, Gareth McAuley, Jonny Evans, Claudio Yacob and Saido Berahino. The summer signing from QPR again looked lively and seems to have nailed down the right wing berth over the summer.

James McClean was preferred to youngster Jonathan Leko on the left, though the latter was introduced just before the hour-mark after impressing in previous friendlies.

Elsewhere, a West Brom XI that included the likes of Boaz Myhill, Callum McManaman and Rickie Lambert earned a narrow win over Huddersfield, with the latter netting the only goal of the match.

West Brom XI: Foster; Dawson, McAuley, Olsson (Wilson 66), Evans; Phillips, Fletcher (Gardner 70), Yacob, McClean (Leko 59); Rondon (Morrison 71), Berahino