I’ve been stranded in the US all week, fighting a different time zone to bring you news of proceedings back home. As a result, I’ve fallen behind with the pre-season games as the week has gone on. To put things right and to catch up before things go pre-season crazy, I’ve rounded up all the week’s friendlies, together with team lineups, in one handy post.

Monday July 14

Tavernes 0 Tottenham 8

Giovani dos Santos ended his Spurs debut with a second-half brace as Ramos’ side romped to victory over their Spanish opponents. O’Hara and reserve striker Pekhart also got a pair of goals with Malbranque and Lennon completing the scoring.

Ramos went with two completely different lineups, offering little clue at this stage as to his strongest eleven. However, both elevens did appear to take up a 4-3-3 come 4-5-1 formation with Ramos selecting 3 forwards in each half. As a side note, Modric, Zokora and Gilberto were all on extended summer breaks due to international commitments in the post-season.

Spurs continue their training camp in Spain before returning to the UK to take on Norwich on July 28.

Tottenham vs Tavernes:
First half: Alnwick, Gunter, Assou-Ekotto, Dawson, Chimbonda, Lennon, Jenas, Taarabt, Bostock, Keane, Bent.

Second half: Jansson, Hutton, Townsend, Tainio, Archibald-Henville, Malbranque, O’Hara, Huddlestone, dos Santos, Berbatov, Pekhart.

North Ferriby 0 Hull 4

Hull’s first pre-season game saw them take on North Ferriby in the annual Billy Bly Memorial Trophy match. Hull boss Phil Brown put out two different elevens over the 35 minute each way encounter so there were few clues on offer from this one. Geovanni did make his Hull debut up front in the first half however. Marney, Atkinson, Turner and Barmby got the goals for the Premiership newcomers.

Hull City vs Nth Ferriby:
First Half: Duke, France, Plummer (McNamara), Lamplough, Ricketts, Fagan, Welsh, Marney, Atkinson, Geovanni, Windass.

Second Half: Myhill, Doyle, Turner, Cooper, Dawson, Garcia, Hughes, Ashbee, Barmby, Featherstone, Folan.

Macclesfield 1 Blackburn Rovers 2

Dunn and Gallacher got the goals for Ince’s boys as they got their pre-season underway. As expected at this early stage, the Rovers boss changed things with a new eleven at half-time to enable him to get a look at his new players so in many ways there’s little that can be gleaned from thisone. That’s particularly true when you consider that wantaway Bentley (that’s now officially his full name) was absent with a calf strain, whilst Santa Cruz, Ooijer, Emerton and Mokoena were all granted extended leave due to international commitments in the post-season.

Having said that, the Blackburn lineup in the first-half was by far the strongst and offered some clues as to Ince’s thinking. Potential points of interest being Ince’s decision to play Reid at right-back while Derbyshire took Bentley’s place on the right of midfield.

Blackburn vs Macclesfield:
First Half: Friedel, Reid, Samba, Nelsen, Warnock, Derbyshire, Dunn, Vogel, Pedersen, Roberts, McCarthy.

Second Half: Brown, Kane, Winnard, Khizanishvili, Olsson, Doran (Clarke 69), Judge, Hodge, Treacy, Gallagher, Rigters.

Tuesday July 15

Southend 0 Fulham 2

Nevland and Murphy got the goals for Hodgeson’s men as they got their pre-season underway. Fulham put out a strong side for this first game with 10 of the starting 11 boasting first-team experience. Only new signing Stockdale in goal was a newcomer, although Hodgson also handed Steven Davis a start on the right of midfield – Davis was on loan for the entirety of last season at Rangers.

Dempsey and Johnson were both absent for this one but will return for Fulham’s match against Celtic on Saturday. Zamora and Paintsil could also make their debut’s in this one.

Fulham vs Southend:
Stockdale, Volz, Konchesky (Kallio 45), Hangeland (Hughes 45), Baird, Davis (Cook 65), Bullard (Murphy 45), Davies, Andreasen (Andranik 45), Healy, Nevland.

Hull City 4 Winterton Rangers 0

Once again Hull boss Phil Brown elected to put out two completely different lineups for each half with just a couple of exceptions. South African triallist Delron Buckley and youth team defender Liam Cooper also appearing for the second-half. Geovanni, Buckley, Welsh and Lamplough got Hull’s goals.

Hull City vs Winterton Rangers:
First Half: Myhill, Doyle, Turner, Cooper, Ricketts, Garcia, Hughes, Ashbee, Buckley, Featherstone, Folan.

Second Half: Duke, France, Plummer, Cooper, Lamplough, Fagan, Welsh, Marney, Buckley (Devitt), Geovanni, Windass.

Wednesday July 16

Borussia Monchengladbach 2 West Brom 1

Dutch striker Sherjill MacDonald got the Baggies goal as they began their pre-season with a defeat at the hands of their German opponents. Mowbray used 20 players over the 90 minutes, although his initial lineup did offer some clues as to his thinking, particularly up front where Moore and the lively Miller were paired. As a side note to this one, midfielder Robert Koren suffered a knee injury in this game and faces “a few weeks” on the sidelines as a result. Greening also suffered a knock but should be okay for the Baggies next friendly against Cologne today.

West Brom vs Borussia:
Kiely; Hoefkens (Slusarski 67), Barnett (Hodgkiss 67), Clement (Pele 67), Robinson (Tininho 67); Morrison (Worrall 45), Greening (Kim 45), Koren (Dorrans 59), Brunt (MacDonald 45); Miller (Beattie 45), Moore (Bednar 45).

Lucerne 1 Liverpool 2

Goals from Lucas and Voronin were enough to hand Liverpool a second pre-season victory. Spanish youngling Daniel Pacheco was once again the headline act however. Benefiting from the prolonged breaks handed to Euro 2008 pairing Kuyt and Torres, the 17-year old is taking his chances impressing once again having caught the eye against Tranmere last time out.

Kuyt did make a return as a second-half sub in this one having missed the Tranmere game but Rafa used him sparingly, whilst Gerrard was unused as a sub due, apparently, to tiredness. Pennant and Finnan meanwhile both had knocks according to the Liverpool boss – although both are being linked with moves away from Anfield. Make of that what you will. New signing, Dossena, also missed out because his international clearance is yet to arrive.

Elsewhere in this game, the performance of Argentinian Sebastian Leto is also of interest. He’s been unavailable to Rafa since December due to work permit issues but could well feature this season as an option on the left. Certainly worth monitoring.

Liverpool vs Lucerne:
Cavalieri, Degen (Darby), Carragher (Skrtel), Agger (Hyypia), Insua (Aurelio), Benayoun (Babel), Lucas, Plessis (Spearing), Leto, Pacheco (Mascherano), Voronin (Kuyt).

Exeter 1 Portsmouth 1

An early Defoe penalty gave Pompey the lead as they opened their pre-season at Exeter but the Premiership side were pegged back and had to settle for a draw. Redknapp handed Little a debut in midfield but kept Crouch and Sahar on the bench. In typical Harry style, a number of trialists were also given a run out. Diarra, Kranjcar and Johnson have all been handed extended breaks and were absent from this one.

Linvoy Primus made his first appearance for the club since the final day of the 2006-07 season, coming on as a second-half sub.

Portsmouth vs Exeter:
James (Trialist 46); Lauren (Duffy 46), Campbell (c) (Primus 46), Pamarot (Distin 46), Cranie (Traore 46); Mvuemba (Subotic 80), Davis (Hughes 46), Mendes (Mendes 46), Little (Nugent 46); Trialist (Christophe 69), Defoe (Sahar 46)

Thursday July 17

Hampton & Richmond 2 West Ham 4

Craig Bellamy sent an early reminder of his potential for the coming season with a brace at non-league Hampton. Hines and Noble provided the other goals in this win for Curbishley’s side.

In terms of the lineup – Davenport made a return to action in central defence after suffering a nasty neck injury whilst on loan at Watford last season whilst the injury prone Faubert and Ashton also got starts.

West Ham vs Hampton:
Green (Walker 70), Neill (Spence 83), Ferdinand, Davenport, Widdowson, Faubert (Stanislas 65), Mullins (Parker 46), Noble (Collison 46), Reid (Stokes 79), Bellamy (Hines 79), Ashton (Cole 46)

Friday July 18

York 2 Middlesbrough 2

Goals from Wheater and Jonathan Franks earned Southgate’s side a hard-fought draw at York. Boro used 20 players in the game, with only keeper Brad Jones playing 90 minutes.

That is a point of interest in that, on this evidence, Jones appears to be the favourite to start in goal for Boro come the season kick-off against Spurs. Southgate has already stated that he will stick by Jones and Turnbull as his options going into the season, despite the departure of Schwarzer to Fulham. Jones is of course, available for a modest price across the fantasy games.

Middlesbrough vs York:
First half: Jones; Williams, Huth, Pogatetz, Bennett; Walker, Digard, Cattermole, A Johnson; Alves, Aliadiere.

Second half: Jones; McMahon, Wheater, Grounds, Taylor; Owens, Arca, Shawky, Downing; Franks, Porritt.

Swindon 1 Portsmouth 3

Goals from Hreidarsson, Defoe and Danijel Subotic were enough to give Pompey victory in their second pre-season game. Harry made several changes to the starting eleven against Exeter with Hreidarsson, Bouba Diop and Hughes coming in for Cranie, Davis and Little. Once again Harry was without Diarra, Kranjcar and Johnson for this game.

Crouch made his first appearance in his second spell at the club as a second-half sub. Redknapp has already said that he will start with both Defoe and Crouch at Bournemouth on Monday night. Portsmouth will also send a second side to Dorchester that evening with David James apparently lined up to start in that one.

One point that might be worth noting is that Pamarot has started both pre-season games so far, once at left-back and in this game, as a partner to Campbell at centre-back. It looks as though he could well retain a place in the back four over Hreidarsson or maybe even Distin.

Portsmouth vs Swindon:
James (Begovic 46); Lauren (Cranie 46), Campbell (c) (Distin 46), Pamarot, Hreidarsson (Traore 46); Mvuemba (Subotic 83), Diop (Davis 46), Mendes (Muntari 46), Hughes (Christophe 83); Defoe (Crouch 46), Koroma (Sahar 46)

Newcastle Town 0 Stoke City 3

Stoke got off to a winning start in their pre-season thanks to goals form Cresswell, Parkin and Rooney. Like many Premiership managers at this point, Stoke boss Tony Pulis used two different sides over the 90 minutes giving us little clue as to his first eleven. With more new arrivals likely to follow yesteday’s siging of Dave Kitson, it’s going to be a while before we’ll have a handle on Stoke’s likely lineup come August 16. The game against Nuremberg on Tuesday might give us more clues and should see Kitson get his Stoke debut.

Stoke City vs Newcastle Town:
First Half: Simonsen; Wilkinson, Cort, Matteo, Pugh; Lawrence, Delap, Whelan, Cresswell; Pericard, Parkin.

Second Half: Simonsen; Griffin, Shawcross, Buxton, Dickinson; Grocott, Thorley, Pulis, J. Phillips, Rooney, Sidibe.