A busy programme of pre-season games saw Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti stick with his new diamond midfield to see off Inter, Arsenal hit the goal trail and wins for the likes of Spurs, City and Villa. Here’s the beef on the latest round of friendly fixtures…
Drogba and Lampard were the familiar names on the scoresheet as Chelsea saw off Mourinho’s Inter by a two goal margin in the the Rose Bowl stadium.
Carlo Ancelotti again went with a strong lineup, restoring the African contingent to his eleven having been deprived of them in the weekend friendly. The Chelsea boss again went with a diamond in midfield, with Mikel taking the holding role and Essien shifting to the right. Once again Malouda lined up on the left and Lampard was deployed as the cutting edge on the tip of the diamond, in support of the strikers Drogba and Kalou. It was another strong back four with Carvalho returning to partner Terry in the centre. Ivanovic started at right-back with Ashley Cole on the left.
Ancelotti’s clearly doing his best to give us plenty of indication of his first choice eleven altthough it’s still too early for complacency. The injury to Ballack and Joe Cole’s continued struggle for fitness has served to clear some of the clutter in midfield although Zhirkov’s role is still far from clear and this will be the main concern for those fantasy managers considering Ashley Cole and Malouda. Zhirkov is yet to receive his work permit, so Ancelotti is unable to call on him in the pre-season to this point which isn’t helping our situation. The Alex vs Carvalho scenario in defence is another troubling issue that’s still fuzzy and preventing us being overly confident in either player. Carvalho’s future at the Bridge is far from settled so that situation could well clear in the next few weeks.
There were plenty of friendlies elsewhere, although few are really worthy of analysis at this stage.
Arsenal followed their 2-2 draw at Barnet with a convincing 7-1 win in Austria against SC Columbia. Bendtner, Ramsey and Van Persie all gorged themselves on a pair of goals each; Gallas got the other Gunners goal. Wenger rested Rosicky after his run-out at Barnet but gave first pre-season action to the likes of Toure, Eboue, Denilson, Ramsey and Bendtner.
Stoke stopped the rot after three straight friendly defeats with a 1-1 draw with Hapoel Tel Aviv, also in Austria. Salif Diao got the Potters goal as Pulis opted to strengthen his lineup – handing starts to Abdoulaye Faye, Matthew Etherington, Liam Lawrence and James Beattie.
A goal in first half injury time from Stephen Ireland handed Man City their first victory, running out 1-0 victors over South African side Kaizer Chiefs. Gareth Barry was the only new signing to get a run out in a reasonably familiar City lineup. With Robinho also to return from his exploits in the Confederations Cup we’re still very much in the dark as to how Mark Hughes intends to assemble his new strikeforce.
Back on home soil Harry Redknapp’s Tottenham side continued their hot pre-season streak with a 4-0 thumping of Peterborough. A fair strongly team ran out last night, with most notable omissions being team captain Robbie Keane and the defensive partnership of Woodgate & King. The players to get on the score sheet were Bent, Defoe, Pavlyuchenko and Modric – continuing in their good form in front of goal.
An almost full strength Fulham side had to settle for a goalless draw at Bournemouth. Despite not scoring, Erik Nevland once again put in a performance of merit. With Bobby Zamora currently talking to Hull and no new strikers on their way (as of yet) Nevland continues to look the perfect bargain option at only £5.0m in Fantasy Premier League.
Aston Villa meanwhile had to claw back a two goal deficit to finish with a 2-2 draw against Colchester. A notable absence of Villa’s most popular forwards could be seen with the likes of Ashley Young, Milner, Agbonlahor & Carew absent from the squad. On hand with a goal once more was Steve Sidwell, a person many will be keeping an eye on now that Gareth Barry has left a space in the side. Youngster Adam McGurk scored Villa’s opener.
Hull City continued their winning ways with a 2-1 victory over Carlisle. Playing with two different sides for each half, nigh on the whole squad got a run out. Trialist Jerome Thomas was also given another chance to impress manager Phil Brown. Two well taken second half goals from Cousin and Halmosi gave Hull their pre-season win.
Portsmouth ran out a 2-2 stalemate against Havant & Waterlooville in their first match since Sulaiman Al Fahim’s takeover went through. Chances were slim and Pompey were rusty in their first game in two months – the goals ended up coming from trialist Eugen Bopp. Absent from the Portsmouth squad was keeper David James, as well as Peter Crouch whom Paul Hart has conceded is likely to leave.
Finally, newly promoted Wolves continued their pre-season with a 1-0 victory of neighbouring side Walsall. Endearing himself to the strong travelling crowd, new signing Andrew Surman bagged the lone goal last night. Currently on trial, Bobo Balde put in a strong performance and will be one to keep our eyes on when looking for cheap defenders. Kevin Doyle once again didn’t play, as our tweet master Greek Fan reported, news has come to light that Doyle actually had a hernia operation and will be fighting to make the start of the season.