How Gray and Townsend fared on Everton debuts – and why DCL could benefit

We’ve two more warm-up matches to bring you up to speed with as we continue to assess the form and fitness Fantasy Premier League (FPL) players in pre-season.

Everton were in the US for a clash with Colombian side Millonarios which finished in the early hours of Monday morning, while Wolverhampton Wanderers ramped up their preparations for 2021/22 with a friendly against Las Palmas later in the day.

Millonarios 1-1 Everton

• Goals: Demarai Gray (£5.5m) pen
• Assists: Nathan Broadhead

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

Fantasy managers got their first glimpses of Demarai Gray (£5.5m) and Andros Townsend (£5.5m) in Everton shirts as the Toffees sealed a penalty shoot-out win over Millonarios in the Florida Cup.

It’s probably fair to say that neither signing particularly excited Everton fans or FPL bosses, especially when we think back to the calibre of player that Carlo Ancelotti was recruiting 12 months ago.

But Rafael Benitez’s ability to get the best out of a mediocre team was a feature of his reign at Newcastle United.

Townsend indeed briefly played and excelled under the Spaniard at Newcastle in 2015/16, registering three goals and two assists in 10 appearances.

He was also third among midfielders for crosses during that spell on Tyneside and his ability to whip a ball in seems to have been the main reason for his capture.

True to form, Townsend was the fourth-best midfielder for successful crosses per 90 minutes in the Premier League last season.

The ex-Palace winger caught the eye in Florida in his first Everton appearance, playing on the right of a 4-2-3-1 and producing a number of telling deliveries – and his distribution could very well benefit Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£8.0m), as Townsend alluded to in his post-match interview:

I need to keep improving. I know the manager well and I’m sure he’ll go through the tape of the game with me and show me my good parts and – more importantly – my bad parts, so I can improve and help this club in any way possible. When I speak to him, he’ll be telling me what I could have done better and the positions he wants me to pick up. 

He wants to keep improving players and that’s why I had such a great spell with him at Newcastle. Hopefully, I can have similar success here.

I’ve had to work over the years to improve my weaker side. It’s got to the point now where I actually prefer crossing with my right. 

I was brought to this club to put crosses in the box. We’ve got a big number nine in Dominic [Calvert-Lewin] – or it could be Moise [Kean] or whoever is playing in that position – and my job is to put the ball in the box.  I did that on a couple of occasions against Millonarios and hopefully, the more the communication grows with my teammates, they’ll know where I’m going to cross the ball, and we can get some joy from it this season.

Townsend also struck the woodwork with a curling effort and Benitez said of his new signing on Monday:

He’s someone who I know from my time at Newcastle. He’s a player with quality. I was checking his fitness stats, too, and he was one of the best players in the Premier League in terms of work-rate. We have a player who can give us something more because he has the desire and he’s in a position that the team needed. I think he can do well for us.

Gray, meanwhile, was brought on to replace James Rodriguez (£7.0m) in the number 10 role at half-time.

The ex-Leicester City man is perhaps more known as a wide player but the unknown availability of Gylfi Sigurdsson (£7.0m) and reports that Rodriguez might be sold at the right price could open up a spot in ‘the hole’ of Benitez’s seemingly favoured 4-2-3-1.

A promising debut from the pacy midfielder was capped with a goal from the spot after fellow substitute Nathan Broadhead was felled.

Gray said of his Everton bow and spot-kick:

I fancied it [the penalty in regulation time], I thought it would be a good way to get off the mark in my first game.

I am feeling confident… and as I pick up fitness, hopefully, I can take that into the new season. I felt good, I felt sharp, I was happy to score the penalty and for the team to win the shootout. It is positive.

I have settled well and felt I trained well in my first few days. I took that into the game today, I was positive on the ball and made sure my touches were good.

Asmir Begovic (£4.0m) completed a hat-trick of debutants who impressed with his shootout heroics, while Lucas Digne (£5.5m) made a welcome return from injury with an hour-long run-out.

The France international understandably was a little short of his best after only just returning to pre-season training but did produce a glorious chance that Moise Kean spurned from six yards.

Everton first-half XI: Begovic, Coleman, Holgate, Godfrey, Digne, Doucoure, Allan, Iwobi, James, Townsend, Kean.

Everton second-half XI: Begovic, Kenny, Holgate (Keane 61), Godfrey (Gibson 73), Digne (Anderson 61), Allan (Gbamin 61), Gomes, Iwobi (Davies 73), Gray, Gordon, Broadhead.

LAS PALMAS 3-2 WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS

• Goals: Ki-Jana Hoever (£4.0m), Morgan Gibbs-White (£4.5m)
• Assists: Hugo Bueno, Yerson Mosquera (£4.5m)

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

Bruno Lage’s attacking 4-4-2 set-up was again on show as Wolves contested their second pre-season friendly in the space of 48 hours.

Raul Jimenez (£7.5m) was rested as Patrick Cutrone and Fabio Silva (£6.0m) were deployed up top, with Rayan Ait-Nouri (£4.5m) used ‘out of position’ on the left wing once more – although there was some fluidity to Lage’s set-up.

It remains to be seen if Ait-Nouri’s FPL appeal is as short-lived as that of Ruben Vinagre 12 months ago, with Adama Traore‘s (£6.0m) return to training and playing likely to be the biggest threat to the youngster’s run-outs further forward.

With Marcal (£4.5m) starting all three pre-season games at left-back, there are no guarantees that Ait-Nouri even nails down a start in the medium term.

But Nelson Semedo (£5.0m) on the opposite wing looks to be prospering in the new set-up, particularly with Francisco Trincao (£6.0m) fond of cutting inside and opening up the right flank to Semedo’s forward runs.

Both Wolves goals were well taken by substitutes Ki-Jana Hoever (£4.0m) and Morgan Gibbs-White (£4.5m), with the latter’s strike set up by a raking long pass from centre-half Yerson Mosquera (£4.5m).

Mosquera impressed at the rear and he was part of a back three in the second half, with Lage switching up his tactics.

The high defensive line is something that needs work on based on the evidence of pre-season and will be of great interest to owners of Leicester City attackers ahead of Gameweek 1.

Wolverhampton Wanderers XI: Sa (Ruddy 46), Semedo (Hoever 46), Mosquera, Saiss (Marques 46), Marcal (Kilman 46), Trincao (Cundle 46), Moutinho (Dendoncker 46), Neves (Gibbs-White 46), Ait-Nouri (Bueno 46), Cutrone (Dadashov 68), Silva (Campbell 68).