Raheem Sterling grabs a goal on his Man City debut. Mephis Depay and Juan Mata guide United to victory. Rolando Aarons scores twice and claims an assist as Newcastle narrowly lose. Claudio Ranieri opens his Leicester tenure with a win, Jay Rodriguez and Graziano Pelle both hit hat-tricks for Southampton, whilst Scott Sinclair is amongst the goals for Villa.
Manchester City 2 Roma 2 (City win 5-4 on pens)
Raheem Sterling took less than three minutes to open his account at Manchester City, striding onto a Kelechi Iheanacho through ball and calmly slotting past the Roma keeper. The creator turned scorer in the second half, with Iheanacho executing a stunning strike from 16 yards out. With nothing to separate the two sides at the final whistle, the Sky Blues emerged victorious in a penalty shootout, with Joe Hart saving two spot-kicks and scoring himself to claim the headlines.
Pellegrini fielded a raft of youngsters in his starting line-up alongside a senior core of Bacary Sagna, Vincent Kompany, Eliaquim Mangala, Gael Clichy, Fernando, David Silva and Sterling. The Chilean boss organised his troops in a 4-3-3 set-up, with Sterling and Silva interchanging on the wings behind lone marksman Iheanacho.
After the match, Pellegrini admitted that Sterling’s pace will be a key asset to his side’s attack in the season ahead:
“He demonstrated why he’s here. Good players always link immediately when they know how to play. Immediately David found a good striker who was making good movements. He has the speed that we don’t have so it will be a different way of playing. I’m sure that he’s the player we need in our team and that’s the reason we bought him. Always for a striker its important to score, especially to score very early in the game. He played just 45 minutes and worked with our team just a few days so I’m happy with the way he played.”
KVV Quick ’20 0 Southampton 10
The Saints filled their boots against the Dutch amateur outfit to claim their third victory this pre-season. Graziano Pelle and Jay Rodriquez both bagged hat-tricks, while Steven Davis notched a brace. Jordan Turnbull and Juanmi applied some extra gloss to the eye-catching scoreline with goals of their own.
Aside from the scorers, Cedric Soares and Matt Targett were fielded in the full-back berths, with the latter serving up two assists for his team-mates. Jordy Clasie was afforded his debut start in a Saints strip, while James Ward-Prowse made his first start since returning from international duty with the England U21s.
Reflecting on the performance of Jay Rodriquez (three goals and as many assists) after the encounter, assistant manager Erwin Koeman revealed that the English attacker is still not back to full fitness following his lengthy injury lay-off:
“Graziano is living for scoring and Jay is coming back and he made three goals as well. Jay maybe needs more time to be fit again. We are very glad he is training and playing games, but he needs time. It’s a victory for him.”
Swindon Town 0 Aston Villa 2
The Villains claimed their first victory of the summer with a comfortable win over League One opposition. Scott Sinclair converted from close range to open the scoring, before 19-year-old Jerel Sellars doubled their advantage late in the second period.
Tim Sherwood deployed his troops in a 4-4-1-1 set-up, with Jed Steer between the sticks. Micah Richards and Ciaran Clark partnered up in central defence, while debutant Jordan Amavi (left-back) and Alan Hutton (right-back) completed the rearguard. Ashley Westwood and Gary Gardner filled the central midfield slots, allowing Sinclair and Leandro Bacuna to stretch the play on the flanks, whilst Carles Gil operated just behind lone striker Gabriel Agbonlahor.
Bacuna has now started the last two pre-season matches in midfield, alerting us to his out-of-position potential. The 5.0-priced defender bagged five assists in just 983 minutes last term from the right-back position, illustrating his capacity to deliver attacking returns. The similarly priced Sinclair could be another to monitor as Sherwood looks to restructure in his first full season at the helm – Villa have Bournemouth, Palace, Sunderland, Leicester and West Brom in the first six Gameweeks.
Lincoln City 1 Leicester City 3
Claudio Ranieri christened his Foxes tenure with a spirited win, courtesy of late goals from Andrej Kramaric and Jamie Vardy. Riyad Mahrez netted the equaliser just before half time, negating Lincoln’s converted spot-kick at the 10-minute mark.
Ranieri opted for a continuation of the 3-5-2 formation rolled out by former boss Nigel Pearson, with Leonardo Ulloa and Shinji Okazaki forming the strike partnership and Mahrez tucked in behind. In defence, Robert Huth, Liam Moore and Christian Fuchs made up the back-three. The Foxes boss made wholesale changes at half-time, though, with the likes of Marc Albrighton and Jeffrey Schlupp joining Vardy and Kramaric in the XI.
Portland Timbers 4 Newcastle United 3
Newcastle United rounded off their tour of America with a narrow defeat, having left out a plethora of first-teamers due to the artificial pitch. Manager Steve McClaren set out his side in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with an unusual back four of Gael Bigirimana, Lubomir Satka, Shane Ferguson and Rolando Aarons. Mehdi Abeid and Georginio Wijnaldum occupied the double pivot, while Moussa Sissoko, Ayoze Perez and Yoan Gouffran supported lone frontman Papiss Cisse.
Aarons was undoubtedly the star man for the Magpies, marauding forward from his left-back berth to cause the American outfit all sorts of problems. Having delivered the cross for Wijnaldum to net on his debut, the 19-year-old winger scored two goals (an overhead kick and a long-range strike) in as many minutes in the final quarter of the encounter to set up a tense finish for the hosts. Priced at just 5.0 in FPL, the youngster is clearly one to watch this season after suffering an injury-hit campaign last time out.
Post-match, McClaren explained the reasons behind his team selection:
“We had six of seven who couldn’t play on this surface, and quite a few played who we only wanted to have a small amount of time (on the pitch) because of troubles they get. In that respect, the key thing was that everyone came through safely and no injuries. We’ve more or less done that. In the first half it was a makeshift back four. We had no centre-halves, really. They couldn’t play on this surface. That was always going to be difficult.”
Manchester United 3 San Jose Earthquakes 1
Memphis Depay capitalised on an errant back-pass to notch his first goal in a Red Devils strip, while Andreas Pereira also carded his debut strike, expertly heading home a Jesse Lingard cross. Juan Mata was the other midfielder to grace the scoresheet, guiding a low, accurate finish inside the upright.
Louis van Gaal named the same starting XI that lined up against Club America in a 4-4-1-1 set-up, with a back five of Sam Johnstone, Matteo Darmian, Phil Jones, Daley Blind and Luke Shaw. A central midfield pairing of Michael Carrick and Morgan Schneiderlin was flanked by Ashley Young and Juan Mata, with Depay operating in “the hole” behind Wayne Rooney. Young again impressed on the left and with Angel Di Maria reportedly nearing the exit door, he may well prove an option at 6.0 in FPL.
Despite United sealing their second consecutive pre-season victory, Van Gaal was unsatisfied with the performance and was particularly critical of Bastian Schweinsteiger’s display:
“He was also bad. There was one highlight, I think, and that was Pereira. But players can play badly, certainly when you have only three days or six days of training sessions in your legs, and you have to play 45 minutes. Everybody can think it is easy to step in but it is not easy. In the first match, he [Schweinsteiger] played very well and now he played badly. That is also a process, certainly when you’ve only had one week of training.”
The Red Devils boss also confirmed that David de Gea could be set to feature against Barcelona at the weekend after stepping up his recovery from a minor injury that has prevented him from taking any part in the action to date.
A reminder that all these results, along with Scout Notes on formations and form players is being captured on our dedicated page right here.
