The Pre-season Friendly Hub Part 3
We continue our pre-season round up by attempting to bring you the key information you will need ahead of the season, to assess ahead of the season proper in about two weeks time. Line-ups, scorers and assisters are all listed for the 20 FPL sides if they have played this weekend. The Gallant Pioneer has done a great job of posting other teams results in his last article’s comments section so check those out too!…
SWANSEA CITY
Plymouth Argyle 0-4 Swansea City
GOALS:
Rory Donnelly (unassisted) 9 mins
Jordi Amat (assisted by Gylfi Sigurdsson) 69 mins
Gylfi Sigurdsson (assisted by Alex Bray) 72 mins
Gylfi Sigurdsson (not stated) 92 mins
Fabianski (Cornell 66)
Rangel (Tiendalli 45), Chico, Bartley (Amat 45), Kingsley (Taylor 66)
Ki (Richards 45), Shelvey (Sigurdsson 66)
Routledge (Montero 45), Dyer (King 66), Sheehan (Bray 66)
Donnelly (Gomis 50)
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MANCHESTER CITY
Milan 1-5 Manchester City
GOALS:
Stevan Jovetic (assisted by Jesus Navas) 11 mins
Scott Sinclair (assisted by Gael Clichy) 13 mins
Jesus Navas (unassisted) 23 mins
Kelechi Ihenacho (unassisted) 26 mins
Stevan Jovetic (assisted by Aleksandar Kolarov) 58 mins
Caballero
Clichy, Boyata (Rekik 77), Nastasic, Kolarov (Richards 69)
Navas (Leigh 77), Fernando (Javi Garcia 60), Zuculini (Rodwell 77), Sinclair
Jovetic (Guidetti 69), Iheanacho (Huws 60)
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LIVERPOOL
Liverpool 1-0 Olympiacos
27 July 2014
GOAL: Raheem Sterling (assisted by Daniel Sturridge) 5 mins
Jones
Johnson (Kelly 62), Skrtel, Toure (Coates 62), Enrique (Robinson 45)
Henderson, Gerrard (Lucas 62), Can (Allen 45)
Sterling (Ibe 75), Sturridge (Lambert 75), Markovic (Coutinho 45)
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WEST BROMWICH ALBION
Nottingham Forest 1-0 West Bromwich Albion
Foster
Wisdom, Dawson, Olsson (Lescott 45 {O’Neill 81}), Pocognoli (Garmston 86)
Baird, Yacob (Anichebe 45)
Gardner, Mulumbu (Brunt 72), Dorrans
Berahino (Roofe 76)
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NEWCASTLE UTD
Malaga 3-1 Newcastle Utd.
2 August 2014
GOAL: Gabriel Obertan (assist not known) 60 mins
Elliot
Yanga-Mbiwa (Satka 84), Steven Taylor, Coloccini (Williamson 74), Haidara
Abeid (Vuckic 74), Colback (Anita 67)
Sissoko (Gouffran 45), Armstrong (Aarons 45), Cabella (Obertan 45)
Perez (Riviere 45)
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TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Tottenham Hotspur 6-1 Celtic
GOALS:
Andros Townsend (assisted by Harry Kane) 8 mins
Roberto Soldado (assisted by Lewis Holtby) 12 mins
Lewis Holtby (assisted by Etiene Capoue) 45 mins
Erik Lamela (unassisted) 65 mins
Christian Eriksen (free-kick, assisted by Emmanuel Adebayor) 81 mins
Emmanuel Adebayor (PENALTY won by Danny Rose) 89 mins
First Half:
Friedel
Naughton, Dawson (Fryers 20), Kaboul, Davies
Mason, Capoue
Holtby, Kane, Townsend
Soldado
Second Half:
Friedel
Naughton (Fredericks 70), Fryers, Kaboul, Rose
Bentaleb, Capoue (Sandro 70)
Lennon, Lamela, Eriksen
Adebayor
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BURNLEY
Blackpool 0-1 Burnley
GOAL:
Marvin Sordell (assist not known) 64
Cisak (Gilks 45)
Lafferty (O’Neill 73), Long, Shackell (Duff 45), Reid (Trippier 64)
Wallace (Gilchrist 81), Marney (Hewitt 73), Jones (Mee 60), Taylor (Arfield 45)
Barnes (Ings 64), Sordell (Jutkiewicz 73)
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CRYSTAL PALACE
Brentford 3-2 Crystal Palace
GOALS:
Glenn Murray (unassisted) 56 mins
Marouane Chamakh (assisted by Joe Ledley) 58 mins
Hennessey (Speroni 45)
Ward, Delaney, Dann, Mariappa
Puncheon, Bolasie, Jedinak, Ledley
Murray, Chamakh
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LEICESTER CITY
Preston North End 1-1 Leicester City
GOAL: Liam Moore (assisted by Gary Taylor-Fletcher) 25 mins
Schmeichel
De Laet (McCourt 78), Wasilewski (Morgan 70), Moore (Kennedy 70), Konchesky
Drinkwater (Hammond 70), James (King 70), Knockaert (Albrighton 70), Taylor-Fletcher (Wood 62)
Vardy (Mahrez 34), Ulloa (Nugent 62)
QUEENS PARK RANGERS
Shamrock Rovers 0-4 Queens Park Rangers
GOAL:
Junior Hoilett (assisted by Alejandro Faurlin) 15 mins
Charlie Austin (unassisted) 32 mins
Junior Hoilett (assist not known) 88 mins
Charlie Austin (assisted by Steven Caulker) 90 mins
Green
Caulker, Dunne, Onuoha
Simpson, Barton, Faurlin (Henry 65), Hoilett, Traore
Austin, Zamora (Wright-Phillips 63)
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SWANSEA CITY
Reading 1-3 Swansea City
GOALS:
Wayne Routledge (assisted by Wilfried Bony) 23 mins
Wayne Routledge (assisted by Gylfi Sigurdsson ) 25 mins
Bafetimbi Gomis (unassisted) 65 mins
*Note – Wilfired Bony misses penalty 14 mins
Fabianski
Tiendalli (Rangel 90), Williams, Bartley, Taylor
Ki, Shelvey
Sigurdsson, Gomis, Routledge (Dyer 66)
Bony (Montero 66)
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STOKE CITY
Burton Albion 0-0 Stoke City
Butland
Shotton, Cameron (Watkins 45), Teixeira, Wheeler
Odemwingie (Alabi 45), Palacios (Shenton 59), Sidwell, Ness, Shea
Jerome
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WEST HAM UTD
Schalke 04 0-0 West Ham Utd.
(West Ham Utd. win 7-6 on penalties)
2 August 2014
Jaaskelainen
O’Brien, Tomkins (Reid 45), Collins, Potts
Nolan, Kouyate (Diame 53), Poyet, Fanimo (Lletget 53)
Cole (Lee 82), Downing (Vaz Te 79)
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ASTON VILLA
Groningen 4-1 Aston Villa
GOAL: Charles N’Zogbia (assist not known) 77 mins
Given
Hutton, Senderos, Clark, Baker
Westwood, Delph, Richardson
Weimann, Bent, Agbonlahor
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ARSENAL
Arsenal 5-1 Benfica
2 August 2014
GOALS:
Yaya Sanogo (assisted by Aaron Ramsey) 25 mins
Joel Campbell (assisted by Hector Bellerin) 40 mins
Yayo Sanogo (assisted by Joel Campbell) 45 mins
Yaya Sanogo (assisted by Kieran Gibbs) 45 mins
Yaya Sanogo (assisted by Aaron Ramsey 55 mins
Martinez
Bellerin, Chambers, Monreal (Miquel 75), Gibbs
Flamini, (Areteta 60) Rosicky (Coquelin 60)
Campbell (Alexis 73), Ramsey (Wilshere 60), Oxlade-Chamerlain (Cazorla 45)
Sanogo (Akpom 75)
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HULL
One team have already played competitively this season and that is Hull City.
AS Trencin 0-0 Hull City
31 July 2014
[Tom Huddlestone missed penalty (won by Shane Long) 60 mins]
McGregor
Elmohamady, Davies, Bruce, Chester, Rosenior
Meyler (Snodgrass 65), Huddlestone, Livermore Aluko (Ince 65)
Long (Jelavic 86)
The HCT (Hull City Tigers anyone?) No . . . oh well, ‘Hull’ then, begun their first ever European campaign last night in Slovakia where they secured a 0-0 draw with Trencin. The second leg of this is Thursday 7th followed by a friendly in Stuttgart on the Sunday (10th). Thereafter if they qualify next week, they face the final play-off round for the Europa League on Thursday 21st and 28th August – just as the Premier League campaign is beginning to take off. Beware rotation in the Hull ranks.
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So there you have it – up to date on all pre-season (and relevant European) matters so what have we learned?
HOT:
Stevan Jovetic
The Manchester City striker has had a great pre-season so far scoring four goals in his last two matches against Milan and Liverpool. Those Edin Dzeko supporters who were rubbing their hands excitedly after Alvaro Negredo’s injury will now be wringing their hands nervously at the form of the Montenegrin. The likliehood is that rotation will occur to partner Sergio Aguero in attack for Manuel Pellegrini’s charges. It really is so difficult to second guess the Chilean. Interestingly though Dzeko and Jovetic were paired together in the Liverpool match but I don’t see Aguero NOT playing or City going for three strikers.
So, who will start in attack when the Sky Blues open up at Newcastle on the opening weekend? Ask me a question on geography!
Southampton
Amidst the frenzy of activity at Southampton this summer due to the mass exodus of playing staff, it sort of has gone unnoticed that they have now played five pre-season matches and until 15 minutes from the end of last night’s win at Brighton, they had not concede one single goal, winning all those matches.
It bodes well for the Saints defence going into the season and it may be the same for our fantasy teams. You can pick up Jose Fonte, Ryan Bertrand or Nathaniel Clyne as probable first choices for Ronald Koeman. More interestingly, providing they don’t sign further defensive reinforcements, there may be decent value in Maya Yoshida (4.5) or Jos Hoiveld (4.0).
My following of all of Southampton’s matches via club reporters and twitter have shown me that Nathaniel Clyne is being involved regularly in the offensive half of the field and with Chambers now off to the Emirates, he will be my investment in the Saints backline.
Additionally, for those investing in some of Southampton’s new attacking talent, both Graziano Pelle and Dusan Tadic have scored for their new clubs already and also laid on a few goals between them.
NOT
Vito Mannone
This may well all be part of Gus Poyet’s grand plan but Vito Mannone has played just 45 minutes of Sunderland’s first match (against Darlington) and then 60 minutes versus Carlisle United. Those were the club’s first two pre-season matches and in the preceding three, he has not seen a minute of action with Costel Pantillimon and the youth goalkeepers preferred. It has been revealed at the time of writing this article, that he is also not involved in tonight’s friendly against Vitoria Setubal, reportedly through illness. Therefore we only have two Sunderland pre-season matches to come so we’ll see if this changes but his current absence raises some issues for some fantasy managers.
The good news for prospective fantasy owners is that you can have his likely replacement, the huge Romanian Pantillimon, for exactly the same outlay of cash so this shouldn’t disrupt the rest of your fantasy team plans in any way.
Hello fellow managers, its a delight to be back with you guys, this time from day 1 to 38… its going to be awsome #FunTimes #FPL
Slow . .
Long time no hear.
Stick around – this site has never been better or busier.
Hope you have the shell of your team sorted :p
Im only creating my team now, starting to get a headache too… I see here that theres a new feature, where u can upload a screenshot of your team (new to me atleast), of which I find very handy… il utilize it once Im done
Slow,
It’s a brilliant new feature – only went live yesterday thanks to great work by the team.
Although some are using it for monkey pictures (long story!)
I think I finally have my team nailed. Gone for Siggy over Snodgrass.
Need an rmt guys.
Anyone?
Baines must really be set in your heart Tique haha. I think its a great team, youve covered all the bases!
Lol you know me too well now. Me and baines will never be separated haha.
Falcao!!! nothing better than getting some minutes against Arsenal. Thanks for the confidence boost boys. That will allow my Colombian friend to feel a bit better about his knee.
Im only creating my team now, starting to get a headache too… I see here that theres a new feature, where u can upload a screenshot of your team (new to me atleast), of which I find very handy… il utilize it once Im done
Thanks for the great write-up GP!! So much good information in there. Is anyone that has Jelavic in their current draft as a cheap 3rd striker concerned that he didn’t come on until the 86th minute and it was a competitive Europa League match? Will Hull play with one up top most matches, and is Long the preferred striker?
I’m also a little worried about getting my Chelsea defender right, as I keep swapping between Terry and Cahill and Cahill didn’t start in the last match.
Red – it just hit me – why play the guessing game with Jelavic/Long in a 3-4-3 when you can have Snodgrass or Siggy in a 3-5-2 who are nailed on…
Hmmm, I never really considered that james as I’m pretty steadfast on the 3-4-3 formation. I think if I was going to gamble I might give Charlie Austin a shot up front. I mean, the guy’s been scoring in pre-season and his name ALMOST sounds like Charlie Adam, so how bad could he be???
Haha, thanks man, that’s some food for thought about playing 5 in midfield.
I had Austin in too. But if Remy stays, alongside having Spurs away in gameweek 2, he just doesn’t seem that appealing to me. He could do well though.
Would you take Siggy over Snoddy by the way?
Right now I have Siggy as my mid-priced 4th midfielder. I think he might have been a nice differential had he not been doing so well in the pres-season matches. Now I think a lot of teams will have him to start, but he should go up in price and be good for your team value.
I also have Kightly from Burnley as my 5th midfielder, and was actually thinking of playing him in a 3-5-2 at times depending on Long/Jelavic/whoever’s fixture that week. He had 5 goals and 6 assists last year and plays as a winger, so for 5 million I think he’s a good buy and I won’t be afraid to field him when needed.
Cheers, Siggy it is… plus Hull have Europa to deal with so that can be my excuse for ignoring their good fixtures…
I like that Kightly pick! Good stuff, You might want to buy a 3rd striker that rotates well with him perhaps then. ((and by rotate, I mean the quality of the opposition each faces, as I don’t feel home/away influences attacking player’s potential as much))
Yes, that’s a great idea james. Thank you! I’ll check Mito’s rotation analysis piece and see what I can come up with. I think my team is finally starting to take shape, but I’ll still need to tinker around with it a bit. Good luck getting your team together.
RED do you play NFL fantasy by any chance? I know you live in the states, still looking for a couple of more managers.
Hey Mito, thanks for asking but I haven’t followed the NFL in years. I’m afraid I’d be even more crap at that than I am at FPL! I’m amazed that some of you guys are able to play several fantasy games at once actually, I can barely keep this one straight and get everything else in my little world done.