2013/14 Pre-season Friendly Thread

Wasn't surprising we went hard at the end, fresh legs against a fairly tired team and a lot more quality. But we were better as soon as the youngsters came on, their movement was so much better. Eisfeld again showed a movement and inteligence that Walcott doesn't possess, he would get the ball and run at attackers, or cross, pass back IF that was the best option not just because he couldn't be arsed to try. Walcott spent 80% of his time on the pitch standing fairly still, looking for the pass in behind and ignoring most of everything else going on. He got a very easy goal and was turd apart from it.

They were banging on about Akpom looking really promising but I thought most of his moving was laboured, he looked clumsy and ackward, though he made a couple nice runs into the box. He reminded me of Welbeck basically, Gnabry again didn't really show much and AOC again was all work and no final product, he has gone backwards since he joined. Olson made some very nice passes and the kid in central mid, well looks a bit weak at the moment but there was some promise there.

Too early to write off Akpom for sure, 17 and probably his first long trip away with a team, AOC though, just no signs of the quality required.

Eisfeld, Rosicky, Podolski and Giroud were all linking up very nicely, preseason or not, horrible conditions or not(I actually assumed it was crazy hot there but the players didn't look in that bad nick throughout), there was a class that those guys were showing that AOC, Ramsey, Walcott didn't come close to hinting at. Sagna was involved in the couple the goals but one was a pretty poor cross with a great finish from Giroud, he's also got in this habit lately of jumping for headers by just smashing into the other player rather than winning the ball.

Good start to preseason, hope to see Eisfeld a lot and more importantly hope to actually see him get real chances in the league, real time to really improve, not stagnate with only a preseason to show for this season.
 
Good performances from Ramsey, Eisfeld and Giroud today I thought. In particular Giroud's 2nd goal was finished with intent. I think he is not far off being a good Premiership striker, his hold-up play in terms of receiving aerial balls was good last season but perhaps not quite consistent enough in the opposing box and lacks a yard of pace. If the former can be corrected then I'd be happy with him leading the line this season.

Personally based on what I saw last season Eisfeld is a better prospect that Gnabry who seems to get more hype.
 
Triple footballer of the year in 25-man squad named by Andre Villas-Boas for Hong Kong

Source: Premier League

The Tottenham Hotspur squad for the Barclays Asia Trophy in Hong Kong has been announced with triple Footballer of the Year Gareth Bale leading the way for Andre Villas-Boas’s team.

Spurs will kick off the competition, the only Premier League-affiliated competition to be held outside England, when they take on Sunderland in Hong Kong Stadium on 24 July at 6pm local time (11am BST).

They will be hoping to repeat their victory over Paolo Di Canio’s team on the final match of the 2012/13 Barclays Premier League season, when Bale’s 90th-minute wonderstrike sealed an intriguing match at White Hart Lane.

Bale, who won the FWA and Barclays Footballer of the Year awards as well as winning the equivalent PFA accolade, is part of a 25-man squad that includes the team who beat Sunderland as well as the return of Sandro, the Brazilian midfielder who missed most of last season through injury.

Also in the squad is Danny Rose, the left back, who is set to face his former team-mates in Hong Kong, having starred at Sunderland on loan last season.

Another player Spurs fans will welcome back is France defender Younes Kaboul, who missed much of last season through injury. Spurs’ only signing so far this summer, Paulinho, will not travel to Hong Kong. The midfielder has given extra time to rest having helped Brazil win the FIFA Confederations Cup at the end of last month.

But there will be a host of internationals on display for fans in Hong Kong to see as Villas-Boas looks to build on last season’s record points total of 72 points. All but five players in the squad have appeared for their country at international level.

Villas-Boas views the tournament as ideal participation for the season ahead.

“It is extremely important for us for our preparation,” the Spurs head coach said.

“The Barclays Asia Trophy lets you step up a level in terms of opposition because of the other teams that are involved in it and gives us the opportunity to go abroad and continue our preparation in good facilities and in a comparative environment like the one we are going to face over there.

“The most important thing is for you to set up quickly and ready, always raising the competitive levels of the opposition that you are going to face, and the Barclays Asia Trophy offers exactly that.”

After facing Sunderland, Spurs will take on Manchester City or South China in Hong Kong Stadium on 27 July.
Provisional squad

Goalkeepers - Hugo Lloris, Brad Friedel, Heurelho Gomes.

Defenders - Kyle Walker, Kyle Naughton, Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Jan Vertonghen, Michael Dawson, Steven Caulker, Younes Kaboul, Danny Rose.

Midfielders - Aaron Lennon, Andros Townsend, Gareth Bale, Tom Huddlestone, Mousa Dembele, Sandro, Scott Parker, Jake Livermore, Tom Carroll, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Lewis Holtby.

Forwards - Clint Dempsey, Jermain Defoe, Emmanuel Adebayor.
Click to expand...
 
I see City lost their opening friendly too but no-one mentioned it?

They had the same problem as us, only one striker. Although there's was Dzeko instead of Woeful Welbeck.
 
The main thing is City have one league title, they didn't win it last year, the previous manager was a **** and was only there for a few years and was failing, there isn't much to live up to. For Moyes, he's seen as a guy who has won nothing for a decade at Everton, is taking over a guy who won IIRC 489 cups in the past 20 years, they did win the title last year and in general have further to fall and more to lose. So quite fairly Utd fans are far more apprehensive about what will happen this season than City fans. While another league title is important for City, in the grand scheme of things I wouldn't be surprised if City fans and owners saw getting past the group stage in the champs league is a bigger step for City and more important than winning the title.

Utd, well do actually, but aren't seen as needing fundamental change due to a previous successful season where as City are seen as needing a different system, feel, attitude, quality, all particularly in Europe. basically Utd fans want to see Moyes change nothing, continue to win and not rock the boat while City fans expect change, expect more and do expect the boat to be rocked.

Will City's owners/fans give a new manager real time to adjust and mould a team or do Chelsea like panicking after a season without a title?
 
First friendly of the season tomorrow night. Millwall at home. Should be... fun. Then we have Cardiff at home in two weeks time, although I'm missing our Celtic game on Saturday unfortunately :(

Be interesting to see our new signings - apparently we're trialling a French u19 beast up front with a view to taking him on a season-long loan. Think he plays for Lyon. Getting excited :D
 
Strange - we completely took Millwall apart tonight. It's obviously their manager's first game in charge, but after a dull goalless first half we put three past them - all good goals too.

We completely outplayed them, and on tonight's showing I feel we could walk this league this season (hah!). We were so comfortable that the last 30 mins we had 5 of our development squad out there!

Also we played Spurs in a closed-door friendly last weekend, surrendering a 2-1 half time lead to lose 3-2. Bale and Defore got two.
 
First of Chelsea's Asia tour games is on today against the Singha All-Stars in Bangkok. On Chelsea TV at 14:00.

Jose Mourinho has already selected the team(s):

The first half is as follows:

Petr Cech, Wallace, Tomas Kalas, John Terry, Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard, Michael Essien, Lucas Piazon, Kevin De Bruyne, Andre Schurrle, Romelu Lukaku.

The second half side will be:

Jamal Blackman, Branislav Ivanovic, Gary Cahill, Nathaniel Chalobah, Ryan Bertrand, Marco van Ginkel, Ramires, Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard, Demba Ba, Victor Moses
 
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