*** 2014/15 Pre-season Friendly Thread ***

[Robbo]

Not long to go until these start.

All fixtures and details can be found here:

http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/...-barclays-premier-league-clubs-2014-2015.html

Most popular ones (All times BST unless specified):

Arsenal (arsenal.com)

19 July Boreham Wood (A), 3pm
26 July New York Red Bulls (A), 5pm local time, New Jersey, USA

Emirates Cup
2 August Benfica (H), 4.20pm, Emirates Stadium
3 August Monaco (H), 4.20pm, Emirates Stadium

Chelsea (chelseafc.com)

AFC Wimbledon v Chelsea, Sat 19 Jul 2014, Kick off 15:00, Kingsmeadow
23 July RZ Pellets WAC (A), 7.30pm local time, Klagenfurt, Austria
27 July NK Olimpika Ljubljana (A), Kick-off TBC, Ljubljana, Slovenia
30 July Vitesse Arnhem (A), 7.30pm local time, Arnhem Stadium, Netherlands
3 August Werder Bremen (A), Kick-off TBC, Wesser Stadium, Germany
10 August Ferencvaros (A), Kick-off 7.45pm, Albert Florian Stadium, Budapest, Hungary
Chelsea v Real Sociedad, Tue 12 Aug 2014, Kick off 19:45, Stamford Bridge

Liverpool (liverpoolfc.com)

16 July Brondby (A), 6pm local time, Brondby, Denmark
19 July Preston North End (A), 3pm, Deepdale
23 July Roma (N), 7.30pm EST, Boston, USA

Guinness International Champions Cup
27 July Olympiacos (N), 5pm CST, Chicago, USA
30 July Manchester City (N), 7pm EST, New York, USA
2 August AC Milan (N), 6.30pm EST, Charlotte, USA
4 August TBC (If they reach the final), TBC, Miami, USA

Manchester United (manutd.com)

Chevrolet FC Cup
23 July Los Angeles Galaxy (N), Kick-off TBC, Pasadena, USA

Guinness International Champions Cup
26 July Roma (N), Kick-off TBC, Denver, USA
29 July Inter Milan (N), Kick-off TBC, Washington DC, USA
2 August Real Madrid (N), Kick-off TBC, Ann Arbor, USA
4 August TBC (Final), TBC, Miami, USA

 

[Robbo]

You're missing two Chelsea games:

AFC Wimbledon v Chelsea, Sat 19 Jul 2014, Kick off 15:00, Kingsmeadow

Chelsea v Real Sociedad, Tue 12 Aug 2014, Kick off 19:45, Stamford Bridge

Blame the Premier League website!

Nice one Robbo

Van Gaal time is soon upon us.

 

[Robbo]

Get your peasant fixtures out of here.

 

[Robbo]

I was going to list them all but it would make for a huge opening post, it's no big deal. Notice I left out Man City as well, because there are no City fans here (well, one who barely ever posts).

I was going to add Spurs but then I thought of cm1179 and decided against it.

 

[Robbo]

Liverpool losing as well.

 

[Robbo]

Steve Bates (Sunday People) thinks we're going to line up as follows later:



So we might be seeing the 5-3-2...

 

[Robbo]

This BT Sport commentary is absolutely shocking. Christ.

It's annoying you have to have it full screen to get the max quality.

 

[Robbo]

Yeah, it's a constant stream of poorly delivered, hilariously obvious remarks.

 

[Robbo]

Hahaha!

"He doesn't look as if he's dislocated his shoulder, but he might have just popped something out..."

 

[Robbo]

No idea.

 

[Robbo]

Comedy gold this commentary.

 

[Robbo]

This commentary has been far more entertaining than the game.

Own goal too.

 

[Robbo]

Team confirmed:

De Gea, Smalling, Jones, Evans, Valencia, Fletcher (c), Herrera, Shaw, Mata, Welbeck, Rooney

 

[Robbo]

HT: Man Utd 3-0 LA Galaxy.

Excellent performance so far. Comfortable in possession, passing well, attacking well, couldn't really ask for more.

Herrera looks absolutely outstanding, superb passing, movement, and brings the ball forward really well.

FT: Man Utd 7-0 LA Galaxy.

Brilliant performance all round. Ander Herrera's passing and general play was a completely different class. What a player.

I'm not sure how good LA Galaxy really are but they got absolutely hammered in every department. We switched the entire team (aside from Herrera) at half time and the younger lads (and Young) all looked very good. Shaw's replacement, Reece James, scored twice...

Great first game for LvG.

 

[Robbo]

Good win against LA Galaxy.....but then agian it is only LA Galaxy.

good to see everyone get some minutes even if their team did flatter us some.

Robbo - think Fletch also did 90 minutes (according to a few reports anyway), 2nd half as a centre-half

We lost our first preseason game last year against a team I'd never even heard of. The next games will be a much better test though.

Fletcher was playing at centre back for the second half, did quite well throughout the entire game to be fair, but I don't think he can play week in week out, we need someone else there.

Try and watch detailed highlights if you can, Herrera was astonishingly good. Didn't waste a single pass and he kept setting up chance after chance. He made the rest of our team look average, and his first touch is one of the best I've ever seen. I'm not that surprised though, I've seen him do similar things against the best teams in Spain and in the Europa League.

LvG confirmed that he wants his main formation to be 3-4-3 (I think he called it that rather than 5-3-2). So I think we definitely need at least one defender, and of course one midfielder. We might get away with Fletcher there if he reaches his best ever form and stays fit but I doubt it. LvG also said we have problems with the balance of the squad and have "too many number 10s" etc.

Valencia was quite poor as usual too, Rafael was much better as you'd expect.

 

[Robbo]

Yeah, it's time for Nani to go. On last nights evidence I'd rather keep Young (but preferably neither ).

The wide player does need to be able to defend and track back well though.

 

[Robbo]

Cleverley is confirmed to be playing the full game vs Roma later, I expect this is so LvG can see if he's actually any good or not (shouldn't take long).

Given how terrible he usually is, this annoys me: http://www.manutd.com/en/Tour-2014/...-the-type-of-player-louis-van-gaal-likes.aspx

 

[Robbo]

Rumours that Cleverley is starting as CAPTAIN...

My god.

 

[Robbo]

I suspect LvG just wants to give him the best chance to prove himself now as you say, I remember he did look a promising player at one time and he did have a few good games, but it's been downhill since then.

Most Arsenal fans were sick of Ramsey too, and he's massively turned it around, but I honestly can't see Cleverley doing the same...

 

[Robbo]

Our team vs Roma:

Johnstone; Jones, Evans, Blackett; Valencia, Cleverley (c), Herrera, James, Welbeck; Mata, Rooney​

Interesting team... This has to be Cleverley's last chance, he has to impress. He hasn't for a long time (was rubbish against LA Galaxy in the second half too). I think if he has a poor game now then he'll be sold to Everton or whoever.