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Pre-season Friendlies: A round-up | There is no doubt that pre-season friendlies, particularly those played overseas, provide fans with an exciting opportunity to see just how prepared their favorite players are for the coming season. However, some pundits always insist that a lack of motivation often makes players complacent, thus sending out decieving messages about their level of preparation.
Given the poor showing of Premier League clubs in exhibition fixtures this summer, it can only be hoped that the latter is the case.
Arsene Wenger’s Gunners have been the stand-out English outfit in recent days as they demolished both Barnet and Sturm Graz with a cumulative goal difference of seven. For those wondering the break-down of that goal difference, Arsenal scored seven goals over the course of those two games while conceding absolutely none.
Without Petr Cech, reigning champions Chelsea were embarrassed 3-1 by Ajax Amsterdam. Goalkeeper Ross Turnbull’s infamous slip obviously played an instrumental role in the Dutch side’s shock win but Carlo Ancelotti would rather have his players learn from their mistakes now than go through it later.
Manchester United outplayed Celtic in their 3-1 win in Toronto and despite witnessing Kansas City Wizards defeat a second-string Red Devils side, Sir Alex Ferguson will surely confide in his men to redeem themselves with a win over the MLS All-Stars this Wednesday.
Tottenham and Manchester City fought each other till the very end of last season before the Spurs beat the Citizens for the coveted fourth place to seal Champions League qualification. Although Roberto Mancini has rebuilt the Sky Blues significantly ever since, the Spurs once again managed to accomplish what the Eastlands outfit couldn’t: defeating the New York Red Bulls.
Of all players, only out-of-favor Brazilian striker Jo scored in a 2-1 loss to the Red Bulls, who lost to the Spurs by the same scoreline despite Thierry Henry’s incredible debut strike. To the dismay of the North Londoners, however, they could only draw 2-2 against Sporting Lisbon in their second tour game at the Red Bulls Arena.
Liverpool and Blackburn went through narrow defeats against Kaiserslautern and Rangers, respectively. Recently relegated Premier League side and this May’s losing FA Cup finalists Portsmouth, though, experienced humiliation at a whole different level when Major League Soccer’s bottom club D.C. United inflicted an emphatic 4-0 defeat on them.
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