FPL pre-season: Howe downplays Isak injury + Robinson shines

Every Premier League club bar Arsenal is involved in a pre-season friendly this weekend – and we’ll be covering them all, as usual, in our regular Scout Notes round-ups.

We begin with the two matches on Friday night and the first three to take place on Saturday.

• READ MORE: FPL 2024/25 pre-season minutes tracker: Every player, every game

Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 Bayern Munich 

• Goal: Porro
• Assist: Bissouma

Spurs’ pre-season tour of Asia ended without Richarlison (£7.0m) or Destiny Udogie (£5.0m) kicking a ball.

Both players made the trip to the Far East, with Ange Postecoglou previously saying that Udogie could feature against Bayern. He didn’t, and neither did Richarlison.

Dejan Kulusevski (£6.5m) led the line again for the Lilywhites, although that looks like a temporary fix while striking reinforcements are sourced. Dominic Solanke (£7.5m) is among the names linked with the club.

Djed Spence (£4.5m) may save Postecoglou the bother of recruiting any more full-backs, however. He’s featured on both flanks in pre-season, here operating down the left in Udogie’s absence. He didn’t look entirely comfortable but then neither did the rest of the Spurs backline, who were dominated by Bayern in the opening half especially. Just as much space was afforded down Pedro Porro‘s (£5.5m) side.

The Spurs boss has said some complimentary things about Spence recently. With Messrs Royal and Reguilon possibly heading out the door, plus Ben Davies (£4.5m) not convincing as an ‘inverted full-back’, there may yet be a future for him in north London. For us FPL managers, the prospect of a £4.5m attack-minded defender being only an injury away from starts is an intriguing one.

Back to the action in stifling Seoul and the effects of Ange’s Boot Camp seemed to have a say. Even the Spurs boss himself admitted that fatigue was a factor.

“I thought it was a tough game for us. Fair to say the players are feeling the effects of us working hard for the last 10 days here and we didn’t look really sharp, particularly in that first half and we had to work hard but the players, I think for us, what’s important is I think we’ll get enormous benefit out of the camp we’ve had here and I think we paid a price a little bit tonight for the work we’ve done.” – Ange Postecoglou

Spurs only had two shots in the first half, with more of a fight raised after the interval. The typically forward-thinking Porro netted from distance and set up a great Lucas Bergvall (£4.5m) chance. Son Heung-min (£10.0m) also teed up Pape Matar Sarr (£5.0m) for a gilt-edged opportunity.

The teenage Bergvall again outperformed James Maddison (£7.5m). How long before he gets the nod for real? Maybe not in Gameweek 1, maybe not at all. But if Maddison continues the middling form that has dogged him in 2024, the odds will get shorter.

Tottenham Hotspur XI: Vicario (Austin 75), Pedro Porro (Abbott 79), Dragusin (Bissouma 46), Davies (Skipp 64), Spence (Donley 64), Sarr (Devine 64), Gray (Royal 46), Maddison (Bergvall 46), Kulusevski (Lankshear 75), Son (Werner 75), Johnson (Moore 75). 

Yokohama F Marinos 2-0 Newcastle United

Also struggling in the heat of East Asia were Newcastle, who tasted defeat – like Spurs, deservedly – for the first time in pre-season.

This match marked the first summer friendly appearances of Bruno Guimaraes (£6.5m), Lloyd Kelly (£4.5m) and Fabian Schar (£5.5m). FPL managers who own Dan Burn (£4.5m) will be watching Kelly’s progress carefully, although the money would still be on Burn starting in Gameweek 1 at this stage.

Anthony Gordon (£7.5m) and Kieran Trippier (£6.0m), the last men back from international duty, will be reunited with their teammates this week.

Joe Willock (£5.0m) wasn’t risked as a precaution, while Callum Wilson (£7.0m) was again absent. As reported previously, he’s a major doubt for Gameweek 1.

There’ll have been concerns that the Magpies would be two strikers down when Alexander Isak (£8.5m) hurt his shoulder in the first half of Saturday’s match. He seems to have avoided serious injury, however, despite being taken off at half-time.

“No, that was scheduled for him. Of course, he went over on his shoulder early in the game, it was sore but he was fine to carry on. We don’t envisage any problems but of course, we need to check out the mechanism and how his shoulder is but I think he looks OK.” – Eddie Howe on Alexander Isak’s half-time withdrawal

The return of Bruno was a consolation. The Brazilian tempo-setter was at the heart of many of Newcastle’s first-half chances, playing some cute balls over the top for Isak to run onto. Hanging on to those two will be as celebrated as any other new arrival.

Isak teed Sean Longstaff (£5.0m) up from one of those chances, being denied himself on another occasion.

The kids and the second string were mostly on the field in the second half, to provide some mitigation for this loss.

Newcastle United XI: Vlachodimos (Pope 46), Livramento (Ashby 46), Schar (Krafth 46), Kelly (Burn 46), Hall (Lewis 64), Longstaff, Joelinton (A. Harrison 64), Guimaraes (Sanusi 46 (Turner-Cooke 88)), Barnes (J. Murphy 46), Almiron, Isak (Parkinson 46).

Ipswich Town 1-0 Hoffenheim

• Goal: Taylor
• Assist: Hutchinson

Liam Delap (£5.5m) may have a clear run at the striker’s role for Ipswich, depending on the results of a scan on George Hirst‘s (£5.5m) knee.

Hirst missed this win over Hoffenheim, with Delap starting and lasting an hour. Freddie Ladapo (£4.5m), getting more minutes than he would have expected due to the shortage of numbers, provided second-half relief.

“George has got an issue, a knock from the game last weekend. He’s not been with us this week, he’s seeing some specialists and we can’t update on the definite timeline yet. We will do as soon as we can.” – Kieran McKenna

The starting XI on show was largely what you’d expect come Gameweek 1. One of the possible exceptions, central midfielder Jack Taylor (£5.0m), grabbed the only goal of the game. He was on hand to lash home when a corner was worked short and fortuitously ran into his path. Peripheral in the second tier, his impressive pre-season may be rewarded with an opening-day start.

Omari Hutchinson (£5.5m) grabbed the assist for that goal. The £20m winger, who ended last season in such good form, was getting his first minutes of the summer here.

Leif Davis (£4.5m) was again high up the pitch, as well as on his usual set pieces. No deviation from the Championship template, then. In fact, new signing Conor Townsend (£4.0m) played the exact same advanced role when being introduced for his Town debut.

The Tractor Boys impressed, with Ari Muric (£4.5m) looking the part between the posts. He averaged 4.7 points per match in his 10 starts for Burnley in 2023/24; not an average you’re likely to see sustained over the season but Rate My Team (RMT) does like him as the stand-out £4.5m goalkeeping pick for the first quarter of 2024/25.

Ipswich Town XI: Muric (Walton 76), Johnson (Tuanzebe 46), Woolfenden (Edmundson 46), Greaves (Burgess 46), Davis (Townsend 62), Morsy (Luongo 46), Taylor (Carr 74), Harness (Ayinde 84), Chaplin (Foyo 84), Hutchinson (Burns 46), Delap (Ladapo 62). 

Benfica 0-1 Fulham

• Goal: Iwobi
• Assist: Robinson

One of the most attacking FPL defenders available at £4.5m is Antonee Robinson, who contributed six assists last season.

He set up another strike in Fulham’s win over Benfica on Friday, teeing up Alex Iwobi (£5.5m) for the game’s only goal. Robinson was even more advanced in this game, offering the width that winger Adama Traore (£5.0m) was proving on the other flank. His run for Iwobi’s opener was encouragingly gung-ho:

⚽️ Goal: Alex Iwobi | Benfica 0-1 Fulham | 🅰️ Antonee Robinsonpic.twitter.com/ydUdSeuKET

— PushGoals (@PushGoals) August 2, 2024

Given the opening fixtures that the Cottagers have, Robinson should have a few suitors at that price.

With Iwobi (drifting infield) and Robinson working well in tandem, and Andreas Pereira (£5.5m) to be added to the mix, the question is now over where new boy Emile Smith Rowe (£5.5m) fits in. It might be on the left, with the versatile Iwobi switching flanks, but Adama has looked more like his old Wolves self this summer. The next magic trick for Marco Silva is adding attacking returns to Iwobi and Adama’s games, two individuals who have often struggled for end product.

“In some moments last season, we needed someone to play with Andreas or Alex in those [central] areas of the pitch. Can play there, can play out wide as well on the left hand side.” – Marco Silva on Emile Smith Rowe

Rodrigo Muniz (£6.0m) couldn’t get on the scoresheet but had a few sights of goal and linked play well.

The Fulham goal led a charmed life, with an unlikely clean sheet arriving thanks to Bernd Leno (£5.0m) heroics, woodwork strikes and off-the-line clearances.

Fulham XI: Leno; Tete (Castagne 73), Diop, Bassey, Robinson (Sessegnon 74); Lukić (Reed 74), King (Andreas 60), Cairney (Pajaziti 79); Adama (Wilson 74), Muniz (Raúl 73), Iwobi (Godo 79).

Nottingham Forest 0-0 Villarreal 

Taiwo Awoniyi (£6.0m) got his first minutes of pre-season, appearing as a late substitute in Friday’s stalemate at the City Ground.

A few spurned sighters betrayed his rustiness, and Chris Wood (£6.0m) still looks very likely to start come Gameweek 1.

“We are taking care of him. He needs time. He started working with us for one week. He needs time. We know his quality, but his fitness level must increase. It is normal that we still see players struggling, in terms of fitness, but we still have two weeks to get them really well to face Bournemouth. This is what it is all about – preparation for the first game of the league.” – Nuno Espirito Santo on Taiwo Awoniyi

Wood himself missed last week’s defeat to Elche due to “load management” but was back in the starting XI here, lasting over an hour. He was denied a stunning goal when his volley was turned over.

Forest look like a bit of an ‘almost’ team under Nuno. Almost defensively sound, especially after the signing of new centre-half Nikola Milenkovic (£4.5m), but still prone to errors like the one Murillo (£4.5m) gave away for Villarreal’s missed penalty. And almost exciting in attack, but just missing that elite edge.

The Gameweek 1 line-up almost looks settled, at least, save for perhaps Elliot Anderson (£5.0m) gatecrashing the midfield party.

Nottingham Forest XI: Sels (Miguel 77); Williams (Moreira 66), Milenkovic (Boly 77), Murillo (Omobamidele 77), Aina (Toffolo 66); Elanga (Awoniyi 77), Sangaré (Yates 66), Gibbs-White (Abbott 88), Danilo, Hudson-Odoi (Dominguez 66); Wood (Anderson 66)

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