Weekend Notes

Pre-season Grinds On

Its been a nice relaxing weekend around the Thurman Ranch after a lot of work and fun travel over the last month or two.  We're making great progress on the team-by-team season previews that have become a staple of the blog over the years.  It is my hope that we'll start posting them next week so that you'll have plenty of time to use that information for your fantasy teams.  We'd post them sooner but it feels like there are still a lot of pretty significant moves still to be made and we'd prefer not to post and then have to entirely re-do say Everton or Bolton or Arsenal's preview.  Fear not, they'll arrive soon enough along with a variety of other information to get you ready for the season to come. 

Before we get to the reason for the post, I'll also take a moment to bask in the excitement of the incredible weekend in Philadelphia sports.  The Phillies (baseball for those who aren't into the American sports) started the weekend with the best record in baseball.  The Eagles (American football) one-upped the Phillies by acquiring a ton of defensive talent as the season gets ready to start which firmly entrenches them as one of the top contenders for the Super Bowl title.  The Phillies, not to be outdone, also made a strong acquisition to fill one of the few gaps in their line-up as they prepare for their playoffs in October.  Oh, and on the field the Phillies have won both of their games thus far this weekend.  Good weekend to be a Philly sports fan.  

So, aside from writing and basking in the glow of being a Philly sports fan in 2011, I also got to watch a decent amount of pre-season action.  For those who had better things to do with their time, here are some observations from the Emirates Cup and a few Manchester United pre-season friendlies. 

Emirates Cup

It begins?

With the World Cup not even cold yet, has the fantasy Premier League season begun?  Or at the very least, is it time to turn our attention to the League and the team's pre-season preparations?

[Roman Pavlyuchenko] stole the show with a superb second-half display, scoring twice and creating another goal as Harry Redknapp's Champions League hopefuls turned the screw after the break.

Jonathan Obika netted the only goal of the first half. The youngster profited from a mix-up in the Bournemouth defence and rolled the ball into an unguarded net after 36 minutes.

Andros Townsend set-up Pavlyuchenko to make it 2-0 before the two players combined again soon afterwards to create an opening for Danny Rose to score.

Pavlyuchenko completed the scoring with a deft lob after latching on to a long throughball.

In the same match, however:

[David Bentley] was forced off during Spurs' 4-0 win in the pre-season friendly at Bournemouth on Saturday and scans revealed Bentley had damaged right ankle ligaments.

A short statement on the club's official website confirmed Bentley would miss the tour of the USA to receive further treatment at Spurs Lodge.

Meanwhile, it's all happening at Liverpool.

• Torres' groin injury could keep him out for two months
• Insua is in talks over a move to Fiorentina
• Lucas could be on his way to Palermo

If 'arry Redknapp had been named the new boss at Liverpool we'd already be hearing about how they were down to bare bones.  And while I guess this could just be a case of "sell before you buy" for Hodgson, he will have to buy, buy quickly, and buy well.