Friendly fire keeps teams busy

Writer: John Dykes

Published: 9/08/2009 at 12:00 AM

Newspaper section: Sports

It was a weekend of upsets - Liverpool crashing 3-0 to Espanyol, Spurs losing 2-0 at the hands of Hong Kong's South China and Newcastle even managing a draw against Dundee United - but it was an upset in a competitive league fixture that really caught my eye.

PRE-SEASON: Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard closes down Lyn’s Jo Inge during a friendly match in Norway last week.

In China's Super League, leaders Beijing Guo'an went down 3-2 away to the league's bottom side Chongqing Lifan. In doing so, they provided an ironic postscript to the Barclay's Asia Trophy.

When the Premier League's executives arrived in the Chinese capital, they did so with the intention of staging a tournament featuring a full-strength Beijing side whose league commitments had been postponed to allow them to give it their all.

They soon learned that the Chinese Football Association had decided it would rather Beijing honoured those commitments.

Rather than incurring the wrath of either host (country or organiser), let's just say it has been alleged that someone, somewhere went back on an agreement.

The upshot: faced with an itinerary which called for Asia Trophy matches on Wednesday and Friday and then a two-hour flight to Chongqing for the league game, Beijing coach Lee Jang-soo did what he thought was right.

He withdrew his key players at regular intervals during the second half of the opening game against Hull, and arguably cost his team a victory that looked highly likely (they eventually lost in a penalty shoot-out).

Then, faced with a "meaningless" third-place play-off against West Ham, Lee put out a "Beijing" side which piqued the curiosity of local journalists.

"Could you please tell us a bit about tonight's starting lineup," asked one reporter at the post-match press conference following their 2-0 defeat. "For instance, who were those players?"

Lee, you see, had drafted in a collection of Beijing-based foreign footballers who aren't actually contracted to Guo'an, along with some youth team players. To be fair, they put up a decent enough showing to maintain the integrity of the match in which they were involved (and the tournament for that matter), but Beijing's "rested" first team still managed to lose in Chongqing despite Lee's efforts.

The shame of it is that a full-strength Guo'an would have made the Asia Trophy final and ensured a raucous sell-out crowd. They would also have given Spurs more of a challenge in the final than they received from the weak Hull starting XI named by Phil Brown.

As it happened, Spurs looked a genuinely classy outfit in Beijing before they too played a Sunday fixture they could have done without and saw their young side beaten in Hong Kong.

The point here is that many of the scorelines from friendly matches played over the past fortnight have made for unusual reading at first glance. Gain a little more information on team lineups, fitness, weather conditions and travel plans, though, and one begins to get a clearer understanding of these results.

So, what have we learned from Manchester United's eight-goal romp against Hangzhou compared to, say, Chelsea's wins over Inter and AC Milan, or Arsenal's romp against Rangers?

Well, we know that the "Big Four" managers could all do with buying players. No-one is writing off Manchester City's chances, given the money spent, but Tottenham have also caught the eye.

We have also been reminded that Liverpool look fairly ordinary if Gerrard and Torres aren't playing. That said, former West Ham players Tony Gayle and Tony Cottee (in Beijing with the Hammers) both tipped Liverpool as the team to upset United and Chelsea in the race for the title.

But another seasoned football-watcher, who was working in China last week, made the following observation: don't write off Arsenal.

While conventional wisdom has it that Arsenal's place in the "Big Four" looks the most threatened, renowned football commentators Martin Tyler pointed out that the UK football gambling markets have seen heavy bets placed this past week on Arsenal to win the title.

With odds as long as 10-1 from most bookmakers, many punters feel Wenger's youngsters may just be worth a look, especially if the manager does decide to spend some of the money raised by the sale of Adebayor and Toure.

With the transfer window open well beyond the start of the EPL season, there is still scope for Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea to make signings that ultimately take the title out of Arsenal's reach.

Until we know what has happened in the market, we have to limit ourselves to acknowledging that all of the above clubs have been steadily working their way towards match fitness this pre-season. Just as they always do, and in spite of some eccentric results in exotic locations.

Spare a thought, though, for Beijing Guo'an and the effect that a EPL pre-season could have on their own 2009 campaign. Here's hoping they too can shrug off a surprising defeat and get back to winning ways Read more!