Lessons from the latest pre-season matches

Premier League preparations are stepping up, with all of the players involved in international action over the summer now back at their clubs, and already we’ve been given a few hints of what to expect from the division’s biggest clubs.

Alex Keble picks out key lessons from the second week of Premier League friendlies – including Manchester City's first runout and Manchester United looking sharper than Arsenal in their heavyweight showdown in New Jersey.

Man City squad uncertainty may be an issue

There is certainly no cause for alarm for the Treble winners, and indeed a simple enough 5-3 victory against Yokohama F. Marinos – courtesy of goals from John Stones, Julian Alvarez, Rodri, and a brace from Erling Haaland – was a suitable way for Man City to ease into their pre-season.

But the loss of Ilkay Gundogan to Barcelona, coupled with reports of possible transfers to Bayern Munich for Kyle Walker and to Al Ahli for Riyad Mahrez, point to a surprising amount of turnover that may disrupt their 2023/24 season.

These issues were at the forefront of the match in Tokyo, which was more noteworthy for sloppy defensive errors than Man City’s own five goals. Again, it would be foolish to read too much into a match designed primarily to raise fitness levels, and yet there were unmistakable signs of the upheaval in Manchester.

The J1 League champions consistently counter-attacked successfully, catching Man City on the break only for the recovery pace of Walker to stop Yokohama in their tracks.

We’ve seen Walker do that countless times before, and even in a friendly his importance to the team was obvious. How will Man City cope if he does indeed leave? Many assume Rico Lewis can step up, but the youngster, whose error led to Yokohama’s second, is a very different kind of player and is still raw – on this friendly showing, at least.

Higher up the pitch, Mateo Kovacic’s debut drew attention, yet less so than Kalvin Phillips, who didn’t have the easiest of matches. There is, just possibly, space for Man City fans to be a little worried about the depth of the squad ahead of what will be another long and exhausting season.

It should be said, however, that Yokohama are in the middle of their season and therefore were bound to have greater match sharpness. Pep Guardiola certainly seemed happy that his team had been tested by one so fit.

“Yokohama played really well on the transitions - it was good for us," Guardiola said. "Many things we can improve, of course, and no-one injured, which is the most important thing.”

Man Utd look more prepared than Arsenal

It is only a friendly, and indeed one that included 18 half-time changes. That is something Arsenal fans, and Mikel Arteta for that matter, will need to keep in the front of their minds after a disappointing defeat to a Man Utd side who looked notably sharper.

Mistakes led to both United goals, but the margin of victory could easily have been greater. Jadon Sancho supplied the moment of the match when he pounced on a Gabriel error to finish emphatically past Aaron Ramsdale, adding to a goal by new club captain Bruno Fernandes.

Sancho’s revival after a difficult 2022/23 campaign is a story all Man Utd fans can get behind, and after playing as a "false nine" for the third friendly in a row, his first goal of pre-season should help cement his place as a centre-forward option this season.

As for the team as a whole, it is perhaps over the top to declare that United have laid down a marker for the season to come, one in which they will hope to close the gap to last season’s runners-up. Yet the post-match reaction of both managers would suggest the clubs’ rivalry is very much on their mind.

“The way we played, I was really pleased, how active we were in and out of possession,” Erik ten Hag said after his team made it three wins and three clean sheets from three matches. “That is the way we want to play.

"Arsenal is a really good opponent. They played incredibly good last season in the Premier League, so that's good to match with them.”

Arteta was clearly disappointed with a lacklustre display from Arsenal that simply couldn’t match United’s energy levels.

“It's going to be more challenging, more difficult,” Arteta said of the 2023/24 season where Arsenal are more likely to be the hunted than hunter. “I don't like losing and I don't like the feeling that I have right now.”

Young stars in attacking role for Everton

There is a lot of change on the Everton flanks this summer. Demarai Gray is reportedly a target of Crystal Palace while Arnaut Danjuma has joined on loan from Villarreal, and yet in a 1-0 win at Wigan Athletic, it was all about the interplay between Dwight McNeil and Ashley Young.

Young, who joined on a free transfer this summer from Aston Villa, showed his natural leadership on the pitch with a dominant performance from a surprisingly attacking position, starting on the left wing despite operating almost exclusively as a full-back for the best part of a decade.

Regularly swapping sides with McNeil, Young ran the show, rolling back the years and scoring the winning goal, surprisingly earning a round of applause from some of the home supporters when he was substituted in the second half.

We know that Sean Dyche is a pragmatic and defensive manager, so perhaps we should not be so surprised to see a full-back moved higher up the pitch. Perhaps more importantly, Young showed the kind of leadership that has on occasions been missing at Goodison Park.

Salah and Nunez combine but midfield is a concern

There were, unfortunately for Jurgen Klopp, too many similarities between Liverpool’s 4-4 draw with Greuther Furthon Monday and the 4-2 victory over Karlsruher last week. At this moment in time, Liverpool have no problem scoring but are making far too many defensive errors.

On this occasion chaos ensued following a series of half-time changes, when the score was 1-0, which left Liverpool with several academy prospects on the pitch and a back four of Andrew Robertson, Joel Matip, Jarell Quansah, and Konstantinos Tsikimas.

See: Nunez scores again as goals flow at both ends for Liverpool

Klopp surely won’t be happy with conceding four second-half goals no matter how early we are in pre-season, although there is plenty to be optimistic with Liverpool’s new-look attack as Trent Alexander-Arnold once again started in central midfield.

Alexander-Arnold assisted the opener, although Luis Diaz did most of the hard work himself, before Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah combined for the other three goals.

But it’s hard to focus on the attacking side, and Klopp most likely will not. Liverpool conceded 14 goals across their final 10 Premier League matches last season and although fitness is the primary concern in July, six goals conceded in two friendlies is not a good sign.

With Jordan Henderson reportedly set to depart for Saudi Arabia and Fabinho reportedly also close to a move to Al-Ittihad, Liverpool could suddenly be light on central midfielders who possess the defensive awareness needed to prevent the sort of counter-attacks that defined Greuther Furth’s second-half performance.

However, Stefan Bajcetic and Dominik Szoboszlai are due to return from injury in the near future, giving Klopp’s side a boost before their next friendly against Leicester City. These are still early days. There is plenty of time for Liverpool to get their central midfield in order before the Premier League begins next month.