After a convincing 4-0 win away to Swindon Town, Everton’s pre-season preparations really kick into gear in the opening game of the Barclays Asia Trophy against Stoke City in Singapore. There’s plenty of pros and cons to playing in preseason tournaments, particularly ones that are on the other side of the globe, but on the whole I’m of the school of thought that the positives outweigh the negatives. In particular, adding a semi-competitive element to otherwise meaningless games adds a sense of intrigue to games; matches that can be arduous for both players and fans alike.
I say it’s a tournament; it is only actually two games, but nonetheless it’s more interesting than Celta Vigo at Prenton Park. We’ve actually played in this tournament before, way back in 2005. We lost both games on penalties; first to Thailand (yes, seriously), and then to Manchester City. Mark Clattenburg was the ref for both games though.
This time around, it’s Stoke City up first, with either Arsenal or a Singapore XI to follow, depending on results.
Stoke have had a pretty eventful summer, and have been linked with some quality players. Yevhen Konoplyanka was the first to be linked with a surprise move to the Britannia, only to opt for Europa League winners Sevilla. A fee was then agreed Xherdan Shaqiri, only for the player to admit he wasn’t that keen on the move. (Enter Everton? We’ll see.)
Instead, Stoke have so far recruited Marco van Ginkel on loan, Glen Johnson, and Shay Given to replace to the departing Asmir Begovic who’s off to Chelsea. Pretty underwhelming from their point of view, although van Ginkel could prove to be a shrewd move.
From our point of view, it would nice if we could build on some of the attacking play shown on Saturday. Of course, it was only against Swindon, but it was a world away from anything we saw last pre-season, particularly in the second half.
Connor McAleny impressed everyone, but with that will come expectation. Everyone’s going to be eager to see whether he can now produce against a Premier League side.
It’s going to be interesting to see what Martinez does tactically. With Stoke obviously being a Premier League side, will this game offer a glimpse into how we’ll approach the majority of games in the coming season? Where will Cleverly and Deulofeu fit in? There’ll be wholesale changes at half time no doubt, but perhaps the starting XI could be an insight into the manager’s plans for the coming campaign.
