Pre-Season Tournament 2022–23

## July 2022 preview

Yeovil Town accepted an invitation to return to the European International Cup, hosted in Belgium this year. Yeovil Town shared a group with **Caykur Rizespor** (*Turkey*), **West Bromwich Albion** (*England*) and **KAA Gent** (*Belgium*).

## Season Welcome From Sascha Krause

"Last year was long and we endured a lot, but this pre-season marks the beginning of our evolution in an established Premier League side. Which is why we spent the summer planning for how we want to squad to shape up and who we want to replace certain players.

With Ben Foster retiring, Callum Hawkins choosing to become a free agent and Leicester City activating Charles Harrison's release clause, we're only left with Frederik Schram as our only keeper. He has agreed to stay and fight for his place, his competition is the Spanish talent Ruben Blanco. We've been admirers of Ruben for a while now and I believe he completely justifies breaking our transfer record to sign him at £18,000,000. It's a big price tag for us, but in football terms, he's a bargain!

Daley Blind, Cyrus Christie and Antonee Robinson all come into the squad too, although Antonee has picked up an injury at the World Cup with USA and will miss the start of the season. It's unfortunate but it happens! All three players will breath life into our defence and will give our current defenders some much needed competition!

Along with Hawkins, Ousmane Fane decided to let his contract expire. I think this is fair as he is good enough to be starting every week at Championship level and he should be playing more than cup games and bench appearances. Reece Clarke has left the club too.

Liam Price sealed a move to Cagliari for £6,000,000 which I think is a good move for the kid and a fair fee for him. Finally, and this was a tough one, but Courtney Duffus has moved on and will link up with Liam in Italy. He has been instrumental in driving us up the leagues, but by his own confession last year was a struggle and it was the right time to move on.

Finally, we've picked up 20-year old Mark James from FC Dallas. It's incredibly impressive that a young English talent was brave enough to start his journey in the MLS and was a starter for Dallas. We honestly have Antonee to thank for pointing out his compatriot to us. He has electric pace and if we can work on his technical abilities, he could become a real talent for us!

We'll see some more movement. Some loans and potentially some more outgoings. We're actually evaluating the free agent pool to see if we can pick up some undervalued talent. Despite the cash injection, the board allocated very little to us and so we need to make the money last. We'll see what's out there!

I am excited about this team and how we will shape up this year. We're aiming to be much tougher to break down again and that's going to take some time to perfect. One thing is clear is that we are a better defensive team when we hold the ball, rather than rely on individual players. So we're looking into that and over pre-season, we will be trying possession heavy tactics that will start with 3 at the back. There's still merit it our usual 4-3-3 and in the big games, I think we will stick with it. But for the rest of the league, we're going to shift towards a 3-5-2 (diamond) and push hard to implement that and perform where it counts. Our transfer activity has and will reflect this approach, so we're really commiting to it.

For now, enjoy the tournament and we'll see you all back in England soon!"

## Group Stage: MD1

 S. Mounie | 40'
 D. Osei Yaw | 45'
 S. Mounie | 81'

**Caykur Rizespor Post-match Interview**

"That one felt like the first game after a summer break. Very uncoordinated and the play didn't flow at all. But it doesn't matter. This game was about fitness, getting some minutes and getting some match rhythm. The goals were pretty sloppy for us to concede but we broke them down well which is the main thing.

We asked a lot of Sorensen and Yearwood today. They were our only midfielders and they had to provide in equal measure defensive solidarity and numbers in attack. There's some work to be done there, but Sorensen did grab himself 2 assists so there's promise there at least! Onto the next game!"

## Group Stage: MD2

 M. Reuvers | 7'
 M. James | 25'

**West Bromwich Albion Post-match Interview**

"Even though it was a friendly, I was actually pretty disappointed that we let our advantage slip. Today was made up mostly of the second team and while we did well, the 2 goals could have been prevented had someone pushed to close down the crosser for the first and James before his longshot for the second. We'll learn from these mistakes and push on. But otherwise, it was an enjoyable game and a wonderful debut for Mark James who grabbed an assist and a goal. Sure, it was a mistake from their keeper to give it to the CB when Mark was so close, but it was a killer instinct and you can never have enough of that in a team!

We also gave 16-year old C. Davis a run-out today. We rate very highly at the club and we want to keep him around this season so he can get used to the culture and the level required of him. There's no reason why he can't hit that level within a few years and we would give him a few minutes this season and see what happens from there."

## Group Stage: MD3

 L. Benkovic | 20'
 D. Blind | 30'
 S. Mounie | 52'
 D. Osei Yaw | 82'

**KAA Gent Post-match Interview**

"Another game where we played well offensively but struggled defensively. It's becoming the same old story but we have no choice but to get better. It will take time and it won't happen overnight, but we will get there. But then, when you have Blind making runs from CB and scoring a header, maybe we should reconsider the purpose of a CB!

We're into the semi-finals now which is good. Utrecht will provide a good test and we're looking to make it to the final by hopefully keeping a clean sheet!"

## Semi-Final

 M. Reuvers | 22'
 S. Mounie | 45'
 Progressed to the Final

**FC Utrecht Post-match Interview**

"What a game and what a performance from Lovre Benkovic on the left! The kid just loves pre-season it seems. That was a very accomplished performance from him and his 2 assists were high quality.

The game itself, I was impressed. We showed better ability defending this game and we can improve further. Like last year, we went to penalties again. Though Ruben saved loads which is a good sign! We edged the win and we head to the finals which is nice!"

## Final

 S. Mounie | 41'
 S. D'Almeida | 90'

**RSC Anderlecht Post-match Interview**

"I think we would be kidding ourselves if we said either team treated that like a pre-season fixture. We both had something like 15 shots each whilst doing our best to be a defensive unit. Which I am impressed with. Anderlecht is the best team we've faced this tournament and I think did well to limit them to one goal.

But we won the tournament which is nice! All silverware is great in our books so we're happy to win it for a third time. But it's over now. The Premier League returns in a little over 2-weeks where we host Liverpool. Of all teams to start our campaign against... it's certainly a challenge. But we're ready!"

## Transfer Window

### Out

#### **Contract News**

* S. Conde extended his contract until **2025**
* M. Reuvers extended his contract until **2026**
* D. Kelly extended his contract until **2027**
* R. Seager extended his contract until **2026**
* D. Osei Yaw extended his contract until **2026**

## YeoLaTengo Monthly Review

After the disappointment of last years tournament, it's a good omen for us to come out on top again! Let's hope that translate to another successful campaign like prior seasons!

There was a focus on bedding the new players into the main system of play, which looks to have evolved slightly this season, but we also saw new tactics being tested outright! Though if the focus was on making us more defensively solid... it doesn't look like it has quite clicked just yet!

A number of players left the club, some who have been here for a long time! But in their place, we have picked up immense quality which will surely make a difference. Ruben Blanco is a huge signing, smashing our previous transfer record, and comes in as the main man between the sticks. Certainly the gauntlet has been thrown day to Schram to step-up now!

The coup of signing Daley Blind! A huge amount of experience and looked fitter than most of the team! He was also taking a lot of our corners and picked up 2 assists which bodes well for the season ahead and our tall players! And then we saw Krause pull some players from the free agent pool. They trialled at the club and whilst we didn't get to see them in action, they must have impressed!

Are we ready for Liverpool? Who's to say. It's always better to have more time to prepare, but then it's just as viable to throw yourself into the deep end and start swimming or drown. Let's see if this team has what it takes!

**Expected First XI for the season:**

**GK**: Ruben Blanco

**RB**: Cyrus Christie

**CB**: Omar Sowunmi

**CB**: Daley Blind

**LB**: Antonee Robinson

**DM**: Reece Oxford

**CM**: Lasse Sorensen

**CM**: Dru Yearwood

**LW**: Lovre. Benkovic

**ST**: Steve Mounie

**RW**: Derick Osei Yaw