June 25th 2008Pre-Season Friendlies ReviewLondon FC started their inaugural season with a relatively small pre-season friendly schedule, only facing three clubs. While three games is not a huge amount, especially for a squad that hasn't even played one game together before, the quality of opposition was always going to be testing with all three clubs playing at a similar or higher level than London FC and two of the games being played away. While we would have liked to give you in depth match reports like we intend to for competitive matches, due to media restrictions we will only be able to provide brief overviews of the matches. We will however provide you with the Manager's thoughts on the games.
Match # F1: June 10th 2008
BRISTOL CITY: Basso; Orr, Carey 
, Fontaine, McAllister; Williams (65), Elliot, Johnson, McIndoe; Maynard, Adebola (80) (4-4-2)SUBSTITUTES: Weale, Webster, Noble, Sproule (65), Skuse, Artus, Trundle (80).------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LONDON FC: Dudek; Kelly, Bramble, Ridgewell (72), Traore; Ninis, Larsson (60), Sankhare , Wilshere; Gyan (69), McFadden (4-4-2)SUBSTITUTES: Asenjo, Sakho (72), Vidosic (60), Adrien, Saivet (69).Match # F2: June 17th 2008
LONDON FC: Asenjo; Kelly, Bramble , Ridgewell, Traore (45); Vidosic, Larsson, Sankhare (56); Saivet, Gyan, McFadden (45) (4-3-3)SUBSTITUTES: Dudek, Sakho (45), Adrien (56), Ninis, Wilshere (45).------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. FC NÜRNBERG: Schäfer (45); Reinhardt, Mitreski, Conclaves, Pínola; Kluge ; Gygax (30), Masmanidis; Mintál; Boakye (60), Eigher (4-1-2-1-2)SUBSTITUTES: Klewer (45), Wolf, Breska, Engelhardt, Judt (30), Charisteas, Pagenburg (60).Match # F3: June 24th 2008
REGGINA: Campagnolo; Lanzaro, Valdéz (45), Cirillo, Costa; Barreto, Cascione , Carmona; Cozza, Brienza; Corradi (64) (4-3-2-1)SUBSTITUTES: Puggioni, Barillá, Hallfreðsson (45), Vigiani, Sestu, Viola (60), Ceravlo.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LONDON FC: Asenjo; Kelly, Bramble (72), Ridgewell, Traore; Ninis, Larsson (45), Sankhare , Vidosic; Gyan, Wilshere (65) (4-4-2)SUBSTITUTES: Dudek, Sakho, Adrien (45), Saivet (72), McFadden (65).______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
June 25th 2008'I Believe the Squad is Heading in the Right Direction'Mark Moore... manager impressed with his sides early performancesOn his sides overall performances..."We played very consistently over the three games. We controlled possession in every single game and showed strength in defense. We perhaps lacked in our determination in the final third, I believe this could be because of the lack of a playmaker to find those crucial killer passes. We were unlucky to concede in every game as a lot of the goals were weak, I believe this may be down to the defense still learning how to work with each other. The Reggina game was very unlucky, we conceded early and then fought back well but just couldn't seem to find the net. Perhaps their second goal should have been disallowed, but these things happen in football and we need to learn to deal with them. The side looked demoralised after that second goal, and it showed as we only had one more attempt on goal after that."
On James McFadden's form..."He is in sensational form. There was a reason that I made it a priority to resign him. He has shown time and time again that he can easily dominate at this level and i'm hoping he can carry his form into the Premiership. He will be a crucial part of this team and I pray he stays injury free this season."
On the youth of the side..."I believe they are already showing maturity beyond their years. When selecting this side I made sure that most of the players I selected had already proved that they can cope with the pressure of top or second flight football. I have been especially impressed with Sankhare, he has been a rock for us in the center of midfield and it has allowed his central midfield partners to get forward more often. I see a little bit of Patrick Viera in him, I predict a bright future ahead for him."
On the rumored signings of Joao Moutinho and Carlos Tevez..."Possibly and No."
On future signings in this transfer window..."I will definitely be signing more players. We still have a significant amount of transfer money left and the squad is far too small as it stands. I aim to have at least 20 players in the squad by the end of the window."
On potential targets..."I won't be mentioning any names as I don't like how the press stirs up rumors. As I mentioned earlier we need someone creative who can make those important passes and can unlock defenses. We have players that are great running at the opposition in Ninis, Vidosic and Gyan, but we need more of a playmaker type of player, in the mold of Cesc Fabregas or Andrea Pirlo. We also need to be more deep in defense, I purposely selected versatile players in the midfield to help cover injury, but it is harder to do that with defense as you need to be particular about who you are playing together, I will be looking to add three defenders, at the very least two."
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Big Thanks to Ben (Dragon@4thQ) who helped me out with the score tabs.
Level: Semi Professional (This will increase rapidly, i'm just getting used to the game currently)
Hummer Stadium! All right!
Also like Saivet. He's great.