FPL pre-season: Thiaw goal + DefCon, Moore brace, still no Porro

Continuing our look at the final pre-season friendlies before 2026/27 begins, Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur both featured twice at the weekend.

And here are our Scout Notes for Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers…

READ MORE: FPL 2026/27 Pre-season friendlies – Minutes, Goals + Assists Tracker

NEWCASTLE UNITED 1-2 Bayer Leverkusen

• Goals: Thiaw
• Assists: Elanga

Saturday’s Newcastle United XI: Hornicek; M Miley (Pivas 81′), Thiaw, Botman, Hall; Steur, L Miley (Finneran HT); Elanga, Woltemade (Neave 86′), Barnes; Wissa

NEWCASTLE UNITED 1-1 Strasbourg (2-3 on penalties)

• Goals: Osula
• Assists: Murphy

Sunday’s Newcastle United XI: Jaouen; Shahar, Schar (Johnson HT), Burn (Pivas HT), Charlton; Bamba, Ramsey; Murphy (Neave 75′), Willock (Finneran 87′), Toure; Osula

SCOUT NOTES:

• Matthias Jaissle picked a stronger XI on Saturday, versus Leverkusen, where Lewis Miley (£5.5m) played his first summer minutes. He came off at half-time, as planned.
• But it only took 44 seconds for the clouds to gather once more, because Ibrahim Maza’s edge-of-the-box stinger flew past Lukas Hornicek (£5.0m).
• Neatly summarising the Magpies’ summer, they had to change kit during the first-half hydration break because black-and-white looked too similar to Leverkusen’s very pale blue. Apparently lilac made things clearer!
• Just before half-time, Malick Thiaw (£5.0m) headed in Anthony Elanga‘s (£6.0m) corner. He’s the best way to cover Newcastle’s backline, having been last season’s second-best defender for big chances (10) and third for expected goals (xG, 4.72). Here, Thiaw finished on 15 defensive contribution (DefCon) actions.

ABOVE: Defensive contributions for Malick Thiaw, Lewis Hall and Sven Botman versus Leverkusen, according to FotMob

• Not that the team looks ready to keep any clean sheets. Substitute Victor Boniface won the match for Leverkusen.
• Meanwhile, Sunday’s completely different lineup gave the Strasbourg friendly a Newcastle v Chelsea reserve match vibe.
• For new club captain Dan Burn (£5.0m), these were his first 45 minutes since returning from England duty.
• William Osula (£6.0m) netted five times during 2025/26’s closing seven matches, and looked bright here. He racked up five attempts, three shots on target and two big misses. However, he successfully scored when meeting Jacob Murphy‘s (£6.0m) cross.
• As for DefCon, midfielders Aladji Bamba (£5.0m) and Joe Willock (£5.0m) both reached the 12-action threshold. Though the latter is probably on his way out.
• Overall, Newcastle assets lack appeal because of lineup uncertainty, their new expected signings, and the generally negative feeling of how this season will go.
• No player is currently owned by more than 4% of FPL managers, due to the worrying combination of defensive leakiness and being low on attacking ideas.

• Full-back Amar Dedic is about to arrive from Benfica and should come straight into the Gameweek 1 lineup at home to Liverpool. Yes, 17-year-old Mason Miley played well there, but the Bosnian knows Jaissle’s requirements – such wisdom is needed right now.
• Newcastle are lumbered with a shocking league record against Liverpool – no victory in 19 matches.
• Whereas they have a good one versus the following opponent, Tottenham. Six wins in eight.

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 3-0 Hoffenheim

• Goals: Richarlison, Moore (x2)
• Assists: Robertson, Tel (x2)

Saturday’s Tottenham Hotspur XI: Kinsky; Gray, van Hecke, Senesi (Hardy 81′), Robertson; Tonali, Bergvall (Donley 87′); Moore (Adewole 81′), Gallagher (Hall 81′), Tel; Richarlison (Elliott-Parris 81′)

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 2-2 Hoffenheim

• Goals: Davies, Williams-Barnett
• Assists: Fernandes, Sarr

Sunday’s Tottenham Hotspur XI: Austin; Tye Hall, Danso, Davies, Souza (Byrne 69′); Fernandes, Sarr (Donley 87′), Bentancur; Williams-Barnett (Tyrese Hall 87′), Maddison (Elliott-Parris HT), Ajayi (Adewole 69′)

SCOUT NOTES:

• Although things should go differently this time in Gameweek 2.
• In the meantime, Spurs faced Bundesliga side Hoffenheim on consecutive days, with the first featuring a stronger XI in front of supporters.
• Marcos Senesi (£6.0m) played his first pre-season minutes, but there was still no Pedro Porro (£5.5m) or Micky van de Ven (£5.0m), making it hard to justify picking the World Cup-winning Spaniard right now.
• Despite matching their hosts’ 10 shots and having more touches in the opposition box, Hoffenheim lost Saturday’s clash 3-0.
• New left-back Andrew Robertson (£4.5m) could be a handy, same-priced alternative to popular goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky (£4.5m). It was he who assisted Richarlison‘s (£6.0m) swept-in left-footed finish by the penalty spot. That’s three pre-season strikes for the Brazilian.
• Later, a menacing Mathys Tel (£6.0m) run set up Mikey Moore (£5.0m), and the same duo made it 3-0 when Tel spotted a good gap, allowing Moore to control and place into the far bottom corner.
• The 19-year-old scored seven times during last season’s loan spell at Rangers, and started the previous weekend’s meeting with Getafe.
• Perhaps the cheap FPL asset has earned an initial place as Roberto De Zerbi’s right-sided winger, but be aware that Moore is being linked with another loan, this time to Koln.
• ‘DefCon watch’ credits Archie Gray (£5.0m) and Jan Paul van Hecke (£5.0m) with 14 and 12 actions respectively.
• Elsewhere, the interesting team news from Sunday’s training ground friendly is that James Maddison (£6.5m) made his first start in almost a year. Back from a serious knee injury, he made way at half-time.
• A penalty put the visitors ahead, but Matheus Fernandes‘ (£6.0m) cross was soon glanced in by Ben Davies (£4.0m).
• Thanks to Pape Matar Sarr (£5.0m) setting up Lucá Williams-Barnett, Spurs overturned the deficit.
• Not long after Valentin Gendrey equalised, centre-back Kevin Danso‘s (£5.0m) header hit the bar.
• So, Spurs positively enter the 2026/27 campaign, unbeaten across all friendlies. Of course, they began last season with three victories and clean sheets in four, before things became calamitous.
• Their defensive assets are well-owned, but it’s not the same in attack. Probably because none of Tottenham’s first five matches will be against either the top few or the newly promoted.