John McEnerney:, external Years ago pre-season friendlies were crucial for all teams and now it's all about keeping commitments to sponsors! Time wasted.

Send us your thoughts on pre-season friendlies? Are they a useful exercise? Have you seen your team and been impressed during pre-season?

Tweet #bbcsportsday or text 81111.

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Despite watching his side hammer LA Galaxy 7-0 in his first game in charge, Louis van Gaal has hinted at change at Manchester United due to an unbalanced squad.

The Dutchman succeeds David Moyes at Old Trafford but says: "We have four number 10s, so the selection is not balanced in my eyes."

Earlier this week, the club's chief executive Ed Woodward said United were ready to spend big to win the title.

The Times reacts to the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony with a special edition wraparound cover which carries a line from the Queen's message.

"We belong together, and are able, through teamwork, to achieve far more than we could do alone."

Image source, The Times

The Brownlee brothers - Alistair and Jonathan - will be racing for gold today in the men's triathlon, which is one of a number of medal events on day one.

You can keep up to speed with that event as we have a live text commentary running from the Commonwealth Games.

Sir Bradley Wiggins has revealed he sometimes wishes he had not won the Tour de France in 2012.

The 34-year-old, who competes in the Commonwealth Games today, says the level of fame which followed his success was hard to deal with.

"I left for the Tour de France that year relatively unknown in the general public's eyes. When I came back, for a week or so I felt like the most famous man in the country," says Wiggins, who sought guidance on dealing with fame from six-time Olympic champion cyclist Sir Chris Hoy.

As we continue our look back at last night's friendly action, Tottenham fans may be excited at not only seeing Andros Townsend back on the score sheet, but record-signing Erik Lamela thriving too.

Image source, AP

England midfielder Townsend, who missed the World Cup through injury, netted the winner in a 3-2 success over FC Toronto, but not before Lamela had struck twice.

New signing Ben Davies made his debut for Mauricio Pochettino's side and managed to stop former Spurs striker Jermain Defoe from registering for the Canadian outfit.

Andy Murray looks set to retain the services of Amelie Mauresmo as his coach.

The two-time Grand Slam winner joined forces with Mauresmo before the start of the grass season, but defeat to Grigor Dimitrov at Wimbledon had cast doubt on whether the relationship would continue.

But photographs of Mauresmo at Murray's training camp have been posted on the Scot's website, with a further announcement on the situation expected in the next week.

Image source, Getty Images

Liverpool's search for a left-back is now focused on Chelsea's Ryan Bertrand, Tottenham are keen on an Aston Villa defender and former Samuel Eto'o could be returning to London. But who for?

Find out about that and all of the latest chat in our gossip column.

The late transfer move on Wednesday saw Tottenham sign goalkeeper Michel Vorm and defender Ben Davies from Swansea City.

Vorm, 30, agreed a four-year contract with Davies, 21, committing for one year more.

Gylfi Sigurdsson, 24, moved in the opposite direction and rejoins the club he represented on loan in 2012 on a four-year deal.

Celtic will play Poland's Legia Warsaw in the third qualifying round of the Champions League.

Legia's 5-0 win over St Patrick's Athletic sealed a 6-1 aggregate passage and they will face the Hoops in the first leg of their tie next week.

Image source, Getty Images

Elsewhere last night, Liverpool lost 1-0 to a last-minute Marco Boriello goal against Italian side Roma. Ashley Cole made his debut for the Italian side and Liverpool's Fabio Borini - a transfer target for Sunderland - left the field clutching his shoulder.

No such problems for Manchester City who beat Sporting Kansas City 4-1 while Aston Villa won 2-0 against FC Dallas.

That is an impressive start for Louis van Gaal then and there were a number of other friendly matches involving English clubs last night, but we want to know what you can learn from friendlies.

Are they crucial or a glorified marketing exercise?

Tweet us on #bbcsportsday or text on 81111.

Image source, Getty Images

The fresh story this morning is Manchester United's resounding friendly win over LA Galaxy in California.

In new manager Louis van Gaal's first game in charge, United hammered their American hosts 7-0.

There were two goals apiece for Wayne Rooney, Ashley Young and debutant defender Reece James, all after Danny Welbeck had opened the scoring.

Van Gaal deployed a new formation, with Antonio Valencia and new signing Luke Shaw operating as wing-backs.

Image source, Getty Images

Loch Ness, exploding cakes and Rod Stewart. What bonds these variables? The Commonwealth Games.

The 20th edition of the Games arrived in Glasgow last night with an opening ceremony which has seemingly been well received across the media.

"While some Scots might have bristled at the kilts-and-shortbread portrayal of their country, there was no denying the overwhelming exuberance and good humour of the event," says the Guardian., external

It is now over to the athletes, with medals up for grabs on the first day of action and we have a live text commentary running on the event already.

Good morning and welcome to Thursday's edition of Sportsday.

Transfers, friendly reaction, gossip, you name it... we will cover it here so you can stay right up to speed with where your team is at as the new season creeps closer.

We will keep you tuned in to Commonwealth Games goings-on and Tour de France happenings and, of course, we will be asking for your tweets and texts. More on that later, but first to a historic moment for Scotland.