All posts by h716a5.icu

Everton and Marco Silva will have to do some decent left-back recruitment in the summer if they are to find a suitable backup option for Lucas Digne after Leighton Baines’s horrible performance against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.

The 34-year-old, who was forced to start at left-back due to Digne’s suspension, was at fault for the opening goal of the game after he brought down Matt Doherty in the box.

Midfielder Ruben Neves stepped up and calmly slotted the penalty to send Nuno Espirito Santo’s men on their way to a 3-1 victory.

The poor challenge by Baines, though, was a big indication to Silva that the defender might not be up to standard any more to cope with the pressure of an attacking team like Wolves.

After conceding the penalty, Baines struggled to move forward on the left-flank and his deliveries from free-kicks were also far from accurate.

Ultimately, Silva didn’t really have any other option but to pick Baines for the encounter due to Digne’s absence, but the result and performance should definitely have the Everton recruitment staff drawing up plans to lure a young and energetic left-back to Goodison Park for next season.

The England international has spent most of the season on the bench for Silva, while Digne has been brilliant for the Toffees but a club of Everton’s stature should have a good second-option player in any position, who is capable of rising to the occasion and deliver a solid performance under tough circumstances.

Baines, unfortunately, struggled with that responsibility and despite being a stalwart for the club over the years, the time might soon come for him to move on.

If Everton were to build the perfect squad, that could pose a real challenge to the top six, then they will need to find alternative players, who could provide competition for the regular starters in the squad.

Baines failed to take up that opportunity on Saturday and it was no surprise that he substituted early in the second-half by Jonjoe Kenny. Once a respected Everton lieutenant, the former England man has become indicative of the club’s stagnation and now decline.

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Leicester City host Manchester United at the King Power Stadium in a Premier League clash on Sunday afternoon.

The Red Devils have been in fine form recently, having made a brilliant start to life under interim manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. However, the Norwegian coach will be keen to see his side bounce back from their midweek draw with Burnley by taking all three points back to Old Trafford from their encounter with the Foxes.

In order to do so, Solskjaer must set his side up to exploit Leicester’s weaknesses.

On the chalkboard

Claude Puel is likely to set his side up with Ben Chilwell and Ricardo Pereira in the left and right full-back roles, respectively.

Be sure to check out the incredible story of the man who rose from a Tanzanian refugee camp to become one of Australia’s biggest football stars in the video below…

Both the 22-year-old England international and the 25-year-old summer signing from Porto are excellent attacking full-backs, and Solskjaer must send his team out to target their habit for pushing forward out of defence.

Exploiting the weakness

In order to effectively exploit this weakness, Solskjaer should stock his flanks with as much pace as possible. The likes of Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez are quick enough to do damage on the counterattack before either Chilwell or Pereira can recover their defensive positions. 

Even if the Foxes negate this potential advantage for United by purposefully holding their full-backs back, then the Red Devils will still have succeeded in removing one of Leicester’s key attacking threats by virtue of the danger they pose on the counterattack themselves. 

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Jonathan Kodjia came close to leaving Aston Villa for Angers on transfer deadline day, but the move was ultimately blocked, according to the print version of French media outlet L’Equipe, via Sport Witness.

Kodjia has only scored six Championship goals for Villa this season.

It is far from a disastrous total, but he has been forced to play out of position on a number of occasions due to the form of Tammy Abraham.

According to L’Equipe, via Sport Witness, Kodjia actually came close to leaving Villa in the latter stages of the January transfer window.

However, the Championship outfit rejected the move as they were unable to secure a replacement.

It would have been strange if the Midlands club had let the 29-year-old leave when you consider their hopes this season and the potential that the centre-forward has.

And it would be fair to say that the Villa supporters were delighted to learn that their team blocked a late approach.

A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:

Who are the best away fans in the Championship? Pl>ymaker FC’s Thogden gives his top 10 in the video below…

Sunderland will have their sights set on securing automatic promotion in the current campaign, having come on leaps and bounds under Jack Ross. 

However, things haven’t been perfect in recent times as the Wearside club have dropped a number of points, which has had a negative affect on their push for an automatic promotion place.

Indeed, the Black Cats’ last match against Blackpool was a prime example as they found themselves chasing the game after conceding a goal in the first-half.

But, that wasn’t the biggest of worries for the Black Cats as Will Grigg’s performance raised a number of alarm bells, as he missed two golden opportunities and offered nothing special all night. The Northern Ireland international joined for £4 million, which is more money than Sunderland received for Josh Maja. He’s yet to score during his two appearances for the club and he’s a long way from living up to his hefty price tag at this moment in time.

Grigg’s recent performances are early signs that the Black Cats can’t cope without the Josh Maja, as he always found a way to score goals at crucial times. There’s no way that Maja would have squandered the open-goal opportunity against Blackpool last time out, so fans will be praying for major improvements from their January signing.

Therefore, with goals being hard to come by at the Stadium of Light and Grigg still finding his feet, it’s safe to say that Ross’ side currently look lost without Maja.

Sunderland fans – thoughts on the potential switch?

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Sheffield United take on fellow Championship title-chasers West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns on Saturday in what could be a season defining clash for both clubs.

With so much on the line for the Blades, Chris Wilder has to get his tactics and team selection right, but given the good form of so many in his squad he has some tough calls to make.

On the chalkboard

In Billy Sharp, David McGoldrick and January loan signing Gary Madine, Wilder has three in-form forwards to pick from. 26-year-old loanee Scott Hogan bolsters these options further. There’s an argument for each of these strikers to get the nod in the starting XI.

Who do you want to see promoted this year? The Pl>ymaker FC squad have picked their 3 favoured teams in the video below…

The partnership between 33-year-old club captain and top goalscorer Sharp and 31-year-old McGoldrick has been prolific all season. However, last time out, Hogan and Madine worked extremely well together. What’s more, the two loanees are something of an unknown quantity together, so could take the Baggies by surprise. 

Whoever Wilder goes with, the Blades stand a good chance of putting goals past Darren Moore’s inconsistent defence. That being said, it’s still a headache for the United manager, but not one that he’d be better off without.

A blessing

In title chases, the side with the best quality squad depth is often the one that prevails. When it comes to their attacking contingent, the Bramall Lane club absolutely have that strength in depth.

Whilst it may mean plenty of difficult selection problems for Wilder to solve between now and the end of the campaign, his plethora of high-class attacking options is a blessing. Having that kind of firepower at his disposal could be what fuels Sheffield United into the Premier League.

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Tottenham Hotspur face a tough trip to Stamford Bridge to take on Chelsea in a Premier League clash on Wednesday. Defeat would surely spell the end of Spurs’ title ambitions, which were severely damaged by their defeat against Burnley last time out.

Iconic former Arsenal midfielder and Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson thinks Spurs’ chances of winning the league have already gone.

Pl>ymaker FC’s Ben Senior will never win the Champions League for one reason only. Find out what in the video below…

What he said

In his regular Sky Sports predictions column, Merson referenced the north London club’s habit of failing to go all the way and landing any silverware. He says “there’s something about them, where they get into a position to make things happen, and it doesn’t happen! This is not a fluke, this is quite worrying now if you’re a Tottenham fan.”

A growing concern

Mauricio Pochettino’s side are already out of the FA Cup and now it looks as though the league may have eluded them again. The club have won no silverware under the Argentine, despite having made a number of domestic cup semi-finals and finished in the top three in each of the last four seasons.

Whilst the manager must be credited for transforming the club into genuine contenders, and for some of the wonderful football his team plays, this failure to make the final step and achieve tangible success must be starting to worry the supporters.

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Hoffenheim Director of Football Alexander Rosen have confirmed that they have received a bid worth €50million (£42.8m) for reported Newcastle United target Joelinton, per Bild.

The 22-year-old striker has scored 10 goals in all competitions thus far this season.

What’s the word?

Joelinton joined Hoffenheim in 2015 from Brazilian club Sport Recife.

However, he has had to wait for his breakthrough at the club, having spent two years on loan with Rapid Wien.

During his spell in Austria, the attacker scored 21 goals and laid on nine assists in a total of 79 appearances.

And he has hit the goal trail again upon his return to the Bundesliga, leading to reported interest from a number of European clubs.

Per the aforementioned report, Newcastle are willing to pay €60m (£51.4m) to secure his signature but Rosen is keen to retain the club’s prized asset.

He told Bild: “We have developed great strength to be able to say no, which we have proven in the past.”

Asked if Newcastle had been the club to table the bid, he replied: “To be honest, there is not one, there are not five, there are dozens of clubs that are interested in him.”

Far-fetched

Unfortunately, this seems like little more than a pipe dream for Newcastle fans.

The Magpies broke their transfer record in January, signing Miguel Almiron from Atlanta United for a fee of £20m.

That deal was the most expensive for the club since 2005, when they secured Michael Owen from Real Madrid.

To expect the club to now be willing to pay almost triple that for any player, let alone one who has spent just a season in a top European league, feels fanciful.

There appears to be a number of clubs looking to sign Joelinton – he is surely unlikely to end up on Tyneside.

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QPR fans are surely in dire need of positive news amid a woeful run of form that has seen them lose six of their last seven games in all competitions, save for a shock 1-0 victory over promotion hopefuls Leeds United.

Fortunately, the Hoops will soon be boosted by the return of Angel Rangel, who was filmed in training on Thursday – the former Swansea man hasn’t featured since the start of December having torn a tendon in a previous loss to Leeds.

Prior to the nasty setback, the 36-year-old had been a fixture for the Loftus Road outfit, making 17 starts and scoring two goals, both of which came in a 2-2 draw with Stoke in November.

Pl>ymaker FC’s Theo Ogden found two rebelious Leeds fans in the home end at Loftus Road in QPR’s 2-1 FA Cup win. Find out what happened next in the video below…

Darnell Furlong has deputised at right-back while the veteran Spaniard has been out and he has impressed; it might not be a straight-forward return to the starting XI for Rangel, then.

Here’s what the QPR fans on Twitter had to say…

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Liverpool are flying high in the Premier League this season, but there’s no such thing as the perfect side. Indeed, if Jurgen Klopp is to take his Reds team to another level for 2019/20, some really tough decisions will need be made in the summer.

With that in mind, Football FanCast’s writers attempt to answer a very difficult question – which first-team regular do Liverpool need to find an upgrade for in the next transfer window? Read their verdicts below…

Harry Sherlock – Roberto Firmino

“Liverpool desperately need a brilliant central striker who can take the load off Roberto Firmino. Yes, the Brazilian has been superb over the past couple of seasons but he has just nine goals this term in the Premier League and it has shown that he is not all that comfortable playing as a centre-forward.

“Bringing in a marquee striker and allowing Firmino to drop into an attacking midfield role would solve two problems at a stroke; Liverpool would have a more functional front three that does not fall apart whenever one player gets injured and they would also have more thrust from midfield. Klopp should be looking to break the bank to bring in a striker this summer.”

Jack Saville – Jordan Henderson

“In truth, I’ve never warmed to the midfielder and I can’t help thinking that Liverpool lack a cutting edge with him in the side. As captain it won’t be an easy decision for Klopp, but the arrival of a forward-thinking alternative could add a new dimension to a predictable midfield trio.”

Harry Elnaugh – James Milner

“He’s been solid for Liverpool since signing on a free – that has to go down as one of the best signings they’ve made, by the way – but he’s 33 now and will soon start to lose his legs, which is largely what Klopp has him in the XI for. Finding a young player who puts himself about and isn’t afraid to put in a tackle, as well as one who can, now and then, play that killer ball the Reds have lacked at times, must be a priority. It would be difficult to replace the former Manchester City man like-for-like but Klopp and co have to try.”

Christy Malyan – Sadio Mane

“He’s no doubt a talented player and a useful asset to this Liverpool side, but there’s just too many inconsistencies in Mane’s game. One week he’ll bag a brace, the next he’ll miss four or five simple chances. Add in a recurring refusal to pass the ball for easy goals and there are plenty of wide forwards in the world who could do a superior job to Mane, provided Liverpool are ready to spend the big bucks to get one.” 

Will Jones – James Milner

“As brilliant as the veteran has been for the Reds, he cannot go on forever. He’s started to show signs of slowing down this season, and this summer the time will have finally come to find a long-term upgrade on the ex-England man. His versatility and application will be missed, but he’s no longer the man Klopp should be looking to to take his side forward.”

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Georginio Wijnaldum helped Liverpool book their spot in the quarter-finals of the Champions League with an impressive showing against Bayern Munich on Wednesday night.

Wijnaldum played the full 90 minutes in the middle of the Liverpool midfield, helping the Reds record a 3-1 win over the German champions in the second leg of their last-16 tie.

According to WhoScored, the Netherlands international – a 2016 arrival from Newcastle United – had a pass success rate of 81 per cent, whilst he managed one shot for the visitors.

The 28-year-old is perhaps overlooked due to the bigger names in the team, but there is no question that the 5ft 9in ace is a key player for head coach Jurgen Klopp.

Following the progression to the last eight, Wijnaldum took to social media to reveal his delight and unsurprisingly, that led to a strong reaction from the adoring Liverpool fans.

A selection of the Twitter reaction from the supporters can be seen below: