All posts by h716a5.icu

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Derby County fans have ripped into Everton loanee Kieran Dowell following his performance in the home defeat against Bristol City on Tuesday night, and their concerning comments certainly don’t bode well for the 21-year-old having a long-term future at Goodison Park.

An impressive loan spell with Nottingham Forest, in which he scored 10 goals in 43 appearances in all competitions, was followed up by an underwhelming spell with Sheffield United at the start of this year after he had failed to break into manager Marco Silva’s plans in the first half of the 2018/19 campaign.

The attacking midfielder was sent to the Rams on another season-long loan deal during the summer transfer window, but despite starting in his preferred No.10 position under Phillip Cocu so far, he has failed to make his mark with no goals and just the one assist in four Championship starts, as per Transfermarkt.

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County supporters certainly weren’t impressed with what they saw from Dowell at the Pride Park Stadium against the Robins, with one labelling him as “lazy” and another saying he has “no quality whatsoever”.

Those worrying words suggest that if this spell does go the same way as his one with Sheffield United, he has very little chance of making it at Everton given where the club wants to get to and the competition for places they already have in the final third.

Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets…

Having had to endure a nightmarish opening game of the season against Burnley, Ralph Hasenhuttl took action and dropped the highly criticised Jack Stephens for the match against Liverpool.

The Austrian boss went with Maya Yoshida instead of the Englishman, meaning that Jannik Vestergaard kept his place for the visit of the Reds despite being at fault for Ashley Barnes’ first goal – the Dane misjudged a long ball and slipped, allowing the Clarets No.10 in on goal.

Hasenhuttl should probably have dropped both Stephens and Vestergaard, as the 6 foot 5 centre-back failed to deliver a solid performance once again – much to these Southampton fans’ annoyance.

As you can see, the 27-year-old was pretty useless against Jurgen Klopp’s side.

He recorded no blocks and no tackles, and managed to be successful with just over half of his attempted passes – he made the least passes out of all of his fellow centre-backs with just 22.

Vestergaard did win four aerial duels, but that’s mainly down to the fact he is a 6 foot 5 giant of a man.

You can see why Hasenhuttl plays with three centre-backs. It is arguably the weakest area of the Saints squad and the Austrian appears to be trying to overcompensate for their lack of quality by adding an extra body in there, but it still isn’t having the desired effect with five goals conceded in two games.

The former RB Leipzig boss must ditch this system and revert to a two-man centre-back system again, to add another body in midfield or up top, perhaps – you could argue that the forwards are also suffering in this system, as just one goal has been scored and even that was as a result of Adrian booting the ball at Danny Ings.

It may have been against the Champions League winners, but Vestergaard was poor in the 2-1 loss and a reshuffle is definitely needed at St Mary’s.

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

Former Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez believes three signings he made during his time at Anfield are the best moves he made during his time in England.

What did he say?

Benitez enjoyed success at all three of his English clubs, winning trophies with Liverpool, Newcastle and even Chelsea, despite coming under heavy criticism from the Blues faithful for the majority of his spell in London.

In that time he has worked with some brilliant players but some signings didn’t work out so well, particularly at Liverpool – Antonio Nunez and Josemi spring to mind.

In a Q&A with The Athletic Benitez was asked to name the best signings he made whilst in England, and this was his response:

“It’s so difficult. If I’m talking about my players from my time in England, it has to be Fernando Torres, Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano. If you talk about success and performances at the top level, those players stand out.”

It is an interesting choice from the Spaniard, as only one of those players – Alonso – featured in his Liverpool side which won the Champions League in 2005, whilst Torres also missed out on the Champions League final in 2007, too.

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 A change in culture

Benitez helped to transform the mentality of the club from a team looking to qualify for Europe to a side capable of winning the Champions League.

He astonishingly managed to accomplish that in his first season, but his continued success at Anfield was due to much more than that.

Having players like Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher helped massively but Alonso, Mascherano and Torres all made huge impacts when they joined, and Liverpool improved as a result of each arrival.

Alonso proved himself one of the best passers in the division during his five-year spell at the club, providing countless opportunities for the likes of Gerrard and Torres, and ultimately helping Liverpool to two trophies and their joint-highest placed finish in the Premier League in 2009.

Likewise, Mascherano marshalled the midfield to great effect and when he departed in 2011 his absence was very notable, with signings Christian Poulsen and Raul Meireles failing to adequately replace him.

Torres is remembered as one of Liverpool’s greatest Premier League strikers, and the impact he made was huge – reaching 50 Premier League goals in just 72 games, making him the quickest Liverpool player to do so at the time.

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Leeds suffered their first defeat of the Championship campaign at the weekend, failing to score as they were undone 1-0.

Wayne Routledge was the hero for the visitors as he popped up with a late goal that meant the Whites weren’t able to claim any points on Saturday afternoon.

The defeat meant that Leeds have now suffered back to back losses in all competitions heading into the international break.

However, there was a plus point from the hosts’ point of view. That happened to be Stuart Dallas. who supporters were quick to rave about.

One individual labelled the 6-foot defender as immense, whilst he was also labelled a revelation in the right-back position.

A number of superlatives were thrown in the Northern Irishman’s direction including outstanding and superb.

Throughout the encounter, Dallas had two shots, completed a dribble and also won three tackles, per WhoScored, in what was a solid outing at both ends of the pitch.

The versatile performer has stepped in admirably for Stuart Ayling this season and has appeared at wing-back and full-back in 2019/20.

Here’s the best of the reaction from Leeds fans on Saturday.

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Just a couple of days ago, Florentino Perez did an interview for Marca, saying that the problem of this current Real Madrid squad is that they’ve lost their hunger and desire following years of success.

And interestingly enough, not long after that, Sergio Ramos, the team’s captain, came out with an entirely different narrative, stating the exact opposite and suggesting Los Blancos do still have that hunger.

Watch Spanish Football Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

We can’t know for sure whose words hold the truest, but we know the fans weren’t really buying Ramos’ rallying cry, to say the least.

Real Madrid’s official Twitter account published the interview with their captain and many fans were quick to bash him for his latest quotes.

Some simply don’t believe him at all, some think it’s not enough to just say you’re hungry for success and some even reminded him of Perez’s statement from the other day, sneakily pointing out the contradicting words of captain and president.

You can see some of their replies in the tweets below:

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Loads of Tottenham Hotspur fans on Twitter have mocked Arsenal summer signing Nicolas Pepe following his latest display in his side’s 2-2 draw with Watford on Sunday.

The Ivory Coast international was named alongside Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang up top in the starting XI at Vicarage Road, and while the Gabon international netted a brace, his partner was far less effective and influential on the day, being dispossessed on two occasions and suffering three examples of bad control, according to WhoScored.

Pepe reportedly cost the Gunners £72m when he signed from Lille during the summer transfer window, but he only has one assist to his name in five Premier League appearances so far as he gets to grips with life in England.

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Meanwhile, The Times reported last year that Spurs also held an interest in the winger, but it was their arch-rivals who eventually got a deal over the line.

Mauricio Pochettino has the likes of Christian Eriksen, Erik Lamela and Son Heung-min to fill the wide positions if required though, and on Sunday’s evidence Tottenham supporters don’t seem too upset that Pepe isn’t lining up for them in a white shirt instead.

Many took to Twitter to mock the 24-year-old, with some even comparing him to former flop Georges-Kevin Nkoudou.

Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more… 

Everton have underperformed this season, particularly away from home, but their fortunes could change if Marco Silva opts for a 3-5-2 formation.

On the chalkboard

There are many concerns with the Everton team currently. They look lacklustre in attack, at times lacking in ideas – as shown by their average of 3.4 shots on target per game – whilst last season’s weakness at defending set-pieces has continued this term, with three in five matches.

Added to that, there is concern over a lack of leadership in the squad. Gary Neville has pointed to a lack of faith amongst the players, and that meant the side capitulated when falling behind for the second time against Bournemouth.

“Still a fragility with them and belief issue. It frustrates me so it must frustrate Everton fans.”

– Gary Neville on Everton’s away form

In fact, Everton have never come from behind to win under Silva in the league, and that is partly due to their inability to apply pressure on the opposition for prolonged periods. Even if they do, they often fail to create an opening, as the Aston Villa match showed.

A change in approach to play with a high press has helped, and it nearly led to a goal on Sunday, so Silva should continue with it.

To make it most effective, however, he needs his attacking players to sit high up the pitch, and that would be most easily achieved by playing two up-front.

The solution to multiple problems

Firstly, playing two strikers would give the opposition more to think about, whilst allowing the Toffees to defend from the front, which is necessary given their recent rate of conceding.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Moise Kean have both looked out of sorts so far, with one goal between them, but the opportunity to play off one another could allow them more space in the final third and from that more chances on goal could open up.

Kean’s pace would be very effective when pressing too, with Richarlison operating just behind him in a role which would grant him the freedom to roam – and that is what gets the best out of the Brazilian, as he had chances to score from the left and the right flank against the Cherries.

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Silva has rarely played with two strikers since his arrival in England, possibly due to his concerns over the defence after conceding three goals inside 32 minutes against Manchester United whilst at Watford.

However, playing three centre-backs – which would include Mason Holgate – would provide greater protection, making the Toffees more resolute at set-pieces whilst allowing the full-backs to get forward, something they thrive upon.

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets… 

Wolves’ Premier League problems continued on Sunday afternoon as they again failed to earn their first three points of the season, but it could have been a lot worse.

It’s now six straight domestic matches without a win as now only Watford sit below them in the table – though, just two of those games have been defeats.

And it was very nearly a loss at Selhurst Park.

Starting the game in a 3-4-3 formation, Wolves looked the brighter of the two teams in the first half.

They recorded seven shots at goal compared to the home team’s one, but the second half was a different tale.

Almost instantly after the break, Crystal Palace took the lead as Joel Ward’s effort found its way past Rui Patricio via midfielder Leander Dendoncker.

Wolves needed a stoppage-time equaliser to rescue a point which was created by Adama Traore and finished by Diogo Jota.

The visitors launched a scathing counter-attack along the right flank with the 23-year-old eventually crossing it to the Portuguese forward to scramble home with seconds left on the clock.

Nuno Santo wasn’t helped by the fact that Romain Saiss was sent off and the Wanderers boss has since come out and said the 29-year-old needs to learn from his mistakes.

But maybe he should take a look at himself before offering out that advice.

Saiss put in a woeful showing at left centre-back, recording the lowest rating of anyone that featured in the match at 6.1.

In his 73 minutes, the Morocco international was dribbled past twice, he lost possession a disastrous eight times and won just 50% of his ground duels, per SofaScore.

Last time he played at centre-back was just last weekend when Wolves were thrashed 5-2 at home by Chelsea – if it wasn’t obvious enough that Saiss isn’t suited to the role after that shambolic showing then it surely must be now.

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Before then, Saiss was deployed in midfield playing a crucial role in their six Europa League qualification wins and even played and scored there in the Everton defeat.

That is his best position.

Nuno is just bringing it on himself by continuing to play him in the entirely wrong position.

There’s certainly no sympathy for Wolves’ current Premier League plight based on the Portuguese boss’ bizarre decisions.

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

Former Arsenal ace Ray Parlour has told talkSPORT that he rates Harry Kane as a better striker than Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

What did he say?

Aubameyang has had a fantastic start to the campaign. In his first seven games in all competitions, he has seven goals, and has scored in all but one match that he has played.

Kane, too, has done well so far, scoring five in his first seven, and Parlour has said that he believes he is a step above the former Borussia Dortmund man.

Asked by Alan Brazil to pick between the England captain and the Gabon international, he said: “I’ll probably go Harry Kane.”

Expanding, later on, he added: “(Aubameyang) goes in and out of games, he’ll go missing for 10 minutes. But when he gets his chance, when he gets his moment in the box he takes it.”

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Is Kane better?

Is Kane really better than Aubameyang? Let’s have a look at the stats.

Without counting the spells at the start of their careers – there is little sense in comparing the Tottenham man’s goals for Leyton Orient and the Gabon international’s for Lille, for example – Kane has 169 goals in 260 games for Spurs, which have come at a rate of 0.65 per match. Aubameyang, meanwhile, has 230 in 382 games across his times at Saint-Etienne, Borussia Dortmund and now the Gunners. They have come at a rate of 0.6. One point to Kane.

What about in England’s top tier since the 30-year-old’s arrival, though? That statistic actually points in favour of Aubameyang, whose 48 in 72 come at a rate of 0.67 per match compared to his rival’s 0.64 (39 in 61).

Let’s move on to trophies. Of course, this has often been used as a way to prove the argument that the England captain is not world class, and it must be stated that his cabinet is bare other than three Premier League Golden Boots. Aubameyang’s record may not be much better, but it is better all the same. He himself has two Golden Boots, and four cups from his various clubs. He has also won the African Footballer of the Year award, in 2015, but bearing in mind Kane’s nationality, it is harsh to use that against him.

Internationally, Kane has shone at a World Cup, picking up the Golden Boot at last year’s edition in Russia. Again, though, as Gabon are unlikely to ever qualify for the tournament, it seems to be an unfair comparison.

The truth of the matter is there is very little, if anything at all, to separate the two.

Really, bearing in mind that Aubameyang has proven himself in three countries, compared to Kane’s one, you could even argue that the former comes out slightly on top.

Phillips was clearly pleased about beating West Brom at Elland Road, but his Instagram post indicates that he was just as happy about the return of Ayling and Roberts.

You can understand why the midfielder is buzzing to see his teammates return, as Ayling was a key player for Leeds last term, starting 40 league games, and Roberts was fantastic when he moved into the number ten role after the departure of Samu Saiz.