All posts by n8rngtd.top

Tottenham Hotspur fans could be forgiven for never knowing who Dane Scarlett was before breaking history, but it’s a name they should get to know quickly.Against Ludogorets in the Europa League last week, the 16-year-old became the youngest-ever player to feature for the north London outfit, surpassing John Bostock’s 12-year record.

The teenage sensation has enjoyed a meteoric rise this season. On the face of it, eight competitive minutes is nothing to shout about but it’s even more impressive considering he’s yet to feature for the U23 squad.

Scarlett has caught Mourinho’s eye that much that he’s bypassed that level of football to be granted a professional debut. Very rarely do you see players at his age feature for an elite club.

Last season, the striker missed ten months of action due to a serious knee injury, so to feature for Spurs’ first-team is just desserts after recovering fully in August this year.

With Troy Parrott out on loan, could Scarlett be the next prospect in line behind Harry Kane? Quite possibly.

Speaking about his debut, Mourinho said:

“He played a few minutes in some of our pre-season matches. Of course, he went back to his [U18] team. He trains with them. Yesterday when I felt there was space for another young player in the squad, I didn’t decide by myself, I asked my football director and I asked the academy director and they contacted all the coaches. ‘Who deserves it?’

“There are of course a few names, especially the U18s because they are doing so well. They gave me his name and because I knew him already I thought if the opportunity would arise it would be a good chance for me and a good feeling for everyone in the academy.”

For the U18s in their Premier League, Scarlett has bagged ten goals in just nine matches, including four strikes in one game against Southampton, who have quite an illustrious academy set-up themselves.

If he continues to bag each week, there’s a high chance that he is involved under Mourinho again at some point this season, especially when they face non-league outfit Marine in the FA Cup in January.

He could well be bordering on the potential of being the next Kane at Spurs.

Arguably, the Englishman has been Daniel Levy’s greatest success story at the club, so if Scarlett follows that path having already broken one long-standing record, then perhaps the Lilywhites chairman has struck gold once again.

Forget Harry Winks, Japhet Tanganga and even Parrott, Scarlett could be the future of Tottenham Hotspur.

AND in other news,ÂExclusive: Marlon Harewood admits shock overÂforgotten Spurs man’s decline…

Sheffield Wednesday suffered yet another defeat in a Yorkshire derby as Tony Pulis’ winless run in charge of the Owls continued this afternoon.

Local rivals Barnsley came from behind in the first half to secure a 2-1 victory at Hillsborough Stadium, meaning it’s now three draws and four defeats since the 62-year-old took over from Garry Monk.

It also leaves Wednesday still sat rock-bottom on nine points, some four points from safety.

Josh Windass opened the scoring with a tap-in from close range in the fourth minute, but the Tykes soon rallied with a comeback.

They equalised through a Cauley Woodrow header before Dominik Frieser fired home a fine team-effort all by the 37th minute.

After the match, Pulis lambasted his side and dubbed their opener “comical” and indeed, he isn’t far from the truth. It all swung down to the display of Joe Wildsmith between the sticks for the Owls.

No other player picked up a worse rating (6.1) and it is hardly a surprise to see why.

The 24-year-old academy graduate also lost possession 28 times, more than any other player. He even struggled with the accuracy of his goal kicks, making just 20 of 47 passes (43%), via SofaScore.

It’s made worse by the fact that he was so heavily involved, recording 50 touches, which was more than Moses Odubajo and Windass, who both played the full 90 minutes.

YorkshireLive’s Dom Howson summed it up well in his match ratings, giving the young shot-stopper a five out of ten, he said:

“His kicking was poor early on and will feel he should have done better for Woodrow’s goal when he flapped at a corner. “

Owls first-choice, Keiren Westwood, has been out injured, so it may be time to turn to Cameron Dawson, who was often favoured under Monk.

Wildsmith deserves to be axed after such a shocking and pathetic display and it’s not like Pulis is light on options between the sticks.

AND in other news, Chansiri can solve Pulis’ major headache with Sheff Weds swoop for “dangerous” monster…

Celtic will hope that they can build on their win over Hearts in their Scottish Cup victory on Sunday. The Hoops secured a historic ‘quadruple treble’ achievement thanks to their hard-fought victory.

But it wasn’t easy-going for Neil Lennon’s side. Hearts dug in their heels and held them to a thrilling 3-3 draw. It took a win via penalties to seal the trophy for Celtic, with goals leading up to the shootout coming from Ryan Christie, Odsonne Edouard and Leigh Griffiths, as per Sofascore.

The latter made a cameo appearance at Hampden Park, coming on as an extra-time substitute. He needed just eight minutes to find a goal to break the deadlock for his side and he went on to score his penalty in the shootout as well.

However, Griffiths has struggled for regular game time this season. His appearance against Hearts was just his eighth of the campaign across all competitions, according to Transfermarkt. He has slipped drastically down the pecking order, with Lennon preferring to field Edouard and Mohamed Elyounoussi in his attack instead.

This appears to have stemmed from the manager’s fury over Griffiths’ match fitness during the summer. According to talkSPORT, Lennon slammed the striker for being “overweight”, expressing his unhappiness at his player for not being ready to play.

The 30-year-old has since done his best to fight back and prove to the gaffer that he is worthy of a spot in the starting lineup. Indeed, he has contributed some influential performances against the likes of St Johnstone and Aberdeen and should be relied on more often.

Alex McLeish recently waxed lyrical about Griffiths, labelling him as a “tremendous” asset to this Celtic side. He would be a smart choice to start in their next outing against Ross County and he has definitely earned a place in the line-up after his Scottish Cup final heroics.

In other news, Lawwell must make sure Ryan Christie does not leave Glasgow…

Tottenham Hotspur eased into the next round of the FA Cup with a 5-0 victory over non-league minnows Marine this evening, though for all of the positives, one player’s performance will have Jose Mourinho seething.

A first-half 13-minute hat-trick by Carlos Vinicius, a pinpoint free-kick from fellow Brazilian Lucas Moura and a debut strike from history-maker Alfie Devine settled the resounding rout at the Marine Travel Arena in Crosby.

Indeed, it was a routine win for against a side that competes in the eighth tier of English football, some 160 places below Spurs in the pyramid.

It gave Mourinho a chance to look at several of his fringe players with the likes of Eric Dier and Harry Kane not even making the trip north.

Benfica loanee Gedson Fernandes was one of many to be gifted a golden opportunity to impress, but he did anything but and was quite clearly the worst player on the pitch.

His performance looks even worse considering the opposition and many fans took fire at him on social media during and after the match.

Gedson was dubbed “absolute garbage” and “one of the worst signings” in Spurs history by one fan, another labelled him a “possession vacuum” as he often lost the ball and there were even members of the Hotspur faithful asking the club to send him back to Portugal.

It’s easy to see why so many were left fuming by his display – per SofaScore, the 22-year-old recorded more touches (117) than any other player but failed to provide much substance as he made 0% of crosses, had zero key passes and fired two shots off target.

The attacking midfielder also lost the ball more times (22) than any other Spurs player, which meant he handed possession back to Marine once every five touches.

Alasdair Gold at football.london wasn’t impressed by the £12.15m-rated Portugal international either, grading him as Spurs’ worst player with a 5/10 in his post-match ratings and claimed: “This won’t have done his case much good to get more minutes.”

Whilst Dan Kilpatrick at the Evening Standard teased that it could’ve been his final game for the club, he said: ” Quite possibly a farewell appearance.”

Sky Sports reported last week that the Primeira Liga outfit wanted to recall Gedson early and Spurs would be open into doing so, well, after that performance, Daniel Levy might as well pay for his plane ticket now.

The £55k-per-week flop’s career at Spurs is surely finished after that shocking and pathetic outing.

AND in other news, Spurs must land dream Lo Celso partner in £18m-rated gem, Jose dubbed him “phenomenal”…

Steve Bruce must urge Mike Ashley to sanction a January swoop for Liverpool winger Xherdan Shaqiri amid claims of interest from Newcastle United.

What’s the word?

According to The Telegraph, Bruce would love to strengthen the Toon first-team in the winter market with the additions of three quality arrivals as he looks to finalise deals for a new box-to-box midfielder, full-back and creative wide forward.

Ashley is expected to grant Bruce his wishes should the Magpies manage to offload a handful of those currently deemed surplus to requirements, otherwise favour the arrival of one key player on loan.

Among the candidates touted for a mid-season switch to St. James’ Park is Liverpool winger Shaqiri, who has seen his future at Anfield thrown into chaos with Jurgen Klopp’s champions open to selling this month but hesitant to cash in after Diogo Jota sustained a knee injury.

Shaqiri has been linked with moves away from Merseyside for the past year, with AS Roma and Sevilla told it would cost them €30m (£26.5m) to finalise a deal 12-months ago, while Fenerbahce are expected to revive their interest after Klopp called off a loan move at the eleventh hour last summer.

The Swiss international also weighed up a Bundesliga return in the off-season after an injury-plagued 2019/20 season, only to endure further struggles with a muscular issue seeing the 29-year-old make only his third Premier League appearance of the campaign away to Newcastle last month.

Should Newcastle target Shaqiri?

Liverpool will likely consider selling Shaqiri in the January market should they receive a suitable offer, with it believed the £14.5m-rated attacker is seen as a player the Reds’ can use to fund a move for a new defender.

If a deal for Shaqiri is there to be had, Bruce must urge Ashley to sanction a swoop to solve his search for a creative wide option with Newcastle’s current squad often failing to produce the needed touch in the final third.

Matt Ritchie has provided a key pass every 30 minutes when fielded in a wide midfield role, which is enough for the 31-year-old to lead the charts for Magpies players who have played over 100 Premier League minutes in a wide forward role this season, per WhoScored.

Allan Saint-Maximin has so far offered a key pass every 57.5 minutes, before Bruce sees a drastic drop to Miguel Almiron (100.5), Jacob Murphy (123.5), Joelinton (126.5) and Jeff Hendrick (422).

Shaqiri may hardly have featured thus far this season as a result of his continued injuries, yet provided an assist in his top-flight campaign debut with a smart pass through to Jota against West Ham United in October.

Former England international Darren Bent continues to be a vivid advocate of the attacker’s talents, too, which would be more than welcome at St. James’ Park this winter.

“He’s still a very, very good player, he can still make things happen, he’s got a great left foot, great technique and there are going to be clubs out there that would love to have him in their squad,” Bent told Football Insider.

AND in other news, an “unplayable” £75k-p/w Newcastle United player is in-demand ahead of the January transfer window…

Sheffield Wednesday are still yet to appoint Tony Pulis’ successor despite the Welshman being sacked over two weeks ago by Owls chairman Dejphon Chansiri.

The south Yorkshiremen are looking for their fifth manager in three years, and even their third of the current campaign after firing Garry Monk back in November.

It’s already been quite a tumultuous season as the Owls were slapped with a six-point deduction having breached EFL regulations over the sale of Hillsborough Stadium.

Several names have been linked to the vacant managerial role, and we know of at least two names who have applied –  Thorsten Fink, formerly of Bayern Munich, and someone who Wednesday fans will know a lot better in Paul Cook.

Indeed, according to YorkshireLive’s Dom Howson, the 53-year-old has put his name forward in the past week. He’s even spoken out about the potential of taking the helm.

Whilst on Sky Sports duties, he said (via YorkshireLive):

“It is very, very flattering to be linked. I am an out of work manager and I am desperate to get back into football,” before adding: “Sheffield Wednesday is an absolutely massive football club. It would be a fantastic club for anyone to manage so while I’m being linked with it, it is obviously very flattering.”

Cook could well be the ideal candidate to salvage what’s left of Wednesday’s abysmal campaign.

He has been out of work since leaving Wigan Athletic at the end of the 2019/20 season, though he was powerless to stop their relegation following a 12-point deduction of their own.

The former Portsmouth man would resign at the DW Stadium as a result having earned them promotion just two seasons earlier. Overall, Cook managed a pretty decent win-rate of 41.9% considering their struggles.

But for that sanction, the Latics would have survived a Championship relegation battle for the second successive year under his tenure, so you can see why he’d be a perfect choice for Chansiri with the Owls in similar peril.

Wednesday may be unbeaten in four matches since Neil Thompson took interim charge, but they still only sit out of the drop zone on goal difference and two of the three teams below them have at least one game in hand too.

If Chansiri wants a saviour from this crisis, then Cook appears to be the one, so he must strike now, especially with no match for another ten days.

Hiring Cook could certainly help revive the Owls.

AND in other news, Paul Cook appointment could spell trouble for Sheffield Wednesday’s “explosive” gem…

Recent reports have suggested that Spurs chairman Daniel Levy will block Dele Alli’s potential move to PSG this month, and with the Englishman reportedly keen on the move, he must reconsider.

Mauricio Pochettino was recently announced as the new manager of the Ligue 1 club, and the Argentinian could help Alli rediscover the form that established him as one of the brightest young talents in the Premier League a few seasons ago.

After signing from MK Dons in 2015, the midfielder would enjoy a sensational debut season with the Lilywhites; contributing 10 goals and nine assists in 33 top-flight appearances, resulting in a 7.35 average rating.

That excellent form would continue for the next couple of seasons before his performances would begin to drop off in the 2018/19 season.

This season, however, he has found himself on the fringes of Jose Mourinho’s squad, having made just one start in the Premier League all season, with just 75 minutes of top-flight action under his belt.

Despite this, PSG are seemingly very keen on signing the 24-year-old on loan this month, and it could be the perfect place for Alli to play regular attacking football that would suit his style of play more than Mourinho’s current tactics.

It seems a win-win for Spurs as if Alli impresses with the French champions he could return a much more confident player next season, whilst also increasing his current transfer value of £34.2 million.

Spurs have scored 33 goals in the Premier League this season, compared to the 48 scored by PSG, so you could definitely argue that there will be more opportunity for Alli to contribute goals and assists playing in Pochettino’s side, where the competition is also perhaps not of as high a standard.

After impressing in Mourinho’s first game in charge of Spurs – a 3-2 win against West Ham in November 2019 – the Portuguese manager was full of praise for Alli, saying:

“(Alli’s) too good to not be one of the best players in the world and not playing with the national team.”

Unfortunately, he has not been able to maintain this form under the Portuguese manager and is clearly not happy with his current playing situation, so Levy must allow him to join PSG on loan this month, otherwise, we may never get to see Alli back to his best with the North London club.

And, in other news… Spurs signing 26 y/o beast who “always performs” could be bad news for Giovani Lo Celso

Celtic’s 2020/21 woes continue after they fell victim to St Mirren’s sword this afternoon in the Scottish Premiership. The sixth place Saints put in an incredible performance to topple the reigning league champions and any chance of catching runaway leaders Rangers looks bleaker than ever.

The Hoops have two games in-hand, but their clash against St Mirren was also a chance to gain some momentum on their Glasgow rivals. But to Neil Lennon’s dismay, they couldn’t do enough to come away with a vital three points.

The Saints opened up the scoring after just 18 minutes through Kristian Dennis and despite an Odsonne Edouard equaliser, Celtic were dealt a blow just five minutes after the Frenchman’s strike. Ilkay Durmus put the game to bed before half time and the Bhoys showed little promise of even getting back into the match.

It was a poor performance all round for Celtic, but one man who keeps sticking out as a below par player is loan signing Shane Duffy, whose glaring error it was that led to winning goal on Saturday.

Duffy stats vs St Mirren

The Brighton loanee has hardly painted himself in gold since he joined the Glaswegians. He has been that much of an unreliable option that Celtic are reportedly considering cutting his short-term deal short before the January transfer window closes.

Duffy’s performance attracted criticism from Paul John Dykes on Twitter, who claimed that the centre-back was amongst Kristoffer Ajer, Nir Bitton and Scott Bain as Celtic’s worst performers today. However, he added that he thought Duffy was the “worst culprit” for the Hoops’ humiliating loss to St Mirren.

This isn’t the first time the 29-year-old has disappointed in Scotland. According to Sofascore, averages less than on tackle per match, which is worryingly low compared to Ajer (1.5) and Christopher Jullien (1.2).

For a centre-back looking to find the next step in his career, this statistic isn’t wowing anybody. With his links to Nottingham Forest potentially spelling an early end to his Celtic spell, Peter Lawwell should consider offloading the £6.3million-valued defender who is leeching him of £20,000 per week in wages.

In other news, Lawwell has pulled off smart Celtic business with Ben Davies coup…

Tottenham Hotspur take a break from league action this evening when they head to top-flight rivals Everton for an FA Cup fifth-round clash at Goodison Park.

Jose Mourinho will need to consider rotation with the Europa League set to return next week, meaning fixtures are going to mount up quickly for the north Londoners.

Last time out, the Lilywhites saw off relegation-threatened West Brom with a 2-0 win, which ended a barren run of three straight defeats, whilst Spurs needed a late comeback to find a way past Championship strugglers Wycombe in this very competition.

So, what sort of side could we see in Merseyside tonight? Here’s the XI we’re predicting along with the latest team and injury news from the Spurs camp…

Mourinho is unlikely to have the services of Giovani Lo Celso and Sergio Reguilon, and it’s claimed by the Evening Standard’s Dan Kilpatrick that Serge Aurier is a “major doubt” for this encounter.

It means we could see Matt Doherty come in at right-back in one of three defensive changes – Eric Dier and Joe Rodon are also in line to come back into the lineup, taking the place of the £36m-rated Davinson Sanchez and Belgian international Toby Alderweireld – the latter could be rested with the volume of matches on the horizon.

Ben Davies and Hugo Lloris should keep their places from the win over the Baggies.

In midfield, £15m summer bargain Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg is another who should remain but we may see a return for Harry Winks to partner him as he started and scored against Wycombe.

It would allow Tanguy Ndombele to be deployed further forward in an advanced role, though it means Mourinho has made a big call over Dele Alli, who returned to training this week as he’ll have to settle for a place on the bench once again.

The Spurs boss handed rare starts to Erik Lamela (seventh of the season) and Lucas Moura (fifth in league) on Sunday but with the quick turnaround, we’re expecting Steven Bergwijn to come back in on the right for the fifth and final change.

Whilst both Heung-min Son and Harry Kane should both start given the importance of the competition, so the likes of Carlos Vinicius and Gareth Bale will have to wait for their opportunity, perhaps from the bench.

AND in other news, Mourinho must ruthlessly axe £85k-p/w Spurs dud tonight, Dier dubbed him a “nightmare”…

After being held to a draw at West Brom just a few days ago, Manchester United needed a big response on Thursday night.

And Ole Gunnar Solskjaer got exactly that, as his side got off to the perfect start in the last-32 of the Europa League as the Red Devils beat Real Sociedad 4-0 in Turin.

It was the first of two legs for United in the knockout stage of the competition and they passed the test with flying colours.

Bruno Fernandes capitalised on some sloppy defending from Sociedad to score the opener before the Portugal international doubled their advantage with a fine effort from outside the box for a second which survived a VAR scare after he was initially flagged for offside.

This had all the potential to be a banana skin for United. Sociedad have seen an upturn in form in recent weeks, but the Red Devils thwarted their efforts from start to finish.

A large part of that was due to Eric Bailly. Harry Maguire may have worn the captain’s armband on the night but it was his fellow centre-back who led from the back, making some last-ditch tackles to deny Sociedad any real clear-cut opportunities to score. He made a match-high eight clearances, that being the most out of any player on the pitch, and at least three more than Maguire, who could only manage five.

He also won 75% of his duels, winning every single one of his individual battles in the air. For context, out of the entire United squad, none of his teammates came close to matching Bailly in that department, with Maguire only managing to win three out of a possible seven duels.

Such was his level of dominance that Sociedad striker Alexander Isak endured a night to forget at the Allianz Stadium. The Swedish international has scored nine goals in 19 La Liga appearances this season but was restricted to just one shot on target.

He also missed one big chance and failed to offer much of a threat going forwards as he didn’t win a single duel from four attempts. This was thanks in no small part to Bailly as he delivered an immense defensive shift that will have left Solskjaer standing up and taking note.

In the absence of Victor Lindelof, Bailly stepped up to the plate once again to put in a monstrous performance for Solskjaer’s side on Thursday night.

AND in other news, Woodward must prioritise Man Utd signing Jules Kounde in the summer…