All posts by h716a5.icu

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Crystal Palace embark on their first away game of the season this weekend when they travel to Bramall Lane to take on Sheffield United.

The Blades managed to grab a point on their return to the Premier League courtesy of a late, late strike from the prolific Billy Sharp, which saw them draw 1-1 with Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium.

Palace got their own campaign underway with a 0-0 draw against Everton, where Wilfried Zaha was the man in the spotlight having handed in a transfer request to force through a move to Goodison Park.

Here’s who we think Roy Hodgson will select to take on Chris Wilder’s side…

We think that the former England manager will stick with 10 out of the 11 players he chose to start against the Merseysiders, with the only change being Zaha for Jordan Ayew.

The Ghanaian was excellent against Everton and was voted as Man of the Match by the fans, but having a target man like Christian Benteke in the side is crucial – we think Zaha will be the man to operate close to the Belgian and look to cause the Blades some issues.

At the back, Mamadou Sakho and James Tomkins still aren’t fit to play, although Jeffrey Schlupp has recovered from his injury to be available for selection.

New signings James McCarthy, Gary Cahill and Victor Camarasa all played in an Under 23s game on Monday and came through it unscathed, so they are all available for selection if Hodgson wants to call upon any of them.

We think that he will stick with what worked fairly well against the Toffees however, meaning that a back four of Joel Ward, Martin Kelly, Scott Dann and Patrick van Aanholt will line up behind a midfield trio of Luka Milivojevic, James McArthur and Max Meyer.

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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… 

Following a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Manchester United in pre-season, there were some concerns from certain segments of the Leeds faithful over their defence after it was claimed Marcelo Bielsa was happy with what he had.

Pontus Jansson had departed for Brentford and Gaetano Berardi and Liam Cooper didn’t look particularly convincing as United tore through the Whites.

However, what they hadn’t seen yet, was what Ben White could do, as the Brighton loan man has added a sense of stability in the early weeks of the season.

Leeds have looked more assured, evidence of which is proving why some fans didn’t need to be as worried as they were.

Watch Leeds United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

On the chalkboard

One of the main reasons for Leeds’ solid defensive displays this term has been thanks to White.

He has been somewhat of a colossus among the back four and in the first couple of weeks of the new term, the youngster has won two tackles per match and also made 3.5 interceptions every outing on average.

But it’s important to note just how compact Leeds have been, something which has restricted their opposition to a lack of key passes, particularly inside their penalty area.

Bristol City serves as their worst match in terms of this number, being on the end of three key passes and an overall total of 11 inside their box.

However, there has been a stark improvement since.

Above are the number of final third passes made by each team during Leeds 1-1 draw with Forest.

In blue, per WhoScored, are the latter’s passes with Sabri Lamouchi’s men kicking towards the left. However, as can be seen, only two of their 90 passes which landed in the final third were actually in the penalty area, pieces of play provided by Joe Lolley and Alfred Semedo.

This second graphic comes against Wigan. This time, Leeds’ opposition are in red, kicking towards the right and again there is a lack of passes inside their penalty box. Only five of the Latics’ 117 final third balls were close to Kiko Casilla’s goal, but none of them serve as key passes according to WhoScored.

Against Brentford, Leeds were even better in this department.

The Bees’ final third passes are demonstrated in blue above, kicking to the left. They managed 165 inside the Whites’ half but remarkably only one of them fell in the area as Ollie Watkins finally found space in the 72nd minute.

These passages of play show how compact Leeds have been this term. They’ve kept two clean sheets and ultimately restricted their opposition to shots on goal, thus proving why initial concerns have been swatted away.

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Kieran Trippier… Seriously? Gareth Southgate’s eyebrow-raising decision to select the duo ahead of Kyle Walker genuinely boggles the mind.

Wan-Bissaka had such a nightmare U21 Euros that after scoring an own-goal against France to hand Les Bleus all three points, he was dropped for the final two games of the Young Lions’ tournament. Trippier, on the other hand, had such a disastrous campaign last season that the usually reserved and genial Mauricio Pochettino publicly called out the full-back for his defensive frailties.

All while Walker has been bossing it up and down the right-flank for the champions of England. Yeah, makes total sense. The 5 foot 10 ace has enjoyed a blistering start to the campaign – quite literally – making a sensational goal-line clearance in the Community Shield win over Liverpool, and a superb assist for Gabriel Jesus against West Ham.

Watch Manchester City Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

For Southgate to leave him out after such performances really raises questions over the England manager’s decision-making. The upcoming games aren’t friendlies. They’re qualifiers for next year’s European Championships. Whilst experimentation can be understandable, does the Three Lions boss genuinely consider Wan-Bissaka and Trippier to be ahead of Walker in the pecking order for next summer?

According to The Athletic, the England boss privately reassured the 29-year-old he is still the side’s number one right-back and that he can expect to be “involved in future squads”. But what kind of underlying message does that send to Walker? Less than a year remains before the competition proper starts next summer, and it is surely time to be picking the best team available to see how they gel.

The time for trying to see how others get on has long gone. Southgate needed to be more ruthless and stick to picking players on merit, not just handing out chances at such a late stage. Indeed, his comments on his decision behind opting for Trippier raised more questions than it answered.

He said, as quoted by The Manchester Evening News: “We also want to reintegrate Kieran Trippier to know he is still on our radar. It’s an area of the pitch where we have a lot of quality. Kyle started the season really well so I explained the situation to him.”

Watch how to cross the road like a boss with freestyler Ben Nuttall in the video below…

Selecting Trippier to simply let him know they’re still thinking of him is nearly laughable. Could he not have called the ex-Spurs ace and told him he is still on the “radar”? Or maybe just sent him a text? ‘Hey buddy, still thinking of you’.

Instead, a Premier League winner, who has been a mainstay of Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering side, has been overlooked for an unproven 21-year-old and a man who wasn’t deemed good enough to play for Tottenham. Walker should quite rightly feel disrespected.

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…

According to The Sun, Manchester United are “scouring Europe for goalkeepers” amid fears David de Gea could be sold in the January transfer window.

What’s the word?

The Spain international has been the subject of intense transfer speculation in recent years, but has continued to stay put at Old Trafford.

However, despite earlier reports suggesting he had agreed terms on a fresh deal with the Red Devils, no confirmation of a new contract has been announced.

Watch Manchester United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

De Gea’s existing deal with the club expires at the end of the current season, meaning he could sign for a foreign club on a free transfer in 2020. The Sun claim that due to the apparent contract stand-off, contingency plans have been drawn up, with the likes of Jan Oblak and Dominik Livakovic on the short-list.

The report adds that while the club are “desperate” to keep hold of De Gea, the 28-year-old could be sold in January in order to avoid missing out on a potentially huge transfer fee.

Sell sell sell

In recent seasons, the prospect of losing De Gea would have been frightening for United. The Spaniard has arguably been the Premier League’s best goalkeeper of this decade, and has been one of the club’s most consistent performers. But last season’s dramatic dip in form has raised questions, and the idea of selling him isn’t as daunting as it was before.

The 28-year-old made four errors that directly contributed to goals last year, whilst he was also in the spotlight for failing to keep out Patrick van Aanholt’s winner for Crystal Palace this season. Despite the mistakes however, De Gea still retains a sizeable market value, and losing him on a free transfer would be criminal.

If Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side can demand a sizeable fee in January, and a new contract isn’t going to materialise, then they must cash in. Dean Henderson’s impressive displays at Sheffield United certainly offer United hope that they already have a long-term replacement for De Gea on their hands, and so perhaps it would be best for all parties that they find a way to move on in the winter.

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Last night saw a squad of Manchester City legends take on a squad containing some of the Premier League’s greatest ever players for Vincent Kompany’s testimonial match at the Etihad.

Among the players to take to the field were Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Jamie Carragher and Robin van Persie. The game ended 2-2 thanks to a last-minute equaliser from former Cityzens front man Benjani. Indeed, he even did that famous celebration afterwards, just for the fans.

50,000 people packed out City’s home ground last night and it was a great spectacle all around. The highlight of the evening, however, was certainly Robin van Persie’s goal in the second-half.

The Dutch forward, who famously turned out for Arsenal and Manchester United during his career in the Premier League, effortlessly curled the ball past Joe Hart with that trademark left foot.

The 36-year-old’s finish has expectedly been doing the rounds on social media today, with United fan page @UtdXtra posting the video to their 315,000-strong follower base last night.

Here are some of the replies from United supporters, who clearly wouldn’t mind it if the former Netherlands international returned to Old Trafford this season…

United fans, how much do you miss van Persie? Let us know by commenting below!

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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…

As reported by TEAMtalk, Southampton are among a number of clubs chasing Motherwell forward James Scott, along with Bournemouth, Everton and Sheffield United – however, do the Saints need another forward?

What’s the situation looking like?

Well, Ralph Hasenhuttl currently has an abundance of attacking options at his disposal right now.

The former RB Leipzig boss has the following players to choose from in attack:

– Che Adams

– Nathan Redmond

– Danny Ings

– Shane Long

– Michael Obafemi

– Sofiane Boufal

– Moussa Djenepo

If we were to assume that the Austrian will continue to use the 3-4-2-1 formation which he deployed last time out against Sheffield United, then that leaves only three spaces available for seven attacking players to fight over – that is without including midfielder James Ward-Prowse, who began in a centre attacking-midfield role against the Blades.

This leaves Hasenhuttl with a bit of a selection headache in attack, and while he eased that issue somewhat by finding a place for Djenepo at left wing-back, he still has far too many forwards.

Must sell one before signing Scott

Admittedly, Scott – who has four goals in 24 appearances for Motherwell – is just 19 years of age and would probably be getting ahead of himself if he were to expect an immediate first-team place at Southampton.

However, the aforementioned Obafemi is also just 19, and Hasenhuttl has already given him some game time this term, with the teenager scoring against Fulham – the Saints boss likes to give young players such as Obafemi and Yan Valery opportunities.

So, if the Saints do intend to fight off competition from Sheffield United, Everton and Bournemouth for the Motherwell prospect, then they really should consider selling a forward.

By doing that, they will be allowing Scott to have a realistic pathway into the first-team, rather than making him battle against experienced names such as £20m man Ings – who himself has only started three out of five league games this term.

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A number of Leeds United fans have lavished praise on Stuart McKinstry after the teenager’s impressive first start for the club’s Under-23 outfit.

McKinstry, who is just 16 years of age, won two penalties during his team’s 6-0 win against Watford’s Under-23 team on Monday night.

The midfielder took to social media after the match to reveal that he was “buzzing” to have been handed the chance to start his first game at that level.

Watch Leeds United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

And it will not come as a surprise to learn that a number of the Leeds fans were out in force to lavish praise on the Scotland Under-17 international, who was signed from Scottish Premiership side Motherwell during the summer.

In a team that included plenty of first-team experience in the shape of Luke Ayling, Tyler Roberts, Eddie Nketiah, Barry Douglas, Gaetano Berardi and Jack Clarke, McKinstry certainly made a big impression on the fans.

Find out a how a world-record-holding freestyler got on with the worst football in the world in the video below…

A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:

[ad_pod ]Tottenham Hotspur fans on Twitter have urged their club to explore a swap deal involving Christian Eriksen and Paulo Dybala following the Dane’s dreadful display in the 2-2 draw against Olympiacos on Wednesday evening.According to SofaScore, the 27-year-old lost possession a game-high 22 times in Athens, and in general just failed to make an impact on the night as Spurs saw their two-goal advantage wiped out against the Greek giants.The 3/10 rating Football London handed out to the Denmark international tells you all you need to know about how badly he played, yet he still remained on the pitch for the duration of the 90 minutes.Watch Tottenham Hotspur Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Meanwhile, the north London outfit saw a move for Juventus star Dybala collapse on deadline day of the summer transfer window, but supporters are clearly keen for them to revisit a deal – and if it involves Eriksen leaving it would seemingly be even better.

One individual said “Eriksen needs to go in January, do a swap for Dybala”, while another said “let’s go to them and get the deal done”.

They’ve got a point too because for all Eriksen has done in a Tottenham shirt, this latest showing simply was hugely concerning.

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… 

Marcelo Bielsa attracted widespread criticism from Leeds fans at the weekend.

Considering the way he’s taken Leeds to a new level in the Championship it was perhaps somewhat of an overreaction.

But there is an argument to be had in terms of his team selection.

At the moment, it’s proving questionable and the way he’s set up his team has led to late exploitation and also a lack of goals.

In matches against Swansea and Derby, they had over 60% of the possession but only scored once and took just a solitary point from those clashes.

So what can Leeds do?

On the chalkboard

At the moment Bielsa’s tactical ignorance is proving to be a real issue for Leeds. He keeps on relying on Jack Harrison, someone who hasn’t contributed to a goal since the opening weekend, while Patrick Bamford has now gone goalless in three games.

The calls, certainly from supporters, is for Eddie Nketiah and Helder Costa to start but possibly a system change is needed.

After all, arguably Leeds’ best performance in the league this season came when operating with three at the back.

Against Stoke last month the Whites recorded a 3-0 victory as they amassed 64.5% of the possession away from home.

It was as complete a performance as you can get on the road as Bielsa’s much-teased two man attack was in operation.

On the day, Harrison and Bamford were the men tasked with leading the line as a pairing but with Nketiah now so close to gaining a chance, perhaps this is how the Argentine can work him into his system.

It’s particularly confusing that the 64-year-old has neglected this formation since the win over Stoke.

Leeds are struggling to get over the line but even if a 4-1-4-1 is his preferred way to go, he shouldn’t be against change.

Watch Leeds United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

The Whites’ brightest spell against Brentford came when they switched to a three-man defence as Nketiah popped up with a late winner.

It allowed greater protection for their attacking full-backs in Stuart Dallas and Gjanni Alioski as well, who both scored against Stoke.

In that 3-4-1-2 system they deployed at the Potteries, Leeds looked confident in defence but also going forward.

That was certainly not the case versus the Rams, especially late on when they conceded three of Derby’s five efforts on goal in the final 15 minutes.

Ignorance is sometimes bliss but perhaps Bielsa ought to look at something that has already treated Leeds so well in 2019/20, rather than a system that’s causing difficulties.

Jon McLaughlin has been called up for the Scotland national team squad, as confirmed on the Sunderland Twitter account.

This comes after he has started all nine of Sunderland’s League One matches so far, though he is yet to keep a clean sheet, as per Transfermarkt.

The 32-year-old’s inclusion will put him up against David Marshall and Craig MacGillivray to feature against Russia and San Marino:

Rather than looking at this development in excitement for McLaughlin, many Sunderland fans are actually seeing this as a big opportunity for his understudy, Lee Burge.

The 26-year-old has only featured in the Carabao Cup so far this season, though he has played the full 90 minutes in all three of the games.

He has been impressive, especially against Sheffield United, when he kept the Black Cats’ first clean sheet of the season.

There are sections of the Sunderland support who feel Burge should also be playing in the league, with McLaughlin’s time away with the Scotland national team potentially being his chance to show it.

A selection of Twitter reaction to the announcement, including posts from excited Sunderland fans, can be seen below:

Sunderland fans, can Burge become your club’s main goalkeeper? Join the discussion by commenting below…