All posts by h716a5.icu

Glasgow Rangers ran riot over Hamilton Academical in a stunning 8-0 win at Ibrox to stay nine points clear of their arch-rivals Celtic at the top of the Scottish Premiership on Sunday afternoon.

Rangers were three-nil up inside 19 minutes after goals from Scott Arfield, Kemar Roofe and Joe Aribo gave Steven Gerrard’s side a well-deserved lead, and Roofe and Aribo scored again before Brandon Barker came off the bench to finish off a fine team move. James Tavernier added a penalty and another strike to take his tally to 12 goals and 9 assists in 20 games in total this season so far.

Roofe, 27, joined the 54-time Scottish champions in the summer from Belgian side Anderlecht after bagging seven times in sixteen games for the Brussel club.

Regular readers of this column will be well aware that we think the Gers could be on to something with the former Leeds United striker. However, Roofe copped a fair amount of criticism from former players and pundits alike after his poor performance against Lech Poznan in the Europa League last month, and he was replaced by Alfredo Morelos in the starting line-up in recent weeks.

But the uncapped Jamaican bounced back in style by bagging a brace against Hamilton which will have sent Gerrard a timely reminder of his obvious quality after Morelos’ heroics in the European competition.

SofaScore gave the £4m-rated ace a score of 9 for his impressive performance – he won five out of ten duels in total, took three shots on target, one shot off target and had one shot blocked, whilst he completed 27 out of 34 passes at a pass accuracy rating of 79% and took 53 touches of the ball. By comparison, even Aribo only had two shots on target, as per SofaScore.

Roofe was recently described as a “world class” player by the Ibrox boss after his “moment of genius” against Standard Liege, whilst Barry Douglas insisted that his former teammate is a “real talent.”

He has now scored four goals and supplied one assist in seven games in the Scottish Premiership so far this season, whilst he is averaging 2.1 shots per game, via WhoScored.

Granted, Gerrard isn’t exactly short of striker options, as he can also call upon the services of Cedric Itten and Jermain Defoe. However, Roofe has once again reminded everyone that he cannot be written off so easily. Now he just needs to find this kind of form on a regular basis, which will be easier said than done when Rangers return from the international break.

AND in other news, Glasgow Rangers must keep Ryan Kent at all costs after Leeds reports…

Matty Phillips is one of West Brom’s longest-serving players but it’s ever so clear that he’s not in Slaven Bilic’s first-team plans.

And with the January transfer window on the horizon, it might be best for the two parties to part ways.

The 29-year-old, who has been capped 16 times by Scotland, originally joined the Hawthorns in the summer of 2016, signing for Tony Pulis in a £6m deal from Queens Park Rangers.

He has since gone on to feature 145 times in a Baggies shirt, scoring 21 goals and providing 23 assists, via Transfermarkt.

However, in the past year, the winger has found game time hard to come by – Phillips has played just 69 minutes in the Premier League this term, and has started just one of their last 15 matches across the top-flight and the Championship.

Phillips is among the high-earners at the club on £20k-per-week, so his continued absence is merely a waste of money for the club. He’s burned around £10.5m in total since his arrival when his wages and that transfer fee is combined.

He’s hardly been convincing when given an opportunity by Bilic either, averaging a dreadful passing accuracy of 58.3%, per WhoScored.

In fact, Phillips’ record in the Premier League is pretty dry – contributing with just 11 goals in 115 appearances, so clearly, he’s never been up to the standard and makes the thought of selling him in January a little easier to bear.

Last season in the second-tier, the Scotsman was lauded as a “game-changer” who has “got everything” by Football Insider pundit Noel Whelan, though we’re yet to see that in the big time.

As a promotion-winner, he wouldn’t be short of options in the Championship. You could fully see him going into a playoff-chasing team and making a difference, but in the Midlands, it’s just not going to happen.

Bilic has far better options in Grady Diangana, Callum Robinson and even Kyle Edwards.

It would be best for all if Phillips was moved on this winter.

AND in other news, West Brom must ignore calls for 66 y/o at the Hawthorns…

With just two wins in their last five matches, Celtic will hope that their meeting with Hibernian on Saturday will aid their pursuit of the top spot in the league table. As it stands, Rangers have the lead on the Hoops by nine points, but the reigning champions have a crucial two games in-hand.

Their last match was a much-needed win on the road against Motherwell after Neil Lennon’s side fired four past the Steelmen. Celtic will be away from home again as Hibs play hosts at Easter Road following the international break.

And speaking of the international break, one man who has impressed for his country is Odsonne Edouard, who looks to have rediscovered his goalscoring form.

Edouard will be key against Hibernian

Since the Frenchman was forced to self-isolate after a positive coronavirus test, he has been off in his performances for the Hoops. He has managed to grab just one assist in his last five domestic appearances, resulting in him being dropped on more than one occasion by Lennon.

Edouard made an impact off the bench against Motherwell to set up Olivier Ntcham for Celtic’s fourth goal of the day. But it’s likely that the manager will opt to start him for the Hibs game in hopes that he can recreate his fiery performance for France U21s.

The striker netted a brace in his native’s 3-1 win over Switzerland last time out, which will have massively raised his confidence. Ex-Celtic forward John Hartson recently praised Edouard’s ability and labelled him an “outstanding” player. Indeed, last season was extremely successful for the Frenchman, who notched an astonishing 21 goals and 12 assists in the Premiership alone (via Transfermarkt).

If he can resurrect his form this campaign, he will not only help Celtic win another league title but he will put himself in the shop window for potential suitors as he continues to be linked to a move away.

In other news, Desperation for Neil Lennon as Celtic consider move for Dean Henderson…

Leeds United have been linked to forgotten Manchester United winger Daniel James as the January transfer window approaches. The Wales international has made just three Premier League appearances this season as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer opts for the likes of Mason Greenwood instead.

Despite his current £80,000 per week contract at Old Trafford running until 2024, it’s likely that James will start to be considering his future and whether it lies away from Manchester. Carlton Palmer certainly believes so – he spoke with Football FanCast’s Tom Ward about the idea of him joining a side like Leeds.

“I’d go for James, I think he fits into the style and the model that Leeds have,” the pundit said. “I think he’d be a good fit and he needs to play football.”

A player of James’ age and calibre certainly shouldn’t be reduced to life on the bench. He would benefit massively from joining the newly-promoted Whites and the club would equally revel in signing him.

As it stands, Jack Harrison is Marcelo Bielsa’s only recognised senior left-winger and he is due to return to Manchester City following the end of his loan spell next summer. Losing the 24-year-old will put Leeds in a difficult position and will mean that the Argentinian boss will struggle to operate his usual 4-1-4-1 staple lineup.

With James struggling for minutes at Man United, it could be easier than expected to prise him away from Solskjaer. The Welshman is currently valued at £14million, which isn’t an amount that would break the bank if Andrea Radrizzani was to pursue a move.

Palmer believes that the transaction would be a win-win for both parties, with the United boss apparently still figuring out his best system and lineup.

In other news, Bielsa highlights three players who must shape up before next match…

A lot of Liverpool fans have flocked to a tweet posted by Reds news Twitter account @AnfieldEdition, which relays journalist Paul Gorst’s claim that Jurgen Klopp may field a ‘more senior team than many anticipated’ versus Midtjylland in this evening’s UEFA Champions League clash. 

Liverpool’s final game of the 2020/21 Champions League group stage has been described as ‘a rare chance’ for Klopp to rotate his squad significantly, with the 2018/19 Champions League winners already qualified for the last 16 of this year’s competition in first place in their group. 

However, after taking to Twitter to reveal that Andy Robertson, Georginio Wijnaldum and Sadio Mane have all travelled with the squad for this evening’s match, Gorst indicated that he believes plenty of first-team regulars may still take to the pitch for this game – many may have expected to see a team made up of fringe players and youngsters. 

So, what did these Liverpool fans have to say about Gorst’s claim?

Many Reds fans are seemingly baffled by the journalist’s claim and replied to @AnfieldEdition’s tweet to share that they don’t think Liverpool should field many first-team regulars versus Midtjylland, with some supporters criticising Jurgen Klopp over the news and even calling it ‘ludicrous’. 

In other news, some Liverpool fans have been criticising Dejan Lovren over his recent comments about his Anfield departure.

This is a tricky time for everyone at Sunderland.

They may be unbeaten in their last two league matches but they now won’t play until after Boxing Day following an outbreak of Coronavirus within the squad.

On the chalkboard

Sunderland players are dropping like flies at the moment and it must have been a relief to have some of their games postponed until a later date.

The Academy of Light has been closed until 27th December with four players testing positive for the pandemic but they also have injuries to contend with.

Denver Hume has joined Luke O’Nien on the sidelines. The former is recovering from a dislocated shoulder and now Josh Scowen is also on the treatment table with a fractured shin.

Once this period of postponements is out the way they will at least have Lynden Gooch back in the side.

The American has only managed one substitute appearance under Lee Johnson and has just recovered from a broken foot that had ruled him out for around three weeks.

Unleash him

It’s superb news that the winger is back quicker than first imagined and this extra period of rest should do his recovery time wonders ahead of when Sunderland take on Accrington on the 29th.

If he is fully fit then Johnson simply has to play him from the off. Gooch has been one of Sunderland’s stand out players so far this season and has two goals and four assists in 13 appearances.

The 24-year-old has been the biggest source of joy from a creative point of view and thus, could improve what Johnson wants to do tenfold. This is someone Chris Coleman claimed “ran his socks off” when he was at the club and it would be quite something if Gooch provided Sunderland with even more.

Johnson has already spoken about wanting players who can stretch the play and the man in question is one of them. Just imagine what Gooch and Jack Diamond could do as a wing pairing beside the club’s top scorer Charlie Wyke.

Diamond has got off to an exhilarating start under Johnson and has already scored with the new coaching team at the helm, performing a team-high 1.6 dribbles per game in the process. For context, Gooch has managed a haul of 1.2 per match.

This would be a fearsome duo capable of lifting the Mackems to greater heights.

AND in other news, Sunderland ace with “fantastic strength” is the biggest winner from Johnson’s arrival…

Speaking ahead of this evening’s game, Tottenham Hotspur boss Jose Mourinho has worryingly ruled out Gareth Bale for their upcoming fixtures…

What’s the news?

When asked about the fitness of the 31-year-old earlier in the week, he told reporters, via Sky Sports:

“No, I don’t expect Gareth to be fit. I wouldn’t say it’s a serious injury, but I would say a few weeks.”

It’s not the first time that the Welsh superstar has been absent through some sort of problem this season. He arrived with a niggling issue and missed several matches at the start of this month too.

Likely impact?

Whilst Bale has only started seven of 11 matches in all competitions – just once in the Premier League – this news comes at the worst possible time as fixtures are coming thick and fast due to the nature of the schedule over the festive period.

It means rotation is paramount to any side truly wanting to contend for the title, which should account for Spurs as they did hold the lead at one stage.

And that right-wing position is certainly up for grabs as neither Steven Bergwijn nor Lucas Moura can cement their place as the starter.

The Real Madrid loanee has shown glimpses of his previous quality, bagging a total of three goals in three different competitions, so when fit, he may well become that option to have alongside Heung-min Son and Harry Kane.

Now valued at just £18m by Transfermarkt, Bale has it all to do in 2021 to convince the likes of Daniel Levy, Mourinho and even the hierarchy back in Spain that he’s still got it.

He’s a player that was once dubbed a “cannonball” by Arsene Wenger, one that ex-BBC pundit Mark Lawrenson lauded “special,” and a sensation that even drew praise from Sir Alex Ferguson, who labelled him an “exciting” winger with “tremendous speed” – all via the Guardian.

It’s a devastating blow to not have someone of that calibre unavailable as they face Fulham, Leeds United and a Carabao Cup semi-final in the space of a week.

AND in other news, Gary Mabbutt drops huge claim over Arsenal outcast…

Tottenham’s attentions revert back to the cup this week as they get to put their Premier League title charge to one side.

They face Brentford in the League Cup on Tuesday and then face Marine in the FA Cup on Sunday.

On the chalkboard

This could be a huge week for some of Spurs’ fringe players.

Against Brentford, it’s likely a number of first-teamers will be given the chance still but when they travel to face Marine, it’s expected that a number of second-string players will be given their opportunity.

One such player could be Davinson Sanchez. The Colombian defender has been behind both Eric Dier and Toby Alderweireld in the pecking order.

Consequently, he’s only played five times in the Premier League and has primarily been restricted to appearances in the cup competitions.

He played against Stoke from the off and also started against Wolves but was pretty poor in their 1-1 draw, making just one tackle and zero interceptions.

As a result, we don’t think Sanchez deserves another run out when Jose Mourinho’s men play Brentford.

Forget Toby

Considering the amount of football Spurs have played over the festive period it would be foolish not to rest a few players at least, and one of those should be Alderweireld.

Thus, we suggest that Mourinho looks to the fringes and plays Japhet Tanganga. Of course, Joe Rodon isn’t available to play in League Cup games so will have to watch on from the sidelines.

However, Tanganga should have no such issues.

Since signing his £23k-per-week contract in July, he hasn’t been granted too many chances and has played on just four occasions this season. Therefore, now seems like the perfect time to hand him another opportunity.

Described as a “very exciting” talent by former Spurs striker Darren Bent, he surely deserves to start ahead of someone like Sanchez. He’s become an inconsistent figure at Tottenham but Tanganga was anything but when he first broke onto the scene.

Supporters won’t need reminding that on just his third Premier League outing, he helped to keep a clean sheet against Manchester City.

Brentford will be lively with the threat of Ivan Toney and the titanic figure of Tanganga should be well suited to dealing with him sufficiently. He has already conquered Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne – he now needs to add the Championship’s top scorer to his list of pocketed items.

AND in other news, Imagine him & Son: Levy must seal Spurs swoop for “very rare” gem who made 7 dribbles…

Some West Ham United fans were left blasting the display of Aaron Cresswell despite their 1-0 win over Burnley in the Premier League yesterday afternoon.Although there were certainly some standout performances for David Moyes’ team, including Michail Antonio who scored the winning goal inside the opening 10 minutes on the day, the performance of Cresswell flattered to deceive some members of the London Stadium faithful.The 31-year-old did put the ball in his own net only for VAR to rule the goal out for an offside in the build-up, and he was also guilty of losing possession of the ball no fewer than 17 times in the game, the joint-third most out of any of his teammates (Sofascore).He also lost out on three of his duels, and failed to record a single dribble, tackle, key pass or accurate cross (Sofascore). West Ham fan reaction to Cresswell display

These Hammers blasted his performance on Twitter, with one Iron even going as far as to claim that the Englishman is ‘awful’:

“Everyone other than Cresswell playing well”Credit: @RiceSZN_”Cresswell just looks uncomfortable completely going forward and defending”Credit: @Callumfitzer_”Cresswell having a typically Cresswell game. Not at the races”Credit: @Mdp_coyi66″Cresswell is unbelievably bad”Credit: @Zayd__Beitar”It comes with a heavy heart that I have to announce Aaron Cresswell has used up all his ability for this season, look forward to seeing him back to his best in August”Credit: @chanceig”Cresswell having a shocker”Credit: @riley_holt_In other news, find out who else was slammed for his display against the Clarets here!

It wasn’t quite the embarrassing night of the 1986/87 season but Wolves tried their best to fluff their lines against Chorley on Friday evening.

Nuno Santo’s team have been desperately poor in recent weeks, and after their win over the National League North side have now only won three of their last 11 outings.

If anything summed up their abject performances of late it was the display they put in as they made it through to the fifth round of the FA Cup.

On paper, this was a mismatch. Wolves should have been easily out of sight given the opposition, but although they didn’t lose as they did to Chorley over 30 years ago, they were incredibly poor.

Going forward, Nuno’s side were devoid of confidence and authority. For large spells of the game, their non-league hosts looked comfortable and dare we say it, they even looked the better team.

Wolves’ only shot on target in the entire game produced the goal. It was a special one too from Vitinha who let fly from range, but beyond that, there was nothing to write home about.

The Old Gold completed just 25% of their crosses and carved out fewer goal-scoring opportunities than Chorley. A large reason behind that was the performance of Patrick Cutrone.

This was the Italian’s first start since returning from a loan spell with Fiorentina and on his big audition to Nuno, he completely failed. This was a week where Cutrone simply had to prove himself to the manager too.

Willian Jose has arrived from Real Sociedad on loan and thus, the Italy international could be heading for the exit door. After this performance, it proved why.

The striker isn’t good enough and cut an isolated figure against non-league opposition. Truth be told, Cutrone was anonymous.

He completed just 11 passes from 18 attempted, finishing with a success rate of only 61%. For context, only goalkeeper John Ruddy and substitute Adama Traore completed fewer passes in the Wolves side.

The 23-year-old’s tally of 24 touches, meanwhile, was the same as Ruddy’s and only more than Traore and another of Nuno’s substitutes in Pedro Neto.

Against opposition like Chorley, Cutrone should have run riot. Instead, his effort was minimal, registering just two attempts at goal.

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It would be extreme to call this a horror show but Nuno must be incredibly fed up of the Italian now. He has scored three goals in 27 outings for the Molineux outfit. Time and time again he has not been at the races.

Wolves need to get rid of him as soon as possible.

AND in other news, Wolves could find their dream Traore successor by landing “extremely quick” 31-cap ace…