Leeds fans have been hilariously mocking the club this week for a video showing Liam Cooper and Stuart Dallas selling season tickets.
There comes a point in a miserable season where fans stop being annoyed by their club and start seeing the funny side of things, and it’s fair to say Leeds fans are reaching that point.
Since the Boxing Day win against Burton Albion, Leeds have picked up just eight points in three months, and it seems the club are concerned about losing regular season ticket holders.
The club’s official Twitter posted a promotional video on Monday, showing Stuart Dallas and club captain Liam Cooper calling fans on behalf of the ticket office, in an attempt to make fans renew their season tickets.
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Pontus Jansson echoed the thoughts of plenty of fans recently when he said he needs to “see what’s happening” at the club this summer, as the club have a job on their hands to get the side going back in the right direction.
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The atmosphere at Elland Road has never faltered this season even during this torrid run of form, but we’re not so sure fans on Twitter would be pleased if they got a phone call from Liam Cooper.
Some of the best Twitter reactions can be found below…
After Tottenham Hotspur were knocked out of the Champions League by Juventus in the last-16 stage, questions were asked about the club’s ability to take that next step.
In the last two seasons, the North London outfit launched genuine bids for the Premier League title, but they fall short.
In the 2015-16 campaign, Mauricio Pochettino’s men finished third in the table, and last season, the club secured second place behind Chelsea.
Manchester City have blown everyone else out of the water with regards to the title race in the current term, which means that Spurs and their competitors have been left back fighting for top four.
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Tottenham are in contention to win their first trophy in a decade, though, as they are in the semi-finals of the FA Cup and will have to get past Manchester United to reach the showdown at Wembley.
With the club due to move into their new stadium this summer, there seems to be a bright future ahead, but only if the right people are at the helm.
Pochettino has transformed the team since becoming manager in 2014, so it is imperative that the club keep hold of him.
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According to The Telegraph, Spurs are confident of doing just that as they believe that the Argentine will put pen to paper on a new deal worth £8.5m a year, which will make him one of the highest-paid managers in the Premier League.
Leeds fans are not impressed by Kemar Roofe, after the striker said results on the pitch aren’t reflecting how well things are going in training.Roofe made his first start since February on Tuesday, and he returned in style, grabbing the opening goal for Paul Heckingbottom’s side.Unfortunately for both Roofe and the boss, his goal meant nothing, as Preston cruised to the three points courtesy of three second half goals.Leeds travel to Villa Park on Friday night to face Steve Bruce’s side, and fans are already fearing the worst.Roofe has a pretty decent goalscoring record compared to his fellow strikers at Elland Road, but nonetheless has taken plenty of stick from fans.[ad_pod ]If there’s one thing that will annoy supporters more than a lack of talent and quality, it’s a lack of fight and commitment, and Roofe’s latest comments aren’t exactly going to make him popular.
It probably goes without saying, but fans don’t want to hear about how well training is going, or how great the manager who has only won two games is, they want to see passion and effort on the pitch.
Some of the best Twitter reactions can be found below…
According to The Mirror, Leicester City will make a £20m move for Aston Villa attacker this summer if Steve Bruce’s side fail to earn promotion to the Premier League.
Grealish has been in impressive form for Villa in recent weeks, and the 22-year-old has managed three goals and five assists in 25 appearances during the 2017-18 campaign.
It has been reported that Leicester want Grealish to play in the number 10 position behind Jamie Vardy next season, and will move if Villa, who are currently fourth in the Championship table, fail to secure a return to the Premier League.
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The Villa supporters have been reacting to the interest, and it would be fair to say that a number are split when it comes to the future of the Englishman.
Indeed, whilst there are those that think £20m is not enough for the attacker, there are plenty that believe that price to be just about right.
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A selection of the Twitter reaction surrounding Grealish’s future can be found below:
Manchester United look set for a midfield overhaul this summer following the pending retirement of Michael Carrick and the ongoing contract standoff concerning Marouane Fellaini.
Paul Pogba has broadly improved since it emerged that he was offered to Manchester City during the January transfer window but rumours swirled last week that the Frenchman would be allowed to leave Old Trafford in the summer.
With just the FA Cup to play for, Jose Mourinho has allowed himself to turn his attention to next season and one man who is reportedly on the former Real Madrid manager’s shortlist is Fred, of Ukrainian outfit Shakhtar Donetsk.
The midfielder, valued at £17.1m by Transfermarkt, has also attracted interest from the blue half of Manchester but as Pep Guardiola turns his attention to Napoli’s Jorginho, it would appear that Mourinho could do a deal for Fred.
However, United fans do not seem impressed with the interest. They want more, and we’ve taken a look at the best of the reaction…
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Patrice Evra was a wonderful left-back for Manchester United, and West Ham United would have been hoping to see some of that form from the Frenchman at the London Stadium.
Evra’s move to the Hammers has just not worked out, however, with the 36-year-old showing his age since arriving back in England.
It was never going to end well when West Ham’s official Twitter page posted a video of head coach David Moyes paying tribute to Evra’s character on Friday.
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Moyes is not exactly the most popular of figures at the London Stadium following a poor run of form, and his comments on Evra were never going to be well received by the club’s supporters at this particular moment in time.
It is a really testing period of the season for West Ham as they travel to Leicester City this weekend needing something to ease their relegation fears.
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Evra might well be in the team that takes on the Foxes, and that is of serious concern to the club’s supporters.
A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:
Southampton are celebrating retaining their English Premier League status after results on Saturday meant they will not be relegated to the English Championship.
Anything barring a heavy defeat to champions Manchester City and big Swansea City win would have ensured they beat the drop and it was job done, losing by just a single goal to Pep Guardiola’s side.
Fans, relieved at having escaped relegation, are already looking ahead to where they can improve this summer, with many pointing out their defence needs a rethink when the transfer window opens.
Many aren’t happy moving forward with Jack Stephens and Wesley Hoedt in the heart of defence and are looking for the club to sign a quality centre-back or two.
Can Saints ensure that there is no repeat of their dire form this season, next term?
Supporters took to Twitter to share their thoughts on it all after the defeat to City…
There’s an understandably complex mix of emotions pouring out of Arsenal right now.
This is not simply the loss of a beloved and long-standing club figure. Arsene Wenger, for all his flaws in the final few years of his reign, was synonymous with the club (almost literally) and his departure was always going to cause emotional upheaval.
But this isn’t a bereavement. Far from it. No, tinged with the sadness is a sense of excitement, imbued in the sorrow is a sense of adventure: Arsenal are not mourning a death, but rather experiencing an overdue divorce.
From the club’s point of view, learning to love again is a difficult proposition but they appear to have understood that. Rather than replacing Arsene Wenger – the impossible task – they have appointed a ‘head coach’, a man who will work alongside Raul Sanllehi and Sven Mislintat rather than feel as though he is above them. But even then, Arsenal and their board have not appointed a manager in the 21st century let alone in this new-fangled super club era. When it comes to the dating game, the middle-aged divorcé isn’t usually the best of players.
On paper, though, they have themselves an interesting choice. With a profile similar enough to Wenger to appear beguiling, Unai Emery has a thoroughly modern edge that suggests the Gunners won’t be falling into the same trap as they have done over the last half decade.
The former Paris Saint-Germain coach is a man whose success at Sevilla was built upon a base of two classy – yet solid – defensive midfielders and a counter-attacking threat based on nous, pace and skill. He brings with him, too, a stubborn insistence on the most modern methods – the kind of academic video analysis that some footballers find off-putting or simply boring.
It all starts to sound familiar when you put it like that. Wenger came to Highbury with a similar profile. Instead of video analysis, read modern training techniques and clean eating. His side played fast attacking football with players like Thierry Henry, Marc Overmars and Nicolas Anelka on board. His two classy central midfielders were Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit, later replaced by Gilberto Silva. But in the end you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the subject of a hashtag that takes on meme status in all corners of the globe.
Comparing events in football history to one another is a dangerous game and rarely useful. So this is where the shared paths end. Emery is not Wenger, but that appears to be precisely the point.
By this point, we all know what they are. Certainly one thing we never had in Wenger’s time was a multitude of experts giving their insight into every aspect of a foreign manager’s career from his time in Spain to his spell in France. Even if Arsenal fans are currently underwhelmed at the prospect of a man who turned a 4-0 lesson in pressing Barcelona into a 6-1 humiliation, whatever they’re asking, it certainly isn’t “Unai who?”
But what the last 24 hours have shown – and what we already knew from seeing his teams in Europe – is a man who, for all his similarities with a late 90s Wenger (updated for the modern world), will bring with him the precise qualities that late-stage Wenger lacked.
His pragmatism stands out as the biggest differentiator to his predecessor, as does his ability to plot and scheme with his scouts and director of football – something the Frenchman seemed incapable of doing. Emery’s diligence in having a plan for every opponent appears to be at odds with Wenger’s stubborn insistence on worrying only about his own team’s game.
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They say that a country elects its new leaders based on the qualities they think are lacking in the old one. George Bush’s folksiness was lambasted as stupidity, so Barack Obama’s professorial air swept into the White House. Wenger’s lack of concern about his brittle midfield could be offset by Emery’s insistence on not one but two holding players in the 4-2-3-1 formation he’s played for years; the Frenchman’s phobia of creating a proper plan adjusted for his opponents makes his slavish meticulousness all the more appealing.
Arsenal could be forgiven for breaking up with Wenger and looking to replace him with another just the same. And Emery ticks some of the boxes his predecessor did 22 years ago. But this is a new, bespoke model who might be exactly the right man at the right time for the Gunners.
As reported by The Daily Mail, Leeds United are interested in signing out-of-contract striker Abel Hernandez this summer.
What’s the story?
After a four-year spell at Hull City, the Uruguayan looks set to leave the club having not signed a new deal and his situation is likely to alert a host of suitors who would gladly scoop him up.
One of those teams is Leeds United, according to The Daily Mail, who say that the club have the budget to bring him to Elland Road and that he could be a replacement target for Oliver McBurnie, who Rangers rival Leeds for.
Signing Hernandez on a free would be an excellent bit of business, given he signed for Hull initially for a reported £10m fee.
Is he the kind of player Leeds need?
Paul Heckingbottom is looking to build a team that can finish much higher up the table next season than their 13th place this term.
What they need for that to happen is goals, with the vast majority of the teams above them scoring more than they did across the 46 games in the Championship this year.
Abel Hernandez can certainly provide that and has a proven track record of consistent second-tier goalscoring, netting 28 goals in 49 appearances in the Championship with Hull.
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As free signings go, it might not get much better for Leeds this summer.
After finishing his second season in charge at Old Trafford without a trophy, Jose Mourinho is looking to bolster his Manchester United ranks this summer in an attempt to close the gap to bitter rivals Manchester City.
Young talent may well be the order of the day across the Premier League but Mourinho has always been a manager for the short term so Chelsea’s Willian, 29, has reportedly become a transfer target.
United’s big issue is creativity, breaking down teams and creating chances for Romelu Lukaku and Willian would likely be charged with rectifying that if he made the move to the north west.
But just how would Willian’s move to United work out – if it did happen? Football FanCast have taken a closer look at some of the potential consequences of the switch; from a personnel, tactical and transfer perspective to see just how the deal could pan out…
Juan Mata leaves the club
Willian would look to take on the role on the right of the United midfield and given that Mourinho is well-stocked in terms of forward players, someone may have to go.
One aging former Chelsea playmaker among the right-sided options is acceptable but having two may well be too much.
Mata has always seemed an awkward fit for Mourinho’s demanding style and he is not a wideman as he doesn’t have the legs. He could be the one shown the exit door if Willian arrives.
Less gametime for Jesse Lingard
Of all of United’s current right-wing options, Jesse Lingard appears to be the most natural fit so Willian’s arrival could have a profound impact on his playtime.
He has done some of his best work from a central area, although he can sometimes struggle in the number 10 role up against a packed defence but it is unlikely that he and Paul Pogba would line up in the engine room together too often under the cautious Mourinho.
Lingard was also among United’s poorest performers in the FA Cup final defeat against Chelsea, and Mourinho is surely more likely to drop him than big-money January signing Alexis Sanchez, who will look to make the spot on the left his own next season.
United still struggle for creativity
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After two seasons of turgid football, it would be a surprise if Willian is the man to transform United’s attack.
He is capable of producing brilliant moments and matches, usually with space to run into, but is not a consistent or reliable source of chances. He may even make United more workmanlike.
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It is easy to suspect that Mourinho only wants Willian because of his ability to work back as much as what he can do going forward.
United need an elite playmaker and a change of approach to the games against the smaller sides; Willian represents the prospect of neither.