All posts by h716a5.icu

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Arsenal fans on Twitter have been raving about the excellent performance of wing-back Ainsley Maitland-Niles against Rennes on Thursday evening.

Following his wonderful Manchester United showing, the 21-year-old started at right wing-back for the Gunners at the Emirates Stadium, within a 3-4-1-2 formation.

He was instrumental in a 3-0 victory that saw Unai Emery’s men overturn a 3-1 deficit to progress to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Europa League, capping off his first goal in European football with impressive statistics like 79 per cent pass completion and five completed tackles.

And Gooners were absolutely lapping up the homegrown player’s showing on social media with one proclaiming that he’s getting “better game by game” having found a settled position for now, despite becoming something of a utility man in his short career so far.

Meanwhile, other supporters congratulated the starlet by calling him his affectionate nickname of “Birdman,” praised up Maitland-Niles’ all-around performance on the special night and advocated for the England youth international winning the Man of the Match award in a game of many eye-catching individual Arsenal displays.

Check out our list of the best reactive Tweets from Gunners fans to one of their own’s big contribution below…

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According to TEAMtalk, Liverpool are among a number of top Premier League sides scouting Inter defender Milan Skriniar, and his potential arrival could have a big impact on some current players.

What’s the word, then?

Well, the Reds, along with both Manchester sides, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham, all reportedly had scouts watching the 24-year-old in Slovakia’s 1-0 loss to Wales on Sunday.

Skriniar is regarded as one of the most wanted centre-backs in Europe right now, emerging from mere obscurity to become a seriously rated figure having swapped Sampdoria for Inter back in 2017 – the Italian giants reportedly paid a fee of around £30m.

Has Alisson been Liverpool’s most important signing of the season? Check out the video below to find out why Jurgen Klopp thinks so…

The Inter star is a young, solid defender who has a huge ceiling for improvement, and would certainly bolster Liverpool’s defensive ranks which have looked thin at times this season – Fabinho, a natural midfielder, has had to fill in at centre-back on the odd occasion.

Joe Gomez at right-back and Trent Alexander-Arnold in midfield?

If Skriniar were to arrive at the club, it would be unlikely that he sits on the bench behind Gomez and Virgil van Dijk in the pecking order, given his pedigree in the game.

So, where does that leave Gomez? Jurgen Klopp has already gone on record to say just how highly he rates the young England international, and given his incredible form earlier in the season before injury struck, it is unlikely that he would drop out of the team – he can, however, play at right-back.

Precocious talent Alexander-Arnold plays at right-back currently, and it is also unlikely that he will be dropped, so what does Klopp do?

Given Alexander-Arnold’s excellent technical ability, but questionable defending at times, some Liverpool fans feel that he’d be better suited to a central-midfield role, a sentiment that is said to be echoed by those inside the club and one that may be a natural transition.

So, if Skriniar does arrive at Anfield, we could potentially see this transition put into action. Skriniar would be Van Dijk’s long-term partner, Gomez would be deployed at right-back, and Alexander-Arnold will become a centre-midfielder.

Gomez, Skriniar, Van Dijk and Andrew Robertson – what a backline that is.

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Tottenham Hotspur fans have expressed their relief that Louis van Gaal rejected the club after managing the Netherlands at the 2014 World Cup.

The Dutchman moved to Manchester United and spent two years at Old Trafford, finishing fourth in 2014-15 and fifth in 2015-16, though he won the FA Cup in his second season at the club.

Nevertheless, he was sacked despite the achievement, with Jose Mourinho appointed in his stead.

United struggled with the Dutchman’s playing style; he tended to favour a slow, ponderous build-up and did not appear to get up to speed with the pace and intensity of the English top-flight.

He was close to moving to Spurs, who were looking to replace axed Tim Sherwood following the World Cup in Brazil, but he instead opted for a switch to Old Trafford.

He has now admitted that he regrets that decision, with Spurs, under Mauricio Pochettino, finishing above United in two of the three seasons since his appointment.

Speaking to the BBC, he said: “Tottenham were a better selection because Manchester United were an old team and I knew I would have to transform them.

“Was it the wrong choice? Maybe, but I follow my heart. I worked at the number one team in the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and now also in England.”

And fans have now revealed their relief, in hindsight, at the 67-year-old’s choice. Take a look at the best of the reaction on Twitter below!

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Cardiff City fans have offered Neil Warnock some selection tips on Twitter by calling for Kenneth Zohore’s return to the team.

Zohore hasn’t featured much for Cardiff this season scoring only once in 14 appearances but Bluebirds supporters believe that now is the time for the Danish striker to come back into the fold.

Oumar Niasse has been the preferred choice up front in recent weeks but after he missed a gilt-edged chance at the Etihad, Cardiff fans want to see him dropped.

Niasse is yet to find the back of the net for Cardiff and with just six games to go in the Premier League season the relegation-threatened Bluebirds can’t afford to have a striker who isn’t scoring.

Cardiff are five points adrift of safety and Warnock will be desperate to find the solution to their problems. Amongst the fanbase, it is an obvious choice to bring Zohore back into the lineup to replace Niasse.

Here’s what Cardiff fans have been saying on Twitter…

If there’s one player Arsenal have needed in the past few weeks, it’s Lucas Torreira.

The Uruguayan midfielder has missed the past three league games due to suspension, and on Sunday the Gunners really missed his presence where Unai Emery’s side fell to a 1-0 defeat to Everton, putting a major dent in Arsenal’s bid for Champions League football.

Torreira has been lavished with praise since his arrival from Sampdoria last summer, and his absence in the Arsenal side has been sorely missed since his red card against Tottenham.

No Torreira in the side has meant that the likes of Mohamed Elneny have been called upon by Emery to start in the side, and to disastrous results. The Egyptian didn’t even last an hour during the weekend’s loss against the Toffees’, and the Uruguayan is returning to the squad at the right time.

Although Everton was Arsenal’s only defeat during Torreira’s absence, the void the midfielder left in the Gunners team could be felt, with Manchester United and Newcastle all finding chances through the centre of the park, but with Bernd Leno finally picking up form, two back-to-back sheets were registered for the north London side.

With Arsenal’s first Europa League quarter-final game starting against Napoli this week and must win games against Watford and Crystal Palace fast approaching, Torreira returns to a Gunners side who are in need of defensive stability in the midfield so that the more creative midfielders can do their job in the team without the burden of defending.

Torreira, who is valued at £49.5 million (by Transfermarkt), has been one of Arsenal’s signing of the season, and his presence in the side has been missed for the past few weeks. With him back, though, the team have extra defensive cover that they sorely need going into their biggest games of the season, and with the 23-year-old returning, Arsenal are in a better position to fight for top four.

Arsenal fans, how much have the team missed Torreira? Let us know!

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Premier League experience is considered amongst the most valuable commodities for any prospective new signing – that is if you are a club residing within England’s top-flight of, course. The obsession with signing players who have already sampled their talent within the division derives from an arrogance and artificially inflated sense of self-importance that champions the Premier League as the world’s best division.

Only the most complete players can do it on a cold, rainy, Tuesday night in Stoke. Even in the absence of the Bet365 Stadium the theory which champions England’s top-flight as the most challenging in world football still holds perennial truth for an overwhelming majority of supporters.

That commonly accepted opinion has filtered into the minds of the decision-makers who are exposed to overwhelming pressures from expectant fans on social media. Supporters want to see new signings arrive every summer, especially those who have successfully auditioned for a Premier League role and been given the green light by Simon Cowell and his contingent of equally insufferable judges.

This criminal fallacy of the division’s relative competitiveness to Europe’s other top-divisions could inadvertently be corrupting the recruitment process in some of England’s top clubs.

Tottenham Hotspur, for example, have already been linked with summer moves for Michael Keane and Ryan Fraser. The Daily Express – albeit not renowned for their transfer story to confirmed transfer strike rate – report that Pochettino has identified Keane as a player he wants, while the Daily Mirror believe the Lilywhites have been scouting Bournemouth’s Ryan Fraser.

Let’s be clear on who we’re dealing with here. Keane, despite Everton’s decision to part with £30 million for his services and his recent England call-up, has been inconsistent since leaving Burnley in 2017 and is not a unanimous first-choice for Everton supporters.

Meanwhile, Fraser, who cost just £432k in 2013, has been a scuttling, jet-heeled menace for the Cherries this season, cutting a demeanour of a supercharged bulldog with every rapid stride forward. His reward has been six goals and ten assists in the league – an outstanding record which most top-six wingers would scoop deserved acclaim for. Last season, though, he was not a guaranteed starter for the entirety of the season and he is yet to prove himself over an extended period of time. 

It’s important to remember that there are some players who are tailor-made to thrive within a mid-table club and, equally, destined to fail after taking a major step up in class.

Differing styles of football naturally offer differing levels of compatibility for the players who operate within them. Riyad Mahrez has fallen victim to that intrinsic problem at Manchester City, Christian Benteke endured a similar career pattern at Liverpool and Morgan Schneiderlin epitomised mediocrity after swapping Southampton for Manchester United.

While the argument here is certainly not to complete undermine the importance of experience in England’s top-flight, there is ample evidence from transfers during the 2018/19 season that prove it’s a factor which is fundamentally facile and blindly overstated.

According to an article published by The Guardian, Whoscored.com’s head of content, Martin Laurence, has revealed that Ricardo Pereira, Raul Jimenez, Joao Moutinho, James Maddison, Lucas Digne, Fabian Schar, Jannik Vestergaard and Felipe Anderson are, statistically speaking, all contenders for signing of the season; not a single one of the aforementioned players had set foot in the Premier League prior to their summer arrival.

Youri Tielemans, another signing who has thrived on his maiden campaign in England’s top-tier, is omitted from the list due to his transient stay in the top-flight, but a place amongst the signing of the season contenders would surely have been cemented if Leicester City had landed him in the summer of 2018.

A player’s suitability to a particular football club should be judged based on an accumulation of factors and if Premier League experience falls into that profile then that should be regarded as nothing more than a bonus.

Fraser is a poor-man’s Son Heung-min, but he is excelling at the right level for a player of his calibre. Keane is lacking the technical prowess to suit the demands of Pochettino’s system, yet he is a solid central defender for a Europa League standard side.

These pertinent acknowledgements which lie so clearly in plain sight should not be ignored simply because both players have performed to a decent standard in the division which Tottenham possess ambitions of winning.

Players with greater potential to become key cogs in the Tottenham machine are waiting across Europe and beyond.

Fraser and Keane have, quite simply, found their level.

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Newcastle United have all but secured their Premier League safety for another season and they have done it thanks to Rafa Benitez and his 3-4-2-1 formation.

On the Charlkboard

As part of Benitez’s change in tactic, Matt Ritchie has been converted into a wing-back and Ayoze Perez and Miguel Almiron have been deployed as wide attackers.

Florian Lejeune’s injury has led to Paul Dummet playing as part of the back three, but he’s not as comfortable on the ball as the Frenchman and, though he is very solid defensively, Newcastle rely solely on Fabian Schar to play-from-the-back.

Almiron is Newcastle’s record signing after joining from Atlanta in January.

He has made an impact on how the Toon attack but he is yet to score or assist.

This could be down to the fact the Paraguayan is playing out-wide despite the fact he is primarily a number ten.

For Atlanta he scored 13 goals and registered 11 assists playing in-behind Josef Martinez.

Almiron has certainly made the Magpies more dangerous, as can be seen by his 1.3 key passes per game and expected assists of 1.38, but a change of formation may be needed to truly utilise his star quality.

How to rectify the problem

The Magpies should consider switching back to 4-2-3-1.

Perez could move to the left and Ritchie to the right, allowing both to cut inside and feed Almiron, who could use his electric pace through the middle to penetrate the opposition.

Also, allowing him to play behind Rondon would give him the chance to feed off the big man’s knock downs and, considering he has won 127 aerial duels this year, the 25-year-old would have a lot to feed off.

Finally, playing Almiron as a number ten would allow him to play in-between the midfield and the defence, finding pockets of space to work in where his skill and technique would create openings for Newcastle’s other forward players and hopefully give Almiron his first goal and assist in English football.

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Wolves are no strangers to Portuguese talent. Their squad already has a host of stars hailing from the Iberian Peninsula but they could be about to add another one to their ranks.

Andre Silva has reportedly been offered out to the club, via Calciomercato, with AC Milan having no desire to keep the forward at the San Siro.

Reacting to the news on Twitter, Wolves supporters seemed keen to see the deal happen as some fans relished the possible link-up between Silva and record signing Raul Jimenez.

Another fan said that if the club were serious about where it wanted to be then a potential deal for the Portugal international was a no brainer.

A further Tweet made reference to Wolves’ squad size, something that’s now catching up on them after a long season. With the possibility of playing in Europe next term, Nuno Santo will seriously have to consider adding depth to his squad.

Silva would certainly add to that and would definitely give the Midlands side more firepower. It’s something they’ve lacked besides Jimenez and Diogo Jota.

Raul Jimenez is turning it on for Wolves and Mexico right now! He definitely deserves the song in the video below…

The striker is currently on loan in La Liga with Sevilla and has notched 11 goals across all competitions for the Spanish club.

Here’s the best of the reaction.

For Portsmouth to have a successful Easter two things needed to happen. They had to win both their games, and teams around them had to drop points, and both happened.

Two 2-1 wins over Burton Albion and Coventry City and Sunderland dropping points against Peterborough have set Pompey up nicely for a chance at finishing the season inside an automatic promotion spot, with the south coast side two points off second place Barnsley with a game in hand.

As well as results going their way, the performances from Portsmouth over Easter were convincing for the fans. Pompey came from behind to win both games in the final 10 minutes, with the match against Burton being won with one of the final kicks of the game, and this mentality will be vital for the team heading into the final three matches of the season.

Had Pompey not managed six points from six over the Easter weekend, the league table would tell a different story for Portsmouth, but their ability to dig deep and turn games on their head in the dying moments has not only saved their season but has kept their incredible promotion goal alive.

With Sunderland up next in a match that could define Portsmouth’s promotion chances, going into that game off the back of two comeback wins will motivate Kenny Jackett’s side greatly, especially with the Black Cats stumbling yet again in the league at a crucial time.

Portsmouth fans, will Pompey secure an automatic promotion spot? Let us know!

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Tottenham Hotspur are eyeing a swoop for Lyon midfielder Tanguy Ndombele, per AS via Sport Witness.

What’s the word?

Ndombele has emerged as a standout player for Lyon in recent years, playing a total of 91 times for the club.

He featured in every game for the club in the Champions League and scored in both group matches against TSG Hoffenheim.

A central midfielder with the ability to play further forward and in defensive midfield, Ndombele has been courted by both Real Madrid and Manchester City, per the report, with Spurs also listed as potential suitors.

The player’s agent has reportedly communicated to interested clubs that Ndombele would like to move to England.

And Lyon are said to have placed an asking price of €100million (£86.1m) on the 22-year-old, who remains their prized asset.

More than Dembele’s replacement

Spurs need to bring in midfield reinforcements this summer, having seen Mousa Dembele move to China in the January transfer window.

Ndombele would, of course, replace the Belgium international but he represents something more.

The youngster is one of the most sought-after players in the European game and is prized by the biggest clubs on the continent.

If Spurs, who are in the Champions League semi-finals, can beat their rivals to his signature, it sends a serious message.

They have not spent any money at all since January 2018, when they secured the signing of Lucas Moura from PSG.

There is money saved; spending it on Ndombele would reinforce and refresh their midfield with a player who has the ability to grow into one of the best in the world.

Splashing £86.1m on one player may seem out of character for Spurs but it could turn out to be something approaching a bargain and would show that the club have finally reached the top table of European football, and that they are there to stay.