All posts by h716a5.icu

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After being appointed caretaker manager at Old Trafford, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer enjoyed the kind of start one could only dream of.

However, after a glorious run of wins came to an end, the Red Devils slipped into old habits and ended the Premier League campaign in sixth, with just Europa League football to look forward to this term.

Since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson, United have gone through a number of managers, but according to reports, Solskjaer could be granted a more patient approach.

The Evening Standard claim the Norwegian has been assured he will be given more transfer windows to overhaul the United squad, and he will be given more leeway than his predecessors Jose Mourinho, Louis van Gaal and David Moyes.

After hearing the news the club’s hierarchy are on board with Solskjaer’s long-term future being at Old Trafford, United fans took to Twitter to voice their opinions on the matter.

Many questioned why the side’s more experienced managers in recent years weren’t shown the same level of confidence, and wondered why someone like Mourinho wasn’t backed.

Indeed, some simply felt the report represented another piece of evidence that Solskjaer might be a “puppet” for the club’s hierarchy.

Check out some of the reaction of United fans below:

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Leeds fans have been left fuming with Marcelo Bielsa after he revealed his tactics in his pre-match press conference ahead of their trip to Wigan this weekend.

Speaking on Thursday, he told reporters at Thorpe Arch that he couldn’t disclose his team for the match but then did so anyway, saying: “Between you and me it’s the same team.”

It was a bizarre comment from the Argentine who revealed his selection two days prior to the match even taking place.

A host of supporters were left baffled with the manager on Twitter as he was blasted stupid and arrogant. Another individual said it was a bad move to show your cards ahead of kick-off.

One fan said they didn’t get the decision to reveal the team news as a further tweeter couldn’t understand the point.

It doesn’t appear as though Bielsa was too concerned with what he’d said as he joked with reporters when issuing the tongue-in-cheek response.

It’s not the first time he’s done so though, effectively claiming the team would be the same ahead of their match with Nottingham Forest.

Here’s the best of the reaction.

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Southampton welcome Fulham to St Mary’s on Tuesday evening in what will be the Saints’ first taste of Carabao Cup action this season, and it could well be a tougher game than it looks on paper.

Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men recorded their first victory of the season last time out against Brighton, but the Cottagers have also enjoyed a decent start to the campaign under Scott Parker with three wins out of five in the Championship.

The tie will hand Hasenhuttl the chance to get a few fringe players some game time, so let’s take a look at who we think the Austrian will select in his starting lineup…

A much changed lineup from the one that started against the Seagulls, but Hasenhuttl cannot waste this opportunity to get some players up to speed.

We think the former RB Leipzig boss should hand Alex McCarthy a first start of the season.

Ahead of the 29-year-old stopper it would be good to see how summer signing Kevin Danso fares in his natural centre-back position – the loanee played at left-back against Brighton.

Ryan Bertrand was dropped for that game, so he should be handed a chance to prove himself again whilst it would be wise to get Cedric Soares some match fitness under his belt.

Ahead of the midfield two who started against Brighton, we think four players should be given their first starts of the campaign.

£15m summer signing Moussa Djenepo scored his first goal for the club with a screamer at the Amex after coming off the bench, whilst Sofiane Boufal also grabbed an assist in that game as a substitute – both men deserve to start against Fulham on the back of their impressive cameos.

Stuart Armstrong has made two appearances from the bench this term but would benefit from a first start as the likes of Che Adams and Nathan Redmond are rested.

Michael Obafemi, 19, who has one appearance so far this term, should be handed a start to see if he can impress.

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[ad_pod ]Will Everton manage it this year?Fate has spat out a golden opportunity for the Toffees to break into the top four. Manchester United are struggling, Chelsea too, while Arsenal and Tottenham both have a crippling propensity to crumble when it matters most.Watch Everton Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

So who does that leave realistically? Wolves? European football will likely take its toll. Leicester City have every chance this season with Brendan Rodgers in charge, of course, but you’d be expecting Marco Silva to pull something out of the bag with the money he spent in the summer.

It’s a sentiment shared by a certain ex-boss by the name of Sam Allardyce as well it would seem, who’s put down his pint of wine to deliver a prediction on Everton’s chances of securing Champions League football…

Considering the state of some of the teams that typically occupy the top Premier League spots, Big Sam might not be too far wrong his predictions, and Everton’s impressive victory over fellow punters Wolves at the weekend is a pretty strong indication of their quality.

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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… 

Wolves’ Premier League season has been far from that of their Europa League campaign so far this year.

Nuno Santo’s men have struggled to pick up traction, drawing three and losing one of their four league matches – potentially a by-product of the added strain that competing in Europe can bring, where they’ve actually won all of their six games.

It is a common theme for teams to suffer in the league at the expense of the more prestigious competition, especially for a club of Wolves’ stature having not competed in Europe for nearly 40 years.

They’ll be hoping they can buck that trend and follow up on last season’s seventh-place finish in the league.

Nuno will have to resolve one thing, however.

Watch Wolverhampton Wanderers Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

On the Chalkboard

Their main man Raul Jimenez has been a workhorse in 2019, playing over 40 times for club and country, which will only increase after this international break having been called up to play for Mexico.

His performance against Everton, even with him scoring a goal, was the first time he possibly showed some effect from playing so many matches this calendar year – which is merely a microcosm of how Wolves seem to be at the minute anyway.

WhoScored’s heatmap shows his positions from that game, and it’s a worrying sign.

He’s barely getting involved in the box, whether that is a sign of the player himself or of his service remains to be seen, but other statistics show he is some way off the mark this season in comparison to last term.

In the 18/19 season, Jimenez averaged 2.9 shots per game, but this campaign he is recording just 2.5 and the problem lies even deeper than that with a decrease coming from inside the penalty area.

The 28-year-old had two shots per match on average last season, which has gone down by 0.2 to a lower 1.8.

That isn’t a good sign considering all of his goals, per Understat’s xG model, have come from inside the area.

Nuno needs to find a way of resolving this soon or he may face a sustained period of decline in the Premier League, which won’t help Wolves achieve their ambitions considering he is their main man.

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Alexandre Lacazette has proved to be an excellent signing for Arsenal.

The France international joined the Gunners in 2017 for what was a club-record fee at the time. Since then, he has scored 38 goals in 91 games for the north Londoners, including two in three matches this term.

He has built up a reputation as a big-game player, which he once again displayed against Tottenham in the last game before the international break. His goal kicked his side into gear as they eventually fought their way back to a 2-2 draw after trailing 2-0.

How do football vloggers afford to watch their team week in, week out? Find out in the video below…

Portions of the Emirates Stadium faithful see him as something of a leader, and many have called for him to be given the captaincy.

As it stands, though, manager Unai Emery has a group of players who he wants to lead his side on the pitch.

Nevertheless, supporters have taken to Twitter to share their thoughts.

You can see some of the best comments from the social media platform below.

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Life’s currently very good if you’re a Barcelona fan.

The Catalan giants thumped Valencia 5-2 over the weekend, with youngster Ansu Fati on the scoresheet. He’s just 16. And the fun didn’t stop there, either.

The club have officially confirmed that Lionel Messi is back in training with the team and that has only added to the party atmosphere in Catalunya.

Watch Spanish Football Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

We still don’t know, however, whether he’ll be ready for the opening game of their Champions League campaign against Borussia Dortmund this week.

Some reports indicate he will indeed travel but could only feature for about half an hour at Signal Iduna Park.

But that didn’t stop loads of fans from celebrating on social media and Twitter after the club posted an image of Messi in training.

Many of them were simply over the moon to see the “GOAT” back with the squad and with a ball at his feet.

You can see some of their reactions in the collection of tweets down below.

Check them out…

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets…

Real Madrid proved many wrong with their impressive display against Sevilla, as they won 1-0 in Andalusia.

The build-up to the game was definitely not in their favour.

In the four seasons prior to the weekend’s match-up, they had lost every away league game they played in Sevilla but their triumph at the weekend has now moved them joint-top of the table, alongside Athletic Bilbao. They are second due to goal difference.

Of course, this was their first clean sheet in the ongoing 2019/20 La Liga season, and no one contributed to it as much as Daniel Carvajal did.

Watch Spanish Football Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

The 27-year-old defender couldn’t contain Angel Di Maria last week when Real Madrid lost 3-0 to PSG in the Champions League.

However, he redeemed himself on Sunday; Carvajal registered three tackles, four interceptions and four clearances on the night, completely shutting down Sevilla’s left flank and making it his own.

But that wasn’t everything he did. According to Whoscored’s ranking system, the Spaniard was awarded the Man of the Match award with a total rating of 8.11. Apart from his obvious defensive contribution, Carvajal also registered one assist, one key pass and 87.5% passing accuracy, completely dominating the game.

Not to mention that his assist ended up being the game-winning one, with Karim Benzema on the end of it to score the only goal of the encounter.

Carvajal’s gigantic performance, then, proved critical as Real ended the week in a far better position than they started.

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

West Brom boss Slaven Bilic has acknowledged his team’s defensive problems, but he isn’t too worried about it keeping him up at night, per quotes from Express & Star.

What’s he said?

The Baggies have started the Championship season unbeaten after eight matches; the only side in the league to do so.

On Sunday afternoon they were given a scare as rock-bottom Huddersfield twice took the lead at the Hawthorns with poor defending the root of both goals.

Kyle Bartley was the epitome of that when his wayward pass led to Karlan Grant bagging the Terriers’ second goal.

Watch West Bromwich Albion Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Albion may well be without a defeat, but they too are without a clean sheet this season.

Bilic even knows it is an issue amongst his squad, though, it doesn’t appear to be that much of a concern to him, he said:

“I wouldn’t say I’m concerned.

“Concerned means I wouldn’t be sleeping because of it.

“Clean sheets aren’t just defending well – there’s an element of luck, the game is 90 minutes, the opposition is strong.

“I’m not going to be obsessed with clean sheets, clean sheets, clean sheets.”

Cause for concern

The Croatian’s nonchalant attitude towards his team’s poor defensive record is a cause for concern, even if he says otherwise, especially if they genuinely have ambitions to return to the top-flight in the immediate future.

There are obviously plenty of positives to being undefeated as of yet, as well as having the ability to fight and come from behind to pick up points – 15 of their 16 have actually come from a losing position, per Transfermarkt.

However, it’s not entirely perfect. Albion are not top of the league after all.

West Brom sit fourth, one point behind both Leeds United and Swansea City in first and second.

Check out the most insane fan meltdowns in the video below…

Had the Baggies not conceded first in some of their draws they could well have been clear at the top with some sort of gap starting to build.

On the other hand, it could quite easily have gone the other way as they have twice needed last-minute penalties even to salvage a point – but again, that only emphasises the fact that their defence is a significant issue.

Sir Alex Ferguson, one of the greatest ever domestic managers, once said ‘attack wins you games, defence wins you titles’ – he did win 13 Premier League titles in 21 seasons at Manchester United, just maybe he knows a thing or two that is worth taking on board.

There is only so long Albion can go neglecting their shoddy defensive record.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more… 

Nottingham Forest continued their impressive form under manager Sabri Lamouchi as they made it nine straight games without tasting defeat on Tuesday evening.

The Reds now sit fourth in the Championship, just two points behind league leaders Swansea.

Blackburn Rovers opened the scoring just after the hour mark as Adam Armstrong rounded off a scathing counter-attack, but Forest hit back almost instantly through Joe Lolley, who slammed home another one of his usual screamers.

However, Lamouchi’s side did well to hold on to a point as Rovers mounted a surge in the final ten minutes, piling on the pressure with ten shots and 76.4% possession, per WhoScored.

The Frenchman has frequently chopped and changed his side throughout the early season, with only three players starting all ten matches.

One particular move on Tuesday proved that he needs to calm down on team selection and stick with players in their natural positions.

On the Chalkboard

Surprisingly, left-back duo Yuri Ribeiro and Jack Robinson were named in the starting line up, but neither deputised in the absence of Michael Dawson at centre-back.

Watch Nottingham Forest Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Instead, the Portuguese defender was played higher up the pitch, which meant that Sammy Ameobi was moved centrally to play as a number ten behind Lewis Grabban.

After that performance, it would be wise not to play him there again.

The 27-year-old had an off game, recording a passing success rate of just 64% while he was also dispossessed twice, which suggests he struggled to meet the demands of being a central attacking midfielder.

You need to be good with your feet in order to either spread the ball wide to your wingers or to find that killer pass to the striker.

He did neither on Tuesday night.

At 6 foot 4, Ameobi is quite clearly a towering presence amongst the Forest side, but to play him as your creative outlet just seems daft when his gangly figure is more needed out wide in his natural wing position where you can float out long balls to him.

Lamouchi had both Joao Carvalho and Tiago Silva in the squad, who are the natural choices for that role as between them both they have assisted three goals, making the decision seem even more absurd.

Surely after that performance, the Frenchman will steer clear of ever doing that again.