All posts by z3u9t.icu

Many Barcelona fans don’t really like their coach.

Ernesto Valverde has been one of the heavily criticised figures at the club and some of the Blaugrana supporters are on his case almost on a daily basis, asking for his sacking and voicing their opinions.

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And just recently, Barcelona’s vice president, Jordi Cardoner, spoke to Catalunya Radio (via Marca) and talked at length about the club, the signings, the players and of course, about their coach, Valverde.

Among other things, Cardoner said the club still support the Basque manager because he brings balance to the squad, as quoted by Marca as well.

Needless to say, upon hearing this update, many of the fans just couldn’t believe the words coming out of their vice president’s mouth.

Many just laughed at it, others called Cardoner a “clown” and some took a couple of stabs at the club as a whole, stating it’s clearly corrupt and that this statement perfectly summarises where they are at the moment.

You can see some of their replies down in the comments below:

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After a start to the 2019/20 campaign that has been a far cry from the form that took them to the 2019 Champions League final, Tottenham Hotspur are in concerning domestic and European form.

A mid-week 7-2 drubbing at the hands of Bayern Munich was followed by an embarrassing 3-0 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion at the Amex, and if the alarms bells were not already ringing in north London, they will now be firmly blaring as the Lilywhites’ season begins to risk entering the realms of disarray.

Winless in two Champions League group games and sitting ninth in the Premier League table, October’s international break will give Mauricio Pochettino an opportunity to launch a plan to get Spurs’ season back on track.

We take a look at five things the Argentinian will be looking to address ahead of the return to top-flight action in two weeks time.

[snack_break title=”A crisis of confidence”]

Spurs had rightfully gained plaudits for the attractive, attacking football they have played since Pochettino arrived at the club in 2014, but the identity the north Londoner’s have developed is seemingly fast-fading in the 2019/20 campaign.

The club’s attacking talisman in Harry Kane has enjoyed relatively strong goalscoring form with five league goals to his name, but the typical supporting cast of Heung-min Son and Christian Eriksen have been unable to contribute with the typical vigour that is usually present in Spurs’ attacking endeavours.

Defensively, Spurs are also facing issues with club captain Hugo Lloris suffering a dislocated elbow in this weekend’s defeat to Brighton, and Pochettino will be focused on ensuring that his side can banish this concerning early-season form when they return to Premier League action against Watford on October 19th.

[snack_break title=”Eriksen’s concerning form”]

After a summer transfer window that saw reports emerge of a potential exit Spurs exit, Danish playmaker Christian Eriksen has been struggling to find any semblance of form in the 2019/20 campaign.

The playmaker has scored just one goal in Tottenham’s eight league games so far, whilst also registering a sole assist in the club’s victory over Southampton.

Given the club’s well-documented rigid wage structure, led by the notoriously shrewd Daniel Levy, retaining star players such as Eriksen is likely to remain a challenge until the club alter the financial confines in which they operate.

With strong links to Real Madrid in the summer, it would appear Eriksen is currently unable to deliver the performances that have seen his become an integral part of Pochettino’s project at Spurs, and his manager will likely be considering how best, if at all, to deploy him in a bid to get his side’s season back on track for the remainder of 2019/20.

[snack_break title=”Aurier’s lack of discipline”]

After joining the club from Paris Saint Germain in 2017, Serge Aurier arrived in north London with a reputation for lacking discipline. The Ivorian had been suspended by the Parisian side for comments made on social media regarding coach Laurent Blanc whilst also using profanities to describe a Champions League referee in a game against Chelsea in 2015.

Although Aurier has managed to stay out of the headlines during his time with Spurs, a first-half red-card against Southampton at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium highlighted how the 26-year-old is still capable of letting his guard down and leaving his team in a vulnerable position.

Whilst Spurs were able to hang on and secure victory over the Saints, Aurier’s untimely lapse of concentration made life extremely difficult for his teammates in a crucial league fixture.

Given the competition for places in defence for the club, despite Aurier dismissing such a notion, Pochettino may be considering whether Aurier is the correct long-term option on the right flank of Spurs’ backline, with the likes of Kyle Walker-Peters representing a safer albeit less experienced option.

With October’s international break underway, the viability of Aurier is likely to be high on Pochettino’s list of priorities in developing a solution to get Tottenham’s season back on track.

[snack_break title=”Alli failing to find the faith of Pochettino”]

After bursting onto the scene having arrived from MK Dons in 2015, Dele Alli set the Premier League alight with a series of dazzling performances that saw the midfielder earn a call-up to the England seniors whilst also winning the PFA Young Premier Player of the Year award in the 2015/16 campaign.

Alli, 23, made it into Gareth Southgate’s squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, but an injury to the Spurs playmaker had prevented him from playing a key role in Tottenham’s 2019/20 campaign so far.

Alli has now returned from injury, but Pochettino had opted to keep him on the bench and the 23-year-old has played just 30 minutes in the Premier League in 2019/20 – against north London rivals Arsenal.

The playmaker is not on international duty with Southgate’s Three Lions, but Pochettino may be using the break to consider if Alli is the man to turnaround Tottenham’s season when they face off against Watford in two weeks time.

[snack_break title=”Another keeper in January?”]

Although Tottenham’s 3-0 defeat at the hands of Brighton this weekend was disappointing for Pochettino and his squad, the injury to captain Hugo Lloris could mark the end of the Frenchman’s season.

After falling awkwardly, Lloris was stretchered off the pitch at the Amex and Pochettino confirmed in his post-match comments that the injury is looking extremely serious for the 32-year-old.

Whilst Spurs’ second-choice keeper Paulo Gazzaniga is certainly capable enough of deputising for Lloris, Pochettino may be forced to consider entering the January transfer market for a keeper that can either play second little to Gazzaniga or to challenge him for the starting spot between the sticks.

Owing to the two weeks without football over the next fortnight, this could be the perfect opportunity for Pochettino to determine how to address the goalkeeping situation following Lloris’ potential long-term absence.

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Arsenal supporters have been reacting to the news that star man Alexandre Lacazette has returned to full training after recovering from an ankle injury.

After playing through the pain barrier for several weeks, pictures emerged on Thursday of the Frenchman back out on the training pitch at London Colney as he underwent the next stage of his recovery.

In the video below, we look at where it all went wrong for Arsenal’s former ‘saviour’, Mesut Ozil…

Lacazette has been instrumental for the club since his £46.5m move from Lyon in 2017 and has cemented himself as a key member of Unai Emery’s starting line-up.

With two goals in three Premier League games this season, the Frenchman is on the verge of a return to the first-team and there is a possibility that Lacazette could be fit enough to face Sheffield United on Monday.

Supporters were excited to see the return of their No. 9 after a brief spell out of the team.

Here you will find some of the best responses from Arsenal fans:

In an exclusive interview with Football FanCast, John Hartson spoke of the power agents have in football, suggesting that their huge influence in the game cannot be understated.

News this week broke regarding the future of West Ham’s Conor Coventry, whose future at the club could be in doubt over a stumbling block in relation to a proposed contract extension.

The issue is that the player reportedly wants a wage of £5k a week despite playing a grand total of 52 minutes for the senior team, and as a result the club and the player’s representatives are at an impasse.

It is a good example of what the former West Ham striker is referring too, but the fact the case is not an isolated one supports the view Hartson has of the significance of agents.

Watch West Ham United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Speaking exclusively to FFC, he said: “I think agents are running the game. Totally running the game. They’re controlling the young players, they’ve got massive relationships with the owners of football clubs. It works both ways as a club will use an agent to sell a player or to bring a player in.

“The agent will use the club to get their players big moves and big wages and transfer fees. The agents have so much power because they own the player.”

Sadly, Coventry isn’t the only example in recent times of a player’s agent trying to extend their powers.

Bobby Duncan, a bright prospect who started out at Manchester City before joining Liverpool, faced a similar scenario in the summer.

He felt aggrieved at a lack of playing time but his agent Saif Rubie took matters into his own hands by publishing an extraordinary statement on social media in which he accused the club of bullying Duncan and damaging his mental health by rejecting a transfer offer from Fiorentina, a move which was finalised a few days after the incident.

Hartson also speaks of agents being affiliated with the club, best evidenced by the relationship Jorge Mendes has with Wolves – his influence leading to a number of his clients joining the club and being responsible for their success in recent years, including Nuno Espirito Santo and Ruben Neves.

It is no longer only the top players who garner attention from agents, or even just professionals, with younger age groups now sought-after as clubs try to tie down the most promising talent early on.

“I know an agency who have smaller agents who go around watching U13s, U14s and U15s matches and approach the players on the side of the pitch, and eventually get those top players who come through,” added Hartson.

Nowadays it is not uncommon to see players under the age of 18 make transfers. Raheem Sterling is a high profile example of that having joined Liverpool at the age of 15 from QPR.

Chelsea’s recent transfer ban was also the result of illegally signing minors from foreign clubs, whilst Barcelona have been reprimanded for the same, and much of it is due to the involvement of agents.

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

Barcelona cruised to a comfortable 3-0 victory over Eibar at the weekend, with Antoine Griezmann in particularly impressive form.

Interestingly enough, that game also marked the return of Jordi Alba.

On the chalkboard

A lot has been discussed about Griezmann’s prefered position on the pitch.

Even though he is primarily a centre-forward by nature, Ernesto Valverde decided to slot the Frenchman on the left-wing instead.

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As a direct result of that, his performances dipped, with the Frenchman not getting off to the best start in Catalonia.

But even with all of that being said, he still has four goals and three assists in a total of eight games played in La Liga. In the game against Eibar, however, he truly came to life, netting a goal and an assist in the process.

And a lot of that was down to Alba’s return.

Unleashed

Alba is an attacking full-back that often makes those pacy runs into the final third.

As a result of that, he scored three goals and assisted 17 across all competitions in the 2018/19 season.

In the ongoing campaign, however, he suffered an unlucky injury that saw him miss four games in total. But now he’s back and his return might play a huge role in unlocking Griezmann’s potential.

Watch Lionel Messi and Gareth Bale answer the internet’s weirdest questions in the video below…

Since Alba constantly overlapped and spent time out wide on the left, something Nelson Semedo, his replacement during the time he was out of contention, couldn’t do as well, it allowed Griezmann to drop slightly deeper and be more involved in all the proceedings on the pitch.

When Griezmann played without Alba, he was the one who was forced out wide and it often made him completely isolated, which can be seen in the number of touches he made in most of those games as an isolated winger.

He made only 32 against Getafe, 33 against Athletic Bilbao and 45 against Granada. But now, with Alba’s return, suddenly Griezmann was not tasked with staying high and out wide at all times, something that we can also see from his heatmap from the Eibar game.

Instead, the Frenchman dropped deeper and tended to spend more time in the central areas, recording 61 touches in the process and crowning his display with a goal and an assist to his name as well.

Of course, this is only the first game they have played together after Alba’s return from injury and we’ll still have to wait to see if he can continue the trend going forward.

But with the pacy full-back once again in the squad, the Frenchman should, in theory, enjoy more freedom in his role and that could subsequently lead to more goals and more assists from Griezmann.

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

After getting rid of Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez in the summer, Manchester United have left themselves incredibly short of options up front. Reports in recent weeks have claimed the Red Devils are keen on bringing in reinforcements in the upcoming January transfer window, with suggestions Mario Mandzukic and Callum Wilson are high up on the shortlist.

How much money could you make busking for a week as a freestyle footballer? Find out in the video below…

The latest man linked with a move to Old Trafford? Bayern Munich forward Thomas Muller. The former Germany international who appears to have a long-running arrangement with the Red Devils to have his name consistently linked with a transfer. A deal has failed to materialise before, but with United’s current goal-scoring struggles – they have scored just ten times in the league this season – an approach for the 30-year-old makes all the sense in the world.

On the chalkboard

As Ole Gunnar Solskjaer looks to implement a fast-paced approach, with an intent on pressing the ball, Muller would be the perfect embodiment of the Norwegian’s vision. The versatile attacker is a work-horse, and has an engine to rival anyone in the world.

His former manager at international level, Jurgen Klinsmann, paid a glowing tribute to the German’s work ethic. He said: “There’s isn’t a team in the world that wouldn’t like to have Thomas Muller on its side. He is mentally strong, a very smart player who always seems able to find space, but physically he is in great shape as well. He is the one who runs the most kilometres but he makes it look easy, even the heat doesn’t seem to affect him.”

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His current boss at Bayern, Niko Kovac, even described him as “intangible” and that “he helps everywhere, which makes him so valuable”. And that’s exactly the kind of player Solskjaer would undoubtedly appreciate. Working hard for the team, committed to the cause, and never one to let the team down. After all the drama surrounding Lukaku and Sanchez, Muller would be a welcome breath of fresh air.

He would hustle and harry the opposition defence, and his movement is unparalleled. Joachim Low remarked that the 6 foot 1 man is a “very unorthodox player” and that his unpredictable lines of running made him a particularly dangerous striker. Solskjaer has made it publicly known he wants both Rashford and Martial to score more scrappy goals like he did. Muller does exactly that.

So despite being in his thirties, Muller’s actual style of play makes him the ultimate fit for Solskjaer’s side.

Lucas Perez is in brilliant form in La Liga and some West Ham fans are regretting the club’s decision to let him go.However, not all the fans are in agreement about his departure, with others believing it was the correct course of action to take despite him scoring five goals in his last five games for Alaves.Hammers’ supporters are paying attention to the striker after his brilliant goal against Atletico on Tuesday, with Perez beating two defenders before curling in a beauty from outside the box.Watch West Ham United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

He never produced that kind of quality at the London Stadium with only six goals scored, but then again his opportunities were few and far between under Pellegrini last season as he started just six times.

With only two senior strikers at West Ham currently, however, it looks like they may have let the striker leave a little too early, and with just 12 goals in ten league games, they could do with a similar level of invention in attack to the one he’s displayed since returning to Spain.

Perez is a player who certainly splits opinion amongst the fanbase, and here is how they have been reacting to his recent form.

Well, it would be fair to say that the Aston Villa fans are pleased that their team’s EFL Cup quarter-final clash with Liverpool has been confirmed for December 17.

There was some confusion over when the match would take place as Liverpool will compete in the Club World Cup semi-final in Qatar on December 18.

However, the EFL have announced that the date will not be changed, meaning that Liverpool will be forced to field two different teams in two separate competitions within 24 hours.

Ever wondered how modern day skills would cope with the world’s oldest football? Find out in the video below…

It is far from an ideal situation fo Jurgen Klopp and his men.

However, it does present Villa with a wonderful chance to reach the last four as the Merseyside giants could be likely to take their stronger squad to the Club World Cup.

Villa posted the news on their official Twitter account on Tuesday afternoon, and the club’s supporters were over the moon with the situation.

A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:

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…

Tottenham Hotspur attacker Son Heung-Min has confirmed that he did not celebrate his goals against Red Star Belgrade out of respect for Everton’s Andre Gomes, per BT Sport via The Evening Standard.

What’s the word?

The South Korea international was at the centre of his Portugal counterpart’s grisly injury during the clash between the two clubs at Goodison Park on Sunday.

Son fouled Gomes on the left wing and, as the latter fell, he subsequently sustained a fracture-dislocation of his ankle, leaving the Spurs star in tears prior to his sending off.

The red card has since been rescinded – meaning he will be available for Spurs’ upcoming Premier League games – and he scored twice as Mauricio Pochettino’s men thumped Red Star Belgrade 4-0 on Wednesday evening.

However, instead of celebrating, Son merely gestured apologetically towards the camera, and he has explained that he still feels sorry about the incident, having been in contact with Gomes since the issue.

He said: “Of course it has been a really tough few days but I have realised how lucky I am with all the support I have had from the fans and my team-mates.

“I can say I’m really sorry for the accident and the situation but I had to focus for the team and I had to keep going and it was the right response to all the people who have supported me. I didn’t want to celebrate because I just want to respect the situation.

“Of course, I still feel really sorry about this situation. It’s been a few tough days. I wish Andre Gomes gets well soon and best wishes.”

A measure of the man

This is just genuinely heart-warming stuff from Son.

Not only is he blossoming into a genuinely world-class forward for Spurs – he has scored seven goals in 14 outings this season – he appears to be a respectful and humble guy to boot.

His gestures on Wednesday were remarkably classy and prove that Gomes was at the forefront of Son’s mind.

That he managed to perform as he did on the night, even after the horrible events at Goodison Park, is a further testament to just how good Son is on the pitch.

Off the pitch, he appears to be a diamond too.

Sports betting is just as much of luck as it is skills. When it comes to betting on football there are many different ways to win. You can place a bet on which team will be scoring next, on the result of a game or even on which player who will score and from where. A common factor is usually that if you want to win big you have to bet specific, the more specific the higher the chances of you losing and therefor also the higher the pay-out. With the establishment of online casinos on the gambling market, betting has become even more accessible as it can now be done from the comfort of one’s home. Navigating through the jungle of online casinos can be hard, here are some tips if you are interested in finding an online casino where you can place bets and hopefully someday make it onto another list of the most unbelievable bets ever made.

Historic Leicester Premier League Win 2015/16

When the Premier League kicked off in 2015 not a lot of people would’ve guessed that it would end the way it did. Just one season earlier the foxes came back to the best league in the world, a league they had never won. The pre-season had been strong with four wins and one draw and many fans felt that there was something in the air, something that made them place their bets on Leicester City FC despite the high odds set by the bookmakers (the odds were 5000-1).

Carpenter and Leicester fan Leigh Herbert put £5 pounds on Leicester taking home the league and saw as many other of his friends and fellow fans started to cash-out, but he stuck it through. The cash-out option increased all the way up to £14.500 which had Herbert questioning his sanity and wobbling on whether or not he should stick with his original gut bet and the potential of bringing in £50.000 or cash-out the huge cash-out number. “I couldn’t stop looking at my cash out and then… £14.500! Wow! FOURTEEN THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED ENGLISH POUNDS/…/I could have that in my bank right now”.

In the end, Herbert cashed out half of his bet before the season ended giving him an impressive £5.680 and an additional cash-out at the end of season. A happy end to this nail-biting and historic Premier League win.

The Underdog wins – Greece takes home the European Championship 2004

The summer of 2004 saw the European Championship, or the UEFA Euro 2004 come to Portugal. Eight host cities would see 16 of the best European national teams face each other in a gruelling tournament over 23 days. The tournament was filled with surprises as it saw the top-ranking teams Germany, Spain, and Italy, being knocked-out in the group stages as well as the defending champions France fall out at the quarterfinals.

This was the second time Greece had ever qualified for the tournament and the bookmakers had set the odds at 150-1 for the Greeks to bring home the glory. After winning, loosing and drawing in the group stages no one thought that the Greeks would be so close to the victory as they were, but they managed to kick out the Spaniards due to a better goal difference. In the quarter final they faced the defending champions France but with strong defending and optimistic counter attacks they managed to score a goal in the 65’ minute and surprisingly advanced to the semi-finals where they would face the Czech Republic.

In the semi-final the game went to extra time and was looking to go into penalties leaving all those who had bet on Greece to take home the final in trembles. In the 105+1 minute of Extra Time Dellas managed to score a header and take the team to a dream final against the host nation Portugal.

Greece had met Portugal in the group stages, winning 2-1, but where in no way over confident when they stepped onto the stage. A tough game with a single goal scored in the minute 57’ by Charisteas saw the Greece take home the gold and a few lucky betters multiply the money they betted 150x! The Greek national team gave Greeks everywhere a magical summer and ignited a hope in all small nations that one day, they can do the same, be the underdogs and win.

African Cup of Nations – A big betting mistake

Sometimes the best betting stories are the ones that teach us what not to do. This story is definitely one of those. In 2010 Angola was set to meet Mali in the first game of Group A in the African Cup of Nations. Before the game started Angola where the slight favourites as the home team and hosts of the tournament.

The game started with Angola taking the lead dominating on the field with help from the crowd. In the 37th minute Flavio scored the first and before the half-time whistle he managed to also score the second, giving Angola a comfortable head start heading into the second half of the game. In minute 65 Angola got a penalty which they took advantage off. After a little while Angola received another penalty which they once again scored on leaving the scoreboard 4-0 for the Angolans. At this point a student placed his student loan, £4.400 on Angola winning the game. Not the best of bets for two reasons; 1. He read the odds wrong and at the moment he placed the bet his profit could only amount to £44 and 2. He didn’t know what would happen next…

In minute 78, only five minutes after the last penalty Keita manages to get in the first ball for Mali. Another, 10 minutes pass and this time it is Kanoute who zings in the ball behind the Angolan keeper. The score is now 4-2 but there is still no real belief in that the Angolans are about to draw this game. The game continues and 4 minutes are added on the clock. Min 93 and Keita is once again there, the score is now 4-3. Minute 94 Yattabare finishes a sensational comeback for Mali 4-4 in a comeback that leaves the poor better we previously mentioned without his student loan. The lesson here, know what you are betting on and don’t bet your entire student loan!

The luckiest woman alive

Every once and a while we hear about people who have no clue about betting accomplishing something that a lot of people who gamble regularly never ever accomplish. This is one of those stories. In 2017 an unnamed woman decided that she wanted in on the fun that her husband and son were having every weekend. They were both watching and betting on English football and she thought… how hard can it be.

Her husband had been doing the £1 weekend accumulation game since he was 18, betting £1 on the outcome of 12 games, and he had never come close to getting the 12 games correct so he thought his wife had no chance. The wife would have the ultimate laugh when on Sunday evening the games where all over and she had managed to bet right on 12 out of 12 games. Cashing out a fantastic £574278,41. You may ask how did she make her bets? She just chose the ones “…she liked the sound of…”. Now that if anything, is luck!

The most skilled gambler in the world

As previously mentioned, it is not only luck that brings home the bacon, often it is also skill, analytics, knowing the game. For Mick Gibbs this is the case. In 1999 he correctly predicted the outcome of nine European football games earning him £157000 but it wouldn’t stop there.

In 2001 Gibbs decided to try his luck and skill on 15 football games across Europe with the odds of 1666666-1 he bet 30 pence. He then anxiously awaited the outcome. By the end of game 14 he could feel the nerves building, he was just one game away from an impressive win. It now all depended on the outcome of the Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Valencia. Gibbs had bet on the German side to win.

The final was taking place in the epic stadium San Siro in Milan. Already in the third minute Valencia were rewarded a penalty after a mistaken handball. Mendieta took the penalty and scored. A few minutes later Bayern were rewarded a penalty but missed. It isn’t until the 50th minute when after a clear handball Bayern are given a second penalty which the German side manage to capitalise on and equalise the game.

At full-time the score is still 1-1 taking the final into extra time and then later penalties. It is during this penalty shoot-out that the foundation for the myth and legend surrounding Oliver Kahn is born. At the last penalty its 4-4 if Kahn manages to save it, it will be Bayern’s third title. Pellegrino steps up, shoots and Kahn catches… the moment he grabs the ball Gibbs cashes out a £500 000 win. Now if that is not skills, I don’t know what is…