All posts by n8rngtd.top

It’s really hard to fault anything Marcelo Bielsa has done at Leeds United, but if you were to point towards an area to improve it would be handing chances to youth players.

The Argentine’s starting XI this season hasn’t altered all that much with nine players in the squad starting at least 35 games, and of those nine players, none of them are under the age of 23.

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It isn’t an issue that Bielsa has ignored. In the past, he’s publicly apologised for not giving Robbie Gotts enough of a chance, but he may soon get an opportunity to play first-team football.

What’s the story then?

Alan Nixon stated on Sunday morning that Gotts could be set for a loan to Huddersfield Town, and while a Championship loan move seems like the right move for him right now, he may be going to the best possible place to aid his development.

Audition for Bielsa

With Carlos Corberan taking charge at the John Smith’s Stadium, it has to be said that the 20-year-old is headed to exactly the right club.

Not only does Corberan know exactly how to utilise the youngster having worked with him for Leeds’ U23 outfit, but his managerial style is likely to be heavily influenced by Bielsa.

Phil Hay stated on his podcast this week that the Spaniard is the closest thing you can get to Bielsa.

“If you are wanting to tap into what Bielsa is doing at Leeds, Corberan, other than Bielsa himself is the only avenue to go down.” He said (The Phil Hay Show 24/6/20 26:30).

The same journalist has previously noted that his U23 side played in a very similar way to Bielsa’s first-team, and if that continues at Huddersfield, Gotts will return to Elland Road as a much more finished article.

Aston Villa could land themselves a new striker during the summer window and it’ll be a familiar name to manager Dean Smith.

What’s the word?

According to the Express & Star, the Midlands outfit are among the admirers of Brentford talisman Ollie Watkins along with Premier League rivals Crystal Palace and Sheffield United.

It’s claimed that the 24-year-old marksman is the club’s primary transfer target this off-season as Smith looks to address their striking issues.

Watkins could cost the club around £25m if reports are to be believed.

£25m steal

The Bees forward has enjoyed another prolific season in west London, notching 26 goals in all competitions and after losing out in the playoff final to Fulham, he could demand a move to the top-flight.

Smith, of course, knows him very well having originally signed the 5 foot 11 star from Exeter City back in 2017.

Originally he joined as a winger that could play behind the striker but he’s come on leaps and bounds as a centre-forward in recent seasons.

Former Hammers legend Trevor Sinclair believes Watkins is similar to ex-Spurs man Jermain Defoe whilst his current boss Thomas Frank called him “amazing” and that “he’s a pleasure to work with in terms of his determination and his desire.”

Villa have rued their recent transfer dealings – club-record man Wesley could only provide five goals before a suffering a long-term injury whilst his January replacement Mbwana Samatta has scored just once. That’s over £30m wasted.

Smith could well reunite with the signing he once dubbed as a “hell of a player” and it would certainly help alleviate one of their biggest problems.

At just £25m, that’s a steal considering what the club has paid above. It would be one exciting way to kickstart Johan Lange’s era at Villa Park.

AND in other news, Villa could have saved millions by signing two stars last summer…

Lots of Everton fans have been lauding the possible exit of Cenk Tosun as Turkish website Sporx have reported that the Merseyside club are continuing to negotiate with Slaven Bilic’s West Bromwich Albion about a permanent transfer or a loan deal.

As per the outlet, a transfer fee would likely be in the region of around €8 million to €10 million, which is the equivalent of roughly between £7.2 million and £9 million.

However, West Brom may face competition from both Besiktas and Fenerbahce for his services,

Tosun has not enjoyed the best of times at Goodison Park, playing in just 51 games across three whole seasons, and having only completing the full 90 minutes in 10 of those matches, according to Transfermarkt.

His goal contribution is not great either for a striker who cost £20.25 million, with a mere 10 strikes in those appearances, a ratio of around one in five (via the website).

Perhaps it is not a surprise then to see these EFC supporters laud the possible exit of the 29-year old on Twitter:

Evertonians, would you sell Tosun? Comment below!

With his first season in the Premier League under his belt, Ryan Sessegnon will be hoping to finally make his mark at Tottenham when the new campaign gets underway next week.

The former Fulham starlet played just 12 times across all competitions last season, scoring just once and providing one assist – both of those coming in the Champions League group stages against Bayern Munich and Red Star Belgrade respectively.

Is it Mido or Pedro Mendes? This Spurs quiz will separate the loyal from the fake…

World Class score: 95% | Expert score: 80% | Veteran score: 65% | Intermediate score: 45% | Amateur score: 30% | Try Again: 5%

Reports in recent weeks have suggested that Jose Mourinho personally intervened when Barcelona made a surprising enquiry to sign Sessegnon on a season-long loan deal, and there is every expectation that the 20-year-old will be given his chance to shine.

And as if to lay down a marker to Mourinho, Sessegnon scored on Friday night as England’s U21s side dismantled Kosovo 6-0, with Spurs fans taking to Twitter to hail his performance.

A couple of Spurs fans seemed to send a message to Mourinho urging him to give Sessegnon some more game-time at the club, with one supporter saying he “needs to play”.

Despite only coming on to play 19 minutes of the game, Sessegnon scored one and made one as he took advantage of a tired back-line.

Whether it’s at left-back or further forward, the 20-year-old will be hoping that Mourinho can give him more opportunities than he did last season, and crucially, he will have to ensure he stays fit.

He missed the opening ten Premier League games of the campaign last year with a hamstring injury, and never seemed to fully recover. His display against Kosovo raises hope that he can hit the ground running this time around.

Aston Villa are set to reignite their interest in one of their reported summer targets and it’s one that could complete their attack entirely…

What’s the word?

According to Deich Stube, Werder Bremen forward Milot Rashica has had a change of heart having previously wanted to remain in the Bundesliga, which could open the door for his move to Villa Park.

They claim that the Premier League side are now willing to pay the €25m (£23m) asking price as Dean Smith seeks a new left-wing option to bolster his frontline.

Previously, the Kosovan international was against a move to the English top-flight but the financial package they could offer has now tempted him into a switch this summer.

Major upgrade

This is a call that could see skipper Jack Grealish move back into the centre and thus, he’d round off a perfect summer of transfer activity.

Smith’s landed his new striker in Ollie Watkins, a player he knows all too well and now he simply must push to sign Rashica for just £23m.

Per WhoScored, the Bremen sensation delivered eight goals and five assists in 27 starts, averaging 2.6 shots, 2 dribbles, 1.4 key passes and 1 cross per game.

It’s led to high praise indeed – Bundesliga.com have likened him to former Gunners superstar Alexis Sanchez in his prime, claiming that he has “ice-cold finishing” and “pace to burn.”

Whilst his teammate Theo Gebre Selassie believes he’s one of the best players in the Bundesliga and even his head coach Florian Kohfeldt suggests that he “makes scoring look easy.”

Evidently, he’d be a massive, massive threat to Villa’s top-flight rivals and it’s these sorts of signings that they need to make in order to avoid yet another relegation battle.

An attack involving Rashica, Watkins, Grealish and Trezeguet is a rather frightening prospect.

AND in other news, Villa could land their own Lampard in PL “jewel”…

In football, some stories boil under the surface for years before erupting into the mainstream press.At Fulham, Tony Khan has been something of a ticking timebomb for a number of years, with the Whites’ Director of Football having all the characteristics you’d want from a tabloid football villain.He’s outspoken, he’s arrogant and if we’re being brutally honest, he’s an easy target, being supremely underqualified for his role at Fulham and the privileged son of a billionaire who has benefitted from an obscene amount of nepotism.This week we’ve seen things boil over, a number of papers reported on Scott Parker’s scathing comments on him, fans on Twitter have called for his resignation, and Jamie Carragher labelled him a “clown” live on Sky Sports (via The Sun).However, despite so many supporters calling for him to resign, and the American quite simply making a mess of the club’s last two Premier League campaigns, he’s still in a job, and he will be for the foreseeable future.

The reality is that Khan shouldn’t hold such a position, he has no fewer than four jobs listed in his Twitter bio, and if he’s juggling the running of a wrestling promotion, an NFL team and an analytics company all while trying to be a competent Director of Football, he’s going to struggle.

There quite simply aren’t enough hours in a week to do each of those roles justice, and over the past few months, it seems as though Fulham have been losing the battle for his attention.

The fact of the matter is that he is basically the de-facto owner of the club, with actual chairman Shahid Khan rarely getting involved these days,Âand if he is going to be ousted from his role, he’s going to have to sack himself, and that doesn’t seem at all likely.

In all of his wisdom, Khan told a fan to ‘go to hell’ last year when he was told to leave the club, while also making it clear that he won’t be leaving, claiming that he plans to die at the club, and while that isn’t the best way to handle your PR, it is also a sign of just how stubborn he is.

Khan won’t give this job up anytime soon, he’s the one who decides on these matters and it certainly doesn’t look like he’s going to follow Glenn Tamplin’s example and sack himself anytime soon.

It’s hard for Fulham fans to not get involved in this, and the crusade to oust Khan from his role at the club is happening for a reason, but these vocal supporters are fighting a losing battle. Khan is here to stay, whether they like it or not.

Fulham needed to get players off their books on deadline day, and they’ve managed to do just that as Anthony Knockaert has joined Nottingham Forest on loan until January, with the Midlands club holding an option to buy him in winter.

This move is somewhat perplexing, Fulham have only just spent over £10m on the winger back in July, but here we are in October and he’s already been moved on.

To be fair, Knockaert didn’t seem to be in Scott Parker’s plans this season, failing to make a single appearance in the Premier League so far this term.

However, the question remains, why did Fulham bother purchasing him in the first place?

Tony Khan’s comments when Fulham announced his permanent signing make it seem as though he thought he was a player who could help the club for years to come, but just 98 days later he’s no longer with the club, and if with the Reds having the choice to make that loan permanent, he may never play for Fulham again.

“I’m pleased to announce that we’ve exercised our option to convert Anthony Knockaert’s loan agreement to a permanent, and now Anthony will be with us at Fulham for the future!” Khan said.

“Anthony has become important to our squad since his arrival. Our loan deal with Brighton expired this month, and exercising our option ensures that Anthony will be with us for the remainder of our push for promotion this season and beyond!”

Unfortunately, ‘this season and beyond’ actually meant a handful of appearances at the end of the 2019/20 campaign and three games in the Carabao Cup this season. Of course, he could force his way back into the side in January, but the likelihood of that is slim considering he’s not appeared once in the league this term.

Getting rid of any player you’ve signed just three months after his arrival is going to be seen as a dodgy decision, but it’s made that much worse when Khan’s comments talk about how much he will help in the future.

It’s yet another black mark against the Fulham Director of Football’s record, and another indicator that he may just be making it all up as he goes along, just as we said when he betrayed his transfer vow about developing others’ players earlier this month.

Lots of Everton fans have been hailing James Rodriguez as his impressive display versus Brighton and Hove Albion has been rewarded by EA Sports’ latest edition of FIFA.

As shared by the official Twitter page of the Merseyside club, the Colombia international has been given a spot in FIFA 21’s Team Of The Week (TOTW), as his new card boasts boosted stats following his two goals and one assist against the Seagulls in the Premier League at Goodison Park over the weekend.

Rodriguez was the standout performer according to Sofascore with a phenomenal 9.5 overall rating, the best score out of anyone on the pitch in the match.

The 29-year old also registered two successful dribbles, as well as boasting a 94% passing accuracy and making two key passes in total, as per the website.

Everton fan reaction to Rodriguez recognition

These EFC supporters hailed Rodriguez after reading the news of his recognition on Twitter, as one fan joked about his “frightening” pace…or lack thereof!

Evertonians, does Rodriguez deserve his recognition? Comment below!

Michael Stewart has raised some concerns over Celtic’s current first choice goalkeeper Vasilis Barkas after the Hoops failed to come away with a result against AC Milan. The defeat at Celtic Park makes it two in a row for the reigning Premiership champions, who were sunk by rivals Rangers in the Old Firm on Saturday.

Now behind Steven Gerrard’s side by four points in the league, questions are being asked about Neil Lennon’s squad.

“Barkas has not stood out for me,” Stewart told BBC Sport (via HITC). “Compare him to Fraser Forster or even Craig Gordon, he hasn’t shown he can make the big saves they can yet.”

Indeed, the Greece international who is valued at £4.5m has conceded six goals in nine league appearances this season, whilst loan signing Forster finished Celtic’s title-winning campaign with 17 conceded goals in 28 Premiership matches (via Transfermarkt). Barkas could may well slump the Hoops’ defensive record if he continues his inconsistent run of form.

He earned a poor rating of 5.8 against Milan on Thursday after shipping three goals and making just one save. The 26-year-old also struggled with his distribution, misplacing eight of his 11 attempted long balls (as per Sofascore). However, Lennon has just one other goalkeeper to turn to, who made just two appearances last season due to a thumb injury.

Scott Bain is on the roster and could potentially be deployed if Celtic’s defensive struggles continue to become an issue. He played his side’s opening league match of the season before being dropped in favour of Barkas. It seems that Lennon doesn’t have much faith in either of his senior shot-stoppers at the moment, but he must make a swift decision before Rangers capitalise on their slim lead.

As it stands, they have conceded just three league goals this term and are unbeaten in their 11 games played. Their victory over the Hoops gave them the huge boost they needed to eye up a potential title – Lennon and co must shape up if they want to stop their fine run of form and keep hold of their crown. If Barkas keeps playing and producing below par performances like this, he could well cost them the title.

In other news, Celtic suffer blow ahead of Aberdeen as Odsonne Edouard not likely to feature…

After joining Aston Villa on a season-long loan from Chelsea, there may have been some skepticism around the Premier League at seeing Dean Smith’s side bring in Ross Barkley in the summer transfer window.The England international’s career hasn’t quite kicked on since he burst onto the scene with Everton, and it was telling that Frank Lampard was willing to ship him out to another side in the league.But since making his first appearance for Villa, Barkley has been an absolute revelation. Prior to Sunday’s Premier League game against Arsenal, he had managed two goals in seven top-flight matches, including strikes against Liverpool and Aston Villa.And whilst he may not have found the back of the net at the Emirates, he was once again outstanding for Smith. As well as setting up Ollie Watkins for his first goal of the game, Barkley was just a complete menace to the Arsenal defence, outfoxing them with his skill and trickery – one part even saw him and Jack Grealish have a mini training exercise just outside the Gunners’ penalty box.As per Sofascore, he provided a whopping six key passes over the course of the game, which was only two less than what Arsenal managed as a whole. As well as that, he also completed all three of his attempted dribbles, had a team-high 72 touches of the ball (13 more than the man in second Matt Targett), and sent in seven crosses too.It was a display brimming with everything good about the midfielder, and it was no surprise to see The Telegraph journalist wax lyrical about him and just describe his performance as “superb”.

So whilst it may have been Watkins who ended up bagging a brace, it was Barkley who stole the show with his masterclass.