All posts by z3u9t.icu

Speaking exclusively to FootballFanCast, former Liverpool striker turned Sky Sports pundit Neil Mellor has delivered his verdict on the future of Rhian Brewster at Anfield.

The 20-year-old striker has been linked with an exit from the club having struggled to break into the first-team setup under Jurgen Klopp.

It’s thought that several Premier League rivals are keen on signing him this transfer window, the Daily Mail going as far as claiming that Crystal Palace are leading the charge whilst Sheffield United and West Bromwich Albion are also linked with moves.

The Reds, according to the report, would like to sell Brewster on for £20m but will insist on putting a sell-on clause within any deal, which opens up the possibility of a return one day.

The England U17 World Cup winner has only made four senior appearances for Liverpool since his debut back in September 2019 and went out on loan to the Championship in order to gain valuable match experience.

During 22 appearances for Swansea City, Brewster delivered 11 goals, averaging 2.5 shots and 1.8 times fouled per game, via WhoScored.

And Mellor is a huge fan of the young goalscoring sensation, he said:

“Yeah, I mean, I really like Rhian Brewster. I have followed him all the way through. Unfortunately for him, he had a really serious injury, which was put him back slightly.

“He’s had that game time and you think you needed in the Championship last year at Swansea, and really stood out. He’s a goal scorer, he scores goals.”

Perhaps it’s rather telling that the likes of Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott are on the fringes of the first-team with the former being named on the bench during Sunday’s 2-0 win over Chelsea.

Mellor believes the Reds’ youth setup is in its strongest ever position, the LFC TV pundit added:

“What I would say is the academy at Liverpool is probably in the best position has ever been in terms of the connection it has with the first team. I don’t think that that bond has ever been as close as it is.

“We’ve seen Trent Alexander Arnold break into the first team in recent seasons, Curtis Jones, who’s certainly on the fringes at the moment and got game time in the match they won against Leeds United. Harvey Elliot, as well there’s another exciting young player coming through, so I think the academy may see those examples and think there’s hope that I can perhaps have a pathway to get into the first thing.”

But should Klopp stick or twist on Brewster? Could Liverpool soon have a similar situation to fellow U17 World Cup winner Jadon Sancho? He left Manchester City for Borussia Dortmund and after contributing to 80 goals in 101 appearances, he’s become one of the most exciting young players in Europe.

Although Mellor doesn’t think this would be the case, especially with the Reds looking to cover themselves by including a clause to bring him back to Anfield one day.

He said:

“Rhian Brewster is an outstanding talent and if Liverpool do decide to go out and loan or even sell him, then I’m sure there’ll be something in place that if Rhian does fulfil that potentially he has, because I think he’s an outstanding player, there will be a possibility to come back to Liverpool again one day.

“Rather than what we’ve seen with [Jadon] Sancho when he left Man City, and now he’s, you know, close to £80m to £100m. That won’t happen with Rhian Brewster, I think the way Liverpool do any deal will mean that if he becomes a top player – obviously I hope he does – then there’ll be a chance to come back to Liverpool.”

With a little over two weeks to go in the transfer window, this saga will undoubtedly rumble on but whether or not Brewster leaves temporarily or permanently very much remains to be seen.

AND in other news, Liverpool must turn mooted interest in “aggressive” £50m colossus into a real bid…

Key Information about Craven Cottage

Craven Cottage is currently the home of Championship side Fulham FC and has been since 1896. The stadium is located in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, with the River Thames to its west and Stevenage and Bishops Parks up in the north and south sides respectively.

At the moment, it can seat up to 19,000 people with a pitch size of 100m x 65m and a running track not included. But, it should be noted that the capacity was 25,700, all-seated, until the Riverside Stand was closed back in 2019. The surface of the pitch is, of course, covered with natural grass and has undersoil heating installed.

The architect responsible for creating Fulham’s current home is Archibald Leitch and even though the maximum capacity now stands at 19,000, the record attendance goes as high as 49,335 for a game in which they faced Millwall on October 8 1938.

A History of Craven Cottage

Craven Cottage’s history dates all the way back to 1780 when it was supposedly built in the woods and the surrounding area was, in fact, used for various other sports. That residence, which also hosted a plethora of different high-profile guests over the years, including Queen Victoria, has seen many different changes of the years.

But following a fire, the site was abandoned and the Cottagers would have eight different homes before finally settling down at Craven Cottage – a stadium in a location so overgrown it took them two years to finally set it up and make it suitable for football after it was initially bought by the club in 1894. The first ever game was played in 1896 and needless to say, it was not an impressive ground at the time, only having a basic wooden stand to show for.

It was then improved during the 1903/04 campaign and rightly so because the attendance was starting to soar. One of the first stands at Craven Cottage, called the Rabbit Hutch, could seat up to 1,200 spectators but that was demolished about 18 months in favour of the current Johnny Haynes Stand.

Soon after, Fulham saw further improvements to their ground as the new 5,000-seat stand called Stevenage Road Stand was built and Leitch himself was hired to design it. Floodlights were then also added in 1962 and they got their electronic scoreboard at the Riverside terrace too, which was officially opened in February 1972 and today it can hold just over 4,600 spectators.

Apart from its current host, the national teams of both Ireland and Australia treated this ground as their home, playing their fixtures there temporarily and in 1948 it also hosted four games of the Olympics.

Craven Cottage has been Fulham FC’s home ground since 1896 apart from two campaigns – one in 2002/03 and the other in 2003/04 – that they spent at Loftus Road while the stadium was being redeveloped into an all-seater venue. The Whites, however, returned to Craven Cottage for the start of the 2004/05 season.

Tickets to watch Fulham FC at Craven Cottage

Tickets to see Fulham FC play at Craven Cottage can be found on the club’s official website and usually cost around £35 – £45, depending on the age of the buyer and the location in the stands. It is possible to book a ticket for a certain fee and of course, there is a waiting list for the ones that would like to purchase a season ticket.

Fulham FC also offer a paid membership that gives the fans unique discounts on both tickets and club merchandise as well as also being given priority ticket access for all Fulham home league games.

Related Links

https://www.fulhamfc.com/ – Official website of Fulham FC

https://www.eticketing.co.uk/fulhamfc/ – Fulham FC Ticket Office

Tottenham Hotspur have made their first major announcement ahead of the 2020/21 Premier League season.

Oliver Skipp has signed a new four-year deal with Tottenham, keeping him at the club until 2024.

The 19-year-old has made 21 senior appearances for Spurs after breaking through the ranks and the England under-21 international featured in the 2-1 victory over Arsenal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last weekend.

He has now committed his long-term future to the Lilywhites after signing a new contract in north London. His current deal was set to expire next year although he has now agreed fresh terms.

Skipp was handed his competitive debut by former boss Mauricio Pochettino in the Carabao Cup game against West Ham in 2018, but he has largely featured off the bench since making his first-team debut.

Jose Mourinho rates him highly and much has been made of his obvious potential. The Spurs head coach has put his faith in the academy product, changing his planned substitution of swapping Toby Alderweireld for Erik Lamela by bringing Skipp on instead for the final moments of the north London derby.

Mourinho gave the teenager a rare start in the FA Cup game against Norwich in March and raved about his performance despite the defeat. Speaking after the game, as relayed by football.london, the Portuguese praised him for his display against the Canaries.

“Phenomenal. Very, very good. Very, very good, solid performance,” Mourinho admitted. “Even with the yellow card I kept him for two hours, first of all because Winks was in trouble, secondly because he was so solid, so mature, so confident that I was never afraid of a second yellow card coming.

“He was always in control of the game. We could see the difference also on the physical condition of him and the people who us playing all the time.”

Skipp will be looking to make the most of his good fortune when the Lilywhites take on Leicester City on Sunday before travelling to Crystal Palace in the final game of the season.

Whether or not he will actually start remains to be seen, but he could be in line to make another appearance from the bench in the coming weeks.

Tottenham fans, what do you think of Oliver Skipp? Let us know in the comments below!

Ever since Tottenham’s new stadium was first opened, one of the big questions has been what it could be potentially called if Daniel Levy managed to sell its naming rights.That hasn’t happened as of yet, and now, The Daily Mail have provided an insight into why that’s been the case.

Hilariously obscure Premier League players – Can you name them all?

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

The report claims that Spurs have been attempting to sell naming rights for the stadium for five years, but that any interested parties have been put off by Levy’s £25m-a-year valuation.

And with the Premier League potentially hosting the rest of the season at neutral venues, The Daily Mail claim Levy has “expressed fears” that this would “further hinder” his attempts to get a naming rights partner.

After hearing about the update, Spurs fans took to Twitter to voice their thoughts on the situation.

One Spurs fan urged Jeff Bezos to just “sign the stadium” and then take over from Levy.

With the current situation taking its toll, Levy’s insistence on holding out for the price he wants may have cost Spurs in the long-run.

Instead of guaranteeing an annual revenue over these next couple of seasons already, Spurs could realistically be without a value-for-money sponsor for their stadium for the time being, particularly with the issue of where Premier League games are to be played in major doubt.

Tottenham Hotspur supporters have been left fuming by a fresh transfer report emerging this week.

According to Todofichajes, Spurs boss Jose Mourinho is keen on landing Atletico Madrid centre-back Stefan Savic in the summer.

It’s claimed that the La Liga side will listen to offers of around €15m (£13.6m) and the 29-year-old is high on his list of potential defensive options.

But the Spurs faithful are far from pleased with the news…

The 29-year-old has been an integral part of Diego Simeone’s sturdy defence, when fit and available, this campaign. He was part of the side that kept Champions League winners Liverpool at bay in this year’s competition.

Savic has contributed to eight clean sheets in 17 appearances across La Liga, the UCL and the Copa del Rey, via Transfermarkt.

Spot the fact from the fib: Are these Premier League records true or false?

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

The 6 foot 2 defender has also averaged 5.2 clearances, 3.1 aerial duels won, 1.2 tackles and 1.2 interceptions per game.

Yet, this isn’t enough to convince some sections of the Spurs faithful with many slamming him for his lack of pace.

Whilst there were also comparisons made to players past and present as well as to other reported transfer targets.

One supporter believed Eric Dier is a better player whilst another likened the Montenegro international to ex-flop Federico Fazio.

It remains to be seen if Mourinho is indeed chasing the 29-year-old centre-back this summer, but clearly the potential signing wouldn’t go down well with some fans in north London.

AND in other news, Spurs fans slam Adam Lallana transfer report…

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

England were rather flattered by the scoreline on Sunday as a 4-0 win against Kosovo made it seem as if they were dominant over the eastern European outfit.

The Three Lions struggled for large periods against the team ranked 114th in the world before three late goals made it a much more comfortable win.

It was an incredibly flat performance from Gareth Southgate’s side, and perhaps that’s down to the lack of impact made from two Liverpool stars.

On the chalkboard

England lined up with both Trent Alexander-Arnold and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the side against Kosovo.

Watch Liverpool Videos With StreamFootball.tv Below

As always, the 21-year-old started at right-back, while the Ox started as the right-sided central midfielder alongside Harry Winks.

On paper, lining up in a way that could allow these two teammates from club level to link up seems like a bit of a masterstroke, but another of Southgate’s strategies seemed to counteract what makes these two so successful at club level.

Sterling’s stifling style

Anyone who’s watched the Reds this season knows that Alexander-Arnold’s strengths lie in his attacking capabilities – the right-back completes 2.6 crosses per game and he has three assists already this term.

His attacking prowess comes from his incredible ability to make overlapping runs, and many of these runs are turned into assists due to through balls from midfielders such as Oxlade-Chamberlain.

However, a look at his heatmap against Kosovo shows that it just wasn’t happening on Sunday.

Somewhat uncharacteristically, the Liverpool full-back spent most of his time around the halfway line, meaning he was unable to get into the positions where he likes to operate, and that led to him failing to find the mark with a single cross.

This may be down to the positioning of Raheem Sterling.

Sterling’s heatmap shows you that he wasn’t operating on the shoulder of the last man in the way Mohamed Salah does for Liverpool.

Salah will often make darting runs in order to allow Alexander-Arnold more room to get a ball in.

However, Sterling was operating in the half-space between the midfield and the defence. and that seemingly left Trent in a bit of an awkward position where he wanted to get forward but the positions weren’t opening up for him.

If Southgate is to utilise one of the Reds’ key players in his starting XI, perhaps he should instruct his right-winger to operate in a way more akin to the way Jurgen Klopp utilises Salah in order to get the best out of Alexander-Arnold.

The Transfermarkt value update hs hit Liverpool harder than all but one of the clubs in the Premier League.

The current pandemic making its way across the globe has wreaked havoc across the planet, and football has not been immune. Now, it looks as though the value of the players themselves has been damaged.

Transfermarkt have announced that the large majority of over 23-year-old’s have seen a 20% decrease in their numbers, whilst those under 23 have seen their value fall 10%. All in all, that means that the Reds’ squad is now worth €227.8m (£205m) less than what it was before.

Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah have been the worst hit, with them losing £27m each, whilst Trent Alexander-Arnold’s has gone from £99m to £89.1m. Others big losers are Virgil van Dijk, Alisson and Roberto Firmino, all of whom have lost 20%.

This, of course, should not come as much of a surprise. Having been so successful recently, the Reds already had the second-most valuable squad in world football, and given that some clubs even in the top flight are struggling with their finances due to no matches – Burnley, for example – that was always going to manifest itself in some way. Still, over £200m is a significant change, and shows no-one can be shielded from the effects of this awful situation.

Do you agree with the new values? Let us know in the comments!

Liverpool supporters have praised Brazilian midfielder Fabinho, as he has maintained an impressive record after his side’s 3-1 victory against Manchester City.

The 26-year-old scored the important first goal as the Reds secured three points over their title rivals and increased their lead at the top of the Premier League to eight points, nine over the Citizens.

Fabinho, who joined from Monaco for £43.7m in 2018, was a key element to Liverpool’s successes on Sunday as the Brazil international was equally as threatening from an attacking perspective as well as resilient defensively (as stats on WhoScored show).

After his side won their 11th game of the season after 12 matches played, Fabinho remains unbeaten as a Liverpool player in the league and has only been involved with the team that has dropped points on five occasions.

Supporters were delighted with his showing and made their feelings clear on social media. One fan described him as a “beast of a man”.

Here you will find some of the best comments from Liverpool fans:

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Injury News series, which considers the impact of the latest updates on players’ fitness.

Andrew Robertson has revealed that he has been playing for the last two-and-a-half weeks without training.

What’s the story?

The 25-year-old Scotland international withdrew from the Tartan Army’s squad for their Euro 2020 qualifiers against Cyprus and Kazakhstan, along with Ryan Fraser and Scott McTominay.

Questions have been asked about the overall commitment to the national side, but Robertson explained: “For the last two and a half weeks, I’ve not trained at all for Liverpool. I’ve trained the day before a game, could only play the last 15 minutes against Genk in the Champions League and missed the Arsenal game in the League Cup.

“It’s a niggling injury which won’t go away unless I give it time. My ankle was already injured when a tackle from Rodri on me late in the game against Manchester City on Sunday opened it up again.”

Watch Liverpool Videos With StreamFootball.tv Below

Desperation

Robertson’s form in recent times has been magnificent, and he showed just why he’s one of the best-attacking full-backs around on Sunday with a stupendous cross for Mohamed Salah, which the Egypt international then nodded past Claudio Bravo in the Manchester City goal.

The fact that the £54m-valued 25-year-old has been playing with this injury makes his performances even more impressive, and from a stand-alone situation, it shows the former Hull man’s dedication to the cause. However, all in all, it stinks of desperation.

Playing through injury will do him no good in the long-term. As the season progresses, there will be more and more games to contend with, and the overall freshness will evaporate little by little with each passing fixture, and the recovery time will only get longer. Playing through the pain now could come back to bite Jurgen Klopp and co in the future.

He is not the only player to have been played when carrying a knock. It was the same for Salah, who was said to be a doubt for the Aston Villa game before being included in the starting XI. The fact he featured for just 65 minutes, despite the Reds trailing when he was taken off the field, indicates that it was a decision that backfired.

The desire to win the Premier League title is clearly strong, and with 12 games gone things look healthy for the Anfield outfit – they have an eight-point lead at the top. However, there are still 26 matches left of the campaign. Whilst picking up as many points as possible now will set them in good stead, being so frivolous with the health of their stars could come back and bite them.

Let Robertson’s words be a warning. They have been lucky for now that there have been no serious issues, but at some point, it may be quite the opposite.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Injury News series, which considers the impact of the latest updates on players’ fitness.

Arsenal defender Kieran Tierney is ready to make his Premier League debut on Monday, according to manager Unai Emery.

Tierney, 22, joined from Celtic in the summer for a fee of £25m on transfer deadline day. However, he is yet to make his mark in the league campaign due to his double hernia operation at the end of last season with the Bhoys.

Despite this, he has played a significant part in Arsenal’s Europa League and Carabao Cup campaigns respectively, even getting compared to Ashley Cole by Arsenal legend Alan Smith.

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

Emery confirmed during his press conference that Tierney will be available for selection on Monday, simply stating: “He is ready to play.”

Throw him in at the deep end

With Arsenal having spent a significant amount of money on the 22-year-old and after his contributions in the domestic and European competitions so far, Tierney must feature if fully fit and he will become a valuable part of Emery’s team.

The Scotsman was credited by Liverpool’s Andrew Robertson for being “different class” during an interview with BBC Sport.  The Arsenal left-back was asked to play on the right for Scotland, and proved he has the versatility and quality to help the team wherever he plays.

Last season, the Scotland international provided five assists in 20 Scottish Premiership appearances, and built up 37 assists in 170 total games for the Hoops in all competitions.

Former Arsenal striker John Hartson even likened him to Robertson, but actually believes he is a better player defensively, per the Daily Record (via the Metro).

Watch Arsenal Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

As a five-time Scottish league champion, the former Celtic youngster has the winning mentality to boost the Gunners squad. Former Bhoys teammate Kris Commons told Football Scotland that his desire to win has never fazed him, despite previously breaking his leg during his early years.

Tierney has the potential to become one of the best young players in the Premier League. Combining his ability, versatility and attitude will give Emery a crucial asset, and one that must start from the off on Monday if he truly is “ready to play”.