All posts by h716a5.icu

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Aston Villa boss Dean Smith has discussed the type of player that he wants to bring to the club, as quoted by The Birmingham Mail.

“The future of the football club has to be getting players who’ve got potential so that we can raise some market value in these players as well.

“We want players who want to develop, want to get better, and lower the age of the squad that we’ve got at the moment. That’s something we’ll try and recruit during this window and the next window.”

The Villa fans have since taken to social media to discuss Smith’s words, with many believing that their manager is speaking sense.

Villa are still believed to be active in the January market, but they need a result at the moment having gone five games without a win in all competitions.

Indeed, Villa have drawn three of their last four in the Championship, with their last victory coming away to Swansea City on Boxing Day.

Smith’s team return to action at home to Ipswich Town on Saturday and they will be determined to put three important points on the board.

There is no question that Villa are a big pull at Championship level, however, and they have already managed to snap up Lovre Kalinic and Kortney Hause this month.

The Villa supporters have been on Twitter offering their views on Smith’s transfer plans and a selection of their reaction can be seen below:

Who are the best away fans in the Championship? Pl>ymaker FC’s Thogden gives his top 10 in the video below…

[ad_pod ]Loads of Crystal Palace fans have been running the rule over their rather comfortable win against Fulham, and they’re full of praise for the colossal Mamadou Sakho.Saturday was just about the perfect day as far as Roy Hodgson is concerned, as the boss watched his side comfortably dispatch of Fulham while several of the teams around the Eagles dropped points.It was a really professional performance from the hosts at Selhurst Park, as for all Fulham’s defensive deficiencies they are more than capable of producing chances that Aleksandar Mitrovic will bury.Check out the below above to see football played as you’ve never seen it before… in a maze!The visitors hardly got a sniff though, and that was mainly down to the excellent work of Sakho.The 29-cap French international is fast becoming a cult hero in South London, and it’s not hard to see why he was handed the captain’s armband at PSG aged just 17, as his commanding presence has transformed the Eagles’ back line.The 28 year-old won three aerial duels, made two interceptions, eight clearances and also completed a remarkable 98 per cent of his passes, per Whoscored.It is this unique mixture of technical quality and physical dominance that makes Sakho such a superb defender, and the Twitter reactions down below are falling further in love with the former Liverpool ace…

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Everton fell to their third successive Premier League defeat on Saturday as they lost 1-0 to Watford at Vicarage Road. A second half strike from Andre Gray was enough to secure the three points for the Hornets. 

In a hostile atmosphere, as the home crowd took aim at their club’s former manager and the Toffees’ current boss Marco Silva, the Merseyside outfit wilted. Everton deserved to lose and look like a side pretty bereft of confidence right now.

The fact that Kurt Zouma was shown a red card after the final whistle only served to compound Silva’s misery. 

The pressure has now been heaped onto the Portuguese coach and he’s probably running out of time to turn around his side’s fortunes. Everton fans are certainly beginning to lose patience with him.

The indoor football skills in the video below have to be seen to be believed…

After the final whistle on Saturday, plenty of the Everton faithful took to Twitter to plead for Silva’s reign at Goodison Park to be brought to a swift end.

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Liverpool fans have taken to Twitter to react with joy after Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain took part in training with the first-team out in Spain, as he steps up his return to full fitness.

The England international suffered a serious knee injury in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final tie against Roma at Anfield last season, which looked likely to rule him out for the entirety of the current campaign.

However, the 25-year-old midfielder has made a remarkable recovery and was able to take part in a session involving rondos, core exercises and ball-work drills with his teammates, who will be happy to have him back for the title run-in.

Be sure to check out the incredible story of the man who rose from a Tanzanian refugee camp to become one of Australia’s biggest football stars in the video below…

The former Arsenal man has also been included in the Reds’ Champions League squad for the knockout phases as Jurgen Klopp hopes to have him back and available soon.

Understandably, fans of the Merseysiders on Twitter are overjoyed with the news…

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Newcastle United have a truly excellent striker in their ranks.

Elias Sorensen is just 19 and has been in quite brilliant form for the club’s youth teams. This season alone, he has scored 12 goals in 14 Premier League 2 games and has also netted four in five in the EFL Trophy, all of which came against senior sides – Doncaster Rovers, Notts County, Grimsby Town and Macclesfield.

His step up from the Under-18s to the Under-23s has been seamless. After netting 15 goals in 33 outings for the U18s, including six assists, Sorensen found a ruthless streak upon his age jump.

The same is true of his international career. Sorensen played for the Under-17s and the Under-18s for Denmark but did not score. But he has two in two for the Under-21s.

The Shields Gazette quote senior manager Rafael Benitez from November, when the Spaniard claimed that the teenager was knocking on the door of the first-team after training with them.

He said: “We’re lucky to have some young players coming sometimes to help the first team. He did well. He has energy and movement.

“We’re just talking about a couple of training sessions, but you could see the lad has the effort and desire to play in the first team.

“It depends on him. The players have to knock on the door by what they do on the pitch.”

His latest test came in January. Fresh from signing a new contract with the Magpies, he was loaned to Blackpool, in League One. He has made one appearance so far, managing just 32 minutes.

Chronicle Live report that Sorensen spoke to Sean Longstaff about his move, with the midfielder having played for the Seasiders before making his breakthrough at Newcastle. He has made six Premier League appearances this season.

He said: “You see Sean getting a few games in the Premier League now and he went away to Blackpool and Kilmarnock, so a few loan spells for him worked very well.

Former Wigan & Fulham man, Jimmy Bullard recently showed that he’s still got it! Check out the video below…

“I spoke to him about it and he liked it when he was here. I thought it would be a great opportunity for me as well.

“I’m excited to see what it brings. Hopefully, I can get a few games in League One and show what I’m capable of.”

If his record in the youth teams is anything to go by, Sorensen will take the third-tier by storm.

Newcastle fans should keep an eye on him. If he can reach his potential, he could well be the club’s next great No.9.

Recent comments by Everton winger Bernard shows just why manager Marco Silva is the right man to steer the club to better results and ultimate success.

The Brazilian revealed to Portuguese outlet Record (via the Liverpool Echo) the squad is still fully dedicated to Silva’s structures at the club and have complete confidence in his style of coaching and managing.

The former Watford manager has been under a huge amount of scrutiny since the start of the New Year, following a bad string of results.

One win in their last six matches in all competitions has seen the manager change his team in almost every encounter and their FA Cup defeat at Millwall certainly raised question marks over Silva’s capabilities as the man in charge.

But, Bernard’s comments on how Silva prepares for every match and the detail he focuses on proves why he needs a little bit more time to get the best out of the Everton players.

According to the 26-year-old, Silva is excellent in his preparation before matches and provides a lot of insight into set-pieces, an aspect of the game where the Toffees have been really poor at this season.

Patience and maybe one or two more transfer windows could finally lead to Everton achieving new heights under the Portuguese manager.

The comments by Bernard should also be encouraging to Evertonians, who might have feared that Silva had lost the dressing but that clearly isn’t the case.

The off-weekend might also have been just what the club needed to regroup and get their campaign back on track with a Premier League clash against Cardiff City at Goodison Park coming up next week.

The encounter with Neil Warnock’s men could be the ideal opportunity for Everton to hit their stride again and get an all-important win under their belt.

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Manuel Lanzini made his comeback from a serious knee injury in West Ham United’s Premier League clash with Fulham at the London Stadium on Friday night.

Indeed, the attacker replaced Felipe Anderson in the 76th minute of the clash, which ended in a 3-1 home win.

Ryan Babel actually sent Fulham into an early lead in the London derby, but goals from Javier Hernandez, Issa Diop and Michail Antonio secured the points for West Ham.

For many, though, the big story was the return of Lanzini.

Indeed, the 29-year-old had been on the sidelines since suffering a serious knee injury last June, which saw him miss out on the chance to play in the 2018 World Cup for Argentina.

Lanzini has also missed the entire 2018-19 Premier League campaign to date, but made his return to action against Fulham on Friday night.

And it would be fair to say that the West Ham fans were absolutely delighted, with a selection of their Twitter reaction available to view below:

West Ham need to maintain their consistency if they consider themselves to have any chance of obtaining seventh place this season.

With the Hammers right in the mix with several other teams, there hasn’t been a season where so many sides have all been challenging for Europe.

Manuel Pellegrini has put together a good group of players who he must believe have the capabilities to finish higher than just mid-table, he wants them to strive for more.

There is still a chance of that this season but, with the ability to strengthen over the summer once more, West Ham could be a far stronger side should Pellegrini again get the players he desires.

A right-back is cropping up to be a position of need for the Hammers and Lyon’s Kenny Tete could be the man to fill that role for them.

Tete, (who is valued at £7.2 million on Transfermarkt) has found regular game-time hard to come by this season, something that could change with a move to the Premier League and to West Ham.

With 14 appearances this season, the 23-year-old has been replaced at right-back and is used on a rotation basis.

Whether he is used at right-back, centre-back or left-back where he can also play is up to Manuel Pellegrini’s choosing but Kenny Tete could do a stern job for West Ham in a number of different roles.

The former Holland international has shown his quality by being capped by his country an impressive 12 times and with regular appearances for West Ham, a recall could be in-line.

If game time is what he is after, West Ham are a club looking to improve and he could be part of how they would do it.

Do you agree… Let us know!

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Everton were stunned by a second half comeback at Newcastle on Saturday afternoon, and Tim Sherwood has absolutely blasted Jordan Pickford’s role in the defeat.

The Toffees continue to be frustratingly inconsistent, as after putting in a brilliantly resilient performance against Liverpool they completely collapsed at St. James’ Park on Saturday.

Marco Silva’s side got off to the perfect start, scoring twice in the first half while Pickford stopped a Matt Ritchie penalty, but the hosts turned the game on its head after the interval.

Salomon Rondon scored just after the hour mark, and Pickford then woefully fumbled a Miguel Almiron shot into the path of Ayoze Perez, who made it 2-2. Perez then grabbed the winner six minutes from time.

What did he say?

Speaking on BT Sport Score, former Tottenham boss Sherwood said: “He (Pickford) makes some world class saves the kid, but he makes too many mistakes.”

Asked if he would drop the shot-stopper, Sherwood responded: “I’m taking him out, he makes too many risks, he’s not an England goalkeeper.”

Has he got a point?

Put simply, it’s impossible to disagree with Sherwood on this one, as his comments were completely factual.

Pickford does take too many risks, and the England number one leads the Premier League in mistakes leading directly to goals because of it.

In fact, he was lucky to even still be on the pitch to make his blunders on Saturday, as he should have seen a red card for his challenge on Rondon that led to the saved penalty.

Marco Silva now has a responsibility both to his squad and to the fans to show that no one is above the law if they are underperforming, and the £30m signing from Sunderland should lose his place for next weekend’s clash against Chelsea.

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The Steve Bruce revolution continued at Hillsborough on Saturday, and one January swoop in particular is looking like an absolute stroke of genius from the club.

The Owls have still not lost since Bruce arrived at the club, and Saturday’s win was one of the best performances yet.

While goals from Craig Conway and Elliott Bennett gave Blackburn a fighting chance, the hosts blew their guests 4-2, and January capture Dominic Iorfa was once again at the centre of everything good.

The 23 year-old, who signed for the club on deadline day on a permanent deal from Wolves, has now scored three times and found an assist for his new club, despite only featuring in seven games.

He has started at right-back in the last four games, in which the Owls have picked up eight points and kept two clean sheets.

He assisted Steven Fletcher’s early opener on Saturday before smashing in a goal of his own in the second half, and fans are now heaping praise on what they consider to be the best piece of transfer business the club has done in a long time.

You can find some of the best Twitter reactions down below…