All posts by z3u9t.icu

A number of Wolves supporters are delighted after a new report claimed Wanderers aren’t interested in re-signing Matt Doherty in the January transfer window.

The 29-year-old traded Wanderers for Spurs back in the summer of 2020, in a move that was supposedly seen as a step forward in his career.

Doherty has struggled hugely in north London, however, rarely finding himself as a regular in the team, only registering four assists in 42 appearances and not scoring a single goal.

The Republic of Ireland has been linked with a return to Wolves this month, as he looks for a way out of Spurs, but that now appears to be unlikely.

According to The Mirror [via Talking Wolves on Twitter], a reunion isn’t on the cards, with neither Wanderers or Doherty keen on the move coming to fruition.

Wolves fans delighted with Doherty latest

These Wolves fans reacted positively to the news on Twitter.

“Love to see it”

Credit: @DaneWWFC

“Thank god for that”

Credit: @eve_elizabethxx

“THE PLAYER HIMSELF! He knows he wouldn’t play Semedo and Hoever clear”

Credit: @wwfcglover

“Thank god”

Credit: @Darren_Wolves_8

“We don’t need him”

Credit: @the_brewersarms

“Great news we moved on waw”

Credit: @AntonyHaselum

In other news, some Wolves fans are buzzing over a potential swap deal. Read more here.

Marcelo Bielsa’s future as Leeds United manager remains up in the air but a mid-season change is highly unlikely, according to journalist Phil Hay.

The Lowdown: Bielsa showing signs of recovery

The Argentine hasn’t had the most impressive of starts to this season, with his Whites team languishing in the Premier League relegation zone at one point.

That being said, there are signs that Leeds are slowly clicking back into gear, with five points picked up in their last three games against Wolves, Norwich City and Leicester City.

It is now time for another international break, but Whites fans will hope that their three-match unbeaten run can continue away to Tottenham on November 21.

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The Latest: Hay discusses Bielsa’s future

Bielsa’s current Leeds deal expires next summer, and speaking in a Q&A for The Athletic after the Leicester game, Hay admitted there are still question marks regarding the 66-year-old’s future at Elland Road when the issue was raised by a Whites supporter in light of a recent piece in The Guardian claiming that Leeds’ fans faith in the manager could be tested by their poor start to the season.

The journalist responded by saying:

“This group of players have been coached and handled in such a specific way that I think it would be very risky to change manager mid-season.

“Also, Bielsa deserves time to address the first sustained dip he’s experienced. He’s been so good for so long and I’d like to think that his impact would be reflected in support for him when results turn against him (and I do feel like that support has been there, from the crowd and the club).

“Every project has a lifespan though. Assuming Leeds are okay this season, it will be very interesting to see what happens next summer.

“Do they continue or do the club try to go in a slightly different direction? Will Bielsa want year five? Plenty of questions, which was part of what my piece on Cooper was about.”

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The Verdict: Still the right man

While it is important that things don’t grow stagnant at Leeds, Bielsa has proven during his time at Elland Road that he remains the right man to take this team forward, unless they collapse between now and the end of the season. His record speaks for itself – they finished 13th in the Championship in the season before his arrival – and one bad period shouldn’t lead to knee-jerk decisions.

The 66-year-old hasn’t always impressed so far in 2021/22, but he has been missing some key players through injury and there are clear signs of improvement in recent games.

If Bielsa signs for one more year next summer, perhaps a younger replacement could then come in in 2023, at which point he may feel as though he has taken this team as far as he can.

In other news, three Leeds players struggled against Leicester – find out who they are here.

Emerson Royal put in his best performance since joining Tottenham Hotspur this summer as they defeated Aston Villa in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.

The Brazilian right-back was drafted in on deadline day, signing in a €30m (£26m) deal from Barcelona, and finally, the north London outfit caught a glimpse of exactly what he had to offer.

In a game where Heung-min Son excelled with two assists and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg ran the show from the engine room, it was the 22-year-old defender who was an unsung hero for Nuno Santo and his side.

No player recorded more touches of the ball than Emerson (86) as he was a constant threat down that right flank.

Not only was he a rock defensively but he also got up the pitch to contribute in the final third.

As per SofaScore, Emerson recorded a match-high four interceptions, helping thwart the threat of wing-back Matt Target and Danny Ings, who was on his side in Villa’s two-man attack. He also made six clearances, two tackles and won a whopping ten duels.

The Evening Standard’s Dan Kilpatrick wrote in his post-match ratings column:

“A promising showing after a tough start in the Premier League. Committed and aggressive defensively and got forward well, creating a big chance for Son at the start of the second half.”

Indeed, the £26m-rated dynamo won three free-kicks, created one key chance and managed to pull off 100% of his dribbles, via SofaScore, further suggesting that he was capable of contributing in the final third.

It was only his third start in the Premier League but for the very first time, Nuno witnessed a player that should be starting there week in, week out. He’s a breath of fresh air in comparison to Serge Aurier, who left the Lilywhites by mutual consent in the summer.

According to football.london’s Alasdair Gold, the Brazil international has impressed staff with his “incredible” fitness levels and we saw some of that during the match today.

The Hotspur faithful were equally impressed by Emerson, too, with many expressing their delight with his performance.

On a day where Spurs ended a run of three straight heavy Premier League defeats, it was the new summer signing that went hugely under-the-radar and deserves plenty of credit for such a showing.

AND in other news, Forget Son: £36m-rated Spurs machine who had 6 dribbles stole the show against Villa…

Tottenham Hotspur moved into the top six in the Premier League with a win over Brentford on Thursday night, meaning Antonio Conte also maintained his unbeaten record in the top-flight.

A 12th-minute own goal from Sergi Canos and a well-taken finish from Heung-min Son sealed all three points in north London and whilst it was a vital victory, the Italian may well be concerned by the performance of Lucas Moura as he looked a little lacklustre in the final third once again.

The £22.5m-rated Brazilian winger is yet to score in the league this season and has provided just the one assist, coming against Leeds United nearly two weeks ago.

Conte has started him in every Premier League outing since arriving in N17 but he hasn’t seen any sort of substantial return from him barring that assist. It was a familiar story against the Bees.

Per SofaScore, Moura managed just one shot on target throughout the 77 minutes he was on the pitch, whilst he recorded only 15 accurate passes, in which none resulted in a key chance created.

One pass every five minutes is far from inspiring from someone who is supposed to support Son and Harry Kane in the final third and similarly, he registered just 38 touches, also losing possession 15 times.

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That means the 29-year-old gifted the ball back to the visiting team once every 2.5 touches.

‘As always he worked hard and his pressing led to opportunities but he was just lacking that decisive quality in the opposition half,’ is how football.london’s Alasdair Gold described the former PSG dynamo in his post-match ratings column, where he graded him amongst a couple of their worst performers.

That has to be of major concern to the Italian because the Lilywhites are still amongst the poorest teams in the division when it comes to attacking play, having averaged fewer shots per game (10.4) than any other team, even rock-bottom Newcastle United and Norwich City.

Elsewhere, the passenger-like Moura failed to provide an accurate cross and lost nearly 50% of his battles up against Thomas Frank’s back-three.

As a result, Conte may want to consider the Brazilian’s involvement heading into the weekend, when Spurs host the Canaries on Sunday afternoon.

AND in other news, Conte could right Daniel Levy’s ghastly £32m transfer mistake…

Arsenal could sign their own Virgil van Dijk in RB Leipzig’s Ibrahima Konate.

What’s the story?

According to The Evening Standard, Mikel Arteta’s side are one of a number of clubs tracking the 21-year-old ahead of a potential move for him in the summer transfer window.

The reports claims that Konate is being scouted by sides all across Europe in the hope that he could be made available for a transfer, with the Gunners one of those teams as they consider bringing in another centre-back.

It is added however that “they would be expected to face competition from several of Europe’s top sides”.

Arsenal’s own Van Dijk

For all of Liverpool’s attacking success in recent seasons with the likes of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, the real cornerstone for Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool side has of course been Virgil van Dijk.

The towering Dutchman arrived in a big-money deal from Southampton, and has helped them to both a Premier League and Champions League title.

Much like Van Dijk, Konate is also a powerful centre-back, coming in at an imposing 6 foot 4.

And, Bundesliga.com themselves have made that comparison between Konate and Van Dijk, saying he plays a bit like the Dutchman. They added: “Likening Konate to one of the best centre-backs in recent times may seem like a premature comparison. It’s not. There are few in the position who excel at so many aspects of the game as the young Frenchman.

“Whether it be in terms of positioning, sticking tight to the striker, intercepting passes, tackling or building from the back, Konate cannot just do it all, he makes it look easy. He has the pace to match the quickest of attackers and the physique to bully – rather than be bullied by – muscular strikers much more experienced than he is.”

Ralf Rangnick spoke glowingly about Konate’s ability and potential, saying: “We’ve been watching Ibrahima Konate for some time. He’s a young, highly-gifted player who’ll strengthen our defence. We’re very happy to have been able to bring in this top talent and that Ibrahima can take the next step in his career here.”

If the Gunners can land Konate, who looks as physically dominant and gifted with the ball like Van Dijk, they could well have their own powerhouse in the middle of defence next season. It would truly be an Edu masterclass, especially given that they are reported to face competition for him.

If he goes on to have an impact anywhere close to what Van Dijk has at Anfield, he’ll be an unbelievably good signing for the Gunners.

Meanwhile, Fabrizio Romano claims Arsenal are interested in this Premier League starlet…

According to a report by Football Insider, an inquest has come from senior club figures behind the scenes over their failure to pursue Everton defender Ben Godfrey before he signed for the Toffees – with this behind the scenes claim emerging after he was on the radar of Tottenham Hotspur for some time. 

Godfrey, who has started 18 Premier League games for Everton this season since signing from Norwich City in the summer transfer window, was at the centre of interest from Spurs for a while according to Football Insider.

Tottenham inquest held over Godfrey failure

Indeed, a Spurs source has explained to the outlet that Daniel Levy and co were monitoring the promising 23-year-old for a ‘long time’ before his move to Merseyside – and they even enquired about signing the defender in December 2019 but were knocked back (Football Insider).

Now, senior club figures are said to be addressing Levy’s failure to lodge a more serious pursuit for the centre-back – especially given Carlo Ancelotti is said to regard him as the best of his four centre-back options. 

An inquest has apparently been held over Spurs’ failure to push for the youngster, coming as manager Jose Mourinho faces some pressure regarding his managerial position.

Transfer Tavern take

Tottenham reportedly attempted to sign Milan Skriniar last summer in a potential fix for the Lilywhites’ defensive problems (Sky Sport Italia via Football Italia), but to no avail – with centre half being one of the few positions they didn’t strengthen.

Now, some senior figures are said to be unhappy over the botched Godfrey pursuit – one would now have to assume they will swoop for another defensive option this summer.

In other news: Tottenham expected to lose a ‘fantastic’ talent by this Sky pundit, find out more here.

Everton will face their fierce rivals this afternoon when they make the short trip to Anfield in the away fixture of the Merseyside Derby.

Frank Lampard has revealed several injury concerns that he will be hoping won’t setback his team from putting on a performance in the Premier League clash, with Donny van de Beek, Andre Gomes and Dominic Calvert-Lewin all ruled out against Liverpool.

Andros Townsend, Tom Davies and Nathan Patterson all remain unchanged on the injury table for the foreseeable, however, the Toffees boss has hinted that a recent returnee is in doubt to feature today.

Lampard took to his pre-match press conference to respond to doubt over Yerry Mina’s inclusion in the starting line-up:

“That’s a decision I’ll have to make closer to the game, because of the tight turnaround. He’s an important player to us and we’ve got to understand we’ve got six more games after this.”

With that being said, this is how Football FanCast expects Everton to line up this afternoon…

We predict that Lampard will make just two changes from the team that drew with Leicester City on Wednesday night, with his typical 4-3-3 formation deployed.

The first change we expect to see is Michael Keane returning to the back-line after the manager’s comments suggesting that Mina may be rested at Anfield today, so it would seem likely that the defender will reprise his role in the otherwise unchanged back four alongside Seamus Coleman, Vitaliy Mykolenko and Ben Godfrey.

The second change we think the Toffees boss will make is the inclusion of Abdoulaye Doucoure, who hasn’t been given much game time as of late with just six minutes played since the Burnley clash at the beginning of the month.

The 29-year-old gem who was hailed “underrated” by Jamie Redknapp, has played ten times in the Merseyside Derby, winning two, drawing two and losing six whilst scoring and assisting once against the Kopites.

We expect to see Doucoure earn his role back in the starting line-up to replace £100k-per-week flop Alex Iwobi in the midfield, playing just ahead of Allan and Fabian Delph to assist with the attacking threat needed to have any chance of beating their title-challenging rivals this afternoon.

Lampard will be feeling the pressure come 4:30pm if Burnley take a result in their fixture a few hours before the derby, with Everton just one point clear of their relegation rivals, a win for Burnley and a loss for the Toffees could spell danger as the side would fall into the bottom three by end of play.

AND in other news: Huge blow: Everton dealt worrying injury setback before Liverpool, Lamps surely gutted

Leeds United picked up a very solid 1-0 victory against Burnley on Sunday, and Marcelo Bielsa will be happy with the clean sheet. After the game, he spoke about the performance of Mateusz Klich.

What Bielsa had to say about Klich

Speaking via Leeds Live, Bielsa said: “Well today, he had a very difficult game. He had to defend a lot and in the first half, he resolved the necessities of the game well. In the second half, the game was a lot more confusing and the best things that he does were difficult to develop in this type of game.

He’s a player who manages the ball very well and we didn’t have the ball a lot in the second half so it’s natural that he would lose importance in a game of these characteristics.

Having said that, he was very generous and he was willing to resolve the necessities that were being presented in his sector.”

Klich will be back at his best

Bielsa is right to say that the Polish international had a difficult game as he lost possession ten times and was substituted in the 66th minute (SofaScore).

However, there were some promising moments during the match as he won all his attempted ground duels and aerial duels and still picked up a 7.0 rating. This shows the high standards that Bielsa has set as on paper, Klich still had a decent performance.

It is understandable for form of players fluctuate across a season, and especially so over the Christmas period where fixtures are congested. Therefore, the midfielder coming off early might have been the perfect move so that he can be fully fit for the West Brom match.

In other news, Leeds United tipped to go in for £14.4m-rated Premier League winner.

Reacting to an alleged Tottenham Hotspur managerial development that Fulham boss Scott Parker is emerging as a lead contender for the job (Football Insider), Sky Sports pundit Paul Robinson has reacted with his take on the report. 

Parker has been linked as an outside candidate from the Premier League in recent weeks alongside the likes of Graham Potter, coming after reliable correspondent Alasdair Gold believed he would be considered as one for the future.

Robinson reacts to alleged Spurs manager development

However, Football Insider recently shared a development that the 40-year-old is now emerging as a lead contender to replace former boss Jose Mourinho in the here and now.

This comes after previous blows involving former top targets Julian Nagelsmann and Erik Ten Hag, with the former agreeing to join Bayern Munich and the latter signing a new deal at Ajax.

Reacting to the alleged Tottenham managerial development involving Parker, Robinson has dropped his take and believes it would be a ‘big gamble’ to appoint the former Lilywhites midfielder.

“It would be a big gamble,” he explained to Football Insider.

“The way that the club, the training ground and the stadium have developed there is a need for Champions League football.

“Scott Parker has done an excellent job at Fulham but they are getting relegated. He did a great job getting them out of the Championship but there is a massive difference between managing Fulham and managing Tottenham.

“Scott is a bright, young, intelligent manager but if he is given the Spurs job it would be a huge risk on Daniel Levy’s part. It could be a risk that pays off though.”

Transfer Tavern take

Given he has just one full season in the English top flight under his belt and is looking likely to be relegated with Fulham, it does look like a risk despite his plaudits in the past.

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola is a huge admirer of Parker, having praised his brand of courageous attacking football earlier this season (mancity.com).

It is also said that Spurs and technical performance director Steve Hitchen are targeting a ‘young’ and ‘dynamic’ manager for the role (The Daily Mail), and on paper, Parker fits that description.

Regardless, what the Lilywhites debatably need is a more experienced head who still encourages an exciting brand of football, so we believe rumoured target Ralf Rangnick should be a top candidate.

He is known as the ‘godfather of gegenpressing’ and has been credited with influencing the likes of Thomas Tuchel and Jurgen Klopp.

Currently out of work, at least testing the water for the more experienced Rangnick should be a no brainer.

In other news: Tottenham told to target this ‘demon’ boss who Guardiola also praised, find out more here.

Plenty of Aston Villa fans have been reacting to the news that Villa Park could play host to this year’s Champions League Final.

Both Manchester City and Chelsea booked their place in the last two following wins over Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid respectively earlier this week, with the final scheduled to take place in Istanbul on May 29.

However, according to reliable Sky Sports reporter Rob Dorsett, Villa have offered up Villa Park to UEFA as an alternative venue.

Dorsett claims that huge changes to infrastructure at the stadium would have to take place should Pep Guardiola and Thomas Tuchel’s sides face off in the Midlands, however, UEFA are thought to be committed to Istanbul at this moment in time.

Villa still have three home league fixtures to fulfil before the end of the season, with fans set to return for the visit of Chelsea on the final day.

Villa fans react

@villareport shared Dorsett’s claims on Twitter on Thursday afternoon.

It didn’t take long for a number of Villa fans to go wild at the update, with one describing it as ‘unreal’.

“This would be massive”Credit: @Cameron_Avfc”Scenes”Credit: @RyRyy69″Limbs”Credit: @manj_av”That’s unreal”Credit: @Matttavfc”OH. MY. GOD.”Credit: @ReubenOwen_”Make this happen”Credit: @arjo_97

In other news: Fresh Jack Grealish update emerges, find out more here.