Jurgen Klopp’s men don’t have much time at all to recuperate before they travel to the St Mary’s to face Southampton in the second round of Premier League fixtures. Gruelling doesn’t cut it.
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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…
At first glance it all made sense.
Tottenham would be buying an exciting young talent for a relatively modest fee of around £10m, and loaning him back to where he is comfortable and familiar with his surroundings.
The player in question is Jack Clarke. The 18-year-old moved to the north Londoners in the summer before rejoining Leeds on loan, with Spurs presumably hoping to see their new signing get the game time they probably wouldn’t be able to afford to give him.
But no.
Marcelo Bielsa’s side embarked on a busy summer transfer window and ended up with six players on loan after the deadline, including Arsenal star Eddie Nketiah.
You may be wondering what the significance of this is. Well, Championship regulations state that a maximum of five loanees can be included in a matchday squad, meaning in this instance, Leeds cannot include all of their loan signings.
Intriguingly, Clarke has been the man to miss out so far. He is yet to make a league appearance this season and was left out of Bielsa’s 18-man squad entirely for the win against Wigan last time out.
The Leeds academy graduate instead played for the Under-23 side, playing an impressive pass in the build up to a goal.
However, that is besides the point.
Where’s the benefit in having Clarke play reserve football out on loan when he could be doing the exact same at Tottenham?
Instead of running around for Leeds’ Under-23 side, the 18-year-old would be much better placed playing and getting to know some new faces in Spurs’ Under-23 ranks instead, where he can acclimatise to his new surroundings and perhaps even train with the first-team while receiving expert tutoring from Mauricio Pochettino.
If Clarke was gaining invaluable first-team experience in the Championship, leave him be. But he isn’t.
He is Tottenham’s player, extremely young, and has bags of unfulfilled potential – he might as well be spending time at his new club rather than wasting time out of favour under Bielsa.
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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…
According to The Daily Mirror, Manchester United star Nemanja Matic has “demanded showdown talks” with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer over his future.
What’s the word?
The Serbia international has not started a competitive fixture for the Red Devils since the side’s 1-1 draw with already-relegated Huddersfield back in May of last season.
Having been left on the bench for all three of United’s opening Premier League games, The Daily Mirror claim Matic is keen to get some clarification over his future at Old Trafford.
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The report adds a number of sides across European football are keeping a close eye on developments amid a potential loan swoop for the midfielder this summer.
Naivety
Having arrived from Premier League rivals Chelsea back in 2017 for a reported £40m, Matic has seen his career go downhill extremely fast at United.
In his four league seasons at Stamford Bridge from the 2013/2014 campaign, the Serbia international had averages of 3.3, 3.6, 2.5 and 1.5 tackles per game. In his two campaigns with the Red Devils however, the holding midfielder has suffered a dramatic drop, with just 1.9 and 1.8 tackles being averaged per game in the Premier League.
Watch the video below to see the most insane overhead kick you will see this week…
But however much of a decline Matic has endured, his experience and know-how is so important to United’s young squad. Solskjaer’s attempts to refresh the team are admirable, but he’s leaving the side with just the bare bones and a ridiculous amount of trust in unproven youngsters.
It would be the ultimate display of naivety for the Red Devils to sanction a loan move – let alone a permanent switch – for the 31-year-old, without having the opportunity to replace him this summer.
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A number of Liverpool fans have called for their club to swoop for Sporting Lisbon attacker Bruno Fernandes during the January transfer window.
Fernandes was linked with a move to both Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur before the English window closed towards the start of last month.
Real Madrid were then credited with an interest in the Portugal international.
However, Monday night’s European transfer deadline passed with Fernandes still at Sporting.
There is bound to be more speculation surrounding the 24-year-old in the build-up to the winter window as he continues to put impressive numbers on the board.
Indeed, Fernandes has already managed two goals and four assists in five appearances for his Portuguese club during the early stages of the 2019-20 campaign.
And after being asked who the club should look to move for during the next transfer window on Twitter, Fernandes was an incredibly popular answer amongst Liverpool supporters.
Take a look at what they’ve been saying below…
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Caoimhin Kelleher is yet to make his senior debut for Liverpool but he impressed fans in his display for the Republic of Ireland U21s on Tuesday.
The 20-year-old has acted as the understudy to Adrian in a number of the games since Alisson picked up an injury, and some fans are making the comparison between the youngster and the Brazilian.
Indeed, it is not Kelleher’s impressive saves or command of his box which has earned him praise, but the skill he has with the ball at his feet and his composure under the pressure of attackers.
The clash against Sweden was only his eighth appearance for the U21s but he is not afraid to show off his array of skills, some of which the Anfield faithful believe he learned from Alisson.
Despite the praise, Kelleher may need to work on the fundamentals of goalkeeping if he is to be given a chance in the first-team. In his two games for Liverpool U23s this season he has conceded five goals and kept only one clean sheet in 11 last term.
Watch Liverpool Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below
However, that won’t stop Reds fans being impressed, and here are some of their reactions comparing him to Liverpool’s No.1.
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Nottingham Forest caused the upset of the weekend by defeating Swansea at the Liberty Stadium last weekend.
But it was no more than they deserved, restricting the home side to just nine shots – only one of which was on target.
The Reds had to be patient to get their reward, until the 85th minute in fact, when Lewis Grabban launched a blazing run to the by-line only to tee up substitute Alfa Semedo for an easy tap-in.
It continued Forest’s impressive form having not lost a match since the opening day against West Brom.
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The man between the sticks was Brice Samba, who has quickly cemented his name as the number one at the club.
Several fans took to Twitter to share their thoughts on the 25-year-old’s performance.
One supporter said he was the best goalkeeper in the league as another added that he was the keeper they had all been waiting for.
Samba has now kept three clean sheets in five matches in all competitions, keeping out Manchester City loanee Aro Muric.
A further member of the City Ground faithful labelled him absolutely class. One also said the shot-stopper was a proper role model.
Here’s the best of the reaction:
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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…
Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino revealed in his Crystal Palace pre-match press conference on Thursday that he held a one-hour meeting with his squad in order for them to refocus on their objectives, and it was desperately needed.
While draws away at reigning champions Manchester City and Arsenal so far look good on paper, the Argentine manager would surely have been furious with the result in the latter given they held a two-goal advantage at the Emirates.
Considering that also came on the back of a surprise 1-0 home defeat against Newcastle United, it has hardly been a vintage start to the campaign for a club who would love to be challenging for the Premier League title.
The north London outfit certainly weren’t helped by the majority of the transfer windows for the rest of Europe not closing until September 2, which meant speculation over the futures of the likes of the soon-to-be out of contract Christian Eriksen and Jan Vertonghen continued nearly a month into the 2019/20 campaign.
Pochettino said on Thursday, via Football London:
“It was very good to talk today for nearly one hour and refocus again on our objective. To be clear in our minds, to think that the most important is the collective and start to put outside individual situations, all together again and try to create a dynamic and be strong and starting winning games.”
And that is vitally important.
Spurs have some winnable games on paper coming up in the top flight, while their Champions League campaign also gets underway with fixtures against Olympiacos and Bayern Munich in the next few weeks.
Six goals conceded in four Premier League encounters to date shows an improvement is needed there especially, while they also failed to break Newcastle down on their own patch.
Tottenham need every single member of their squad pulling in the same direction if they are to have a good season and get back to the brilliant – and consistent – levels they have shown previously, and Pochettino will hope his words of wisdom will see their fortunes change for the better – starting against Palace this weekend.
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Grady Diangana has been an inspired signing for West Bromwich Albion.
The 21-year-old joined the Baggies on loan from West Ham United during the summer and has made a strong impression this term.
Indeed, the attacker has managed three goals and two assists in six Championship appearances in the early stages of the 2019/20 campaign.
Watch West Bromwich Albion Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below
Diangana netted twice on his Championship debut against Luton on August 17, whilst he came off the bench to provide two assists in Sunday’s 4-2 victory over Huddersfield Town in the second tier.
West Brom are going nicely in the league this season with 16 points leaving them in fourth position in the table – just one point off leaders Leeds United.
A Celtic fan pays tribute to Fernando Ricksen in the video below…
And it would be fair to say that the club’s supporters have been delighted with the performances of Diangana, who actually made 17 Premier League appearances for West Ham during the 2018/19 campaign.
A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:
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Liverpool’s Xherdan Shaqiri has suffered a tear to his calf which could mean that he is out for several weeks, and there is sympathy from some fans for his situation.
The injury means he will be missing for the trip to MK Dons, a game he was probably likely to feature in, and that will come as a big blow to him and his chances of breaking into the first-team, which could have been increased with a good display in the League Cup.
As a result, fans believe the Swiss has missed his opportunity to impress Jurgen Klopp, with one supporter claiming it could even mean the end of his Liverpool career.
It will no doubt come as a frustration to the winger who has had only 25 minutes on the pitch this season, particularly as Sadio Mane and Divock Origi are also out.
Watch Liverpool Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below
Many Liverpool fans are feeling sorry for Shaqiri and the reactions below show that they believe it is an chance missed for the former Stoke City man.
This article is part of Football FanCast’s Monthly Review series, which analyses what managers can learn from the previous month and what the coming month could have in store.
September was a rather trying month for Barcelona, but despite some mixed results in both La Liga and the Champions League Ernesto Valverde should still learn two crucial lessons from last month.
The midfield trident
It really did take Valverde quite a long time but it seems that in September, he finally realised Sergio Busquets, Frenkie de Jong and Arthur Melo should be his starters in the middle of the pitch.
Watch Spanish Football Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below
At the very beginning of the campaign, we saw the coach experiment just a tiny bit with this, introducing different names to the equation but none worked quite as well as the aforementioned trident.
If he is going to take any positives away from last month, then it should definitely be this midfield revelation.
And sure, it took him far too long to do that, which fans promptly noticed right away, but the key is that he now seems adamant in sticking with those three in the middle, courtesy of a recent report from Mundo Deportivo.
Antoine Griezmann vs Luis Suarez
This is definitely one that still needs fixing.
Griezmann and Suarez have so far mostly been used next to each other as opposed to having a friendly competition in the squad. As a result, the Frenchman was shifted to the left and the Uruguayan was given the centre-forward position.
Watch Lionel Messi and Gareth Bale answer the internet’s weirdest questions in the video below…
But this did not really yield favourable results for Valverde. Griezmann has scored three goals in La Liga, scoring in just two games, while Suarez has the same number from the same amount of fixtures.
Still, the coach is refusing to permanently bench his 32-year-old veteran, playing him in a total of five games so far in the 2019/20 La Liga season.
Of course, it’s not easy to bench such a big name as Suarez but every player in the squad should be getting his spot on merit rather than on his reputation and as things currently stand, the Uruguayan forward is in the latter group.
There’s a lesson to be learned for Valverde here. Hopefully, he learns it.