All posts by h716a5.icu

[ad_pod ]Tottenham Hotspur have been rocked by news of yet another injury blow.Ben Davies limped out of the club’s Carabao Cup semi-final defeat to Chelsea on Thursday, and the club have confirmed that he will now miss this weekend’s FA Cup tie against Crystal Palace.Moussa Sissoko, who made his comeback from a groin injury against the Blues, sustained a knee injury in that game, and may also be unavailable, with further assessments to take place this weekend.Spurs are already without striker Harry Kane and midfielder Dele Alli, while Son Heung-Min is still with South Korea on international duty. However, his side lost to Qatar on Friday and have been eliminated from the Asian Cup, meaning he will soon be available for selection.CheekySport’s Joel claims Spurs badly need to invest in January after not having “the balls” to beat Arsenal. Check out his uncensored opinion in the video below…The news of Davies and Sissoko’s injuries will come as a major disappointment to manager Mauricio Pochettino, who is already working with the bare bones of a thin squad.He may well be able to deploy Victor Wanyama against the Eagles after his return to fitness, but that may prove scant consolation, particularly given Sissoko’s excellent displays thus far this season.And Spurs fans have called on the club to finally dip into the transfer market to reinforce the squad, having seen the side fail to add a new player for the last two windows.

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Leeds United’s week ended in disappointment on Saturday evening as they were completely exposed by Norwich City in an enthralling encounter at Elland Road.

News breaking on transfer deadline day suggested that Daniel James was nailed on to complete a switch to Leeds, but the disappointment over the collapsed deal fell into insignificance when Norwich fired home a killer third goal on Saturday to consign Bielsa’s promotion chasers to their third defeat in five outings.

Daniel Farke’s side arrived with a coherent game plan and, with little by way of protection sitting in front of Leeds’ back-four, his strong contingent of skilful attacking players sliced the hosts open time and time again.

How can Bielsa resolve the problem against Middlesbrough?

The expectation which preceded the gargantuan top of the table clash was perhaps too much for the players to handle, but one major factor was undoubtedly at play.

Bielsa, for all of his plaudits, made a fundamental error by omitting Kalvin Phillips from the starting eleven. In the absence of a midfield enforcer Leeds were hopelessly exposed, with kamikaze style defending arising from a glaring lack of protection in front of the back-four.

Fortunately, though, there is an incredibly easy and simple solution to the obvious problem: bring back Phillips against Boro.

Back to basics 

After watching his side crumble defensively, recalling Phillips will be one of the easiest decisions Bielsa has had to make in his transient Leeds career.

The midfield combination of Mateusz Klich and Adam Forshaw simply couldn’t handle Norwich’s fine selection of attacking players, as Onel Hernandez, in particular, managed to drift in from the touchline to exploit space in the hole between Leeds’ line of defence and midfield.

After conceding three goals at home it’s time for Bielsa to go back to basics; solidifying his defensive unit should be the priority ahead of the weekend.

Boro’s physicality and style of play necessitates the inclusion of a midfield anchor in Phillips who will protect the back-four and provide a commanding physical presence to deal with long balls.

Despite his decent showing against Norwich, Tyler Roberts could be the player to make way for Phillips, forcing Klich forward into a more attacking-minded midfield role.

It’s debatable whether Tottenham Hotspur have the funds available to them to conduct any business during the next transfer window, with the construction of their new stadium running well over deadline and, presumably, budget.

Similarly, bitter rivals Arsenal have also found themselves relatively inactive in the market, despite having no real excuse for their stinginess, with loan signing Denis Suarez their only bit of business this January gone.

According to Sky Sports, however, both teams have got their sights set on Borussia Monchengladbach’s centre-back Matthias Ginter.

Arsenal have certainly been suffering the most out of the two north London teams having already conceded 36 goals this season – the most out of any team in the top six. But, with Toby Alderweireld’s departure seemingly inevitable, it’s certainly in their interest to sign the German.

Indeed, should the Gunners manage to secure the missing key to their defence, in Ginter, there’s a very good chance they could dominate Tottenham for seasons to come.

The Spaniard has improved the offence massively, successfully developing a system whereby star strikers Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang can work together to create one of the most deadly Premier League partnerships on paper.

Their midfield shows sign of obvious promise, as well; it’s just the defensive unit who have seriously let the side down this season. For us, hurting any real chance of them securing top four.

Sokratis looks a decent enough player alongside Laurent Koscielny, but Mustafi has been very, very poor since his return from injury, and it’s fairly obvious that they need to enter the market for defensive support should they want to mount a legitimate push for silverware. Ginter is very capable of being that man.

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Loads of Sheffield Wednesday fans have been running the rule over their dramatic draw against Rotherham, and they’re not happy with veteran midfielder George Boyd.

Sheffield Wednesday waited until the 100th minute of action to grab a late equaliser against Rotherham on Saturday, as Dominic Iorfa made it 2-2 on his debut.

The Owls had been pretty poor through most of the match if truth be told, though they did take a first half lead through Fernando Forestieri.

Jon Taylor equalised almost immediately for the Millers, before Richie Towell made it 2-1 in the second half.

While Iorfa’s late goal rescued a point, the Owls put in a really poor performance against a Rotherham side that will definitely be in the relegation scrap come the end of the season.

33 year-old Boyd was particularly poor, and fans are bemused at the fact that an attacking midfielder with zero goals and zero assists all season keeps getting picked.

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

Whilst the Premier League may have been taking a few days off this weekend, the Championship and FA Cup were there to fill in, and Middlesbrough fans were certainly not complaining. The Teessiders recorded an impressive 1-0 away win at Ewood Park and came away in disbelief at the performance of John Obi Mikel, who shone throughout.

The Nigerian midfielder is a household name in English football for his 10 and a half year stint at Stamford Bridge, a spell where he won a whopping ten trophies with the Blues. Between summer 2006 and January 2017, Mikel won four FA Cups, two Premier Leagues, two League cups, the Champions League and the Europa League and he’s now showing all of that quality at The Riverside Stadium.

So far, the 31-year-old has appeared just five times for Boro, and it already looks like Tony Pulis has played an absolute blinder by bringing him to the club. The fans simply cannot believe how good he has been as his effortless displays have spurred the club on, and it looks so far like the ex-Chelsea man is still yet to get out of second gear in the Northeast with the best certainly yet to come.

You can read the Middlesbrough fans’ verdict on Mikel here:

The Boro fans are delighted that they’vs got Mikel and will hope the Nigerian only gets better with more games.

Sunderland were busy on both the incoming and outgoing fronts in January, with numerous players brought in and a couple leaving.

The likes of Will Grigg, Lewis Morgan, Grant Leadbitter and Kazaiah Sterling are all impressive signings on paper to strengthen the Black Cats’ promotion chase.

They were brought in to replace Ethan Robson and Josh Maja, who have moved to Scotland and France respectively.

Those two names will not have been the only ones who wanted a move away, so here are two players who must surely be frustrated they did not get a transfer…

Max Stryjek

Stryjek returned to Sunderland just before the January transfer window from his loan at Eastleigh. His boss there, Ben Strevens, said that the 22-year-old had been suffering from homesickness and he was given permission by Sunderland to go and see his family in Poland over Christmas.

He had been in fine form for the non-league outfit, playing 13 times, but he does not look set to get any first-team action for Sunderland before the end of the season.

A loan to a side in the North or to a team in Poland may have been good options so he can continue to play regular football and hopefully, not suffer from homesickness again. As that was not the case, that could be a potential move for Stryjek in the summer.

Bryan Oviedo

In the latter stages of the transfer window, Sky Sports News reported that Sunderland are open to a potential departure for Oviedo, but it was never to materialise.

Oviedo remains in the North East, having not played in over a month and he has not been involved in the matchday squad for the past four games.

With a number of foreign clubs reportedly interested in the Costa Rican’s services, as well as a Championship club, he will be frustrated at not having got a move away last month.

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Hugo Lloris was yet again guilty of a dereliction of duty for Tottenham Hotspur against Chelsea on Wednesday.

The Spurs captain has so regularly cost his side that it should come as little surprise that he did so again in a massive game.

On the chalkboard

Lloris is an experienced goalkeeper. He has won the World Cup with France and has been in the Premier League for seven years.

And yet he still does not seem to understand the pace of games like Wednesday’s derby.

The BBC statistics relating to the game show that Chelsea had one shot on target. Pedro scored it, after zipping past Toby Alderweireld, and firing through Lloris’ legs.

This has been a common flaw for the Frenchman. He is too regularly beaten at his near post and it was true again at Stamford Bridge.

And then came the meme-worthy own goal from Kieran Trippier. It perhaps wasn’t entirely Lloris’ fault. He was called to come and collect the ball by the right-back, who then passed it, inexplicably, into the net.

But it is yet another example of the 32-year-old’s poor communication. He does not appear to command his box with the same rigour that he used to.

When you are faced with one shot on target in a game, you are expected to save it. He didn’t, he was then involved in a huge mix-up with his right-back, and now Spurs are firmly out of the title race.

Drop him

The story surrounding the build-up to the game was whether Kepa Arrizabalaga would start for Chelsea after he refused to be substituted in the Carabao Cup final.

Willy Caballero came in and did well, though he did not have a save to make, such was the bluntness of Spurs’ attack.

Perhaps Mauricio Pochettino could do with enacting a similar strategy.

Lloris was not openly insubordinate as Kepa was, but his performances have been dodgy for too long.

Paulo Gazzaniga is a fine option on the bench and he should be given a chance.

As it is, Lloris is holding Spurs back, and the fact he is captain should not exempt him from some time out of the starting XI.

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Celtic fans are calling for a managerial appointment that would shock the footballing world, after Jose Mourinho criticised Brendan Rodgers’ handling of his move to Leicester.

While a small minority of Hoops fans may forgive Rodgers the temptation of the Premier League, the vast majority of fans are fuming at the former Liverpool boss for jumping ship mid-season, especially with the historic treble treble on the line.

Neil Lennon has got off to the perfect start since replacing Rodgers, but fans are now calling for a shock move for Mourinho, perhaps at the end of the season once Lennon has steadied the ship – if you can call winning three trophies steadying the ship.

Speaking on beIN Sports, the former Manchester United manager said: “I’m not surprised, because the Scottish championship, with all the respect, is not the same as the Premier League.

“Celtic is a giant club, but the Premier League is the Premier League so I am not surprised he comes.

“If I was in this position, I would say to Leicester: ‘I want to come to you but not now, I want to come next season, I want to be champion in Scotland, I want to leave in the right moment.’

“In my opinion, the right moment would be pre-season.”

Mourinho has perhaps delivered the most well balanced view of anyone on the Rodgers debate, showing he respects the stature of Celtic as a club but he also knows from first-hand experience that the Premier League is where greatness is truly forged.

However, he is clearly not impressed by Rodgers’ decision to jump ship mid-season, and fans are now calling for the enigmatic Portuguese to take over from Lennon at the end of the campaign.

He clearly has a lot of respect for Celtic and the fans, but it would still be an utterly jaw-dropping move from the club if they actually went for it, but that is what the Twitter reactions down below are yearning for…

Love for the Black Cats is back in Sunderland this season.

After two horrid seasons, Jack Ross’ side have finally got their act back together and are sitting comfortably in third place in the League One table.

With their next game against Barnsley being one of the biggest of the season and an EFL Trophy final coming up at the end of the month, it is an exciting time to be a Sunderland fan, and the latest attendance figures show fans of the club are returning to Black Cats games in their droves.

League One attendance figures show (via the Chronicle) that Sunderland are by far and away the biggest attended side in the division, with an average home attendance of 31,327, over 13,000 more than the second closest team, that being Portsmouth with 18,217.

The figures reveal a nearly 4,000 figure increase from what Sunderland averaged last season in the Championship, with the club attracting on average 27,635 home supporters per home game in the 2017/18 season.

As well as the highest average home attendance so far this season, the Stadium of Light has hosted the most fans in League One so far this season. The Black Cats have welcomed 563,891 home and away fans this season, with Portsmouth again way behind in second place with 327,914 fans in total.

The sharp increase in attendance is a result of a change of mood for Sunderland this season. After two miserable back-to-back relegations under the former owners, Stewart Donald’s tenure as Sunderland owner has been nothing but a breath of fresh air for the Black Cats faithful.

Home and away games are now atmospheric with Sunderland fans chanting and singing from the first whistle to the last, and the positive nature of the players and staff reflects this upturn of fortunes for the club.

Sunderland fans, how do you feel about the club this season?

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Leeds United are currently in the thick of the Championship title race. Premier League football is a very real possibility for the Whites this season, they just have to hang onto their automatic promotion spot for the remainder of this campaign.

No one can say that Marcelo Bielsa’s side don’t deserve to be in contention. The Argentine coach has worked wonders so far at Elland Road, turning what was previously a mid-table side into a hard-working, cohesive unit capable of producing some truly scintillating football.

Are fans being priced out of the Championship as well as the Premier League? The angry Bolton fan in the video below certainly believes so…

If Leeds do go up, they’ll bring plenty of excitement and intrigue to the top flight, but former goalkeeper Paul Robinson is concerned that the top tier could represent a step too far for this team.

What he said

Speaking on Sky Sports’ Football Centre (11/03, 12:40pm), as quoted by HITC, the former Leeds and England shot-stopper said: “I fear for them if they went up to the Premier League with the team they have got, how they play, but they keep finding ways.”

Ready to step up

Leeds certainly do have a small squad, and one devoid of much Premier League experience. However, the 39-year-old is right to recognise that the club do indeed “keep finding ways” to win.

They’ve had a number of setbacks this year, including heavy defeats to Norwich City and Nottingham Forest. However, on each occasion, Bielsa has found a way to inspire his side back to their best.

From what we’ve seen of Leeds’ character, work ethic and mentality this season, there’s no reason to doubt that they would be able to find a way to thrive in the Premier League next season too should they achieve promotion this time around.