All posts by h716a5.icu

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Leicester fans have taken to Twitter in excitement after the club confirmed the arrival of Youri Tielemans from Monaco until the end of the season, with Adrien Silva heading in the opposite direction as reported by the Foxes’ official website.

The 21-year-old midfielder arrives at the King Power Stadium to huge fanfare, as he is a player of real pedigree and talent having been very highly-rated at Anderlecht before moving to Monaco.

The French club have endured a woeful season so far under Leonardo Jardim, then Thierry Henry, and then Jardim again, and they are currently sat just one place off the bottom in Ligue 1 with relegation a real possibility.

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…

Understandably, fans of the Midlands-based club are extremely excited at the arrival of the Belgian international, who has scored five league goals in 20 appearances so far this season from midfield.

If their reactions on Twitter are anything to go by, they’re very, very happy that the deal has finally been done…

With Cesc Fabregas leaving Chelsea for AS Monaco and the west London club failing to bring in a replacement, Maurizio Sarri now has a bit of a dilemma on his hands.

Jorginho, who has become an essential cog to the Blues playing in that deep-lying midfield role, was being deputised by Fabregas. But with the Spaniard now at the Stade Louis II, there is no longer a natural alternative to the 27-year-old in the squad.

Sarri, though, has confirmed he is training Mateo Kovacic to play in that position in a move that is likely to impress Roman Abramovich and the rest of the Chelsea hierarchy.

“I think Kovacic could be a very good option. A very good option,” Sarri was quoted by Goal when speaking about how he plans to address his Jorginho conundrum. “Then we need to recover completely Loftus-Cheek, after his back problem.

“Then, we can play sometimes with Kovacic as a central midfielder and then Jorginho will be able to rest. We are trying in training with two players; the first is Ampadu and the second is Kovacic. It may be that for the characteristics, Kovacic is more suitable for this team.”

Rather than throw his toys out of the pram after not getting all of the transfer targets he wanted like previous Chelsea bosses, Sarri has shown he is willing to try and get by with what he has got by his use of Kovacic.

That is what his superiors, who no longer seem prepared to overspend in the transfer market, want to see. A coach who is open to the idea of coaching rather than a manager whose only answer is to spend.

From that perspective, Sarri is coming across as the club’s ideal head coach.

[ad_pod ]Leicester fans have taken to Twitter to react after full-back Ricardo Pereira made a huge error against Tottenham on Sunday, which handed the initiative to the north Londoners almost immediately after Jamie Vardy missed a penalty to equalise.The Portuguese international attempted to play the ball out from the back under little pressure, before it was intercepted in a dangerous area for the Foxes right on the edge of their own box.Fernando Llorente then teed up Christian Eriksen for the Dane to smash the ball beyond his international teammate Kasper Schmeichel and double Spurs’ lead, and pretty much end the game as a contest.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 King Power Stadium faithful have now witnessed their summer signing make two huge errors in back-to-back games, after the full-back conceded possession to Paul Pogba last week for the midfielder to set up Marcus Rashford to score.Understandably, the Leicester fans on Twitter are annoyed at the 25-year-old, as they felt they could’ve got something against Mauricio Pochettino’s men…

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Liverpool’s next challenge in their bid to win the Premier League title this season is a trip to Old Trafford to face arch-rivals Manchester United on February 24, and there are certainly plenty of pointers they can take from the Red Devils’ 2-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain there on Tuesday night.

On the chalkboard

Well, while the Merseyside outfit will be confident in focusing on themselves and ensuring they perform given how good they’ve been this season, they will still be aware that going to the ‘Theatre of Dreams’ and returning with three points is no easy task – they haven’t done it in the top flight since 2014.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer suffered his first defeat since he took caretaker charge until the end of the campaign in December in the first-leg last 16 Champions League clash against PSG, and his team were largely outclassed by the Ligue 1 leaders despite being in outstanding form in the Premier League in the lead up to the tie.

Jurgen Klopp will certainly have been interested by what he saw if he was watching proceedings, and he should have learned two things in particular from the side managed by Thomas Tuchel, who of course got one over his fellow German during his team’s 2-1 win against Liverpool in November.

What were they?

Firstly, United had a clear lack of concentration and awareness for both of the visitors’ goals on Tuesday.

For PSG’s opener, Nemanja Matic fell asleep from a corner which allowed Presnel Kimpembe to find the net for the opener, while Kylian Mbappe showed greater speed and determination to get to a cross before the Red Devils’ defence for the second.

Secondly, Marquinhos produced a brilliant performance man-marking a key man under Solskjaer in Paul Pogba, nullifying him and obvious frustrating the Frenchman as he picked up a second yellow towards the end of the match.

Someone like Liverpool midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum could easily be given a similar role on February 24 to stop the powerful 2018 World Cup winner, while Sadio Mane and Mo Salah can use their anticipation and sheer pace to great effect, too.

Leeds United are preparing for the future after the club pinned down 19-year-old starlets Robbie Gotts and Clarke Oduor on new long-term contracts.

The club announced on Saturday that Gotts had signed a new three-and-a-half-year deal, which would keep the defender at Elland Road until 2022, before confirming on Sunday that winger Oduor had extended his current deal to the summer of 2020.

The new contracts are coming at a big and important time for the club, who are hoping to be competing in the Premier League next season, should they earn promotion.

Despite suffering a dip in performances and results lately, Leeds have been superb this season and manager Marcelo Bielsa has relied on quite a few of the youngsters to step up at crucial stages to help the team get over the line.

Gotts and Oduor have been regulars in Carlos Corberan’s u-23 side and have been key to the team’s success this season.

So much so that they have both been in Bielsa’s matchday squads at times this season.

Gotts has been on the bench for a number of games this campaign, while Oduor made his debut for the Whites in their FA Cup defeat at Queens Park Rangers at the start of the year.

The penning down of these two exciting young talents shows that the club is already trying to strengthen Bielsa’s squad if they are going to play top-flight football next season.

Corberan’s u-23 team has been in excellent form this season and is currently on top of the Professional Development League North, offering Bielsa a lot of depth for the first-team squad.

Should Leeds indeed play in the Premier League next season, then the club’s administration will be adamant on keeping their younger players at the club to help them compete with the big clubs.

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Tottenham Hotspur’s title ambitions were dealt a major setback on Saturday when they lost 2-1 to Burnley at Turf Moor. Despite Spurs’ talisman Harry Kane making a goalscoring return from injury, goals from Chris Wood and Ashley Barnes ensured that it was a miserable day for Mauricio Pochettino’s men.

Defensively the visitors were poor throughout. Tottenham failed to deal with the physicality and aerial threat posed by the Clarets. Pochettino’s team selection must be questioned in that regard. Given that Sean Dyche was always going to set up with tall, powerful forwards, and then try to exploit those attributes, it was a mistake for Davinson Sanchez not to have been included in Spurs’ starting XI.

Is the emergance of a ‘big 6’ good news for English clubs in Europe? Pl>ymaker FC’s Ed Tarlton certainly thinks to in the video below…

Juan Foyth was played instead, however, and struggled to cope. The 21-year-old centre-back was confident and composed in possession, but when he was under pressure defensively he buckled. The young Argentine lacked the experience and physicality needed to cope with the Clarets’ attackers.

After the match, plenty of Spurs fans took to Twitter to give their verdict on the once-capped international’s performance…

Huddersfield Town have had a torrid time in the Premier League this season but they can use the following season to rebuild.

Huddersfield may be firmly sitting at the bottom of the League, 13 points adrift of the relegation zone, however, with relegation all but confirmed, next season will give them a chance to rebuild under Jan Siewert and attempt to gain Premier League status once again.

The Terriers’ problems have stemmed across the pitch with a lack of organisation at the back and defensive solidity, although that has improved under Siewert but more notably a lack of a consistent goalscorer.

Many players have not impressed this season but here are two players that have struggled the most this season…

Adama Diakhaby

When Diakhaby arrived from Monaco in the summer there were high hopes for the Frenchman. Given how much he had caught the eye in Ligue 1, partnered with Huddersfield’s desperate need for a direct, pacey, forward-thinking winger, the Town faithful had a right to be excited.

However, the 22-year-old has been unable to impress enough under David Wagner or Siewert to warrant a consistent run in the side as the story has been very similar under both managers- start off by getting game time for a handful of games but then be cast out of the matchday side for a significant period of time.

Diakhaby could be a player that moves on in the summer unless Siewert can help rejuvenate his form for the season ahead.

Laurent Depoitre

Depoitre has appeared consistently in this Huddersfield team throughout the season, yet his impact has not been as notable as he would have surely liked.

The 30-year-old has made 25 appearances this season in all competitions, but he is yet to score a goal for a side that is desperate to see the ball hit the back of the net.

With that in mind, it is unlikely that Depoitre will stay beyond his contract, which runs out in the summer.

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Sean Longstaff and Isaac Hayden have formed a formidable yet unlikely midfield partnership in recent weeks, but the former looks set to be sidelined for the foreseeable future after picking up an injury against West Ham on Saturday.

On the chalkboard

According to a report from the Daily Mail, Longstaff is set to see a specialist on Wednesday regarding the knee injury he sustained at the weekend.

The report also claims that an initial scan on Monday showed no rupture, but the severity of his injury should become clear after he sees the specialist.

Just as the 21-year-old was beginning to earn recognition throughout the wider media for his performances this season, it seems he has suffered a cruel blow. Unfortunately that is the nature of the game and Rafa Benitez will now be faced with a fresh selection dilemma in midfield.

Jonjo Shelvey’s return to goal scoring form for Newcastle’s U23 side on Friday evening was certainly a timely boost, while Mo Diame is fully fit and an obvious short-term replacement for Longstaff.

However, there is ample evidence to suggest that Benitez may be inclined to chop Isaac Hayden from his starting eleven to make room for both Diame and Shelvey in the coming weeks, despite Hayden’s surprising and refreshing performances since the back end of December.

Lessons from 2017/18 season are key

Hayden is emerging as a strong candidate for the Magpies’ most improved player of the season award, and rightly so. The 23-year-old has defied his critics by stepping into the first-team with a series of solid displays in 2019, including a disciplined showing in the win over Manchester City in January.

But, for all of Hayden’s impressive work, it’s fair to say that the dynamic, understanding and familiarity between a midfield duo is often conducive to a positive result.

Does Newcastle’s infamous title collapse of 1996 mirror what is happening at Liverpool right now? The Magpie Channel discuss in the video below…

The relationship between Shelvey and Diame blossomed as the 2017/18 season developed and their understanding formed a solid foundation of Newcastle’s survival bid, so Benitez should restore both players to his starting eleven in the absence of Longstaff.

It would be tough on Hayden, who has been a genuine surprise package this season, to drop him in favour of the returning Shelvey, but with the club’s Premier League status on the line it’s a decision which the Spaniard could be inclined to make.

What a performance Nottingham Forest put in on Saturday. Their 3-0 win at home against Hull proved they have the quality to make the play-offs, but only if they replicate their home form on the road.

The Reds have won their last four at the City Ground, scoring ten goals in the process, so if they played all their league games there, they’d probably already have secured a play-off spot already. Of course, they can’t do that so they’re sitting two points off the coveted sixth spot in eighth.

There are only eight points separating them and fourth so there’s a huge opportunity to sneak into the play-offs before the end of the season. Their away form could hamper that chance though, because they’re now without a win in seven away games. That’s certainly not promotion material.

That’ll be so frustrating for Forest fans because every other week they see what their players are capable of but as soon as they leave the comfort of Nottingham everything seems to fall apart. That signifies that it’s not a lack of ability that’s preventing Forest moving up the table, but a lack of composure and grit when they’re not in their comfort zone.

Solid home form is always the key to staying in a division, but the difference between that and earning promotion is going to your opponent’s ground and picking up wins where you aren’t be expected to. That’s eluding the Reds this season, and it could prove costly.

They play in-form Villa at home on Wednesday, but their next away game is against rock-bottom Ipswich Town at the weekend, and that’s the ideal time to get back to winning ways on the road and begin a vein of away form that could push them into the play-offs.

Forest fans, where do you think your side will finish this season? Join the discussion by commenting below…

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Aston Villa ‘keeper Jed Steer was seemingly left in the wilderness after being loaned out to Charlton at the beginning of the season by Steve Bruce.

Not many would have imagined him signing a new deal with the club, but back in favour under Dean Smith after returning, putting pen to paper on a new contract is reportedly exactly what has happened.

Villa supporters have since shared their delight on Twitter, taking the time to comment on how his performances have excelled since replacing new signing Lovre Kalinic in the team.

The latter hasn’t played since the middle of February despite arriving in January and some supporters claim that Steer, for the time being, is the best man to play in goal.

News of his contract has been received well by the Villa Park faithful as one individual claimed it was well deserved. Others praised his commitment, saying the shirt was now his to lose.

His loan spell was also a topic of discussion and one supporter claimed it should never have happened in the first place.

The 6 ft 2 goalkeeper was labelled as the club’s most underrated player by one tweeter, something he’s clearly earned during his seven matches between the posts in the Championship this term.

Here’s the best of the reaction.