Reading midfielder Danny Guthrie has apologised to the club for his refusal to play in their Premier League clash with Sunderland.
The Royals’ manager Brian McDermott confirmed after the game that the 25-year-old made the decision not to join up with the rest of the squad as they slipped to a 3-0 defeat.
Guthrie has since been fined two-weeks’ wages for his actions, and said sorry to the club and their fans:
“I hold my hands up and apologise. It’s something that we will deal with internally,” he is quoted by the Reading Post.
“There’s no problem with anyone. I have my reasons for what happened, it shouldn’t have happened, but it did. My head just wasn’t right.”
The ex-Newcastle man went on to insist that he is happy at the Madejski Stadium and not considering moving on in January:
“I love being at this club – I just want to play football,
“I’ve never had problems anywhere I have been and I just want to get back to playing football.
“This is a very rare situation for me.”
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Guthrie began his career with Manchester United, before switching to Liverpool as a youth player.
After making just a handful of appearances for the Reds, he moved on to Newcastle, where he became a key first-team player.
He moved to reading during the summer as part of McDermott’s plan to keep the club in the Premier League.
Liverpool are no strangers to being linked to James Rodriguez, but some fans’ desire to sign him has strengthened following Sunday’s performance at the World Cup in Russia.
The attacking midfielder has been on Real Madrid’s books since 2014 following his impressive display at the Brazil World Cup.
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In recent seasons, though, the 26-year-old has dropped down the pecking order and as a result was sent to Bayern Munich on a two-year loan.
Rodriguez remains at the Bundesliga outfit, but there has been talk about his long-term future.
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Liverpool are in the market for an attacking midfielder as they are yet to replace Philippe Coutinho, who signed for Barcelona in January.
Lyon star Nabil Fekir has been the rumoured top target, but after the deal allegedly fell through, fresh targets have been mentioned.
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On Sunday, Rodriguez, who is valued at £63m by Transfermarkt, was one of the stars of the show as he created two assists in a 3-0 victory for Colombia over Poland in Group H.
On Twitter, some Liverpool fans urged the club to make a move for the attacker.
Tottenham Hotspur signed Lucas Moura from Paris Saint-Germain in the January transfer window, and the Brazil international scored on his second appearance for the club against Rochdale in the FA Cup.
Lucas is widely expected to start Wednesday’s FA Cup fifth-round replay with Rochdale at Wembley, but the 25-year-old is going to find it difficult to break into Tottenham’s Premier League XI in the final weeks of the 2017-18 campaign.
The attacker, who is valued at £25.2m by transfermarkt.co.uk, was left on the bench against Arsenal earlier this month, and only played the final 24 minutes of Tottenham’s 1-0 win at Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon.
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The presence of Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen means that Lucas has a tough task to break into the Premier League team, but the Tottenham fans feel that the former Manchester United transfer target is more than capable of becoming a key player.
Indeed, the supporters have liked what they have seen from Lucas thus far, and many have urged Pochettino to hand him a regular starting position in the next few weeks.
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A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below.
Points in August count just as much as points in May, no matter what position or league you are in. So far this season, Nottingham Forest has been grabbing all the points they can.
Forest has collected 13 points from five games this season in the Championship and is one of only two undefeated teams left in the league. Some of their more impressive results have been an away win of 2-1 at Bournemouth, and an impressive 4-0 home victory against Reading. These results have placed the Reds as an early contender for promotion this season as they sit at the top of the league.
This start to the season is a complete turnaround to what happened to Forest between 8th February and the end of the season last season. Forest played 19 games and only managed to win three games, draw six, and they lost the other 10 meaning they only achieved 15 points out of a possible 57, finishing 11th in the Championship.
Forest has nearly achieved in five games what they couldn’t achieve in 19. Manager Stuart Pearce believes his side can win promotion as in a recent interview, he said: “I think that – with the ability we have in the squad and, on top of that, if we have the hard-nosed professionalism needed to put into place everything that we ask of them – we do have a chance.”
Pearce has to take some credit for Forest’s great start to the season thanks to his activity during the transfer window, probably the best business out of all the Championship sides this summer. Some of Forest’s signings which have had an immediate impact to the squad include Michail Antonio and Britt Assombalonga.
The majority of teams who get promoted from the Championship to the Premier League have a striker who scores on a consistent basis. Last season, Forest did not have a consistent goal scorer and that is one of the reasons why they couldn’t achieve promotion. Forest’s top goal scorer in the league was Andy Reid with just nine goals.
This appears to be a different story so far this season, with Assombalonga finding the net four times in five games and Antonio scoring three. There is now a lot of threat up front for opposition defences to be wary of.
Assombalonga has a proven track record of goal scoring, scored 23 goals in 43 appearances for Peterborough United last season in League One during their unsuccessful promotion push. So far this campaign, it looks like he is going to replicate this goal scoring tally at Forest.
Pearce and Forest know how unforgiving the Championship can be as the team clearly discovered this last season when they only managed to achieve three wins in 19 games. He said: “We have to keep getting better. It is such a long season and it is such an unforgiving league. Myself and the coaching staff are under no illusions, when it comes to what we have to do, to get out of this league.”
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“You know well that it will be a tough league and you cannot take your foot off the gas for one moment. But the exciting thing for me is that I believe I have got a squad that will evolve and get better. We can still get stronger.”
There will be times like there was last season where the road to promotion will get a bit bumpy, but I believe this a great squad that can help Nottingham Forest achieve promotion back to the Premier League.
Oscar Wilde once said, “Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.” For a man who died in 1900, he seemed to have an uncanny ability to predict the future of terrible Premier League jerseys.
Throughout the history of the league, there have been some gaudy, ill-fitting and downright nauseating home and away kits.
In the case of the 20 on show here, the sole focus of their design seems to be distracting the opposition. In the case of Manchester United’s famous grey strip, however, it only distracted themselves.
Like art, not everyone will be in agreement, but as you flick from jersey to jersey, remember that players had to wear these and fans actually paid money for them. Sunglasses at the ready—it’s about to get bright and colourful.
Click on Arsenal’s shocker from 95 to get the ball rolling
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Everton are weighing up a move for Middlesbrough centre-back Ben Gibson, according to The Northern Echo.
The report claims Everton are understood to be willing to part with Mohamed Besic and Ramiro Funes Mori as part of the deal for the 25-year-old.
Everton have been proactive with the appointment of new Director of Football Marcel Brands and appointment of long-time managerial target Marco Silva, and the majority of Toffee’s supporters are excited by the dual-appointment.
According to a report by The Telegraph, Brands has targeted 18-year old Ajax defender Mathias De Ligt, as well as former Sporting Lisbon winger Gelson Martins.
These potential additions were treated with mass excitement by Everton supporters but links with the Middlesbrough defender have not been given the same fanfare.
Whilst some fans have recognised that in his season in the Premier League he was subject to praise from Boro fans, most see it as the addition of a squad player rather than the improvement of key positions.
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Here is a selection of the reactions from Everton fans on Twitter…
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Leeds United’s winless run was stretched to nine matches on Sunday after failing to beat play-off hopefuls Bristol City at Elland Road in the English Championship.The Whites have failed to win a single match in 2018 and their hopes making the play-offs have all but been ended by the run of poor form.In truth, Sunday’s match could have been a lot worse for Paul Heckingbottom’s side.The away side rushed to a 2-0 lead within 20 minutes and looked set for a comfortable victory before Kemar Roofe and Pierre-Michel Lasogga scored a second half double to rescue a point.https://video.footballfancast.com/video-2015/leeds-relegation.mp4Supporters were left frustrated with the result and performance, reserving particular criticism for goalkeeper Felix Wiedwald.The shot-stopper struggled in the early stages with both of Bristol City’s goals and fans are now calling for him to be dropped or even sold.They took to Twitter to share their thoughts on his performance…
Jamie Carragher believes that Dejan Lovren has all of the characteristics to be a future captain at Liverpool.
The Reds recently tied up their long-awaited £20m move for the Croatian centre-back, who was impressive at Southampton last term.
Lovren was celebrated for his positive style of defending, but his leadership qualities were also praised as he controlled the Saints’ backline – which was often impressive.
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The 25-year-old is expected to slot straight into the Merseysiders’ first XI next season, with he and Mamadou Sakho – a big money arrival from 2013 – being hailed as the future of the club’s rear-guard as they look to put their 50 goals conceded record which cost them the title behind them.
Carragher – Liverpool’s former vice-captain – believes that the newbie will become a major figure at Anfield, and he even believes he could be in the running to succeed Steven Gerrard as skipper:
“Centre-backs normally make great captains.” He is quoted by the Daily Star.
“If Lovren establishes himself in the team became a top player by showing the same form he has at Southampton for Liverpool, then in the next few years when Stevie does decide to call it day he will be in contention.
“You look at him and he has the potential to make a big powerful impact at the back and that’s what Liverpool need.
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“Jordan Henderson is another who could possibly be in contention and there will be more who arrive in that time that could be up for it as well.
“But if Lovren can come in and produce that sort of form then I am sure he will be in the running for it.”
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Arsenal have increased their interest in Crystal Palace ace Wilfried Zaha with the club sending a scout to watch the club over the weekend, according to the Daily Mail.
Gunners boss Arsene Wenger sent chief scout Steve Rowley to watch Zaha as Palace emerged with a 2-1 victory from the King Power Stadium against Leicester City.
The marksman has been in fine form this season already netting four goals and put in another stellar performance to secure victory on Saturday.
The Eagles have managed to fend off any interest so far for the player, which intensified towards the end of the summer transfer window.
A whole host of Premier League teams including, Tottenham and Manchester City have maintained an interest in the star, with the club not set to let him go on the cheap.
Wenger is believed to be taking a closer look at the transfer market with his charges struggling in their last three outings against Norwich, Schalke and QPR respectively.
The England U21 star played both outings against Serbia for the U21 side in their European championships qualifier, and with Walcott still in on-going discussions over a new contract, Arsenal are keeping a close eye on developments.
Palace Chairman Steve Parish said only just last week that he believed it would take a figure of around £20million to steal the star away from the club’s grasp.
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The South London club are still firmly in the promotion chase sitting in 4th place despite recently losing their manager Dougie Freedman to Bolton.
Nottingham Forest are considering making a move for Luton Town full-back Dan Potts, according to the Nottingham Post.
What’s the word?
Aitor Karanka is likely to be in the market for a new left-back due to the probable departure of Armand Traore.
Eric Lichaj, who predominantly plays on the right but is capable of switching, is also expected to leave, while Juan Fuentes is out of contract.
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The Nottingham Post claims that the Reds are monitoring Potts, who played a key role in Luton’s promotion to League One last season.
The 24-year-old signed for the Hatters in 2015 after failing to make the grade at West Ham United, where he began his youth career.
What can Potts provide?
The left-back is still young and developing his game, but he can more than hold his own having made 42 appearances in League Two last season.
Forest could do with a new face who has both defensive and attacking qualities, and Potts ticks the boxes on that front.
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During the 2017-18 campaign, the Barking-born player scored seven goals in all competitions, and one of those was struck in the FA Cup.
Forest have also reportedly shown an interest in Aston Villa’s Alan Hutton, but the soon-to-be free agent is traditionally a centre-back whereas Potts fits the profile.