All posts by h716a5.icu

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Loads of Liverpool fans have been reacting to England’s dominant performance against Czech Republic, and they’ve got plenty to say about Jordan Henderson.

Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions kicked off their Euro 2020 qualification campaign in fine style on Friday night, sweeping Czech Republic aside thanks to a Raheem Sterling hat trick.

Wembley was witness to some lovely football in the first half, and it was Henderson, together with Harry Kane, who forged the opening opportunity for Jadon Sancho to lay on a plate for Sterling’s first.

The 5-0 scoreline doesn’t flatter Southgate’s side either – they were first to every ball and better in absolutely every aspect, though their defending at set pieces is cause for concern.

Mo Salah has been brutally mocked for his recent diving antics in a new video by 442oons. Check it out below…

Just as he is at Liverpool, Henderson is the leader in Southgate’s midfield, and his pressing and passing were both top notch against a very weak Czech side.

The Reds skipper led the game in touches with 102 and completed 86 per cent of his passes, per Whoscored.

There are a few on Merseyside who are not too happy though, taking issue with the captain’s departure from the game in Munich and subsequent absence against Fulham after he romped about the Wembley turf at 100 per cent for a full 90 minutes.

Either way, you can find some of the best Twitter reactions down below…

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Tottenham Hotspur are lining up a double summer swoop for Jack Grealish and Diogo Jota, according to the Daily Express.

The Aston Villa and Wolves stars are on Mauricio Pochettino’s shortlist as Spurs chairman Daniel Levy prepares to release funds.

What’s the word?

Spurs have not signed a player since January of 2018, when Lucas Moura moved to north London.

Grealish was a top target in the summer but Spurs failed to complete a move for the Championship star, who has been in exceptional form since returning from injury.

Indeed, he has scored two goals in four games following his comeback, including the winner in the Second City Derby against Birmingham City.

Jota, too, has enjoyed a fine season at Wolves, scoring seven goals and laying on five assists and Pochettino, per the Express, believes that he can help ease the burden on striker Harry Kane.

The Express report that Jota cost around £12.6million in January 2018, joining from Atletico Madrid.

Wolves would loathe to lose one of their best players after such an impressive debut season in the Premier League; they are currently seventh and look set to qualify for the Europa League this term.

Wonderful additions

Jota and Grealish are exactly what Spurs need.

The Wolves star is an excellent, versatile forward, equally adept at playing as a winger or as a central striker.

Grealish, too, has shown his exceptional range of talent at Villa Park and is a homegrown alternative to Denmark international Christian Eriksen, whose future remains under question.

Pochettino appears set to restructure his playing squad this summer for the first time in two seasons and starting off with attacking reinforcements is a smart move.

Kane, after all, cannot continue to shoulder the burden of scoring all the goals at White Hart Lane.

This promises to be an exciting summer for Spurs fans and players alike.

There has not been much to shout about this season if you are a Huddersfield Town fan.

The Terriers are currently bottom of the Premier League, 16 points from safety and facing the prospect of relegation to the second tier of English football at the weekend if results do not go their way.

However, off-the-pitch the club have posted some good news which may be vital for the future of the Yorkshire-based outfit. The end of year accounts for the previous year saw Huddersfield make a profit of £23.2m (via the BBC) which is a vast improvement on their 2017 postings which resulted in a £21.9m loss. Although this only accounts for expenditure up to last June, when you consider that the Terriers spent modestly in both the summer and the winter transfer windows, they should be in a good financial position for next season.

In contrast, Fulham’s decision to blow £105.3m (via Sky Sports) could prove to be incredibly detrimental for the club as they are almost certain to join Huddersfield as one of the three clubs who will be relegated to the Championship in May. Whereas Jan Siewert’s side could look to strengthen their squad in the summer, Scott Parker may have to offload a number of his players to finance any future moves as the Cottagers discover the costs of over-spending.

Even though they face a return to the second tier after just two years in the Premier League, the Terriers will undoubtedly benefit from the parachute payments that relegated sides receive. In 2018, the figure paid out to club’s who failed to avoid the drop was £40m (according to the Sun) with an extra £35m given in 2019 and £15m in 2020. However, if a side is promoted within three seasons of getting relegated the payments will stop.

What this ultimately means for Huddersfield is that if they wanted to, they could keep the majority of their key players for at least the 2019/20 campaign. However, giving how poor they have been this season, it would be a surprise if Siewert doesn’t completely overhaul the current squad in the summer.

What do you think Terriers fans? Should the club use their financial status to bolster the squad in the summer? Who should Siewert keep at the John Smith’s Stadium? Let us know below.

[ad_pod ]Southampton’s gritted their teeth through a difficult clash with Brighton at the weekend but Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s second-half strike proved decisive as the Saints took three points away from the Amex Stadium.The Southampton skipper was quick to praise the man who assisted his goal though – Nathan Redmond – and commended his teammate’s resilience, spirit and quality after the hard-fought victory.

Indeed, the former Norwich man has had a far from straight-forward season but finally looks to be showing what he can do and is proving to be yet another example of a player who has come on leaps and bounds since Ralph Hasenhuttl took Mark Hughes’ place in December.

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Bursting forward before releasing Hojbjerg on Saturday, the former Norwich man showed exactly why he is in the starting XI – to bring pace and skill – while his captain finished the move with aplomb.

Redmond has been playing just off the front man in recent weeks – as opposed to out wide – and is proving far more effective in that role. Will the 5 ft 8 forward be able to keep it up for the rest of the season, though? Only time will tell.

The Championship automatic promotion race has been an utterly fascinating watch this season.

At one point in the campaign, four sides were fighting it out yet in recent weeks it has become clear that only one of Leeds United and Sheffield United will accompany runaway leaders Norwich City in the top-two.

Saturday’s results saw yet another shift in the league standings as the Blades’ 1-0 victory over Preston North End ensured they would leapfrog Marcelo Bielsa’s Whites who suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Birmingham City. With a one point lead over their Yorkshire rivals, Chris Wilder’s side are now in pole position with just six games to play and therefore should use the momentum gained at the weekend to push forward.

It is almost certain that there will be even more twists and turns between now and May but the Blades can now control their destiny and arguably have an easier run-in compared to Leeds who still have to face Preston and Aston Villa who are both fighting for a play-off position in the second tier.

In contrast, United only have to face one side who are in contention for a top-six position (Nottingham Forest) and know that if they can replicate their recent form in the league, they should be able to edge out the Whites. Wilder’s side can take another big step to a return to the Premier League on Wednesday when they travel to St Andrew’s to face Birmingham, a day after Leeds play Preston at Deepdale.

Although the results of these two fixtures may not completely settle the promotion race, the prospect of opening a four-point gap with just a handful of games to go this season will be a driving force for the Blades who will be wanting to send a message to their rivals in midweek.

What do think United fans? Is your side now in a great position to secure promotion following the weekend results? Or are you still not willing to get carried away? Let us know below.

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Paul Merson delivered his verdict on the future of Andre Gomes this weekend, and he highlighted a hard truth that some Toffees fans may not want to accept.

Everton fell to a humiliating defeat on Saturday, ending Fulham’s run of nine consecutive defeats.

Tom Cairney and Ryan Babel each scored clever finishes from just inside the box in the second half, downing the Toffees 2-0 at Craven Cottage.

Gomes has drawn some attention for his reckless challenge on Aleksandar Mitrovic, and Merson weighed in on the Barcelona loanee’s future when discussing the game on Sky Sports’ flagship Soccer Saturday programme.

What’s he said?

“I like him. There is talk of Tottenham coming in for him for £30million. Again, this is what happens, you have a couple of good games and other teams look at the loan situation and think ‘Oh, he’s only on loan, I’ll take him’. He’s a Tottenham player,” he said on Sky Sports, as reported by HITC.

Indeed, Spurs were linked with a move for the Portuguese international recently; The Telegraph claimed the north Londoners are weighing a £30m bid.

Merson continued: “He’s there (at Everton) now and if he keeps on getting the confidence, but he does get brought off now and again when he isn’t playing too well. He’s not one of them players who you field the team around. You don’t feel that he’s the star man.”

Not a superstar

Gomes is a supremely technically gifted player, and after his performance at Anfield many expected the on-loan Toffee to kick on and improve even further from week to week.

Unfortunately, we have only seen glimpses of his potential since then, barring the odd great performance, and Merson’s last comment is a cold hard truth – Gomes is not a player you build your team around.

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For too long Everton have splashed big money on players who don’t live up to the expectations, and throwing £30m at a player who has yet to really put it all together on a consistent would be a monumental risk.

Gomes is a tidy midfielder, but at £30m he would eat into a big chunk of the summer transfer kitty and as Merson stated, he is not the backbone of a great side.

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QPR put an end to their woeful run of form in some style with an emphatic 4-0 win over Swansea on Saturday and, besides the much-needed three points, there were plenty of positives to be taken from the victory – another solid Josh Scowen performance included.

The midfielder has sometimes been scapegoated for his side’s failings in recent weeks but has been much-improved since the draw at Millwall, in which he was deployed further afield than his usual number 4 role.

Playing alongside Jordan Cousins in the middle of the park, the former Barnsley man was excellent again and had this to say about playing as an 8 after Saturday’s resounding result at Loftus Road:

“It’s somewhere I’ve played for most of my career. It’s been nice to play in what I feel is my best position – somewhere where I can get forward and defend, too. I feel that I’m a box-to-box midfielder. I felt like I kept running all afternoon – but that’s what I enjoy doing, to be honest. I’ve got the energy to do it.”

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The 26-year-old has made 30 appearances for the R’s this campaign, scoring one goal and recording one assist, although he looks likely to add to those tallies before the end of the season if he can keep up his form as a box-to-box midfielder.

Scowen completed a game-high 4 key passes on Saturday and, if he can keep up that kind of output, the assists will come far more frequently.

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Everton midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin played the full 90 minutes as his club beat Manchester United 4-0 at Goodison Park on Sunday.

The Frenchman has found first-team minutes hard to come by under Marco Silva this season, but after three successive Premier League matches out of the squad he was straight back onto the team-sheet against his former employers at the weekend.

The 29-year-old did a good enough job on his 11th top flight outing of the campaign, restricting the likes of Paul Pogba and Fred in the middle of the park, all while forming a strong partnership with Idrissa Gueye.

It wasn’t quite the level of performance he produced when he first moved to Merseyside at the beginning of 2017, and his confidence when it comes to passing the ball forward in particular is clearly at an all-time low.

However, there were signs here that he could still have a future with the club, with his contract at Goodison not due to expire until 2021.

One Toffees fan on the Grand Old Team forum believes he should be kept on as a rotation option, but also believes that because he was signed as a first-team player that certain offers should be considered by Silva and Marcel Brands.

£10-£20m was the ballpark figure provided by the supporter, but it remains to be seen whether that will be incoming given his lack of football and the fact that he is approaching his 30th birthday later in 2019.

Are they right then?

The verdict

They probably are in a way, yes.

While Schneiderlin has proven that he can be a good option now and again for Everton, he isn’t good for where they want to be.

They should actually look to sell the former Southampton man in the summer with no exceptions, especially if the Toffees really want to push on and progress next term.

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Last summer Aston Villa were in the midst of financial turmoil. However, step forward two new investors to save the day and everything felt rosier.

Also, step forward Dean Smith. The former Brentford boss replaced Steve Bruce in October and the club haven’t looked back since, leading a phenomenal charge to the play-offs.

The club are currently on a ten match winning streak, the best in their history and their remarkable turnaround this season has been quite something.

But more recently, a specific training ground method looks to have been pivotal in their good form.

On the chalkboard

Every manager is different. Some prefer a more hands-on approach in training and others prefer detailed analysis. For Villa, it appears the latter is true after Smith revealed that he and the players have been doing detailed debriefs after matches.

In quotes, per the Express & Star, the Villa manager claimed: “We did a debrief on the Millwall game on Thursday and it was the players who took it.”

Smith further went onto say: “Players will see eight or nine clips and they will pull three or four out themselves to present to the rest of the players. Some of it will be self-critical, some of it things we are doing really well. It is all about the team improving.”

This has been absolutely vital and with such detailed analysis in play, it’s no surprise to see the players doing so well.

It’s been a masterstroke from Smith and dedicated time in training to this particular aspect only speaks volumes about what they’ve achieved so far.

Players in the modern game don’t often take responsibility but judging by the 48-year-old’s comments this isn’t the case at Villa Park. It’s intriguing to note that the players are at the forefront of this method too.

Villa finish the season with matches against Leeds and Norwich. They’re two huge fixtures that will really be a measure of how far the club have come this season. After that, of course, is the play-offs and in these situations, it’s all about momentum.

For now, the Midlands club have that in abundance.

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Manchester United fans have taken to Twitter to react after Juan Mata was offered a new contract, and it’s safe to say that the fanbase is split over the decision.

The Spaniard’s current deal expires this summer, and he has been offered a one-year deal with the option of a further 12 months.

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Mata, who signed from Chelsea for £37.1m back in 2014, has made 21 Premier League appearances this season, 15 of those being starts, although he is keen for the club to offer him a longer deal.

At 31 years of age, Mata currently earns £170,000-a-week at Old Trafford, which is a bit of a sticking point in contract discussions as he is not a first-team regular and arguably not worth that weekly wage – he has scored just three league goals and assisted two more this term.

As a result of his age and status in the team, it is debatable whether or not Mata should be offered a new contract, a sentiment echoed by some on Twitter, although others seem happy with the decision…