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Loads of Tottenham Hotspur fans on Twitter have been left fuming after The Daily Star reported that Daniel Levy is lining up England manager Gareth Southgate to replace Mauricio Pochettino whenever he leaves the club.

The Daily Star says that the 49-year-old is the north London outfit’s first choice to succeed the Argentine, whose team haven’t got off to the best of starts this season.

That said, they showed some fight to beat Southampton with 10 men on Saturday, which took any pressure that might have been building off a little ahead of hosting Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Tuesday night.

The report says though that this is likely to be the former Southampton man’s final campaign in charge of Spurs, meaning Levy needs to starting sniffing out potential replacements.

While Southgate led the Three Lions to a World Cup semi-final last summer, his only experience at club level was a spell with Middlesbrough in which he was sacked just under 10 years ago having suffered relegation from the Premier League a few months earlier.

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Tottenham supporters certainly aren’t impressed by the Southgate report, and while one labelled him as “the perfect yes man for Levy”, another said “I’d take David Pleat ahead of him”.

Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…

Carragher poignantly tweeted a picture of a pint of Carlsberg and captioned the image: “If Carlsberg did weekends.”

We can’t say that we advocate Carragher’s choice of beer, but those four words were enough to capture the feeling of anyone and everyone who wakes up every Saturday wondering how many mere mortals Virgil van Dijk will embarrass that day.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…

According to West London Sport, QPR are ‘monitoring’ Hearts striker Uche Ikpeazu, who is also attracting interest from Celtic, Wigan, Bristol City and Derby.

What’s the word, then?

Well, the R’s are reportedly keen on the forward who impressed for Hearts on their way to the Scottish Cup final last season, where they were beaten by Celtic.

Ikpeazu, formerly of Watford and Reading, has scored 10 goals in 37 appearances since signing for Hearts on a free transfer from Cambridge United back in the summer of 2018.

The 24-year-old has found the back of the net twice in the Scottish Premiership so far this season, while also grabbing two assists.

Life after Jordan Hugill

Of course, QPR’s two main strikers this season in Jordan Hugill and Nahki Wells are on loan, so their long-term futures at the club are far from concrete.

Forgetting Wells for a second – for he isn’t a similar player to Ikpeazu in terms of physique – Hugill’s similarities to Ikpeazu in terms of playing style could suggest that Director of Football Les Ferdinand is planning for life without the on-loan West Ham man.

Football Insider recently reported that the Hammers have made Hugill – who has scored six Championship goals for the R’s this season – available for just £5m, but his Premier League wages could prove to be a stumbling block for interested parties.

As a result, 6 foot 3 Ikpeazu – who is three inches taller than Hugill and plays in a similarly robust style – could potentially be in Ferdinand’s sights as a candidate to replace the former Preston striker, if it does turn out to be too difficult to sign him on a permanent deal.

One would assume that many QPR fans would love to see Hugill signed permanently given his stunning form so far this term, but the interest in Ikpeazu – a player of similar physical stature to the 27-year-old – is perhaps telling of Ferdinand’s strategy.

Tottenham have released the interesting cover of their matchday programme for this weekend’s clash with Watford, which depicts Davinson Sanchez on the front, prompting hope amongst some Spurs fans that he starts on Saturday.

It is fair to say that the Spurs defence has endured a torrid time of late, conceding 13 goals in their last five matches, with the most recent drubbings against Bayern Munich and Brighton & Hove Albion.

Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld partnered each other at the back in those games, and so some supporters are hoping to see a change in personnel, with Sanchez currently viewed as a safer option by comparison.

However, the Colombia international hasn’t faired much better than his defensive teammates this season if truth be told.

He has only been on the winning side once in six matches, and in those games Spurs have conceded eight goals, so it may be a surprise that some sections of the fanbase are desperate to see him in action.

However, neither Vertonghen nor Alderweireld appear to be in the right mindset currently, and that could be contributing to Spurs’ problems in defence, which explains the reactions of some hoping that Sanchez starts, as seen below.

Without explicitly saying as much, we imagine Tyler Roberts might well be in the same boat as most Leeds United fans, and Phil Hay, in regard to the Eddie Nketiah “situation” – he deserves to start.

The Arsenal loanee, who is closely followed by Highbury legend Ian Wright, netted his third Championship goal of the season for Leeds on Tuesday night, but he’s yet to start a single league game despite being utilised from the bench 11 times.

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Patrick Bamford is currently preferred ahead of Nketiah for reasons unknown, despite suffering a barren run of eight appearances without a single league goal – in that time Leeds have netted an average of just 0.87 goals per game. How long can they sustain that form before it begins to damage their promotion hopes?

Following the game, which ended in a 1-1 draw thanks to Nketiah’s brilliantly taken header, Roberts posted to his story…

Nketiah announced earlier this month that he was “frustrated” with his role on the bench.

Leeds United have a storied history that fans often love to reminisce about.

With the club celebrating its 100th birthday last week you’d have thought that social media would have been filled with supporters waxing lyrical about some of the greats that have played at Elland Road over the years.

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However, there have also been some absolutely shocking players, and there weren’t many worse than Adryan.

The Brazilian attacking midfielder was once touted as the ‘new Zico’, but unlike the legendary midfielder who scored 48 times for Brazil, he was a complete and utter flop.

Adryan never found the net during his time with Leeds, and he was best remembered for his dive against Derby County.

Fans on Twitter were asked to give their reviews of his time at the club, and many made reference to the embarrassing simulation against the Rams.

Here’s what the Elland Road faithful have been saying on Twitter…

This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…Â

What is missing from Leeds United this season?

It’s really tough to put your finger on it. The Whites are in a great place in the league, yet fans still have a number of complaints about the football that is being played at Elland Road.

The Yorkshire club are currently only one point worse off than they were at this point last term, and a comparison between this year and last year shows that they’re missing one man more than many would have anticipated.

Comparison

LUFC Data on Twitter has once again provided some fantastic statistical analysis of the club, and he compared how the team are getting on from this season compared to last.

As you can see, Leeds have a similar number of points as they did this time last year, but there are some very concerning stats within this tweet.

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The one thing that should set alarm bells ringing in the heads of many United fans is their attacking stats.

Despite creating more chances than they did this time last year, the Whites have scored eight fewer goals, even though their xG is 9.4 higher.

What does this tell us? Leeds have somehow got worse at finishing despite being the worst finishers in the league last term, and that may be down to the absence of one man.

Missing Roofe

Leeds won’t like to hear it, but these stats heavily point towards the fact that they’re missing Kemar Roofe – someone Director of Football Victor Orta helped to shift on in August.

Roofe was their top scorer last term, and his departure has unsurprisingly seen the goals dry up due to the fact that he’s simply a better finisher than Bamford.

Find out what happened when a world-record-holding freestyler attempting skills with the worst pair of boots available on eBay in the video below…

The Anderlecht man scored 15 goals from 101 shots last term, while the former Boro striker has netted four goals from 45 attempts this campaign.

This means that their finishing rates stand at 14.85 per cent and 8.88% respectively.

While that doesn’t seem like a huge discrepancy it would equate to a difference of around eight goals if Bamford continues producing his current rate of 3.2 shots per game until the end of the season.

Of course, there are other factors at play than just Roofe’s absence, but losing their top scorer from last season certainly hasn’t helped Leeds’ efforts in front of goal.

Clearly the decision to sell him has been a mistake.

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…

When Dani Ceballos joined Arsenal on loan in the summer, the Gunners’ supporters were delighted.

The 23-year-old had just come off the back of an impressive U21 European Championship with Spain, where he was included in the Team of the Tournament as La Roja lifted the trophy, and any player who has spent time with Real Madrid will often be an asset to another side.

Watch the moment Granit Xhaka’s Arsenal career may have come to an ugly end in the video below…

However, the midfielder has struggled to live up to expectations so far at the Emirates Stadium. He has just one goal and two assists in his first 13 appearances for the north London outfit, and missed a crucial penalty against Liverpool in the League Cup on Wednesday night as Unai Emery and co crashed out of the tournament.

With Mesut Ozil being linked with a move away, Arsenal need a creative force in the middle of the park, and Ceballos just doesn’t look like he can be that man. Isco, though, could be.

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The 27-year-old, also of Los Merengues, has been linked with the Gunners in recent days, along with Juventus and Manchester City.

He could be just the playmaker they need moving forward, and his arrival would mean that Arsenal could avoid trying to make Ceballos’ short-term spell permanent – something that has also reportedly been on the table.

Such is the Santiago Bernabeu side’s abundance of talent, some of their stars get lost amongst the crowd, and Isco appears to be part of that group. The 38-time Spain international joined Florentino Perez and co for £23m in 2013, but has not started more than 30 games in La Liga in a single campaign to date.

When he has been given the chance to impress, though, he has generally done so. He has 20 goals and 26 assists in 78 league starts, which is not to be sniffed at, with him having 48 goals and 52 assists in 284 appearances in all competitions, via Transfermarkt.

Even last term, his most unproductive so far with the 13-time European champions, he averaged one key pass and 1.3 dribbles per match, compared to Ceballos’ one and 0.6 respectively in the same team, according to WhoScored.

For his country, he has particularly excelled. Despite Spain being relatively poor at the World Cup in Russia last year, Isco averaged 2.3 key passes and an astonishing 5.8 dribbles per match. Only Eden Hazard had more once the tournament had finished.

With a reported fee being €70m (£60.3m), he would not cost an astronomical price and, considering interest from giants such as City and the Old Lady, he clearly has a lot to offer.

At 27 years old, he is also in his prime years, meaning he could hit the ground running at Arsenal. Quite frankly, his signing would be a no-brainer and would be a step up on Ceballos.

He could be exactly the creator they need to get back to where they belong at the top.

Although Arsenal’s on-field form has been considerably suffering as of late – with the Gunners having won just four of their first 11 league fixtures – the milestone of 50 goals for Pierre-Emerick Aubemeyang has led to a number of the club’s fanbase praising the Gabonese forward.

Aubameyang has scored eight Premier League goals so far in the current campaign to reach the 50-mark in all competitions for the north London side, with 40 league goals alongside nine in the Europa League and one in the FA Cup giving the former Borrusia Dortmund man his half-century.

Despite ongoing issues at the club – including Granit Xhaka’s confrontation with fans alongside reports of Unai Emery having just one month to save his job – the consistent form of Aubemayang will be seen as a source of huge relief to the club.

If the Gunners want to get their fortunes back on track, it is likely that the striker will be at the heart of any effort to revive their domestic form.

Here are some of the best reactions to Aubameyang’s goalscoring milestone for Arsenal.

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…

There has been plenty of debate about whether West Ham United should recall Grady Diangana from his loan spell at West Bromwich Albion, with FFC writers divided on this topic.

The indication seems to be that he will be staying at the Hawthorns until this season’s culmination, with Manuel Pellegrini quoted by the club’s official channels as saying: “I trust a lot in Grady, and I thought that it was better for him to go and play 40 games this year, and be absolutely ready for next season, than play here just some of the games.

“I think that we must continue supporting him, we must continue being happy with his performances, and he must finish his season where he is.”

There is definitely a point to be made that Diangana can benefit from playing at West Brom, having scored 4 goals and assisted another 4 in 11 Championship starts and 3 substitute appearances.

However, it can also be suggested that the 21-year-old could benefit from being at London Stadium and working on forcing his way into the side now, while the Hammers could also use him.

With this in mind, West Ham should look towards a frustrating moment for the Baggies last season, when Harvey Barnes was recalled by Leicester City in January 2019.

Having started 26 games, scoring 9 goals and assisting 6 more, then-Leicester manager Cluade Puel decided to bring him back to the King Power Stadium, and was quoted on Sky Sports as saying: “He has been brought back for many reasons but the primary reason is because he can help us.

“The player has progressed, and I would like to thank West Bromwich and their manager for giving him the opportunities to play.

“It is difficult [for West Brom] to lose a player like this but it is a good moment for him to come back and help his team-mates.”

In the latter half of that campaign, Barnes started 11 Premier League games and was brought off the bench on 5 occasions, scoring 1 goal and getting 2 assists.

The winger, who is now rated at £10.8m on Transfermarkt, has also been heavily involved this season, making 8 league starts and 3 substitute appearances, scoring 1 goal and assisting 4 times.

While Diangana may not play every game this season, with Felipe Anderson as competition, he can help the team, as Puel suggested Barnes could, while the 21-year-old Leicester man has highlighted that the step up from the Championship can be made.

One of the Hammers’ biggest problems this season has been the isolation of Sebastien Haller, as Tony Cottee told FFC: “I think at times he’s been a little bit isolated up front, so he could do with a little bit of help.”

Surely having someone join the squad who has eight goal contributions would be able to help that situation, whether from the bench or from the start.

It would be a bold move for Pellegrini to recall Diangana, but Barnes has shown that it’s a decision that could pay off.