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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

Paul Merson has apologised for criticising Harry Maguire after the defender’s sensational display against Chelsea.

What’s he said?

The former Arsenal man had slammed Manchester United’s move for Maguire, branding the £80m fee “ridiculous”.

He questioned the former Leicester star’s ability to adjust to a team who will dominate the ball and leave space behind the defence, while also stating that his performances for England were less impressive as they came in a back three.

After Maguire’s dominant display against Chelsea on Sunday though, Merson told Sky Sports’ The Debate: “He has a presence, he’s commanding, he doesn’t mess about. I thought he did very well.

“I thought I was very critical of him on Soccer Saturday if I’m being honest. I tried to get hold of him today (Monday) and I will talk to him tomorrow (Tuesday) as he texted me back.

“And I thought I was a bit critical if I’m being honest – I thought what I wanted to say did not really come across the way I thought it should have.

“I sort of did not really give him the credit he deserves of how good he is. I was brought up in the day and age where it was clear your lines – a Tony Adams or a John Terry, or someone like that.

“So I was a bit disrespectful in that way. He has played in World Cup semi-finals, he is an international and I was out of order and I will be the first to admit that.”

Verdict

Merson is right to tone down his criticism of Maguire slightly, as calling the transfer fee “ridiculous” is completely unfair on the player, who has nothing to do with the sum, especially before he’d even kicked a ball for the club.

However, he should not have to reel back his other very frank assessments after just one game.

Playing with three centre-backs does alleviate the pressure on the individual players, and it is also true that players who are used to defending deep can struggle when stepping up to a bigger club (looking at you Dejan Lovren).

More space is left behind them for strikers with superior pace to exploit, and it also highlights mistakes, as teams like United will rarely be camped in their own half with ten other players around to sweep up any mishaps, meaning errors are more likely to become errors leading directly to goals.

With all that in mind, it seems silly for Merson to have to apologise for doing his job, especially considering Maguire has only impressed for 90 minutes in a red shirt. He is a pundit after all, and wouldn’t it be a bit boring if they all said the same thing?

This is not to say whether the former Gunner’s verdict on Maguire will be correct, but it is quite plausible that he could struggle at times for the reasons Merson suggested, and to scratch that off as some ludicrously over-the-top statement, and one that requires mass clarification, is far more baffling than the original claim itself.

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Mr. Sturridge is clearly a very popular man about Merseyside. Lovely to see Loris Karius giving him a nod as well; maybe they can be buddies (if he’s been forgiven…never walk alone and all that).

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Manchester City’s latest bout took them to Vitality Stadium to face a tricky opponent.

But the Citizens marched to yet another impressive victory as they beat Bournemouth 3-1. This victory pushed them to second place in the table, just two points behind the current league leaders Liverpool.

If these early signs are anything to go by, the new 2019/20 Premier League season is looking to be another close fight between the Reds and the Citizens.

Watch Manchester City Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Be that as it may, that victory and the three goals Pep Guardiola’s men bagged meant more than just three points for the team. Multiple records were broken, as well.

Kevin De Bruyne tallied his 50th assist for the team but also assisted Sergio Aguero’s 400th career goal in the process. And finally, David Silva celebrated his 400th appearance for the club.

De Bruyne rushed to

/B1mcRJHjU9f/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link” data-lasso->Instagram to celebrate this great occasion.

Manchester City’s next bout will take them to Etihad where they will host Brighton and Hove Albion on 31 August.

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

Barcelona attempted to sign Lucas Moura in the summer transfer window but saw their attempts rebuffed by Tottenham Hotspur, per Mundo Deportivo.

What’s the word?

The Catalan club spent the majority of the summer attempting to negotiate a deal to sign Neymar from PSG.

That transfer did not come off, however, and Barca looked to bring Lucas to the club, per the aforementioned report.

Mundo Deportivo reports that Spurs demanded over €50m (£45.1m) for the Brazil international, who scored a hat-trick in the Champions League semi-final second leg win over Ajax last season, to the dismay of the Catalan giants.

The 27-year-old has already made three appearances this season, scoring a header against Manchester City in the second game of the campaign.

Watch Tottenham Hotspur Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Indispensable

Spurs might well have had a riot on their hands if they had sold the winger this summer.

Lucas etched himself into the club’s folklore on that night in Amsterdam, as Tottenham amazingly reached the Champions League final.

In total, he scored 15 goals in all competitions last season and he offers something different on the right flank.

The only other options available to Spurs are Erik Lamela, whose form can fluctuate between the brilliant and the absurd, and Christian Eriksen, who is a playmaker.

He adds pace and exceptional dribbling ability, as well as an eye for goal; it isn’t much of a surprise that Barca were interested, but Spurs were right to scare them away with a major price tag.

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Lots of Crystal Palace fans have taken to Twitter to react after it was reported by German outlet Kicker and The Athletic’s club correspondent Matt Woosnam that Jairo Riedewald is set to join FC Paderborn on a season-long loan.

Woosnam reports that there is no buy-back option in the deal for the Bundesliga outfit.

Riedewald has found life hard at Selhurst Park since the departure of the man who signed him – Frank de Boer.

After arriving from Ajax in a deal worth £7.9m, the 22-year-old has managed just 12 Premier League appearances for the Eagles and has made just two appearances under Roy Hodgson in 2019 – both of them coming in cup competitions.

The Dutchman’s most recent outing was against Colchester in the Carabao Cup, where he played at left-back. Palace lost on penalties to the League Two side and that match appears to be Riedewald’s last action of the campaign in red and blue.

Let’s see how the Palace fans on Twitter reacted to the news…

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

West Brom are sitting pretty rosy in the Championship while the league takes the first international break of the season.

Slaven Bilic has guided his side to an unbeaten start which sees them sit in fourth position.

The Croatian has been able to fully implement his playing style thanks to his summer additions.

None of his key midfield options in the centre of the park have a pass success rate of below 85% – that’s including Filip Krovinovic and Romaine Sawyers who are new arrivals.

He has also since added to his squad following a deadline day flurry of arrivals. Ali Al-Habsi has signed for the club on a free transfer, and he may well not be the only one.

The Sun have reported that Danny Simpson is training with the U23 squad as he is still yet to join a club following his release from the King Power stadium.

But where would the 32-year-old fit into the Croatian’s side?

On the Chalkboard

There are clearly some benefits to signing a player that has a Premier League title and over 200 appearances in the top-flight to his name, but whether they outweigh the negatives is of personal speculation.

The Baggies already have two promising options at right-back in Darnell Furlong, a £1.5m summer arrival from Queens Park Rangers and Nathan Ferguson, who was promoted to the senior side upon Bilic’s appointment this summer.

Both have held their own amongst what appears to be a competitive battle for the starting position.

The pair are averaging over 1.7 clearances per game, and a dribble each while the younger Ferguson has more tackles (1.8), more interceptions (1.2) and has won more aerial duels (2.2), per WhoScored, but that is only because he has started five matches over the 23-year-old’s two.

It is likely that Simpson would command excessive wages having earned £45k a week at Leicester and that’s not something you need to risk, especially as the 5 foot 9 defender could be the third choice if signed on.

Those wages could be saved for January where Bilic will know what he’s missing if the club are still on the fringes of leading the league or lurking around the playoffs.

With options already in Simpson’s position, they should be more careful.

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

BBC pundit Garth Crooks has given Wolves some advice after Chelsea thrashed them 5-2 at Molineux on Saturday afternoon, making a big claim when unveiling his Team of the Week to the BBC.

What’s he said?

The first game back from the international break went catastrophically wrong for Nuno Santo’s side as they were emphatically beaten by Chelsea.

Wolves have been struggling in the Premier League this season, failing to record a win as they sit one place off the bottom of the table.

Though their form in the Europa League has been nothing short of perfect, winning all six of their ties.

But that string of impressive performances hasn’t yet translated into the league.

Instead, they look to be feeling the tiring effect that the added burden of matches has brought.

Wolves finished seventh last season and it already looks like they need a huge turnaround to match those exploits.

Crooks, who named two Chelsea players in his team of the week, offered up some advice for the west Midlands club, he said:

“As for Wolves’ Raul Jimenez, it’s hardly surprising their centre-forward looked dead on his feet.

“He only returned from Mexico City on Thursday morning and expects to both Chelsea 48 hours later?

“Wolves can’t handle Europe and international breaks. Ditch Europe.”

Early days

It is no secret that Wolves have struggled in the Premier League so far this campaign and the only difference from last season is the fact that they’ve played an extra six games on the entire top-flight already, so that’s certainly had an impact.

But to say they should ditch the European competition is incredibly far-fetched.

As a football club, you should be wanting to compete in everything you’re entered in and to be honest, Wolves should be embracing the opportunity – not that they haven’t been.

There have only been five matches in the league so there’s plenty of football to be played until their fate is even decided – there’s so much that can happen to turn their fortunes around in the next month let alone the next eight.

How Nuno and his side adapt for the rest of the season will be key, though, they should ultimately be safe from relegation with a squad of that calibre.

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Barcelona drew 0-0 with Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League earlier this week.

Facing Borussia Dortmund is already hard as it is but facing them at Signal Iduna Park in front of the roaring crowd of the Yellow Wall makes it that much more complicated.

For that reason, maybe exiting that clash with a point under their belts is not the worst thing to happen to the Spanish club in recent times. After all, they’ve had worse in the ongoing 2019/20 La Liga campaign.

Watch Spanish Football Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

The Blaugrana have so far chalked up two wins, one draw and one defeat to their names in their domestic competition back in Spain and even though the blame gets shared around the locker room, one specific issue was also pretty apparent – there was no Lionel Messi up until this point in time.

Barcelona’s talisman has been injured for six weeks. For that reason, the Argentine has missed all four of Barcelona’s initial La Liga clashes and has made his first appearance of the season at Signal Iduna Park.

By all means, after waiting through Messi’s 115-day battle with injuries, the fans surely must’ve felt relieved to see him back on the pitch and that image of the King returning back into action must’ve felt really good for all Blaugrana fans.

Still, even though it is Messi we’re talking about and even though we all know how good of a player he actually is, his cameo appearance in Germany wasn’t enough to nudge Barcelona towards a triumph and all three points on the night.

The two teams, therefore, shared the spoils of war and settled for a draw, a result that the home team might frown upon seeing how they missed a penalty along with a plethora of other opportunities during the game.

Even with a certain Argentine on the pitch, the Catalans couldn’t do much to threaten the German team but even the arguably greatest player of all time should be given some slack and time to get to his brilliant best.

Currently, the only important thing for Barcelona and their fans is that Messi is back and that he’s fit to continue.

Everything else, knowing him, should follow suit.

View this post on InstagramGood battle to bounce back after the result on Saturday. Through to the next round! @WatfordFCOfficial ??⚽️A post shared by Andre Gray (@andregray_) on Sep 24, 2019 at 1:53pm PDT

View this post on InstagramImprove winning.A post shared by GERARD DEULOFEU (@gerardeulofeu) on Sep 24, 2019 at 2:40pm PDT

The message was loud and clear. They were happy to finally win, and now they want to build on it by claiming victory in the next round as well.

Watch Watford Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

It remains to be seen if this result can kickstart Watford’s season, but the players are seemingly buoyed by the win, and that can only be a good thing.

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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…

Everton’s decision to sign Alex Iwobi may have been the wrong move for the club to have made in the transfer window this summer, and instead Marco Silva should have opted for a more natural winger.

The former Arsenal man has started life as a Toffees player reasonably well with two goals in five games, and he has added energy on and off the ball which is key to the press, as seen through Richarlison’s first goal against Wolves.

However, like Bernard, he is a player who likes to cut in from the left and that means Everton’s width reduces and they become easier to contain for the opposition.

The Nigeria international admitted to Goal himself that he likes to operate through the middle having played there when he grew up, but with Gylfi Sigurdsson occupying that position and Richarlison often making runs into the box, Silva’s side can become too narrow and too easy to predict.

“Growing up I’ve been playing as an attacking midfielder, more central in the midfield. I wouldn’t say if I’m most comfortable there but that’s where I grew up playing.

“I’ve always seen myself as a midfielder but wherever I’m being told to play in the middle or somewhere, I will always give my best.”

Instead, Silva should have opted for an out-and-out winger who can hug the touchline, as other than Theo Walcott the Toffees lack a player who can attack the byline and get a cross in, and instead have to rely on their full-backs to provide crosses, as the Sheffield United match showed.

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In that match against the Blades, Everton managed just seven successful crosses out of the 40 they attempted, which is concerning given the fact that three of their five Premier League goals have come from headers.

Silva failed to add variety to the midfield and as a result his left-sided options – Iwobi and Bernard – are too similar. Both are good with the ball at their feet, with 1.5 and 1.7 successful dribbles per game this season, but lacking when it comes to productivity in the final third.