All posts by h716a5.icu

Tottenham Hotspur have come under a lot of criticism from the media in recent weeks.

Whether or not you agree with the points being made against the London club, it’s hard to deny that there is an underlying issue with the contract situations of Christian Eriksen, Toby Aldeweireld and Jan Vertonghen.

Watch Tottenham Hotspur Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

All three key men are free to leave next summer, and one of ESPN’s top pundits expressed his concerns about the situation.

“The reality is that it’s not normal for a club to find themselves in a situation where you have three key players with these contract issues.” Gabriele Marcotti said.

He went on to say that Spurs should have either signed these players to new deals or moved them on this summer, and it’s hard to disagree with that sentiment.

With transfer fees soaring so high at the moment Spurs could be letting go a small fortune in playing talent next summer, and after splashing so much cash on a new stadium the London club simply shouldn’t be allowing that to happen.

There’s no better way to describe it than to call it a ‘gamble’, and that’s exactly what Marcotti thinks it is – declaring the London club are ‘playing a game of chicken’ with these players.

Manchester United’s all-time top scorer Wayne Rooney has posted for the first time since WAG-gate, and it’s not what we were expecting – or wanting, for that matter.Indeed, it seems the 34-year-old has finally learnt the intricacies of Twitter after years of posting about putting fellow users to sleep (but tagging himself) and asking Rio Ferdinand if he wanted a lift, as well as a selection of other questionable tweets that almost certainly weren’t vetted by anyone in public relations.Watch Manchester United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

It was revealed yesterday that Colleen Rooney accused Rebekah Vardy, wife of Leicester City striker, Jamie, of leaking personal information about the family to none other than The Sun, which is disgraceful enough in itself.

While you’d expect 2011 Rooney, back when he was cool, to explode in a stream of rage-filled gobbledygook, the modern Wayne is far more composed (and boring), and instead of an image of a poorly edited Vardy effigy, we were given a throwback to when he called Old Trafford home (zzz).

It’s………….the same pair of boots.

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…

Whilst it might sound a bit strange at first, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t treat it any less seriously.

According to Football Insider, Leeds United are ‘keeping tabs’ on Rangers boss Steven Gerrard in case they find themselves in a position where current head coach Marcelo Bielsa decides to leave Elland Road.

Indeed according to the report, they were looking at the possibility of signing him this summer gone by had Bielsa departed.

Whilst it seems like it is Gerrard’s destiny to manage Liverpool one day, with even current Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp more or less writing it in stone that it should be the former captain to replace him in the dugout in a recent interview with FourFourTwo, he has to earn his way there rather than being pushed to the front of the line just because of his history.

When Shaun Hutchinson joined Fulham back in 2014, he called the Championship ‘a step up’ from the Scottish Premiership, essentially calling the top tier in Scotland about the same level as League One in England.

Watch Leeds United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Keeping up that line of thought, it only seems right that someone like Gerrard should go through the divisions to prove himself.

So why shouldn’t Leeds at least consider him as an option? And at the same time, why wouldn’t Gerrard be tempted at the idea?

The Leeds fans might not be wholly convinced by the whole premise, but if he can have as big an impact with the Whites as he has done with Rangers, it’s only right he should be getting a look-in.

Gerrard has done an incredible job of turning the Gers around since taking over at Ibrox and has already enabled them to rise from what was a previously dark place.

He helped deliver their first victory over Celtic in 11 attempts and has taken Rangers from 12 points behind their Old Firm rivals in the league before he took over, to now sitting two points ahead of them.

Therefore, he has clearly shown that he has got some managerial ability in him and has a future in the game.

If he’s helped bring Rangers back into relevancy, why can’t he do the same with Leeds? It certainly seems the 39-year-old likes a challenge.

If there is to be that ‘next step’ for him to take before he eventually gets the Liverpool job as it seems inevitable he will get someday, then a ‘sleeping giant’ club like Leeds should be on his radar, and Gerrard must remain on theirs. That’s particularly if they’re in need of someone who can rebuild them.

That will, of course, depend on if they achieve promotion.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets… 

Manuel Lanzini is a player out of form and his lack of influence when the Hammers visited Goodison Park on Saturday contributed to his team’s defeat.

It has been a long time since the Argentine had a regular run in the team, with injuries hindering his game time over the last 18 months, and there are signs that the rustiness is yet to wear off.

So far this season he has zero goals and just two assists from eight league games, and he is yet to build an understanding with the rest of the front four, with Sebastien Haller often left isolated up-front.

With Pablo Fornals still bedding in and Felipe Anderson enduring a similar run of disappointing form, West Ham have been toothless in attack. That was underlined by their performance against Everton, as well as the fact they have scored just 11 goals in nine league games.

Watch West Ham United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Despite a fair amount of possession Manuel Pellegrini’s side mustered just four shots on target, with their best chance coming as a result of a corner in the second half which shouldn’t even have been given.

That suggests a lack of creativity in the side, and a lack of support for the striker – both of which fall under the responsibilities of Lanzini.

Once again, the 26-year-old underwhelmed when on the ball, often failing to find a teammate with 73% pass accuracy according to WhoScored, with only three successful passes to the final third, and none to the box.

That meant he failed to make a single key pass in the entire match, and if he continues to display such ineptitude then West Ham cannot expect to score goals, or win matches.

By comparison his counterpart, Alex Iwobi, managed two key passes, which led to the Hammers relying on Roberto to keep them in the match, whilst offering very little by way of a comeback.

From the way Pellegrini has set up this season, it seems he is intent on playing three creative midfielders in support of Haller, and whilst the German has acted as an effective focal point, the service to him has at times been lacking, and that is no surprise when one takes a look at Lanzini’s passing and crossing stats.

The No.10 has to start playing closer to his striker if a partnership is to flourish. He should take more risks, too, as although he was dispossessed three times he will be more effective for his team if he is trying to create openings or work his way into a shooting position, which he also did too infrequently on Saturday.

Despite that, he has proved in the past that he has the quality to act as a pivotal player for West Ham, and if Pellegrini can reassure him of that and instruct him to play closer to Haller, then West Ham could begin to start delivering on the goal front.

Such is the rivalry between the two sides, it’s incredibly rare to see a player who has featured for either Manchester United or Liverpool then go onto play for the other.

The last, high-profile example to do just that was Michael Owen, when he indirectly made his way from Anfield to Old Trafford over a decade ago.

And now, it could be the turn of Emre Can to do just that. According to Sky Sports, United are considering making a swoop for the now Juventus midfielder in January, and that the Bianconeri are looking to receive a fee in the region of £35m.

The Germany international’s situation in Turin became slightly more complicated when he was surprisingly left out of their Champions League squad this season – a situation that he publicly admitted would have seen him leave the club had he known about it much earlier.

After hearing their club’s reported interest in the former Liverpool man, United fans flooded to Twitter to voice their thoughts on the situation.

Many supporters of the Manchester side appeared to throw their backing behind a potential move, and insisted he would make for a great replacement for Nemanja Matic – the 6 foot man has career averages of 2.4 tackles and 1.3 interceptions per game.

Check out some of the reaction of United fans below:

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

A question that has reared its ugly head in the past few months of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s reign at Manchester United, is the Norwegian good enough tactically? After all, the man who got Cardiff relegated, succeeded Jose Mourinho – the ultimate mastermind when it comes to setting teams up.

But against Liverpool on Sunday, the Red Devils boss more than held his own against Jurgen Klopp and sprung a major tactical surprise by opting to go for a 5-3-2 formation – a real change-up from the more traditional 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 set-ups we have seen from United since Solskjaer took over. If anything, it completely upset the visitors’ game-plan, with Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson in particular often being caught in no-mans land with their positioning.

Watch how to cross the road like a boss with freestyler Ben Nuttall in the video below…

In the end, United could only hold on for a draw as Adam Lallana netted a late equaliser. But it was a performance that no doubt gave great encouragement to the players and the manager that they can compete with some of the best teams in the league.

However, the formation does come with a curse. Sunday’s approach was designed to stifle the Reds’ greatest attacking threats, chiefly from the wide areas. It didn’t particularly do much in the way of getting the likes of Marcus Rashford and Daniel James chance after chance – the duo had just two attempts on goal in the entire game.

Watch Manchester United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Anthony Martial’s return from injury gives Solskjaer a reinforcement in the number nine role, but in this system, where would the Frenchman fit? The success of United’s game-plan on Sunday revolved around Rashford and James doing the dirty work off the ball, and running into the channels and making life difficult for the Liverpool centre-backs.

Case in point, Rashford’s lung-busting chase of a long ball that eventually saw him bully Virgil van Dijk. For all of Martial’s technical quality, would he offer the same defensive output? It therefore leaves the United manager with the big conundrum of having to leave one of his most prolific strikers out. Because quite simply, how do you go away from a formation that served you so well against the reigning Champions League holders and a team that had gone flawless in the Premier League?

Essentially, Solskjaer’s own tactical masterclass has backed him into a corner. Whilst it may have solved a huge problem on Sunday, it now raises further questions that need answering.

A number of Liverpool fans have taken to social media to hail Trent Alexander-Arnold following Sunday’s 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League.

Harry Kane actually sent the visitors into a shock lead inside the first minute, but Jordan Henderson levelled the scores early in the second period before Mohamed Salah secured a huge three points for Jurgen Klopp’s side.

And it was another all-action performance from Alexander-Arnold.

Indeed, according to WhoScored, the 21-year-old had two shots, made two tackles and completed 70 of his 83 passes during his 90 minutes on the field.

Liverpool’s two full-backs have become a feature of their work over the last couple of seasons, and Alexander-Arnold has developed into a key player for the Reds despite the fact that he will not turn 22 until next October.

It would be fair to say that the Liverpool fans were delighted with his showing against Mauricio Pochettino’s side on Sunday – as shown by the tweets below:

A selection of Black Cats fans have been reacting to reports from the Sunderland Echo claiming FPP Sunderland have completed their investment into the Stadium of Light outfit.

It is alleged that the group have agreed on a deal to invest a ‘substantial sum’ into the League One side, but only on the ownership side of the club.

Watch League 1 Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

The funds are believed to be heading toward improving Sunderland’s recruitment and academy structures – amongst other infrastructure – and will be directed to Sunderland’s holding company Madrox Partners, with Donald maintaining his 74% controlling ownership of the Black Cats and the other share percentages in the club remaining exactly the same.

Methven is quoted as telling the Echo that FPP Sunderland’s investment will be ‘in our management of the club’.

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 deal that we’ve signed is for FPP Sunderland to invest a very substantial sum into our management of the club,” he said. “Really, it’s to embark on phase two of the rebuild of Sunderland, having had a gruelling 18 months stripping everything back to ensure there’s no wastage anywhere.

“It’s now time to start building again. We’ve always been clear that would require a bit of investment, from our very early interviews and podcasts, and we said that it was no good suddenly looking for it when we needed it.”

Reacting to the report, one Sunderland fan has declared that it reads like the owners have just been given a bonus, while others are sceptical about how the ownership structure hasn’t changed despite a considerable investment.

Here’s a look at what Black Cats fans have been saying about the report…

Barcelona are currently still a wounded animal as the Catalan giants are struggling with their form.

Their last game saw them take only one point away from Slavia Prague in a match that ended up as a goalless draw at the Camp Nou. A couple of days before that, Levante had taken all the spoils of war in a La Liga clash Ernesto Valverde will soon want to forget.

Watch Spanish Football Videos With StreamFootball.tv Below

Seeing how there are simply no margins for error left for the Blaugrana, a strong performance is expected this weekend against Celta Vigo, a team currently with problems of their own, seeing how they’re sitting in 18th place and battling to stay afloat.

And it would also not be a stretch to say Valverde might want to deploy his strongest line-up in order to get back to winning ways.

With that in mind, here’s what we think his gala XI should look like come Saturday night:

Marc-Andre ter Stegen is a constant that rarely changes for the Catalans.

The German goalie has proven time and time again how vital he is for this squad and dropping him seems almost as unlikely as it would be for Valverde to drop Lionel Messi.

The backline will have to be changed slightly. Jordi Alba is currently out injured and for that reason, despite some questionable management by the coach, Junior Firpo should finally be getting his ticket back into the squad.

Gerard Pique and Clement Lenglet should complete the centre-back pairing and the defensive line of Barcelona should be finalised with Nelson Semedo at the right-back position.

Arthur Melo was rested mid-week and we could very well see his return to the line-up this weekend. The young Brazilian midfielder has been one of the stand-out performers throughout the 2019/20 and his omission from the team-sheet would really be a big surprise if he is fit and ready to go.

The same can be said for Frenkie de Jong and Sergio Busquets as they should accompany Arthur and form the midfield trident for the Catalans.

Up front, the team is still without Luis Suarez but in his stead, Valverde should be looking to deploy a trio of Ousmane Dembele, Antoine Griezmann and, of course, Messi, just as he did in the previous clash.

This starting XI would only see two changes from the one that faced Slavia Prague on Tuesday so we should not expect any major tweaks from the Basque coach.

Let’s see what he ends up doing on Saturday night.

Liverpool supporters have said that they would rather not see Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe come to Anfield.

The 20-year-old has been linked with a move to Anfield as reports from El Desmarque suggest that Real Madrid will step up their bid to take the World Cup winner to the Santiago Bernabeu.

Mbappe is one of the world’s best footballers, encapsulated by his goalscoring achievements, and he has been nominated for the prestigious Ballon d’Or award.

He moved to Paris Saint-Germain from Monaco for €180m (£155.1m) in 2018 after a loan spell in the French capital the season before and has scored 69 goals in 98 appearances.

Despite his achievements, supporters don’t believe that Mbappe will come to Liverpool. One fan said that his move would risk ‘destabilisation’ at the club, while another said that he would rather use the funds to buy reinforcements in defence and midfield.

Here are some of the best responses from Liverpool fans:

Liverpool fans, should Jurgen Klopp try to buy Mbappe? Have your say below!