Tag Futebol

Leeds United fans have been left in a frenzy after The Athletic’s Phil Hay delivered a bold statement to Twitter on Friday afternoon.

The ever-reliable Whites reporter lauded Spurs and their new stadium following an article from one of his colleagues, Charlie Eccleshare, and accompanied the praise with a pondering Leeds moving into one of their own.

Elland Road has been the club’s home since forming 100 years ago in 1919 and is the 14th largest stadium in English football, and the third largest outside the top-flight behind the Stadium of Light and Hillsborough.

But given the recent links speculating a possible takeover of the west Yorkshire outfit by PSG powerhouses QSI, and their lofty ambitions to once again be a ‘great’ in the Premier League, are they restricting themselves with their 37,000-odd capacity?

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Supporters have been discussing the matter on social media with many wanting a redevelopment of their current ground rather than moving elsewhere.

Here’s what has been said…

AND in other news, Leeds fans react to Ben White transfer latest…

Crystal Palace are stepping up their intentions to sign France international Olivier Giroud, according to reports.

FCInterNews have reported (via Sport Witness), that Italian side Inter Milan are also sniffing around for the available striker, however, the Eagles look to be making things difficult for the club.

Allegedly, Palace have ‘moved concretely’ for the 33-year-old, and are willing to satisfy the forward’s wages, which could put Inter’s move for him in doubt.

Within their report, Giroud is reportedly asking for one of two things from Inter; he wants either a two-and-a-half-year deal taking him to the summer of 2022 or a deal until 2021 worth a salary of €8m (£6.25m) for the season and a half. It is not clear as to whether the Eagles have had the same request.

Given that Chelsea will not allow him to leave for free as per the report, it seems finances could prove a stumbling block for Inter.

Palace will be hopeful that the Nerazzurri simply cannot afford the French striker as they could really do with some more reinforcements up top.

Even if the Italian side can afford him, you would presume that regular football is a must if he is to join, as he will want to impress as much as he can before Euro 2020. With the Serie A giants having the in-form strikeforce of Lautaro Martinez and Romelu Lukaku up top, it’s hard to see where he fits in as a regular starter.

Chelsea’s forward could offer more than one solution for the Eagles. Obviously, with just 10 goals scored from 12 games – the second-fewest amount of goals scored in the league – they will want more goals from a centre-forward. Being France’s third-highest goalscorer of all time and having 78 goals in 224 appearances in the Premier Leauge, there’s no doubt he could do that. After all, this is a man who won the FIFA Puskas Award for his strike against the Eagles while an Arsenal player back in 2017.

Furthermore, with a club legend in Wilfried Zaha struggling to find his feet this season – not scoring once so far – the hold-up play of Giroud could do wonders for the Ivorian winger.

The way in which the World Cup winner could bring the winger into play is something which could really kickstart his season. He is a selfless player, as shown in the World Cup, where his name was “among the first” on the teamsheet (per Stuart James in the Guardian) for his target man capabilities despite not scoring. Looking at what he did for someone like Antoine Griezmann, bringing him in to play and giving him the ‘freedom to flourish’ according to the Guardian, the ex-Montpellier ace does look to be a strong attacking weapon to use alongside a player in a free role.

As per Transfermarkt, Zaha has scored one goal from eight games as a support striker over the course of his career, a figure which could realistically be markedly improved on if he had a target man such as Giroud to float off, as the aforementioned Frenchmen have done.

While he might cost a fair bit of money, someone of the calibre of Giroud is only going to help Palace’s problems for goals.

Even if Jordan Ayew is having a really good campaign, he simply doesn’t have the experience of the 33-year-old.

Giroud’s talents may also be a huge help for Zaha as not only will he take more pressure off the Ivorian, as they will have another star to expect goals from, but he may also be able to form a partnership with the tricky winger which could benefit him hugely on the pitch as he has done at international level.

Could you see Giroud at Palace? Join the discussion by commenting below… 

أبدي بيتسو موسيماني المدير الفني للأهلي، إعجابه بأداء محمود وحيد ظهير أيسر الأهلي خلال مباراة الاتحاد التي أقيمت أمس الخميس.

الأهلي تفوق علي الاتحاد السكندري بهدفين مقابل هدف، في المباراة التي جمعت الفريقين ضمن منافسات الجولة 20 من بطولة الدوري المصري الممتاز.

وقال موسيماني خلال تصريحات في المؤتمر الصحفي بعد المباراة: “أنا مبهور اليوم بأداء محمود وحيد، وأيضًا محمد الشناوي أدى مباراة جيدة، والسولية وديانج كانا مميزين في الارتكاز”.

وأضاف: “حسين الشحات طلب ألا يستكمل المباراة، ففضلت إراحته وأشركت محمد شريف”.

طالع | ترتيب الدوري المصري بعد فوز الأهلي والزمالك

وتابع: “سعيد بالنتيجة، قدمنا مباريات جيدة خلال الفترة الماضية، لم نفز في بعضها ولكن اليوم سجلنا هدفين وكنا أقرب لزيادة الأهداف”.

وأكمل: “ياسر إبراهيم قدم مباراة مميزة، وخروجه كان لتجهيز أيمن أشرف قبل مباريات الزمالك وصن داونز ونهضة بركان، ونفس الأمر بالنسبة لمحمد هاني، حيث فضلت خروجه بسبب الإنذارات”.

وواصل: “كنت أريد تغيير محمد مجدي أفشة لإراحته، ولكن خروج صلاح محسن للإصابة دفعني لتغيير قراري”.

وأستمر: “الهدف الذي سكن مرمى الأهلي أغضبني بشدة بسبب أنه تم تسجيله في الدقائق الأخيرة، وهذا يدل على أننا فقدنا تركيزنا بالمباراة”.

وأتم: “الزمالك وبيراميدز فقط يلعبان أمامنا (جيم مفتوح)، ولكن باقي الفرق كلها تلعب أمامنا على المرتدات، ودائمًا نتلقى أهدافًا بهذه الطريقة”.

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

Fernando Llorente was allowed to leave Tottenham Hotspur in the summer and has since joined Napoli in Serie A.

On the chalkboard

Since his departure, Spurs have been in downright terrible form.

They haven’t won in the Premier League since September and they look particularly thin up front, with Harry Kane their only out-and-out striker that isn’t the 17-year-old Troy Parrott.

Has Llorente been missed, then? One only has to look at his stats from his time in Italy to find out.

He has thus far made 10 Serie A appearances, with eight coming as a substitute, and he has scored two goals and registered one assist. Both goals came in a 4-1 thumping of Lecce in September, while the assist came against Sampdoria.

Per WhoScored, he has averaged 1.9 shots per game, 0.4 key passes, 0.1 dribbles, 0.4 dispossessions and 0.8 unsuccessful touches. He averages 9.7 passes per game, with an 81.4% accuracy, while he has yet to be recorded making a tackle.

Those stats shouldn’t be too surprising, given that they are markedly similar to last season at Spurs.

In the Premier League, he had six starts and 14 substitute appearances, scoring once and providing four assists. He averaged 1.2 shots per game, 0.7 key passes, 0.3 dribbles, 0.6 dribbles, 1.4 unsuccessful touches. He also averaged 11.2 passes with an accuracy of 66.4% and 0.2 tackles.

A burden in most cases

Llorente isn’t really missed.

Of course, he came off the bench to influence a number of matches last season and he scored the winner in that Champions League quarter-final against Manchester City while registering the assist for Lucas Moura’s hat-trick goal against Ajax.

But in the league, he rarely had much of an impact and that is being replicated in Italy.

Napoli, of course, already have Dries Mertens up front – he has seven goals in all competitions to his name – and Llorente was never likely to be anything more than a back-up.

But his statistics show that he is rarely involved and when he has the ball, he doesn’t do an awful lot with it.

Spurs’ decision to move him on looks all the wiser with every passing game – while he could have been the Plan ‘B’, apart from the occasional goal he clearly can’t be relied on to change games.

His stats, if nothing else, show that those performances against City and Ajax were the exceptions rather than the rule.

Winston Reid has been plagued with injuries since signing a six-year deal in 2017 and West Ham fans are beginning to think this is the beginning of the end of his time at the club.

Their reaction comes as a result of the centre-back once again failing to return from injury at the time anticipated, missing an under 23 EFL Trophy clash with Cheltenham Town that was meant to be his first appearance of the season.

The New Zealand international is sidelined with a knee injury he picked up against Swansea in March 2018, and despite a prolonged period out he is still not ready to return.

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It is a big blow for the 31-year-old, who had previously been a key player under managers such as Sam Allardyce and Slaven Bilic, making more than 30 appearances in five out of six seasons prior to 2017/18.

Now, even when he does return he will take time to reintegrate into the side, and with Angelo Ogbanna and Issa Diop the preferred options of Manuel Pellegrini, his Hammers career hangs in the balance.

West Hams supporters certainly think so and some have reacted with sympathy as a result, as seen in the reactions below.

Ever wondered how the Neville brothers were so successful? We imagine it doesn’t cross your mind all that often, but you’re about to find out anyway.

Phil and Gary Neville were members of the iconic Class of ’92, a band of players that were developed at Manchester United and went on to win the treble seven years later.

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Although the pair were eventually split up in 2005, when Phil exchanged Manchester for Merseyside and joined Everton, who were managed by future United manager David Moyes at the time, they won ten major trophies together including the Premier League (six times), the FA Cup (three times) and the Champions League. Gary would go on to finish his career at Old Trafford.

Indeed, to be so successful there has to be a formula, a level of desire, passion and support that constantly surrounds you for all the ups and downs fledgling pros will undoubtedly experience on their journey towards stardom, and by the sounds of it, that’s exactly what the Neville brothers enjoyed…

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Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast, former Arsenal striker John Hartson has delivered his verdict on why Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane might not have been at his best at the beginning of the 2019/20 season.

While the England captain scored twice on the opening day against Aston Villa and once against the Gunners, he drew blanks in the home matches against Newcastle United and then Crystal Palace on Saturday, and also missed a penalty while playing for his country against Kosovo.

Sky Sports did a feature only last week saying Spurs were pressing less than any other Premier League team – unusual for a Mauricio Pochettino side – and that lack of intensity starts from the front.

When asked whether he thought Kane looks sluggish this term, Hartson exclusively told FFC:

“Let’s not forget his injury at the back end of last season. I’m not sure whether he’s fully, fully, fully confident in himself in terms of his ankle.

“That could be affecting him a little bit, but he’s still a world-class player. World-class players bounce back and they prove people like me and you wrong.”

The Welshman makes a good point.

Perhaps Kane has simply realised that because of the multiple ankle issues he has suffered in the past, which have seen him miss 33 matches in the last three years according to his injury history on Transfermarkt, his role in this Tottenham team now has changed.

Maybe he simply can’t afford to chase into the channels and harry defenders as he might have done in the past, so as not to risk a recurrence of that injury.

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In that respect the onus will be on the likes of Son Heung-min, Lucas Moura and Erik Lamela to step up instead, leaving the England skipper to do what he is world-class at – sticking the ball in the back of the net.

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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… 

£3m? For an international quality centre-back who can finish like the best number nines in the world? Yes please.

Fabian Schar’s ridiculously cheap arrival at Newcastle just begins to look even better as the days go by. In this modern footballing world of inflated transfer fees, the 27-year-old’s signing appears to be one of the shrewdest pieces of business in recent memory.

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Schar enjoyed an impressive debut campaign on Tyneside last season, and became a real fans favourite with his penchant for the spectacular. His wonder strike against Burnley was arguably the pick of the bunch, and now he’s showing off his attacking skills for his country too.

The defender’s curling effort to cap off a fine team move rounded off an impressive individual performance against the Republic of Ireland in EURO 2020 qualifying, and it simply underlined the kind of gem the Magpies have on their hands.

Even in his younger days as an up-and-comer at Basel, Schar was renowned for his ball-playing abilities. Against Ireland, the Swiss defender showed the range of passing at his disposal.

His 88 touches were the second-highest of his entire team, whilst he boasted an impressive 82% pass accuracy. As well as his ability to play it on the ground, the 27-year-old looked just as impressive with trying more expansive passes, with only Granit Xhaka bettering his four accurate long balls.

But as a centre-back, the primary job is to defend of course. And Schar relished that battle too. The 6 foot 2 star won possession back eight times for Switzerland – a joint game-high. As was the case at Newcastle last season, the defender excelled in imposing himself on the opposition striker and defending on the front-foot.

If Schar continues to perform like this, then some of European football’s biggest sides will begin to take more notice. But for now, Newcastle simply have to revel in having a gem who can seemingly do it all. Defend, pass and score goals. If the Magpies could field an entire eleven composed of just the Swiss ace, Steve Bruce may well go ahead and do it.

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After the sale of Kieran Trippier this summer, Tottenham currently find themselves slightly short in the right-back department.

Serge Aurier has failed to cement himself in the first-team, leaving 22-year-old Kyle Walker-Peters as the club’s first choice full-back, despite him only making six league appearances for the club last season.

The England U21 international started all three of Spurs’ opening league fixtures, but missed the recent north London derby with a hamstring injury sustained against Newcastle at the end of August.

He is expected to return to the fold for the club’s visit of Crystal Palace this Saturday (as per The Sun), however, in a game Mauricio Pochettino’s men desperately need to win considering they haven’t picked up three points since their opening day victory against Aston Villa.

@HotspurRelated tweeted that Walker-Peters is set to return to first-team training this week ahead of Saturday’s match, though news of his potential return didn’t exactly go down too well with some fans on Twitter, who clearly feel like Aurier should be given more of a chance to prove himself this season.

Spurs fans, would you like to see Aurier given a chance this season or have you been impressed with Walker-Peters? Let us know by commenting below!

رد أحمد حسام “مبدو” على الهجوم الذي وجه إليه خلال الساعات القليلة الماضية من قبل خالد الغندور، الإعلامي بقناة نادي الزمالك، على خلفية انتقاده لفضائية القلعة البيضاء.

خالد الغندور يوجه رسالة نارية لـ ميدو: اخترت مستقبلك دون علم الزمالك والآن تعلمنا الصح!

وقال ميدو في تصريحات تلفزيونية بفضائية “النهار” عبر برنامجه “أوضة اللبس”: “بعض الجهلاء يتحدثون عن جهل، عندما تهاجم قناة النادي تتحدث رسميًا باسم النادي”.

وأضاف: “عندما يتحدث مذيع قناة النادي هذا يعني أنها تتحدث باسم مجلس الإدارة، أرجوكم أن تفهموا، بعض المغيبين يجب أن يفهموا، لا تهدموا نادي الزمالك”.

وواصل: “يقال إنني هربت من الزمالك، أنت تقول –أي كلام-، أنا أكثر لاعب في تاريخ الزمالك أدخل أموالًا للقلعة البيضاء، كنت ألعب في أكبر أندية العالم وعدت لعبت للزمالك بلا مقابل”.

واستكمل: “حصلت على أكبر الدراسات في الكرة بالعالم، وعندما يأتي مستثمر للاستثمار في مصر، يأتي لاستشارتي، من مثلي في مصر قليلون جدًا”.

وأتم في إشارة إلى خالد الغندور دون أن يذكر اسمه: “يقول إنني أعمل في نادي زد، وأنت كنت تقاتل لتتولى منصب مديرًا للكرة في النادي ذاته، وتم رفضك لأن الجميع يعلم أنك – تافه – ولا تصلح لتولي المسؤولية”.

واختتم: “لا تنطق باسم ميدو مرة أخرى، اسمع كلامي”.