All posts by h716a5.icu

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This summer, Leeds brought in six players on loan from various clubs. The trouble with that, however, is that only five of them can be included in the matchday squad.

Initially, Eddie Nketiah missed out against Nottingham Forest but after scoring against Salford, Jack Clarke was the unfortunate victim of the five loan ruling against Wigan.

He was left at home as the Whites travelled to the Latics in what was a 2-0 win.

On the face of it, his loan back from Tottenham after a move earlier this summer feels rather worthless, especially if he won’t get the game time and it seems as though Leeds supporters have similar sentiments, sharing their thoughts on the winger.

The 18-year-old was branded a broken man as his temporary switch to Elland Road was described as a pointless loan. Another word to describe the situation was wasted.

One fan expressed his concerns by suggesting that since he’d moved to a Premier League club he’d lost confidence.

Clarke started just four times in the Championship last term, scoring twice and assisting a further two strikes, per WhoScored. His end product has been somewhat unpredictable, completing just 0.4 crosses per 90 minutes throughout 2018/19.

An improvement on that this term seems unlikely if game time continues to be restricted.

Here’s the best of the debate.

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Not so boring after all, eh?

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

Tottenham Hotspur have entered into talks over a January deal for Juventus forward Paulo Dybala, per Football Insider.

What’s the word?

Spurs made a move to sign Dybala in the summer, sources confirmed to Football FanCast, with there actually being a confidence a deal could be struck on deadline day.

Image rights complications saw the deal collapse, however, per sources, and Football Insider now reports that Spurs remain in contact with Juve.

Of course, the Italian giants have a longer transfer window in which to operate and could yet sell him before the end of the month, with the report stating that PSG are interested in securing his signature too.

Watch Tottenham Hotspur Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Sensible behaviour

This makes complete sense.

The report claims that Daniel Levy, the Spurs chairman, has been in talks with Juve.

Indeed, this is not as though he has had to completely restart negotiations.

The next week will clearly be crucial – PSG could well kill this plan stone dead – but Spurs’ proactivity should impress fans, particularly following their poor result against Newcastle United on Sunday.

Perhaps the 23-cap Argentine could well be in the XI for the return fixture next year, and perhaps he could stop them losing 1-0 all over again.

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After a barn-storming performance and result against Chelsea to kick off the Premier League campaign, Manchester United have suffered a major dip in form.

The Red Devils followed up a shock defeat to Crystal Palace with a 1-1 draw away at ten-man Southampton, and it means the club have picked up just five points from their opening four league games.

However, one silver lining for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side has been the explosive start enjoyed by summer signing Daniel James, who notched his third Premier League goal of the campaign at St Mary’s.

The strike means he has already equalled Alexis Sanchez’s record of three league goals, although it took the Chilean 45 games to do so himself.

Despite the disappointing draw to Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side, United fans took to Twitter to hail James for his eye-catching performance.

Many supporters of the Manchester side hailed the 21-year-old’s work on the wing, with the Welshman registering five shots and a joint game-high six crosses.

Some United fans admitted James may have been the only positive from the game, and labelled him an “absolute baller”.

Check out some of the reaction of United fans below:

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Bailey Peacock-Farrell is not concerned that his decision to switch Leeds United for Burnley will backfire, because the chance to secure a Premier League transfer was too good of an opportunity to refuse, as told to The Times.

The Northern Ireland international had been on the Whites’ books since 2013 (TransferMarkt), but opted to leave the Elland Road outfit in August after it became clear that assurances of first-team football would not be on the cards any time soon with Marcelo Bielsa favouring Kiko Casilla (Yorkshire Evening Post).

Peacock-Farrell is now facing yet another stretch waiting to be awarded minutes between the posts after joining Burnley for £2.5million (BBC), as his arrival at Turf Moor as the replacement for Tom Heaton – who joined Aston Villa – saw the 22-year-old go from Casilla’s understudy at Leeds to third choice under Sean Dyche.

The jump from Championship football to Premier League status has somewhat been negated by this, as the Darlington-born shot-stopper is behind one-time England international Nick Pope and long-time Three Lions number one Joe Hart.

The Times note that many saw this as a reason to question his decision to quit the Whites, but Peacock-Farrell has explained his thought process behind his decision.

“It was a jump that I wasn’t expecting to make so soon, but it came about and I couldn’t turn it down,” Peacock-Farrell said. “I’m really happy to be there. I’m enjoying the day in, day out training and working with two experienced and very good goalkeepers in front of me.

“Nick Pope has been called into the England squad and Joe Hart was England number one for a long time, won the Golden Glove in the Premier League and played a ridiculous amount of top-flight games. I’ll learn a lot from them and believe it is a place where I can grow.”

Only time will tell if Peacock-Farrell made the right decision in quitting Leeds to become a third-choice goalkeeper at a Premier League club, but the Northern Ireland international’s explanation would suggest he did not feel he would develop in the same manner had he opted to remain Casilla’s number two.

On the other hand, opting to take a place on the bench over fighting for the number one jersey can just as easily hamper his progress, as he now needs both men ahead of him in Dyche’s pecking order to endure a poor run of form – or injuries – to even be in contention for consideration, let alone selection.

Leeds fans, would you have preferred to have seen Peacock-Farrell replace Casilla your number one this season instead of selling the now Burnley goalkeeper? Let us know in the comments below…

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Joe Willock is clearly a part of Unai Emery’s plans for this term and beyond.

The 20-year-old has started three of the first four games this campaign, and there has now been another exciting development in regards to his future.

Arsenal have confirmed that the midfielder has signed a new contract with the club.

Whilst the exact length of the deal has not been revealed, it is said to be long-term in nature.

Gunners fans, as a result, should be seeing a lot more of Willock, who has been with the team since the age of four, in the coming months.

How do football vloggers afford to watch their team week in, week out? Find out in the video below…

There has been plenty of reaction from Arsenal fans, and they seem to be delighted by the north London outfit’s move to tie Willock down.

Loads of supporters have taken to Twitter to share their thoughts, and you can see some of the best comments from the social media platform below.

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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… 

Napoli promise to offer a stern attacking threat but Jurgen Klopp should be confident in his defence and maintain the regular back four who have started the season.

On the chalkboard

Liverpool boasted the best defensive record in the Premier League last year with 21 clean sheets and for the most part they have maintained their solidity so far this season, though they have conceded in four of their five league matches.

That could partly be due to the loss of Alisson, whose organisation and ability on the ball – he achieved 80% pass accuracy last term – can be just as important as his shot-stopping – Adrian comparatively gifted Southampton a goal by passing straight to Danny Ings.

Having played Napoli twice last season, Klopp will be aware of the main strengths they possess, with pace in attack through Lorenzo Insigne and Dries Mertens, as well as a preference to keep ahold of the ball, as their average of 57% possession from three Serie A games evidences.

As a result, the German could be tempted to go with a more defensive approach by deploying Joe Gomez at right-back ahead of Trent Alexander-Arnold, a change he deployed at the Nou Camp last season with disastrous results, as the Reds lost 3-0.

The former Charlton player also featured there in the group stage defeats against Paris Saint-Germain and Red Star Belgrade – a worrying trend, then.

Attacking threat

The decision to leave Alexander-Arnold out of that fixture not only unsettled the defence, but stifled Liverpool’s attacking threat on the right flank, which was reflected in the scoreline, and Klopp cannot afford to make a similar mistake against Napoli.

It will be a difficult task for the 20-year-old to come up against Insigne, who has two goals and two assists in three games, and Klopp could fear that his inexperience and lack of awareness could cost his side.

After all, the right-back has been caught out of position in each of his last two games, failing to get back to prevent Kosovo’s second goal against England, before struggling to cover the run of Jetro Willems on Saturday, who then turned him too easily and found the top corner.

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Much of that is due to his hunger to get forward. He made seven key passes against Newcastle and attempted 15 crosses, which showed he spent a lot of time in the opposition’s half, and he can’t afford to do that at the San Paolo.

However, if Klopp instructs him to focus more on the defensive side of his game then he should be more than adequate, as he was last season when Liverpool only conceded once.

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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… 

After Thursday night, it appears Wolves’ domestic woes have now crept into the Europa League and that’s something they don’t want happening at this early stage in the season.

Braga came to town and ran away with all three points as Nuno Santo’s men lost their Group K opener.

The Portuguese outfit were rewarded with a gift as Ryan Bennett misplaced a pass straight into the path of Wenderson Galeno, who handed it off to Ricardo Horta to fire home in the 71st minute.

It was only the visitor’s second shot on target in the entire match as Wolves succumbed to a third straight defeat in all competitions.

Watch Wolverhampton Wanderers Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

On the Chalkboard

One player that has started all three of those matches is Leander Dendoncker, which isn’t a coincidence.

He was hauled off at half-time against Chelsea as he put in the worst performance of his season, recording a lowly rating of just 5.78.

And now he’s done himself no favours here as yet another disappointing showing has ensued.

The Belgian international registered a poor passing success rate of 68.2% whilst managing just one successful tackle – you’d expect more from a defensive midfielder.

Much of Wolves’ misery can be attributed to their midfield as it appears they are getting completely overrun, thus inviting the pressure on their own net.

They’ve conceded nine goals from their last three matches which is astounding considering Nuno sets his team up with three centre-backs, two wing-backs, and two defensive-minded midfielders.

Dendoncker should have been dropped for this match against Braga, but going forward now his place amongst the starting XI is surely hanging in the balance.

In their qualifying run, Romain Saiss played the full 90 minutes in their last four games which included a vital result against Torino, probably the best side they have faced this season considering they ply their trade in Serie A.

The Wolves boss is bringing it on himself in some ways, his stubbornness to change from his usual ways may ultimately cost them this season – Nuno only used a bare minimum of 19 players last season.

With so many games each week, he needs to rotate, and he certainly can’t afford to carry passengers whilst in a rut like this.

Dendoncker is proving to be exactly that in recent times – therefore, he must be dropped.

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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… 

Nottingham Forest moved to top place in the Championship for the first time in five years as they came from behind to defeat a winless Stoke City side on Friday evening.

Lewis Grabban netted his fifth of the current campaign while Joe Lolley, who opened the scoring, and Sammy Ameobi, who picked up his first goal for the club, also got on the scoresheet as the Reds ran out 3-2 winners.

Their time at the league’s summit was short-lived with the majority of the second-tier playing their fixtures on Saturday afternoon.

Despite the victory, there was one negative as captain Michael Dawson picked up an injury just after the half-hour mark which saw him replaced by Chema Rodriguez for his first taste of Championship action.

Manager Sabri Lamouchi revealed after the match that the 35-year-old has a calf problem so he will sit out their midweek fixture against Blackburn Rovers and that he is also likely to miss Saturday’s game with Brentford at the City Ground.

This could come as a major worry if his substitute’s performance is anything to go by.

Chema has only started one game since joining the club from La Liga outfit Levante, and that was a 5-0 whitewash at the hands of Arsenal last week.

The 27-year-old was on the pitch for the best part of an hour and was one of the players at fault for allowing James McClean to glance home Stoke’s second of the game.

He also lost possession three times, won just one of his four aerial duels, made no tackles, and recorded a passing accuracy of only 50%, per SofaScore.

Watch Nottingham Forest Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Forest have kept three clean sheets in the Championship this season, and Dawson’s partnership with the young Joe Worrall has been imperative to that as they both have started all nine matches.

Chema’s poor showing must be a particular concern going into next week, even more so considering their other centre-back options have rarely been seen this season.

Alexander Milosevic, Tobias Figueiredo, Michael Hefele, and Yohan Benalouane have been anonymous figures recording just three appearances between them.

Leeds United winger Jack Clarke looks set to retain his place in the squad for their fixture against West Brom tonight.

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Having been an unused substitute against Charlton at the weekend, the 18-year-old will be on the bench once again when the Whites take on the league leaders at Elland Road, according to a report from Football Insider.

The academy graduate was sold by the West Yorkshire side in the summer, with Premier League outfit Tottenham Hotspur paying around £10 million for the youngster.

However, as part of the deal Clarke was loaned straight back to Leeds for the 2019/20 season in order for him to continue his development.

As of yet, he has failed to make any sort of impact on the first team squad this term. Marcelo Bielsa hasn’t given him a single minute of action in the Championship, and he hasn’t even been in the matchday squad for six of their nine games. So far his only appearances have been in the Carabao Cup against Salford City and Stoke City respectively.

But with Pablo Hernandez currently missing through injury, it has given Clarke the opportunity to get back into the squad and he will hope that Bielsa opts to get him on the pitch at some point throughout the match.

He should be fresh, as he was substituted at half-time in the under-23s’ 2-1 defeat to Crewe Alexandra on Monday at Thorp Arch.

Being back in the squad is good news for Clarke, who made 25 appearances for the club as he made his breakthrough last season.

But if he does get on the pitch at any point, then he needs to take his chance and impress Bielsa if he wants to complete the full season at Elland Road. If he doesn’t then he could well be recalled by Tottenham in January as it is thought they have the option to do so written into the contract.

Leeds fans, does Clarke have a role to play at Elland Road this season? Join the discussion by commenting below!