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[ad_pod ]Wayne Rooney, Manchester City’s bane.The former Manchester United forward absolutely loved a goal against City. Even as you read this, City fans, you’re probably reminiscing about a particular time he slotted one past you at the Etihad or Old Trafford. A certain overhead kick springs mind, for example.Cast your minds back to Monday 21 August 2017 when Rooney travelled to the Etihad, this time in the royal blue of Everton. It took just 35 minutes before he netted his 200th Premier League goal after some sloppy play from Leroy Sane gifted him the opportunity on a silver platter.Rooney’s Premier League goalscoring days may be over now, unless something truly remarkable, and nigh on impossible, happens at Derby County (where he is due to arrive in January), but his top memories will last forever.Especially those conveniently documented on his camera roll, as he’s recently proven in a hilarious throwback photo…

Bowling, Wayne. Bowling indeed.

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Rangers have been ordered by UEFA to close at least 3,000 seats for the return leg of their tie with Legia Warsaw, and the fans have been split into two camps.

The closure relates to “racist behaviour, which includes sectarian singing” from supporters during the clash against St. Joseph’s last month.

The European football governing body have also threatened further punishment, including full stadium closure and a big fine, should there be a further breach from the club.

The greatest player ever to grace the Scottish Premiership is revealed in the video below…

The ruling means the Ibrox capacity will be reduced for the vital Europa League play-off with the Poles next week, with the tie in the balance at 0-0. The partial closure and clear warning from UEFA has split the Gers fans into two camps.

Some believe that there’s no problem with their songbook and that the governing body are out of order with their ban, poking their nose somewhere they don’t belong.

Others think that it will be a big positive for the club if they can move past some of the chants that they’ve been penalised for.

Here’s how the split fanbase reacted to the punishment on Twitter:

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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…

Following Aston Villa’s 6-1 drubbing of League Two outfit Crewe Alexandra in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday evening, their former striker Darren Bent has claimed that he is excited by Keinan Davis, but describes the situation surrounding him as tough.

What’s he said?

Davis was one of the five goalscorers that netted in the 6-1 win, but it was only his fourth goal in a Villa shirt in 44 appearances, per Transfermarkt.

The 21-year-old made his debut in an FA Cup defeat against Tottenham Hotspur in 2017 and only managed to play seven matches under current Villa boss Dean Smith last season.

Find out which Premier League stadium has been ranked the worst in the video below…

Wesley was signed by the club for a record £22m this summer, so game time may be a rarity this season, but Bent would like to see a lot more of him.

He told Football Insider:

“You’d hope so, you’d like to think so. It’s tough.

“I’m always wanting youngsters to play but it’s tough when a team’s just been promoted in the Premier League, it’s a fine line between staying up and developing young players.

“Hopefully we’ll see a lot a more of him and hopefully at some stage, he can force his way into the team and the squad every week.”

Valuable backup

Although it may remain unlikely for Davis to cement his name as Villa’s leading man this season, his role and place amongst the squad shouldn’t be underestimated.

Smith only has two senior strikers at his disposal, one a summer arrival and the other a player that has injury doubts hanging over his head as Jonathan Kodjia hasn’t been seen recently due to an ankle problem.

Watch Aston Villa Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

The Villa boss also wanted to keep hold of Davis for this coming campaign instead of letting him develop elsewhere, so surely he has plans for the young 6 foot 3 forward.

He’s still only 21 despite being around the first-team setup for around three seasons now, so it’s not as if he would be completely out of his depth.

After all, a goal against Crewe should certainly help his cause in the coming weeks.

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He really does have a liking for scoring some impressive goals doesn’t he? Fabian Schar added another fine strike to his collection on Thursday as Switzerland were held to a 1-1 draw by the Republic of Ireland in their EURO 2020 qualifying clash.

The Newcastle man has already shown his penchant for some absolute screamers in his time at St. James’ Park, and it appears he does the exact same for his country too.

The centre-back finished off a flowing team move with a curling strike from just inside the box, and reminded everyone why he could probably play further forward in the team.

After seeing the 27-year-old’s latest beauty, Newcastle fans flooded to Twitter to shower the former Basel man with praise.

Many supporters of the Tyneside club suggested Schar could be the side’s new number nine, and wondered whether they should “chuck him up front” for the next game.

Some Magpies fans insisted if a transfer offer ever came in for the defender, they wouldn’t be happy with “a penny under £1billion”.

Check out some of the reaction of Newcastle fans 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… 

Wolves’ Premier League season has been far from that of their Europa League campaign so far this year.

Nuno Santo’s men have struggled to pick up traction, drawing three and losing one of their four league matches – potentially a by-product of the added strain that competing in Europe can bring, where they’ve actually won all of their six games.

It is a common theme for teams to suffer in the league at the expense of the more prestigious competition, especially for a club of Wolves’ stature having not competed in Europe for nearly 40 years.

They’ll be hoping they can buck that trend and follow up on last season’s seventh-place finish in the league.

Nuno will have to resolve one thing, however.

Watch Wolverhampton Wanderers Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

On the Chalkboard

Their main man Raul Jimenez has been a workhorse in 2019, playing over 40 times for club and country, which will only increase after this international break having been called up to play for Mexico.

His performance against Everton, even with him scoring a goal, was the first time he possibly showed some effect from playing so many matches this calendar year – which is merely a microcosm of how Wolves seem to be at the minute anyway.

WhoScored’s heatmap shows his positions from that game, and it’s a worrying sign.

He’s barely getting involved in the box, whether that is a sign of the player himself or of his service remains to be seen, but other statistics show he is some way off the mark this season in comparison to last term.

In the 18/19 season, Jimenez averaged 2.9 shots per game, but this campaign he is recording just 2.5 and the problem lies even deeper than that with a decrease coming from inside the penalty area.

The 28-year-old had two shots per match on average last season, which has gone down by 0.2 to a lower 1.8.

That isn’t a good sign considering all of his goals, per Understat’s xG model, have come from inside the area.

Nuno needs to find a way of resolving this soon or he may face a sustained period of decline in the Premier League, which won’t help Wolves achieve their ambitions considering he is their main man.

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Southampton travel to Bramall Lane this Saturday to take on a Sheffield United side who have made a wonderful start to life back in the Premier League.

Chris Wilder’s side have taken five points from their first four games, including a win over Crystal Palace and a spirited fightback against Chelsea to snatch a 2-2 draw late on at Stamford Bridge having been 2-0 down.

The likes of Callum Robinson and John Lundstram have impressed, having already scored this term, although there is one unsung hero who Saints midfielder Pierre-Emile Højbjerg must keep under wraps.

Who is it?

Oliver Norwood. The Blades string-puller sits in the middle of the park and helps Wilder’s team tick along nicely, doing an excellent job in numerous departments.

As you can see, the 28-year-old is an important cog in front of the United backline, who tend to go all over the place in Wilder’s unique overlapping centre-back system. Norwood records decent defensive numbers – 2.5 tackles and 1.8 interceptions per game – but the fact that he also registers an average of 2.3 key passes per game and the most passes per game of any Blades player (58.8) shows his ability to orchestrate play.

We recently detailed how Ralph Hasenhuttl should stick with his 4-2-2-2 formation to combat the Blades’ 3-5-2, by packing the midfield and looking to press the midfielders into making errors, where the Saints can then take advantage of the space vacated by the roaming centre-backs.

Højbjerg is pivotal to this happening. The 24-year-old midfielder averages some decent defensive numbers with 1.5 tackles per game and 1.8 interceptions per game, while his sheer energy makes him the Saints’ best chance of pressing Sheffield United into a mistake; his midfield partner Oriol Romeu averages two more tackles per game in fairness, but is simply too slow across the ground to be able to press effectively.

It is likely that the centre-backs won’t be pushed on when Southampton are in possession, so it is important that Hasenhuttl’s side catch the Blades by surprise and win the ball back while they are pushing players forward – especially the centre-halves.

Højbjerg has a vital role then, in turning defence into attack.

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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… 

Nottingham Forest have begun the season well under Sabri Lamouchi.

He replaced Martin O’Neill out of the blue at the end of June after reports of a player revolt.

His first game in charge was a disappointing home defeat in front of the TV cameras to Midlands rivals West Brom, but since then the Reds have gone unbeaten with their most impressive result coming at the weekend, beating league leaders Swansea City on their own patch.

It was even more exceptional considering the Welsh side, at the time, were the highest scorers in the league and Forest had gone there and claimed their second league clean sheet of the season.

Lewis Grabban has since come out and praised their defence because it has allowed forwards like himself the opportunity to thrive due to the freedom further up the pitch, he said:

“We’ve been solid this season, in terms of our defensive line. That’s been a strong point.

“It also gives confidence to the forwards to go do what you want to do and it will be safe there.

“You do play with a bit more freedom because of that”

On the Chalkboard

Now Grabban has been able to make full use of that, netting four goals so far this season but one man that is yet to get going is Joe Lolley – and he could well be the team’s most influential man.

The 27-year-old scored and assisted 11 goals apiece last term, playing a part in all 46 Championship matches as Forest missed the playoffs by some eight points.

Watch Nottingham Forest Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

After six appearances this campaign he’s only managed one in each department, but there is still plenty of football to be played and his teammate’s comments about ‘freedom’ should light up his eyes.

Lolley’s last two starts show some sort of progression in that sense, though, he could do with coming inside more often to fully get a grip as the team’s playmaking and goalscoring wing wizard.

Against Fulham, he managed just one shot and 39 touches of the ball with his heat map primarily being focussed on the flanks alone.

While the one below shows his performance a week later versus Preston North End, playing on the right-hand side of midfield again, where his touches increased to 55, and his presence is shown much closer to the penalty area.

That’s where you want him to be if he’s going to hit the heights of last season – he will only be buoyed by Grabban’s latest comments.

If Lolley can find the increased freedom the forward is talking about then it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if he returned to form in the immediate future.

[ad_pod ]It was a case of so close, yet so far for Crystal Palace against Wolves on Sunday.They led 1-0 for much of the game thanks to a Leander Dendoncker own goal. In fact, they were ahead of their opponents until the last kick of the game, when Diogo Jota equalised for the away side at Selhurst Park.It was not as though the Eagles did not have chances to put the game beyond the visitors. Christian Benteke and Jeffrey Schlupp both found themselves one-on-one with Rui Patricio, but they were unable to convert, which left the door open to a late equalizer.Watch Crystal Palace Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Schlupp’s performance, in particular, did not go down well with his team’s supporters, and they were very quick to criticize the 26-year-old. The Ghana international will no doubt be hoping to improve in the next game.

The supporters took 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 In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets… 

For Marcelo Bielsa and Leeds, the problems are beginning to mount.

It may not define their season as Liam Cooper alluded to after the game but a first away defeat of the campaign and the same old issues lingering around suggests the pressure is slightly on.

Leeds were again dominant – something that seems to be a key theme of their current term. Against Derby and Swansea they had over 60% of the possession but against Charlton it was over 70%.

19 shots were taken and none of them went in, not even Helder Costa could produce when it mattered.

Leeds fans have been calling for his inclusion in recent weeks and after their timid display against the Rams, it had never been so evident that they needed some extra quality after hitting the post and missing a penalty.

After all, this is a player who was involved in 29 goals for Wolves in the Championship over two seasons.

An injury to Pablo Hernandez meant he was finally given a chance to start in the league but after all of the hype surrounding him, he failed to live up to expectation.

Costa has been a revelation at times for the Whites in 2019/20, establishing a relationship with Eddie Nketiah that’s seen them combine for two goals – that’s half of the total contributions the Portuguese has been involved in.

Yet, versus Charlton, that creativity and goal threat wasn’t there.

He lost the ball as many as 17 times as he failed to deliver the goods in what was an unacceptable display for what has been expected of him.

The 25-year-old didn’t have a single shot on target while he failed to produce an accurate cross despite playing all 90 minutes, via SofaScore.

Perhaps this was evidence of why he hadn’t yet started in the league and after this performance, he’ll have to work harder to ensure he stays in the team.

In the League Cup this season he’s averaged three successful dribbles but on this occasion, he only managed one as the Wolves loanee was anonymous for large spells at the Valley.

Leeds have had issues when it comes to creativity, particularly from Jack Harrison who has managed just three accurate crosses from 37 this season.

Costa, however, doesn’t look like solving that for the time being.

West Brom face one of their toughest tests yet as they head to Elland Road looking to stretch their unbeaten start to life under Slaven Bilic to a tenth straight league outing.

Leeds will surely be baying for vengeance after their underwhelming defeat at Charlton Athletic on Saturday while the Baggies can take encouragement from picking up their first clean sheet of the season away to Queens Park Rangers.

Marcelo Bielsa’s side have the best defensive record in the division, even despite losing at the weekend, as they have conceded only five goals.

Given that information, should the Croatian make any vast changes to a side that is yet to taste defeat themselves?

Summer arrival Charlie Austin cost the club £4m from Southampton, but so far he’s yet to make a significant impact, failing to score in any of his five league starts.

Fellow forward Kenneth Zohore has hardly lit up the Hawthorns either with both his goals this campaign coming from penalties – he also didn’t feature at the weekend.

Watch West Bromwich Albion Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Instead, the returning Hal Robson-Kanu was the favoured substitute, and he looked lively when he was introduced for the final 30 minutes.

It was the 30-year-old who won the free-kick which resulted in their second goal, and given his experience in this division, he could well be needed for a fixture like this one – Robson-Kanu has made a total of 213 appearances in the Championship.

The only other change Bilic should make is reintroducing Kyle Edwards at Grady Diangana’s expense – the Albion youth product would offer more defensively as he concedes fewer fouls and has been dribbled past on less occasions, per WhoScored.

Diangana has been most effective as a super-sub since joining the club on loan from West Ham – two of his three goals and both assists have come after being subbed on – so he could be an ideal option to make Bielsa pay in the second half.

The rest of the side needs to remain unchanged especially after picking up the first clean sheet of the season, even with Kieran Gibbs lurking around the starting fold after his return from injury.