All posts by n8rngtd.top

Southampton have sold plenty of players who have gone on to bigger and better things, with Virgil van Dijk and Sadio Mane starring for Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool, and Gareth Bale having now won it all at Real Madrid.

That comes with being the club that they are, and it can be accepted when someone who has impressed makes a significant upgrade.

However, Dusan Tadic is one who would have surprised many people with how his form skyrocketed after his move.

He left St Mary’s Stadium in a £10m move to Ajax in 2018, coming off the back of just six goals and three assists throughout the Premier League season.

Throughout his entire Saints career, he only managed 24 goals and 35 assists in 162 games.

However, his time in Amsterdam could not have been more impressive, leaving many fans wondering where that form was for them.

In just 204 games for the Dutch giants, he has accumulated 188 goal contributions, with his astounding 2018/19 season shocking the world of football.

He lit up the Eredivisie and the Champions League, scoring 34 times and assisting 18 across 46 games in both competitions.

During this campaign, he even captained the side on occasion, and instantly the £10m fee started to look like a steal. He was instrumental in their league win, and they were a late collapse away from reaching the final of Europe’s elite competition.

Many from the south coast were left scratching their heads following this season, which was obviously no fluke given his career stats for the club.

He is now a proven star in both the Netherlands and European competitions, completely breaking free from whatever held him back in England.

James Masters even called him a big upgrade on the revered Adam Lallana, labelling him “magic” at the time of his arrival at the club.

Although they saw glimpses, he never reached anywhere near the contribution that Ajax received from him. He has become a star and one that seemingly got away from the Saints.

They are not often left thinking they should have held onto players, as it is often out of their control. Perhaps they should think twice before binning off someone with clearly so much talent; his best season could be just around the corner.

Leicester City are plotting a move to sign Universidad De Chile winger Dario Osorio, according to reports.

The Lowdown: Attracting interest

The Foxes are currently sitting at rock bottom of the Premier League after a disappointing start to the new season so are desperately in need of attacking reinforcements.

The 18-year-old has been attracting interest from all across Europe after an impressive campaign under Rafael Dudamel, and it sounds like Brendan Rodgers is considering bringing him to the King Power Stadium.

The Latest: Leicester monitoring Osorio

According to 90min, Leicester, alongside the likes of Wolves, Brighton and Brentford, have ‘scouted’ Osorio, and are showing a ‘real interest’ in his progress.

The report adds that Wolves are the club that have ‘won the race’ for his signature, however, there is yet to be any confirmation that an offer has been accepted.

The Verdict: One for the future

Osorio appears to be a star in the making so could be a perfect signing for the future for Leicester where he could then work his way up through the ranks and into the first team setup.

The ‘flamboyant’ teenager, as labelled by football talent scout Jacek Kulig, netted six goals last season and already has two international caps for Chile to his name, which is a great achievement for someone still so young.

Should the Foxes land him, it might be a good idea to initially send him out on a development loan to get him used to the English playing style, where he could then return to fight for a senior spot in the Midlands.

Glasgow Rangers strolled to another straightforward Premiership win this afternoon at Ibrox.

The Light Blues defeated St Mirren 4-0 to record their third consecutive league victory, and Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men are building momentum ahead of a busy few weeks prior to the World Cup.

Goals from Antonio Colak (who else?) and James Tavernier gave the Gers a routine two-goal lead at the interval, and the onus was on the home side to score as many as possible in the second half.

Two more goals arrived, but it took Rangers until the last 20 minutes to get them. Colak notched his fourth league brace of the campaign while Fashion Sakala repaid Van Bronckhorst with a nice finish to round off the win.

There were plenty of great performances, but yet again it was captain James Tavernier who stood up and inspired the team.

Tavernier was excellent against St Mirren

Tavernier once again set the standard for this Rangers side and he received a SofaScore rating of 8.5, just behind Sakala and Colak (both 8.8).

The captain took 125 touches during the match, the highest number in the team (22 more than Borna Barisic), and proved that he always wanted to get involved and try and drive on the Gers to create as many opportunities as possible.

Rangers Review journalist Joshua Barrie praised Tavernier following a solid first-half performance, saying that he was “making a good impact infield”, allowing Sakala to do the majority of the work on the right wing.

His positional play seemed to work to excellent effect, with the right back winning five out of his six duels, making two key passes and having three shots on target, and he was unlucky not to add to his goal tally.

Even when he did move into wide positions deep into the opposition area, the Englishman made four successful crosses and succeeded with his only dribble attempt.

It was another solid team effort, keeping a clean sheet and giving the Ibrox crowd a few goals to cheer.

The result will be a confidence booster for Van Bronckhorst’s side ahead of Liverpool’s visit to Glasgow on Wednesday night, and with a boisterous home crowd awaiting them, the result could well be different from the one at Anfield.

Journalist Samuel Luckhurst has hailed Antony’s performance in Manchester United’s 2-1 win at Everton, claiming that it is his best for the club so far.

The Lowdown: Big win for United

Erik ten Hag’s side needed to bounce back from their mauling at the hands of Manchester City and they did exactly that at Goodison Park on Sunday night.

Despite falling behind to Alex Iwobi’s curler in the fifth minute, United eventually picked up all three points, with Antony equalising shortly afterwards and Cristiano Ronaldo scoring the winner just before halt-time.

It was the former who arguably shone as much as anyone for the Red Devils, as he not only found the net but also won four ground duels and played three key passes.

The Latest: Luckhurst praises Antony

Taking to Twitter, Luckhurst thought that Antony produced his finest performance yet in a United shirt.

The Manchester Evening News reporter shared a column from that publication after the win over Everton and tweeted:

“Last night was Antony’s best performance for #mufc by a distance. Ten Hag on what he improved – and can still improve.”

The Verdict: Very promising start

Having only signed for United at the end of the summer transfer window, Antony has taken little time to make his mark, already scoring three times in as many Premier League games.

He is providing exactly the end product which was required in a new attacking signing, scoring consistently and also producing an impressive work ethic that Ten Hag has been demanding from him.

On this evidence, United have signed a real gem of a player in Antony, and he is looking like someone who could mature into a truly formidable player over the years.

A power cut at Elland Road couldn’t stop VAR from having a major say in Leeds United’s latest defeat as they were beaten by Premier League leaders Arsenal in a drama-filled affair in west Yorkshire.

The Gunners took the lead after a 38-minute delay in the match through Bukayo Saka, who fired home from an acute angle after Martin Odegaard slotted him in past Jesse Marsch’s hapless backline.

Patrick Bamford then could have levelled it for the home side after William Saliba was judged to have handled inside the area following a VAR check but the Englishman, who was subbed on at half-time, fired wide.

The Whites had other chances before a controversial moment in the dying moments of the match. Gabriel looked to have kicked out at Bamford, which led to the referee sending him off but it was overturned after another VAR check and actually resulted in a free-kick to the visitors instead.

Leeds, now winless in six, were made to pay after a costly error from Rodrigo. It was his audacious cross-field ball that ended up at the feet of Saka, rather than his own teammate, and the Gunners winger played a nice one-two with Odegaard before bagging the match-winner.

A moment that led to journalist Beren Cross slamming the 31-year-old for having a “shocker.”

“Arsenal score. Rodrigo with a shocker. Tries a bizarre cross-field curled pass across the width of the field to Struijk, towards his own goal, where Saka is waiting to pounce,” he tweeted.

At the other end of the pitch, the £100k-per-week Spaniard proved just as wasteful, failing to get any of his three shots on target, whilst he also lost possession of the ball six times from just 27 touches – the fewest of any Leeds starter, including goalkeeper Illan Meslier (33), which shows just how ineffective he was in leading the line.

Marsch clearly agreed as it was the £27m dud who made way for Bamford at half-time.

The Athletic’s Phil Hay also described Rodrigo’s moment of pure madness as the “most stupid” pass you’ll see, with his colleague Gunnerblog deeming it to be “insanity.”

It was clear that his confidence was shot from that point onwards as Rodrigo endured an absolute nightmare at Elland Road and given Bamford’s impact from the bench – despite missing a vital spot kick –  he will be lucky to keep his place amongst the starting XI when Leeds head to Leicester City on Thursday night.

AND in other news, Left for nothing, now worth £6m: Orta had a nightmare on Leeds’ £42k-p/w “firework”…

Leeds United have made plenty of high-profile transfers over their illustrious history, many of which were bound to be blunders.

However, trawling back to before their 2004 relegation, there were a clear number of missteps that resulted in their surprise demotion.

Whilst one might be losing key men, another certainly has to be some of their questionable incomings that financially hampered the club.

One such transfer was when David O’Leary decided to fork out £4m in 1999 on Darren Huckerby.

Brought in to solve their striker crisis, he offered little in the way of goals across his season-and-a-half stay in Yorkshire.

Having just scored a respectable nine Premier League goals for Coventry City the season prior to his move, it was thought he might provide an answer to their prayers.

Instead, he would score just six times across 56 appearances for the Whites and would be shipped off no sooner than he had arrived.

The fact they managed to recoup anything for him was sensational, given how awful he was for them.

Regardless, they still had to pay £650k for every goal he scored for the club before his exit.

It is clear that he was not solely disappointing for O’Leary though, as he butted heads with Glenn Roeder during his stint at Norwich City.

He had just produced what he described as a “horrendous” performance, something which Leeds fans would be well used to, to which he received a dressing down far worse than anything he had ever received from a manager before.

To his credit, whilst playing at Elland Road he was competing with the likes of Alan Smith, Mark Viduka and Michael Bridges, who are some of the better strikers that have graced that pitch.

However, when he was handed the chance to be their main man, he floundered.

It marked a shocking piece of business, which surely will have contributed to their need to sell off their key assets.

This would end in relegation, whilst Huckerby actually scored a respectable 31 goals in 82games for Manchester City, only adding further insult to injury.

Leeds United return to action in the Premier League this afternoon as they play host to Fulham at Elland Road with the aim of ending their run of three straight defeats.

The Whites are without a win in their last seven top-flight matches and are level on points with two of the bottom three sides in the table, although it would take a six-goal defeat to send them into the drop zone on goal difference if the sides around them fail to pick up points.

Jesse Marsch may look to alter his side in order to stop the rot and get the team back to winning ways and we are predicting that he will make three changes to the XI from the 2-0 defeat to Leicester City.

Pascal Struijk, Liam Cooper, and Jack Harrison could all return to action, in place of Junior Firpo, Robin Koch, and Crysencio Summerville.

Starting off at the back, the club captain may have earned himself a starting berth after an impressive showing off the bench in the defeat to Leicester.

The Scotland international came on at half-time for Koch, after the German defender scored an own goal, and recorded a SofaScore rating of 7.5 as he won five of his six individual battles and helped Leeds to keep a clean sheet in the second half.

At left-back, Struijk could return to replace Firpo.

The Dutchman has been deployed as a full-back, away from his more natural position in the middle of the defence, of late and he could replace the former Barcelona man, who lost a whopping nine of his 12 individual duels and was dribbled past three times against Leicester.

It has been reported that the 23-year-old is set to be available for selection after missing the match against the Foxes and he could now come in for the underperforming £42k-per-week Spaniard.

Finally, we are predicting that Harrison will return on the wing.

The former Manchester City gem, who reporter James Marshment previously described as “irreplaceable”, has created five ‘big chances’ in total and produced 2.1 key passes per match in 10 top-flight appearances this season, which shows that he has the quality to be a match-winner and that is why he should be brought back into the XI.

Predicted Leeds XI (4-2-3-1): Meslier; Kristensen, Cooper (C), Llorente, Struijk;  Roca, Adams; Sinisterra, Aaronson, Harrison; Bamford.

West Ham United are believed to be monitoring Ajax star Edson Alvarez at present, with David Moyes seemingly keen to bolster his midfield ranks at the London Stadium.

What’s the word?

According to 90min, the Mexico international is one of the targets who is said to have ‘impressed’ the Hammers of late, with the 25-year-old having previously been the subject of a £43m bid from fellow Premier League side Chelsea over the summer.

The report suggests that a new addition in the middle of the park could well be on the agenda for the east Londoners in the near future amid lingering doubts over the future of captain Declan Rice, while a new contract has yet to emerge for midfield partner Tomas Soucek.

The suggestion is that Alvarez would likely be open to the chance of relocating to England, although it is not yet known if the 59-cap machine would be willing to secure a move to the London Stadium.

Soucek heir

If West Ham’s recent record under head of recruitment Rob Newman is anything to go by, there is genuine hope of being able to tempt the £27m-rated man to join the Irons, with the transfer chief having pulled off notable coups this summer with the arrivals of Gianluca Scamacca and Lucas Paqueta.

Adding Alvarez into that mix could well help to solve the club’s issues in central midfield, with Moyes still far too reliant on the first-choice pairing of the aforementioned Rice and Soucek, with summer signing Flynn Downes only now beginning to force his way into the team on a more regular basis.

There is seemingly a need for fiercer competition, with Soucek in particular having come under fire for his below-par performance of late, with journalist Josh Bunting suggesting that the Czech Republic international is “just not good enough” for the Hammers.

With West Ham in need of a potential heir or successor to the former Slavia Prague man at the base of the midfield, the prospective addition of Alvarez could well be an ideal solution, with the pair seemingly sharing a number of stylistic and statistical similarities, as per FBref.

For instance, the latter notably ranks in the top 1% for clearances made and the top 3% for aerial duels won among his peers in major European leagues, while the current Irons ace ranks in the top 3% for clearances made and the top 1% for aerial duels, showcasing their likeness in a defensive sense.

However, the Mexican no doubt excels with his “tenacious” approach – as described by talent scout Jacek Kulig – as he ranks in the top 5% for interceptions made, while Soucek only ranks in the top 37% for that same metric.

Equally, the 6 foot 4 colossus has struggled in possession of late under Moyes, with a measly pass completion rate of just 76.4%, while his potential replacement Alvarez has a pass completion rate of 89.2% as a sign of his ball-playing quality.

That upgrade could well be a necessary for the east Londoners at present, with the former Chelsea target – who has three goal contributions in 15 games for Ajax this season – showcasing he has both the defensive and attacking attributes needed to be a success in Moyes’ West Ham side.

Tottenham Hotspur have endured a strange campaign so far in 2022/23, as, from the outside looking in, Antonio Conte’s side sitting third in the Premier League standings and qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions League would appear to represent fantastic progress made by the north London outfit.

However, with Spurs making a habit of starting games in extremely slow fashion – having fallen 2-0 behind to AFC Bournemouth and 1-0 down to Olympique de Marseille in their last two fixtures, before staging second-half comebacks – as well as lacking a truly creative influence in the middle of the park, there are still question marks regarding the quality of the team.

And, while Tottenham’s sluggish starts are something that Conte will undoubtedly be looking to address in training at Hotspur Way, the 53-year-old Italian could well already possess a quick fix to his lack of midfield creativity – in the shape of 18-year-old academy starlet Alfie Devine.

After recovering from a hamstring injury towards the start of October, the playmaker has since been in a remarkable vein of form for Spurs’ youth sides, particularly in the UEFA Youth League.

Indeed, despite the eventual 3-2 loss to Eintracht Frankfurt U19s last month, Devine ran the show for Tottenham in the middle of the park, finishing the match with two goals to his name – with Alasdair Gold stating of the youngster’s first:

“Alfie Devine scores a superb goal. Lovely play from Spurs as they work the ball up the pitch and Jamie Donley plays it through perfectly to Devine, who rounds the keeper and strokes it home.”

The £1.1m-rated talent – who Spurs supporter Lee Barratt claimed is “such a baller” – also impressed in Tuesday’s 3-2 victory over Marseille’s U19s, hitting the back of the net with a “good finish with his right foot” – making him Spurs’ top goalscorer in the UEFA Youth League this season.

However, these returns in the final third are not out of the ordinary for the England U19s international, with Devine scoring a total of 18 goals and providing five assists over his 56 appearances for Tottenham’s various youth sides – averaging a direct goal contribution every 201 minutes of football played – as well as bagging one goal in one appearance for the Spurs first team.

As such, while Rodrigo Bentancur and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg have both popped up with match-winning goals for Tottenham in their last two fixtures, should Conte wish to inject more long-term creativity into the heart of his side, the 53-year-old should unleash the 18-year-old Devine – as the “future looks bright” for the Lilywhites’ teenage sensation.

Southampton are reportedly looking to sign Cadiz defender Momo Mbaye but face some competition from two other Premier League clubs. 

The Lowdown: Southampton’s defensive struggles

With 13 league games played in this campaign, Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side have conceded 20 goals, leaving only five other clubs in the league with a worse defensive record.

Armel Bella-Kotchap had a superb start to the season but then picked up an injury, leaving just Lyanco, Mohammed Salisu and Duje Caleta-Car as senior options in the heart of the back line.

Taking that into account, it’s easy to see why the south coast club have been linked with a transfer swoop for another defender.

The Latest: A three-way transfer race

According to a recent report from Spain (via Hampshire Live), Southampton have been closely following Mbaye alongside fellow top-flight clubs Leeds United and Brighton & Hove Albion.

The report does reveal however that while the defender’s current contract at Cadiz expires in 2024, the Spanish club are trying to get the player to extend his deal.

The Verdict: A smart move?

Having made 36 appearances for his current club across their senior and youth sides, the 24-year-old, who is aiming to make his senior international debut for Senegal in the upcoming World Cup, has scored four goals and provided one assist.

Despite only making four senior appearances for Cadiz, three of them have come in this current La Liga campaign, and his form may just catch the eye of national coach Aliou Cissé in time for the squad announcement this month.

Across those three league appearances, Mbaye, who has been described as a “quick” and “forceful” defender by journalist Angel Cotan, has managed to average 4.3 clearances per game, which is the second-highest average at the club.

This would give him the third-highest average of clearances per game at Southampton for this Premier League season, which shows how much of a useful figure he could be for the Saints.

Moving forward, given Southampton’s knack of conceding goals, adding a figure like Mbaye to their ranks could be an ideal investment for the club to make, and he shouldn’t cost much if he does not extend his contract.

However, if they do see the defender as a suitable signing for them, they will have to do all they can to beat Leeds and Brighton to his signature.