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CPFC: Fans react to Morgan Rogers links

Crystal Palace are in talks with Manchester City over a potential deal for teenage forward Morgan Rogers.

And a number of Palace fans have been reacting to the update on social media.

According to The Daily Mail, Rogers fits the profile Palace are looking for. City signed Rogers back in 2018 in a deal that could rise to £8m, however, the report claims they would want just around £7m to part ways with the forward this summer.

The 18-year-old spent the second half of last season on loan at Lincoln City, scoring six times and registering four assists in 28 appearances.

Palace look set to sign Reading teenager Michael Olise, and it seems as if Rogers is another target for new manager Patrick Vieira.

Palace fans react

Both @cpfc_xtra and @CPFCtransfersHQ shared the links to Rogers on social media on Tuesday.

These Palace fans seemed to be all for a deal for the England Under-18 international, with one describing the update as ‘class’.

“Oh yes”Credit: @EBERZEE”The games begin”Credit: @cpfcharlie0″I’m excited about what the rest of the summer could bring.”Credit: @MaxHawker”class”Credit: @notconnorlmao”This is the guy from Lincoln. He’s actually sick”Credit: @Sumo08112″Trying hard to not get gassed”Credit: @rileyeagles

In other news: ‘Season already ruined’, ‘Pain’ – Many Palace fans react as ‘absolutely wild’ news emerges, find out more here. 

Rangers: Tavernier was superb vs St Johnstone

Rangers maintained their lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership table thanks to a comfortable 2-0 victory at Ibrox on Wednesday evening.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side consolidated their four point cushion over nearest rivals Celtic thanks to goals from Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Kent against St Johnstone, and while the two goal-scorers will rightly get the headlines, James Tavernier surely had his manager purring too.

Given a bit more freedom to go forward and join the attack like he’s done so effectively in years prior, the right-back looked far more dangerous than he has been in recent games.

As per Sofascore, he had a whopping 102 touches of the ball (only Glen Kamara and Connor Goldson had more), while he also provided three key passes and attempted 12 crosses – those latter stats ranking him joint-third and top among his teammates.

That’s also not to mention the fact he also looked assured defensively too, however, winning 86% of his duels on the night, and making a team-high five tackles too.

And, writing in his post-match player ratings for Football Scotland, Euan Robertson gave him a seven, saying: “Afforded more attacking licence than in recent weeks and produced a controlled performance.”

If Tavernier can match the kind of goals and assists he usually produces from those wide areas like he has done in previous seasons, Van Bronckhorst will feel very confident at the kind of potent attack his Rangers side could be.

In his previous three games in the Scottish Premiership, the 30-year-old had managed no goals or assists whatsoever, which is quite the drought for someone so involved as him – to put that into context, the previous five games before that little run saw him notch two goals and an incredible eight assists.

His performance against St Johnstone looked like Tavernier nearing his best, and his manager would no doubt have been delighted.

Meanwhile, this Rangers star has been a revelation…

Celtic: Greg Taylor was disappointing

Celtic moved six points clear at the top of the Premiership table as they beat their rivals 2-1 in the Old Firm clash on Sunday.

Ange Postecoglou may have been fearing the worst when the home side took the lead in the opening minutes of the match, as Aaron Ramsey fired past Joe Hart to make it 1-0 at Ibrox.

The Hoops rallied quickly and soon found themselves level as Tom Rogic followed up on a save from Allan McGregor to make it 1-1.

A scrappy sequence of play in the box from a cross then resulted in Cameron Carter-Vicker smashing the ball past the veteran Scot to make it 2-1 just before half-time, with Celtic able to see out the three points in the second half.

One player who let Postecoglou down badly was left-back Greg Taylor as the defender looked well off his best form on the day.

On the ball, he was not a reliable option for his teammates. As per SofaScore, he gave possession away 17 times as he only completed 64% of his attempted passes. He failed to complete a single long ball or cross in his 71 minutes on the pitch, whilst completing zero dribbles to get his team up the pitch.

This allowed Rangers to intercept his passes and regain possession from his mistakes. He found himself incredibly lucky as the home side were unable to make the most of the attacks that he gifted them, with Carl Starfelt and Carter-Vickers producing colossus displays at centre-back to keep them at bay.

Defensively, he was sloppy. Ally McCoist, in the Sky Sports commentary, dubbed his defending as “very poor” and the statistics back that up. Via SofaScore, he lost four of his five ground duels and only made one tackle in the match, whilst being dribbled past once.

This shows that Rangers were able to get the better of the full-back on the physical side of the game. He was too weak in his individual battles and, again, was lucky that Gio van Bronckhorst’s side did not punish him for it.

Postecoglou will now be hoping that he will be able to turn in a better display against St. Johnstone next time out in the Premiership. This performance was not good enough, defensively or offensively, and he will know that he must up his standards if he wants to keep his place in the starting XI.

AND in other news, £3m wasted: Celtic had a shocker on £7.9k-p/w “loner” who rinsed Desmond for 129 weeks…

Newcastle must make Gerrard move

Villarreal manager Unai Emery dealt Newcastle a major blow on Wednesday as he publicly ruled out a move to St. James’ Park.

The Magpies were reportedly confident of securing a deal for the ex-Arsenal man to be their new head coach, with the Spaniard now set to remain with the La Liga side.

Football Insider are now reporting that Eddie Howe is in talks to become Steve Bruce’s replacement, having been out of management since leaving Bournemouth at the end of the 2019/20 campaign.

Forget Howe

PIF should abandon their pursuit of Howe and return to a manager who was linked with the vacant position last month – Steven Gerrard – as their Emery alternative.

The Rangers head coach was reportedly interested in the job and The Times ran an article naming him alongside Emery, and Roberto Martinez, as being in the Saudi Arabian consortium’s three-man shortlist.

When asked about the speculation, he refused to comment but did state that the takeover by PIF is interesting and that he would be keeping an eye on the situation. He said:

“I wouldn’t like people to be speculating about my job so I certainly won’t be getting involved in speculation towards his.

“I think it is interesting what is happening at Newcastle, if anyone deserves a break it’s the Geordie fans so I am sure the excitement levels are very high down on the Toon.

“And obviously everyone connected with the game is looking in with interest to see how that develops but from a personal point of view I don’t really get involved in speculation and I wish Steve Bruce all the best.”

This suggests that there could be an interest from Gerrard’s side to get something done if Newcastle came in with an official swoop for him. He refused to rule out the possibility and did explain his interest, which indicates that there could be room for the Magpies to make their move.

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We published an article explaining why fans would be disappointed with Howe becoming the new manager at St. James’ Park and that plays into why PIF should go for Gerrard. Howe’s last season in management ended with Bournemouth being relegated from the Premier League and that could bring bad habits and memories to Tyneside if he joins them in the midst of a battle against relegation this season.

Gerrard, meanwhile, is a manager on the up who is used to success. He has an incredible 71.55% win percentage in the Scottish Premiership with Rangers, winning 83 of 116 games, and led them to an unbeaten season as they won the title last term.

This shows that he knows how to build a winning side and is able to instil a winning mentality into his players, which could be vital as the Magpies attempt to avoid heading down to the Championship. The best way to climb the table is by winning matches and Gerrard has proven, albeit in different circumstances at Rangers, that he knows how to do that.

Therefore, PIF must attempt to snap him up from the Scottish giants instead of continuing to pursue a deal for Howe in the coming days. His winning mindset and experience could be key for Newcastle and give them the mental boost that they need at this moment in time.

AND in other news, Advanced talks: PIF move swiftly on Emery alternative, Newcastle fans will be livid…

Spurs: Journalist makes Gvardiol claim

Tottenham Hotspur correspondent for The Athletic Jack Pitt-Brooke has revealed that the club are eyeing a move for RB Leipzig centre-back Josko Gvardiol. 

The lowdown: Case for the defence

As Spurs boss Antonio Conte prepares for a first summer transfer window at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, it would appear that the Italian is desperate to strengthen the defensive ranks in north London.

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With a Premier League top-four finish and subsequent UEFA Champions League qualification still a possibility, the calibre of players Tottenham will be able to attract could enhance.

One player who fits into the highest billing has already now been linked…

The latest: Spurs eye hot prospect

Writing in his latest piece for The Athletic, Lilywhites correspondent Pitt-Brooke has claimed that Conte has already lined up a move for talented Croatian international Gvardiol.

The report claims that a list of four left-side central defenders is ‘headed up’ by the 20-year-old, with Lille’s Sven Botman, Inter Milan star Alessandro Bastoni and SC Freiburg youngster Nico Schlotterbeck also named.

Taking to Twitter when citing the article, Pitt-Brooke described the position as a ‘top summer priority’ for Spurs.

The verdict: ‘Real star’

Described in the report as being one of the ‘most in-demand young defenders’ in Europe, Gvardiol has enjoyed a rapid rise to prominence for both club and country.

Already capped on ten occasions by Croatia at the senior level, the starlet – who is capable of playing as a left-back and centrally – has scored twice and provided three assists in 38 appearances for Leipzig this season.

Previously mooted as possessing a £50million price tag (Daily Mail), Bundesliga aficionado Alex Chaffer hailed Gvardiol as a ‘real star’ when touting the youngster’s development in senior football so far.

In other news: Portuguese source drops interesting transfer news involving Tottenham here.

Saints: Elyounoussi failed vs Leeds

It was an important result for Southampton on Saturday where they managed to secure their first league win of the season with a 1-0 victory over Leeds United.

A second-half goal from Armando Broja was enough to secure the three points for Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side, putting them in 15th place in the league table with seven points prior to Sunday’s fixtures.

Despite the victory, there was one player that was involved against Leeds that failed to impress.

The player in question was Saints winger Mohamed Elyounoussi, who started the game against Marcelo Bielsa’s side before being taken off and replaced by Nathan Tella late on in the match.

During his time on the pitch, Elyounoussi failed to even have one shot on target while he was also unable to provide one accurate cross or long ball.

His dismal afternoon was capped off by a miss at the back post where he was unable to get his head to what would have been a simple tap in. What made matters worse was the fact he lost possession on 19 occasions and won just ten out of the 21 duels he was involved in. That ultimately earned him a rather disappointing overall match rating of 6.3/10, making him the lowest-rated Southampton player on the day that started the match, according to SofaScore.

Given how Elyounoussi, who is currently earning a weekly wage of £60k-per-week according to Spotrac, was taken out of the starting XI in Southampton’s 3-1 defeat against Chelsea, we feel as though the winger failed to repay the faith that Hasenhuttl showed in him to put him back in the starting XI against Leeds.

Southampton signed Elyounoussi back in the 2018 summer transfer window from FC Basel before sending him out on loan to Scottish club Celtic in the next summer window.

Overall, the 27-year-old, who is currently valued at £10.8m according to Transfermarkt, has made just 26 appearances for Hasenhuttl’s side, scoring four goals and providing two assists along the way.

During his time at Celtic, Elyounoussi was once described as being a “passenger” by Hoops podcaster Paul John Dykes, which is how we feel he was like in the game against Leeds.

Moving forward, if Hasenhuttl decides to stick with Elyounoussi in the starting XI for their upcoming Premier League clash against Burnley next weekend, the winger will have to put in a solid display to show that he is worthy of being a regular starter for the club, or else he could find himself back on the bench, potentially for an extended period of time.

In other news: Forget Broja: £60k-p/w Southampton beast who made 6 key passes stole the show vs Leeds – opinion

Many West Ham fans erupt over Alves news

Flocking to Twitter, many West Ham United fans have erupted in response to an official club announcement that defender Frederik Alves has joined Sunderland on loan.

Alves signed for the Hammers in January from Silkeborg IF with the Denmark Under-21 international even making a few appearances on West Ham’s bench over the second half of 2020/2021.

David Moyes is alarmingly short of central defenders as West Ham gear up for what will be a taxing 21/22 campaign given their involvement in the Europa League group stages.

Only Issa Diop, Craig Dawson and Angelo Ogbonna make up Moyes’ senior defensive options and it now appears that they will be short of a youngster to call upon.

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As per the club, making an official announcement, Alves has signed for The Black Cats on a season-long loan deal and will be a part of Lee Johnson’s squad for the entirety of this season.

Given their current squad depth in that area, it is little wonder many West Ham fans believe this decision to let him go is ‘staggering’.

Find all of their verdicts, in reply to West Ham’s official account, down below.

West Ham fans erupt over Alves news…

“Ridiculous this”

Credit: @HughMoore1997

“wow even less first team players now! what a joke”

Credit: @CaineRussell

“This club is a shambles”

Credit: @Mcglynn7James

“Done with this club”

Credit: @LH_WHU

“IS THIS A JOKE, WE HAD 4 CBs IN OUR ENTIRE FIRST TEAM SQUAD, WE NOW HAVE 3, AND OGBONNA IS INJURED. YOU CANNOT WRITE THIS”

Credit: @MattWallis25

“This club man. Staggering.”

Credit: @WestHamPlace

“Bonkers decision like we need the squad to get smaller”

Credit: @PalazonMark

“Absolute joke club. Just keep pushing them all out the door. We will have the best 5 a side team around. Parasite owners.”

Credit: @BMANWHUFC

In other news: ExWHUemployee says West Ham could swoop for perfect Antonio alternative in 16-goal ‘phenomenon’, find out more here.

Wolves must sign Milenkovic in January

Wolves head coach, Bruno Lage, has made no secret that the upcoming transfer window will be something he fully intends to get involved in, as the side attempts to continue their fantastic run of form in the Premier League.

Lage’s side are in impressive form and have managed to sustain a high top half position, putting them into the European spots around sixth in the Premier League so far.

However, many slow starters like Arsenal, for example, are coming up to ruin the party for Wolves and finding their form to compete for the highly anticipated European football spots obtainable just outside of the top four.

Wolves could really capitalise on their position in the league by attracting players to join their developing side in January, to help them carry on their impressive form and successfully secure Europa League football next season.

The lack of defensive depth in the side is set to be challenged and exposed as the upcoming AFCON tournament will see both Romain Saiss and Willy Boly taken from the team for up to four weeks, depending on the length of their countries run in the tournament, with the pair being expected to at least miss two Premier League fixtures during their time away for the African tournament.

There is one player that is on the radar of many Premier League clubs including Wolves, that could squash this fear. That happens to be Fiorentina’s Nikola Milenkovic, a player dubbed “extraordinary” by former team-mate Pol Lirola;

The 24-year-old centre back was previously linked with Wolves in the summer and has continued to impress in Italy with West Ham and Tottenham both interested in swooping in for the 6 foot 5 titan’s signature in the January transfer window.

He stands a gigantic height and thus, is a real weapon in the air, winning a colossal 3.2 aerial duels per game this term, more than anyone in the Wolves team.

The Serbian international’s contract is set to run out next year, so Lage and Shi will need to do whatever they can to offer him a deal he cannot refuse in the winter transfer window, where the asking price from Florentina is reported to be considerably lower than what he would be worth, in a bid to make some quick cash for the club.

According to Viola News, Florentina could accept just €25m (£21m).

Wolves will need to close in on the centre back quickly to bat off their Premier League competitors and secure his signature before a better offer is put to him. The signing could solve one of Lage’s biggest headaches heading into January help the side secure European football in the long run.

In other news: Lage could be exploring other positions for Adama Traore

Liverpool fans happy with team news hint

A number of Liverpool supporters are happy that Jurgen Klopp has hinted at fielding a weakened team in tonight’s Champions League clash with Porto.

The Reds roared back into form last weekend, beating Arsenal 4-0 at Anfield in the Premier League. After dropped points against both Brighton and West Ham, it was the perfect response by Klopp’s men, who performed like title challengers against an in-form Gunners side.

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Domestic commitments make way for European duties tonight, with Liverpool taking on Porto at Anfield, having not only qualified for the knockout stages already but even won their group with two matches to spare.

The hope is that Klopp makes plenty of changes in order to keep legs fresh amid a spate of injuries, and speaking in his pre-match press conference on Tuesday [via journalist David Maddock on Twitter], he hinted at doing as such.

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Liverpool fans happy with Klopp’s team news hint

These Reds fans took to Twitter to react positively to the manager’s comments, claiming it would be a wise decision ahead of a busy schedule, as well as considering the costly three-month injury incurred by a flying Diogo Jota in a similar dead rubber against Midtjylland last December.

“Sense prevails”

Credit: @liamtogher88

“Bring it on. I want to see the most random starting 11 ever”

Credit: @TweetGiffen

“Good, we respected it by qualifying two games early. Play the under 12s”

Credit: @SirLeonP

“Get Carol & Caroline out on the pitch too I reckon”

Credit: @footyyuxun

“VAMOS”

Credit: @tombelcerf

“Get in, love it. Gordon, Kelleher, Morton all start I hope”

Credit: @LFCPG90

In other news, some Liverpool fans are excited about a Reds transfer rumour that has emerged. Read more here.

Sky Sports journalist’s damning verdict on Celtic after CL exit

Sky Sports journalist Michael Bridge believes that Celtic are currently a club in “disarray”.

The Scottish giants have endured a terrible start to the season under new manager Ange Postecoglou.

On Wednesday, they were knocked out of the Champions League in the second qualifying round by Midtjylland, losing 3-2 on aggregate.

Their pre-season has been underwhelming too, as they were thumped 6-2 by West Ham United in a friendly on Saturday, while they have also been beaten 1-0 by Preston North End, and drawn 0-0 with Bristol City.

They have been active in the transfer window, bringing in no fewer than five new players: Kyogo Furuhashi has arrived from Japanese side Vissel Kobe; Carl Starfelt has come in from Russian club Rubin Kazan; Liel Abada has arrived from Israeli side M. Petah Tikva; both Liam Shaw and Osaze Urhoghide have come in from Sheffield Wednesday.

But Postecoglou rued the club’s failure to strengthen properly after their European exit, per The Guardian, in quotes that will hardly fill fans with confidence ahead of their Premiership opener against Hearts on Friday.

And Bridge can barely believe just how bad Celtic have been in recent weeks.

He said: “Celtic now, I look at, and I think what on earth has happened to Celtic football club, they look in absolute disarray.

“The new manager that’s come in, we thought it was going to be Eddie Howe, it’s Postecoglou, the Australian coach, he sounds like a really likeable guy.

“I’ve heard a couple of his interviews, he’s very honest, he’s said ‘look, I need new players’.”

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