All posts by z3u9t.icu

Tottenham Hotspur may have advanced into the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup for the second successive season but the form of Harry Kane is surely a major cause for concern.

It was another game in which the out-of-sorts England international completely misfired as his struggles continued in Spurs’ win over Premier League rivals West Ham United on Wednesday evening.

On the back of Euro 2020 heartbreak with the Three Lions and an intense transfer saga that linked him with a move to champions Manchester City, the 28-year-old has found life very tough since returning late for pre-season training.

Indeed, Kane has scored just twice from 14 appearances in the English top-flight all season. Meanwhile, six of his nine goals in all competitions have come against minnows in the Europa Conference League, which is hardly inspiring.

You could forgive manager Antonio Conte if he’s left with nightmares after yet another disappointing outing. He must find out how to get the English talisman firing on all cylinders and that’s simply yet to happen since his arrival last month.

Kane lasted the entire 90 minutes on Wednesday, where he managed only one shot on target.

His 40 touches of the ball not only saw him lose possession 13 times (once every three touches) but it was also the second-lowest of any Spurs outfield player, meaning he evidently struggled to garner much of an influence on the game.

And when he was involved, he was wasteful, as seen by him losing the ball so frequently. Furthermore, he made only 20 passes at an accuracy rate of 77%, as per SofaScore.

Elsewhere, the £108m-rated forward was weak against the Hammers’ backline, winning just 28% of his 14 duels, whilst he was dribbled past on two occasions.

Both football.london reporter Alasdair Gold and the Evening Standard’s Dan Kilpatrick were in agreement over Kane’s performance in their post-game columns.

‘Still nowhere near his best,’ wrote Gold, with Kilpatrick added: ‘Tested Alphonse Areola early on but otherwise had no chances of note as his finishing slump continued.’

It was another game without a goal and another weak and ponderous showing. Conte must be hugely worried by Kane’s disastrous form and it’s surely only a matter of time before something is done about it.

AND in other news, Spurs plan fresh transfer talks as inside source drops major January update, fans will surely love this one…

James McArthur and Jordan Ayew are in line for new contracts at Crystal Palace, according to London World’s Rahman Osman. 

The lowdown

McArthur had started every Premier League game since Patrick Vieira took charge before tearing his hamstring against Wolves.

WhoScored have the Scotsman as Palace’s third-strongest performer this season with an average rating of 6.94/10. Only Christian Benteke (7.16) and Conor Gallagher (7.5) can better that.

Ayew has also been a favourite of the new boss, starting nine of his first 12 PL matches.

Like McArthur, Ayew has only a matter of months left to run on his current agreement. The pair are valued at £1.8million and £7.2million respectively by Transfermarkt.

The latest

McArthur will be rewarded with a new deal ‘in the coming months’ after making a ‘brilliant start to the season’.

Vieira ‘recently gave the green light’ for McArthur to be granted an extension. He’s agreed to commit for another year, and the ‘final details’ just need to be sorted out.

Elsewhere, ‘talks are ongoing’ over a new contract for Ayew, but Osman will report ‘more on that later’.

‘Crystal Palace are working’ to tie some of their ‘key players’ down.

The verdict

It’s no surprise to see Palace look to agree fresh terms with McArthur. The stats attest to his effectiveness in their midfield.

But it’s perhaps harder to make the case for Ayew, who has only scored once in his last 55 appearances for the club.

Vieira, though, may value him for his defensive contribution. Data from FBRef shows that he ranks in the 99th percentile among positional peers in the top five leagues for pressures per 90 minutes, and in the 95th for tackles.

In other news, fans showed their appreciation for this moment.

Many Southampton fans have criticised the performance of Adam Armstrong in their 2-2 draw with Leicester City in the Premier League on Wednesday night.

Ralph Hasenhuttl’s team found themselves pegged back not once but twice by the visitors with goals from Jonny Evans and James Maddison after Jan Bednarek and Che Adams had given them leads in the first half.

It was another frustrating night for Armstrong, who could not get himself on the scoresheet once more, meaning that he has still only managed to net two goals so far this season.

The striker lost out on four of his duels and only managed to conjure up one shot in the game, while he also lost possession of the ball 11 times (SofaScore).

Southampton fans slam Armstrong

These Southampton supporters slammed the 24-year-old’s performance on Twitter, with one fan going as far as to claim that he was ‘woeful’ against the Foxes:

“A Armstrong is no Danny Ings is he? Terrible distribution and Tella looks poor. A boy who’s not had much game time.”

Credit: @SFCforever1989

“My thoughts.. Adam Armstrong isn’t a Premier League player, Tella’s decision making in the final 3rd is shocking, McCarthy needs replacing, apart from that all good.”

Credit: @HackedOffStu

“Go back to the Championship Armstrong, not good enough and Broja might be”

Credit: @EdwinStreet123

“Armstrong is so selfish, the pass was on there”

Credit: @GIB10000

“Adam Armstrong has been very poor…”

Credit: @sjam29

“Adam Armstrong has been woeful, so he stays on & Tella comes off. Okkkay.”

Credit: @nicetrainers

In other news, one of Armstrong’s team-mates also came in for criticism last night

Many Wolves fans have been left slamming the display of Francisco Trincao in their game away at Crystal Palace in the Premier League.

The Portugal international was dragged off by Bruno Lage for Daniel Podence in the 68th minute of the match with the score still at 1-0 to the Eagles, summing up his lack of impact.

He lost out on three of his duels, and also failed to record a single shot on target, successful dribble, key pass or cross, while he lost possession of the ball on no fewer than on 14 separate occasions, one of the highest out of his teammates (SofaScore).

With the likes of Podence and Adama Traore left on the bench, Trincao will now feel as if his place in the starting eleven is under threat.

Wolves fans on Trincao display

These members of the Molineux faithful slammed his performance on Twitter, with one WWFC supporter even going as far as to claim that the winger was ‘worse than awful’:

“Trincao has been poor”

Credit: @craigthewolf

“Trincao makes Harry Maguire look like Usain Bolt”

Credit: @dtr2527

“Dreadful from Trincao”

Credit: @WolvesBoiWonder

“Painful watching Trincao in this sort of game”

Credit: @andrewhos

“Trincao has been worse than awful today”

Credit: @w2020plus1

“Trincao off for me offered nothing today”

Credit: @gaztivist18

In other news, find out what Lage comments had Wanderers buzzing here!

A development has emerged on Gio van Bronckhorst, regarding Rangers’ interest in appointing him as Steven Gerrard’s successor.

What’s the talk?

According to the Daily Record, Gers chief Ross Wilson has already entered into talks with the Dutchman’s representatives over a potential move to Ibrox.

The report claims that talks are set to continue over the weekend, with van Bronckhorst due in London to meet face-to-face.

Excitement for Rangers

This update will surely leave Rangers fans feeling excited as Wilson appears to be moving swiftly following Gerrard’s switch to Premier League side Aston Villa earlier this week. The club are now twiddling their thumbs in their search for a new head coach and the supporters will be delighted that they are wasting no time in holding talks with van Bronckhorst over the role.

Gerrard, to his credit, has left Rangers in a superb position. They are currently sitting four points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership table after 13 games and this could make them an attractive prospect for coaches who are keen to come in and win a trophy this season.

Therefore, bringing in a manager who knows how to secure trophies could be a shrewd move by Wilson. Van Bronckhorst won five trophies in four years as manager of Feyenoord in the Netherlands, including four cups and one Eredivisie title. This shows that he knows how to set up a side to win silverware and that is why fans could get excited by the prospect of his arrival.

One criticism that could be levelled at Gerrard’s time with Rangers is his lack of cup success. He did not win a trophy outside of the Premiership – reaching the final once in six attempts at the SFA Cup and League Cup. Van Bronckhorst, meanwhile, reached five cup finals with Feyenoord and won four of them.

This suggests that the 46-year-old, who also has experience of winning a league title, could come in and improve Rangers’ chances of completing the domestic double or treble this season. Therefore, the prospect of league and cup success at Ibrox this season could excite supporters and leave them delighted with this update on the pursuit of the Dutchman.

AND in other news, Wilson could get Ibrox rocking by appointing divisive 43 y/o “phenomenon” at Rangers…

Liverpool are ‘leading the charge’ to sign Pape Abou Cisse from Olympiacos, according to The Daily Mail. 

The lowdown

The defender, who is 1.98 metres tall, has been at Olympiacos since the summer of 2017 but spent the latter half of last season on loan at Ligue 1 outfit Saint-Etienne (via Transfermarkt).

According to WhoScored, his main strengths lie in winning aerial duels and intercepting the ball, but his passing is a weakness.

The 26-year-old has three years left on his contract in Piraeus and is valued at £5.4m by Transfermarkt. He is currently on international duty with Senegal, linking up with Liverpool forward Sadio Mane.

The latest

Liverpool were among the clubss who sent scouts to watch Cisse in action against Fenerbahce in the Europa League last month, as per The Daily Mail.

Arsenal and Everton also had officials in attendance, and while ‘several inquiries’ have been lodged, Liverpool are understood to be ‘showing the most intent so far’.

Cisse features on the Reds’ shortlist as they look to further strengthen at centre-back following the £36m summer addition of Ibrahima Konate.

The verdict

This would be a questionable decision from Liverpool, as Cisse would probably slot into fifth in the centre-back pecking order behind Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip, Joe Gomez and Konate, especially if his ball distribution is suspect.

That’s also the position Nathaniel Phillips currently occupies, and he has found game-time so hard to come by that he was given a runout with the under-21s in the EFL Trophy last week.

Liverpool don’t need any more centre-backs and should look to use all of their available funds elsewhere.

In other news, many Liverpool fans bemoaned this international break blow for the Reds

Manchester United will be hoping to get their season back on track when they host Atalanta in the Champions League this evening.

A hugely disappointing 4-2 defeat at the hands of Leicester City last time out means the Red Devils have won just one of their last five outings in all competitions, piling the pressure on manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

The loss against the Foxes over the weekend was United’s fourth already this season, but the underwhelming performances will be as much of a concern for their under-fire boss.

Apart from the opening-day thrashing of fierce rivals Leeds United, the 20-time English champions have been far from convincing every time they’ve stepped onto the pitch.

Wins over Wolves and Villarreal weren’t a fair reflection of the 90 minutes, while draws against Southampton and Everton could have been much worse.

The problems appear to be mounting week in week out for Solskjaer, while the solutions seem as complicated and distant as ever before, just as an extremely testing set of fixtures approaches.

It’s unlikely that just changing one aspect of United’s play, starting XI, or approach to proceedings will have a huge effect, their issues are a collection of deep-rooted and fresh problems that may take many months to iron out.

However, one of the fresh problems that has presented itself to Solskjaer this season could easily be resolved, but only if the 48-year-old is brave enough to make an extremely bold decision.

Five-time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo returned to Old Trafford over the summer 12 years after he departed to fulfill his dream of playing for Real Madrid.

And while his arrival has brought a wealth of experience at the elite level, a born winner and a natural goalscorer back to the red half of Manchester, it also invited a whole host of complications and predicaments into a once harmonious environment.

At 36, Ronaldo is no longer the player he once was. He now relies on a constant stream of quality crosses into the box to cause his devastation, and that ultimately comes at a cost.

The Portugal international is unable to press from the front, largely ineffective on the counter-attack and makes minimal contribution to United’s build-up play, drawbacks that are having disastrous consequences on the team’s overall performances.

After rebuilding the Red Devils as a reactive, safety-first side in his early months in charge, Solskjaer successfully began to redefine their style of play, as he outlined in a press conference back in March.

“We’ve been going with a high press in more or less every game, on the front foot, trying to pin the teams back, especially when they have the ball,” Solskjaer revealed.

“Last year, maybe we relied more on counter-attacks, drop deep, defended really well, hung on. As a coach and manager, that’s the worst feeling ever, when you’re defending in and around your box because any little quality from your opponent and you’ve conceded. We’ve tried to go more positive.”

And pivotal to United’s new approach was £5.4m-rated striker Edinson Cavani. The South American led from the front with his intelligent pressing, incredible work ethic and eye for goal, but the underlying stats indicate Ronaldo’s style contrasts greatly.

As per fbref.com, Cavani made 15.77 pressures per 90 throughout 2020/21, achieved an Expected Assists of 0.17 and Goal Creating Actions of 0.46.

In contrast, Ronaldo has managed tallies of just 4.77, 0.09 and 0.31 per 90 so far this season, respectively, highlighting the vast drop-off in creativity and pressing that Cavani’s absence has resulted in.

While Ronaldo does have a superior Expected Goals total in his favour – 0.66 to Cavani’s 0.55 – the sacrifices his presence in the starting XI results in do not outweigh the extra firepower he brings.

Dropping arguably the greatest goalscorer in the history of football to the bench would be a bold call, to say the least for Solskjaer, but it’s one that could end up saving his job.

And, in other news…Man Utd receive triple selection boost ahead of Atalanta, Ole will be buzzing 

Fabrizio Romano claimed on Saturday that Poland are ready to approach Aston Villa’s Matty Cash over a possible switch of nationalities.

And a number of Villa supporters have been giving their thoughts to the update on social media.

Cash, who qualifies for Poland through family on his mother’s side, had been reluctant to turn away from England as he has hopes of turning out for England.

The 24-year-old hasn’t featured for The Three Lions at any level, with the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Kyle Walker, Reece James and Kieran Trippier all seemingly ahead of him in Gareth Southgate’s right-back ranks.

According to Romano, Cash is ‘open’ to the opportunity of playing for Poland and is waiting for a passport to go through.

Villa fans react

Romano posted the news regarding Cash on Twitter on Saturday afternoon, hours before he netted his first Villa goal in a 3-0 win over Everton.

This is what some Villa fans had to say in reply, with one labelling it as ‘interesting’.

“I think he should accept it. I don’t see there is much of a chance he would get into the England squad as there are approximately 4178.9 RB that’s capable to be in the England squad right now.”

Credit: @rico_chong

“great move for him he’d be their starting rb”

Credit: @luke1874_

“Hope he goes for it. England are stacked in that position.”

Credit: @JayVtid

“interesting”

Credit: @Kim_UTV

“makes perfect sense really”

Credit: @avbiIly

“Looks like our all English back 4 is coming to an end. Understand why Cash has done it. England has so many good RB !”

Credit: @seanlangley94

In other news: Source says Lange wants 40-goal ace on £25k-p/w for Villa; he’s scoring a goal per game. 

Flocking to Twitter, many West Ham United fans have gone wild over an announcement as the club appoint new head of recruitment Rob Newman.

The transfer chief, who was linked to a post at West Ham as early as mid-August, has now been officially unveiled as the Hammers’ chief of scouting and recruitment.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/west-ham-developments/” title=”West Ham developments!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

Irons boss David Moyes will now be assisted by Newman who operated in a similar role at Manchester City – playing a small hand in moves for the likes of Aymeric Laporte (The Athletic).

His vast experience of tackling the transfer market won’t be his only asset, either, with Moyes making it known he also wants to sign young players with the potential for great sell-on value.

Newman will come as a very useful appointment in this regard considering his role in signing the likes of Brahim Diaz, Angelino and Pablo Maffeo for City.

His arrival at Rush Green is certainly a big boost for West Ham and it’s little wonder supporters are going wild.

Find all of their best verdicts on the announcement down below.

West Ham fans go wild for Newman announcement…

“Yessssss”

Credit: @big_huvy17

“Beautiful”

Credit: @Irons_Stuff

“Man I’m excited”

Credit: @HHickford

“This is massive for us”

Credit: @Benlambert99

“Just give us the league now”

Credit: @Hammer798

“That’s actually brilliant news. One more step towards becoming a more professional club.”

Credit: @WestHamCF

“Should be a great apppointment & love seeing that we’re addressing our issues, finally! A manager who’s got a great team & work ethic, players that love playing for us, the champions statue, that pre match build up yesterday, this recruitment Club going in the right direction”

Credit: @rickwhufc

“Absolute scenes”

Credit: @WestHamXtra

In other news: Weighing bid: Newman already wants to sign ‘forward’ for West Ham after impressive rise, find out more here.

Carlton Palmer has offered his thoughts on whether or not Southampton should sign Armando Broja permanently.

What’s the talk?

Ex-Southampton midfielder Carlton Palmer has claimed that the club would be interested in signing Armando Broja from Chelsea on a permanent deal for the right price.

The forward is currently on loan from the Blues and Palmer believes that he could be the next Virgil van Dijk if they sign him permanently, as he could be worth more in the future.

He told Football FanCast:

“Listen, you’re going to try your best.

“I mean, obviously Southampton will be interested in taking him. He’s one of those if you get him at the right money, he will probably go on again and you get money for him again. You know, like they did with Van Dijk.”

Ralph would be buzzing

Southampton chief Martin Semmens must sanction a permanent deal for Broja ahead of either the January window or next summer upon the end of his loan stay at St. Mary’s as Hasenhuttl would be buzzing to keep him.

As Palmer explained, he could be a player the Saints are able to sign and then develop before selling on for big money down the line to keep their business model going.

Southampton signed Can Dijk from Celtic for £14.13m in 2015 and went on to sell him for a club-record £76.19m to Liverpool in January 2018, which is the reference Palmer made. If Semmens is able to reach an agreement with Chelsea to sign Broja permanently for a fee within that £10-15m region then it could be a shrewd piece of business by the club.

At this moment in time, the 20-year-old has not proved that he can consistently perform at the top level. He has two goals in eight caps for Albania and scored 11 goals in 34 games for Vitesse last term, but he is yet to produce a goal or assist in the Premier League.

This is why Chelsea could still be convinced to part ways with him for the right price, as he is still potential rather than the finished product at this moment in time. However, this is where a permanent move to Southampton could be great as it would give Hasenhuttl the chance to develop the player over the course of a number of seasons, rather than a 12-month loan.

Football talent scout Jacek Kulig hailed Broja as ‘dangerous’ earlier this summer and he caught the eye in Southampton’s League Cup win over Newport County, scoring twice. This highlights some of the potential that he has and why Hasenhuttl would be delighted to have the opportunity to work with him beyond the end of this season.

Semmens must work hard to seal a reasonable deal for the Albanian beast.

AND in other news, 85% duels won: Rarely-seen Saints beast must have caught Ralph’s eye in EFL Trophy…