Loads of Leeds fans have been reacting to the Matej Vydra’s move to Burnley, and the overwhelming consensus is that the club is better off without him.Vydra completed a move to Burnley on Tuesday, bringing the exhausting links to Leeds to an end.The Czech striker was always destined to leave Derby County this summer as they look to trim their wage bill, after he scored 21 Championship goals last season.Leeds and Marcelo Bielsa have been absolutely desperate to sign a proper goalscorer, and for a long time it looked like Vydra would be that man.[brid autoplay=”true” video=”273047″ player=”12034″ title=”Power Ranking the 1819 Premier League kits”]As with Abel Hernandez, the deal stalled over the player’s wage demands, and Bielsa opted for Bamford instead.While the ex-Boro striker didn’t play in the win against Stoke, the opening day win has got everyone feeling optimistic about the season, and they’re certain missing out on Vydra was a bullet dodged.Fans want players that want to play for their club, and the fuss over the striker’s wage demands has turned everyone against him.You can find some of the best Twitter reactions down below…
David Silva has officially announced his retirement from international football following a sparkling Spain career, as reported by the BBC.Since making his debut in 2006, Silva went on to make 125 appearances for his national side, scoring 35 times – placing him fourth on Spain’s all-time top goalscorers’ list.[brid autoplay=”true” video=”255859″ player=”12034″ title=”Watch Man City’s opening fixtures for the 201819 Premier League season”]Alongside goals and assists, Silva also collected medals during his international career. The Man City man was part of the Spain squads that triumphed at the 2010 World Cup and the 2008 and 2012 European Championships.Speaking of his experiences with La Roja, as quoted in the aforementioned BBC report, Silva stated that he “lived and dreamed with a team that will forever be remembered.â€Not only are his international career achievements being celebrated, but Man City fans are delighted by the news that could allow Silva to extend his club career at the highest level.At 32-years-old, by relieving himself of international duties, Silva can allow his body greater recovery periods and rest between matches.ÂMany Man City fans took to Twitter after the announcement to congratulate the midfielder and enjoy the good news from a City perspective…Â
Queens Park Rangers have endured a disastrous start to the new season, losing all four of their Championship matches and finding themselves rooted to the bottom of the table.
Steve McClaren’s side have already conceded 15 goals, including seven in one game against West Brom, and have found the net just twice – suffering another defeat in midweek at the hands of Bristol City.
Alarm bells are already ringing in West London ahead of what is sure to be a gruelling campaign at Loftus Road but new signing Angel Rangel, who arrived on a free transfer from Swansea City, has already proven to be a hit.
The 35-year-old full-back made his debut for QPR in Tuesday evening’s defeat and took to Twitter after the match to share his thoughts with the supporters, where he was met with a wealth of positivity despite the bleak picture at the club.
With vast experience and plenty of desire, some fans even called for the Spaniard to be made captain. We have rounded up some of the best reactions below.
Liverpool enjoyed a reasonably successful season last time out, finishing fourth in the Premier League and reaching the final of the Champions League, but many are already tipping them to perform even better this season after an impressive summer of spending.
Xherdan Shaqiri, Fabinho, Naby Keita and Alisson have joined the Merseyside club at a total cost of upwards of £160m. A statement on intent if ever there was one. The days of the fabled transfer committee under Kenny Dalglish and Brendan Rodgers are now a distant memory and although the club finished second under Rodgers, they are now in a far better place with an infinitely better squad.
Clearly, Jurgen Klopp was a massive appointment for the Reds and his side have blown teams as good as Manchester City last season away with the German’s high-tempo gegenpressing style of play. However, there is one man who received a promotion at the club shortly after Klopp was appointed who has changed the whole fabric of the way business is conducted behind the scenes and has had just as big an effect on Liverpool than their current manager.
Michael Edwards’ title on Merseyside is sporting director and his ability to identify players to sign as well as getting the maximum amount in for unwanted players has helped Klopp develop the squad to finally have the strength in depth that it deserves.
Edwards began his career in football playing for Peterborough United while the club were in the Championship. After being released though, he undertook a degree in business management and informatics at the University of Sheffield, before taking a job as an analyst at Portsmouth.
It seems that many of the games’ big names have been keen to take Edwards on their journey with them. When Pompey boss Harry Redknapp moved to Tottenham, Edwards followed, and when Damian Comolli moved from North London to become director of football at Liverpool he brought Edwards along too.
Initially, he worked in analysis again at Liverpool, before being promoted twice to eventually become technical director in August 2015, where he was on that transfer committee that made too many errors of judgement to list.
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His relationship with Brendan Rodgers was also set to be a rocky one, as the Northern Irishman objected to working with one technical director, preferring to think of the manager as the director who then worked with a team of people.
But Liverpool’s owners FSG had long wanted a director of football and with Klopp at the helm in 2016, Edwards was promoted to the new role, as the new boss was used to the system having had the same in place at Borussia Dortmund.
Since then, Edwards has personally taken over the ins and outs at Anfield and controls the way the scouting system works. And it clearly is working. Mohammed Salah was signed last summer for £34m and took the Premier League by storm, scoring an incredible 32 league goals in 36 appearances to secure the golden boot ahead of Harry Kane.
The way deals are done has also improved in the Edwards era. When former CEO Ian Ayre was in charge of player recruitment, negotiations were often very public and protracted, but recently deals such as Fabinho have been concluded and announced before there’s even been a murmur on Twitter.
It’s not just thanks to the incoming signings that Liverpool fans love him either, Edwards was able to secure £142m for Phillipe Coutinho when the whole world was aware that Barcelona wanted him and that he wanted the move. Just this season too he was able to offload keeper Danny Ward, who had made just three first team appearances in six years at the club for £12.5m.
Danny Ings also left on a loan deal to Southampton this summer, but that deal has an option to buy the man who has spent almost two years out with knee ligament damage for £18m plus £2m in add ons.
Things have clearly come a long way for Liverpool fans on the pitch in recent years but they should never forget the role that Edwards has played in transforming the whole club off the field.
His hard bargains when selling have allowed him to spend big on players that Klopp has identified such as Alisson and Virgil Van Dijk, leaving the Reds in a far better state than many could have imagined as Rodgers’ reign came crashing down.
Although Leeds lost in the Carabao Cup to Preston on Tuesday night, the club have made a superb start to the season and are currently joint top in the Championship with Middlesbrough.
Under Marcelo Bielsa, the players have transformed into a team that plays high tempo, fast-paced football.
Impressively, Bielsa has worked with a squad that is largely the one that was used last season except for Barry Douglas. The exceptional full-back was a key part in Wolves’ promotion campaign last season and was a fairly surprising arrival to Elland Road.
Individually, Samu Saiz and Kemar Roofe have been a revelation this season and seem to be thriving under Bielsa. However, with Bielsa’s demanding style of play, there also comes the possibility that the players burn out and although Patrick Bamford is there to backup Roofe, Leeds needs a replacement for Saiz.
With that in mind, Leeds should be looking to sign Blackburn Rovers midfielder Bradley Dack, who is also a target for Leicester City, come January.
The Breakdown
The attacking midfielder has been a star in the Championship since helping the club climb out of League One last season.
The midfielder scored an incredible 18 goals last season, to go along with nine assists and would be an ideal replacement for Saiz, should the Spaniard pick up an injury.
It may take fairly sizeable bid to lure the midfielder away from Blackburn but he could be a star for the club depending on where they stand come January.
Rolando Aarons was once tipped to become a star of Newcastle United when he burst onto the scene as a teenager.
However, the winger has failed to live up to expectation and his career at St James’ Park appears to be dwindling.
Aarons is only 22 years old, but he has not progressed as hoped after making his senior debut in 2014.
In fact, the winger has recorded 27 outings for the North-East outfit in total, scoring four goals and creating three assists.
In the second half of last season, the young player joined Serie A side Hellas Verona on a temporary deal and went on to make 11 appearances.
It was widely expected that Aarons would be moving on in the summer, but no English clubs sealed a deal and he remained at Newcastle when the loan market closed on August 31.
However, according to The Chronicle journalist Lee Ryder, the winger could be on the move to a Bulgarian club after being withdrawn from an Under-18s match last minute on Tuesday evening.
Some Newcastle fans have been posting their thoughts on Twitter.
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Swansea are currently sitting in seventh place in the Championship after three wins, two draws and one loss in their first six games back in the second tier of English football.
Former Ostersunds boss Graham Potter took the reigns at the Liberty Stadium and made six signings of young, exciting players and shipped out 13 of the old guard either on permanent deals or on loan.
The Swans will play big spending Nottingham Forest, who are 14th in the table, on Saturday after the international break but Potter does not yet seem to know his best starting XI despite the good results.
At left-wing, Potter has used three different players so far this season, with new signings Barrie McKay, a former Forest man, and Bersant Celina exchanging starting duties and Jefferson Montero coming on off the bench to good effect in four league games.
Now though, the majority of Swansea fans that voted in our poll wanted Montero to start ahead of the new boys after his two assists in those four substitute appearances. Check out the full results below.
It would be fair to say that Joe Hart did not have the best of times at West Ham United.
The Englishman spent the 2017-18 campaign on loan at West Ham from Manchester City, but shared the gloves with Adrian as both struggled for consistency.
West Ham turned down the chance to sign Hart on a permanent deal in this summer’s transfer window, and it was Burnley that ultimately secured the stopper’s signature.
Burnley have made a really poor start to the 2018-19 campaign, but Hart’s performances – certainly in recent weeks – have actually been pretty good.
Indeed, the 31-year-old impressed against Manchester United before the international break, before making a string of fine saves in Burnley’s 1-0 defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday afternoon.
The Clarets might have lost the match, but it would have been a lot more emphatic had Hart not been in such impressive form between the sticks.
The West Ham fans have been offering their views on Hart’s performance at the weekend, and a selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:
After a fairly tough start to the season which saw West Ham face Liverpool and Arsenal in their first three opening games of the season, the Hammers finally got their first points of the season after beating Everton 3-1 at the weekend.
Their season doesn’t get much easier, however, as the east London club will now have to Chelsea, Spurs, Man U and Leicester City within their next five league games. It’s unsure how they’ll fair but if they struggle to pick many points over the next few weeks, the pressure could be mounting on Manuel Pellegrini.
The former Manchester City boss has taken a pretty tough job at a club that has underachieved since it made the move to the Olympic Stadium.
It may not be what the West Ham faithful want to hear but he has to be given time to sculpt his team and should receive the full backing of the board, who should not be looking at any new manager, especially Brendan Rodgers whom Alan Brazil thinks should be considered for either the West Ham, or Leicester City jobs if they become available.
The Breakdown
Yes, what Rodgers has done during his time in Scotland is quite an achievement but to sack Pellegrini halfway into the season, after signing so many new players would be a mistake. Moreover, although it’s an unpopular decision, what Rodgers has done up north has to be matched up with the huge budget he’s had and the poor competition within the league.
West Ham have to stick with their current project or risk having another poor season.
Celtic are currently going through a phase that the club have not had to go through for some time and things do not look to be getting any better for them.
The Bhoys are currently in some poor form and Kris Boyd has told BBC Sport that he feels two of their biggest stars do not want to be at the club.
According to the former striker, who had two spells at Old Firm rivals Rangers, he believes Olivier Ntcham and Dedryck Boyata are both keen to leave Celtic Park.
Both players were subject to offers from some of Europe’s biggest sides over the summer, however, the duo remained with the Hoops for the beginning of the current campaign.
However, Boyd reckons that their dip in form is a sign of the stars desire to leave the Glasgow outfit as soon as possible.
Speaking about Ntcham, he said: “When a club wants to pay £14m for him, that guy’s wages are going through the roof when he goes there. He wants to go. Boyata, the exact same.
“Ntcham was excellent up to the first four games. Since the transfer window shut and Moussa Dembele has gone, he looks a shadow of what he was.”
The Verdict:
Celtic fans certainly will not take a liking to what a former Rangers man has to say about their players and it will not help that his opinion could come across a little far-fetched.
The whole team have not been playing well under Brendan Rodgers so far this season, so it would be unfair to blame the duo that had attracted significant interest in the summer.
Players understandably have a drop in form for a host of reasons, although it is unlikely that they will be looking to play badly to try and force a move away from Celtic Park at the next available opportunity.