All posts by z3u9t.icu

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Wolves cruised into the next round of Europa League qualifying by repeating their first leg exploits with another 4-0 whitewash against Armenian outfit Pyunik.

The result was the club’s highest-ever aggregate score in a European competition and the first time they have recorded back-to-back wins in Europe since the 1971/72 season.

There were goals from a quartet of players, all of which came in the second half with Pedro Neto, Morgan Gibbs-White, Ruben Vinagre and Diogo Jota all scoring – the latter with the pick of the bunch after netting a sublime overhead kick three minutes from time.

Nuno Santo’s men are now just two games away from the group stages with Serie A side Torino standing in their way.

The performance from one of Wolves’ goalscorers has particularly drawn mass debate amongst the Molineux crowd.

Gibbs-White scored his first competitive professional goal for the club after 57 appearances and fans are torn over the 19-year-old with one believing he’s still some way off the mark but another noted that he’s a brilliant talent.

One supporter claimed that you would expect the 5 foot 10 midfielder to shine against a team of Pyunik’s stature and one day he will be great but for now he makes far too many mistakes.

Another fan added that he couldn’t understand the abuse the youngster gets as he’s a local lad whilst one said that Gibbs-White just doesn’t get him excited.

Here’s the best of the reaction:

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[ad_pod ]Lots of West Ham fans have taken to Twitter in bemusement after Manuel Pellegrini said that both Andriy Yarmolenko and Carlos Sanchez will be “important” players for the club this season.The supporters on Twitter don’t really seem to have an issue with Pellegrini’s words on Yarmolenko, who was doing quite well before he suffered a serious injury to his Achilles – the Ukrainian netted twice against Everton just weeks before the problem occurred against Tottenham.

Sanchez, on the other hand, is quite clearly not rated by the fans below and they are seemingly baffled by Pellegrini viewing him as an important player.

A major injury problem dictated that the former Aston Villa man only made seven league appearances last term after signing for the Hammers, and he has played just seven minutes of the current campaign.

You can teach yourself 3 crazy football skills in the video below…

As a result, plenty of West Ham fans on Twitter have been left puzzled by Pellegrini’s comments…

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Wolves may have been coming off the high of defeating Torino in the Europa League in midweek but their start against Burnley at Molineux was not of the same quality.

They begun sluggishly and were punished by Ashley Barnes as the striker put the Clarets into the lead.

Their defence left much to be desired but one man, in particular, was targeted as the Wolves faithful decided to lay into Ryan Bennett on Twitter.

Barnes’ strike was a fine one but no defender got close to him, allowing the forward to find the bottom corner.

However, Bennett looked uncomfortable for much of the first half according to supporters as one described him as shocking and average.

One fan went as far as describing the centre half as League One quality whilst one detailed how he needed to come off before things got embarrassing. His performance was also called an absolute stinker.

Before Wolves’ clash with Sean Dyche’s men, Bennett hadn’t missed a minute of Premier League action this season.

That might well change now though with Real Madrid loanee Jesus Vallejo waiting in the wings.

Here’s the best of the reaction.

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Manchester United are set to offer striker Mason Greenwood a new contract at the club, which could be worth up to £25,000-a-week, according to The Athletic via the Daily Mail.

Greenwood is now one of only three strikers United have available to them in the first-team following the departure of Romelu Lukaku to Inter Milan this summer, and has featured for the Red Devils off the substitutes’ bench in all four of their Premier League matches so far this term.

Greenwood has so far played a total of 47 minutes after scoring twice for United in pre-season. There is also an expectation that he’ll start some games in the Carabao Cup and the Europa League in the coming months.

Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer holds the recently-selected England U21 international in extremely high regard, saying (also via Daily Mail): “I think with his movement and his cleverness, he’s going to be a very good player, the young boy.”

“He can play all of the front-three positions, or across the front four, as he can play No 10, No 7, No 11 and No 9.

“He’s a natural footballer with his left foot, coming in, but he’s got two feet. He takes free kicks with his left, free kicks with his right.

“He must stay clear of injuries, be professional and I’m sure he’s going to grab his chance. Everything is there for him.”

The club are also expected to enter talks with the likes of Angel Gomes, James Garner, Tahith, Brandon Williams and Ethan Laird.

Although Greenwood is now a member of the first-team at Manchester United, handing a £25,000-a-week contract to a 17-year-old who is yet to make a Premier League start for the club could prove to be a dangerous move.

The young forward has a great deal of quality and potential, as Solskjaer alludes to, but firstly needs to prove himself at the very top level before earning a bumper contract worth that amount of money.

United would perhaps be sensible to integrate him fully into the first-team set-up as a regular and then, should everything go as planned, offer him an improved deal at the end of the campaign, or at least in January.

United fans, do you think offering Greenwood a contract worth this much so early on is a good idea? Let us know below!

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

We can never be certain which players are on a Premier League club’s wishlist – if we did know, the transfer market would be an altogether different sphere of operation.

In West Ham’s case, however, two key areas of the team are in need of new faces – not desperately, but given the situations of two players, reinforcements may soon become a huge necessity.

The two players in question are Carlos Sanchez and Pablo Zabaleta.

Both men are well on the wrong side of 30 but are still being relied on by Manuel Pellegrini – the Chilean even said that Sanchez would be an important player for him this season, much to the bemusement of some West Ham fans.

The former Aston Villa man will be 34 years of age in January, and is coming into the current season off the back of knee surgery which saw him miss 34 games and 215 days of the 2018/19 campaign – that injury would be worrying for a fresh player in his mid-20’s, let alone a 33-year-old.

The Colombia international played in the Hammers’ Carabao Cup win over Newport recently as Declan Rice was rested, and he remains the only backup in Pellegrini’s squad for the England international – as a result, a new holding midfielder must be on the agenda.

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

In Zabaleta’s case, whilst he is a dependable professional who made his 400th appearance in English football against Newport, he is set to retire at the end of the season, leaving just Ryan Fredericks as the Hammers’ only recognised senior right-back.

In regards to squad depth, that wouldn’t be a situation that Pellegrini should welcome and a new right-back and a defensive-midfielder should absolutely be on his immediate transfer wishlist.

If those two positions are not prioritised, it could leave the east Londoners in a real predicament with regards to squad depth.

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

West Brom’s start to the season has been rather excellent, so it is hard to criticise how Slaven Bilic has done things so far.

Albion are unbeaten in the league, sitting in fourth after three wins and three draws.

The one negative could be the fact that they are yet to keep a clean sheet though injuries to Ahmed Hegazi and Kieran Gibbs haven’t exactly helped.

In attack, things will only get better as Charlie Austin ramps up his fitness, having barely had much of a pre-season after his former Saints manager Ralph Hasenhuttl left him out of their squad.

Watch West Bromwich Albion Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Out wide things are starting to look dangerous with Grady Diangana, Matt Phillips and Matheus Pereira all finding their feet – scoring five and assisting three between them, per WhoScored.

The midfield trio of Jake Livermore, Romaine Sawyers, and Filip Krovinovic have been instrumental in applying the Croatian’s passing style of football as the lowest passing success rate between the three is 85.8%.

However, it does raise question marks over the contribution of Rekeem Harper.

The first thing Bilic did when arriving in the summer was ensuring that the promising midfielder was kept at the club, the 19-year-old soon signed a contract extension as it appeared he was likely to be part of his plans this season.

That hasn’t quite worked out as of yet, which makes the decision not only seem bizarre, but it could also prove detrimental to the starlet’s career.

Harper has played just six minutes so far in the Championship, so he may well regret rushing to sign on the dotted line this summer.

If Bilic knew he was going to operate with the three midfielders mentioned above, as well as bringing Gareth Barry back into the mix following injury, then he should have done what he did with Sam Field, who plays in the same position and has gone out on loan to Charlton Athletic in the same division.

At least then he would be getting regular game time because anything but that is only going to stall his development – he’s one of their most promising talents, he needs to be playing men’s football. It’s as simple as that.

The Croatian has told the local press that the 19-year-old is training well, so there’s a possibility of seeing him in the near future, but don’t hold your breath.

If Bilic continues to leave him out, he could well see Harper seek pastures new.

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Two goals from Sadio Mane and a second half strike from Mohamed Salah enabled Liverpool to come from behind and defeat Newcastle 3-1 to maintain their 100% start to the Premier League season. [via Sky Sports]

Roberto Firmino came on as a first half substitute for Divock Origi and slipped through Mane for his second goal while also providing the assist for Salah’s goal later in the afternoon, his backheeled pass releasing the Egypt winger to finish calmly to the Newcastle net. [via Sky Sports]

Liverpool’s official Twitter channel @LFC revelled in the Reds’ third goal, acknowledging Firmino’s work in setting up Salah for the finish.

The Brazil international has two goals to his name so far this season and added a couple of more assists to the three he had prior to Saturday afternoon. [via TransferMarkt.co.uk]

Between them, the Liverpool front three of Salah, Mane and Firmino now have 12 goals in the Reds’ first seven matches of the season.

These Liverpool fans on Twitter hailed the impact of Firmino off the bench against Newcastle:

How good do you think Firmino was against Newcastle and how important has he been to Liverpool so far this season? Have your say in the comments section below!

Manchester City defender John Stones picked up an injury in training ahead of their Champions League clash against Shakhtar Donetsk and is expected to miss at least four weeks, according to The Mirror.

The impending absence of the England international leaves Nicolas Otamendi as the only senior natural centre-back in Pep Guardiola’s squad, with Aymeric Laporte likely to be out for six months following a serious knee injury, as reported by The Guardian.

Even before news of Stones’ injury broke, the Daily Mail claimed that Guardiola had been planning to use Fernandinho at centre-back against Shakhtar Donetsk, a scenario that now looks even more likely with Stones ruled out.

Another option for the Manchester City manager is 18-year-old Eric Garcia, a centre-back from the under-23 squad who made three appearances for the senior side in the Carabao Cup last season and was on the bench for the Community Shield last month. [via TransferMarkt.co.uk]

These Manchester City fans on Twitter called for the 18-year-old Spaniard to be brought into the first team following Stones’ injury:

Do you think Garcia should start at centre-back rather than Fernandinho? Should Guardiola have brought him into the first team squad earlier this season? Have your say by commenting below!

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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…

Speaking to episode 68 of the Inside Elland Road podcast, Graham Smyth has labelled his concerns over Pablo Hernandez and his fitness.

What’s he said?

Hernandez was withdrawn with just over 15 minutes remaining against Derby last weekend as he was replaced by Barry Douglas.

Marcelo Bielsa brushed off questions about his fitness after the game as he suggested there was no injury but that hasn’t stopped a discussion taking place over whether has the capabilities to last during matches.

The Spaniard has been involved in four goals in eight matches this term so there is still quality left in him. For how much longer, however, is the real question lingering around the former Swansea man.

Appearing on the YEP podcast, Smyth detailed the following:

“Pablo would be the interesting one because it’s a natural question for a 34-year-old – how much football and relentless pressing and breakneck football has he got left in his legs? He is an absolute athlete but he’s 34, if he plays as much football this season as he did last that’s another big ask and then of course to extend the contract – which I can fully understand – he’s a magic man and he produces but you’d think he’d have to be managed perhaps in a slightly different way.

“Maybe not this season, maybe he’s got a full season of playing full-tilt football in his legs but as the older he gets, you can’t defy science. There’s no way around the ageing process even for a super fit man like him. You think would he be able to start every game and play 90 minutes twice a week through the winter when he’s already played so much football?”

Hernandez could become a dilemma

It remains to be seen whether the experienced head has what it takes to play out a similar season to 2018/19.

He was absolutely phenomenal in Leeds’ run to the playoffs as he contributed to 24 goals in the Championship alone.

Hernandez was certainly their magic man but there have been a few signs of some dwindling performances this term – particularly against Derby where he failed to register a shot at goal for the first time in 2019/20.

At the age of 34 concerns are right to be there over his fitness and as the campaign plays out he may have to be managed carefully, certainly when the Whites play two games in a week.

It might be that moving him inside and playing behind the striker is a good way forward. That would mean he wouldn’t have to get up and down the channel constantly throughout 90 minutes. Instead, he could sit in a creative role that doesn’t require him to defend.

At 22-years-old and with three direct Premier League goal contributions to his name this season, James Maddison is a key element of Leicester City’s excellent team.Maddison could’ve quite easily let his form slip after rumours emerged, which Brendan Rodgers addressed last month, that Manchester United were monitoring his progress as they search for a new attacking threat.However, the rising star has done anything but, and that’s got to please Leicester fans, who will really feel they’re on the precipice of something special with Rodgers and his band of youthful talent.Watch Leicester City Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

In fact, if his latest interview is anything to go by, it sounds as if Maddison’s desire for the game, and more importantly his desire to achieve with the Foxes, is as strong as ever…

Leicester currently sit in third position and travel to Rodgers’ old stomping ground, Anfield, to face Liverpool at the weekend.