Category Uncategorized

In an exclusive interview with Football FanCast, Rob Lee, who made 333 appearances for Newcastle United, believes Allan Saint-Maximin needs more help from his teammates if he is to produce performances like his match-winning one against Burnley.

Saint-Maximin came off the bench against the Clarets in the second half with Newcastle trailing 1-0, and within six minutes he had got an assist and a goal to completely turn the match on its head.

His second goal was very typical of the Frenchman as he picked up the ball in his own half, before heading for goal and forcing both James Tarkowski and Ben Mee to back-pedal towards their own box before the winger fired low into the bottom corner.

Speaking ahead of the Toon’s clash with high-flying West Ham United on why Saint-Maximin needs help from his teammates if he is to become more consistent, and how injuries may always be his downfall, Lee told FFC:

“We do need to see consistency from him and it’s up to the other players to get him the ball more often when he is playing well, because usually when he’s playing well everything will go for him.

“All we need is for him to get his fitness up because he’s been struggling with niggling injuries all season because he’s so quick. I think he’ll be one of those players that struggle with injuries, especially hamstrings.”

This season has been an injury-plagued one for Saint-Maximin having picked up calf, groin and ankle injuries which has seen him miss 18 games for the Magpies.

When the £38,462 per week winger has been on the pitch he’s been a difference-maker with his willingness to get the ball moving forward having completed 51 of his 81 dribbles in the league.

تحدث محمد مجدي أفشة، لاعب فريق الكرة الأول بالنادي الأهلي عن مباراة بالميراس البرازيلي في نصف نهائي كأس العالم للأندية.

وكان ملعب استاد آل نهيان قد استضاف مباراة الأهلي وبالميراس والتي فاز بها الفريق البرازيلي بهدفين دون رد.

فيديو | موسيماني: أيمن أشرف يستحق الطرد أمام بالميراس.. وواجهنا خصمًا صعبًا

وقال أفشة في تصريحات بفضائية “أبو ظبي الرياضية” عقب المباراة”: “نحمد الله على النتيجة، لسنا سعداء ونعتذر لجماهير الأهلي”.

وأضاف: “كنا نتمنى أن نفوز ونصل إلى النهائي، وإن شاء الله نحقق دوري أبطال إفريقيا هذا الموسم ونعود لكأس العالم للأندية”.

واستكمل: “الأهلي ناد كبير ويلعب لآخر دقيقة، وطرد أيمن أشرف أثر علينا، كنا نتمنى ألا تذهب الجماهير حزينة، وإن شاء الله سنلعب على حصد المركز الثالث”.

وأتم: “أبارك لنادي بالميراس، الشوط الأول كنا نلعب متحفظين ولكن الشوط الثاني هاجمنا، نحن النادي الأهلي ولا ندافع، ونعد الجماهير بالمنافسة على المركز الثالث والفوز به”. تصريحات أفشة بعد مباراة الأهلي وبالميراس

According to transfer reports, Leeds are serious about making a summer move for Sampdoria defender Omar Colley.

What’s the story?

It has been suggested in recent weeks that Marcelo Bielsa’s side are interested in signing the Gambia international in the upcoming summer transfer window as they look to strengthen the centre of their defence.

Italian publication Il Secolo XIX have claimed (via Sport Witness) that Leeds’ scouts have been left impressed by Colley and that they are now serious about signing him.

The report added that an “offer is now ‘ready’ and that Sampdoria’s request of €12m-13m (£10m-11m) ‘wouldn’t be a problem’ for the Premier League club, ‘considering higher figures have been spent on far less performing defenders’.”

Could be Leeds’ own Van Dijk

Given that Leeds signed two established centre-backs in the shape of Robin Koch and Diego Llorente just last summer, it seems somewhat surprising that Victor Orta and co are looking to sign another proven central defender – especially when they also have club captain Liam Cooper and the likes of Luke Ayling and Pascal Struijk, both of whom can fill in there too.

This season has seen Colley win 2.9 aerial duels per match, which would rank him second among Leeds’ squad for 2020/21, with only Cooper averaging higher with 3.9 per game.

Indeed, as per Whoscored, his average of 2.6 interceptions per game would rank him first in the entire Whites squad, while his 4.2 clearances per match also sees him comfortably above any of Bielsa’s current options.

Leeds only have to look at Liverpool to see the kind of transformative impact a dominant centre-back signing can have, with Virgil van Dijk playing a key role in turning the Reds into Premier League and Champions League winners since joining from Southampton.

While Colley isn’t in that same bracket perhaps just yet, the 1.92m (6 foot 3) powerhouse appears to have the kind of defensive strengths which would make him a formidable opponent for opposition attackers to overcome – in fact, his average of only being dribbled past 0.3 times per game is better than any Leeds player this season.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/latest-leeds-transfer-rumours-and-news” title=”Latest Leeds transfer rumours and news”]

Colley is a brick wall, and while a move is slightly surprising given Leeds’ current options at centre-back, it’s one which could see the Whites land their own version of Van Dijk.

Meanwhile, Bielsa could mould his next Roberto Ayala in this Leeds starlet…

Rangers’ decision to cash in on left-back Declan John in August 2018 looks to have paid off, with the Welsh defender enduring a dramatic fall from grace since leaving Ibrox.

The former Welsh international was signed on a permanent basis from Cardiff City in January 2018, having spent the first half of the season on loan in Glasgow.

However, after making 31 appearances for the club, in which he contributed three goals and four assists, he was sold to Swansea City for £800k in the summer of 2018 following the arrival of Borna Barisic.

Since then, he has managed just 18 appearances for the Swans in all competitions and has quickly fallen down the pecking order at the South Wales club, whilst he also failed to make a single appearance on loan at Sunderland in League One last season, although the campaign was ended early as a result of the current viral outbreak.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/latest-rangers-transfer-rumours-and-news” title=”Read this week’s latest Rangers news, transfer rumours and more!”]

After making no appearances in the first half of the season for Steve Cooper’s side in the current campaign, John was sent out on loan to League Two side Bolton Wanderers, which represents an unfortunate decline since his Ibrox exit.

Although the 25-year-old is impressing in Ian Evatt’s side and has been a big part of their upturn in form, contributing two goals in his 14 appearances so far and averaging a solid 6.83 rating, it seems clear that Steven Gerrard was right to allow him to leave in 2018 despite his brief spell at the club.

The left-back has unsurprisingly also seen his market value decline during the past few years, as having once been valued at £900k following his move to the Liberty Stadium, he is now valued at just £360k.

[freshpress-quiz id=“593776″]

Therefore, you could definitely argue that Rangers did very well to sell him for as much as £800k in 2018 and his fall from grace since then emphasises that the Gers made the right decision in getting rid of him.

And, in other news… Rangers handed huge transfer boost over £2.7m-rated beast, Wilson must deliver

كشف الفرنسي باتريس كارتيرون المدير الفني للفريق الأول لكرة القدم بنادي الزمالك، عن اللاعبين البدلاء أمام فاركو، اليوم الثلاثاء، بكأس الرابطة.

ومن المقرر انطلاق المباراة التي ستجمع الفريقين ضمن منافسات الجولة الثانية، في تمام الثانية والنصف عصرًا، على ملعب استاد الإسكندرية.

ويقع الزمالك وفاركو في المجموعة الثالثة إلى جوار سيراميكا كليوباترا وغزل المحلة وطلائع الجيش وإنبي. بدلاء الزمالك أمام فاركو اليوم

السيد عطية – محمد حمدي – أحمد زكي – محمد حسام “بيسو” – حمدي علاء – سيف جعفر – ماجد هاني – سيد محمد عبدالله – حسام أشرف.

According to a recent report, Tottenham Hotspur paid an agent a multi-million-pound fee for the transfer of one of the club’s summer signings.

The report by Football Insider claimed that a ‘recruitment source’ has revealed, as part of Tottenham’s deal to sign Wolverhampton Wanderers right-back Matt Doherty last summer, that Daniel Levy and the Spurs board paid super-agent Jorge Mendes a £6m fee.

As a result, it is reported that only around £10m of the figure Tottenham paid for the £18m-rated defender actually went to the selling club, with the remainder going directly to Mendes.

Transfer Tavern Take

While it is questionable whether Doherty has been worth the £15.12m with which Jose Mourinho’s side parted in order secure his signing last summer – as the 29-year-old has featured in just 12 Premier League games so far this season, over which he has averaged a rather disappointing WhoScored match rating of 6.65 – from Tottenham’s point of view, to whom exactly the Doherty transfer money went is not likely to be a great cause for concern.

The issue would appear to be more of a relevant point for Wolves, who, if Football Insider are to be believed, saw around a third of the transfer fee received for the sale of their fifth-best player in the league last season pocketed by Mendes.

In other Tottenham news, this Spurs transfer admission lifted the lid on a failed Daniel Levy coup with Pochettino – find out more here!

حقق مدافع فريق ليفربول فيرجيل فان دايك رقمًا مميزًا مع النادي الإنجليزي، بتواجده في تشكيل مباراة اليوم ضد فريق ليستر سيتي.

ومن المقرر أن يلتقي الفريقان بعد قليل في إطار منافسات الجولة العشرين من الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز، على ملعب كينج باور.

وأعلن المدرب يورجن كلوب التشكيل الأساسي لمواجهة ليستر سيتي، حيث يتواجد فيرجيل فان دايك.

وحسب الموقع الرسمي للنادي، تُعد تلك المباراة هي المشاركة رقم 150 لـ فيرجيل فان دايك في مختلف المسابقات بقميص ليفربول.

Big Virg’s 1️⃣5️⃣0️⃣th appearance for the Reds 🙌 pic.twitter.com/uRjYTR8Sjm — Liverpool FC (@LFC) December 28, 2021

وكان فان دايك قد انضم إلى ليفربول قادمًا من ساوثهامبتون في يناير من عام 2018.

وشارك فان دايك في 149 مباراة مع ليفربول، قبل لقاء الليلة، في مختلف المسابقات وسجل 14 هدفًا وصنع 7.

وساهم المدافع الهولندي في تحقيق بطولة الدوري الإنجليزي ودوري أبطال أوروبا والسوبر الأوروبي وكأس العالم للأندية تحت قيادة يورجن كلوب.

Speaking recently to Football Insider, Kevin Campbell discussed the reasoning behind Jack Harrison’s omission from Marcelo Biela’s Leeds United side.

Having highly impressed over his 24 Premier League starts prior to the club’s clash with Aston Villa on Saturday, scoring six goals, providing four assists and averaging a WhoScored match rating of 6.90, Harrison was a surprise exclusion from Bielsa’s starting XI against Dean Smith’s side last weekend.

However, in a recent interview with Football Insider, Kevin Campbell claimed that the Argentine manager will learn a great deal about the £8.1 million-rated Manchester City loanee this week, in how he reacts in training after being benched, as well as offering his opinion on why Harrison was dropped.

He said: “One thing Bielsa is not going to allow is complacency. If you are complacent and you are not doing what he wants you will be taken out. A little stint on the sidelines will definitely liven Harrison up.

“Bielsa will find out a lot more about him now. He’ll find out if Harrison is a sulker or whether he is a player who rolls his sleeves up. That is what Harrison has got to do, he needs to roll his sleeves up.”

Transfer Tavern Take

Considering the fact that Harrison has been one of United’s better players in the Premier League so far this season – with his average WhoScored match rating ranking him as the club’s sixth-best performer – as well as the fact that Bielsa himself recently stated that the 24-year-old is a “very strong player mentally” as well as a “very dedicated professional,” it is questionable whether Harrison’s sleeves have not already been rolled up this season.

Having said that, the winger’s form has dipped considerably in recent weeks, so perhaps Bielsa’s dropping of the £15k per week man will provide him with the wakeup call he requires to refind his impressive levels of performance, as Campbell suggests.

In other news, Phil Hay shed light on this Leeds star’s contract details – find out more here!

Joelinton badly betrayed Steve Bruce by producing a horror show performance as Newcastle United’s sole centre-forward in his side’s 2-0 defeat to Manchester City on Boxing Day.

Bruce was forced into facing Pep Guardiola’s Sky Blues without the Toon’s leading goalscorer Callum Wilson after the eight-goal striker sustained a knock that prevented his involvement.

Wilson was sorely missed by the visiting Magpies side throughout Joelinton’s time on the field, which ended whilst when he was replaced midway through the second half by Andy Carroll, with Bruce seeing United’s record-signing forced off after sustaining an apparent hip injury.

Joelinton often lacked any clear intelligence with his forward runs and hardly displayed any serious threat to Ederson’s net, as he rarely acted as Newcastle’s main goal threat whilst the now-£18m-rated man earned his 13th outing of the Premier League season.

The 24-year-old had struck just one goal in his prior 12 appearances this term and Bruce will be hoping for positive news on Wilson’s fitness ahead of the game against champions Liverpool on Wednesday night.

Joelinton was far worse than Matt Ritchie against Manchester City, despite Bruce feeling the need to haul the former AFC Bournemouth maestro off after 66 minutes having seen the winger lose all five of his ground duels and possession 14 times, per SofaScore.

Joelinton was by far the worst-performing Newcastle player at the Etihad Stadium on Boxing Day, where he lost four of his five ground duels, five of 11 aerial contests and possession 11 times while failing to direct his sole shot of the night on target.

Bruce never saw Joelinton attempt, let alone complete, a dribble, either, as he sought to palm off possession with 11 accurate passes despite taking 30 touches of which, a majority came in the middle third of the pitch.

The Brazilian attacker was additionally caught offside once, committed two fouls and offered zero key passes, and will now be fearing for his place in the starting line-up regardless of the extent of his potential hip injury.

Should Wilson not be passed fit to face Liverpool, Bruce will be able to call on Andy Carroll or Dwight Gayle after the pair entered the action as late substitutes on Saturday night.

AND in other news, a Newcastle gem with his “best years ahead” was Steve Bruce’s sole positive at Brentford.

Liverpool have been handed a potential injury boost with Jurgen Klopp confirming that Joel Matip is set to miss just three weeks of action after suffering a problem with the adductor problem he suffered against West Brom in December.

Therefore, the Cameroonian defender should return before the end of the transfer window but that should not prevent the Reds from acting in January.

As it stands, Klopp has just Nathaniel Phillips and Rhys Williams available as natural centre-backs in his first-team squad and neither of those had appeared in the Premier League before this season.

Fabinho has, of course, been superb in his performances as a centre-back but the Reds cannot rely on him to perform superbly out of position in every single game he plays, so must look to bring in another defender in the winter transfer window.

The Reds do have the likes of Billy Koumetio and Sepp van den Berg waiting in the wings if required but having a solid defence is the key to winning titles, evidenced by the 15 clean sheets the Reds kept in the top-flight last season, so the Merseyside club should definitely be looking to add an experienced centre-back to their ranks in January.

The club will no doubt be regretting not replacing Dejan Lovren during the summer transfer window, after he joined Zenit St Petersburg, as whilst the Croatian was error-prone at times, he was an excellent back-up option for Klopp to have during his time with the Reds.

It has been suggested that Liverpool weren’t looking to sign a centre-back in January before Matip’s injury and with the former Schalke man only set to be out for three weeks, they may be tempted to stick with what they have for the rest of the season.

However, the 28-year-old has been extremely injury-prone during his time with the club and even when he does return from injury, there is certainly no guarantee that he will remain fit for the rest of the season, especially if he is expected to play twice a week.

Therefore, despite the positive update on Matip’s injury, Michael Edwards must rip up the previous transfer plans and ensure that Liverpool sign a centre-back next month.

And, in other news… LFC “baller” was Klopp’s one positive vs NUFC; he must start vs Southampton…