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Kevin Phillips has said that the money on offer at Newcastle United could be enough to tempt Mauricio Pochettino, in an interview with Football Insider.

What did he say?

According to Sky Sports, the prospective owner of Newcastle have already lined up the former Tottenham Hotspur boss as their number one target to take over as manager.

The Argentine has been out of work since November when he was fired by Spurs, although he remains a sought after coach given what he achieved in North London.

Asked whether the 48-year-old would be tempted, former Sunderland striker Phillips said the money would prove hard to turn down, but that he expected Pochettino to want to challenge for trophies.

“It is no surprise when owners have come in with the sort of wealth that we are talking about,” he told Football Insider.

“Why not aim for the best? Pochettino is a good manager but he never won anything at Tottenham. I think it will take a couple of years, if everything goes right for Newcastle, for them to be challenging.

“Pochettino will be interested, for £19million a year, that can be hard to turn down.

“I am sure it is not all about the money for him though, he will want to win stuff and I think he will want to be challenging straight away at his next club.”

Matching ambition

Pochettino is clearly an ambitious man and he very nearly achieved some of those targets at Spurs, finishing second in the Premier League and reaching a Champions League final.

However, he is yet to win a trophy as a manager and it is likely that will be one of his key aims when considering his next move.

If he is to move to St James’ Park, he would likely need plenty of assurances and it will also depend on what other jobs come available.

أعلن وحيد خاليلوزيتش المدير الفني لمنتخب المغرب عن قائمة لاعبيه لمواجهتي غانا وبوركينا فاسو الوديتين خلال فترة التوقف الدولي المقبلة.

ويلتقي المغرب أمام منتخبي غانا وبوركينا فاسو يومي 8 و12 من شهر يونيو المقبل.

وشهدت القائمة ضم أشرف بن شرقي لاعب الزمالك، واستبعاد بدر بانون لاعب الأهلي وحميد أحداد مهاجم القلعة البيضاء.

وكان أشرف بن شرقي قد تغيب عن قائمة أسود الأطلس الماضية أمام بوروندي وموريتانيا ضمن تصفيات كأس الأمم الإفريقية. قائمة المغرب لمباراتي غانا وبوركينا فاسو

حراسة المرمى: ياسين بونو (إشبيلية) – منير المحمدي (هاتاي سبور) – أنس الزنيتي (الرجاء) – رضا التكناوتي (الوداد).

خط الدفاع: رومان غانم سايس (وولفرهامبتون) – جواد يميق (بلد الوليد) – أدم ماسينا (واتفورد) – أشرف حكيمي (إنتر  ميلان) – نايف أكرد – (رين)- سفيان شاكلا (خيتافي)- أشرف لزعز – أيوب العملود (الوداد) – سامي مايي (فيرنكفاروس).

خط الوسط: سفيان أمرابط (فيورنتينا) – سليم أملاح (سطانداردولييج) – أيمن برقوق (إينتراخت فرانكفورت) – عادل تاعرابت (بنفيكا) – يحيى جبران (الوداد) – إلياس شاعر (كوينز بارك رينجرز).

الهجوم: يوسف النصيري (إشبيلية) – منير الحدادي (إشبيلية) – سفيان رحيمي (الرجاء) – أيوب الكعبي (الوداد)- أشرف بنشرقي (الزمالك) – حكيم زياش (تشيلسي) – زكرياء أبو خلال (ألكمار).

The team is complete 🇲🇦
Here is the Squad list for the next friendly games against Ghana 🇬🇭 & Burkina Faso 🇧🇫#DimaMaghrib pic.twitter.com/DFmPNTja2Y

— Équipe Nationale du Maroc (@EnMaroc) May 27, 2021

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…

Argentina play Brazil on Friday and the game should have some special interest from north London.

Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Giovani Lo Celso has been called up to La Albiceleste’s squad as they prepare to take on their bitter Samba rivals.

Of course, it remains to be seen whether or not Lo Celso will actually play; he has not got a lot of football under his belt for Spurs this season and only completed his first 90 minutes at the weekend, as they drew 1-1 with Sheffield United.

But if he does, Mauricio Pochettino, his compatriot, really ought to take notes.

In his first start for the club, he played on the right of midfield against Red Star Belgrade as Spurs won 4-0 in the Champions League.

He scored his first goal for the club in that fixture and subsequently retained his place against the Blades.

But he was again played out of position, on the right flank, and endured a troublesome afternoon, as Football FanCast has explored previously.

For Argentina, throughout his international career, he has played primarily in central midfield.

He was playing in that role in the 0-0 draw with Chile, in which he sustained a hip injury, and has done so in 13 of his 19 caps for his country. He has played as an attacking midfielder twice, a right midfielder on four occasions and on the left wing once.

Funnily enough, Argentina have won just once when he has been deployed on the right side of midfield, a 5-1 thrashing of Nicaragua. In the other games, they were beaten 6-1 by Spain, 2-0 by Colombia and 2-0 by Brazil.

It is clear that his country do not see him as a winger and he is likely to return to midfield on Friday.

When he last played in midfield, he was partnered by Leandro Paredes, the PSG midfielder, and Udinese’s Rodrigo de Paul as they drew 0-0 with Chile.

The same goes for the Copa America third-place play-off, also against Chile, and it could be instructive for Pochettino as he bids to cure Spurs’ ailments.

They have not won in the Premier League since September but one feels that placing Lo Celso in a midfield three could bring some success.

It would surely lead to the exclusion of Christian Eriksen, the attacking midfielder, but Lo Celso could play alongside a combination of Dele Alli, Tanguy Ndombele, Moussa Sissoko and Eric Dier.

It would add energy and dynamism to the middle and also spark a fluidity not seen from Spurs in months.

Pochettino ought to keep an eye on Argentina’s game just to see how Lo Celso performs, and whether those skills could be transferable.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more… 

The Championship is finally back in action this weekend as Sheffield Wednesday return with a testing trip south as they look to put any off-field demons to the side for the time being.

League leaders West Brom play host at the Hawthorns, and it is a game in which Garry Monk can hugely exploit if he sets out his team correctly on Saturday afternoon.

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The Baggies will be without two of their most influential players as both captain Jake Livermore and midfield partner Romaine Sawyers will be absent through suspension.

The pair have started every single game this campaign with the latter featuring for every single minute available.

And while they would have had two weeks to prepare for this very moment, it is something that the Owls chief in command needs to make the absolute most of as they can make up some much-needed ground on those around the playoffs.

At the very least, it may help their cause later down the line if they do get any points deducted too.

On the Chalkboard

West Brom’s central midfield pecking order is substantially weak as outside the two suspended protagonists, there’s only really two true options, but they both come with their doubts.

Gareth Barry has only just re-signed at the club after a career-threatening injury and has played one U23 game while Rekeem Harper has only featured for a whole six minutes in the league.

Albion’s number ten Matheus Pereira still offers a massive threat at the peak of their midfield having scored three and assisted six goals, so the above factors combined make a 4-3-3 formation a must for Wednesday.

Sam Hutchinson is so crucial at the base of that three as his tackling stats will go a long way in neutralising the Brazilian’s threat, he averages 2.2 per game.

In front of him needs to be two of Barry Bannan, Massimo Luongo, or Kieran Lee, depending on who is fit enough to play, given that the Australian hasn’t featured since the win over Stoke City nearly a month ago.

These three offer creative and attacking threats, which they can really take advantage of in the absence of Livermore, who averages 2.1 tackles per game and Sawyers, who manages approximately 69.6 passes per match at an accuracy rate of 91.9%.

Bannan is joint-top in the squad for assists, Luongo has two goals in his last three appearances, and Lee managed an assist against Swansea City last time out in just his second start since the end of September.

The midfield will almost certainly hold the keys to whether or not Wednesday come out on top at the Hawthorns.

A number of Liverpool fans have taken to social media to blast the performance of Naby Keita in Tuesday’s Champions League clash with Genk.

The 24-year-old has only played 14 minutes of Premier League football this season but made his third Champions League appearance of the campaign against Genk at Anfield.

Keita lasted until the 74th minute of the match when Jurgen Klopp made his first change – Andrew Robertson entering the field in place of the midfielder.

According to WhoScored, Keita had five shots, made three tackles and completed three dribbles during his time on the field.

However, it would be fair to say that the Liverpool supporters were not impressed by what they saw overall from the 2018 arrival in the 2-1 victory, if their reaction on social media is anything to go by.

The 33-time Guinea international made 33 appearances for the Reds last term but failed to convince, whilst he is also yet to ignite this season.

A selection of the Twitter reaction from the Liverpool fans in relation to his latest performance can be seen below:

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…

Have they done enough?

That will be the question that will be answered when Brendan Rodgers names his side to face Crystal Palace on Sunday, because after their display against Burton Albion on Tuesday, there will be a couple of names banging on the manager’s door that wouldn’t usually be.

What’s been said?

Speaking on Quest’s Carabao Cup highlight’s show on Wednesday night, former Premier League striker Bent was asked by host Colin Murray to name his star players from the side’s performance.

In response, he picked out Belgian midfielder Youri Tielemans and also took the opportunity to praise Demarai Gray, which may come as a bit of a shock to the fans, especially when you consider the amount of stick he got after his display.

Host Murray then briefly talked about Kelechi Iheanacho and his performance on the night, describing him as “the forgotten manâ€.

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Going to be a team effort

It’s interesting that those players should be the ones that get the majority of the praise from Murray and Bent, because two of them can easily be described as ‘fringe’ players in the squad setup.

Gray has only managed 147 minutes of league action so far this season with Iheanacho failing to get an appearance in the league (both from Transfermarkt).

This is something that we touched on with Iheanacho earlier this week, in that there are a number of players, with the Nigerian the best example, that clearly have a lot to offer the Foxes, but as the statistics show they just aren’t being utilised incredibly well.

If Leicester City are going to keep performing the way that people like Bent think they can, it is going to take an effort from the rest of the team, and displays like that on Tuesday night should really give players a platform to make a push for league places.

After all, Iheanacho rose from the shadows to score what is now a rare goal for the forward. Who knows what he could achieve with more chances?

Leicester have some good players, but what really tests a team through a season is strength in depth. If they are just being made to sit on the bench with the odd cup game here and there, their fitness levels if and when they get called upon might not be up to scratch.

A lack of match action will only decrease their performances levels too.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Off the Bench series, which places in-game managerial decisions and squad selections under FFC’s microscope.

Aston Villa slumped to another Premier League game without a victory as Burnley twice hit back to earn a point at Villa Park.

The game had its controversial moments, not for the first time this season, as VAR toyed with the heartstrings of the home faithful.

It was Anwar El Ghazi who opened the scoring for Villa, meeting Frederic Guilbert’s cross just after half an hour before former West Brom man Jay Rodriguez levelled things up with a powerful header in the second half.

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John McGinn edged Villa in front after having a previous effort chalked off, but that lead lasted a matter of two minutes as Chris Wood equalised with another headed attempt.

Snapshot

With the game tied at 1-1 in the 70th minute and the home team lacking in attacking flair, recording just two shots on target, manager Dean Smith brought on summer signing Trezeguet to spark a change, and it paid off inside ten minutes.

The winger did well to create some space to put in a cross for McGinn to fire home as Villa took the lead on the 79th minute.

Off the Bench

During Trezeguet’s 20 minutes, he assisted a goal, put in three crosses and had a further six passes in the final third of the pitch, per WhoScored.

In addition to that, he was fouled three times, thus giving a chance to stick the ball into the box onto the head of either of their towering centre-backs, who are both above 6 foot 4.

It also suggests that the Egyptian was a significant threat in the final third and had Smith introduced him earlier, the game might have gone differently.

He recorded the same number of crosses that El Ghazi managed in double the time and two more than captain Jack Grealish on the other wing, via WhoScored.

If Trezeguet was on the pitch before the 70th-minute mark, he could have had a greater impact on the match as he would have been given more time to show his creative exploits.

It’s something that clearly had some sort of influence as he assisted the goal that regained his side the lead, albeit not for long.

In an exclusive interview with Football FanCast, John Hartson has leapt to the defence of Gareth Bale. 

There’s been a lot of talk about Gareth Bale and his colourful Real Madrid career in recent months. Of course, he joined Los Blancos as their most expensive purchase of all-time for what then represented a world-record transfer fee. 

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A lot was expected from the Wales international and while Bale certainly has delivered on big Champions League nights and helped Real Madrid achieve glory, that hasn’t been enough to warrant him a special place at the club. At least not if you asked Zinedine Zidane just a couple of weeks back.

It was a tough summer for Bale and it was expected that he would indeed spend more time playing golf than football if he ended up staying at the Santiago Bernabeu. After all, Zidane said it himself: it would be for the best if Bale were sold.

But Hartson believes that Bale has commanded an unfair reputation, suggesting that he doesn’t get the type of glowing credit he duly deserves: 

“Gareth Bale is not somebody you see falling out of nightclubs at 3AM in the morning. Bale is a family man, he’s got a wife and two kids and he enjoys his golf. The worst thing Gareth does is go and have a game of golf. He’s arguably Real Madrid’s best player.” 

“He’s the best foreign import that we’ve ever seen go onto foreign soil. He’s got 104 goals for Real Madrid. He’s a world class player.”

“I don’t think he gets the credit he deserves.”

And Hartson really did hit the nail on the head with that one. Bale wasn’t expected to be in the fold at the beginning of the season, but he’s defied the odds and has been highly influential in the early stages of the season, bagging two goals and one assist in the process.

Sure, he has his faults. He sure does enjoy his golf, as Hartson reveals, and he has been injury-prone in the Spanish capital. But he is also a brilliant footballer when fit and fully motivated, one that has the unteachable ability to deliver big performances in big moments.

104 goals and 66 assists in the Los Blancos colours can attest to that and then some. For all the noise and all the past criticism, he’s never been the one to cause trouble, to rebel or to start squabbles. He has kept his head down and, more importantly, he has justified the club’s decision to sign him with his performances on the field.

Maybe the time has finally come to cut Bale some slack and give him the credit he richly deserves.

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more… 

There can’t be many Leeds players that divide opinion as much as striker Patrick Bamford does.

After failing to score against Barnsley, Leeds fans backed him and hailed his work rate. Yet, after drawing with Derby, comments made about the 26-year-old weren’t in his favour.

In fact, they were incredibly damning in light of a drawn game that Leeds should have won.

They had 13 chances to Derby’s five, had over 60% of the possession and also missed a penalty, via WhoScored.

But it was the performance in front of goal from Bamford that also had a large say in how the game went.

On the chalkboard

There has been rife debate surrounding Eddie Nketiah this season. Leeds fans want him to start and Marcelo Bielsa has teased the possibility of him playing alongside Bamford in attack.

The Arsenal loanee has started life in west Yorkshire in superb fashion. He’s scored as many goals as Bamford, despite only starting two times in the Carabao Cup.

He is yet to play from the off in the Championship but has thrived when being brought on from the bench, scoring two late goals against Brentford and Barnsley.

The 20-year-old has more than hit the ground running but given Bamford’s latest performances, he must be walking an extremely thin tight rope right now.

The latter worked hard to fashion chances for himself last weekend but he could have won the game for Leeds on Saturday.

There were a host of moments that proved telling, not least Mateusz Klich’s missed penalty, but Bamford hit the post and spurned four further opportunities.

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It’s something that tells the story of the 26-year-old’s campaign. He has scored four times but is now goalless in his last three matches.

Based on his abject display against the Rams, he must now be looking over his shoulder more than ever.

The 6 foot 1 striker has had four shots per game in 2019/20, the highest number of anyone in the Championship. Based on that, you’d expect him to have scored more goals but he’s missed the target entirely 17 times – also a league-high.

If Leeds are going to get promoted they’ll have to start taking their chances on a more regular basis. That begins with their number nine who is beginning to struggle quite significantly.

Perhaps it’s finally time to start Nketiah.

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Leeds continued their unbeaten start to the season on Wednesday evening as they defeated Brentford 1-0.

Creating just eight chances, the Whites struggled to break down the Bees until Eddie Nketiah was introduced.

Another substitute in Helder Costa did all the work as he showed tremendous pace to get to the byline and then play the ball across for Nketiah to tap home.

It was a simple finish and almost mirrored the goal the pair combined for just over a week previous against Salford.

However, the main narrative leading up to the game surrounded Pontus Jansson, a player who had dedicated valuable service to the Yorkshire club, even being named in the PFA Championship Team of the Year last term.

The Swede was a popular figure at Leeds, something that was summed up by their supporters refusing to get drawn into the possibility of booing him in the build-up to the fixture.

However, after becoming Brentford’s captain, his return to Elland Road didn’t go to plan and his reaction at the full-time whistle showed he wasn’t too happy.

In this picture, Jansson fittingly stands dejected as he trudges off a pitch that brought him so many good memories.

The central defender played 120 times for Leeds but was rather forced out this summer due to a number of reasons.

Paul Bell claimed financial fair play was to do with his departure but arguably that doesn’t add up too much when you consider he left for just £5.5m.

Adam Webster, who was nowhere near the Team of the Year, meanwhile left Bristol City for £20m.

But there was also an attitude problem at the heart of the centre-back who was one of the players who wasn’t best pleased when Leeds allowed Aston Villa to score a goal last season.

Jansson would have been looking forward to returning to his old club but this time he was left with a rather sour taste in his mouth, leaving the stadium having lost against his former employers.

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