Sunderland have begun their search to find a new academy manager after Paul Reid left the role last month.
Reid left his job towards the end of June with immediate effect after a whole host of young players opted to leave the Academy of Light over the last 12 months. He held the post for two years after previously working for Eastleigh under current Sunderland owner Stewart Donald.
Young talent Bali Mumba is expected to be another one of those set for a summer exit amid interest shown in him by Premier League side Norwich City.
Whilst some players have departed, results on the pitch have taken a nosedive, with neither the under-18 nor under-23 sides managing to pick up a win in their respective leagues this term.
The Wearside club have now released a job description and advert via their official website, welcoming applicants to apply for the role.
As per safc.com, the post reads: “An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced Academy Manager to join Sunderland AFC’s EPPP Category 1 Academy, overseeing the Youth Development department,”
Whoever is chosen for the job will have a mammoth task on their hands to revive the youth teams’ fortunes after such a chastening 2019/20.
Finally, the advert asks for a manager to come in and ‘produce players for the first team’, potentially seeing some players follow the likes of Mumba and Benji Kimpioka, who have gained first team chances in recent months.
It is bound to be a challenging task for whoever steps in to replace Reid and finding the right candidate for the Sunderland academy job is imperative.
With the Wearsiders’ first team also languishing in League One, a positive turnaround of their academy fortunes could provide a welcome fillip to offer hope to the Stadium of Light faithful.
Who do you think should come in to replace Reid? Let us know in the comments section below…
Wolverhampton Wanderers take on Arsenal at Molineux on Saturday in an important battle between two sides battling for a place in European competition next season.
Following their 1-0 win over Aston Villa on Saturday, Wolves are sat sixth in the table, just three points adrift of third-place Leicester City and only two points off the top four.
Arsenal are a further six points back, but will still retain faint hopes of Champions League qualification, provided they win most of their games between now and the end of the season.
The Gunners have struggled in recent matches against the Midlands side and lost 3-1 at Molineux last season, while the two sides drew 1-1 in the reverse fixture at the Emirates Stadium.
Form
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side are one of the form outfits in the Premier League and have picked up five wins from their last six matches.
However, they have tended to be better on the road in recent matches and have only picked up two wins from their last six fixtures at Molineux.
Arsenal have also been in strong form, picking up four wins from their last six Premier League fixtures, as well as earning three consecutive wins in all competitions, including Wednesday’s 4-0 win against Norwich City.
However, they continue to struggle away from home and have earned just six points from a possible 18 available during their last six away league matches.
Team news
Wolves do not currently have any injury concerns, although Espirito Santo could look to shuffle his pack as part of a busy post-lockdown schedule.
Adama Traore started on the bench last weekend against Aston Villa and will surely be a candidate to come in against Arsenal.
The Gunners will be without long-term absentees Gabriel Martinelli, Calum Chambers, Bernd Leno and Pablo Mari, but Mesut Ozil and Lucas Torreira are closing in on a return.
Matteo Guendouzi is fit but appears to be out of favour with Mikel Arteta, although the Spaniard is likely to rotate following the comfortable win over Norwich.
How to watch
This match is one of five set to played in the Premier League on Saturday and kicks off at Molineux at 17:30 UTC.
The game will be broadcast on TV on BT Sport, while fans can key enjoy the game via live stream football.
This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
Ruben Dias, Angelo Buta and Jose Sa all have some very particular things in common. They’re all Portuguese, they’re all clients of Jorge Mendes and coincidentally, they’re all targets for Wolves.
Dias was the subject of yet more interest last week (O Jogo, via Sport Witness) while Buta was subject of speculation from the Sunday Mirror at the weekend.
Sa, however, was linked in the Greek press last week with Leicester, West Ham and Arsenal also reportedly showing an interest in the goalkeeper ahead of January.
Considering Wolves already have Rui Patricio among their ranks, it would perhaps be bizarre to bring in a stopper currently at the top of his game in the Champions League.
On the chalkboard
Currently playing for Olympiacos, the 26-year-old has been in sublime form in Europe’s elite competition this season.
In a 2-0 defeat for his side against Bayern, he made an incredible nine saves, earning plaudits from Manuel Neuer in the process as he did his utmost to keep the Greek champions in the game.
He ultimately failed to do so but it was fine evidence of the qualities he possesses, demonstrating fantastic concentration and reflexes.
If Wolves did end up making a move for him then presumably he’d come in as Patricio’s number two. After all, the fellow Portuguese hasn’t done a lot wrong at Molineux.
With that in mind, it could finally spell the end of John Ruddy’s time in the old gold. The experienced professional was vital when Wolves came up, being named in the PFA Championship Team of the year.
However, he’s rarely been afforded any game time and has been restricted to Carabao Cup appearances this term. He also played just once throughout Wolves’ Europa League qualifying campaign.
Since Patricio arrived, he’s played as few as 12 times and has found matches even harder to come by in 2019/20. The 33-year-old has had to remain patient but it’s unlikely he’d take too kindly to being bumped further down the pecking order if another ‘keeper arrives.
With Sa very much in the pipeline, this only serves as bad news for Ruddy and he may have to look elsewhere for the best of his career.
Everton will battle with Southampton at St. Mary’s today in what has turned into a must-win game for Marco Silva. The Toffees boss is under immense pressure, as his side now sits 17th in the table, with just three league wins all season.
Should Everton lose on the south coast, it would put the relegation-sitting Southampton on the same points as the Merseysiders after 12 games. Thankfully for Silva, the Saints’ 9-0 loss to Leicester City may save him from the relegation places even if they suffer a defeat.
However, if the former Watford boss drops any more points, these next two games could be his last in English football.
Silva is expected to make one change for the trip down south, with the injury to Andre Gomes keeping him out of the team for many months.
In replace of him, Tom Davies and Fabian Delph are expected in the centre of the pitch. Elsewhere, Theo Walcott has had a change in fortune over the past month, with a goal and one assist over the last four games.
The form of Alex Iwobi in this time has also kept Gylfi Sigurdsson out of the side. However, his display against Spurs suggested that they’re missing the Iceland international, and he should come back in. Although, the injury to Bernard and Richarlison’s use up top could keep Iwobi on the left side of the attack.
At the back is where Silva has endured most of his problems. The form of Michael Keane has been woeful this season, as opposed to Mason Holgate who has one goal, one assist and a clean sheet in his past four starts. Alongside Holgate will most likely be Yerry Mina, who remains Everton’s main man at the back.
At right back, Djibril Sidibe has begun to push Seamus Coleman out the side on a permanent basis.
The Frenchman has started the past three games and showed his worth with his 7.35 rating against West Ham United last month.
The left-back spot is Silva’s easiest spot to choose from, with Lucas Digne once again proving to be one of Everton’s best players.
His fabulous assist for Cenk Tosun’s goal against Spurs was his fourth of the league season, which matches his total for the last campaign.
From Francis Jeffers to Andrey Arshavin, Arsenal have really made some awful of signings over the years, especially under the 22-year reign of Arsene Wenger.
There’s so many that we struggled to fit them all into this list and had to leave out some strong contenders!
Anyway, here’s Arsenal’s 20 worst signings of the Premier League era so far…
Mikael Silvestre
We start with a great player who the Gunners just decided to prise away from Manchester United way too late in his career, versatile French defender Mikael Silvestre.
The 31-year-old at the time of his Emirates Stadium arrival really struggled to have the same impact he had at Old Trafford in north London and featured a mere 43 times in two years.
Andre Santos
Arsene Wenger scouted the former Brazil international at Fenerbache and decided to take a near £5m punt on the left-sided star, it was one that failed to pay off with Santos only able to provide three goals and no assists in 33 outings.
He also hardly endeared himself to the red army, see Robin van Persie incident.
John Jensen
Curly-haired Danish 1992 UEFA European champion John Jensen became something of a cult hero at Highbury right at the beginning of the Premier League era.
However, that doesn’t really take away from the fact that he never really delivered in the tricky pre-Wenger period for the North Londoners and he was signed as a result of an agent giving George Graham a back-hander – at least he’ll always have that seminal goal against Queens Park Rangers to remember.
Denilson
Football – Leyton Orient v Arsenal FA Cup Fifth Round – The Matchroom Stadium, Brisbane Road – 10/11 – 20/2/11 Arsenal’s Denilson lies on the picth after appearing to sustain an injury Mandatory Credit: Action Images / Tony O’Brien Livepic
When the Gunners forked out £3.4m to sign little-known 19-year-old Brazilian Denilson in the summer of 2006, there was a feeling of excitement and bemusement around the club.
The latter one turned out to be the more appropriate reaction.
Despite making over a century-and-a-half of Arsenal appearances, the central defensive midfielder never really lived up to his potential and comfortably makes it onto this list.
Sebastien Squillaci
Taking about easily being one of the Gunners’ worst signings in Premier League history, Sebastien Squillaci is right up there and could even be the worst.
The ill-disciplined ex-France centre-back never really settled into English football, struggling from the off and the fact that his international career was brought to a halt after he moved to north London says it all really.
Denis Suarez
Denis Suarez’s loan from Barcelona to Arsenal in the second half of 2018/2019 was certainly one of the most pointless transfers of the Premier League era.
The agile attacking midfielder played just six times, a cameo role from the bench on each occasion, before picking up a groin injury a month before the end of the campaign and spending the rest of it on the sidelines.
Junichi Inamoto
There was definitely something fishy about Japan legend Junichi Inamoto’s switch to Highbury in 2001 as he was plucked out of the microscopic J-League on loan only to ever feature four times in cup competitions.
Looking back now it very much appears that there were other motives behind this move, perhaps the Gunners wanted to raise their profile and sell more shirts in Japan ahead of the 2002 FIFA World Cup? And maybe the transfer was successful in that sense?
Nevertheless, Arsene Wenger’s face above doesn’t in the least suggest suspicion…
Yaya Sanogo
Former Golden Boy nominee Yaya Sanogo is a classic example of that player who impresses hugely in pre-season and turns out to be a flop when they start to sink their teeth into some competitive action.
The French youth prodigy did what Arsenal’s official social media accounts are still referring to as a “madness” against Napoli in the Emirates Cup in just his second pre-season, scoring four times in a 5-1 victory.
However, his form competitively was a world apart from this as Sanogo pathetically never scored a Premier League goal in four years before a free transfer back to his homeland with Toulouse.
Richard Wright
Arsenal’s goalkeeper Richard Wright watches the ball bounce past himduring their English Premiere League match against Charlton Athletic atHighbury November 4, 2001. Arsenal lost the match 4-2. REUTERS/RussellBoyce “No online/internet usage without FAPL licence. For details seewww.faplweb.com”RUS/AA
It’s simply laughable that not only did the Gunners spend £2m, some sum in 2001, to bring goalkeeper Richard Wright in from Ipswich Town, Arsene Wenger saw him as the long-term replacement for ageing club legend David Seaman.
Wait, it gets better, Wright actually managed to earn a Premier League winners’ medal during his mistake-laden Highbury spell but unsurprisingly, he didn’t even come close to establishing himself as the new first choice in north London.
Andrey Arshavin
Andrey Arshavin is a man who will always polarise opinion in world football – there was no doubting his talent though he could never really get over his frustrating inconsistency.
The fact remains, however, that the Gunners never really got anything more than THAT performance against Liverpool at Anfield out of the controversial Russian for their lofty £14.85m.
After returning from an almost two-month injury lay-off against Liverpool, Anthony Martial announced his comeback to the Manchester United side with a series of impressive goal-scoring displays.
The France international netted the winner against Partizan Belgrade, and got on the score-sheet in the comfortable win against Norwich too. But against Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon in the Premier League, the 23-year-old didn’t look anywhere near best.
As per Sofascore, the forward had just one shot on target and 27 touches over the course of the 90 minutes, and finished with a match rating of 6.6 – the worst of any United player who completed the full game.
After seeing the Frenchman’s display, fans of the Manchester side flooded to Twitter to voice their thoughts about their number nine.
Many Red Devils supporters questioned his work ethic and insisted he simply doesn’t put in the hard yards to be a top-level striker for the club.
Check out some of the reaction of United fans below:
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…
It’s been almost impossible to criticise anything Marcelo Bielsa has done during his time as Leeds United manager.
The Whites have gone from rotting in mid-table to being genuine promotion contenders under the Argentine, but there is one decision he keeps making over and over that he needs to rethink.
Of course, we’re talking about the Argentine’s tendency to allow a number of his senior players to appear for the U23 side.
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Pablo Hernandez was the latest player to step down to U23 level as he worked on recovering from an injury problem, but he didn’t last too long in that game as he picked up another knock that has forced him to miss at least two games of first-team football.
The Spaniard is undoubtedly one of the Whites’ most important players as he’s won the club’s Player of the Year award twice in a row, therefore being without him for two games is a huge loss.
Fortunately, Leeds managed to overcome Birmingham on Saturday, but they may not be as lucky against playoff contenders Preston on Tuesday evening.
For all of Bielsa’s good qualities, he’s never been great at managing a squad. The famed ‘burnout’ effect that his teams often go through is well documented, and injuries played a huge part in the Whites’ failure to seal promotion in 2018/19 – they had amassed 31 by the time April came around.
Playing senior players in the U23s after they’ve been out with an injury can be a good thing on some occasions. If an inexperienced player such as Jamie Shackleton or Ben White had suffered an injury, a spell with the U23s to help them recover their match sharpness may be just what the doctor ordered.
Why are Leeds fans the best in the country? Find out in the video below…
However, sticking a 34-year-old midfielder with over a decade of senior experience with Carlos Corberan’s side seems like a bit of a pointless endeavour, especially after he got injured just 24 hours before a league outing.
If Bielsa is to continue this policy of sending his senior players to the U23s he needs to be a bit more savvy about when to do it as there can be no doubts about the fact that he’s misjudged this one.
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…
It was only a couple of months ago when West Brom were experiencing the heartache of being knocked out of the playoffs on penalties by Aston Villa.
Then over the summer loan star Dwight Gayle returned to his parent club, Jay Rodriguez was sold to Burnley, and the Baggies’ squad was looking somewhat decimated – without a manager either, only adding to their woes.
Albion’s hierarchy had to make a crucial decision going into their second season in the Championship, and the move they made was to bring in Slaven Bilic on a two-year deal.
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That could have been considered quite the coup as the 51-year-old has managed both the Croatian national team and Premier League outfit West Ham United within the last decade.
He was then tasked with building a squad capable of challenging for the title, one that could fill the 46-goal void left behind by the departing strike duo.
Bilic made Kenneth Zohore and Charlie Austin permanent signings along with a selection of wingers on loan to try and fill that gap, but the most important decision he’s made has actually been making Matty Phillips the key figure amongst their attack.
The winger has already signed a three-year extension to his contract, citing the Croatian as a key reason to why – which is clear to see when looking at just how well the 28-year-old has been performing this season.
He made his 100th appearance in a Baggies shirt earlier in the campaign too in what could quite easily be a career-best year for Phillips.
The Scotland international has already scored four goals this season, meaning he needs just one more to match his best in the blue and white stripes – which happened in his debut season when Albion were still plying their trade in the top-flight.
Even though he’s only provided just the one assist this term, there’s plenty of football left to make ground on his best of eight at the Hawthorns.
And he has every chance to considering that he has started all eight matches for them in the league so far, recording the second-highest rating of anyone else in the squad at 7.18 per WhoScored.
If the winger continues to perform the way he is at the moment, the trend indeed suggests that he will be able to record his finest season in the west Midlands.
The only difference to other seasons is the fact Bilic is at the helm.
Last term, both former manager Darren Moore and then caretaker boss Jimmy Shan played Phillips in attacking midfield where he failed to score a single goal.
Therefore, Bilic’s impact can’t be underestimated – his influence has already been publically lauded by the 6 foot 1 wide man, so expect the Baggies’ star man to continue rising up.
[ad_pod ]Roy Keane is at it again.We’re not entirely sure why the former Republic of Ireland international seems to hate everything with a pulse but he does. Put a foot wrong around the man and he’ll never let it go; have the last name ‘Ferguson’, and he’ll chase you down for the rest of your life.Watch Manchester United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below
Indeed, for all the Keane fans out there, it’s your lucky day – he’s let loose again, on another matter of fact tirade about his former gaffer Sir Alex Ferguson (while we don’t agree with the disrespect he shows, he certainly makes some valid points).
Ah, Keane, you’re beginning to remind us of the angry old man who used to stick a nail in our football when it went over his fence.
Ferguson is football’s equivalent of a listed building. So, naturally, people have jumped to his defence – including talkSPORT hosts Darren Gough and Andy Goldstein…