All posts by z3u9t.icu

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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…

Having handed in a transfer request on the eve of the window’s deadline, you wouldn’t expect Wilfried Zaha’s dramatic actions to have gone down too well with those who hold Crystal Palace close to their hearts.

Presumably, many of the supporters wouldn’t have been too happy given the timing of it, whilst you can only wonder what was going through his teammates’ heads after arguably the best player in the squad declared his intentions to leave.

The Ivory Coast international made no secret of his desire to leave the club, amid bids from both Arsenal and Everton for his services in the summer window.

However, all seems to be well at Selhurst Park despite Zaha’s late antics in the window.

The 26-year-old was summoned off the bench by Roy Hodgson and subbed on in the Eagles’ Premier League opener, coincidentally against Everton, and was greeted with a warm round of applause and a serenading from the Selhurst Park faithful who bellowed out his chant.

After all he has done for the club in helping them achieve promotion and Premier League survival, this makes sense.

But how have his teammates reacted? Well, Scottish midfielder James McCarthy has spoken glowingly about Zaha’s reaction following his transfer request, saying: “I must say his attitude has been amazing since he has come back.

“He has accepted it and is fully committed to the squad, the team and the fans — look at the reception [they gave him], they appreciate everything he has done for this club. He is a brilliant lad.”

Hodgson has also revealed that Zaha has trained better since his failed attempt to leave, whilst a ‘clear the air’ meeting called by Mamadou Sakho has helped ease any lingering tension between the forward and the rest of the squad.

In the aftermath of such a dramatic decision so late in the window, it seems all is well between Zaha, his teammates and his adorning supporters.

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The Neymar saga is finally reaching its conclusion, one way or the other.

The latest reports, however, have slightly complicated things for Real Madrid, who seem to be behind in this huge race against their bitter rivals, Barcelona. AS reported that the only way Los Blancos would potentially make this deal happen is if they included Vinicius Junior in the exchange.

The young £63m-rated 19-year-old only arrived in Madrid last year and it would be difficult to see Florentino Perez part with his prised youngster already.

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But if the social media activity is anything to go by, it seems that the Real Madrid fans would gladly accept this deal if it really meant the arrival of Neymar to the Spanish capital.

Below, you can see a collection of tweets that show how some of the Real Madrid fans feel about their young prodigy and how they feel about this reported deal to bring one Brazilian to Santiago Bernabeu by sacrificing the other.

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So the Alexis Sanchez transfer saga may finally be coming to an end. The Chile international has been linked with a move to Serie A giants Inter for numerous weeks, amid reported haggling over the amount of wages the Italian side would have to cover.

According to The Guardian however, the Nerazzurri have finally reached a deal to sign the versatile forward on a season-long loan, and Antonio Conte’s side will have to pay £175k of Sanchez’s £390k-a-week salary.

But perhaps crucially though, the report adds Inter will not have an option to buy the Chilean, and that piece of news certainly didn’t seem to go down too well with United fans on Twitter.

Many supporters of the Manchester side insisted they thought it is a “bad idea” and that they have “never seen a worse deal”.

Indeed, some Red Devils fans declared it a “win-win” situation for Inter, and questioned how the lack of a purchase option benefited United in any way.

Check out some of the reaction of United fans below:

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Loads of Everton supporters have been reacting on social media, after former Blues star Tim Cahill shared a photo on Twitter showing the Australian with fellow former Toffees ace Mikel Arteta.

The pair played together at Goodison Park for six-and-a-half years, in a period of the Merseyside outfit’s history that saw Everton finish the 2004/05 season fourth in the Premier League and later achieve back-to-back fifth-place finishes, as well as reaching the Round of 16 of the UEFA Cup and the EFL Cup semi-finals.

Between joining Everton from Millwall in the summer of 2004 and departing for New York Red Bulls in 2012, Cahill made 276 outings for the Toffees across all competitions, in which he scored 68 goals and penned 29 assists (TransferMarkt) – only Romelu Lukaku (68) and Duncan Ferguson (60) have scored more Premier League goals for Everton than Cahill (56).

Arteta, meanwhile, struck the back of the net 35 times and was credited with 33 assists during his 209 appearances across all competitions, between arriving at Goodison Park from Real Sociedad on an initial loan deal in January 2005 and leaving for Arsenal in 2011.

Everton have only reached the EFL Cup semi-finals once since Arteta and Cahill left for pastures new, but reached the FA Cup semi-final in Cahill’s final year and again in 2016, while reaching the Europa League Round of 16 in 2014/15.

Loads of Toffees supporters have been reacting on social media now, though, after Cahill shared a photo on Twitter showing himself with Arteta, alongside a flashback shot of the two together during their Everton playing days.

Here’s how these fans reacted…

Jason Holt has admitted to The Glasgow Evening Times that it was tough to leave Rangers this summer, despite not having played for the club under Steven Gerrard.

The 26-year-old joined Scottish Premiership outfit St. Johnstone on a season-long loan deal on deadline day.

“It’s a wrench to leave Rangers, of course it is,” he told The Glasgow Evening Times. “It’s a big club, a special club but in football you have to think about your career and move on sometimes.”

“It’s just one of those things. When a new manager arrives it can be like a revolving door. I decided to go out on loan last season to play games and then when I came back, the team there had come on leaps and bounds.

“So there wasn’t a place for me. I wasn’t in the plans and you have to move on. It’s a tough decision to make because you never want to leave a club of that size – but you have to think about the bigger picture.”

It was hardly a surprise to see Holt leave Rangers this summer, as he has since largely become a rather forgotten man under the new management team at Ibrox, spent last season on loan at Fleetwood Town.

The 26-year-old’s last appearance for the Light Blues actually came back in May 2018 when he provided a side being looked after by Jimmy Nicholl with two assists and a goal in a 5-5 draw away to Hibernian (Transfermarkt).

His chances of playing any role for Gerrard appear to be rather slim, as the manager has made a number of changes to his midfield options over the past three transfer windows he has had.

The likes of Steven Davis, Scott Arfield, Glen Kamara, Joe Aribo and Ryan Jack are all available to him (Transfermarkt), meaning he would have only fallen further down the pecking order.

Indeed, it an exit would appear to have been on the cards for some time. According to a report by Football Insider back in April, Rangers were allegedly set to tell Holt that he had no future at Ibrox and was allowed to leave the club permanently in the summer transfer window as they would not be offering him an extension to his present deal that expires next year.

It is never nice to leave a club after spending so many years there, however the move away from Rangers was always going to be on the cards for Holt.

As mentioned, the midfielder’s chances of playing regular football appear to be next-to-none at Ibrox after all the changes that Gerrard has made, whilst the fact that he has not featured for the manager in the year or so that he has been at the helm would surely have been an indicator about his future in Glasgow.

Rangers fans, what do you make of Holt’s comments? Let us know your thoughts by sharing them below!

[ad_pod ]Stockport-born playmaker Phil Foden does that thing we call football quite well.Watch Manchester City Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Pep Guardiola has managed some pretty decent players in his time, from Lionel Messi to Andres Iniesta, Arjen Robben and, of course, some of his current Manchester City lineup. So we think it’s fair to say that, when it comes to recognising greatness, he’s a credible judge.

That’s why it’s so incredibly exciting when he declaresÂa 19-year-old “the most talented player†he has ever seen. Equally, the fact that he’s considered in such high regard is the reason some might consider his absence from first-team action a little perplexing.

Foden has featured in just 11 minutes of football so far this term – ten in the Premier League and one against Liverpool in the Community Shield.

TalkSPORT pundit Tony Cottee is one of those that believe Foden should be sent on loan to continue his development before it’s too late…

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Leeds made one surprise change on Sunday as they started Jamie Shackleton in midfield. Adam Forshaw wasn’t included in the squad as he missed out for the first time in the Championship this term.

The loss didn’t look as though it was felt too hard, however, as the Whites prevailed 2-0 thanks to two late goals.

Eddie Nketiah came off the bench to prod home the opener before Mateusz Klich was on hand from the penalty spot.

But despite winning, a host of Leeds fans still think they missed Forshaw during the performance.

One suggested that it was a mess for 70 minutes, claiming he controls the tempo in midfield. A further fan said they struggled to break up the possession without him.

Another supporter noted that they missed his metronomic tick of the play.

Forshaw has been steady in the Leeds midfield this term, achieving a pass success rate of over 90% but failing to find the back of the net.

Playing alongside Klich, he’s begun to play in a more advanced role, something that’s proven by the two shots per game he has. Last term that figure stood at 0.8.

Here’s the best of the debate.

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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…

Real Madrid enjoyed a successful weekend, as they beat Sevilla 1-0 away from home.

And after the clash, Zinedine Zidane perfectly summarised their weekend with a bang-on quote.

What did he say?

There were two main aspects that negatively affected Real Madrid’s ongoing 2019/20 campaign across all competitions: defensive fragility and inability to play well consistently throughout the 90 minutes of a game.

The former has been present all too regularly, and their win over Sevilla was actually their first clean sheet of the 2019/20 season.

Even before that, Los Blancos had a horrible pre-season, conceding 16 goals in a total of just five games.

The latter aspect, meanwhile, was most notably observed against Levante on matchday four.

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The Galacticos had a 3-0 lead at half-time at the Santiago Bernabeu, only to concede two goals in the latter stages of the game and almost throw the three points away.

Zidane rightfully identified both of those aspects in the post-match interview and it perfectly summarised their victory.

“We’re happy because we played the full 90 minutes at a high level at a difficult place. This is a group win and I’m happy for all the players. Sevilla have done well since the beginning of the season and we have to congratulate the players.

“We defended well and read the game well tactically. That is crucial when you take on such a big team. We knew we could score and thanks to Karim, we did so.”

A step forward

The Sevilla clash was definitely a step forward in every sense of the word for Real Madrid.

Sure, the match was far from perfect and Los Blancos only managed to record a narrow 1-0 victory over their hosts. But just by winning in Andalusia, something they hadn’t done in four years, is an achievement in itself.

And winning with a clean sheet and a persistent and consistent performance, as Zidane pointed out, makes this triumph that much bigger than it already appeared to be.

Of course, this doesn’t mean all of their problems are magically fixed after a single game but it does mean the team is working on it one step at a time.

If they can continue improving and addressing their issues like this in the future fixtures, maybe they can find something at the end of the rainbow after all.

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…

According to The Mirror, Arsenal are interested in bring Donyell Malen back to the Emirates Stadium.

What’s the story?

It has been an impressive start to the season for Malen. The 2o-year-old Netherlands international has scored 10 goals in his first 13 matches for PSV Eindhoven as the Dutch team sit third in the Eredivisie with two games in hand on leaders Vitesse Arnhem.

The forward has thus attracted some attention from clubs around Europe, including the Gunners. They are said to be monitoring the youngster, currently valued at £50m.

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Would represent poor business

The stats show that Malen is going through a purple patch right now. He is the top scorer in the league, and his first two caps for the Oranje are recognition of his recent displays.

However, Arsenal signing the youngster would represent incredibly poor business, and would show that the Emirates outfit’s hierarchy really have learned anything from previous mistakes.

Two years ago, the striker left the Gunners to move back to his homeland for just £500,000, which means that PSV are expecting a fee 100 times higher than that. Yes, he may have enjoyed an impressive couple of months so far this term, but that does not mean his services can demand such a hefty price.

Also, Unai Emery does not need to add another striker to his squad. He already has arguably one of the best in world football, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, at his disposal, whilst Alexandre Lacazette is also a star forward who has two goals in two starts in the Premier League this term.

The problem the former Sevilla boss has is at the other end of the pitch. Some of the defensive performances from his side so far this season have been hard to watch. Against Watford, for example, the north Londoners were outplayed in the second half and conceded a huge 31 shots. David Luiz has done little to shore up the backline since joining from Chelsea, and the whole back four continues to look shaky.

It is a problem they have suffered from for a while. In the last three full campaigns, no side in the top six has shipped more than the Gunners. Quite frankly, that is not good enough, and it needs solving soon. Forget spending a fortune on a player deemed not good enough just 24 months ago. Splash the cash on a top-class defender who can finally end their defensive woes.

Some Crystal Palace fans have taken to Twitter to discuss the daunting run of upcoming fixtures.After the Eagles take on West Ham this Saturday, they face Manchester City at Selhurst Park and Arsenal at The Emirates, before also welcoming in-form Leicester to SE25.

Palace then go away to Frank Lampard’s Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, before welcoming European champions Liverpool to south London to round off a scary-looking run of fixtures.

Oddly, you would be forgiven for thinking Roy Hodgson’s men have somewhat of a chance in the majority of these fixtures given their form against the big six lately – they have certainly caused a few shocks in recent years.

Palace beat Manchester City and Arsenal away last season, while they also beat Manchester United at Old Trafford earlier this term – the south Londoners definitely like being the underdog, it seems.

Let’s take a look at how the Palace fans on Twitter reacted to hearing their upcoming fixtures…