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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…

You’d think that after a year in this division, he’d have learnt a few things by now.

Whilst Saturday’s defeat to Millwall shouldn’t necessarily go down as a disaster, given that they are only two points off the top spot, it needs to at the very least be used as a very stark warning for both Marcelo Bielsa and Andrea Radrizzani.

Leeds were already behind the eight-ball going into the game with the injury to captain Liam Cooper, and having to use Gaetano Berardi as cover.

Berardi’s disciplinary record should have been one of the biggest red flags that Leeds were in trouble, with seven sending’s off in his time at Elland Road.

Now although the decision to award the penalty and red card could be seen as rather soft, in fact so soft that Leeds intend to appeal the decision to the EFL this week, the warning signs were there that they didn’t need to be in this position in the first place.

It all comes down to how they dealt with the transfer window.

It is well known that Marcelo Bielsa prefers to operate with a small squad, but it looks as if his decision could be about to come back and haunt him if the EFL reject the club’s appeal.

After the sale of Pontus Jansson to Brentford, Leeds were left with just two ‘natural’ centre backs, one of them being the aforementioned Cooper. Now they are going to find themselves struggling to put together a backline with a number of players out of their natural positions. Therefore, it was a clear mistake not to bring in more bodies over the summer.

Leeds were more or less in a similar situation last year, when they went through a terrible injury crisis, and it arguably ended up costing them promotion in the end.

Why are Leeds fans the best in the country? Find out in the video below…

The Whites are now on the verge of going through a similar spell, and it could leave them playing catch-up towards the end of the season.

Whilst it may be too early to start talking about the January transfer window when we aren’t even through the second international break of the season, both Bielsa and the board at Elland Road need to start getting their ducks in order and finding some proper cover for their centre backs.

They can’t afford to let these results become a regular occurrence just because he doesn’t have the bodies to get through the campaign.

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…

A criticism long been levelled at modern footballers, poor performances and results are never the fault of the players on the pitch, and always something outside of their control. Fabio Capello essentially nailed it on the head, when he suggested England’s sorry displays at international tournaments were borne out of an ‘excuse culture’.

The indoor football skills in the video below have to be seen to be believed…

“When we lost to Germany at the World Cup there were so many excuses — the players were bored, they could not have a beer at night, they could not see their family enough, they could not meet their friends for a coffee. Is it too much to ask for the players to focus for four weeks of their lives when they reach the highest level of their sport? The mentality has to change.”

At Manchester United, the speculation surrounding Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s long-term future at the club has given the squad an excuse to slack off and not show complete commitment to the cause. After all, why should they? The Norwegian may be out the Old Trafford exit door imminently, and they would much rather save themselves than drown with a sinking ship.

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Their performances this season have been nothing short of disastrous, but much of the criticism has been aimed at whether Solskjaer is still the right man for the job. The Norwegian’s previous managerial credentials have been questioned, and reports are already beginning to talk about who could potentially replace him in the dugout. Footballers may publicly say they don’t read the papers or follow the news, but they must undeniably be aware of the mounting pressure on their manager.

Downing tools isn’t exactly a new phenomena in the modern game, but United’s players were questioned about doing exactly that in the final few weeks of Jose Mourinho’s tumultuous reign. And judging by the start to their current campaign, history is simply beginning to repeat itself.

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

So close, but still a little bit to go.

Having suffered an injury against Stoke City back in September, Birmingham City have been without their deadline day signing Jefferson Montero.

Whilst he has been making efforts to get back as soon as possible, this weekend’s game against Leeds looks to be a game too early for him.

Speaking in his press conference yesterday, Pep Clotet said:

“He has got over his injury now. He has had two weeks of physical training now to get him up to speed. He recovered much sooner than we expected, which is another sign of all the good professionals we have in the medical department.

“He could be ready for this weekend although it is a little bit early in terms of fitness.”

On the chalkboard

As we have discussed previously on FFC, Birmingham seem to be operating very much in a 4-4-2 formation recently with Dan Crowley on the right-hand side, but they haven’t quite managed to work out who to play on the left flank.

They have shoe-horned in the likes of Jude Bellingham and Fran Villalba to play in that role, but none of them have quite managed to make it their own. Villalba scored last time out but that’s his only strike in England to date.

Perhaps that’s why Clotet went out and got Montero on deadline day, he saw that he didn’t have the personnel to make it happen, only to see those plans hampered by his injury.

Thogden ranks all 24 Championship home kits in the video below…

Bringing in the Ecuadorian would be a great way to readdress that balance somewhat and that’s why the Blues have been held back in his absence.

Whilst Crowley may not be a natural winger, he seems to be doing quite well at it, but then having a natural winger on the other side can make the formation work a whole lot better that it has been.

If he can get back to his form at Swansea, when he was averaging close to double the number of crosses per game than he is now, Lukas Jutkiewicz will thank him for whipping so many balls into the box. This could be a game-changing combination for Birmingham.

The striker is renowned for his prowess in the air, winning 8 aerial duels each outing this term. Montero, meanwhile, has a career high key pass rate of 1.2 per game over an entire season. It’s clear that they could benefit each other.

Birmingham have been getting on averagely without the 64-cap wide man so far, so they could be doing better, and the return of Montero might be the key to making that happen.

West Brom are loving life right now under Slaven Bilic.

Following his appointment in the summer, the Baggies currently sit atop the Championship table after 11 matches with just one blemish against their record.

That sole defeat came up at Elland Road as Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United somehow got the better of them despite being under the cosh for much of the game. It was so intense that Albion managed to rack up 70% possession for the last half an hour.

The west Midlanders responded perfectly days later, defeating Cardiff City, so the squad will head back into the domestic season full of confidence.

Not a lot of the Croatian’s decisions so far during his reign can be questioned. All of his summer signings have played some part in their success, witnessed most by Nathan Ferguson, who was promoted to the first-team squad during pre-season.

According to Express & Star, he was set to be rewarded with a new five-year contract amidst interest from the Premier League.

The club have since announced that Hal Robson-Kanu has signed a new contract, albeit until 2021, rather than the initial five years reported. With that in mind, is Bilic finally about to be doubted?

Here’s what Football FanCast’s writers think about the 30-year-old extending his stay at the Hawthorns…

Matt Dawson

“If you told me that Hal Robson-Kanu would earn a new deal after getting sent off towards the back end of last season when West Brom only had Rodriguez upfront after Dwight Gayle’s own suspension, I’d have laughed in your face. However, time moves on, and given the struggles in front of goal this term from Albion’s strikers, perhaps handing him a new deal is actually a sensible decision.  

“They lack a senior centre-forward who can actually find the back of the net – Charlie Austin only has one and Kenneth Zohore has two – so that tells you some extra assistance is needed. Robson-Kanu only notched four times in 2018/19, but you sense that they require all the help and squad depth they can get. 

“The Welshman has played in the Premier League before so wouldn’t be the worst player to have around the place if they do go up. In this instance, a short-term deal makes sense. After all, they have players like Jamie Soule rising through the ranks, and they’ve also just signed Cheikh Diaby – players who might be ready once his new deal ends.

“This may look like a confusing piece of news on the face of it, but at the end of the day, it’ll be a wise decision from Luke Dowling in the immediate future.”

Billy Meyers

“I just don’t see the point in this. Hal Robson-Kanu should never have been signed in the first place, and appeared to be somewhat of a panic signing after he enjoyed an impressive EURO 2016 tournament with Wales – he scored two goals in five games.

“With a terrible record of nine goals in 99 appearances (how has he even played that many games?) tying the 30-year-old down to a new contract wouldn’t be a smart idea. There is no resale value in the forward, nor is he an asset that the Baggies must protect – if any club did want him, West Brom should snap their hand off and send Robson-Kanu packing. 

“Slaven Bilic is overseeing a good, youthful spell at the Hawthorns right now with the likes of Nathan Ferguson and Romaine Sawyers catching the eye, and signing a washed-up player to fresh terms would somewhat stain the exuberance in the squad right now. “

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James Beavis “West Bromwich Albion are absolutely right to offer Robson-Kanu a new short-term contract – after all, they have nothing to lose by giving the Wales international a 12-month extension.“He may have polarised the fan-base at times, but it isn’t often that you have an experienced left-footer in your ranks that is able to cover a range of attacking positions.“The nous and know-how he provides at this level and for his country is invaluable, and he is someone that could be hugely influential even when he isn’t on the pitch as the Baggies look to make their Premier League return this season.“In addition, the west Midlands side aren’t exactly blessed with a plethora of options in the attacking position, so there is no harm in keeping Robson-Kanu on for the time being.

“Forget about his record of nine goals in 99 appearances for Albion for one minute – the 30-year-old offers so much more than that.”

Lewis Blain

“To me, this move is somewhat perplexing. Robson-Kanu has done very little to warrant a new contract, and it is a decision that Bilic may well live to regret if they do achieve promotion this season.

“There’s no way that the 30-year-old is of Premier League quality if he can only score nine goals in 99 appearances in the blue and white stripes, especially when he’s played the bulk of his career at Championship level. Being the wrong side of 30 doesn’t help either.

“Bilic may well sign a striker in January, given links to Dwight Gayle, so the Welshman’s role could diminish further when the season enters 2020.

“He is better off dipping into their promising youth setup and giving one of them a shot if required. Jamie Soule has signed a three-year deal. You’d hope he makes the breakthrough sooner rather than later.”

In our latest instalment of the Flashback series, we take a look back at a certain moment and look at how things might have changed those initial reactions.

Following Portsmouth’s 0-0 draw against Gillingham, Kenny Jackett admitted that his side had not been creative enough, as they failed to break down the opposition’s resilient defence, as reported by the club’s official website.

Ben Close and Tom Naylor were the two midfielders, and while the latter put in a solid performance, the pair did not complete a dribble between them and only made 2 key passes combined, despite having a total 19.4% of the game’s overall possession, as per WhoScored.

Considering this, they could perhaps use a midfielder who can make more of a difference in the final third – while it will not be a player of the same quality due to the fact they are now in League One, there will be those at Pompey wishing for someone to come in and have a similar impact to Pedro Mendes’ in 2006.

With Pompey struggling in the Premier League, the Portuguese midfielder was signed in a £7m deal, which also saw Sean Davis and Noe Pamarot move to the South Coast from Tottenham Hotspur, as reported by The Guardian at the time.

He would go on to score some very important goals that campaign, with the first two of those coming in the form of a brace in a 2-1 win against Manchester City, which included an incredible strike that flew into the top corner from outside the box, as shown in the highlights video on the Portsmouth FC YouTube channel.

Mendes then followed that up with another strike from range, helping to earn a 4-2 victory over West Ham United, as reported by BBC Sport.

Speaking to The News Portsmouth, Mendes later recalled the strike against Man City: “When we got that winner, and the time it happened, the hope it suddenly gave to everyone was what you could pick out. There was a relief – but the most important thing was hope.”

Including the two aforementioned wins, Pompey went on to get an incredible 20 points from a possible 27, completing what has since been called The Great Escape.

It can be argued that staying up was his biggest achievement at the club because of how unlikely it seemed, but it should also be kept in mind that he was an integral part of Pompey’s FA Cup final win in 2008.

The challenges for any midfielder moving to Fratton Park will be very different to those faced by Mendes: rather than fighting to stay in the Premier League, they will need to help the club push for promotion from League One, while FA Cup finals seem a world away at the current time.

Nevertheless, with many fans bemoaning the football currently being played, there is definitely an opportunity for a midfielder who can change games to come in and be a heroic figure in blue.

Portsmouth fans, how fondly do you remember Mendes? Join the discussion by commenting below…

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

Arsenal boss Unai Emery has revealed that he tried to sign Fabinho when he joined the club before Liverpool secured his signature, per The Independent.

What’s the word?

The Brazilian midfielder completed a £43.7m move to Anfield from AS Monaco in 2018.

Emery, though, says that he had tracked Fabinho throughout his time at PSG and hoped to acquire him for the Gunners.

He said: “We spent money with (Nicolas) Pepe, but Pepe needs time to adapt to the Premier League.

“For example, in France I loved a lot Fabinho. He was in Monaco and I wanted to sign him for Paris St Germain.

“When I arrived here, also his name was on the table to achieve to sign him, but he signed for Liverpool.

“The first six months he didn’t play, it was adaptation. But now he is amazing and I want the same with (Dani) Ceballos, with Pepe.

“We need patience, but Pepe is improving. On Monday, the key to win was with him. If he scores the first goal, it’s different.

“But it’s one process and I believe in him and I know we need time and patience. The supporters have patience, some more than others.”

Wenger virus

These kind of claims will sound painfully familiar to Arsenal fans – it’s a classic Arsene Wenger move.

The Frenchman routinely explained how he had failed to sign the world’s best players.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Zlatan Ibrahimovic all apparently slipped through the Frenchman’s net and now Emery has confirmed that he missed out on a potentially game-changing signing.

As it is, the Gunners have Granit Xhaka as their go-to defensive midfielder and their captain, supplemented by Lucas Torreira.

Fabinho, by comparison, helped the Reds win the Champions League last season, appearing in all but two games in their run – both were against Red Star Belgrade.

This season, he has been a key cog in a team that has remained unbeaten thus far in the Premier League.

Arsenal fans will wish they’d signed him ahead of the Reds; they also might wish Emery had kept his mouth shut.

A selection of Newcastle United fans have been slamming Allan Saint-Maximin on social media after the Chronicle’s Mark Douglas claimed the winger could be the man to inspire a greater offence at St. James’ Park.Saint-Maximin is yet to score or register an assist in any of his six Premier League outings for Newcastle, and has not seen out a full game thus far.Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers saw the 5 ft 6 forward come close to marking his first full appearance of the term, but was withdrawn in the closing stages for Christian Atsu.The Wolves encounter also saw Saint-Maximin register one key ball while competing 77.8% of his 18 passes, as well as being successful with seven of his 11 attempted dribbles.Take a trip down memory lane to a time when Newcastle were giants on the European stage in the video below…Dribbles have been one area where the summer signing from OGC Nice has thrived, though, with Douglas referring to one stat claiming the Frenchman leads the way across Europe’s top five leagues for average number of successful runs per 90 minutes this season.However, WhoScored data suggests Saint-Maximin’s average of 5.7 per 90 is less than Lionel Messi, Alphonso Davies, Sada Thioub and Benjamin Goller have averaged of players to have featured more than four times.Toon fans are also seemingly hesitant to praise Saint-Maximin too much, as the £16.5million signing often fails to do anything once he advances into a forward position.The winger has played seven key balls for Newcastle this term as well as taking eight shots, only two of which have been on target.Despite that, Douglas feels Saint-Maximin will be the man who can give Newcastle an improved offence going forward, with Steve Bruce’s men currently boasting six goals from 10 Premier League games.Here are some of the messages shared in response to Douglas’ claim…

Ever since that 5-0 loss against Leicester City, Newcastle have looked a far better side.

In the next four games, they have lost just once – 1-0 against Chelsea – with two wins against Manchester United and West Ham and a draw with Wolves being the other results during that run. Now, they are up to 15th in the Premier League table and are four points clear of the relegation zone.

Take a trip down memory lane to a time when Newcastle were giants on the European stage in the video below…

That victory against the Hammers was their latest fixture, with the end result being 3-2 to the Toon. Federico Fernandez, Ciaran Clark and Jonjo Shelvey scored the goals, meaning that £31.5m-valued striker Joelinton (as per Transfermarkt) still has just one goal in the Premier League since signing for the club.

However, he had a good game at the London Stadium, providing an assist and picking up a WhoScored rating of 7.88. And the St. James’ Park faithful were quick to praise their record signing for his display.

They took to Twitter to share their thoughts, and you can see some of the best comments from the social media platform below.

It’s funny what one picture can do to a fan base.

But that’s precisely what happened last night as a photo of French forward Jeremie Bela started doing the rounds on social media.

There were reports in the summer linking the Blues to the 26-year-old but nothing came about as he was dealing with a contract dispute with Albacete who was his club at the time.

Although there are reports coming out now that this deal could actually have some legs to it as he seems to have settled that dispute.

This just added to Birmingham fans’ desire not to keep quiet about the whole ordeal, with many of them taking to Twitter purely to express what can only be described as confusion over the matter.

There were some who didn’t know who he was, whilst some were doing the mental gymnastics to try and work out how the deal came about and how long they’d have to wait for him to play for them.

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While some took the more conventional approach of trying to work out if this was a good signing or not.

Shame this couldn’t have all been sorted out in the summer window like normal people, save everyone running around like this.

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.

Barcelona continued their bad streak of games against Slavia Prague a couple of days back when they were held to a goalless draw at the Camp Nou. That game also saw Jordi Alba subbed off due to an injury, and even though he was signed for exactly this kind of situation, Junior Firpo was nowhere to be seen.

Snapshot

By all standards, the midweek Champions League clash against the Czech side was nothing the Blaugrana faithful expected it to be.

After a rather surprising and disappointing 3-1 defeat to Levante in La Liga the weekend before, this was Barcelona’s chance of retribution and a statement victory.

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In the end, they did make a statement but it was a rather bad one instead.

But what’s even more worrying is Ernesto Valverde’s baffling approach with the club’s new signing, Firpo, who was left in the stands when the team needed him the most.

And it wasn’t the first time this happened, either.

An outcast already

Back when Firpo was signed from Real Betis in the summer, one thing was clear – he would come as a replacement for Alba in the long run and someone who can offer the Spaniard some much-needed rest throughout the season.

Saying that he would immediately usurp his place in the starting line-up would be crazy but not many expected the 23-year-old left-back to be completely shunned out of the squad.

So far, Firpo has only four games across all competitions under his belt, tallying 234 minutes in total and being left out of the squad five times already.

He also spent three full games on the bench and three out with an injury.

Watch Lionel Messi and Gareth Bale answer the internet’s weirdest questions in the video below…

And in the game against Slavia, Alba suffered a relapse in his injury that forced him out and Firpo, who was bought precisely for that kind of a situation, was out in the stands, just like he was in the previous two games.

It seems that Valverde would rather slot Nelson Semedo, his right-back, over to the left than play his natural left-back when the situation calls for it.

In the game against Levante, Alba was rested and spent the game on the bench, but instead of giving Firpo a shot, Roberto was thrown on in the right-back position while Semedo deputised on the left.

The same thing happened the game before that, against Real Valladolid – Alba was subbed off but instead of the 23-year-old former Real Betis man getting some minutes, the Spaniard was replaced by Roberto again while Firpo was in the stands.

This baffling approach by Valverde could indicate that he is either not satisfied with the club’s new signing or that he never even wanted him in the first place.

After all, Firpo has hardly had any game time to speak of so making a verdict on his ability doesn’t seem justified.

This starts making even more sense when we factor in that this is highly reminiscent of Malcom’s situation – a player who left for Russia barely a year after he had joined Barcelona, and with almost no minutes to speak of at all.

For some reason or the other, he was rarely picked, spending most of his time in Catalonia either in the stands or on the bench, never actually getting a proper chance to show his abilities.

The same thing is happening to Firpo as Valverde decides against playing him even when the man he’s supposed to be replacing is not available or simply being subbed off.

By all means, it’s a rather baffling approach by the Ant and it could signal a big issue in the squad and their transfer policy as a whole.