Tag Futebol

Glasgow Rangers are gearing up to face Celtic at Parkhead in the first Old Firm derby of the season on Saturday afternoon.

The 54-time Scottish champions will be hoping to stretch their lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership table to four points. And Steven Gerrard’s side will need to be at their very best if they are to beat the Bhoys in the 421st Old Firm battle.

The Light Blues are currently unbeaten this season, winning eight of their league games and drawing the other two games, whilst they have shown that they are a tough team to beat, as they have only conceded three goals from their first ten fixtures in the top flight.

Old Firm derbies are never a dull affair, though the game will be played behind closed doors, but that won’t stop supporters from tuning in to watch one of the most anticipated games of the season so far.

Here is the starting lineup we are expecting to see at Parkhead, including two changes from their last league outing.

It was claimed that the Rangers boss could have been forced to make several changes with as many as six players potentially unavailable for the lunchtime kick-off, as Allan McGregor, Alfredo Morelos, Joe Aribo, Filip Helander and Kemar Roofe were all considered doubts for the clash with Celtic, whilst Nikola Katic remains a long-term absentee due to injury.

However, McGregor, Morelos and Helander have all been cleared ahead of the Old Firm derby, although neither Aribo nor Roofe will be fit to face Neil Lennon’s side later today.

After facing an anxious wait, McGregor will assume his rightful place between the posts, with Jon McLaughlin dropping back down to the bench.

The veteran goalkeeper will most likely start behind a back four consisting of Borna Barisic, Connor Goldson and James Tavernier lining up alongside the 11-cap Swedish international.

Moving further afield, Steven Davis may make room for Ryan Jack, meaning Scott Arfield and Glen Kamara could make up the rest of the midfield trio. Bongani Zungu will have to wait for his debut – it would have been way too big a risk for Gerrard to throw him in at the deep end anyway, so Kamara will keep his place.

With so much at stake, Gerrard has a big call to make – does he choose Ianis Hagi or Jordan Jones? As we previously discussed, we think he will opt for the more experienced Jones.

Meanwhile, Morelos should return to the starting XI after being called up by his country during the international break, which means Cedric Itten is set to miss out, while the ever-reliable Ryan Kent should start on the left wing.

AND in other news, Glasgow Rangers must keep Glen Kamara at all costs after Pukki comments…

He might not be able to play on Thursday night, but Tottenham Hotspur’s summer arrival, Joe Rodon, has to be the man to replace Toby Alderweireld going forward.

Spurs boss Jose Mourinho was dealt one hell of a blow that put a massive dampener on their 2-0 win over Manchester City at the weekend as the Belgian centre-back went off injured in the second-half without coming into contact with an opposition player.

Alderweireld has played a big part in the north Londoners keeping three clean sheets in four matches.

Following the match, the Special One claimed: “It’s bad, it’s bad. It’s a muscular injury,” which may have to be taken with a pinch of salt but it would not be a shock considering he had played three international matches in just over a week beforehand.

There will be a temptation to bring Davinson Sanchez back into the fold having not made the matchday squad in any of their last four Premier League outings whilst he only made the bench last time out in the Europa League.

The one-time club-record £42m arrival, who is now worth €50m (£45m) will undoubtedly feature against Ludogorets this week and that’s a risk they can afford to make given the level in competition, but regardless of his performance, he can’t be trusted for their trip to Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

A frontline involving Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyech and Kai Havertz is a scary prospect as it is, it’ll only be made worse by putting a player dubbed a “liability” by many supporters next to Eric Dier, who is not a centre-back by trade himself.

An argument can easily be made against Rodon, considering his only top-flight experience has been a total of ten minutes across substitute appearances against Burnley and City, but he’s far more worth the gamble than an already-known calamity.

The Welshman’s ceiling is high having drawn comparisons to Rio Ferdinand and John Terry whilst journalist Dominic Booth added: “Rodon is a leader given his age, a bit of an old head on young shoulders. He’s good in the air despite not being a huge presence, and looks destined for bigger things.”

In his four appearances for Swansea before the switch, he averaged a whopping 7.8 clearances, 5.3 aerials won and 2.3 interceptions per game, via WhoScored.

His 6 foot 4 presence will be much-needed in the absence of Alderweireld. It’s on Mourinho to take that punt for the foreseeable future.

AND in other news, Bye-bye Winks: Jose must unleash “phenomenal” Spurs monster tipped as “future captain”…

Tottenham Hotspur kick off their Europa League campaign later this evening as they welcome Group J rivals LASK Linz to north London.

Jose Mourinho will be looking for a response from his squad after they threw away a three-goal lead over West Ham on Sunday night, though they remain unbeaten since an opening day defeat to Everton.

It is the Lilywhite’s first venture into the Europa League since 2017 after they were knocked out by Gent in the last 32 round having failed to make it past the group stages in the Champions League.

The congested fixture list this season, much of which Spurs have already had to deal with, gives Mourinho plenty to consider – so here’s how he could line up his starting XI here tonight…

There could be as many as six changes to the side that squandered those two additional points at the weekend.

Gareth Bale is in line to make his full debut after his cameo in the second half against the Hammers, he had a golden chance to win it late on but he was evidently rusty, so an hour or so from the off tonight makes a ton of sense.

Another player who could make their maiden Spurs bow is Carlos Vinicius, though he may have to wait with Harry Kane likely to get the nod to start.

Both Harry Winks and Lucas Moura were also brought on off the bench by Mourinho on Sunday, so they will surely be named in the starting lineup this time around with Moussa Sissoko and Heung-min Son being dropped, the latter is worthy of some much-needed rest.

In defence, both Ben Davies and Matt Doherty could come back into the side with Sergio Reguilon and Serge Aurier making way.

Joe Rodon isn’t eligible to play this evening, so a central defensive pairing of Toby Alderweireld and Davinson Sanchez seems likely with both Eric Dier and Japhet Tanganga injured.

Giovani Lo Celso was confirmed to be back in training this week and he may well be handed a starting role over the £36m-rated Tanguy Ndombele, but there is still no place for Dele Alli.

Whilst Spurs youngster Jack Clarke could feature from the bench late on.

AND in other news, Fresh Spurs contract for £18m-rated LIABILITY would be a DISASTER waiting to happen…

One thing Celtic may need this summer is a new striker.

Interest in Odsonne Edouard from some of Europe’s elite clubs has been heavily documented, and if the Frenchman is to leave Celtic Park, the Glasgow outfit will need a capable replacement if they are going to reach the goal of winning 10 league titles in a row.

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Luckily, it seems as though they have a target in mind, but the Hoops’ first bid for Ivan Toney was some way short of what they may have to pay, and Kieran Devlin gave an update on what Celtic will have to cough up to land their man.

What’s been said then?

The Athletic journalist was hosting a Q&A session ahead of the new season, and as you would expect, a number of questions were asked about the Scottish champions’ transfer business, and Devlin had the answers.

“Celtic had a bid of £5 million for striker Ivan Toney turned down, with Peterborough seemingly wanting a fee for around £10 million. Apart from that, plenty of rumours but not sure how much substance is to them.”

Not good enough

Later in the Q&A Devlin would state that he doesn’t see why Celtic would sign Toney unless he was going to be Edouard’s replacement, and you have to question whether or not he’d actually be good enough to fill that void.

Toney may have scored 24 goals this season, but that’s at League One level, and that surely isn’t really where Celtic want to be shopping around.

This is a club that will be in the Champions League again next season, and if they have aspirations of getting out of the Group Stages or even dropping into the Europa League by virtue of finishing third in a group, they need more than a League One striker spearheading their attack.

On top of that £10m for a player from that level is outright preposterous, especially when you consider Peterborough sold Jack Marriott to Derby for an initial £3m after scoring 27 goals in the division, three more than Toney managed this term.

Sunderland could revive their interest in Marcus Maddison this summer after he left League One rivals Peterborough.

Sunderland and Peterborough both missed out on promotion to the Championship in the 2019/2020 season and they are set for a summer that will sees multiple players come in and leave.

The Black Cats currently have 11 players free to leave the club come June 30 as their current contracts come to an end, and manager Phil Parkinson will have his work cut out to replace the likes of Chris Maguire and Jon McLaughlin.

Peterborough, who will also see some players leave, have allowed Maddison to depart the club along with six other players.

Maddison ends a six-year spell at Peterborough which saw him spend time on loan with Championship side Hull City for the second half of the 2019/20 season. During his time with the Tigers, the midfielder scored one goal in seven games, whilst he scored nine goals and supplied six assists for Posh during the first half of the season.

Now that the 26-year-old is available on a free, Sunderland are expected to reignite their interest and it could prove to be a match made in heaven for the player, who supported the Black Cats as a kid.

Chronicle Live touch on the previous interest shown by the Wearside club, whilst also noting that Hull could offer Maddison a short-term deal to help them finish the Championship season, which is due to resume this coming weekend.

Maddison’s form in the latter months of 2019 shows that he can be a very effective presence at League One level and, with Sunderland set to have their squad decimated, new signings will soon become a matter of urgency for Parkinson.

The Black Cats could do a lot worse than bringing in a proven player in this division, all the more so now that he is available on a free transfer.

Do you think Maddison would be a good signing for Sunderland? Let us know in the comments section below…

Former Glasgow Rangers manager Pedro Caixinha is set to return to football as the manager of Mexican outfit Tigres.

The Portuguese boss is a record-breaker at Ibrox, becoming the club’s shortest-serving permanent manager when he was sacked after just 229 days in the hot-seat, and has been out of a job for just under a year after being relieved of his duties by fellow Mexican outfit Cruz Azul. Now, though, it is being reported by Tele Diario that Tigres, one of the biggest and most well-supported clubs in the country, could well give him the top job.

This is likely to shock plenty of the Gers supporters given his poor record north of the border where he won just 14 of the 27 games he managed. Indeed, BBC Sport’s Tom English described his reign as “a desperate mess from start to finish.”

But he does have good pedigree in the North American country. As manager of Santos Laguna, he won both the domestic league and cup, whilst he also finished top of the table with Cruz Azul.

It seems the move to Scotland was not right for Caixinha, despite him spending a fair amount of money on the likes of Carlos Pena and Eduardo Herrera. Still, he appears to have found the right place for himself on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

Let us know what you think below!

Tottenham Hotspur could make amends for their big January blunder later this summer if fresh reports emerging this week are to be believed.

According to Sport Bild, Spurs are ‘closely monitoring’ Borussia Monchengladbach forward Alassane Plea ahead of a potential switch to the Premier League.

The 27-year-old scored after just 37 seconds on his team’s return to Bundesliga action at the weekend and has provided nine goals and eight assists this season, via Transfermarkt.

Jose Mourinho’s side have hugely rued not landing a striker in January after leading talisman Harry Kane picked up a season-ending injury on New Year’s Day – since then, Spurs have been knocked out of all competitions and have sunk to seven points adrift of the top four in the league.

The Greatest Bargains in Premier League history – How much did they cost?

World Class score: 95% | Expert score: 80% | Veteran score: 65% | Intermediate score: 45% | Amateur score: 30% | Try Again: 5%

Transfermarkt currently value the Frenchman at £21.6m, although it remains to be seen what sort of fee he would command.

Much of the Spurs faithful have been reacting to the reports on social media, here’s what has been said…

AND in other news, Spurs fans react to Ryan Fraser latest…

أكد حسين لبيب، رئيس اللجنة المُكلفة بإدارة نادي الزمالك، أن علاقته جيدة بالثنائي ممدوح عباس ومرتضى منصور، رئيسي القلعة البيضاء السابقين، وعلى تواصل مستمر معهما.

توج الزمالك ببطولة الدوري المصري للمرة الـ13 في تاريخ قلعة ميت عقبة، بعدما تصدر جدول ترتيب الدوري برصيد 80 نقطة.

اقرأ ايضًا.. جنش: أعتذر لـ فاروق جعفر.. أزمتي في الزمالك انتهت والأهلي طلب ضمي من قبل

أضاف لبيب خلال لقاء عبر برنامج “حديث القاهرة” على قناة “القاهرة والناس”: “هنأت جميع الناس ووصلتنا رسائل تهنئة من أشخاص كثيرين، وأنا على علاقة طيبة بـ مرتضى منصور وممدوح عباس ونتواصل كثيرًا”.

تابع: “بعض أعضاء مجلس إدارة النادي الأهلي اتصلوا بي لتهنئتي على تتويج الزمالك، لكن محمود الخطيب لم يتصل، متأكد أنه سيقوم بتهنئتي إذا تقابلنا”.

وواصل: “منذ أن تولينا المسؤولية وهناك تعصب كبير وهذا شيء قميء جدًا، وكثير من الزملكاوية وجهوا لي اللوم عندما هنأت الأهلي ببطولة إفريقيا”.

استكمل: “ما يهمني الآن أننا نحاول أن نبث الروح الرياضية وأن التعصب غير مطلوب على الإطلاق وعلى كل شخص في موضع مسؤولية أن يكون له مواقف حيال ذلك، لأن الجماهير عندما ترى تواصلًا بين رئيسي القطبين، التعصب سيقل”.

وبسؤاله هل انزعجتم بعد حصول الأهلي على توقيع لاعب ومدرب سلة الزمالك رغم وعد الأحمر بعدم التفاوض مع أي لاعب في الأبيض؟ رد: “لا بل أعتبر أن هذا ذكاء من الزمالك، أوجستي مدرب جيد جدًا، ولكن الذكاء الزملكاوي تعاقد مع مدرب آخر جيد جدًا وستكون المرحلة المُقبلة أفضل من المرحلة السابقة، وحتى والتر هودج لو الأهلي يريده (يتفضل يأخذه) ونحن تعاقدنا مع لاعب أمريكي آخر، هل الانتصار يكون في الملعب أم بخطف اللاعبين والمدربين؟!”.

The Ballon d’Or may have been and gone, but that doesn’t mean that the football awards season is over.

Next up is the shortlist for the African Player of the Year award, which will be given to one of 10 players in January of next year. Like so many of the individual accolades recently, Liverpool are represented, with Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah both receiving nominations.

The news was shared by the Anfield outfit on their official Twitter page, and the fans were eager to share their thoughts on who should take home the trophy.

Some fans were quick to praise the pair on their nominations.

These two have been in fantastic form for Liverpool over the past 18 months. Last season, they scored 44 goals between them in the Premier League, winning the Champions League as well. They fully deserve their places on the list.

However, it seems that majority of Reds fans think there is only one winner.

It is hard to argue with their opinion. The 27-year-old stood out last term, winning the Premier League Golden Boot – albeit shared with Mohamed Salah and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – whilst he also helped Senegal to the final of the African Cup of Nations. All of this earned him a fourth-placed finish in the Ballon d’Or rankings.

No clues: Can you name the season these iconic Liverpool images belong to?

Talking about that most prestigious of individual awards, some supporters made reference to Lionel Messi’s victory. It seems they were unhappy that the diminutive Argentina international was the victor, and they suggested – tongue-in-cheek, you would expect – that he would prevail here as well.

Although the likes of Mane, Salah and Virgil van Dijk all had big seasons last term – the latter finished second in the Ballon d’Or vote – Messi’s 51 goals in 50 Barcelona games shows he is deserving of the recognition.

We’ll find out at the start of next year who the winner is!

In other news, Liverpool fans react to unpopular figure’s controversial quotes.

أكد هيثم فاروق نجم الزمالك السابق، أن الفرنسي باتريس كارتيرون المدير الفني للأبيض، ارتكب العديد من الأخطاء خلال مباراة فريقه أمام الأهلي.

وتعادل الأهلي والزمالك بهدف لكل فريق، في إطار منافسات الجولة الحادية والعشرون من مسابقة الدوري المصري،، التي أقيمت على استاد القاهرة.

اقرأ أيضًا.. ترتيب هدافي الدوري المصري بعد تعادل الأهلي والزمالك

وقال هيثم فاروق في تغريدة له عبر حسابه الرسمي بموقع التواصل الاجتماعي “تويتر”: “أخطاء فنية عديدة من كارتيرون من بينها التغييرات، (مفيش مدرب يغير وفيه ضربة ركنية عليه)”.

تابع: “وأخيرًا إسلام جابر يسدد الضربة الحرة وهو لاعب بديل، وهذا معناه أن الضربات الثابتة غير متفق عليها، (برافو زيزو)، وهدف فرجاني ساسي رائع”.

أخطاء فنية عديدة من.كارتيرون من بينها التغييرات .مفيش مدرب يغير وفيه ضربة ركنية عليه واخيرا معني ان اسلام جابر يسدد الضربة الحرة وهو لاعب بديل ده معناه ان مفيش حاجة متفق عليها في الضربات الثابتة. برافو زيزو وهدف فرجاني رائع .

— Haytham Farouk (@HaythamFarouk) May 10, 2021