All posts by n8rngtd.top

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It was a rough 2018/19 season for Rob Holding, Arsenal’s young defender.

The 23-year-old centre-back suffered a serious knee injury back in December when the Gunners met with Manchester United in the Premier League.

Holding was stretchered off the pitch and has since missed a total of 37 games. It was a truly heartbreaking moment after a good start to the season.

Check out 5 reasons why Arsenal need Wilfried Zaha in the video below…

Until then, he played in 16 games defending the Gunners’ colours in all competitions and was poised to continue the trend of being in the starting XI.

Still, his recovery is seemingly going well and now he has finally stepped out on to the pitch with his teammates, and Alexandre Lacazette immediately took to

/B0AbdRooEvh/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link” data-lasso->Instagram to celebrate this great achievement.

The Frenchman just captioned it with “welcome back bro” and followed it up with some emojis.

If the latest reports are to be believed, though, Holding is still a doubt for the very beginning of the 2019/20 Premier League season next month, but seeing him back on the pitch is definitely a huge step towards his full recovery.

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Aston Villa have continued their run of good pre-season form upon their return from the United States with a 1-0 victory over League One Shrewsbury Town on Sunday.

A number of players impressed but it was the first-half showing from new centre-back signing Ezri Konsa which caught the eye amongst many of the Villa faithful.

Konsa joined the club from Brentford in a £12m deal and is already winning plaudits in the claret and blue.

The young 21-year-old was a regular in the heart of defence for his former club last term, registering 47 appearances in all competitions and featured in the England squad for this summer’s European Under-21 Championship.

Fans flocked to Twitter to share their thoughts on his performance with the general consensus being that of excitement. One supporter said they couldn’t wait to see him next to fellow summer signing Tyrone Mings who re-joined the club in a permanent £20m move.

Cool, class, calm, outstanding and solid were just a handful of the superlatives used to describe Konsa’s 45-minute cameo appearance.

You can read the best selection of tweets on Konsa’s performance below:

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Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo impressed in his competitive home debut for Celtic and the fans are already warming to the left-back.

Neil Lennon’s men eased through to the second round of the Champions League qualifiers thanks to a 2-1 win against FK Sarajevo. Goals from Ryan Christie and Callum McGregor made for a comfortable 5-2 aggregate win.

New signing Bolingoli-Mbombo was “up and down the left wing all night”, according to The Daily Record, as he impressed in his first game at Parkhead.

Lennon was full of praise for his £3m signing too, saying: “He’s a top top player and you could see that in stages tonight.”

Watch Celtic Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

The Northern Irishman did have some concerns about his defensive play though, declaring that he was occasionally caught out of position.

Lennon said: “That’s something we’ll have to temper a little bit but you can see he can play left-back and left-wing.”

Here is what the Celtic faithful had to say on Twitter…

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According to Football Insider, West Bromwich Albion could lose Matt Phillips to Aston Villa before this summer’s transfer window slams shut.

The 28-year-old scored five times and contributed six assists in 33 appearances for the Baggies during the 2018-19 campaign.

Phillips has actually been with the club since 2016, but will see his current contract at the Hawthorns expire in June 2020.

According to Football Insider, Villa have made a move to land the winger with Dean Smith’s side preparing for life in the Premier League.

Losing Phillips at this stage would be far from ideal and the Baggies would surely not want to sell to such a huge rival.

As expected, the transfer report, which was published on Tuesday morning, has led to a host of talk on social media.

And a number of West Brom fans have been offering their views on the speculation – a selection of which is available to view below:

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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…

James Forrest has admitted that he and his teammates are desperate to keep Kieran Tierney, following interest from Arsenal.

What’s he said?

As reported by The Scottish Sun, the winger has been talking about his desire for the club to reject the advances of Unai Emery and keep Tierney beyond Thursday, when the English transfer window shuts.

Tierney has been a target of multiple bids from the Premier League side this summer, yet Neil Lennon’s men have rejected all offers so far, according to BBC Sport. With the deadline getting ever closer, Forrest is hoping that his 22-year-old teammate will still be playing in green and white come his return from injury.

The 28-year-old wide-man said the following when asked about his fellow Celtic star: “Ask anyone in our dressing room, we all want KT to still be here. He’s been a great player for us and everyone is hoping that come Friday he is still here. We still see him at training every day.”

His support for the Arsenal target could give away a few hints as to where the star’s future may lie.

KT to stay?

Forrest announcing that the dressing room wants Tierney to turn down the advances of the Premier League club is interesting. It shows that the players haven’t turned their back on their teammate in a time where they could’ve been frustrated that the saga was rumbling on in the background as they made a terrific start to the season.

The second clue in Forrest’s plea is that he mentioned Tierney had been in training every day. We’ve seen players throw strops at not being granted the chance to move this summer so it’s refreshing to see the Scotland international isn’t getting carried away.

His decision to still train amid all this intense speculation is a testament to the character of the young Celt, with more experienced men kicking up a bigger fuss in similar situations. Let us also not forget that he is nursing an injury, something else that bigger names have used to force moves in recent years.

While it would be no surprise to see Tierney in an Arsenal shirt come Friday given their continued pursuit, it’s still encouraging to know he’s working hard at Parkhead and will do nothing to damage any potential future in Glasgow.

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Football FanCast’s News articles summarise the biggest stories in world football, based on information from other sources.

Albian Ajeti is earning £30,000-per-week at West Ham United after completing his move to the club, per ClaretandHugh.

What’s the word?

The striker was confirmed as the club’s latest summer signing on Thursday morning.

He has signed a four-year contract in east London and ClaretandHugh claims that he has agreed to a weekly wage of £30k.

That is significantly less than the wages earned by Javier Hernandez; Spotrac claims that he is the highest-paid player at the London Stadium with a wage of £140,000-per-week.

Nevertheless, Ajeti scored 21 goals in all competitions last season and is a full Switzerland international.

A low-cost, low-risk addition

This is unlikely to go wrong for the Hammers.

A separate ClaretandHugh report claims that the club have paid £11m in total for the 22-year-old.

A player with a high upside – his scoring record at Basel has been exceptional, with 43 goals in 96 outings – he is earning a fraction of the highest-paid players at West Ham and he could still have a major impact in east London.

Indeed, Manuel Pellegrini’s squad was rather thin, with just Sebastian Haller and Javier Hernandez as his striking options.

With the addition of Ajeti, the striking department looks well-stocked, and at a rather low cost too.

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Loads of Liverpool fans on Twitter absolutely loved it when Wolves striker Raul Jimenez dribbled it around Manchester United centre-back Harry Maguire in the early stages of the two clubs’ 1-1 draw at Molineux on Monday night.

The England international took away Reds star Virgil van Dijk’s record as the most expensive defender on the planet this summer when he joined the Red Devils in an £80m deal, which of course means he has plenty of eyes on him.

The Dutchman’s record of going 65 matches without being dribbled past – until Gabriel Jesus did it during the Community Shield earlier this month – was quite brilliant, but it happened to Maguire in just his second appearance for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men.

The former Leicester City player was left on the floor as Jimenez turned him inside out within 10 minutes, and it produced a quite predictable reaction from Liverpool supporters on the popular social media platform.

While the majority were laughing at the 26-year-old, one summed up the feeling when they said “you love to see it”.

Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…

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The Times journalist Paul Joyce confirmed on Twitter on Friday that Liverpool midfielder Naby Keita is set to miss the Premier League clash with Southampton on Saturday with a hip muscle injury, and Reds fans were quick to react on Twitter.

Having been an unused substitute against Norwich City last weekend, the Guinea international may well have been in contention for a start in the Super Cup against Chelsea in Istanbul on Wednesday, but he was ruled out having suffered a muscle strain in training.

It appears to be an issue that is still troubling the 24-year-old, whose career with the Merseyside outfit to date seems to have been very stop-start.

Just as the former RB Leipzig man was hitting some form towards the end of the 2018/19 campaign he was ruled out through injury, and he is crying out for some good fortune.

Liverpool supporters took to the popular social media platform to voice their opinions on Joyce’s update, and while one said “do we have any fit players” with Alisson already out and Adrian a supposed doubt against Saints, another simply said “don’t do this to us Paul”.

Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…

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

Roma have made a new offer for Liverpool’s Dejan Lovren, according to Italian outlet Corriere Delle Sport.

What’s the update?

The Croatian has been on Roma’s radar for much of the summer after they lost Kostas Manolas to Napoli, but with just days remaining in the window it looked unlikely that the defender would make a move away from Anfield.

However, a loan move is seemingly in the offing and with Lovren being overtaken in the pecking order it is possible Jurgen Klopp will allow him to leave, although there is a stumbling block between the two clubs.

According to Corriere Delle Sport the main issue concerns Liverpool’s desire to insert an obligatory clause into the deal that would mean he would join the Serie A club permanently next summer, whereas Roma prefer to have the option to buy.

Roma are primarily concerned about the centre-back’s age and fitness issues and they are reluctant to commit to the four-year deal proposed by Lovren as a result.

Watch Liverpool Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Mistake to let him leave

Lovren has come under heavy scrutiny at times since making the switch from Southampton to Anfield, but he has proven his importance to Klopp and would be a useful option over the course of the season.

Liverpool will likely aim to compete on all fronts this season and therefore cannot afford to lose Lovren, or any other centre-back for that matter.

His departure would leave The Reds with only three first-team centre-backs in Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and Joe Gomez – the latter of which spent long spells out injured last season, making only 17 starts.

Losing Lovren would be a risky strategy for Klopp, who last year endured a similar problem after loaning Nathaniel Clyne to Bournemouth.

Shortly after the full-back’s departure he was forced to rely on James Milner to fill in for the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold during a period of time in which Gomez was also sidelined.

Without a natural right-back to call upon the Reds drew with Leicester, West Ham and Manchester United in a mini mid-season dip that ultimately prevented them from usurping Manchester City, and therein lies the damning evidence to prove it would be a mistake to sanction Lovren’s departure.

An injury to one of van Dijk, Matip and Gomez would back Klopp into a corner and make rotation impossible, and that in turn could derail their ambitions for the season.

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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…

Speaking to West Yorkshire Daily on the BBC (6pm, 04/09), Managing Director of Leeds Angus Kinnear has offered his thoughts on an area where he feels the Whites have improved from last season, thus putting them at a significant step forward.

What’s he said?

Despite losing to Swansea last weekend, Leeds have had an impressive start to 2019/20, being defeated just once in the league as they sit third.

Losing Pontus Jansson hasn’t cost them too much as they’ve conceded just three times and lie in a promising position in the table.

A large part of that has been down to the business they did in the summer. It may have been questionable to make six loan signings but it appears to have been a shrewd approach and one that the club specifically targeted.

Speaking to the BBC, Kinnear said that their temporary moves was a strategy they wanted to strengthen, mentioning how this year’s team is now better off because of who they brought in. He said:

“We look back at last year and what didn’t work as well as it should have done and the loan window was one of those. Our loan strategy was one of the things which didn’t deliver in the way we wanted it to.

“We know how important loans can be and I think this year the players we’ve brought in and what they’ve shown already puts us at a significant step forward from where we were last year.”

Loans paying dividends so far

It’s fair to say that because of their business during the summer, Leeds are in fact better off, even if Kemar Roofe and Jansson left.

Last season Leeds carried some passengers, particularly in the loan department as barring Jack Harrison, their temporary signings rarely played.

They brought in three men from Chelsea including Lewis Baker, Izzy Brown and Jamal Blackman but they played a combined 18 matches, 14 of which were by the former.

Baker only managed 490 minutes whilst a broken tibia for Blackman obviously had a large say.

Watch Leeds United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Those deals didn’t pay off but moves made as recently as the summer show they’ve improved.

Ben White has won the PFA Fans’ Player of the Month for August, making 4.2 interceptions per game whilst Eddie Nketiah and Helder Costa have shown promising signs, combining for a goal twice.

The two latter names have already appeared more times combined than Brown and Blackman did so that’s certainly a positive.

Leeds still don’t have a huge amount of depth but these loan signings have given them greater quality than last term.

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