All posts by n8rngtd.top

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…

Aston Villa silenced any doubts that their dominant 5-1 victory over an injury-stricken Norwich City was merely luck by defeating Brighton & Hove Albion at Villa Park on Saturday afternoon.

Dean Smith’s side were made to work for it though as they went behind early doors to an Adam Webster header.

Skipper Jack Grealish was instrumental in the game as he bagged the equaliser right on half-time, meeting Frederic Guilbert’s cross.

Watch Aston Villa Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

He then turned provider in the dying stages of the match, feeding an onrushing Matt Targett through on goal, who duly slammed home in the 94th minute to move Villa into 11th in the Premier League.

The 24-year-old’s contribution was so sublime that he has been tipped for the Champions League by their former striker Tony Cascarino, and he did so in front of England manager Gareth Southgate too.

Talk about seizing your opportunity.

On Saturday afternoon, no player created more chances than he did – not even Callum Hudson-Odoi, not even Dele Alli and not even James Maddison.

Those behind him in the list all have their own international exploits to shout about – Hudson-Odoi became the youngest-ever player to make a debut in a competitive fixture, Manchester City’s Joao Cancelo has last summer’s UEFA Nations League title to his name while Lucas Digne was a runner-up for France at Euro 2016.

Yet Grealish is yet to even make his first bow for the Three Lions, even since pledging his allegiance to the country back in 2015.

There have long been calls for the Villa captain to be called up to the national team, (supporters in B6 being his primary advocates) but this will surely bolster his claims across the country.

England may have smashed Bulgaria 6-0 a week ago, but it only masked a more deep-rooted problem which was displayed in the defeat over the Czech Republic just a few days earlier.

Southgate has lacked two clear things in the past year – a clear yet youthful number ten, and a natural leader.

Ross Barkley’s chances will start to wear thin over the next year or so, as Mason Mount fully tightens his grip on that role for Chelsea, though, he far from inspired fans in that aforementioned loss.

Then there’s Maddison, who is yet to feature despite earning a call-up.

On the other hand, Grealish captains his club at 24, and his transition into Premier League life has been as smooth as he could have liked, making him fully deserving of an opportunity next month when England face their final two qualifiers.

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…

West Ham may have struggled in goal of late but the stats suggest that Manuel Pellegrini’s side have been down on luck.

On the chalkboard

The Hammers have just 12 goals in ten league games this term and the finger of blame has been pointed in several directions.

Pellegrini has stated that more movement is required of Sebastien Haller, but fans think he has targeted the wrong player, and their vocal criticism of Felipe Anderson and Manuel Lanzini would suggest there has been a lack of service.

Watch West Ham United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

However, Declan Rice believes that the team isn’t doing a lot wrong, suggesting it is a case of being more clinical, saying: “We’re creating enough, but we’re not scoring enough. In the Premier League you need to kill teams off and we haven’t been doing that of late.”

Under performing or simply unlucky?

According to the xG (expected goals) stats provided by Understat, the East London outfit should have 1.59 more goals from open play and 1.12 from corners – with Jordan Pickford’s remarkable save to keep out Angelo Ogbonna at Goodison Park the stand-out in that area.

Evidently, the xG stats indicate that Rice may be onto something in regard to their lack of proficiency in front of goal.

The positive for West Ham this season is that they have been competitive in all but one league match, the exception being the match against Manchester City, and if they could add more goals they could be challenging for the European qualification spots.

Pellegrini recognised the flaw last week by replacing Lanzini with Robert Snodgrass, with the Scot scoring where Lanzini had missed a couple of weeks before against Crystal Palace.

Under Pellegrini the Hammers have slightly improved going forward, scoring 52 league goals last term compared to 48 the year before, and the match against Sheffield United proved that they can be dominant in possession with 61% of the ball.

However, that fixture also underlined their poor finishing, with Anderson and Snodgrass guilty of missing chances they should have finished, and that explains why West Ham have won only three times in the league this season.

Another factor worth noting is Sebastien Haller replacing Marko Arnautovic. In ten games he has shown glimpses of what he can offer but it will take time for him to adapt and discover his mojo in front of goal.

When he adapts and hits top form the Hammers might just start to see a notable upturn in their fortunes.

Leicester City fans on Twitter genuinely believe that they can win the league after they thrashed Southampton 9-0 at St Mary’s on Friday night.

You can’t blame the Foxes fanbase for having this line of thinking either. A scoreline of 9-0 is the joint biggest win in Premier League history.

Watch Leicester City Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Normally, if a fanbase of a team of Leicester’s stature started talking about winning the Premier League title you’d put it down to delusion, but we’ve been here before, haven’t we?

Of course, nobody needs reminding of what happened in the 2015/16 season when Claudio Ranieri guided the East Midlands outfit to the most unlikely of title wins.

Could lightning strike twice? The Foxes are playing some fantastic football, and they moved to second in the table with the thrilling win at St. Mary’s.

Whether or not Leicester can challenge for the title this season remains to be seen, but after Friday night’s showing, anyone would be a fool to write them off.

Here’s what the fanbase have been saying on Twitter…

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Loan Watch series, which takes a closer look at those players who are aiming to galvanise their careers away from the spotlight of their parent club.

Back in the summer, QPR man Seny Dieng joined League One side Doncaster Rovers on a short-term loan deal and is expected to return to the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium on January 4th.

The Swiss-born glovesman of Senegalese citizenship has made eight appearances across all competitions for Donny this term, breaking into the first-team after spending the first seven league games on the bench.

In his six League One appearances so far, the 24-year-old has kept two clean sheets, helping put an end to Peterborough’s seven-game unbeaten run on his first league appearance for Donny.

He has failed to keep a clean sheet in his two cup appearances, although Dieng has done well to wrestle the shirt from Irishman Ian Lawlor in such a short space of time at the Keepmoat Stadium.

Furthermore, Dieng has a pass success rate of 74% in League One this season, an average that neither of QPR’s two keepers in Joe Lumley and Liam Kelly can get close to – Lumley has a pass success rate of 66.3%, whereas Kelly has 68.7%.

Dieng has also conceded just nine goals in his eight appearances, which is quite impressive when you consider that Kelly and Lumley are culpable for the R’s conceding as many as 26 goals in 14 games this term.

While his efforts should fill him with confidence, a situation currently going on at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium should give him further encouragement in terms of his hopes for a first-team place at QPR.

Mark Warburton has been undecided on who he wants to start in between the sticks so far this season.

The former Brentford boss gave Lumley the No.1 shirt for the first nine Championship games of the campaign, although after a string of errors – namely against Luton and West Brom – summer signing Kelly was entrusted to start.

The 23-year-old has started the last five league games in Lumley’s place, although Kelly – like Lumley – is yet to keep a Championship clean sheet this term. Incidentally, the R’s are the only team in the division not to record a shutout as of yet.

With 6 foot 4 Dieng set to return shortly after the turn of the year, the shot-stopper should really fancy his chances of making an impact back at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium, given his own form and the underwhelming efforts of both Lumley and Kelly.

Leeds United fans on Twitter have been expressing regret after Romaine Sawyers put in a brilliant performance for West Bromwich Albion in their 2-0 win against Stoke City on Monday.

The Whites were apparently interested in the former Brentford midfielder this summer, but he ended up at the Baggies.

Watch Leeds United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

It’s hard to disagree with fans who are regretting that the club didn’t sign him as he’s been brilliant for the Midlands club so far this term.

Indeed, the midfielder boasts a pass success rate of 92 per cent, which is the third-highest percentage in the entire division – only being topped by Fulham’s Tim Ream and Harry Arter.

Unfortunately, Leeds missed their opportunity to sign the 28-year-old, and he’s now a key player for one of the Whites’ biggest promotion rivals as he’s started every game for table-topping West Brom after signing for £3m.

Here’s what the Elland Road faithful have been saying about Sawyers on social media…

After arriving from PSV in a £31m deal back in 2015, big things were expected of Memphis Depay at Manchester United.

Speaking at the announcement of his signing, then Red Devils manager Louis van Gaal declared that he had “no doubt that he has the potential to become a great footballer for this club”.

Unfortunately for both Van Gaal and Depay, that prediction did not exactly pan out. The winger managed just seven goals and six assists in his 53 appearances for the club, and would end up joining French giants Lyon in January 2017 – less than two years after signing for United.

But since moving across the channel, the Dutchman has enjoyed a bit of a renaissance, plundering 50 goals in just 130 games. And speaking to Lyon’s official club website, sporting director Juninho confirmed that whilst they are keen to tie him down to a new deal, United would have first option on signing him should there be transfer interest in him.

After hearing the Brazilian’s comments on Depay’s future, United fans flooded to Twitter to voice their thoughts on the matter.

Many supporters of the Manchester side insisted he would be a great addition to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s line-up, and that he has simply “gotten so much better” since he was last at Old Trafford.

Check out some of the reaction of United fans below:

Southampton fans have taken to Twitter to send a message to the club’s owner Gao Jisheng, following a harmless post from the Saints’ official account.

The tweet showcased the fact that The Killers will be coming to perform at St Mary’s in June, although it is fair to say that these supporters of the south coast outfit on Twitter don’t care about that in the slightest as they aimed their frustrations at Gao.

All of the supporters on Twitter have been tweeting #GaoOut as they take aim at the Chinese tycoon, who owns an 80% stake in the club since spending £210m to become the majority stakeholder back in August 2017 – previous owner Katharina Liebherr retains a 20% stake.

Since Gao’s arrival, the south coast side’s fortunes have dipped drastically as they find themselves consistently battling relegation rather than competing in Europe, as they previously were under Ronald Koeman.

With the Saints currently sitting 19th in the Premier League, the general mood towards Gao seems to have soured because of the aforesaid, a sentiment echoed by the negative message sent to the Chinese owner from these Southampton fans…

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…

As the likes of Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Raheem Sterling, amongst others, develop into some of the most prolific forwards in world football, the emphasis on wingers becoming goal-scoring machines has grown exponentially.

This season for example, the trio have already struck 11, 9 and 14 times respectively, and have become key figures for their respective sides when it comes to finding the back of the net. But whilst they have an incredible goal-scoring record, they have not abandoned the need to keep their teammates involved, with each of0 key passes and crosses: Man Utd star desperately needs to be less selfish – opinion them providing five assists.

Manchester United star Marcus Rashford appears to have found his home on the left-wing in recent weeks, particularly after the return from injury of Anthony Martial. The England international has three goals in his past four Premier League games, but there are still some major areas for improvement – most notably, the way he can get the best out of his fellow attackers for both club and country.

As per Transfermarkt, in the 75 games he has played in his club career on either the left or right flanks, he has provided just 14 assists – a ratio of just over one in six. His pace and directness – he has a career average of 1.4 dribbles per game – invariably means he can beat opposition players one on one, but lets himself down by opting more often than not to go for goal than pass.

Whilst his shots per game are up at two per game throughout his time in football, his key passes and crosses are down at a measly 0.8 and 0.3. And on Thursday night against Montenegro, Rashford had the perfect opportunity to show that he has more to his game than simply scoring goals from the wing. Unfortunately for the 22-year-old, he failed to show those characteristics.

As per Sofascore, his 6.5 match rating was the worst of any England player – that despite him scoring. He completed just three of his eight attempted dribbles, but even more worryingly, only tried one cross (which wasn’t successful), and provided no key passes whatsoever. Compare that to Ben Chilwell who was playing directly behind him at left-back, who managed five key passes and three accurate crosses.

If you needed a snapshot of the kind of selfishness that Rashford needs to tone down slightly, then look no further than his barn-storming run in the first-half, only for him to fire for goal instead of looking for the better option in the free man in Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to his right.

So whilst the United academy product has been in fine goal-scoring form, he desperately needs to add a more team-oriented game to his style of play.

Tyler Roberts has had a successful few weeks after coming back from injury, and helping Wales into Euro 2020 will rank as one of his best achievements so far in his young career.The 20-year-old has six caps to his name but if he plays regularly for Leeds during the remainder of the season he could be in contention to make the tournament.Watch Leeds United Videos With StreamFootball.tv Below

He expressed his delight at qualification on Twitter, and many Leeds fans have used the opportunity to congratulate the player, with teammate Mateusz Klich also wishing him well, having qualified for the tournament himself with Poland.

As a result of injury Roberts has been limited in his game time this campaign, but a goal on his first start of the season against QPR underlines the quality he has, and suggests he could have an important role to play this season.

If he continues to impress he can expect to have more and more fans reacting to his performances, while Ryan Giggs will be keeping a close eye on his progression in order to determine whether he is good enough to make the cut for his Euro 2020 squad.

Here is how fans have been reacting to Roberts’ achievement.

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

Leeds were made to work hard for their victory on Saturday afternoon. Numerous times they tested James Shea but until the 90th minute, it didn’t look as though they’d get over the line.

The Luton stopper made a colossal 11 saves as he repeatedly denied the Whites from scoring.

Ultimately, it wasn’t enough as Patrick Bamford and a combination of a Hatters defender ensured Leeds were victorious at Kenilworth Road.

But despite the positives of winning and Bamford continuing his run of form, there were concerns defensively, specifically with one man.

On the chalkboard

Given the armband at various points since returning from injury, Ayling has gone about his business in consistent fashion, something that’s typical of the defender.

Initially missing the opening stages of the season, he played 40 times in 2018/19 and has now been ever-present since his return.

But there have been two games in a row now where the former Doncaster man has been caught out defensively.

There’s no doubting his quality but particularly in the air, he has looked suspect. He was at fault for the goal Marcelo Bielsa’s men conceded on Saturday as he mistimed his jump and didn’t track his man at the back post.

He consequently missed the opportunity to get rid of the danger as James Collins headed home a simple chance.

Although the numbers point towards a solid day at the office – he made three tackles and completed two dribbles, there are elements to his game that should be worrying.

After all, the Whites don’t have too many aerial threats and have conceded 40% of their goals from set-pieces this campaign.

With concentration levels seemingly lacking, it might be a good idea to move Ayling to the bench.

Stuart Dallas shone at right-back earlier this season, earning rave reviews from fans before going onto earn himself a new deal.

In defensive situations, per WhoScored, he’s won 1.8 tackles per game compared to Ayling’s 1.3, while the former also concedes fewer fouls each outing on average.

Not only that, but he’s also a better threat in offensive areas, registering 1.8 shots per game. In comparison, Ayling amasses just 0.3.

Against Reading on Tuesday, Bielsa must take the big call and drop Ayling in favour of playing Dallas on the right.

In other news, Leeds could be about to make a £7.5m transfer in January…