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Sheffield Wednesday have finally appointed a new manager.

In a surprise move to kickstart the month of March, Owls chairman Dejphon Chansiri snatched Darren Moore from the grasp of local League One promotion chasers Doncaster Rovers.

And he’ll be in place for The Owls’ crucial crunch match against relegation rivals Rotherham United on Wednesday night.

The 46-year-old replaces interim coach Neil Thompson, who remains as part of the first-team coaching set-up.

Speaking during his unveiling press confernece, Moore revealed his intentions for the south Yorkshire giants.

“Let’s hope that the Sheffield Wednesday fans can see a team that they’re really proud of, that’s playing really attacking, front-foot football in a real aggressive style and real attacking emphasis on opponents.” 

On the Chalkboard

Indeed, that is what the former West Brom manager will bring to Hillsborough – only two teams have scored more goals in the third division than Donny (47).

Those goals have been spread around too, with seven players finding the net three or more times this term.

Moore’s Rovers side had also been averaging more shots per game (12.9) than the faltering Owls (8.7), so fans should certainly be glad that there will be some sort of fresh attacking impetus from here on out.

This should also be of huge encouragement to Chelsea loanee Izzy Brown, who has struggled for game time this season, having started only four Championship outings.

For all 28 matches in charge of Doncaster, Moore deployed a 4-2-3-1 formation, which sees a no.10 in operation – something that has been rarely utilised by Garry Monk, Tony Pulis and Thompson, which is a surprise given the wealth of options in the aforementioned role.

Brown, when given a proper run of matches, can be quite the creative influence as seen during his loan spell at league rivals Luton Town last season. He averaged 2.1 key passes per game, via WhoScored.

Such numbers would see him rank first for that attribute in the current Owls squad as only skipper Barry Bannan (1.7 per game) has managed over one key pass per game this season.

“His stats last year showed that until his injury (a hamstring injury sustained while on loan with Luton), he was one of the most creative players in the league and he added assists and goals along the way as well,” said former teammate, Mark Hudson to The Athletic.

Even with a lack of game-time, Brown currently sits joint-third, so surely he can be the big winner from the appointment of Moore as he could be the man to play the ‘Taylor Richards’ role – he’s scored five and assisted four for Doncaster, whilst also managing 1.1 key passes per outing this term.

The £1.98m-rated attacker, who earns a reported £26k-per-week, has previously been lauded as a “match-winner” and a “great kid” who is “so creative” yet a mix of injuries and the system have halted his opportunities at Hillsborough.

So, his time may finally come now that the Owls have appointed a progressive and attack-minded coach in Moore.

Don’t be surprised if Brown refinds that Luton form in the coming months.

AND in other news, Sheffield Wednesday star was left a passenger in Brentford defeat

Crystal Palace have been handed a significant injury boost ahead of their Premier League clash with Tottenham Hotspur, with Wilfried Zaha back in action.

The Ivorian winger has been missing since early February but Roy Hodgson recently confirmed he is ready for action this weekend.

Following the midweek stalemate with Manchester United, does the winger come straight back in? Here’s the XI we think Hodgson will select for the clash with Spurs.

There’s could be two changes to the Crystal Palace side to travel to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The back-line should be settled with Vicente Guaita shielded by the likes of Patrick van Aanholt, Gary Cahill and Joel Ward. Cheikhou Kouyate will continue at centre-back in the absences of Mamadou Sakho and James Tomkins.

Hodgson has been handed another midfield injury to deal with, James McCarthy suffering a groin strain and joins James McArthur and Nathan Ferguson on the sidelines.

That likely means that Jairo Riedewald will be called into the centre of the park from the start to partner captain Luka Milivojevic.

Despite the blow of McCarthy being out, Palace’s talisman Wilfried Zaha can return. The winger has not featured since early February but is likely to go straight into the starting line-up at the expense of the £55k-per-week earning Andros Townsend.

The attack should have a familiar feel to it with Jordan Ayew and Christian Benteke starting in a striking pair.

AND in more news, the Eagles have been rumoured to be making a big-money move for Mostafa Mohamed…

Everton are at risk of losing Moise Kean to Paris Saint-Germain on a permanent deal as Il Bianconero report that they want to keep him at all costs.

Everton should give Kean another chance

The Toffees should really think about giving Kean another chance at the club based on his form so far in the French capital in 2020/21.

The former Juventus ace has scored no fewer than 15 goals in just 27 matches in total across all competitions this season, and three of those have come in the Champions League (Transfermarkt).

Former PSG striker Pauleta was full of praise for Kean in February, describing the Italy international as a ‘very talented’ player, and there is no doubt that he has shown his talent for the 2019/20 Champions League finalists.

Although it did not quite work out at the Toffees, the youngster only had one full campaign at Goodison Park and should be given another season at least to prove what he can do.

It takes time for some foreign players to adapt to life playing in English football, and the 21-year-old perhaps needed a loan move away in order to regain some confidence.

Transfer guru Fabrizio Romano has claimed that the Blues will be looking for no less than €45m-€50m (£38.7m-£43m) to sell the striker in the summer, but Everton should not be so quick to jump the gun.

In other news, find out which Everton star has been claimed to start against Chelsea!

Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast, former Premier League striker Marlon Harewood is refusing to consider Sam Allardyce’s complaints about West Brom’s recent schedule.

The West Brom boss has not been happy with the scheduling of some of the Baggies’ recent fixtures, going as far as to say those working for the Premier League are “helping” the club to get relegated.

Allardyce’s side were made to play Newcastle United last Sunday, 60 hours after taking on Everton, a tight turnaround. Harewood, though, has little sympathy for the ex-England manager, feeling the hectic Premier League schedule is something people should be used to by now.

Reacting to Allardyce’s comments in an Exclusive interview with FFC, Harewood said:

“It’s just crazy. I do find that [crazy], when managers and people moan, obviously you knew the schedule from the beginning of the season, so you have to plan. Everyone has to plan, especially with injuries and stuff, you can’t put it down to injuries. You have a squad, you have a 24-man squad and you play them how you see fit to play them.”

The former West Ham and Aston Villa forward later added: “So like when Sam Allardyce’s talking about stuff like that, because I respect him, because he’s a great manager, but at the same time, you just got to get on with it.”

Next up for West Brom is a trip to Selhurst Park to take on Allardyce’s former side Crystal Palace.

The Eagles’ form in front of goal has not been great of late, blanking in consecutive home games against Fulham and Manchester United before Christian Benteke’s header in their 4-1 defeat to Tottenham last time out.

It is one area the Baggies could try and exploit as they desperately try to pick up some points with time running out for them.

Things haven’t gone to plan for Matt Doherty since joining Tottenham Hotspur in a £15m deal from league rivals Wolves last summer.

Worrying reports surfaced last month suggesting that the 29-year-old’s future at the club was already in jeopardy, with ESPN claiming that Jose Mourinho is unconvinced by his ability and as a result, could be willing to offload him at the end of the season.

Indeed, Serge Aurier has usurped him in the pecking order, even though the Irishman was signed to replace the divisive Ivorian, who has vastly improved himself.

And Doherty’s latest display will have done no favours as Spurs were beaten by arch-rivals Arsenal in the latest edition of the North London derby.

The £18m-rated right-back was their third-worst performer as per SofaScore ratings (6.4) and the worst of the back four that conceded twice to the Gunners.

Clearly, things haven’t changed much from ESPN’s bombshell so Mourinho may well be looking for another right-back ahead of next season, though perhaps he ought to look right under his nose first.

No, not at Japhet Tanganga but George Marsh, who has developed into quite the versatile utility man having featured in no fewer than six different positions already.

However, the 22-year-old may have found his feet at right-back during a successful loan spell at Leyton Orient during the 2019/20 campaign. Marsh played 29 matches in all competitions, primarily on the right-hand side of the defence.

Rob Guest at football.london dubbed him one of the success stories from the plethora of young U23 stars out on loan that campaign and speaking about the role, he said:

“Towards the end I played at right-back, which I feel was good for me to show some variety in my game. Again, I had to find a way to adapt my performances so that I could stay as a regular in the team. It’s been an invaluable experience for me.”

Described as “tough-tackling” by the official Spurs website and “hard-working” by the press at Orient, Marsh averaged 1.8 tackles per outing for the League Two outfit, which saw him rank joint-third in that squad, via WhoScored.

By comparison, Doherty has managed only 1.5 tackles per game this season – the sixth-best in this squad – albeit at a higher level though that merely suggests that there is plenty of potential there with Marsh.

Given the need for a new centre-back and potentially a new goalkeeper, should Hugo Lloris leave the English capital for the French capital, then Mourinho could save the club millions if he grooms Marsh into a full-time right-back.

He could also offload Doherty to fund other areas, thus allowing the “combative” 22-year-old a direct route into the first-team.

AND in other news, Swoop for £22.5m monster could create formidable Spurs midfield unit

Issa Diop should not avoid David Moyes’ wrath after producing a shaky showing as West Ham United drew 3-3 with Arsenal on Sunday.

The Irons stormed to a three-goal lead after the first half an hour at the London Stadium, but wilted following the break and were punished for missing two big chances to seal a win.

Mikel Arteta’s visiting side were gifted a route back into the game approaching half-time when Alexandre Lacazette’s shot deflected in off Tomas Soucek and could smell a point when Craig Dawson blasted the ball into his own net in the 61st minute.

With the deficit slashed, the Gunners kept applying the pressure and eventually found a route to goal when Lacazette rose highest at the back post to meet Nicolas Pepe’s cross to equalise.

West Ham could have put the game to bed with the score at 3-2 only for Michail Antonio’s outstretched effort to smash against the base of the post, while Kieran Tierney denied Jarrod Bowen a second by blocking the winger’s effort.

Diop had thwarted Lacazette two minutes into the second period by hooking the ball away on the goal line after his compatriot lobbed goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski in an instance that set the tone for the rest of the half.

Yet, despite his goal-line clearance, Diop was far from at the top of his game on Sunday and deserved more criticism for his efforts, while Dawson was slammed for being just as outplayed.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/the-latest-west-ham-news-and-views” title=” The latest West Ham news and views!”]

Diop was noted as being the ‘better of the two at the back’ by the Evening Standard, while football.london awarded Dawson a five out of 10 rating to Diop’s six as the Watford loanee produced a ‘dodgy second half’.

Dawson’s own goal will have counted against him, but the 30-year-old knew he had to try and lift the ball clear otherwise Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang would have been gifted an easy chance at the back-post having drifted in behind Vladimir Coufal with ease.

Dawson’s overall efforts in hopes of preventing Arsenal coming from three goals down to take a point were often at a higher rate than Diop, too, despite neither defender attempting a single tackle on Sunday, per FBref.

While Diop pressured opposing players five times – only substitutes Mark Noble (0) and Ryan Fredericks (2) registered fewer for West Ham – Dawson tried to force a turnover eight times, including on three occasions in the middle third and once in the attacking zone.

Diop only applied pressure outside of the Hammers’ defensive third on one occasion, as the £67,000-per-week enforcer relied on his teammates to keep Arsenal in their territory and away from Fabianski’s area.

Dawson additionally blocked the ball twice as often as Diop and made five-times as many clearances, with the £4.5m-rated titan striving to keep play at the other end of the field a team-high 10 times – only Pablo Mari (12) made more for the Gunners.

Their performances further meant Dawson eclipsed his average 1.5 blocks per 90 minutes this season while Diop failed to meet his 1.83. Dawson also bettered his average 6.36 pressures and 5.93 clearances, while Diop performed blow his averages of 6.13 pressures and 4.09 clearances.

While Dawson’s own goal will have counted against him, the Watford loanee still produced a number of defensive actions to help keep Arsenal from equalising until the closing stages that Diop often did not. More focus should be on Diop, he was equally as poor as the Watford loanee.

AND in other news, a West Ham winter target is set to be available for £17m this summer…

Peterborough Director of Football Barry Fry has exclusively told Football FanCast that Sam Allardyce is the “perfect” man to take West Brom back into the Premier League, should the Baggies get relegated.

The former England manager replaced Slaven Bilic before Christmas following just one victory from the Baggies’ opening 13 Premier League matches.

But Allardyce himself has been unable to work his magic, and looks on course to lose his proud record of never being relegated as a manager, with West Brom currently 10 points from safety with just nine league games remaining.

Providing the Baggies do expectedly finish inside the bottom-three and suffer an immediate relegation, Fry has urged the Hawthorns outfit to stick by Allardyce, whose got two promotions from the Championship on his CV with both Bolton and more recently, West Ham – both through the play-offs.

Fry told Football FanCast:

“Even if Sam performs a miracle, West Brom will go down. But you will not have a better bloke, if you back him, than Sam Allardyce to bounce straight back up and get back into the Premier League.

“Sam did it with West Ham, he’s done it at that level. He knows what he’s doing. He joined midway through the season which is no good to anyone. He’s only had one window. Once he has the summer window to wheel and deal, and lose some of the players that he inherited that he doesn’t want.

“I would keep Sam Allardyce because I know he will go close getting them back to the Premier League from the Championship.”

Whilst West Brom haven’t performed as some might have expected following Allardyce’s arrival, surely the West Brom hierarchy knew there was every chance of them being relegated, especially having failed to properly back Bilic the previous summer.

And with Big Sam’s history of getting teams out of the Championship in mind, sticking by him is their best bet.

Leeds could sign their next Ben White by landing Manchester City starlet Taylor Harwood-Bellis.

What’s the story?

Despite being only 19, the centre-back has already played for Pep Guardiola’s first team in the EFL Cup, Champions League and the FA Cup, but is now experiencing regular first-team football whilst on loan at Blackburn Rovers.

Now, The Manchester Evening News claim that both Marcelo Bielsa’s side, and fellow Premier League outfit Brighton, are closely watching his progress.

The report claims that if Guardiola decides that he isn’t ready for the senior side at the Etihad, another season-long loan move could well be an option, and the Whites should surely be all over that.

Leeds’ new Ben White

Described as a “powerful central defender also blessed with excellent skills on the ball”, that is eerily reminiscent of one of Leeds’ former heroes in recent seasons, Ben White.

Indeed, a profile piece by The Athletic, lauded his character as well as his ability, noting: “Kompany’s are big shoes to fill, but Guardiola may see similarities in Harwood-Bellis’ leadership qualities. The precocious youngster was the U-15 captain when Pep arrived in Manchester, and he wore the armband for England at the U-17 European Championship.

“Harwood-Bellis has confidence, superior technique, aggression, physicality and the ability to command from the back.”

Just like White, the 6 foot 2 Harwood-Bellis appears to be composed on the ball (averages just short of 80% passing accuracy), and strong at reading the game and nipping in front of opposition attackers to win back possession (he’s managed an impressive 1.4 interceptions per game in the Championship, top five among all of Rovers’ players).

Given that he’s still young like White was when he joined on loan from Brighton, Bielsa will surely feel as though Harwood-Bellis could be the kind of player that he can really harness and develop into yet another top-class centre-back.

With the ability to lead from the back, and fit in seamlessly with the possession style of play Bielsa has built up at Elland Road, the Leeds boss would surely love the chance to work with a talented prospect like the teenager.

It’s a signing Victor Orta must surely be targeting. And when you’ve got Pep Guardiola describing you as “exceptional”, that’s surely the biggest stamp of approval you need.

Meanwhile, this Leeds man has proven to be an absolutely awful signing…

Speaking exclusively to Transfer Tavern, former Premier League midfielder Carlton Palmer has defended Tottenham forward Gareth Bale after his recent comments about leaving the club at the end of the season.

The 31-year-old joined the north London outfit on a loan deal from Real Madrid in the last summer transfer window, and he has since confirmed that he plans to return to the Santiago Bernabeu once the 2020/21 campaign ends.

These comments, particularly the ones made about getting his fitness back up at White Hart Lane ahead of the Euros, have not gone down well, with Bale’s former Spurs team-mate Jamie O’Hara not impressed with what he has heard.

Discussing the matter on talkSPORT, O’Hara went as far as to say Bale was being disrespectful. Palmer, however, disagrees and has come out to defend the Wales international in an exclusive interview with TT:

“He was always going on loan. He was leaving Real Madrid because he wanted games, as simple as it is. I think what he said has been taken out of context because he’s only gone on loan to Spurs for one season, so what he said is he will be returning back to Real Madrid, which is where his parent club is. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.”

On the same subject, the ex-England international also added:

“On the basis of what’s happened [this season], I think even Tottenham really wouldn’t be interested in doing a permanent deal on the salary he’s on for another year.”

After this season, Bale will only have one year left on his Real Madrid contract, so the forward’s long-term future does not appear to be at the Bernabeu as things stand.

Southampton are reportedly keeping tabs on Celtic defender Leo Hjelde ahead of the summer transfer window, according to The Scottish Sun.

The report claims that the Saints are looking at the 17-year-old, as well as Rangers youngster Kyle McClelland.

Hjelde’s versatile Ross County stint

Hjelde, who stands at 6 foot 1, is currently out on loan at fellow Scottish Premiership side Ross County, with the Norwegian making nine appearances in all competitions.

The teenager has played at centre-back, left-back and left-midfield at Victoria Park, scoring his first senior goal against Kilmarnock last month.

It seems as if his displays have caught the attention on the south coast, with Hjelde having just over 12 months remaining on his Parkhead deal.

Transfer Tavern take

John Hughes, Hjelde’s manager at Ross County, called the teenager ‘unbelievable’ last month, and it seems as if the Hoops may have a decision to make on the promising youngster this summer.

We have seen first hand with Stephen Welsh this season how a young Hoops defender can have a real impact in the senior squad, and should Hjelde remain in Glasgow, he could be the next to breakthrough.

Christopher Jullien is out through injury at this moment in time, while Hjelde’s countryman Kris Ajer has been linked with a move away.

That could result in Hjelde having a real chance to establish himself in the first-team setup next season, providing he remains at the club beyond the summer.

In other news: Celtic source shares twist in Eddie Howe deal; the reason he’s having second thoughts comes to light, find out more here.