All posts by z3u9t.icu

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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…

21. 25. 29. 30. 17. The number of goals in every Premier League campaign by Harry Kane since he enjoyed his breakthrough season for Tottenham back in 2014/2015. The England international has virtually carried this Spurs side on his back in terms of leading from the front, and it is difficult to see how he can improve on what he has already achieved. But one simple thing might allow him to do just that. A full pre-season.

The 26-year-old has played an incredible number of games for both club and country, and there have been signs, particularly with England, of him suffering from burn-out. But with no international competition this summer, Kane has had the chance to sit back, relax and recharge his batteries.

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Indeed, speaking to Sky Sports after scoring a brace against Aston Villa last weekend, Kane revealed: “I had four weeks off, the most I’ve had off in a few years now. I’ve had a good pre-season, been here from the start, worked with the team and everyone’s feeling good.

“We’ve still got work to do, I’ve still got work to do in terms of fitness and things like that, but playing games will only help. I feel in a good place and hopefully I can continue doing what we’ve done.”

Last season, Kane’s ankle injury in the Champions League quarter-final clash against Manchester City kept him out until the final of the competition. Indeed, at the time of his injury, the striker had missed 21 club games since the 2016/2017 season from problems to his ankle alone. The Spurs star is by no means considered ‘injury-prone’, but his worrying accumulation of issues certainly must have created some fear over his long-term future.

But with a full pre-season behind him, and the chance to let his troublesome ankle heal even further, Kane will surely back himself to embark on his most productive campaign to date. Watch out Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

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According to Goal, Real Madrid have opened talks to sign Sporting Lisbon’s Bruno Fernandes.

What’s the word, then?

Despite having a really powerful entrance to the 2019 summer transfer window, Real Madrid have suddenly gone quiet and apart from the big Galactico signing of Eden Hazard, there hasn’t been much going on to properly excite the fans.

But it appears there could be a late addition in the Spanish capital in the form of Sporting’s Fernandes, with Goal reporting that Real Madrid have opened talks for his services having seemingly failed to prize Paul Pogba from Old Trafford.

Sporting want €80m (£72.5m) for the attacking midfielder and it looks as though Real Madrid have definitely chosen the right man to target.

Two birds, one stone

It’s safe to say that Fernandes has warranted their interest with his performances as of late. The 24-year-old attacking midfielder has been extremely proficient in both setting up the goals and finishing them off by himself. The stats and his key attributes really do attest to that.

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In his 113 games played for the Portuguese side, he has managed to score 49 goals and also assist an impressive 42 in the process. This could, as it turns out, potentially solve Real Madrid’s glaring goal-scoring problems. Last season, Los Blancos only tallied 63 goals as opposed to 94 scored the season before.

This serves as proof enough that they have been lacking a real goal-scorer as well as a real creator in the team for quite some time now – nobody managed more than a mere six assists for them in La Liga last season.

Fernandes can offer them both in one as he is more than capable of taking up those very responsibilities. Finding players that can offer those kinds of services is a tall task nowadays but the Portuguese looks like the real deal.

This starts making even more sense when we consider the state of the modern market, and the sum of around £72.5m looks like a true bargain for Zinedine Zidane and co.

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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…

Heading into the season there were concerns about Leeds’ defence and rightfully so.

After letting Pontus Jansson go, they had just Liam Cooper as a proven central defender in the Championship.

Of course, supporters were unaware of Ben White’s qualities and since he arrived, the Whites have conceded just three times in the Championship.

Before losing against Swansea, they sat top of the league. After their first defeat, they’re now third and behind the Welsh side in the race for promotion.

An unbeaten start before Saturday had still drawn question marks, however, no less than in a lack of creativity against Brentford, not scoring until the 81st minute and in Patrick Bamford.

In an aggregate of ten shots against Nottingham Forest and the Swans this term he’s failed to score. Although he’s netted four times overall, there is a lack of ruthlessness to his game.

That provides evidence of a team that still has to improve, but comments made after Leeds’ defeat only shows that further.

Speaking in his post-match press conference, Swansea boss Steve Cooper said: “We came here to win, there are obvious areas to exploit against Leeds, although we didn’t do it quite as well with the ball first half, second half I thought we did look quite dangerous.”

And in saying there are obvious areas it should be alarming, even if the Welshman was merely playing mind games.

Under Marcelo Bielsa, Leeds have been reborn and they were rather unfortunate not to achieve promotion in 2018/19.

Individual errors from Gaetano Berardi and Kiko Casilla cost them deer in the playoffs but there are still some lingering doubts following Sunday.

The fact there are obvious gaps to exploit in Leeds needs to serve as a wakeup call.

Over the international break, the Whites have to refocus and work on some attributes that simply must get better as the season goes on.

Ultimately, Cooper’s men took advantage of one of Leeds’ glaring weaknesses, defending set-pieces.

From their three goals conceded in the Championship, two of them have been from corners.

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Against Nottingham Forest, they were lacklustre in attempting to deal with Lewis Grabban.

They then failed to deal with the danger sufficiently against Swansea as Wayne Routledge found the net.

Sloppy moments like that have now cost Leeds two times in their opening six matches. They cannot afford for that to happen again.

In short, Bielsa has work to do to improve Leeds on the training pitch and Cooper isn’t wrong with what he said.

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Rangers came up trumps against a difficult opponent on Thursday to gain entry into the Europa League group stages, and the performance of Nikola Katic has fans running out of superlatives for the towering Croatian.

The Gers faced a huge task after failing to find an away goal in the first leg in Poland, but earned a 1-0 win thanks to Alfredo Morelos’ late glancing header.

Of course, the Colombian’s big moment will steal all the newspaper headlines, but Katic is the man fans are all talking about.

The 22 year-old started last season impressively, but was left out of the side for a long period of time, with Steven Gerrard clearly thinking the break would do him good.

And it’s done exactly that, as he’s started this campaign in fine form, capping it off with an utterly dominant performance on Thursday night.

He received an 8.5 out of 10 in Football Scotland’s player ratings, with the outlet making reference to one particularly crucial intervention he made that lifted Ibrox to its feet.

Have a look at the best Twitter reactions down below, where fans are blown away by the 6 foot 4 ace…

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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…

Recently, Football FanCast detailed what exactly has changed at Crystal Palace for Christian Benteke to become as nullified as he has been over the last two years.

Under Sam Allardyce and Alan Pardew, Crystal Palace were amongst the most frequent crossers of the ball in the Premier League, a system in which the Belgian thrived, with 17 goals in his first season at Selhurst Park.

However, following Roy Hodgson’s arrival, the former Liverpool striker has just four goals to his name in over two seasons of football – two were scored with his head, whilst two were penalties.

So far this term, it seems as if Hodgson has realised that Benteke no longer suits his system and has dropped him for Jordan Ayew, a man who has two goals in three starts and looks a much better fit.

However, with the 6 foot 3 forward’s exclusion comes another sufferer as a result of Benteke not being in the team: Andros Townsend.

Like Benteke, the 13-cap England international has also found himself sat on the bench in the last two Premier League games, and it seems as if he has become a casualty of the 28-year-old no longer being the focal point of the side anymore.

Having averaged 1.6 key passes per game and 1 cross per game last season, Townsend has recorded just 0.5 key passes per game and no crosses so far this term, numbers which Hodgson may have seen as a reason to drop the former Tottenham man along with Benteke.

In fact, it is rather telling that Hodgson decided to bench the pair at the exact same time – the trip to Old Trafford being the first instance – and also wanted to bring the pair on at the exact same time against Aston Villa – before Ayew scored and the pair were told to sit back down.

It is evident that Townsend isn’t as effective a performer without Benteke being the main man up top.

If the latter stays out of the team, so could the former.

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Newcastle United attacker Miguel Almiron scored his first goal for Paraguay in the South American nation’s 4-2 win over Jordan on Tuesday.

Almiron is still waiting for his first Newcastle goal, having struggled to produce an end product since joining the Magpies from the MLS in January.

The 25-year-old has shown plenty of promise in the final third of the field, although he is also yet to register an assist in his 14 outings for Steve Bruce’s side.

Almiron was also waiting for his first international goal ahead of the clash with Jordan – that is no longer the case, though, with the attacker finding the back of the net courtesy of a close-range header.

And it could be good news for Newcastle ahead of their trip to division leaders Liverpool in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon.

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A selection of the Twitter reaction from the English club’s supporters can be seen below:

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

According to The Daily Mail, QPR are monitoring Heinz Lindner with a view to potentially making a move for the Austrian goalkeeper, who is currently a free agent.

What’s the word, then?

Well, the R’s are looking at Lindner following his departure from Swiss side Zurich Grasshoppers, with whom he spent two seasons.

Before his exit from Switzerland, the 29-year-old got plenty of action under his belt with Austria Vienna, where he made 202 appearances and also gained international recognition – Lindner has 28 caps for the Austria national team.

R’s boss Mark Warburton has reportedly invited Lindner down to London to train with his QPR side, where he will get a closer look at the keeper before deciding whether or not to add him to his squad.

Suggests Warburton isn’t entirely happy

QPR signed Liam Kelly this summer from Livingston to compete with Joe Lumley for the No.1 shirt, although the 23-year-old is yet to make an appearance for the club.

Lumley has started all seven of the R’s Championship games so far this season, but had fans talking after his woeful mistake last time out against Luton – he essentially kicked the ball to the opposition striker, who subsequently scored.

Warburton leapt to the defence of his No.1, insisting that mistakes can happen, although the news that he is keen to take a look at an experienced goalkeeper in Lindner suggests that the former Rangers boss isn’t 100% satisfied with his goalkeeping department.

Whether or not Warburton is simply looking to beef up the goalkeeping department with another body, or he is actively looking to replace Lumley in between the sticks, the interest in Lindner hints that he feels improvements between the sticks are necessary.

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Tottenham Hotspur will look to put three successive miserable performances and results behind them when they host Southampton in the Premier League on Saturday.

The north London outfit followed up a disappointing 2-2 draw with Olympiacos in the Champions League and a 2-1 defeat to Leicester City in the Premier League with a Carabao Cup exit at the hands of Colchester United on Tuesday night.

Mauricio Pochettino rung the changes for the trip to Essex, and we expect him to do so again given the embarrassment and those players that came in failing to take their opportunity, as well as they fact they are returning to English top flight action.

Here is the XI we think the Argentine will select against his former employers…

In goal, Hugo Lloris returns having missed the clash against the Foxes following the birth of his baby, and having played back-up to Paulo Gazzaniga against their League Two opponents in midweek.

Danny Rose, Serge Aurier and Toby Alderweireld also come back into the XI having been rested completely in the cup, but one man who did play then keeps his spot – Davinson Sanchez.

Jan Vertonghen just doesn’t appear to be himself right now and having given away a penalty against Olympiacos, he probably should have done more to close down James Maddison for Leicester’s winner.

Given Southampton have pace up top, Sanchez could be a more suitable option for the out-of-form Belgian here.

We are tipping Pochettino to revert to the 4-2-3-1 formation that has served him so well previously, and that means one of Harry Winks, Moussa Sissoko or Tanguy Ndombele sits this one out.

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We think it will be the latter, who just hasn’t appeared up to pace in recent matches following his return from injury.

Behind first name on the team-sheet Harry Kane, we predict the Argentine will go with Son Heung-min, Dele Alli and Erik Lamela as his three attacking midfielders, as he looks to press Saints from the start.

That means no spot for Christian Eriksen, who picked up a 3/10 rating from Football London for his latest Champions League outing and missed a penalty in the shoot-out against Colchester.

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Wolves’ form is starting to become a worry.

Last year, they were very impressive, and the £101.03m they spent on new arrivals appeared to look like sound investment. By finishing seventh, they qualified for the Europa League, and almost found themselves in the F.A Cup final.

This term, though, it is a very different story. Nuno Espirito Santo and co are yet to win a game in the Premier League and, although they made it to the group stage in Europe, they lost their first match against Braga at Molineux. On Sunday, they once again failed to win, drawing 1-1 with Crystal Palace.

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Whenever a team goes through a poor run of form, the manager’s future always seems to be under pressure. Although the Portuguese boss led the team so magnificently last season, he will need to improve results sooner rather than later if he is to breathe easy again.

And some Wolves fans – albeit a small minority – are already calling for him to be relieved of his duties at the club.

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

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 Brom reached the summit of the Championship table for the first time this season as they extended their unbeaten run to a ninth straight game following a victory over Queens Park Rangers.

Young Nathan Ferguson, continuing to play ‘out of position’ at left-back, opened the scoring in the second half after his marauding run was topped off with an almost effortless 25-yard strike which beat the QPR shot-stopper all ends up.

The victory was then clinched less than ten minutes from time as Matheus Pereira slotted in a free-kick underneath the wall after centre-back Yoann Barbet was sent off for a last-man challenge on substitute Hal Robson-Kanu.

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Charlie Austin made way for the Welshman just after the hour mark and that change is something Slaven Bilic should consider making from the start against Leeds on Tuesday evening.

The 30-year-old has been very much a bit-part player this season having been restricted to just four substitute appearances in the Championship, but that has mostly been down to injury.

Last week Football FanCast suggested that Robson-Kanu could have a more significant role than expected this season and in his short 30-minute cameo, that argument has only been strengthened.

His introduction gave a new lease of life to the Baggies’ attack, and as already mentioned, it was his pace that drew the last-ditch foul from Barbet, the forward would have certainly been in on goal for a one-on-one without the challenge.

Robson-Kanu was a lively figure winning two aerial duels, which was tied-second for the most in the match despite playing considerably less time.

He also managed two shots at goal, only one less than Austin and both players recorded just one on target, so the substitute had a better percentage rate in that sense.

The £4m summer arrival is yet to get on the scoresheet in the league, so it surely won’t do any harm in giving Robson-Kanu a long-awaited start upfront on Tuesday.

He looked fit and raring to go against QPR, and last week he netted a brace in a youth game.