All posts by n8rngtd.top

Many fans of West Ham United have been reacting to a post on Twitter in which Declan Rice reflected on the club’s recent victory over Leeds United.

Rice impressed in West Ham’s 2-0 Premier League win against Marcelo Bielsa’s side, with the 22-year-old winning six duels and making four clearances, two interceptions and three tackles over the course of the 90 minutes [SofaScore], earning a match rating of 7.2 for his efforts.

Following the victory, which saw West Ham climb to fifth place in the Premier League, the £49.5m-rated Rice took to Twitter, stating his belief that the Hammers’ win was “not the prettiest of performances” before calling for fans of the club to “keep enjoying the ride” this season.

In reaction, many fans of West Ham flocked to have their say on the matter, with a few heaping considerable praise on the England international for his “unbelievable” performance on Monday night.

So, what exactly did these West Ham United fans have to say in reaction to Declan Rice’s post on Twitter?

“Captain leading us to something special.”

@westhamtransfer

“Keep going captain, unreal again.”

@WestHam_Central

“The sign of a good team is winning when not playing well Declan Rice. 3 points in the bag and we mooooooove.”

@rhysj39

“Get in Declan! Quality performance tonight, it’s a pleasure to watch the player you are becoming. Never leave us please you’re already taking this club to new levels. Keep it up, man!”

@AdamAllchin

“Terrific fighting spirit & togetherness again, the desire to keep on improving & not being satisfied with just winning but playing better is the drive that will end with a high league position. Keep it up All of You. COYI.”

@richiewhite25

“Class player, will love to see you lead us in Europe.”

@ScoutSoucek

“Still getting the win as well as a clean sheet when we didn’t play that well shows how far we have come!! MY CAPTAIN. Keep going, European nights are pending.”

@MatthewFairle11

“Brilliant again skipper and keep on those pens!!”

@LeeBo

“Another game, another masterclass. Well played Dec!”

@WHUKasp

“Unbelievable once again.”

@rosswhu3

In other news: Many West Ham fans responded to this club update, find out more here!

Manchester City will be hoping to make it 16 wins in a row when they face Tottenham Hotspur at the Etihad in Saturday’s late kick-off.

Pep Guardiola’s side are comfortable at the top of the Premier League after a superb run of recent form, but have struggled against Spurs in recent seasons, and suffered a defeat at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium earlier this campaign.

The Spanish manager made plenty of changes for the game against Swansea in midweek and it seems likely that he will go back to full strength as he prepares to face his old rival Jose Mourinho.

Here’s how Football FanCast expects City to line up against Spurs on Saturday, with seven changes from the team that started against Swansea…

Ederson returns in goal, and the Brazilian could even end up on penalty duties for City should they be awarded a spot-kick against Spurs after Ilkay Gundogan’s miss against Liverpool recently.

There are four changes to the defence as Ruben Dias and John Stones resume their partnership at centre-back, replacing Eric Garcia and Aymeric Laporte.

Joao Cancelo comes in for Kyle Walker after being rested at Swansea, whilst Oleksandr Zinchenko replaces Benjamin Mendy at left-back.

Phil Foden returns in midfield in place of Ferran Torres, although he will likely interchange with Bernardo Silva on the wing throughout the match, who keeps his place in the side.

Finally, Riyad Mahrez replaces Gabriel Jesus, with Raheem Sterling moving up front, with Guardiola having enjoyed a lot of success with a strikerless system in recent weeks.

And, in other news… Bye-bye Fernandinho: Txiki should swoop for £36m-rated beast this summer

Many West Bromwich Albion fans have flocked to a tweet from Joseph Masi that recently emerged on social media.

Masi relayed a tweet which carried a transfer update for the Baggies. He said that West Brom have now agreed a deal with Galatasaray to sign striker Mbaye Diagne on a loan deal.

Sky Sports have reported that the deal does have an option to buy the player permanently and the club are now making their arrangements to fly Diagne to the UK as soon as they can. They now also have permission to speak to the player.

The report states that signing a striker this month has been a top priority for Sam Allardyce and while he had an interest in Christian Benteke, the Belgian is set to stay at Crystal Palace. Sky Sports also stated that the Baggies have made a loan offer for Jesse Lingard, but the loan fee and wages could become a problem for them.

The Senegalese Diagne has played 15 times in the league for Galatasaray this season, scoring nine times so far. He also scored twice for them in three Europa League qualifying games earlier in the campaign (as per Transfermarkt).

Masi’s tweet caught the attention of many West Brom fans, who gave their opinion about the potential signature of Diagne.

What did West Brom fans make of this news about Diagne?

“No idea if he’s any good but if he’s mobile, that will do.”

Credit: @_the_a_bis

“No idea how good he is but has to be better than the current incumbents.”

Credit: @Alan4NewportSal

“At this point, I’d rather just save the money and start planning for the Championship.”

Credit: @turner14guvnor

“As long as he has a pair of boots, I don’t care, something has to change personnel-wise.”

Credit: @CHawthorns

“That’s a good bit of business that. Need a few more mind, but it’s a good start.”

Credit: @RobPaddock16

“Couple of defenders and a couple of midfielders then we may have a chance. As long as they’re of Premier League quality that is !!”

Credit: @BAGGIEBAIL

“It’s a start.”

Credit: @Aaron2wba

In other news, West Brom have been linked with a lower league star – read more here.

When Aston Villa signed Scott Hogan for a then Championship record of £15m in January 2017, the club would no doubt have expected the striker to deliver on his money’s worth.

Speaking after his signing, then Villa boss Steve Bruce declared: “He has got that hunger in his belly. He’ll give us something that’s been lacking.”

Sadly for Hogan and the club, he was nothing short of a disaster in his time at Villa Park. In total, he managed just ten goals in 61 games, whilst he spent the previous couple of campaigns on loan at Sheffield United, Stoke and then rivals Birmingham.

After getting into a bit of form for the Blues – he bagged seven goals in 17 games last season – the club decided to make his loan move from Villa into something more permanent.

And if Villa have been watching Hogan’s season thus far, then they will be absolutely laughing all the way to the bank.

The 28-year-old has struggled immensely to rediscover the kind of form that convinced Birmingham to

bring him in last summer, managing a measly two goals in 16 games in all competitions.

That hasn’t been down to him making substitute appearances either, with 14 of those matches actually seeing him start from the off. He’s averaged less than a shot per game this campaign in the Championship, evidence of a striker who is woefully out of form and can’t find himself in the positions to test the goalkeeper.

As per Whoscored, his average match rating this season of 6.31 actually ranks him 20th among all Birmingham City players, with only four players below him. Hogan has been shocking virtually all season, and the man with eight caps for the Republic of Ireland looks nothing like the player that convinced Villa to part big money with to sign.

Johan Lange played an absolute blinder by getting rid of him last summer.

Meanwhile, Villa must unleash this academy starlet in the Premier League…

Speaking exclusively to The Transfer Tavern, former Premier League referee Mark Halsey discussed the penalty incident involving Reece James and Kieran Tierney in Arsenal’s win over Chelsea on Saturday.

In the fixture, Arsenal secured their first Premier League win since November 1st, as goals from Alexandre Lacazette, Granit Xhaka and Bukayo Saka were enough to see off Frank Lampard’s side, despite Tammy Abraham pulling a late goal back for the visitors and Jorginho’s even later penalty miss.

However, there was significant controversy surrounding Arsenal’s first goal in the match, when Michael Oliver pointed to the spot after Tierney found himself goalside of James in the Chelsea penalty area, before hitting the deck under very little contact.

“Had the referee not given it, I think it would have stayed not given,” Halsey told Transfer Tavern. “Now, James is the wrong side of him, so whenever when a forward player gets in front of a defender like that, going into the box, as a defender, you can’t get close to him, you’ve got to keep your distance.”

He continued: “So, any sort of contact then he’s going to go down, and you can’t blame him for going down because if he doesn’t go down then there’s no decision to make for the referee and we’ve seen players being fouled, staying on their feet and nothing [being] given.”

Whilst VAR did check the incident to determine whether or not the contact made by James on the Arsenal left-back was indeed enough for him to go down, it was eventually decided that the referee had not made a clear and obvious error in awarding the spot-kick.

And, Sky Sports duo Gary Neville and Alex Scott both appeared to feel that the Chelsea defender was in the wrong, despite agreeing that there was minimal contact, with Neville claiming that James should “should never have made the challenge,” while Scott stated that “once you get skipped by as a full-back like that, you almost have to let your ego go.”

So, all in all, it would appear that the general consensus is that James did indeed foul Tierney, however, this is not something that Mikel Arteta will likely be spending his time worrying about, as he can now concentrate on putting together a decent run of results at the Emirates Stadium, and moving Arsenal away from the bottom half of the Premier League table.

Leeds United midfielder Adam Forshaw is still not ready for action after a horrible 15-month lay-off.

In response to supporters on Monday, The Athletic’s Phil Hay claimed the 29-year-old “has been trying to get over the last hurdle for a long time”

A hip problem has seen Forshaw sidelined since September 2019 with his final appearance in a Whites shirt being a 45-minute stint against Charlton.

The former Brentford and Middlesbrough man has played a total of seven matches since the start of the 2019/20 season and underwent surgery nearly a year ago in the United States.

With the emergence of Jamie Shackleton, the signing of Rodrigo and Stuart Dallas a natural central midfielder, it’s hard to imagine Forshaw ever playing for the Yorkshire giants ever again.

And because of that, it would be wise for Victor Orta to look to move him on at the earliest convenience, as ruthless as that would be.

Leeds are merely wasting financial resources keeping players like this at the club.

Between Forshaw (£60k-per-week) and Gaetano Berardi (£35k-per-week) alone, they are spending nearly £100k-per-week on a pair of players who aren’t going to contribute one minute to their cause this term.

Those wages could be spent elsewhere – on a central defender who is going to help shut up shop, perhaps?

Indeed, the 5 foot 9 maestro has cost the club around £500k-per-game since the start of their Championship-winning season and overall, around £265k-per-match since his £4.5m arrival in 2018.

It would be a brutal call to sack him off, but United need to look at the bigger picture to help their chances of remaining in the top-flight.

Noel Whelan believes Forshaw would even welcome fresh start elsewhere, he told Football Insider: “The January window has obviously just opened and I’m sure he wants to go and get settled in a team where he can play football. He’s a good footballer, so I’m sure that will be on his mind.”

Orta must show no mercy over the “exceptional” and long-serving midfielder this month.

AND in other news, Orta can find Bielsa his next Kalvin Phillips in £13m BRUTE…

Glasgow Rangers will want to avenge their loss to St. Mirren in the Betfred Cup when they travel to Paisley to take on the Saints in the Scottish Premiership on Wednesday afternoon.

Steven Gerrard will be well aware that it won’t be a walk in the park for the 54-time Scottish champions, having borne witness to a humiliating last-gasp defeat at the hands of Jim Goodwin’s side earlier this month.

Besides that humbling defeat, Rangers have been in scintillating form since the start of the season, with 18 wins, two draws and no defeats in the top flight. But with games coming thick and fast this month and next – they play Celtic three days after facing the Saints – Gerrard will want to rotate his squad in the midst of a busy schedule.

With that in mind, Gerrard may decide to bring Calvin Bassey back into the fold to face the Saints at St. Mirren Park.

The 20-year-old has featured seven times in the Premiership this season, but has only started on three occasions so far, with his last appearance coming by way of the fateful quarter-final against St. Mirren in the Scottish League Cup.

He has been left as an unused substitute on the bench for the past three games in the top flight, with 28-year-old defender Borna Barisic preferred in his place instead.

Gerrard’s undisputed first-choice left-back put in an immense shift against Hibernian, but if the Ibrox boss does decide to give Barisic a break, then Bassey surely must be his first port of call to replace the Croatian on the left side.

Equally capable of playing at centre-back or full-back, the Englishman, who turns 21 in a matter of days, could cause Goodwin’s side all sorts of problems bombing up and down the flanks with his bursts of pace and pinging crosses into the box.

Gerrard has been effusive in his praise for the Leicester City academy product, telling reporters after the Europa League game against Standard Liege:

“I thought Calvin was outstanding. For someone who has very little experience, to come into a game as big as that and at that level and perform the way he did made us very proud.

“He’s a fantastic kid, a kid who wants to learn, who wants grow and evolve and with team we’re really confident we can help polish him up and get him to become even better than he is.

“He’s got real interesting attributes right now and he showed them on Thursday night, which was fantastic to see.”

In seven appearances in the Premiership this season, Bassey is averaging 1.7 tackles and one interception per game, via WhoScored.

It’s fair to say that the youngster has turned out to be an absolute gem ever since he arrived at Ibrox in the summer. He bagged his first goal for the club against Falkirk in the Betfred Cup and his endurance and durability could be key for the Gers keeping another clean sheet if he is selected.

AND in other news, Steven Gerrard dealt huge blow as Rangers midfielder Ryan Jack remains sidelined due to injury…

Spurs are reportedly one of the Premier League outfits keeping tabs on Red Bull Salzburg star Dominik Szoboszlai. That’s according to 90min, who claim that Daniel Levy and co are amongst the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool who are all monitoring the midfielder’s current situation.

The 20-year-old has attracted attention from all over Europe, with Barcelona, Real Madrid and Dortmund just three others to be very keen on his services. The interest is more than justified too. This season alone, Szoboszlai has contributed to 14 Salzburg goals in 15 appearances, breaking down to five goals and nine assists so far.

His red-hot form adds to his impressive tally at the Austrian club, where he boasts 22 goals and 33 assists so far in 76 senior appearances (via Transfermarkt). These are certainly numbers that Jose Mourinho will be blown away by and they are similar to that of Tottenham icon Son Heung-min.

Szoboszlai could be perfect Son protege

Whilst Harry Kane has been the poster boy of the north London outfit for years now, teammate Son is slowly encroaching on his spotlight. The South Korean is in unstoppable form this season and it’s not a fluke either. Mourinho’s treasured winger has been consistently scoring and assisting goals for almost five seasons now, but where the team relies so heavily on him, they struggle immensely when he is unavailable.

Son’s injury last season really hurt Spurs and their form in the Premier League. Having a younger attacker with a similar playing style to the 28-year-old will hugely benefit the team. Not only would signing Szoboszlai add much-needed depth to Tottenham’s attack but working closely with one of the best wingers in the world would hugely improve his own game.

The Lilywhites have Steven Bergwijn and Ryan Sessegnon on the books as back-up left-wingers. The latter is currently out on loan with Hoffenheim in order to gain some valuable first team minutes, but he has been showing a lot more promise playing in his old position of left-back. Mourinho will undoubtedly be aware of this and could be considering reverting him back to a defender once he returns.

Bergwijn on the other hand is finding first team action hard to come by and has been reduced to mainly cameo appearances this season. If Levy splashes out on bringing Szoboszlai to the Tottenham Hotspur stadium, it could spell trouble for Bergwijn, who is three years older than the Hungarian talent.

Similarly, Sessegnon is also younger than the former PSV man and both naturally have the upper hand on being selected under Mourinho.

In other news, Spurs could sign ideal Eriksen replacement in Jack Grealish…

Liverpool are already making moves to try and solve their current defensive disaster. With Virgil van Dijk likely to be out for the rest of the season and both Fabinho and Joel Matip also sidelined, it’s crunch time for Jurgen Klopp.

The manager needs to make quick decisions if he wants to save Liverpool’s chances of silverware this season. As it stands, Joe Gomez is the club’s only fit senior centre-back, which is not a situation anyone expected to see them in.

The Reds have been admirers of Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly for months now and look to have reignited their interest in his services. However, splashing the cash on the Senegal international could end up doing more harm than good to this Liverpool side.

Should Liverpool sign Koulibaly?

At face value, Liverpool would be foolish to pass up the opportunity to bring the 6ft1 powerhouse to Anfield. The Mirror has reported that Napoli would be willing to let the centre-back leave if an asking price of £65million is met. Whilst this is a pretty hefty amount given the current financial climate, it’s doable for the reigning Premier League champions who just splashed £41million on Diogo Jota.

Koulibaly is already tried and tested and would slot into the Liverpool side nicely. He would also make for a superb partner for van Dijk once he returns from injury. When Napoli faced the Reds back in November 2019, the 29-year-old won 100% of his aerial duels and contributed eight clearances, two blocks and 100% of his dribbles, showing a likeness to Liverpool’s No.4 (via Sofascore).

Roberto Firmino was unable to make any sort of impact on that game, with Koulibaly going as far as clearing his huge chance off the line to keep Napoli in the game.

However, whilst he would be a hugely beneficial addition to this Liverpool side, signing the Senegalese defender could also be very costly.

Divock Origi looks set to be leaving the club in January in search of a loan move. International football is currently his priority and he is looking to give himself the best possible chance to feature for Belgium in the EUROs. This will leave Klopp with only Firmino to deploy as his striker, which is a worrying thought for the holding champions.

Fabinho is set to return after a few weeks and could make a huge impact once he returns, this means the Reds can arguably survive until the summer with him, Gomez and Matip. But should Origi leave, Liverpool cannot move forward without a back-up senior striker.

Michael Edwards has a huge predicament on his hands as he decides where to spend the club’s money in January. One player gained could be detrimental in another area of the team.

In other news, Antonio Rudiger should be serious transfer option for Liverpool in January…

According to a report from Calciomercato, Tottenham could re-sign Christian Eriksen in January as Inter Milan entertain the possibility of a swap deal involving either Danny Rose or Dele Alli. This report comes just a week after prominent Italian journalist Mario Sconcerti claimed that the Dane’s situation is now a ‘serious case’. 

Eriksen, who left north London for the San Siro back in January, has found game time difficult to come by under Antonio Conte – particularly this season.

Eriksen return on the cards

On the fringes of Conte’s plans, the £45 million-valued ace could well leave Inter just one year after putting pen to paper on a deal – with journalist Fabrizio Romano recently ruling out the possibility of a loan move.

Indeed, as the transfer guru puts it, Eriksen’s departure from the Serie A giants will have to come in the form of a permanent move – and Jose Mourinho’s side are now being touted with a return for their former star.

As explained by Calciomercato, a swap deal including either Rose, who would strengthen Inter’s left side, or Alli is being entertained as a real possibility – especially considering both men find themselves in a difficult situation under Mourinho.

Transfer Tavern take

Gareth Bale’s return to Hotspur Way was deemed a fairy tale, and with this report now claiming another hero could feasibly return, the story of happy reunions may not have ended yet.

Described as a player ‘Jose really likes’ by Lilywhites legend Graham Roberts and as a ‘genius’ by Glenn Hoddle, Eriksen’s return to Spurs could definitely get fans talking.

Whether or not the move eventually happens is a different story, but judging by these recent claims, you cannot rule it out.

In other news: Spurs have received an ‘amazing’ ENIC update,  find out more here.