All posts by h716a5.icu

If you were to tell an Arsenal fan their club would only pick up one point from 12 against Crystal Palace, Wolves, Leicester and Brighton, they would have thought you were bonkers, but football’s a funny old game.

The Gunners have well and truly screwed up their best chance to return to the Champions League with four dreadful results against sides Unai Emery really should have won against, and although there’s still hope of a return to Europe’s elite competition via the Europa League, most supporters would just want the season to be over with now and for new players to be brought in as soon as possible.

Reinforcements are needed in north London, and one position that is in desperate need of repairs is the wings, where the Gunners are incredibly under-stocked at, but one name could change all that should Arsenal splash the cash.

Palace winger Wilfried Zaha, who scored against the Gunners in their 3-2 win against Arsenal, has been linked with a move away from south London in recent weeks and that Emery is interested in the Ivorian international.

According to the Sun, the Eagles superstar is a £40 million target for the Gunners as Emery aims to bring in players that can bolster the wings as well as improve Arsenal’s homegrown quota in the league.

With Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang already at the club and single handily keeping Arsenal’s season alive, the introduction of Zaha would take the Gunners’ attack to new heights and will dramatically improve the team as a whole.

Zaha’s ability to create chances and strike fear into the hearts of those from the wing would be a valuable asset for Arsenal, who have been unable to do much with the likes of Alex Iwobi and Henrikh Mkhitaryan being underwhelming at best this season.

Arsenal are in desperate need of recruitments this summer in key areas, and Zaha could be the big-name signing the club need to re-group and go for a top-four finish next season.

Arsenal fans, is Zaha the missing piece for the team? Let us know!

Everton are looking ahead to next season with an element of optimism following a decent finish to the season under Marco Silva.

The Toffees finished their campaign with a well earned 2-2 draw against Spurs, and these sorts of results have become more commonplace for the Merseysiders in recent times, raising levels of hope among the club heading into next term.

Manager Silva will no doubt be keen on making some new signings this summer, but crucially, the club will need to ensure they keep hold of some of their top stars too.

One of these top stars is Brazilian attacker Richarlison, who has been in fine form for the Toffees ever since making the move to Goodison Park from Watford.

However, this weekend has seen the free scoring youngster linked with a move away from the club, with Atletico Madrid among the clubs reportedly willing to pay a hefty fee of around £70m for Richarlison.

Richarlison has plenty of qualities about his game, and while Everton need their best players, a sum like this would be something the club would seriously need to consider.

His goals and assists have been crucial to the cause for the Toffees, but when clubs of the magnitude of Atletico come sniffing, especially with the sums of money mentioned, it can be hard to ignore.

Everton will of course need to replace Richarlison if they do decide to move him on, but with £70m in the coffers, there would be no shortage of options for the club to pursue.

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Torrid injury problems have tarnished what was supposed to be an exciting Rangers career for Jordan Rossiter, but a decent loan spell at Bury suggests he has laid the foundations to finally make his mark at Ibrox next season.

On the chalkboard

League Two is not widely regarded as a division which harbours elite-level talent, but Bury manager Ryan Lowe seems to think a special player has passed through the fourth tier of English football this season.

The player in question is, of course, Rossiter, a player who Rangers fans were expecting to shine when he arrived in 2016. He has made just 16 senior appearances for the club in a three year spell, leaving fans wondering if he’ll ever remain injury-free for long enough to fulfil the promise which defined his teenage years.

Finally, finally, the 22-year-old has managed to enjoy that rarest of beasts: an extended run of matches at senior level.

The combative midfielder started 15 times for Bury during his spell and helped the club to clinch automatic promotion after finishing the season in 2nd place.

With the curtain drawn on the gruelling 46-fixture campaign, Lowe has delivered a glowing verdict on Rossiter’s time at Gigg Lane, per The Herald.

“I think a lot of credit has to go to Jordan for his determination and he must have picked up about ten Man of the Match awards in the 17 games that he played for us.

“He was instrumental, he was terrific and what a lad, a real hard working character.”

Lowe later went on to add: “For me, Jordan can play in the Premiership all day long and he could play in the Championship because he has got everything in his locker.”

A money-saving option

Steven Gerrard is well equipped in central midfield, with the likes of Glen Kamara, Ryan Jack, Ryan Halliday, Ross McCrorie and Steven Davis all strong options in that position.

But Lowe’s glowing admission on Rossiter suggests that Rangers have a quality talent at their disposal who is simply waiting to be unearthed.

Kamara may have been signed in a bargain £50,000 deal but excellent central midfielders are seldom found for anything less than a premium price in the modern market, so Rossiter could save the club a small fortune if he finally realises his potential next season.

There are likely to be some teething problems if Gerrard aims to make him an important part of the senior squad next season, but his form with Bury clearly suggests he’s worth pursuing with.

The Gers boss has plenty to mull over in the summer transfer window but, with Rossiter fully fit and enjoying a productive 2019, he has no reason to sign a new central midfielder.

[ad_pod ]Reported £20m Southampton target Moussa Djenepo has sparked a big reaction from Saints supporters on Twitter following some recent activity on his Instagram account.The Mali international liked a comment one of his posts which said “Southampton”, which of course has caught the eye of some members of the St Mary’s faithful ahead of a big summer for the club and Ralph Hasenhuttl.The Africa attacker scored 11 goals and provided six assists for Standard Liege this term. With pace and a direct style of play, he is ideal for the Austrian manager’s preferred pressing style of play.

Southampton fans will be hoping for a new dawn under the 51-year-old next term following a second successive season battling relegation in the Premier League, and the 20-year-old would be an exciting, if relatively unproven, addition to the frontline.

When an eagle-eyed supporter spotted Djenepo’s like, others were quick to respond with one saying “well spotted”, and other saying “good find lad”.

Here is how Saints fans are reacting on Twitter:

Lingard enjoyed himself as he got to watch Jaap Stam, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes, David Beckham and their current manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer tear Bayern apart.

Solskjaer, opened the scoring within the first five minutes and United never looked back. Further goals from Butt, Louis Saha, Dwight Yorke, and Beckham sealed the win.

Lingard would have been seven when the treble was won and Rashford only two-years-old.

It was a pleasure for both of the local boys to cover this match, but for fans it was probably a sad reminder of what they used to have and what they are now left with.

Lingard and Rashford need to take some inspiration from the legends who were on display and improve the standard of their performances next season.

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Graham Dorrans is set to be one of the players axed by Steven Gerrard at Rangers this summer, according to The Scottish Sun.

What’s the story?

The paper say that, with Kyle Lafferty in discussions this weekend over the terms of his exit from Ibrox, Dorrans may also never play for the Gers again.

The report states that Dorrans has been warned his chances of first-team football next term are severely limited.

With others such as Lassana Coulibaly and Joe Worrall also leaving, Gerrard’s side could have a real new look to it when the competitive action returns in July.

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Disappointing Dorrans

When the former Scotland international arrived at Rangers there was real hope amongst supporters he could be the kind of player to build the midfield around, but it’s fair to say the move hasn’t worked out how anyone would have liked.

The 32-year-old has managed just 23 appearances in his two seasons at the club, missing the majority of games due to injury and fitness issues.

Those may not be his fault, but the reality is he has offered very little to the Rangers cause and the club would be better off getting him off the wage bill than having him sitting around not making matchday squads.

No room

Even with his injury issues behind him ahead of pre-season, the midfield has moved on in his absence and the emergence of young talents such as Glen Kamara and Ross McCrorie mean there is no scope for him to play.

Others such as Steven Davis and Scott Arfield are mainstays too and provide the kind of experience that Dorrans does, but with an all-round game that is more beneficial to Gerrard’s team.

Dorrans is a talented player, but there’s simply no room for him at Ibrox anymore.

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Former Newcastle midfielder and current BT Sport pundit Robbie Savage believes that Arsenal should have been awarded a penalty in the 18th minute of the Europa League final, as quoted by the Daily Mail.

What’s he said?

A fiercely contested opening period in Baku saw both sides struggle to create clear-cut chances until Alexandre Lacazette found himself running through on goal just past the quarter-hour mark.

Kepa Arrizabalaga rushed off his line to greet the Arsenal striker who appeared to poke the ball before going down under the Chelsea ‘keeper’s diving challenge.

Referee Gianluca Rocchi quickly halted play to check with VAR before allowing the Blues to restart with a goal-kick.

Despite the VAR confirmation of the original no-penalty decision, Savage still felt the referee was incorrect and didn’t hold back during BT Sport’s live commentary.

The former Wales international said: “I thought that was a penalty. I thought Kepa come out, rash, with pace, and if you watch it his head actually catches Lacazette, Lacazette goes over. For me that is a penalty.”

Danger to the game

Savage’s analysis of the potentially decisive moment is not totally wide of the mark, but his words set a very dangerous precedent. He is correct in saying that Kepa rashly emerged from his line and he is also correct that there appears to be a slight touch from the Chelsea man on the Arsenal striker.

According to FIFA’s Laws of the Game, contact in and of itself does not equal a foul, instead, a foul should be awarded when a player “trips or attempts to trip” an opponent.

In full speed, Kepa clearly doesn’t trip or attempt to trip Lacazette. The goalkeeper comes for the ball, makes an attempt to win the ball, and slightly touches the Frenchman who goes down.

In normal speed, the “contact” looks nowhere near enough to award a penalty, but with the use of slow motion, that opinion tends to change. This is where the dangerous precedent comes into play.

The reality is that anywhere else on the pitch and without the benefit of dozens of slowed down replays, Kepa’s innocuous touch wouldn’t have received a second thought.

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In the penalty box, however, every incident is under increased scrutiny with VAR highlighting tiny amounts of contact that seem more serious when zoomed in and slowed down.

Football is at a dangerous crossroads where every minute touch in the box is being seen as a penalty due to the increased scrutinisation of VAR replays. VAR often makes these slight touches seem crucial and Savage was seduced into that trap.

Fortunately, Rocchi remained firm and allowed the game to progress avoiding a dangerous precedent to the rest of the football world that every slight impediment can now be a foul due to VAR’s magnified lens on any use of contact.

For Southampton, now, it’s time to push on. After all, it was only three years ago that the club finished sixth, their second successive season in the top seven. With that in mind, fans will surely pray the good times can return after what has been a difficult two years in Hampshire. Here, in our It’s a big season for feature, we’ll be taking a look as to why the upcoming campaign is so important for the man in question. 

But while it’s a vastly important period for the club as a whole, it’s to be an equally important period individually for one man – James Warde-Prowse. The Englishman had largely fallen out of favour under Mark Hughes but appeared rejuvenated subsequently to the appointment of Hasenhüttl, telling BT Sport back in April that he believes the Austrian coach ‘saved’ his career.

Indeed, Ward-Prowse (along with Nathan Redmond) finished as Southampton’s stand-out player despite the aforementioned struggles. Clearly a figure in Gareth Southgate’s thoughts due to his involvement with the national team set-up despite missing out on the final cut for the UEFA Nations League, it wouldn’t be hard to imagine him getting more of a chance with the Three Lions if he can keep his performances up.

With Euro 2020 edging ever closer and Southgate’s preferred engine room not yet abundantly clear, the Southampton man will obviously know quite how important next season will be. Indeed, should he continue in the form that he showed towards the back-end of the season, he has a genuine chance of a call-up.

Having made 193 Premier League appearances for Southampton, it’s easy to forget that the Englishman is still just 24-years-old. Ward-Prowse has shown he’s more than capable at the top level, but the midfielder can become a top player if he builds on a hugely successful season individually. Now he’s added goals to his game it seems, the assists need to come. Frankly, the fact he didn’t get any last season might be a reflection on the club’s poor finishing as much as his own struggle, but he does need to start influencing attacks a touch more often.

Southampton’s midfield dynamo is now valued at £13.5m (as per TransferMarkt), but his stock will surely rise should he continue to play as he is. Still, for now, it’s crucial that he focusses on his performances at Southampton in what will be a pivotal season in his career.

Southampton fans, just how good is James Ward-Prowse? Would he be good enough to get into a top side? Comment below. 

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Loads of Crystal Palace fans of Twitter have been giving their views on a transfer rumour involving Fulham central midfielder Jean Michael Seri and their club.

Ed Aarons of The Guardian claimed in a post on the social media platform that Roy Hodgson’s men are looking at a loan deal for the Ivory Coast international with Monaco of Ligue 1 also interested.

The Cottagers suffered relegation from the Premier League in 2018/2019, and Seri was one of their biggest disappointments, even losing his place in the starting XI.

Palace are far from finding a permanent long-term partner for Luka Milivojevic in midfield, with many different players playing in the role last season.

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Members of the Selhurst Park faithful clearly want the 23-cap 27-year-old, with one stating that he’s exactly what his team need despite his poor debut campaign in English football, with another predicting Seri would flourish in south London and one more calling him a “class act.”

Check out the pick of their reactive Tweets calling for the midfielder’s signing, below…

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Sheffield United fans on Twitter have gotten behind George Baldock stating that he is good enough to start for the Blades next season.

The Sheffield Star’s Twitter account asked fans if they thought the full-back should be a starter next season and the response was overwhelming.

Blades supporters got behind their man after the fantastic season he has had with the club and were unanimous in saying that he is worthy of a starting spot.

The right-back has taken to Chris Wilder’s system like a duck to water, and the fanbase don’t want to see him replaced.

Recent reports have linked the defender with a move to Scottish champions Celtic, but fans believe he is good enough to be a key man in the Premier League.

The Yorkshire club may well struggle in the top-flight next year, and their squad needs multiple additions this summer, but the supporters believe that one man who shouldn’t lose his spot is Baldock.

Here’s what the Bramall Lane faithful have been saying on Twitter…