You have probably seen it, but it is always worth having another look at pieces of skill such as Arthur Masuaku’s against Tottenham Hotspur last week.
The 24-year-old divides opinion with the West Ham United supporters, but the fanbase have come together to admire the skill that the defender demonstrated against Tottenham.
Masuaku has previous when it comes to producing moments of magic, with his ability on the ball only just being recognised by a wider audience.
Tottenham duo Serge Aurier and Son Heung-min could be forgiven for thinking that they had Masuaku in the corner during the 1-1 draw at Wembley last week.
The former France Under-19 international had other ideas, however, as he produced a staggering piece of skill to escape from a tight situation.
West Ham’s Twitter account again posted the video at the start of this week, and the club’s fans were on hand to reveal their delight. It was some feet from the full-back.
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A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:
Harry Redknapp has revealed in his new autobiography ‘Always Managing’ how he once was stood managing on the touchline with £30k stuffed down his trousers – thanks to former Arsenal and Portsmouth midfielder Paul Merson, reports the Daily Mail.
Redknapp tells the story of how Merson approached him before a game asking him to hang onto the money until after the game, when he could hand it over to an ‘Irish mob’ he owed it to.
“He was a great player for Portsmouth. He lifted everybody. I loved him but it wasn’t always so straightforward,” Redknapp said.
“One day at Millwall he came into the dressing room with a big, brown bag full of readies. ‘Would you look after this for me, gaffer?’ he asked.
“It’s 30 grand. It’s for a bookmaker, an Irish mob. They’re after me and I’ve got to meet them after the game. Will you look after it for me until then?
“I put a tracksuit on so there was more room to conceal these readies.
“It was OK until I sprung out of my seat on the touchline. As I did, I felt something move.
“As I was trying to get a message to the players I could feel Merson’s 30 grand making its way south along my trouser leg.
“I looked down and the notes were coming out the bottom of my trousers.
“I edged back to my seat like a bloke who needed the toilet quickly. The staff were very concerned.
“Are you all right, Harry?’ I was virtually doubled up, as if in pain.
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“I slid into my seat and didn’t move, stuck in this awkward position in case the money moved again.
“The staff kept asking if I needed to see the doctor, and I kept telling them it was nothing, I was fine, I just needed to be left alone. I was rooted to the spot.
“We ended up winning 5–0 and Merson got cheered off by the Millwall punters, he was that good.
“It wasn’t the only result he had that day. He told me afterwards that the money he owed was nearer £100,000 than £30,000 but the bookmakers had decided to cut their losses.”
Southampton are yet to pick up a Premier League point so far this season since their promotion from the Championship but it seems winger Jason Puncheon isn’t concerned by what the media categorise them as.
Puncheon was out of favour at St Mary’s after problems with manager Nigel Adkins but that seems to be in the past and he is relishing a new chance in the Premier League.
“We’re always going to be the underdogs as people would say,” he told The Sun.
“If you’re totally honest, if you look at the Man United and Man City games we didn’t let them get in their stride.
“We held our own and the good thing is we can only get better.
“We have got no points on the board, being ’rubbish’ if everyone wants to say that. In football, there are always thin margins.
“People always say ’they could have done this’, ’they could have done that’, but now we have got to put things into action ourselves.
“We have a big game on Saturday and three points are needed.
“The season starts now so you take the positives from those games we’ve played into Saturday.”
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Everton fans are absolutely gutted for Oumar Niasse, after the Senegalese striker missed out on his country’s World Cup squad.
There are plenty of players who Everton fans feel have been hard done by in recent times, and Oumar Niasse is certainly one of them.
The Senegalese striker has nearly always made a positive impact when he gets a chance, but has started just ten times in the Premier League this season.
The 28 year-old clearly hasn’t had the trust of either Ronald Koeman or Sam Allardyce, but has still managed nine goals and two assists in all competitions this season.
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Remarkably, the speedy striker actually has the most shots on target in the league for Everton this season (18), despite only making ten starts.
The striker’s progress has obviously not been noted by his country though, as he was left out of the squad for this summer’s World Cup. Toffee teammate Idriss Gueye is in the squad.
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Fans are devastated for their cult hero, and they can’t believe Stoke City’s Mame Biram Diouf has been selected instead.
Some of the best Twitter reactions can be found below…
As football fans we’re always looking back on the good times; the moments that made us laugh and cry and the moments we’ll either never forget or do our best to wipe from our memories forever.
But what about the future? What do we have to look forward to? Can we get excited about what’s to come or should we continue to yearn for yesteryear?
As part of our Premier League 25 years celebration this season, we’ve decided to boot up our copy of Football Manager 2018 and simulate 25 years into the future to see what exactly we’ve got to look forward to. And without wanting to wish our lives away, we’re in for a real treat if this is what the future holds.
With one season per article, we’re looking 25 years in to the future, starting with the current 2017/18 campaign…
Premier League
Transfer Window
Before the season even starts the big clubs make last ditch attempts to spend big on the best players.
Unsurprisingly, Manchester City are the biggest spenders as they spend an initial £41m on Juventus’ Alex Sandro and secure a deal that could be worth in the region of £42m for Inter’s Ivan Perisic.
Liverpool throw £61m at Napoli’s Elseid Hysaj, Andrea Petagna of Atalanta, Torino wing-back Antonio Barreca and 18-year-old attacking midfielder Vincent Thill from Metz.
Meanwhile, Man United bring in Daniele Rugani from Juventus for £24m and Benfica’s Jonas for £17.75m.
Arsenal are also massive spenders with £59m being spent on five players, the most significant of the bunch being Fulham wonderkid Ryan Sessegnon for a bargain price of just £2.9m. Former Everton star Gerard Deulofeu joins the Gunners for just £7m.
And Chelsea? They buy Dries Mertens from Napoli for £26.5m.
There’s more spending in January too, and the top ten most expensive transfers of the season are as follows…
In terms of obscure Premier League transfers, free agent Bacary Sagna signs for Newcastle, Man City manage to persuade Monaco to part with £33m for Elaqium Mangala, Charlie Adam joins Hoffenheim for £3.8m, James McClean completes a shock £5.25m move to Mexian outfit Cruz Azul and West Ham spend a combined £30m on Everton’s Mason Holgate and Leicester’s Matty James.
Elsewhere in Europe, there are no stand-out transfers in the summer but Barcelona surprise everyone with a £46m deal for PSG’s Angel Di Maria in January, while Ajax’s Kasper Dolberg completes a £55m switch to Bayern Munich.
The League Campaign
Chelsea go on to successfully defend their Premier League crown to win their third title in four seasons, ending the campaign four points clear of runners-up Man United and as the division’s top scorers with 72 goals…
Arsenal end the season in fourth, which they undoubtedly celebrate wildly as their bitter north London rivals Tottenham have to settle for sixth.
Newcastle, Crystal Palace and Huddersfield are all relegated comfortably. Burnley had looked dead and buried by the middle of March, having won just once in 18 Premier League games from the beginning of December, but a late surge saw them go unbeaten in their final seven games (W5, D2). Newcastle are eventually made to pay for winning just twice after the turn of the year.
The season’s overachievers are West Ham, Bournemouth, Watford and Brighton, who all finish well above where the media had predicted of them at the beginning of the season. Southampton, West Brom and Leicester are all seen as the biggest underachievers.
End of Season Awards
Harry Kane beats Olivier Giroud to the Golden Boot by a single goal as it takes only 17 for the Spurs forward to end the season as top scorer.
Dries Mertens nets 13 league goals in his first season at Stamford Bridge, Mohamed Salah fails to have the same impact as in real life by scoring just 13 times while West Ham’s Javier Hernandez nets 15 on his return to the Premier League.
Elsewhere, Juan Mata ends the season with the most assists (16) and the Golden Glove is shared between Liverpool’s Loris Karius and Chelsea’s Thibaut Courtois as they keep 17 clean sheets each.
Players’ Player of the Year went to Eden Hazard, Premier League Player of the Year was awarded to Juan Mata, Manager of the Year was obviously won by Antonio Conte and Young Player of the Year was awarded to Chelsea’s Andreas Christensen.
The Premier League Team of the Year looked pretty familiar as the likes of Philippe Coutinho, Paul Pogba, Harry Kane and Kevin De Bruyne all make the cut, but there are surprise inclusions for Man United’s Daley Blind and Watford’s Daryl Janmaat.
Manager Movements
Unlike in the real world, Everton decide to bypass the chance to sign Sam Allardyce and instead appoint Atlanta United’s Argentine boss Gerardo Martino at the end of July.
The first Premier League casualty of the season is Mark Hughes, who loses his job at the beginning of December due to a poor league position, and is surprisingly replaced by Guus Hiddink two weeks later. All eyes on Hiddink to see how he gets on at the Bet365!
Liverpool shock everyone by parting ways with Jurgen Klopp after the players lose confidence in the German, and he is replaced by Sporting Lisbon boss Jorge Jesus in December.
A run of poor results heading in to the festive period forces Southampton into a change as they show some real character by replacing Mauricio Pellegrino with Celtic’s Brendan Rodgers.
Elsewhere, Leicester sack Claude Puel five days before Christmas but it takes until the end of March to decide caretaker Michael Appleton isn’t the man to take them forward and instead appoint Rafa Benitez, who was dismissed by Newcastle at the end of February.
The Magpies replace Benitez with former Watford boss Walter Mazzarri, while West Brom swap Tony Pulis for Francesco Guidolin and Crystal Palace sack Roy Hodgson and take a gamble on Javier Aguirre, whose previous jobs include Japan, Mexico, Atletico Madrid, Zaragoza and Espanyol.
Pep Guardiola’s failure to win a single trophy in his second season sees him leave the Etihad Stadium and be immediately replaced by Massimo Allegri.
What to expect next season?
The departure of Pep Guardiola will mean all eyes will be on what Massimo Allegri and how he fares at the Etihad. On the other side of Manchester City, Jose Mourinho will be under immense pressure to deliver a first Premier League crown for six years.
What about Arsene Wenger? He managed to steer Arsenal back where they belong – 4th – but there’s a lot of speculation surrounding his future as he goes in to the final year of his Emirates Stadium contract.
Wolves, Sunderland and Middlesbrough are promoted and there are early expectations on Wolves to have a good season given their strong squad and improved finances.
2017/2018 Overview
Premier League Champions: Chelsea
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Champions League qualification: Chelsea, Man United, Man City and Arsenal
Europa League qualification: Liverpool, Tottenham and Leicester City
Relegated to Championship: Newcastle, Crystal Palace and Huddersfield
Promoted to Premier League: Wolves, Sunderland and Middlesbrough
Barcelona are still deciding whether to let former Arsenal midfielder Alex Song join Manchester United in January, according to the Daily Express.
The Cameroon international has been linked with a move to Old Trafford after failing to secure a first team place at the Nou Camp. Italian giants AC Milan are also said to be interested.
Song is thought to be keen on a switch in order to play regular first team football, although Barcelona remain unsure as to whether they want to sell a player they signed for £16million barely a year ago.
Reports in Spain suggest the Catalan club will look to hold onto Song until the end of the season at least, meaning a January move to Old Trafford seems unlikely at this point.
It is also thought Song wants the opportunity to win over new coach Gerardo Martino before deciding on his future.
Barcelona will want to recoup the £16million they spent on Song if they are to sell him, with United understood to have made an offer in the summer that didn’t match their asking price.
David Moyes made no secret of his desire to recruit a midfielder in the summer, and saw bids for Song and his Barcelona and former Arsenal teammate Cesc Fabregas rejected.
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Maraoune Fellaini became Moyes’s only big name summer signing on deadline day, although the Manchester United manager is set to try and strengthen further in January.
There was a need for calm after the storm last week at Coventry City however this hasn’t really been the case.
Fans have remained divided over the sacking of Andy Thorn, have experienced renewed optimism after a derby cup win, seen the club bring in another new arrival, witness the first defeat of the season, all that along with a not so friendly exchange between fans and players. All in all it’s been a pretty eventful week for Coventry City.
Richard Shaw has been the man tasked with the job of calming the ship and his first challenge was a Capital One second round match against local rivals Birmingham City. Every Coventry fan went into this game worried about what they were about to witness and when Birmingham took the lead early on we all feared the worse. The crossbar then came to our rescue moments later as Birmingham continued to press. Then all of sudden Coventry began to get themselves into the game and two quick goals from McDonald and Kilbane turned the tie on its head and gave Coventry a 2-1 lead.
The lead didn’t last long though as an enthralling match continued to deliver with Birmingham leveling just before half time. Sadly the second half didn’t quite live up to the first and the score remained 2-2 and extra time was needed to settle the match. Whilst there was a lack of goals and chances in the second half , the hard work and endeavor from the Coventry players was second to none. Extra time began with the same high work rate it paid off as Baker who was easily man of the match for his performance gave the Skyblues the lead for the second time in the match.
This is the way the score line stayed as Coventry managed to keep Birmingham at bay to set up a third round tie away at Arsenal. There was a real feeling of elation around Coventry following what was not only a great result but a fantastic wholehearted performance. The players showed passion, they showed they cared and as fans that is exactly what we all want to see.
That performance led me to believe that just maybe we could have serious promotion ambitions and that the sacking of Andy Thorn may have been justified. I did however then remember that this is Coventry City and how often do we put in that sort of performance on a consistent basis and everyone knows the answer to that is never.
The weekend came and Coventry returned to League One action away at newly promoted Crewe. Fans and players alike went there full of confidence, buoyed by the performance against Birmingham a few days before. This confidence and excitement amongst fans and players quickly disappeared though and was replaced with frustration. A flat lacklustre performance is the only way to describe what we all witnessed and it resulted in our first defeat of the season.
We as fans were left bemused and frustrated with what we were seeing and that we were unable once again to build on a good performance and instead allowed our standards to drop dramatically. The frustration eventually boiled over as harsh words were exchanged between fans and club captain Kilbane.
Kilbane has been slated for this and has since apoligised. Some fans have called for the captaincy to be taken from him and I understand that, as a player of his experience should know better. I do however believe that players should be allowed to respond to the abuse and criticism that is often thrown at them by certain members of the crowd. I personally saw the situation as Kilbane defending himself and his teammates which if it was the case is something we surely want from our captain. It’s a sign that he cares and that he was frustrated with what was happening and a lot of the time players don’t show that at all whilst out on the pitch.
I hope that any individuals that have been left unimpressed and annoyed by Kilbane’s actions can forgive and forget. The club is still very much in a transitional phase as it tries to get itself out of the turmoil it finds itself in. Relationship between the fans and the club are at an all time low but we can’t let the relationship between the fans and the players break down. If this happens then we are in real trouble.
For Coventry City to move forward the club, the council, ACL, the players and the fans need to come together. I know it’s an old cliché but it is true that united we will rise and divided we will fall. It is hard to imagine at this moment that all these will come together and push in the same direction but something has to change.
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We have changed the manager or are in the process of, but for me at our club the manger is only a very small part of a puzzle that needs to be put back together. If things remain as they are off the field then no matter who is brought in to manage the club, things will not change for the better and in another twelve to eighteen months we will be looking for the next manager willing to gamble their career on what I can only guess is empty promises that they must be being told when they join the club.
We have now changed the squad and changed the management so on the football side of things the club has played its cards, now it is time for change off the field and until that happens it is going to be extremely difficult for the club to progress and get back to where it belongs.
So much of Mauricio Pochettino’s success at Tottenham has been based on the development of young players that it is understandable to see the club’s fans fawning over the latest crop of youth talent in pursuit of the next cab off the rank who can help the first team continue their progression.
It would appear that Reo Griffiths is the man among the current crop who has grabbed the imagination to the greatest extent among the Spurs’ fanbase.
The academy prospect is a striker who scores goals for fun and there is simply nothing that gets football fans quite as excited as a player who knows where the net is.
As the Spurs Under-19s stormed into the semi-finals of yet another tournament, the prolific Griffiths was the man all the fans wanted to talk about.
Some hope he can be kept from the clutches of RB Leipzig, while others want him to become part of the first-team sooner rather than later…
Paul Scholes has risen to one of the greatest midfielders even since his retirement and subsequent return.
From a great box-to-box, goal scoring midfielder, Scholes became a deep-lying controller of the game who sprayed the ball across the pitch with ease, but the twilight of his career was undoubtedly of detriment to Manchester United in the longer term.
The career of Scholes was vastly decorated, including the magnificent treble in 1999 and his own qualities at his peak were perhaps a tad undervalued. As his role developed to a deeper player in the midfield, Scholes’ role in the side was celebrated greatly by the media. Covering for the failings of his supposed replacements, Scholes managed to string together performances like a man 10 years younger than he was at the time.
The loss of mobility is often beneficial when playing the deeper role, keeping the player within their zone in the middle to snuff out attacks and act as a building block when in possession.
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Scholes’ return to the playing staff at Old Trafford in January 2012 and the following 18 months saw him act as an illusion for midfield quality that Manchester United did not possess.
In the short-term, Scholes’ return to the centre of midfield was helpful, it has left a vacuum in his position that has taken a couple of seasons to fill.
Winning another Premier League in his final campaign was an ideal high to end on, but Scholes’ role was symbolic of how Ferguson gave up on succession planning towards his final couple of seasons.
The way that Ferguson took a step backwards to bring Scholes back and then splashed out on an ageing Robin Van Persie were contributing factors to the significant weaknesses of the squad during Moyes’ time as boss. Ferguson’s short-term planning helped to win another few trophies, but his utilisation of Scholes caused more problems than it solved for United.
The overwhelming shortage in central midfield put immediate pressure on Moyes to succeed in the transfer market, and his subsequent signing of Fellaini was hardly an adequate replacement. Of course, part of the struggles in midfield were down to poor signings and injuries, with Tom Cleverley and Anderson the two most maligned in central midfield.
Cleverley may well have benefitted from the additional game time had Scholes not been re-signed and could be playing an integral part in the Manchester United midfield next season. Although many will see it as Cleverley was given too many chances to prove himself as it was.
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Even if discounting the players that were at his disposal, it would have been far more sensible to sign a younger player to fill Scholes’ void than recall the man himself. The consistent links with Kevin Strootman were surfacing and failure to ever invest in the midfield has been a contributing factor in United’s drop away from title contention in the last two seasons.
Ferguson’s miraculous performance to win the title in 2013 was a great way to leave, but many of his decisions as he neared the end of his tenure were not beneficial to the club in the longer term. Scholes’ return was symbolic of the poor succession planning at Old Trafford and the midfield is yet to recover.
West Brom need to tie down key duo Shane Long and Youssouf Mulumbu to longer term deals, according to Gareth McAuley.
The Northern Ireland international central defender, who picked up the Player of the Year awards at the Hawthorns following an excellent campaign, pledged his own future to the club on Friday when he signed a new one-year extension to keep him at the club until summer 2015.
And the 33-year-old has been quick to point out that the priority now is to ensure influential striker, Long, and key midfielder, Mulumbu, are tied down to deal beyond two years’ time.
Long has been heavily linked with a move away over the course of the past season, but the Republic of Ireland international has always maintained that he is happy at the club, while Mulumbu has already said he is keen to sign a new deal.
McAuley told the club’s website: “They are big and important players for us and I’m sure it will be sorted out.
“It’s like my situation. I had next year as well so there’s no rush or real pressure on it.
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“But everyone will want it sorted out and the sooner it happens, probably the better it is for the lads and for the club.”