According to reports in The Mirror, Manchester United are ready to battle arch-rivals Manchester City for the signing of £50m-rated Leicester City defender Harry Maguire this summer, and Red Devils fans have been quick to have their say on the rumour.
The Mirror says that Jose Mourinho is looking to strengthen his central defensive options at the end of the season even though he has the likes of Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Eric Bailly, Victor Lindelof and Marcos Rojo in his ranks, and he has been impressed with the 24-year-old’s performances for the Foxes following his summer move from Hull City.
It seems as though the England international won’t be available on the cheap though, with the report adding that he is valued at £50m.
Man United supporters took to social media to give their thoughts on the Maguire link, and while one said “not what we need”, another said “just do a swap deal with Jones”.
Thomas Rooney is back with his three essential bets for this weekend, with Chelsea v Arsenal and Real Madrid v Barcelona to look forward to.
It should definitely be an enjoyable couple of days. We’ve reached what many describe as the ‘business end’ of the campaign and there’s can’t afford to lose games all over the shop.
Not least at Chelsea and Real Madrid. You’d argue that if Arsenal and Barcelona fail to pick up anything – they are out of their respective title race. It’s a pivotal, pivotal (nearly said it again, thought better of it) weekend.
Then comes my team – Norwich City. I feel rather nauseous at the idea of Saturday’s home game with Sunderland. It’s a must-win, no two ways about it. Lose – we’re probably going down. Ugh.
Anyway, on with the tips…
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to score
I’ve been very impressed with The Ox since his return from injury and he has a goal in him this weekend. A certainty for England’s World Cup squad, he’s one of the bright young talents.
Arsenal’s rather dodgy injury situation – Ozil, Ramsey and Wilshere are all out – actually suites the former Southampton man too. He can operate centrally and really make an impact on the game.
There’s absolutely no fear there either and he will drive forward all game long for the Gunners. At 11/2 with Ladbrokes, he’s certainly worth backing for an anytime goal.
Under 2.5 goals Norwich v Sunderland
I promised myself I wouldn’t touch this game. I’m too emotionally involved. One thing for certain though, surely, is that it won’t be a classic. Not in terms of goals scored anyway.
Norwich are actually unbeaten in six games at Carrow Road and have only conceded twice in this sequence. It’s only four goals for the Canaries too though and both wins have been 1-0.
These two drew 0-0 earlier in the season too and given how important it is for both sides, it’s certainly worth sticking a few quid on under 2.5 goals. Stan James over 4/6.
Lionel Messi to score anytime
El Clasico time on Sunday! It’s one of the biggest in a few years too, with both firmly locked in as far as the title race is concerned. Barcelona go seven points adrift if they lose this one.
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They’ve performed admirably under pressure in recent years though and one man has been at the centre of that – Lionel Messi. With a long list of famous El Clasico moments, he’s one to watch as ever.
Backing Messi to score isn’t normally a worthwhile bet, but Paddy Power are offering a rather tempting 5/6, as well as money back on selected other markets if he finds the back of the net!
Quietly but surely, Tottenham have sneaked up into fourth place in the Premier League under the guidance of new manager Andre Villas-Boas, completely dispelling this myth of him being the village idiot, but despite them performing well so far, are they still a side built upon soft foundations?
Before some of you head for the hills, or even worse, the comment box below, this is far from a critique of the man in charge at White Hart Lane these days or the job that he’s done. I have a record of backing Villas-Boas from the ridiculous criticisms and agendas of Fleet Street and I even tipped Tottenham to finish in the top four before the season started. No, it’s simply more of an assessment of where the squad is currently at and whether they have the requisite depth to sustain a top four challenge.
The club have started the new league campaign reasonably well without ever quit hitting the heights that they did in terms of flowing football under predecessor Harry Redknapp, even if the former boss himself greatly exaggerates the point that Tottenham fans ‘never had it so good’. They’ve been durable, methodical and difficult to get the better of, but it’s telling that they lost two of their more challenging games against Newcastle away and league leaders Chelsea at home.
Of course, this is all understandable to an extent as they’ve enjoyed one of the most radical overhauls this summer in terms of staff, players and style and the gradual teething problems which first came to light against West Brom and Norwich at home haven’t completely disappeared. There’s a sense that they’re still vulnerable, despite going nine matches unbeaten across all competitions prior to the loss against Chelsea, including an historic 3-2 win at Old Trafford and they’re still far from the finished article.
The club’s summer transfer business was left incomplete given that a replacement for Luka Modric wasn’t secured and although Joao Moutinho has ruled out a January exit, he should be put right at the top of the list next summer. In his stead, Moussa Dembele, the £15m man brought in from Fulham has been excellent and he looks hugely missed whenever he’s absent from the team. His driving presence in the middle of the park and ability to beat a man with his superb dribbling ability means he’s an altogether different proposition to Modric in a side that’s evolved quickly.
Alongside him in midfield, Sandro has been steady and has benefited greatly from a continued run in the side, while Jermain Defoe has done surprisingly well with the lone striker role with Emmanuel Adebayor confined to the treatment table and subs bench. Clint Dempsey has been far from his best since moving, though and they still look short of numbers up top, with their reliance on Defoe in particular a concern if they continue to compete on three fronts. Elsewhere, Gylfi Sigurdsson has failed to live up to his billing and there’s a sense that unless he’s scoring that he doesn’t really contribute a whole lot more in his current role.
At the back is where the biggest dangers are being felt and it’s not got a jot to do with the manufactured scandal involving the goalkeeping debate. Tottenham have kept just one clean sheet all season in the league at home to Aston Villa and the fact that they’ve conceded 13 goals so far, more than Everton, Arsenal, West Brom, West Ham, Stoke and Sunderland all below them shows exactly where the side is being held back at the moment.
I argued in the summer that despite the signing of Jan Vertonghen that the club still required another recognised centre-back and I stand by that point today. There were simply too many mitigating factors as to why the back four was set to be a recipe for disaster this term, with Ledley King pondering retirement, Michael Dawson coming back from a year out injured, Vertonghen new to English football, Caulker still raw and in dire need of regular games and William Gallas for the knackers yard.
It’s the continued selection of Gallas which is perhaps most troubling and he’s featured in every single league game this season. Villas-Boas seems to have reservations over Dawson’s lack of pace, but his authority would surely bring a more calming influence to the back four than the the Frenchman, who has been erratic at best this term and at 35 years of age doesn’t really represent a long-term bet.
The injury to Benoit Assou-Ekotto has seen Vertonghen shifted out to left-back, making the most of the Belgian’s versatility in the process, which has necessitated Gallas play such a key role, but even so it’s odd that Dawson has been marginalised to such an extent and that Gallas has been forgiven for his numerous patchy performances.
At this stage last season Tottenham had 19 points from their opening nine league games, which would leave them in fourth in the current table, the same position that they’re in now. The media agenda against Villas-Boas has been sustained, cynical and misplaced but that shouldn’t detract from the fact that there is still work to be done right down the spine of the side. The Portuguese boss should look to strengthen and address these areas in January and make the most of a lead on those teams thought to be challenging for a top four place who have suffering from poor starts.
Which area concerns you the most about the current Tottenham side?
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According to L’Equipe, Manchester United are preparing a £31m move for Sevilla defender Clement Lenglet.United boss Jose Mourinho is in the market for a new centre-back this summer, and the Red Devils have been strongly linked with Tottenham Hotspur’s Toby Alderweireld.However, according to L’Equipe, Lenglet has emerged as a potential transfer target ahead of the 2018-19 campaign.The 22-year-old was in outstanding form for Sevilla last season – scoring four times in 54 appearances in all competitions for the Spanish outfit.[brid autoplay=”true” video=”253293″ player=”12034″ title=”Watch Four times Jose Mourinho spoiled the party”]Spanish champions Barcelona have been strongly linked with a move for the Frenchman, but it appears that United are confident of swooping in to land the centre-back, if they so wish.There is absolutely no question that Lenglet has talent, and he would certainly be cheaper than Alderweireld, who is believed to be valued in the region of £75m.The United fans have been reacting to the transfer speculation surrounding Lenglet, and a selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:
After fielding something close to his strongest side against Arsenal in the second leg of the League Cup semi-final on Wednesday night, it’s likely Antonio Conte will make changes when Chelsea host Newcastle United in the FA Cup this weekend.
The Magpies are a decent side but this competition isn’t their priority, while plenty of those on the fringes of Chelsea’s first-team squad will be desperate for a game and some of the starting XI are in need of a rest too.
The defence seems the likeliest department to be shaken up and we could well see Andreas Christensen given a break, opening up the sweeper slot in Chelsea’s back three. There are two obvious candidates to fill it; veteran defender David Luiz, who Transfermarkt value at £22.5million, and exciting academy product Ethan Ampadu.
So Chelsea fans, which defender would you start in the central defensive role when Newcastle come to Stamford Bridge on Sunday, or would you prefer to see both included in the Blues’ starting XI? Let us know by voting below…
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He came to England in October 1996, and the London Evening Standard asked the question ‘Arsene who?’
999 games, three Premier Leagues, four FA Cups and an unbeaten league season later and the world are fully aware who Arsene Wenger is.
His impact on the development of the English game has been profound. He has nurtured some of the most talented footballers the world has ever seen and has revolutionised a club that was steeped in ye olde English tradition.
But eight years of starvation have followed eight years of feasting. So it begs the question, as Wenger sits on the brink of his 1000th game in charge of Arsenal, how should he be remembered?
It’s hard to define an epoch with one single characteristic, especially when there have been so many moments of note. For every Arsenal fan who remembers the triumphs of a bygone era, there are those who still cling to the lack of silverware and can’t disassociate the lack of ‘success’ with the underlying factors. The two distinct periods of Wenger’s reign – those WITH vs those WITHOUT trophies – must be separated in order to contextualise what he has achieved.
The unruly bunch Wenger took charge of in the 1996-97 season famously used to go on all-night mid-week benders, refuelled with Mars bars and dieted strictly on fish and chips. And his first influence was to kick old habits to the kerb. Out went takeaways, in came white meat and steamed veg. Out went kegs of booze, in came bottles mineral water. As a firm believer of the more good you put into yourself, the more you would get out, Wenger turned the studentesque culture of the club on its head. Tony Adams, struggling at the time with alcoholism, lauded Wenger for the transformation of his career. The ageing famous five in defence, upon which Wenger built his first championship-winning side, would no doubt each credit his training and dietary regulations in prolonging their careers.
Within a year at the helm Wenger began reshaping the squad by turfing out the likes of John Hartson, David Hillier, Andy Linighan and, most significantly of all, Paul Merson. He chose to bring in more familiar faces such as Emmanuel Petit and Gilles Grimandi from AS Monaco, both players whom he knew he could rely to accompany Dennis Bergkamp and Patrick Vieira. The squad began to have a more cosmopolitan feel to it from the English-centric nucleus of two years previous.
Wenger’s first full season in 1997-98 was an unprecedented success, winning the league and FA Cup double, becoming the first foreign manager to win the English top division whilst shaking off the ‘boring, boring Arsenal’ tag in the process. The solidity of the Dixon-Adam-Bould-Winterburn-Keown axis was supplemented by the industry and composure of Petit and Vieira along with the flair and technique of Bergkamp, Overmars and Anelka.
As the legs of his geriatric squad finally succumbed to the inevitable Wenger turned a mixture of youth and experience to create a winning formula. Winterburn soon become Ashley Cole (with a brief intervening period of Sylvinho), Dixon became Lauren, Keown and Adams became Sol Campbell and Kolo Toure. By the time the 2003-04 season rolled around Parlour and Keown were the only remaining fixtures of the George Graham era.
The period of 2002-2005 saw Wenger’s reformed side collect two league titles and three FA Cups, the zenith being the 2004 ‘Invincibles’ side, playing some of the most exhilarating football the Premier League has witnessed. The possession-based Wenger sides of today can’t match the power, pace and efficiency of the team that dominated in this short period. Henry, Bergkamp, Ljungberg, Wiltord and Pires lead the flying counter-attacks while Vieira and Gilberto Silva marshalled in front of the defence. Wenger had built a team of technically and physically superior footballers who harboured a ruthless desire to win.
In isolation, nearly nine years that have passed since Wenger last took the Gunners to a trophy would rightly be deemed a failure. Having created a side that challenged the hegemony of Manchester, how could a club that feasted on silverware go so long without it? As always, the answer is money.
The development and construction of the Emirates Stadium was to cost a whopping £390 million, incurring huge debts which would culminate to have its most significant impact on the pitch. Wenger undertook the challenge to keep the club amongst Europe’s elite whilst assisting with the transition into the new stadium.
Whilst being touted as the next potential manager for a host of Europe’s superpowers, Wenger has stuck it out through the toughest of times, which has seen Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City leave them in the dust and their great rivals, Tottenham, close the gaping chasm that existed between the sides back when Wenger’s ‘Invincibles’ were enjoying a purple patch.
With the endless riches of Chelsea and City, and the countless revenue streams of United, Wenger acknowledged that the only way to keep in touch was to buy young and cheap, and sell at opportune moments. Despite the rancour at the time of selling the likes of Henry and Vieira, it’s hard to argue now against Wenger’s decisions when observing their post-Arsenal performances.
So in a period where Wenger admitted to a ‘fight with clubs who lose £150 million a year, when we had to make £30 million a year’, the downturn in success on the pitch was always likely.
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From 1998-99 up until the present day Arsene Wenger has navigated his side into successive Champions League competitions, a record only Real Madrid and Manchester United can match. Despite the relative lack of success in the competition in these 16 years, Wenger has guided the club into a position where they have been able to reap the financial rewards without too significant a detriment to the club.
But as a new dawn beckons at the Emirates, with new commercial deals and financial benefits as a result, the shackles of the clubs financial requirements have been lifted. Wenger has steered Arsenal out of the red and into the black. The club-record transfer of Mesut Ozil, sandwiched in between the contract renewals of a host of key players represents a club on the rise.
It’s easy to brand the past eight years as a monumental failure when you view it in contrast to the eight years previous. Arsenal fans were spoilt rotten with a quality of football which matched the glut of trophies in Wenger’s early years. But in recent times the club has faced an even greater battle off the field. Those who view success as purely based on trophy success should take a look at Portsmouth; FA Cup winners and finalists the following year, now floundering down in League Two.
Whether you see Arsene Wenger as synonymous with his first eight years or his last, the stability he has brought to Arsenal is an achievement which should never be overlooked. With just nine league games remaining Wenger’s side sits four points beneath top spot. With a real ‘six-pointer’ this weekend at Stamford Bridge, and a potential FA Cup final just around the bend maybe, just maybe, this could just be Arsenal’s year. Wenger would deserve no less.
defender Emmerson Boyce has admitted that his side need to start picking up positive results soon if his side are to avoid another relegation scrap this season.
The DW Stadium side were beaten 2-1 by Swansea on Saturday, which leaves the Latics in 16th place after only one win so far this season.
Boyce, who scored in the defeat, feels his team need to start to pick up victories.
“We had to go 2-0 down before we started playing and already there’s been too many times this season we have done that,” The Daily Mail quote Boyce as saying.
“We are only playing when we are forced to like at the end of last season and we have to change that.
“When we were 2-0 down we started playing and we got a goal back and we were a much better team. At this level it’s ourselves we have to blame – give a team a two-goal lead and it’s always going to be hard to pull it back.
“We have to start playing on the front foot. Next week it’s West Ham at home, they had a really good result against Southampton (a 4-1 win on Saturday) and we have to take it to them.
“We can’t be in a position like we were at the end of last season and all the other seasons.
“We simply need to win our home games and that starts with West Ham. It’s up to us to kick-start our season,” he concluded.
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According to Sky Sports, Leeds United are reportedly getting closer to appointing Marcelo Bielsa as Paul Heckingbottom’s successor, and if they do the Argentine manager should make an audacious move to bring Athletic Bilbao striker Artiz Aduriz to Elland Road.
What’s the word, then?
Well, the Yorkshire outfit sacked Heckingbottom on Friday after he won just four of his 16 Championship matches at the helm, and it appears they are closing in on getting the 62-year-old as his replacement.
Bielsa has managed Argentina, Chile, Marseille and Bilbao among others, and he was a huge success at the latter, for whom he re-signed Aduriz from Valencia in 2012.
The centre-forward has gone on to be a huge success for the Spanish club and despite being 37 years of age and having just one year left on his contract, he continues to find the net on a regular basis – he has 165 goals in 365 matches in total for them.
How did Aduriz do during the 2017/18 campaign?
He was, once again, excellent.
The veteran striker scored 20 goals in 48 appearances in all competitions for Bilbao – with eight of those coming in the Europa League – while he also provided a further two assists.
While the 37-year-old doesn’t have too much pace, he is hugely effective in the air and as well as being a bit of a specialist when it comes to scoring with his head, according to WhoScored.com he won 153 of the 278 aerial duels he faced in 43 outings in La Liga and in Europe last season.
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Would he be a good signing for Leeds?
He certainly would be, and one that would excite the fans, who believe the club is close to confirming their first summer signing following a huge development.
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While he may not be speedy, Aduriz is strong, good in the air and able to hold the ball up for his teammates, which means he would be perfect in the lone striker role in Bielsa’s preferred 3-3-3-1 formation.
It would be a huge coup to bring the Spaniard to Elland Road despite his age, and with just a year left on his contract he may well be tempted by one last challenge in his career.
He would also finally be a replacement – albeit in the short-term – for Chris Wood, and would boost the Yorkshire outfit’s goal threat in what is going to be a hugely important 2018/19 season for them.
Manchester United advanced through to the fifth round of the FA Cup with a comprehensive 4-0 win against League Two side Yeovil Town at Huish Park on Friday night, but Red Devils fans weren’t impressed with Matteo Darmian’s display and have urged the club to sell the defender.
The Italy international has been a bit-part player under Jose Mourinho this season, and his start at right-back against the Glovers was his first appearance since the EFL Cup defeat to Bristol City on December 20, and just his 12th of the entire campaign in all competitions.
While he was part of a defence that kept a clean sheet, the 28-year-old failed to really make a huge impact on the match – although he was given the assist for Jesse Lingard’s goal even though the England international had to do most of the work following the pass from the right-back.
Man United supporters were quick to have their say on his performance via social media, and while one said ‘please sell Darmian as he is the worst full back I have ever seen in a United shirt’, another said “sell Darmian to Arsenal for £16m”.
When the then Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini bolstered his midfield with the signing of Javi Garcia – he’s also added to the Premier League’s legion of Wags.
Model Elena Gomez joined Javi in Manchester following his £16m move from Benfica. City ace Javi, who scored on his debut against Stoke, has already introduced his girlfriend to the delights of the local shopping centre since his transfer.
The couple started dating in 2009 when Javi was at Real Madrid. Elena worked in a shoe store at the time, but now, thanks to her increased profile, she’s become a lads’ mag favourite in her homeland of Portugal. Branches of Clarks in Manchester will be gutted – but you certainly can’t blame those Portuguese mags! The move to England can only boost her career, so I’m sure we’ll see more of Elena over the coming years.
It certainly is one of those perks of being a professional footballer, having model girlfriends – but Javi goes one better, with his Portuguese girlfriend carrying that extra Hispanic spice. He’s certainly a lucky fella…
Click on Ms Gomez below to see her in all her glory