Tag Futebol

Tottenham Hotspur boss Jose Mourinho returns to his old stomping ground this afternoon as his side look to continue their run of good form.

Spurs take on Manchester United at Old Trafford and go into this one on the back of a rather hectic week of fixtures.

It was only seven days ago that the north Londoners were involved in that controversial draw against Newcastle and since, they have defeated local rivals Chelsea in the Carabao Cup and advanced into the Europa League group stages after thrashing Maccabi on Thursday night.

But how might the Portuguese line up his side on his second return to the Red Devils? Here’s the XI we’re predicting…

Mourinho may well revert back to a different system. We know he likes to park the bus against the so-called ‘big six’ but with exciting wing-back signings this summer it could actually be a shrewd decision to go with a 3-4-3 of sorts.

It means Hugo Lloris returns between the sticks as captain and he could be protected by a back three of Japhet Tanganga, Eric Dier and Davinsonz Sanchez, so there is no place for Toby Alderweireld, who drops to the bench.

Sergio Reguilon comes back in for Ben Davies on the left whilst Matt Doherty keeps his spot on the right.

The midfield pairing of Harry Winks and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg also remains with Giovani Lo Celso playing slightly ahead.

Spurs’ £36m-rated maestro could be joined by Lucas Moura to play just behind the striker, which of course should be Harry Kane.

Therefore, Dele Alli has to settle for a place on the bench despite an impressive cameo in the Europa League – likewise, there is no starting place for Tanguy Ndombele or Moussa Sissoko.

AND in other news, Mourinho heading for unforgivable mistake over Spurs’ £64m “freak of a talent”…

Liverpool could be set to offload as many as ten fringe players this transfer window as Jurgen Klopp looks to cull his first team personnel. 

That’s according to Neil Jones who reports that the likes of Nat Phillips, Harry Wilson and Loris Karius could be amongst those being shipped out of Anfield this year (relayed via @LFCTransferRoom).

The Reds have made just one big signing this window but have offloaded senior players Dejan Lovren and Adam Lallana. Should they sell any more players without strengthening their first team, they could be in for a tough 2020/21 campaign.

The Merseyside outfit will be looking to retain their Premier League title this season but rivals Chelsea and Manchester City have recruited well ahead of the new term.

Loads of Liverpool fans have responded to this update and many have mixed opinions. One supporter however is in favour of the upheaval and has tweeted ‘I trust Edwards’, who has been known for striking some very impressive deals for the Reds over the years.

Read more replies from the Anfield faithful here:

Which players would you like to see stay or leave this window, Reds? Have your say in the comments below…

استقر أعضاء رابطة الأندية في اجتماعها الجاري الآن داخل مقر اتحاد الكرة على قوامها النهائي لإدارة الموسم الجديد.

أجريت انتخابات المكتب التنفيذي لرابطة أندية القسم الأول ونجح بالتزكية كل من أحمد دياب وعماد متعب وخالد رفعت وعامر حسين وشريف صالح.

وكشف مراسل “بطولات”، أنه تم الاتفاق داخل اجتماع رابطة الأندية، على تعيين أحمد دياب رئيسًا للرابطة.

طالع | رئيس لجنة التظلمات: اليوم سنصدر قرارنا بشأن عقوبة شيكابالا

وكان الاتحاد المصري لكرة القدم برئاسة أحمد مجاهد دعا أندية القسم الأول لمسابقة الدوري المصري الممتاز إلى ترشيح ممثل عن كل منها، لاختيار 5 أعضاء من بين مرشحي الأندية الـ18.

كما تقرر تعيين عماد متعب كنائب له، وعامر حسين في منصب المُشرف على لجنة المسابقات.

بعث خوان لابورتا، رئيس نادي برشلونة الإسباني، برسالة لجماهير الفريق الكتالوني، قبل المباراة أمام بايرن ميونخ الألماني بدوري أبطال أوروبا.

ويحل بايرن ميونخ ضيفًا على برشلونة، مساء اليوم الثلاثاء على ملعب “كامب نو”، بالجولة الأولى لدور المجموعات في دوري الأبطال.

وعبر حسابه الرسمي على “تويتر” ظهر لابورتا في مقطع فيديو، وقال للمشجعين: “الليلة هي ليلة الأبطال، أطلب منكم تحفيز لاعبينا ومدربنا أكثر من أي وقت مضى”.

تعرف على القناة الناقلة لمباراة برشلونة وبايرن ميونخ اليوم في دوري أبطال أوروبا

وأضاف: “إنها إحدى تلك الليالي التي يجب أن تأتي فيها إلى الملعب بقوة وحماس ورغبة، وبقميص برشلونة، لتوضيح الأمر: لقد عاد برشلونة!”.

يذكر أن آخر مواجهة جمعت بين برشلونة وبايرن ميونخ في دوري أبطال أوروبا، أسفرت عن هزيمة الفريق الكتالوني بنتيجة (8-2).

Avui demano encoratjar els nostres jugadors i el nostre entrenador, i animeu com mai des de les vostres localitats. És d’aquelles nits que cal anar a l’Estadi amb la samarreta blaugrana per dir ben clar i fort a tot el món futbolístic: Això és el Barça. Hem tornat!#BarçaBayern pic.twitter.com/3qAPK6O7AR

— Joan Laporta Estruch🎗 (@JoanLaportaFCB) September 14, 2021

Celtic fans were celebrating the historic Centenary double they achieved back in 1988 on Thursday, and a fan page found a video of Tommy Burns’ interview after completing this great campaign. This is causing a lot of the Hoops faithful to rave over the former player.

Winning both the league and the Scottish Cup is a great moment in any campaign, but do to it in a centenary season makes it even sweeter, and it goes down as one of the great moments in the history of the club, per Transfermarkt.

Burns was a key part of the squad for 16 years, and made 467 appearances throughout his career with the side, scoring 81 goals along the way, per thecelticwiki. He also returned to the club as manager for three years from 1994-1997 and won one trophy whilst in charge.

Even though he only managed to pick up one piece of silverware whilst in the dugout, he won a crazy amount of trophies whilst playing for the club as he lifted the league title six times as well as five domestic cups.

In the interview, he expresses how good a connection he has with the fan base, as he said, via Celtic Lisboa, “They’re there and they’re always there, and god bless every one of them.”

Fans still appreciate these words as they flocked to the post to praise the midfielder, with one labelling him a “Celtic great”:

Celtic fans, how good was Tommy Burns? Comment below!

Newcastle are currently enjoying a three-match unbeaten run but face a tough trip to Villa Park on Monday in a bid to extend their good form.

Steve Bruce seems to have hit upon a winning formula and with players beginning to understand their role in the team, it is unlikely that he will look to change too much.

The front three have looked dangerous of late, particularly on their last away outing at the London Stadium, and if they can produce in the final third this time around the Magpies may have too much for Aston Villa.

However, the home side aren’t short of dangermen of their own. Bruce is looking to get one over on his former side but admitted that midfielder John McGinn is his one of his best ever signings, and so far the Scotland international has 10 goals this season.

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Getting the better of him will be key, and the same can be said of Jack Grealish, whose impressive form has seen him touted for an England call-up.

In response to their threat, it is very likely that Isaac Hayden will start once again. He has played well this term, particuarly from a defensive point of view with 2.9 tackles and 1.8 interceptions per game.

It is important he is effective, as Newcastle will likely have to bring two fresh faces into the backline due to injuries to Jamaal Lascelles and Ciaran Clark, and therefore it is probable that the visitors will line up like this.

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Paul Dummett and Fabian Schar have both performed well at times this season, with the latter producing the highest number of interceptions of any Newcastle defender so far.

His return to the side will likely please fans and should make-up for the loss of Lascelles, though it will be interesting to see how they cope without the leadership and organisation he brings to the team – as he is yet to miss a league game so far.

As for Dummett, he put in a solid display against Bournemouth when replacing the injured skipper, and with Bruce organising the defence effectively they may be able to shut out the home side.

Other than that, the starting XI is likely to be the same from the victory over the Cherries, with a few players beginning to find good form – DeAndre Yedlin even scored last time out for example.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Off the Bench series, which places in-game managerial decisions and squad selections under FFC’s microscope.

In what has now proved to be Unai Emery’s final game in charge of Arsenal, the Gunners slipped to a 2-1 defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League on Thursday night.

Snapshot

The former Arsenal boss had been under enormous pressure to pick up the side’s faltering results, with reports even claiming that he had just a month to save his job. However, the Gunners have failed to arrest a win-less streak that has now lasted for seven games, and following their disastrous 2-2 draw to Southampton last weekend, the writing appeared to be on the wall heading into the clash against Frankfurt.

The north London side did off to a great start, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang netting from a Gabriel Martinelli cross. But in a second-half turnaround from the visitors, Daichi Kamada struck twice to ensure Arsenal were consigned to yet another horrific result. And despite the fact the Gunners were chasing an equaliser for a majority of the second-half, Emery’s baffling substitutions certainly presented a snapshot of his huge struggles.

Off the bench

It has been no secret that Arsenal have been absolutely woeful defensively this season, already conceding 19 goals in just 13 games in the Premier League, and letting in 16.8 shots per game on average – the third-most in the entire division. And it is perhaps the reason why that even whilst they desperately needed a goal to salvage a result, Emery felt more inclined to bring on Lucas Torreira – a more natural holding midfielder – than either Nicolas Pepe or Alexandre Lacazette.

Emery was left so scarred by the side’s defensive frailties that it appeared he felt more wary of conceding more goals and suffering a humiliation, then actively searching for an equaliser. The decision was the final nail in the coffin for his Arsenal tenure because it simply showed he had lost confidence and courage in his own managerial abilities to produce results. His sacking on Friday morning felt like a welcome end to his misery.

Meanwhile, Arsenal fans have slammed Sokratis for his horror showing against Eintracht Frankfurt. 

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…

Well that certainly was a turn up for the books.

It was almost as if he read what we wrote about him last week and decided to put in an ‘I’ll show you’ performance.

We said last week that if you just looked at the raw numbers of the situation, it was rather baffling to see Yuri Ribeiro constantly in the starting line-up for Nottingham Forest. It was even more baffling when you compared it to his main contender for that spot in Jack Robinson.

However, he knuckled down and put in quite a performance, enough so that he managed to be named in the WhoScored.com Team of the Week for his displays.

If you take a look at his numbers (from WhoScored), it’s obvious to see why. He made 5 tackles, completed 40 passes, 3 of them leading to chances while also amassing an 82% pass completion rate, and having a 100% dribble success rate too.

There are a number of questions that come off a performance like that. Can he be trusted to keep up this level of performance going forward, or was this merely a one-off performance?

Did he ‘step up to the occasion’ as it were, given the magnitude of a match with Derby County? Is he going to return to the norm once we get back from the international break? It all remains to be seen.

Maybe this was something that was always going to happen once he’d had a chance to get settled into the first team. He only arrived in the summer from Benfica, but even if simply settling down was the case, it’s taken an awfully long time for those adjustments to kick into place.

Hopefully, this performance wasn’t the exception and can instead become the rule.

Nottingham Forest haven’t got much room for error when it comes to promotion this season, with FiveThirtyEight giving them just a 15% chance of getting promoted this season. That means that he can’t afford to go back to the levels of production that made us question his position in the first place.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

Sheffield Wednesday boss Garry Monk has thrown his weight behind Fernando Forestieri ahead of his return from suspension this week.

What’s he said?

The Owls have been without the Italian forward for six games now after the Football Association handed him a ban for allegedly using racist language during a pre-season friendly last year.

Forestieri is yet to feature under Monk since he was appointed at the start of September with the 29-year-old’s last appearance coming in a 2-1 home defeat to Queens Park Rangers.

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He assisted Wednesday’s only goal of the game by winning a penalty that Steven Fletcher duly dispatched.

Speaking to the Yorkshire Post, the 40-year-old said:

“From what I have seen of Fernando, his attitude has been good. He has trained really well and worked really hard and he is available. Those are the steps you need to take and that is all you can do at this point.

“If he does get an opportunity on the pitch, it is to take that next step up and show all of us the Fernando that we know can be devastating at this level.

“I am delighted he is available. We all know the quality he has and we want him to step up and show that.”

Monk needs to bring the best out of him

Football FanCast have previously displayed how the enigmatic 29-year-old could be the perfect strike partner to Steven Fletcher as a 4-4-2 system has brought the most favourable results this season.

Take the Middlesbrough game, for instance, Wednesday fired home four goals in under half an hour with Atdhe Nuhiu pairing the 32-year-old in the attack.

But the Kosovan isn’t as technically gifted as the Italian considering his colossal height of 6 foot 6 so this potential duo could garner even better returns.

Monk is also right that the forward can be ‘devastating’ in this league as his first two seasons at Hillsborough showed – Forestieri netted 15 goals in 36 appearances and then 12 goals in 35 matches, per Transfermarkt.

The Owls boss needs to find a way to rediscover that level of form.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more… 

Did he pass his third audition?

With Michael Dawson out injured, Sabri Lamouchi has been giving other players their chance to prove if they can keep the captain out of the team not just now but potentially for the future.

Tobias Figueiredo played against Blackburn Rovers and Wigan Athletic, but now it was time for Chema to be given another opportunity, having previously started against Brentford earlier in the month and replaced Dawson when he was injured against Stoke City.

Having been brought to the City Ground in the summer from Levante, his opportunities have been limited thus far, so how did he do in his latest outing and has he done enough to cement his place for the long term?

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On the chalkboard

It was certainly a bit of a mixed night for the Spaniard.

Whilst he put in a relatively comfortable performance for the majority of the game, he played huge parts in both of the goals that the visitors conceded.

For the first strike, not only did he lose his runner in Josh Magennis, but also played him onside when he turned in Jon Toral’s shot. Then for the second he was caught out of position and was forced to play catch up as the Spanish midfielder squared the ball to Jarred Bowen.

If you take a look at his statistics from the game (taken from WhoScored), he completed 85% of his passes which was above the team average (84%), won eight aerial duels (double that of Joe Worrall in second) and made three tackles (joint-most of all in the team).

If he can replicate this sort of form going forward, then there shouldn’t be a question as to whether or not he can be the long term replacement for Dawson.

However, he just needs to work on his concentration, because whilst the statistics might be impressive, if he’s at fault for the goals they concede then his usefulness won’t last long.