All posts by z3u9t.icu

A number of Manchester City fans were left shocked with a question asked by a journalist to Kyle Walker during the club’s pre-match press conference.

The Citizens are in action against Club Brugge in the Champions League on Wednesday night as they look to progress to the next round of the competition. It is an important match for Pep Guardiola and co – with games against RB Leipzig and PSG to come after that, they cannot afford to leave with anything other than a win against the Belgian side.

Walker was questioned by the press ahead of the clash and was asked a bizarre question by a reporter. The latter appeared to think that Ferland Mendy, a left-back who plays for Real Madrid, was on the books at Man City, and he asked the England right-back what it is like to compete with the 26-year-old. Walker understandably looked utterly perplexed.

The comments were shared on Twitter by @City_Xtra, and it attracted plenty of attention from City supporters. These fans took to the social media platform to share their thoughts on the surreal press conference moment.

Let’s see what these fans had to say about the question to Walker

“man what”

Credit: @RazWRLDD

“I need that clip”

Credit: @Alleyezon_AB

“Sorry what”

Credit: @ashley___04

“tears”

Credit: @ManCitehzen

“Ummm ummm ummm Am I drunk or am I reading it right ???”

Credit: @maitypulation

“Wait what?”

Credit: @JMC_Official

In other news, a number of City fans want the club to sign this midfielder

Everton striker Cenk Tosun is set to be offered a way out of his Goodison Park nightmare, with Besiktas reportedly keen to secure his signature over the coming months.

What’s the story?

According to Turkish outlet FotoMac (as relayed by SportWitness), the Black Eagles have begun work to re-sign the 30-year-old after two previous spells with the club.

The report states that Besiktas manager Sergen Yalçın wants Tosun “very much,” while the club’s president Ahmet Nur Cebi has reportedly said in a statement: “We definitely want Cenk in the team.”

FotoMac also claim that the officials of the two clubs have agreed to come face to face during the upcoming international break where the terms of the transfer will be discussed during a meeting.

However, with Tosun set to become a free agent next summer, the Istanbul outfit have yet to decide whether to splash out in January and immediately secure his signature or wait an extra few months in order to avoid paying a transfer fee.

Rafa Benitez must axe him

Tosun has struggled to find his best form since arriving on English shores halfway through the 2017/18 campaign for a whopping £27m as former Everton manager Sam Allardyce looked to add a prolific target man to their attack.

The 6-foot striker had scored 41 goals in 96 Turkish Super Lig games since the start of the 2014/15 season and it was hoped that he’d be able to hit the back of the net on a regular basis following his switch to the Premier League.

Unfortunately for Tosun, though, things haven’t turned out as he had hoped during his time as a Toffees player.

Despite making a solid start – bagging five goals in 14 league games during his maiden campaign – a miserly five further strikes followed in his following 35 top-flight appearances between 2018/19 and 2019/20, with five of those outings coming during a loan spell at Crystal Palace.

His underwhelming performances led to severe criticism from certain sections of the media and fanbase alike, with Andy Gray claiming the Turkey international was “not good enough” for Everton following a disappointing display against West Ham United.

“There’s a lot of players that they have got that are out of the side. What he needs to do is get them all fit,” he told beIN SPORTS back in 2018.

“What my problem will be is I didn’t see it today. I didn’t see Tosun being good enough. We saw Oumar Niasse not good enough at this level. When I say this level, I mean the top half of the Premier League. Those boys are not good enough.”

With that in mind, one could argue that he’s even worse than new signing Salomon Rondon. He’s yet to score for the Toffees but that is mainly down to a lack of fitness. His game time would also suggest that he’s firmly in the manager’s plans, an honour that has never fallen on the shoulders of Tosun.

As a result, new Blues boss Benitez should axe the £60,000-per-week flop during the winter window, adding further funds to the Spaniard’s budget ahead of his potential rebuild on Merseyside.

And, in other news…Brands could find EFC’s next Arteta in “incredible” £13.5m-rated gem, Rafa needs him

Taking to Twitter in sharing his piece for football.london, reliable reporter Alasdair Gold has shared some exciting Hotspur Way news involving Tottenham midfielder Tanguy Ndombele.

The Lowdown: Ndombele future in question…

Since the club-record signing put pen to paper on a £53.8m move from Lyon in the summer of 2019, his stay at Spurs has been fairly mixed, to say the least.

During Ndombele’s first season in north London, chairman Daniel Levy famously had a sit-down with the 24-year-old to discuss his performances and overall future, as seen on their ‘All Or Nothing’ Amazon Prime documentary.

The following year, he enjoyed a brief resurgence under former boss Jose Mourinho and even earned the ‘unplayable’ tag from his Spurs teammates, according to West Ham midfielder Declan Rice.

However, he then became heavily linked with a move away at the end of 2020/21, apparently informing Spurs chiefs of his desire to leave before August 31 (The Telegraph). His move failed to come to fruition, though, with Antonio Conte now left with the task of getting the best out of Ndombele.

The Latest: Gold drops exciting Spurs claim…

Taking to Twitter in sharing his piece from football.london, Gold has now shared some exciting news as Conte and his staff seek to revitalise the France international’s career at N17.

The club’s sports science staff apparently believe that Ndombele has been in the ‘the best condition of his Spurs career’ in ‘recent weeks’ – surely a big sign of encouragement for Tottenham’s new manager.

“Understand the sports science staff believe the Frenchman has been in the best condition of his Spurs career in recent weeks,” Gold explained on social media.

“Which will help during this boot camp of sorts at Hotspur Way.”

The Verdict: Very encouraging…

Given the consistent question marks surrounding Ndombele’s application and fitness since his arrival at Spurs, this update will undoubtedly come as a boost for Conte.

The midfield maestro has unquestioned ability in his locker but the difficulty has always been unlocking it on a consistent enough basis. He finished the 2020/21 as one of Tottenham’s most threatening players statistically, having completed the most dribbles per 90 (2.2) out of their entire squad (WhoScored).

Lauded as ‘magnificent’ by Mourinho, the former Ligue 1 sensation has what it takes to become a key player for Spurs regularly, and having him in peak condition is arguably crucial to him finally coming good on that club-record outlay from 2019.

In other news: ‘I’m told’ – Tottenham source makes N17 exit claim with contract talks ‘ongoing’, find out more here.

After being overtaken in the Premier League table by West Ham United, who handed Liverpool their first defeat of the season prior to the international break with a 3-2 defeat at the London Stadium, Jurgen Klopp’s side will want to ensure that doesn’t happen again when Arsenal visit Anfield this evening, with Mikel Arteta’s side one place and two points behind the Reds.

In terms of which players Jurgen Klopp could include in his starting XI to take on the Gunners, the Merseysiders are suffering something of an injury crisis at the moment. That is particularly the case in midfield, with the likes of Harvey Elliott, Naby Keita, James Milner, Curtis Jones and potentially club captain Jordan Henderson all out injured for this match.

With this in mind, one midfielder who should be available for the clash and should be in the starting XI is Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Ox could make the difference

Since joining the Merseyside club back in the 2017 summer transfer window from Arsenal in a deal worth a reported fee of £35m, the 28-year-old – who has been described as “brilliant” by Klopp – has made 116 appearances for the Reds across all competitions. He has scored 14 goals and provided 13 assists along the way, showing that he has what it takes to pop up in the right place at the right time to set up or score a goal for the team.

This could well make him a dangerous and potentially terrifying opponent for Arsenal if Klopp does start him against his former club this evening.

As well as his attacking prowess, Oxlade-Chamberlain – who is currently earning a wage of £120k-per-week according to Spotrac – also showed his defensive capabilities in the game against West Ham.

Despite the overall disappointing result, the 28-year-old made two tackles and one clearance and won six of his 10 duels against the Irons that evening.

Taking all this into account, even though Klopp may have little option other than to play Oxlade-Chamberlain against Arsenal due to the spate of injuries, the England midfielder could well end up being the difference between Liverpool picking up a positive result and being handed another disappointing one.

In other news: “Incredible” Liverpool ace with 2.2 shots per game has been Klopp’s unsung hero this season

Former Granada and Osasuna manager Diego Martinez is reportedly eyeing up a move tot the Premier League, potentially replacing Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds United eventually.

The Lowdown: Bielsa’s last season?

Bielsa has done a remarkable job at Elland Road, inspiring the Whites back into the Premier League and guiding them to ninth place last season.

The 2021/22 campaign has been a struggle so far, though, and with the Argentine’s contract expiring next summer, his future is unknown.

It could be that the 66-year-old signs another one-year extension, but equally, he may feel that he has taken Leeds as far as he can.

[freshpress-quiz id=“375277″]

The Latest: Martinez linked with Leeds

According to La Razon [via Sport Witness], Martinez is eyeing up a move to the Premier League, with the 40-year-old currently without a club.

It is then mentioned that he ‘could be the replacement’ for Bielsa at Leeds, having moved to England to learn the language. Indeed, the Spaniard has reportedly been endorsed by Victor Orta, which could also work in his favour.

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The Verdict: Ideal Bielsa successor?

The hope is that Bielsa remains in his post beyond this season given the job that he has done at Elland Road, but if not, Martinez could be an intriguing replacement.

The Spaniard achieved promotion to La Liga with Granada in his first season in charge and even topped the table for a brief period in 2019/20. He also has European pedigree, taking the club into the Europa League quarter-finals last season before being knocked out by Manchester United.

This highlights what he is capable of producing, but if he does replace Bielsa, hopefully it will not be for another while longer.

In other news, a Leeds player has suffered a potentially long-term injury. Read more here.

Eddie Howe is set to be in the dugout for the first time as Newcastle manager as his side face Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.

He was forced to watch on from his home in isolation for the 3-3 draw with Brentford in the Premier League at St James’ Park last week.

The Magpies head into this clash bottom of the table with six points and are the only team left in the division without a single win to their name.

Liability

One change Howe should make to the XI for his first official game comes between the sticks. Karl Darlow had a howler against Brentford and must be brutally axed from the line-up against the Gunners, with Martin Dubravka coming in to replace him.

The ex-Nottingham Forest shot-stopper was given an opportunity to show Howe that he deserves to be the number one for the Magpies, but failed to grasp his chance as he struggled badly against the Bees. He recorded a SofaScore rating of 5.2 and that comes two games after he gave away a penalty against Chelsea and received a score of 5.7 that day.

On Match of the Day, Toon legend Alan Shearer blasted him as looking ‘nervous’ and berated his error for Ivan Toney’s goal, saying: “There were so many mistakes all over the place. Darlow there, it’s a basic error, he had a really poor game. He looked really nervous.”

The Brentford striker hit a low drive slightly to the side of Darlow and the Newcastle goalkeeper went down to his knees, allowing the ball to slip off his gloves and fly into the far corner. It appeared to be a routine save for the £30k-per-week man but it ended up costing the Magpies victory.

Dubravka averaged a SofaScore rating of 6.99 across 13 Premier League games last season but not made a single appearance this term, partly due to injury. It could be time for the Slovakian to come back in for Darlow and make his bow in the 2021/22 campaign, given his 31-year-old colleague’s poor form of late.

Darlow has become a liability between the sticks for Newcastle and Howe cannot afford to have an error-prone goalkeeper in a battle against relegation. Therefore, Dubravka must start and be given the chance to show that he can prove to be an upgrade in goal.

AND in other news, PIF can land Howe’s dream NUFC deal with “world class” £126m gem, he’s the next Suarez…

Many Aston Villa fans have been left buzzing over some news on Marvelous Nakamba.

As per the official Twitter page of the Villa Park faithful, the central midfielder has won the club’s Player of the Month (POTM) award for November, in partnership with Cazoo.

Nakamba played the full lavishing praise from Steven Gerrard for his performances.

The Zimbabwe international has been one of AVFC’s most consistent performers in the Premier League this season, ranking highly among his teammates in terms of average tackles (2.2) and pass success (86.7%) per game (WhoScored),  and there is no doubt that his award is richly deserved.

Villa fans on Nakamba award

These Villa supporters buzzed as the award was shared on Twitter, with one even going as far as to claim that Nakamba has been a ‘monster’ for them this term:

“Quite right. Has been superb recently, long may it continue.”

Credit: @thomasjavfc

“Been immense, Marvelous!”

Credit: @johndunse

“Smashing it Marv!”

Credit: @94_JordanAV

“Been a monster”

Credit: @GuyPoxon

“Massively deserved, player”

Credit: @AVFCJack_

“This man has been fantastic since he’s been given a run of games by Gerrard”

Credit: @VillaWatch1

In other news, find out which ‘standout’ ace could now be dropped against Leicester City here!

Following on from their 0-0 draw against Portsmouth, Sheffield Wednesday are back in League One action once again this afternoon with an away clash against Crewe Alexandra, who are currently 15 places and 19 points behind the Owls in the league table. 

Wednesday manager Darren Moore revealed that Lee Gregory will be fit enough to play, as well as Josh Windass, Ciaran Brennan and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, but Chey Dunkley will miss out along with Dominic Iorfa, Lewis Gibson, Dennis Adeniran and Sam Hutchinson. With that in mind, here’s how we feel the Owls manager could set up his team for this afternoon’s clash against Crewe and what changes could be made from the XI which started against Portsmouth.

We reckon there could be as many as five alterations from midweek:

In goal, we think Moore will go with Bailey Peacock-Farrell given how he’s played in the majority of Wednesday’s league games so far this season.

In a back three, we can see the manager bringing Ciaran Brennan back into the side alongside Liam Palmer and Callum Paterson to try and keep a clean sheet for the Owls. Brennan’s recall sees Marvin Johnson drop out after the 31-year-old was ranked as one of the team’s poorest performers against Pompey, giving the ball away an alarming 21 times, as per SofaScore.

For the wing-back positions, we think Moore will start Theo Corbeanu on this occasion on the left-hand side in place of Olamide Shodipo, with Jack Hunt keeping his place on the right. 

In the three midfield positions, we can see Lewis Wing coming back in to play alongside Barry Bannan with Josh Windass making his return. Oluwafisayo Dele-Bashiru drops out and Massimo Luongo will not involved after picking up a red card against Portsmouth.

Up top, we think Moore will drop Florian Kamberi, with Saido Berahino – who is currently earning £7.6k-per-week according to Salary Sport – coming back in to play alongside Lee Gregory to see if they can get some goals and secure a win for the Owls.

In other news – Time to go: Moore must ruthlessly axe SWFC flop in January, he’s not been good enough

As per reliable club insider ExWHUemployee, via the West Ham Way website, an update has emerged on the club’s bid to sign Burnley defender James Tarkowski in January.

The Lowdown: West Ham eye Tarkowski move…

As has been widely reported, the Clarets mainstay is well and truly on manager David Moyes’ radar heading into the January transfer window as he looks to bolster West Ham’s defensive options.

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It is believed that Liverpool defender Nathaniel Phillips, Manchester City’s Nathan Ake and Tarkowski are on the agenda as targets next month (West Ham Way), with the latter man linked for a while.

Football Insider claimed last month that the 29-year-old is ‘very keen’ to join West Ham as they eye a move while The Evening Standard back he is a long-time Moyes target.

The Latest: Ex drops update…

According to Ex’s information, although Burnley are ‘intent’ on keeping Tarkowski at Turf Moor, the fact he is in his final season ‘could sway’ them to offload in January rather than let him leave for free at the end of 2021/2022.

The Englishman is a player still being looked at by West Ham, Moyes and head of recruitment Rob Newman with his contract set to expire next year.

The Verdict: Right man?

Lauded as ‘top drawer’ by his manager Sean Dyche, the central defender has definitely proved he is a reliable presence at the back this season.

According to WhoScored, when compared to West Ham’s current crop, only star summer signing Kurt Zouma has averaged more clearances per 90 in the Premier League (5.2) than Tarkowski (5.1) – highlighting his reliability at times.

In terms of aerial ability, the £50,000-per-week ace has towered over every Irons man – winning a colossal 5 duels every game in the English top flight alone (WhoScored).

The only caveat to a West Ham move may be his age, with fellow targets like Phillips (24) potentially bringing far more in terms of sell-on value whilst coming at a low cost of £10 million.

In other news: ‘Pleease’, ‘I would cry’…West Ham fans erupt as Moyes offered ‘quality signing’, find out more here.

Loads of Everton fans were reacting to some early team news that has emerged ahead of their game away at Burnley in the Premier League on Boxing Day.

As per Patrick Boyland, Dominic Calvert-Lewin has said that he is now ‘hoping’ to return from injury against the Clarets at Turf Moor, in what The Athletic journalist claims would be a ‘boost’ for the Goodison Park faithful.

The striker has been out injured since August, and scored three goals in his first three games of the season (Transfermarkt). This, added to the 21 goals that he managed as the Merseyside club’s top scorer last term, shows just how important he is to the team, and so to have him back would be a big welcome.

However, with a longer term injury, some Toffees supporters are cautious that he is not rushed back, and are just hopeful that he is fit enough to play some part.

Everton fans on Calvert-Lewin injury news

These Blues reacted to the news as it was shared on Twitter:

“It’s a Christmas miracle Tiny Tim”

Credit: @bmoney831

“Don’t know if he starts Sunday, but nevertheless good news. We’ve missed Dom greatly.”

Credit: @EFCCollins11

“Holds breath”

Credit: @Blueste35650715

“Bring me the one who floats”

Credit: @ShoeyEFC1234

“Hopefully he lasts longer than Mina did on his return”

Credit: @timjenkinson28

“We really could do with Mina back as well percentage of games we win when he plays”

Credit: @MarkMur25726299

In other news, find out what stadium news has Evertonians buzzing here!