All posts by n8rngtd.top

Everton were beaten by Watford on Saturday afternoon as Marco Silva returned to Vicarage Road, however, things got worse for him after the final whistle.

The Toffees were poor throughout the game and failed to produce anything of quality in the game and to make matters worse, one of their main players was subsequently sent off after the final whistle.

According to a report by Sky Sports, Kurt Zouma was shown two yellow cards after confronting referee Lee Probert.

It is understood the Chelsea loanee was arguing the decision of the official to award Watford the corner from which they scored the winning goal.

The 24-year-old, who was arguably Everton’s best player on the pitch at Vicarage Road, will now be suspended for the game against Cardiff City.

The Verdict:

Zouma’s suspension will come as a huge blow to Silva and Everton as the pressure continues to mount at the Goodison Park outfit.

The defender has been a mainstay in the team this season during his loan spell from Chelsea and has been a key performer for the Merseyside outfit.

It will be hugely disappointing that the Frenchman’s dismissal could have been avoided, however, they will have to make do without him for the Cardiff game and hope he is not further punished – with Liverpool being their following opponents.

Everton fans – thoughts?

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Celtic fans have a new kid to anticipate emerging into the first team – Armstrong Oko-Flex.

The summer signing from Arsenal created a stir on social media with Celtic able to fast-track him into Reserve League football and dangle the ‘Moussa Dembele carrot’ of playing in the Champions League.

A couple of images of the 16-year-old training with the first team have whetted the appetite but Monday’s goal against Falkirk in the Reserve League took expectations up a level or two.

Scouting Report

I’ve watched Oko-Flex a few times this season, he looks capable of living up to the hype and will benefit from the attention being given to Karamoko Dembele.

Having come through the Arsenal academy system and been part of the England youth set up, he has a great pedigree with Celtic offering him the opportunity to be fast-tracked through to senior football.

Brendan Rodgers is very strong on the physical side of the game, Ryan Christie has discovered that this season, and Oko-Flex doesn’t lack in that area.

He has speed and dribbling skills that can leave opponents embarrassed, and with an eye for goal he stands a great chance of taking his talent and potential through to the highest level.

Legendary Premier League goalkeeper Petr Cech will retire from professional football at the end of the season.

Cech has enjoyed a wonderful career in England with both Chelsea and most recently Arsenal. The former Czech Republic captain has been a fantastic servant for both clubs, operating at the very highest level. The 36-year-old holds the record for clean sheets in the Premier League as well as lifting four league titles and one Champions League crown.

His departure will be a massive blow to the Arsenal dressing room and leaves Unai Emery with a gap that needs to be filled. Adding competition to Bernd Leno in between the sticks will be one of the Spaniard’s top priorities in the summer transfer window. Reports in the Daily Mail suggest that the Gunners could make a move for Burnley’s Nick Pope.

Instead, Arsenal should be aiming higher and make a move for Fiorentina starlet – Alban Lafont. Valued at £11.7m by Transfermarkt, the 20-year-old was earmarked as a star for the future after progressing through the Toulouse youth academy. After breaking into the first-team, he was snapped up by the Italian side this summer, who paid £7m to lure the talented ‘keeper to the Serie A.

Lafont has performed well since making the move abroad, keeping seven clean sheets in the league so far. The France U20 international possesses excellent reflexes and his size allows him to pull off miraculous save. His vast amount of experience at such a young age is extremely rare and should make adapting to life in the Premier League much easier.

Developing and improving with every game, Lafont could prove to be a massive star at the Emirates.

Arsenal fans, thoughts?

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In June 2018, Southampton sold attacking midfielder Dusan Tadic to Dutch club Ajax for £10million, as reported by the BBC.

What they’re missing

The switch brought the 61-cap Serbia international’s time at St Mary’s Stadium to an end after four campaigns with the south coast club. In his time in the Premier League, the 30-year-old showed flashes of real quality, and was often one of the Saints’ more dynamic and creative players.

Check out the video below for Groundhopping FC’s excellent matchday vlog from the Emirates as Arsenal beat 2-0 Southampton on Sunday…

However, since joining the Eredivisie outfit he has taken his game to another level. So far this season, Tadic has racked up 25 goals and 13 assists in all competitions for Ajax, as per Transfermarkt’s stats.

Southampton themselves have gone backwards since Tadic’s departure. Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side are currently mired in a relegation scrap and all too often look devoid of invention, flair and goal threat. They’ve only scored 28 goals in the Premier League this season as a team – only three more than their former player has managed single-handed this campaign.

What they need

Until the Saints find a way to replace the attributes and end product that Tadic brought to the team then they will continue to struggle. The likes of Stuart Armstrong and Mohamed Elyounoussi were brought in to take Tadic’s place in the squad but both have failed to make a significant enough impact this season.

If Hasenhuttl fails to steer Southampton safely clear of the drop this season then the sale of Tadic could easily be considered one of the key factors in the club’s fall from grace.

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Loads of Liverpool fans have been reacting to a shock transfer rumour, as reports claim Real Madrid are eyeing a summer move for Jurgen Klopp.

Klopp is Real Madrid’s number one target to take over in the summer, according to The Independent.

The European champions were knocked out of the Champions League by a rip-roaring Ajax performance on Tuesday night, and sitting 12 points off Barcelona in the league it seems like only a matter of time before Santiago Solari is sacked, though the aforementioned report claims he could be kept on until the summer simply to steady the ship.

According to the report, Klopp is on a shortlist that also includes Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino and Juventus boss Max Allegri, but the Bernabeu outfit want someone to usher in a new, high-energy, exciting era for the club, so that probably rules the defensive-minded Allegri out.

Klopp has been at Liverpool since October 2015, and has reached three finals in that time, though all three ended in defeat.

The German has completely transformed the Anfield club into genuine title contenders once again, and the Twitter reactions down below say pretty much exactly what you’d expect them to…

Arsenal put in an almost faultless defensive display in their 1-1 Premier League draw against rivals Tottenham at Wembley last Saturday.

And at the heart of it was central defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos, who has since been speaking about his future.

The Breakdown

“In the summer I will be 31, I have two years of contract with Arsenal, then I would like to play in the US or in Asia,” Sokratis told Kicker (via Calciomercato).

At this stage of his career and having yet to venture outside of Europe, it is easy to understand why Sokratis has set himself the goal of playing in a league such as the MLS.

Arsenal supporters, though, are still likely to be left disappointed once the Greece international decides to call it a day at the Emirates.

For years now, the Gunners have been so frail at the back. And while they still have a long way to go until they can be considered as a consistently sturdy outfit, Sokratis has done his part in helping the team improve in that area.

The former Borussia Dortmund man has added some much-needed steel to this Arsenal backline while, individually, he has not done too much wrong since signing for the north London club last July.

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Charlton’s 2-1 win over Burton on Tuesday night extended their unbeaten league run at home to 13 games, with first-half goals from Lyle Taylor and Ben Reeves enough to best the Brewers.

The victory means that the Addicks now have a surely insurmountable 11-point lead on seventh-placed Peterborough and finishing in one of the play-off spots looks more like a reality now rather than just a possibility.

Rather than heaping praise on goal-scorers Taylor and Reeves, the former of whom’s strike was his 14th league goal this campaign, many Charlton fans felt that midfielder Josh Cullen outperformed both.

Watch how to cross the road like a boss with freestyler Ben Nuttall in the video below…

The 22-year-old, on loan from West Ham, excelled in the absence of Krystian Bielik at the base of Lee Bowyer’s diamond, breaking up play for fun and covering plenty of ground.

With promotion to the Championship in sight, Addicks fans are surely keen to keep the players that have helped them get their beyond the 2018/19 season and Cullen’s excellent showing has convinced the majority reacting on Twitter that they should try and snap him up permanently…

At last! At long, long last. Indeed, Everton kept a rare clean-sheet on Sunday as the Toffees claimed an important 2-0 win over Chelsea at Goodison Park.

Marco Silva’s men have struggled to get momentum going this season and have particularly been vulnerable in defence.

But, on Sunday, the Toffees managed to keep the Blues out, which should be a massive confidence booster for the whole team.

The decision by the manager to start Yerry Mina at centre-back, though, appeared to bring a sense of calmness and composure to the Everton team, who was captained by Seamus Coleman. Despite, being under heaps of pressure early on in the game, Everton managed to absorb everything Maurizio Sarri’s men threw at them before capitalising in the second-half.

Everton were a completely new outfit after the interval, mainly because they realised they could punish Chelsea due to Mina’s solid defending at the back.

The Colombian international looked good next to Michael Keane after Kurt Zouma was left out of the matchday squad.

Mina’s experience clearly helped Keane on the day and the pair formed a solid partnership at the back that offered the London club no clear chances at goal in the second-half. The Keane and Zouma pairing has been under a lot scrutiny lately, especially after the three a 2-0 lead they threw away at Newcastle United last weekend, which saw the Magpies win the encounter 3-2 in the end.

Still, if Everton were to build on this impressive result and make a strong finish to their season then Silva should consider sticking with Keane and Mina as his centre-backs.

Mina also appears to be the type of player who gets better and better the more minutes he gets to be on the pitch, which should tempt Silva to fully place his trust in him. Everton travel to the London Stadium after the international break and could have a chance of picking up a rare away victory over West Ham should they be defensively solid like on Sunday.

Months after signing, Mina is looking worth it.

Everton fans, how excited are you about a future with Yerry Mina? Join the discussion by commenting below… 

Steven Gerrard should know better than to overlook the obvious youth talent he has at his disposal.

An analysis of the Gers season paints a very morbid picture indeed; from the highs of the initial European success to the lows of crashing out in the group stages; the ever-present domestic subordinance to bitter rivals Celtic; the bottle in the domestic cups to Aberdeen. It is an all too familiar scenario for those on the blue side of Glasgow.

Now, with just three games left to play of the season, the rebuilding must begin. Again.

So where is best to start?

Surely it is imperative that Gerrard ties down the impressive Glenn Middleton, who has scored five goals this season.

Middleton had been an absolute revelation at Rangers turning up for the Gerrard in the first half of the campaign – dynamic, fearless, imposing and dangerous – he had it all.

But minutes have been hard to come by following his rapturous ascent, presumably as a protective measure from burnout, and he could even find himself shipped out on loan next term to secure first-team experience, according to The Scottish Sun.

Whether or not this is the right thing to do, remains to be seen.

But one thing that is certain is the fact that Rangers fans would be gutted to see him go out on loan in the summer, as he’s created plenty of excitement this season and could do a job in attack for Gerrard next season.

New boss Steven Gerrard has already made a mammoth 20 additions to his squad this season, bringing in the likes of Jermaine Defoe, Steven Davis, Gareth McAuley, Glen Kamara, Joe Worrall, and more, to no avail.

He has failed over and over to find solutions through the transfer market without taking a step back and evaluating the individuals he has at his disposal already. Middleton is one of these players; an electric talent who could make all the difference if he was given another chance to shine.

Rangers fans, would loaning Glenn Middleton out next season be a disastrous decision? Let us know in the comments below…

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Raheem Sterling is rapidly developing into a world-class talent, and one who is quickly broadening his tactical horizons under the tutelage of Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.

Having started his footballing career as an out-and-out winger who enjoyed cutting inside, the 24-year-old has now matured into an excellent forward who can comfortably play anywhere across the frontline – Sterling has been deployed as a left forward, a right forward and a centre forward on numerous occasions already this season.

What is particularly telling is that, no matter which position he is deployed in, the former Liverpool man consistently delivers.

442oons have charted the entire career of Man City’s main man Sergio Aguero through song in the hilarious video below…

In his 40 appearances this season for the Citizens, the England international has hit a stunning 19 goals and recorded 16 assists. To add to that, his statistics for the Three Lions in the current campaign show a return of six goals in five starts.

Together, that equates to a quite staggering haul of 25 goals and 16 assists, numbers that some of Europe’s most elite players would rightfully be proud of.

His striking compatriot at the Etihad Stadium, Sergio Aguero, is a man heralded by all associated with the club – the Argentine’s tally of 227 goals in 329 appearances makes him Man City’s all-time top goalscorer.

However, Aguero is nearing his 31st birthday and has previously stated his intention to return to former club Independiente when his contract expires.

Although it’s important to recognise that the Argentine has since signed a one-year extension, the fateful day of his departure will inevitably come around in the not too distant future.

City will find it incredibly hard to replace such a prolific forward when that day eventually arrives, but Guardiola’s replacement could already be under his nose.

Looking at Sterling’s record in front of goal this season, as well as last term in which he notched 23 goals and 17 assists, it is evident that he is always improving and is on course to get near, or even break, Aguero’s record tally in a sky blue shirt.

Pep Guardiola and the club’s officials needn’t fret when the former Atletico Madrid packs his bags and leaves Manchester; they have his replacement ready made in the form of their existing No.7.