Category Uncategorized

After falling to a timid 2-0 defeat to Brighton last time out in the Premier League, Leeds will be hoping to bounce back to winning ways when they take on Tottenham at Elland Road on Saturday afternoon.

Marcelo Bielsa’s side came into the game against the Seagulls off the back of three very impressive results against Manchester City, Liverpool and Manchester United, picking up five points and remaining undefeated in the process.

Therefore, falling short against a side languishing in the bottom half of the table last week would no doubt have been frustrating for Bielsa, and he could well react to that by making some key changes for the visit of Spurs.

With that in mind, below is a look at how Leeds might line up when Spurs come to town.

In goal, Illan Meslier will be hoping to keep his 11th clean sheet of the Premier League season and move into fourth in the rankings among all the division’s top goalkeepers.

The backline could see one key change, with the underperforming Gjanni Alioski dropping out and Stuart Dallas coming back in to fill the gap at left-back, while a returning Liam Cooper – back from his three-game suspension – will have to settle for a place on the bench.

The middle of the park could see a different combination as well, with Rodrigo having returned from injury last week to play a solid half-hour against the Seagulls, so Bielsa may be tempted to start him from the off just to freshen the home side’s attack.

With news being confirmed that Helder Costa is set to miss the rest of the campaign with the back injury he sustained against Manchester United last time out, Bielsa may finally hand 21-year-old Ian Poveda his first Premier League start after a number of cameos in recent weeks.

With Raphinha’s status for the game still uncertain, Poveda could well line up on the right-hand side with Jack Harrison on the opposite flank.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-the-latest-leeds-transfer-rumours-and-news” title=”Read the latest Leeds transfer rumours and news!”]

Up front, Patrick Bamford will be hoping to break his goalscoring duck of five Premier League games by netting against Ryan Mason’s side.

Predicted XI: Meslier; Ayling, Llorente, Struijk, Dallas; Koch, Poveda, Klich, Rodrigo, Harrison; Bamford.

Meanwhile, Leeds eyeing move for this history-making starlet…

As per The Scottish Sun, Leeds United are preparing another bid for Glasgow Rangers winger Ryan Kent.

Pursuit of Kent still on

The Whites were interested in the 24-year-old last summer, even having a £10m offer for him rejected (RTE).

It seems that Marcelo Bielsa remains very keen on taking the former Liverpool winger to Elland Road and the fabled manager has told the Whites’ director of football Victor Orta to make a move for him. Leeds are said to be readying a £15m bid for Kent.

Very good money

Such an offer would given Ross Wilson and Steven Gerrard plenty to consider. Signed for £7.5m in 2019 (Sky Sports) after a year on loan at Ibrox, Kent has racked up 26 goals and 26 assists in 123 games for the Gers (Transfermarkt). That is far from a poor record, but also one which could be improved upon considering that he is being targeted by a top 10 Premier League club.

A fee of £15m would represent a profit of 100% for the 55-time Scottish champions. However, given that they turned down £10m last term and Kent has since had his best season on the way to helping the Gers win the Premiership, their first major trophy in 10 years, the Glasgow outfit may feel they can command an even bigger fee for him.

A lot could depend on just how keen Leeds are to bring him to Yorkshire this summer.

In other news, Kieran Maguire shares this worrying Rangers finance issue.

Charlie Nicholas has accused Glasgow Rangers of being “chokers” and has questioned Steven Gerrard’s achievements at Ibrox.

Nicholas questions Rangers

The Gers have already wrapped up the Premiership title and are also unbeaten in the league so far this term (BBC), but they are out of the Europa League and also lost prematurely in both the Scottish Cup and the Scottish League Cup.

Writing for the Express (via Daily Record), Nicholas has accused the Gers of being “chokers”. He said:

“Winning the Premiership title as easily as they did disguised a lot of their faults.

“Many of the Ibrox players have downed tools since becoming champions.

“Yes, they knocked Celtic out of the Scottish Cup the weekend before last, but the hard work isn’t done until you finish the season and pick up the trophies.

“Steven Gerrard must be scratching his head. The Rangers manager still has so much to do and improve at Ibrox to make things right.”

Over the top

Gerrard will be disappointed that his team have been unable to get their hands on more than one trophy this season – he said as much in the immediate aftermath of the Scottish Cup quarter-final exit to St Johnstone. There is definitely a feeling that the Gers have missed an opportunity here.

However, for Nicholas to say they are chokers is over the top. At the end of the day, the Gers have ended Celtic’s nine-year hold on the league title, and they still have the chance to go the league season unbeaten. There is no doubt about it – it has still been a successful campaign for Gerrard and his players, and no-one should try to take that away from them.

In other news, Rangers are favourites to sign this striker.

If anyone from Leeds had one eye on Manchester United’s Europa League clash against Granada on Thursday night, then they would have been left suitably impressed by the performance of Yangel Herrera.

Reports in recent days have suggested that Marcelo Bielsa’s side are interested in signing the Venezuela international, and he put in a star showing despite his side’s 2-0 defeat on the night. As per Sofascore, he won a mammoth nine duels at Old Trafford, which was the second-most of any Granada player on the pitch, despite playing in a more advanced number 10 role.

The 23-year-old also racked up five shots on goal, by far the most of any player on either side, and also completed two of his four dribbles, showcasing a real South American flair with his touch and skill.

La Liga Lowdown’s Heath Chesters raved about the Venezuelan, and in particular his ability to win the ball back for his side and then do something productive with it, saying that he is “full of energy, his movement on and off the ball is excellent”.

Chesters continued: “He’s taken to the jump in levels like a duck to water, and particularly impressive is his reading of the game. Most impressive is his pressing, how he steals the ball and immediately sets his sights on shooting or playing a killer pass.”

La Liga pundit Terry Gibson also lauded Herrera’s knack of timing his runs into the penalty box, which is no surprise given that he has already bagged eight goals in all competitions this season.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/latest-leeds-transfer-rumours-and-news” title=”Latest Leeds transfer rumours and news”]

Gibson said: “He’s been outstanding it was a real coup to get him to stay (at Granada). He’s a really athletic, dynamic player who has a habit of getting into the box at the right times. He’s a threat in the air too. He’s a fantastic acquisition (for Granada). He’s shown his talent, he’s really good.”

Given the kind of rave reviews he has earned, and the performance he put in at Old Trafford in a major European tie, Herrera looks like he’s got all the tools in his locker to be a real star for Bielsa at Elland Road.

If Victor Orta had his eye on the match, then he would surely have been left in no doubt that Herrera is a must-sign for Leeds this summer.

Meanwhile, Leeds could finally wave goodbye to this liability…

Many Southampton fans were livid with the performance of Theo Walcott during their 3-0 defeat on Monday evening in the Premier League.

The Saints were defeated by 19th-placed West Bromwich Albion in a very poor display at The Hawthorns. Matheus Pereira, Matt Phillips and Callum Robinson were all on hand to net against the visitors’ defence, leaving Ralph Hasenhuttl with plenty of work to do ahead of the FA Cup semi-final against Leicester City next Sunday.

The display of Walcott in particular will have disappointed the Austrian. The 32-year-old landed just 71% of his attempted passses, prevailed in only three of his eight duels (SofaScore) and spent much of the game as a passenger on the right of the midfield four. Given his showing, it was unsurprising to see him hauled off first by Hasenhuttl.

These Saints supporters were far from happy with what they saw, and they took to social media platform Twitter to share their thoughts. One frustrated fan even branded Walcott as “useless”.

Let’s see what the fans had to say about Walcott below

“Sorry to offended all the nostalgia bashers but Theo Walcott is a washed up baller just because he ‘suits our system’ doesn’t mean he plays well in it”

Credit: @JackKnutsen_

“Ask him why he never changed it at half time, also tell him to drop Walcott Sunday, absolutely useless”

Credit: @saintsfcloyal

“Walcott – shockingly bad !”

Credit: @saintcullen70

“Yeah no way we sign Walcott on a permanent, he’s just not it”

Credit: @RahilMajid

“If we give Walcott a contract after his performances this season it just goes to show we have no one at the club with any understanding of how a football club is meant to be run. Good lad, atrocious footballer.”

Credit: @SaintMatt7

“Why sign Walcott! He’s had his day. We need hungry young players. Invisible tonight”

Credit: @COYSaints

In other news, many Southampton fans rage at these Hasenhuttl comments.

يواجه منتخب تونس نظيره جامبيا اليوم الخميس في بطولة كأس أمم إفريقيا المقامة بالكاميرون

منتخب تونس يلتقي مع نظيره جامبيا في المباراة التي تجمع المنتخبين في الجولة الثالثة والأخيرة من دور المجموعات من الكان.

مباشر بالفيديو | مباراة تونس وجامبيا في كأس أمم إفريقيا

ويتواجد منتخبي تونس وجامبيا في المجموعة السادسة ببطولة كأس أمم إفريقيا بجوار كلا من مالي وموريتانيا.

وتتصدر مالي المجموعة السادسة برصيد 4 نقاط، متساوي بنفس الرصيد مع جامبيا الذي يحل في الوصافة، بينما يتواجد في المركز الثالث بـ3 نقاط، ويتذيل موريتانيا المجموعة بدون نقاط. موعد مباراة تونس وجامبيا اليوم

تنطلق المباراة في تمام الساعة 9 مساءً بتوقيت القاهرة، 10 مساءً بتوقيت السعودية. القناة الناقلة لمباراة تونس وجامبيا

تُذاع أحداث المباراة عبر فضائية beIN Sports HD 1 Max معلق مباراة تونس وجامبيا

تُذاع المباراة بصوت المعلق الرياضي رؤوف خليف.

يمكنك مطالعة ترددات القنوات المفتوحة الناقلة لـ كأس أمم إفريقيا من هنا.

يمكنك أيضًا متابعة جدول مباريات كأس الامم الافريقية ونتائجها لحظة بلحظة من هنا.

Aston Villa substituted attacking winger Bertrand Traore off against Wolves with what looked to be an injury, and Gregg Evans has provided an update on the player.

The latest on Traore

Traore lasted 83 minutes before being substituted in the 0-0 draw and The Athletic journalist shed some light on the situation on Twitter as he posted the simple five-word update “Traore taken off as a precaution” among other updates on Aston Villa players.

This is good news for Villa

In his first season at Villa Park, the former Chelsea forward is having a decent campaign. The 25-year-old has featured 24 times (seven from the bench) and has picked up five goals and three assists along the way (WhoScored). He has also managed 1.6 shots and 1.2 successful dribbles per game.

Traore has been praised in the past by his former Blues manager Guus Hiddink, who said: “He is open to learn and you can teach him, you can say ‘work on this’ and he is very clever to do so.”

With fixtures coming thick and fast, the last thing Smith and Villa want are further injuries, especially when their star Jack Grealish is still recovering from one himself. Therefore, to hear that Traore was only taken off as a precaution should be a relief, and hopefully it means he can feature against Newcastle on Friday night.

In other news, many Aston Villa fans reacted to Dean Smith’s latest comments about Grealish!

Steven Gerrard has given an injury update on Kemar Roofe, following Glasgow Rangers’ 4-3 win over Royal Antwerp.

What’s the word?

A rather eventful evening in the Europa League was only worsened by the Jamaican being forced off shortly before the break, which resulted in him being replaced by Ryan Kent.

Rangers skipper James Tavernier also appeared to pick up a problem with the Ibrox boss admitting their issues are concerning.

Speaking after the game, Gerrard confirmed the versatile forward had an issue with his calf, and he is now set for a scan to determine the full extent of the problem, ruling him out of the Scottish Premiership clash with Dundee United on Sunday.

He said: “Kemar has got another calf [problem] so that’s a concern for us. He’s getting too many of those calves [problems] at the moment so we’re going to have to look into that and maybe get him to see the right people. He’s a bit down and frustrated at the moment so that’s a concern for us.”

Worrying news for Gerrard?

Whilst Gerrard tried to play down the impact this fresh injury setback will have on the overall squad, there’s no doubting the fact it’s a frustrating end to February.

While much has been made of Alfredo Morelos’s future at Ibrox this season, Roofe has quietly gone about his business, scoring 12 goals in 25 appearances in all competitions, while his goal against Standard Liege in the Europa League was described as one of the best goals he has ever seen by the Ibrox boss.

With an average WhoScored rating of 7.13 this season, Roofe ranks seventh among his Rangers teammates in the Scottish Premiership this season, with Ryan Kent the only other attacking option to score higher.

By the numbers, his 2 shots per game (the highest in the Europa League), 1.2 tackles per game and one dribble per game show his menace and the threat he offers Gerrard’s side going forwards.

Roofe has largely fulfilled his role upfront, on the right and on the left for Rangers so far this season, and it’ll be hard for Rangers to try and find a like-for-like replacement within their ranks, especially because he is the club’s second-highest top scorer this season, bettered only none other than a certain Tavernier himself.

The Rangers boss will now be privately rather concerned about his side’s chances on the flanks ahead of the Premiership fixture with Dundee on Sunday without one of his star men.

AND in other news, Rangers must prioritise Leon Balogun’s new contract…

When Bailey Wright, Tom Flanagan and Jordan Willis were all ruled out with injuries, Sunderland supporters would surely have been fearing the worst.

With the club looking to ramp up their promotion efforts, losing three centre-halves wasn’t the best news. However, in their place, Dion Sanderson and Luke O’Nien have been exceptional.

They have kept three clean sheets in their last four outings and with it, Lee Johnson’s men are moving up the League One ladder.

After defeating Swindon 1-0 on Tuesday, they are now in fourth place. Johnson has engineered some tremendous form and is getting the best from a number of players.

One of those happens to be O’Nien. The former Wycombe man missed the first month of the new manager’s tenure through a dislocated shoulder but since his return, he has been nothing short of exceptional.

He’s featured in central midfield for Johnson but despite finding a home at full-back under Phil Parkinson, he has now proven himself to be a capable centre-back.

The 26-year-old isn’t the tallest of players but that doesn’t seem to matter. With Johnson at the helm, he has been as consistent as anyone in the side. Charlie Wyke and Aiden McGeady have been the main influencers in attack, but defensively, it’s O’Nien who has been first-class.

Against Swindon he showed as much. The Hemel-Hempstead born defender won a total of nine duels; that tally was only bettered by Wyke out of all players to take the field at the Stadium of Light on Tuesday.

Six of those duels happened to be won in the air, a number that surpasses his season average of 3.1 aerial duels won per game.

O’Nien was also comfortable on the ball, playing out from the back on a regular basis. He succeeded with 11 of his 14 long balls and finished the match with a pass success rate of 92%. Again, that was the highest of any player yesterday evening. His 97 touches, meanwhile, was only bettered by Max Power.

This performance has become a regularity for the Sunderland man. Under Johnson, he is very quickly becoming one of his key men.

Only last week, the boss admitted: “I think he could be the best utility player I’ve ever seen.”

Johnson added: “I’ve still not see him at right-back, but he’s been outstanding at centre-half and was very good in an attacking midfield role.”

That’s very fine praise indeed. With Wright, Flanagan and Willis out, he has stepped up to the plate admirably. O’Nien’s performances have defied expectation by some margin.

AND in other news, Better than Vokins: SAFC must rue not landing £1m gem, Ross thinks he’s “brilliant”…

MatériaMais Notícias

O São Paulo joga nesta quinta-feira às 19h30, em Buenos Aires, contra o River Plate, mas o esquenta do duelo pela Libertadores começou bem cedo. No hotel em que a delegação brasileira está concentrada na capital paulista, o movimento é intenso: teve visita do filho de Bauza, almoço da cúpula tricolor com a do River e presença de torcedores do San Lorenzo para apoiar o Tricolor contra o rival argentino.

Desde que chegou à Argentina, Edgardo “Patón” Bauza é um dos mais assediados. A imprensa local fez do treinador, campeão da América pelo San Lorenzo em 2014, uma das atrações do duelo. E no dia do jogo o comandante argentino recebeu a visita de seu filho Maxiliano no hotel. Maxi foi membro da comissão técnica do pai na LDU (EQU) e San Lorenzo e hoje vive em Rosario, onde nasceu. Curte a família após sete anos trabalhando com o pai. Esse foi um dos motivos que o fizeram não trabalhar no São Paulo.

RelacionadasSão PauloPai de Calleri chora com música para o filho e cobra hat-trick: ‘Devendo’São Paulo10/03/2016São PauloDa Floresta ao Morumbi: a origem de Calleri, que une forças a favor do SPSão Paulo10/03/2016São PauloNo frio de Buenos Aires, Bauza crava time e diz: ‘Importante é jogar bem’São Paulo09/03/2016

O carinho com Bauza seguiu de um torcedor argentino. Osvaldo Simon, de 40 anos, aproveitou a passagem do Patón por Buenos Aires e foi saudar o treinador que garantiu a primeira e única Libertadores da história do clube de Boedo. Ele estava acompanhado de Cauê Rezende, são-paulino de 20 anos que está na capital apenas para o jogo. Ambos se unem contra o River Plate, um dos rivais do San Lorenzo.

– Eu gosto de Bauza, mas não são todos de San Lorenzo que gostam. Por causa do jogo defensivo dele, mas a mim me agrada – disse Simon, que foi ao hotel com a camisa do Ciclón, como é conhecido o San Lorenzo.

Os dirigentes do São Paulo também tiveram um dia agitado. A cúpula se reuniu com dirigentes do River Plate. As duas cúpulas almoçaram juntas no hotel no centro de Buenos Aires. O encontro cordial contou com a presença do presidente tricolor Carlos Augusto de Barros e Silva, o vice de futebol Ataíde Gil Guerreiro, o diretor-executivo Gustavo Vieira de Oliveira e o diretor de marketing Vinícius Pinotti.

Dos jogadores, a grande parte ficou no quarto concentrado. Alguns desceram para receber visitas. Foi o caso de Diego Lugano, que está confirmado para a partida como titular. Os são-paulinos entra em campo no Monumental de Nuñez às 19h30. O Tricolor precisa vencer para se reabilitar da derrota na estreia na fase de grupos para o The Strongest, por 1 a 0, no Pacaembu.