Leeds fans are mercilessly bashing Pierre-Michel Lasogga, after the striker said he wants to help Hamburg get promoted with his goals.
When Lasogga joined Leeds on loan last summer, fans were elated that they might finally have the goalscorer needed to fire them up into the playoff race.
The big German got off to an electric start, grabbing two goals and two assists in the opening day win against Burton Albion, before netting twice more across the next three games.
The 26 year-old missed part of the winter period with a thigh injury though, and scored just five times in the 21 appearances after the injury.
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Lasogga eventually lost his place to Caleb Ekuban and even young Jay-Roy Grot, both of which have taken plenty of flak from fans for their wasteful finishing.
Hamburg were relegated in Lasogga’s absence, but Bundesliga writer Ronan Murphy reports that the German wants to stay with his parent club.
Fans are absolutely crucifying the towering striker, mainly due to his total lack of effort towards the end of the season.
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You can find some of the best Twitter reactions down below…
Southampton are in quite the predicament as far as their Premier League position is concerned.
Mauricio Pellegrino’s side are currently in the relegation zone alongside West Bromwich Albion and Swansea City.
The Saints are one point adrift of safety having failed to win a top-flight game since November.
At the weekend, there was a moment for celebration as the coastal club progressed into the fifth round of the FA Cup thanks to a 1-0 win over Watford.
This week, though, all focus is back on the league as the team prepare to face Brighton at St Mary’s on Wednesday night before travelling to The Hawthorns to take on West Brom on Saturday.
The Baggies will especially be determined to take points off Southampton as they currently reside three points below the cut-off.
As for Brighton, Chris Hughton’s team are just one point above the relegation pack, but that could all change after midweek.
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Southampton fans have taken to Twitter to give their thoughts on the upcoming fixtures.
Lukas Podolski’s return to the Arsenal squad has come at the right time, coming back into the fold only a few games after Theo Walcott, and in turn sharpening Arsenal’s attack.
It’s the Arsenal way: you get one or two back from injury and one goes out again. Mesut Ozil has picked up a “shoulder injury,” though I’m sceptical about the legitimacy of it. Arsene Wenger seems to be playing a smart move by giving the German international a mini winter break after non-stop ninety-minute outings since his arrival in the Premier League.
But that isn’t so much of an issue. Jack Wilshere came back from his suspension, and the Arsenal midfield was never something to really worry about this season. The issue, rather, has been in attack, where Olivier Giroud has looked tired, ineffective in front of goal and subsequently lacking in confidence to grab a game by the scruff of the neck.
Podolski, upon his return at West Ham on Boxing Day, did far more than the Frenchman had for what seemed like a frustratingly long barren spell. The German added invention to Arsenal’s play at West Ham, incision and directness. There’s a matter of freshness too, but Podolski is the far more clinical of the two. He’s the forward who came to Arsenal in the summer of 2012 with the reputation as a goal scorer, and he certainly gave evidence of his qualities with a stunning left-footed effort, which, coincidentally, was supplied by Olivier Giroud and the other returning forward Theo Walcott.
It eases the pressure on Wenger going into the January window. Everyone knows this Arsenal team is not yet complete, though it’s also not to say it’s too far off. Can they win a trophy without a prolific centre-forward? It’s not impossible. Chelsea won the Europa League last season, as well as the Champions League and FA Cup the season before. And before any mention of Didier Drogba comes up, his numbers were clearly declining, as he tallied his lowest record of goals in a Chelsea shirt in his final season with the club. There’s also evidence in Europe of Juventus going through a season unbeaten without a prolific goal scorer. So yes, it can be done.
The problem Wenger faces is a matter of availability, in that none of the club’s likely top targets will be on the market in January. It would be unwise to buy for the sake of buying to simply appease the masses.
Loic Remy is a name that has been thrown out as a suggestion, but will the Frenchman fire a top Premier League side to the league title? According to reports on his loan spell from QPR, it is possible to pick him up from Newcastle this January, and he may well help to take Arsenal over the line this season. But what about the long term? If Remy was good enough to be a striker for one of those challenging for the title, one of the big teams would have picked him up while he was at Marseille. There will be a clamour again for Arsenal to go out and sign an elite forward in the summer, which could complicate the matter of having already signed a Remy-esque striker in January.
Arsenal do need reinforcements in the upcoming transfer window. A defender, either a centre-back or right-back, is a must. As well as that, and in spite of the team’s strength in midfield, another option, namely a direct player with pace and who can stretch the play, would be a welcome addition. Though Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s return shouldn’t be overlooked.
As for Arsenal’s current attack, which does feature four full internationals, there isn’t such an overwhelming need to spend (unnecessarily) if all four are fit and capable. Over Arsenal’s last four league games, Podolski, Giroud and Walcott have either scored or supplied for another; Nicklas Bendtner, too, would have had a goal had his effort at Manchester City not been wrongly ruled offside.
The issue is quality, not quantity. Arsenal are currently top of the Premier League and have a favourable home tie against Cardiff this midweek. Think of how effective the team’s attack would have been if Podolski and Walcott were not out injured for such lengthy spells. Podolski has been out since August.
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Both his and Walcott’s immediate impact upon their return has gifted Wenger some time to continue to work with what he has. For taking Arsenal to the summit of the Premier League on New Year’s Eve without two vital players, he deserves as much.
Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew is reportedly interested in signing CSKA Moscow striker Seydou Doumbia when the transfer window reopens in January, according to Talk Sport.
The Magpies face tough opposition in the race to sign the 24-year-old, with Italian giants Lazio and Napoli also vying for Doumbia’s signature. It is thought that the Russian side CSKA Moscow would be willing for the Ivorian international to leave the club for a fee of around the £16 million mark.
Doumbia made his reputation at Swiss outfit Young Boys where he scored 57 goals in two seasons – before joining Moscow in the summer of 2010. Young Boys missed his presence the following season as they failed to qualify for the Champions League proper losing 6-3 to Tottenham in the fourth round qualification stage.
The striker then continued his impressive goal tally netting 26 goals for Moscow last season. Doumbia won the Russian Premier League golden boot despite CSKA Moscow finishing a disappointing third in the table and failing to qualify for Europe.
Pardew may envisage Doumbia as a replacement for Demba Ba, who has recently voiced his discontent at St. James’ Park.
Meanwhile, Newcastle have been bolstered by the news that Pardew has signed at the new contract at club meaning the 51-year-old will not stay at the club until 2020.
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Tottenham Hotspur are believed to have spent more than £40m to acquire Colombian centre-back Davinson Sanchez from Ajax in last summer’s transfer window.
The 21-year-old signed a long-term contract upon his arrival, but it was announced on Tuesday that the defender had penned a new and improved deal.
Indeed, Sanchez is now contracted to Tottenham until the end of the 2023-24 campaign, which is an indication of just what the Premier League club think of him.
Toby Alderweireld has not been able to move Sanchez from the position alongside Jan Vertonghen, meanwhile, which is very impressive.
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The Tottenham fans have not always been delighted with Sanchez’s form this season, but the Colombian is still young, and there is no question that he has huge talent.
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Sanchez, who is a seven-time Colombia international, recently took to Twitter to thank the Tottenham fans for their support since his arrival in London, and as expected, the supporters were out in force to hail the defender.
A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:
Naby Keita was one of the names that frequently popped up during Liverpool’s transfer window in the summer.Initially it seemed that a deal was dead in the water, but eventually an agreement was made for the midfielder to sign for the Reds from RB Leipzig before the start of the 2018-19 season.All parties were content with the arrangement, but it appears that there has been a shift due to the recent departure of Philippe Coutinho.The Brazilian joined Barcelona last week in aÂreported £142m deal, making him the third most expensive signing in history.According to theÂLiverpool Echo, Coutinho’s exit has sparked Anfield bosses into enquiring about the possibility of accelerating Keita’s move.It is believed that the Merseyside outfit are willing to pay a premium on top of the £55m already agreed to speed up the process.However, Leipzig are reportedly not prepared to let go of the box-to-box midfielder before the end of the season.This latest news has got Liverpool fans talking on Twitter.
Not long ago, it appeared English football had reverted back to the dark ages, with no light at the end of the tunnel.
Perhaps such a condemnation was rather premature, considering the Three Lions comfortably qualified for the World Cup in Brazil, albeit in a rather laboured and uninspiring fashion.
But more than simply FIFA rankings and our place at the world’s greatest footballing spectacle at stake, the slow but steady decline of the national team, the unfulfilled potential of our supposed golden generation, epitomised concerns about the manner in which we view, teach and train football in England.
Harry Redknapp summarised the issue perfectly in his column for the Sun in June this year, after an incredibly poor showing from the Young Lions in last summer’s U21 European Championship, arguing; “The overriding problem we all face is that English football must change. And it has to come from the very top of the game. We do not know how to play football. We just boot the ball up the pitch and it gets us nowhere.
“In international football you cannot just hit and hope because you give the ball away. It’s all about possession, retaining the ball, controlling the game. We need coaches who believe in that ideal.”
Extrapolate the current trend further, and you can only see the Three Lions moving backwards as a footballing entity. A view clearly shared by new FA chief Greg Dyke, who a few months ago instigated his own committee to get to the heart of the intrinsic issues the national game currently faces.
But before we receive Dyke’s recommendations around March-time next year, there are already signs that things are changing for the better. The source; the current Premier League campaign.
In a season completely different to any other, where Tottenham broke their transfer record three times in the same window, Manchester United have transformed into uncomfortable mid-tablers and Arsene Wenger spent £42million on a single player, as if someone somewhere in the footballing heavens had hit the reset button and instigated a ground-zero scenario not too dissimilar to the end of Fight club, it’s surprisingly been the football purists that have managed to progress, whilst the hoof-ball enthusiasts have failed to dominate.
The purists I’m referring to in particular are Liverpool, Everton and Arsenal.
The fact Arsene Wenger is now reaping the rewards for over a decade’s worth of stubbornness when it comes to his footballing philosophy is no coincidence. With Mesut Ozil seemingly the final piece of the purist jigsaw falling into place, Arsenal are now topping the Premier League table, and barring Manchester City’s home form are undoubtedly playing the best football in the country right now.
Compare that to Chelsea, a side who Jose Mourinho has transformed from free-thinking experimentalists, often to their own demise at times last season, into a gang of Special-One-fearing robots, and you begin to see my point.
The Blues are currently five points off the league leaders, despite trumping their summer spending by some £20million in the offseason, which I’d argue has something to do with the fact only 60% of their goals this season have come from open play, in comparison to Arsenal’s 83%.
At the same time, Everton and Liverpool have both emerged as dark horses this season. The Reds are currently in second place with 30 points, whilst their local rivals aren’t too far behind in fifth with 28.
Over the last few years, both clubs have sought transformation into aesthetically pleasing sides after suffering from brief identity crises.
Following campaign upon campaign of stagnation, the Anfield outfit turned to Brendan Rodgers, a manager famed for his faith in possession football and bringing through youngsters.
And it’s through that philosophical belief that he’s got the Liverpool house in order, donning the youngest roster in the entire division and insisting upon a style of football that emphasises control of the ball as the key to success.
This season they’ve averaged 55% possession per match and a pass completion ratio of 85%, with the latter statistic only bettered by Arsenal, City and Swansea. Their 57 long balls per match is also the fourth-fewest in the league.
In a similar fashion, Everton’s loss of David Moyes had many at Goodison fearing the worst. But if anything, the appointment of Roberto Martinez has pushed the Toffees even closer towards his predecessor’s ultimate aim of Champions League qualification.
The Spaniard has insisted upon a style of football sharply deviating from the former Everton gaffer’s more traditional and direct approach, that’s seen them claim the fifth-highest possession rate in the league and a pass success rate of 83% this season.
With more emphasis on inventive attack than solid defence, and smooth transitions between 3-4-3 and 4-5-1 formations, the Merseysiders have become incredibly pleasing on the eye. Subsequently, results are improving all the time, best illustrated by four points claimed in their last two Premier League fixtures against Manchester United and Arsenal.
However, what’s most impressive about Everton’s transformation is the fact they were largely considered to be a long ball side, albeit more classy than your average West Ham or Stoke outfit, just a matter of months ago.
Martinez has been able to create an incredibly different, more productive and inventive style of football out of essentially the same group of players, which should serve as a lesson in mind for those Three Lions neysays who argue our entrenched hit-and-hope culture is incapable of change.
If Phil Jagileka and Gareth Barry can be at the heart-beat of a team who outplayed Arsenal at the Emirates last weekend, any home-grown talent can.
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Furthermore, at the centre of each club’s successful escapades this year has been a glowing British contingent. At Arsenal, Welshman Aaron Ramsey is leading the scoring charts, with eight goals and five assists in 14 starts. Jack Wilshere, Theo Wacott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Kerian Gibbs too have all contributed; their influence would have been key if they’d managed to stay off the sidelines.
For Everton, Phil Jagielka, Irishman James McCarthy, Gareth Barry, Leighton Baines and Leon Osman have all been vital to the cause, but it’s Ross Barkley – perhaps the greatest technical talent of his generation – who’s been receiving the rave reviews for his impact in the final third.
And at Liverpool, although Luis Suarez has been the star of the show, the efforts of Daniel Sturridge, Steven Gerrard, Glen Johnson, Jordan Henderson and Raheem Sterling should not go unnoticed.
From the depths of long-ball oblivion, the unpredictability of the current Premier League season has allowed the purist sides, prioritising technical ability and flair over mechanical stability, to shine through, with home-grown talents at the core.
It’s by no means a revolution to England’s footballing woes, but certainly serves as a suggestion we’re finally moving in the right direction. One can only hope that all three clubs maintain their strong form until the end of the season, demonstrating to the more traditionalist managers, including Roy Hodgson, that there is a vital correlation between results and the breed of football you choose to adopt.
Yet there is one sour note to finally end on. Wenger, Rodgers, Martinez; all philosophical dreamers and champagne football enthusiasts, none English. If the modern game is to be transformed, we need home-grown coaches teaching a style of play more common abroad than in the British isles.
Such an overhaul could take generations to fully materialise, but its the shining examples Arsenal, Everton and Liverpool are providing this season that will get the process in motion.
Tottenham have enjoyed a decent start to their Premier League campaign under new boss Andre Villas-Boas, taking eight points from their first games to sit in eighth in the table. One of the major plus points of this start has been the form of striker Jermain Defoe, who appears to have adapted brilliantly to his new role as a lone front-man. This in turn has cast a shadow over Emmanuel Adebayor’s starting place in the side, but is there a way for both of them to co-exist?
The 28-year-old Togolese front-man was superb last season at White Hart Lane, finishing the term with 17 league goals and 12 assists and it should have been a lot more given his sometimes profligate ways in front of goal, Nevertheless, he was a fabulous focal point to their attack, holding the play up well, bringing the best out of Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon out wide and ensuring that the side were an extremely dangerous side to play.
Defoe’s start to the new season, though, which has seen him strike four league goals in their opening five games has really caught the eye. He can still be wasteful, with the game against Reading serving as a prime example – his movement throughout was nothing short of brilliant and he managed to create space for himself easily against a shaky defence and despite a marvellous solo goal, it’s also worth remembering that he missed at least three other gilt-edged chances that game despite finishing with a double.
Nobody in their right mind felt that Defoe was tailor-made for Villas-Boas’ system and in a lot of way, he still isn’t, he struggles to hold the ball up and he can go missing for spells, but he’s a very good finisher when in this kind of form and he thrives on the sort of service that both Bale and Lennon provide, particularly against lesser opposition.
However, whenever the side’s two wingers manage to beat their full-back on the outside and arrow in a low cross, Defoe is often caught on his heels and it’s the sort of run that they’re used to Adebayor making. They may have scored eight goals in the league so far this season, but with the sheer volume of chances that they’ve created, it should have been many more and they were scintillating in the second half against QPR in particular.
A noticeable aspect of the club’s lacklustre first half performance against the Hoops’ was how much they lacked a cutting edge up top, failing to establish a platform in midfield. This all changed in the second half after a tactical substitution by Villas-Boas, as he compensated for his initial mistakes on what was an unbalanced starting line-up.
This saw the ineffectual and quite frankly awful Gylfi Sigurdsson hauled off, Bale restored to the left wing and Clint Dempsey moved inside behind Defoe, with Steven Caulker coming in at the heart of the back four, with Jan Vertonghen shifting to left-back. The result was an excellent second half performance from the entire side, with Bale and Vertonghen a constant threat down the left flank and Dempsey coming into the game more and more through the middle.
Liverpool were linked with a move for Dempsey all summer but they were pipped to his signature by a late move by Tottenham on transfer deadline day. Moreover, I always insisted that Dempsey was not ideally suited to playing in a 4-3-3 formation, given that he was too slow to play on the wing and would narrow the midfield and played more as a conventional forward last term than midfielder for Fulham.
While he is certainly a key squad player and he did well against Lazio in their Europa League clash mid-week, perhaps seeing Adebayor given the nod ahead of the American would see the side become even more of a goal threat. Defoe’s movement could see him drop deeper behind the Togolese striker and be a success, while they’d still retain the physical option of the former Manchester City man as the spearhead to their attack.
Sigurdsson has started life slowly so far at White Hart Lane and unless he’s scoring, he doesn’t especially contribute a whole lot else to their attacking play and his passing can be both ponderous and wayward. Dempsey is the natural choice to fill the role instead given his successes at Craven Cottage last year and they would be mad to drop Defoe while he is in such good form, but Adebayor is a class act and it was a surprise not to see him given a run-out against Lazio.
He appears to still be counting the cost of missing nearly the entirety of pre-season and while he may still be a bit rusty, he is only going to get better with games. His move from the Etihad was completed nearly two months later than initially expected and like Robin van Persie at Manchester United, he will inevitably be a bit off the pace as a result.
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Tottenham may have threatened during decent spells in certain game and the signing of Moussa Dembele already looks a masterstroke give what he can offer the team’s midfield with his surging forward runs and ability to beat a man in the middle of the park, but they have also flattered to deceive just as many times, drawing their opening two home games against Norwich and West Brom at the start of the season.
Defoe is on fire and is assured of a starting place at the moment, but with Villas-Boas showing a willingness to adjust his side if it isn’t doing well against QPR, bringing in Adebayor from the start is the next logical step in making the side an altogether more aesthetically-pleasing and dangerous outfit.
Southampton had a brush with relegation this season, and for weeks it looked as though the coastal club would be dropping into the Championship.
However, the arrival of Mark Hughes in March made a difference as the former Stoke City boss managed to guide the team out of the bottom three.
The fixture against fellow relegation battlers Swansea City turned out to be the decider, and it was Manolo Gabbiadini who nabbed the one and only goal of the game to all but secure safety for the Saints.
In the end, the club finished the campaign just three points above the bottom three.
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The club will be hopeful that they do not see a repeat of that in the upcoming season, and some fans are already looking ahead to who their team will go up against.
Wolverhampton Wanderers and Cardiff City have already earned promotion to the top flight via the automatic spots in the second tier.
The remaining place up for grabs will be taken by either Aston Villa or Fulham, who will go head to head in the playoff final this weekend.
On Reddit, Southampton fans have been discussing who they would prefer to come into the Premier League.
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Tottenham Hotspur regularly give their fans an insight into how the club’s new stadium is developing.
The North London outfit hope to compete with the big boys in the Premier League when they move into a state-of-the-art £61,000-seater structure for the start of the 2018-19 season.
In the current campaign, the team have been playing all of their home games at Wembley.
The national stadium has not been the greatest of bases for Spurs in terms of results, so staff and fans alike are excited to move into their new space.
This week, the club have posted fresh photos of the stadium, showing where it currently is in the construction process.
While some fans were delighted about receiving the update, others were more interested in focusing on current matters on the pitch.
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Mauricio Pochettino’s men managed to overcome a four-game winless run in the Premier League by defeating Stoke City and Brighton, but last weekend they were outclassed by table-toppers Manchester City in a 4-1 loss at the Etihad Stadium.