All posts by n8rngtd.top

This should ease people’s worries a little bit.

There have been reports circulating recently about Leeds United’s on loan defender Ben White joining Liverpool but Brighton boss Graham Potter was keen to stress that it won’t be the case as he thinks White is doing just fine where he is – for the time being anyway.

Potter praised how well the 21-year-old is doing during his loan spell at Leeds, claiming that the fact he gets to play at Elland Road on a weekly basis is a real boost for his development:

However, it seems as if Leeds supporters weren’t willing to settle for that kind of praise, they want White to stay a member of the Whites for a long time to come.

It left many of them saying that the only way they’d be able to get hold of him on a permanent basis would be if Leeds got promoted this season, and even then that might not be enough.

White has taken to the Championship like a duck to water this campaign, winning the PFA Fans’ Player of the Month for August so it’s no surprise they want him to stick around.

Here’s what they’ve been saying.

Arsenal supporters have been looking back at the 49-game unbeaten run that the Gunners embarked on under Arsene Wenger.

The legendary team of the early 2000’s stands as the only side in Premier League history to go through an entire season unbeaten with 26 victories and 12 draws in the 2003/04 campaign.

Arsene Wenger led the side to three league titles and is regarded as one of the greatest managers in the club’s history after the unforgettable winning streak.

The run came to an end during the 2004/05 season when they were beaten 2-0 by Manchester United at Old Trafford.

During Wenger’s last game in charge of Arsenal in May 2018, the Frenchman was presented with a unique gold Premier League trophy to commemorate the achievement.

Fans were left feeling nostalgic after memories of the famous run came flooding back. The club’s official Twitter account posted highlights of Arsenal’s 3-1 win over Aston Villa to take their victory streak up to 49 to the delight of fans.

Here you will find some of the best responses from Arsenal fans:

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…

Leeds have some of the most talented midfielders in the Championship.

Kalvin Phillips made the Team of the Year last season, and Mateusz Klich contributed to 19 goals.

However, one man who perhaps doesn’t get all that much credit is Adam Forshaw, but Marcelo Bielsa this week revealed how highly he rated the former Middlesbrough man.

Watch Leeds United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

What’s been said then?

Speaking his pre-match press conference on Thursday, the Argentine waxed lyrical about the midfielder stating that he’s a brilliant all-round player, hailing him for his efforts while also comparing him to two of Leeds’ finest players.

He told reporters:

“Forshaw is a player who, when he has played, he is always between the better players of the team.

“He has a feature that is very difficult to get. He defends similar to Kalvin, he attacks similar to Klich.

“What he does close to Phillips doesn’t impede, it is not a problem for him when he goes close to Klich to attack. You are not going to find a lot of players with this kind of characteristic.

“Yesterday I read something about Arthur [Barcelona midfielder] and it explained how difficult it is to find a player with this profile.

“Always Adam when he plays is one of the players who runs more and not just in total distance, in sprints in high intensity.”

Remember the ‘golden goal’ rule? Find out why some fans want it back in the video below…

Best of both worlds

This is huge praise from the Argentine, especially if he’s drawing parallels to a man who plays for Barcelona, one that cost £35.5m at that.

In fact, Forshaw even has a better pass success rate than the Brazilian this term, but it would be foolish to go as far as saying he’s better than someone who plays for the La Liga giants.

However, the comparison between Klich and Phillips is a lot fairer. They are arguably two of Leeds’ best players, so for Bielsa to say that Forshaw combines the best qualities of both his teammates is a fine compliment.

The 28-year-old’s role in the team is so important as it enables the two midfielders alongside him to do their jobs to the best of their abilities, while also being able to contribute himself.

Bielsa clearly considers him one of his more important players, and he’ll certainly be looking forward to his return to fitness.

Newcastle fans are fearing the worst about their season after worrying statistics about their current form were revealed on social media.

The Magpies have got off to a woeful start this season as they find themselves in the relegation zone after nine games, with just two wins and two draws to their name.

Joe Donnohue posted a thread on Twitter which illustrated how poor Newcastle have been this season.

The damning figures reveal that the problems on the pitch at the football club are much worse than originally feared. Over the past six seasons, Newcastle have been the second-worst team in terms of creativity with an xG total of 5.15, which betters only Burnley’s 2017/18 side.

Steve Bruce’s side have conceded 13 goals in the league this season, which is partly due to letting the opposition have the ball in the half of the pitch.

Watch Newcastle United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Newcastle allowed 23.30 PDDA, which stands for the amounts of passes in their half before a tackle is made. Combined with their xGA (Exp. Goals Against) of 14.04 from open play, this makes them one of the worst pressing teams in the league.

Supporters have recognised that they are in big trouble this season and some believe that relegation is a certainty.

Here you will find some of the best comments from Newcastle fans:

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

Christian Eriksen turned in a genuinely appalling performance on Sunday as Tottenham Hotspur lost to Liverpool at Anfield.

On the chalkboard

The Denmark international was restored to the starting XI after missing the Premier League draw with Watford and also the 5-0 Champions League win over Red Star Belgrade.

However, he failed to make any sort of impact on Merseyside.

He had one shot on goal, per WhoScored, and touched the ball a total of 36 times; only Harry Kane and Harry Winks had fewer touches of the Spurs players who started the game.

Eriksen also failed to complete a key pass and had a pass completion rate of 62% from 26 total passes. That means just 16 passes were accurate.

Playing on the right side of an attacking trio that also comprised Kane and Son Heung-Min, Eriksen did not complete a dribble, nor did he make a tackle or win an aerial duel. He was dribbled past once, took two corners, neither of which were accurate, and was dispossessed twice.

How did he stay on?

One has to ask what Mauricio Pochettino was watching.

Eriksen was tasked with tracking Andrew Robertson throughout the game but struggled to do that, as the Scot completed two dribbles and registered two key passes.

The Spurs ace also failed to impact the game in the final third, as evidenced by his lack of a single key pass.

The situation becomes all the more strange when one considers that both Lucas Moura and Giovani Lo Celso were sat on the bench.

Either could have offered a more effective attacking option than a player who was being frozen out of the game.

Pochettino, though, brought them on after the 80-minute mark, replacing Eriksen with Lo Celso with two minutes left, when Spurs had surrendered their lead earned through Kane’s first-minute header and with the game slipping away.

That he left Eriksen on until the 88th minute, really, is nothing short of a disgrace and sends out one message to the rest of the team: mediocrity is tolerated.

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

Tyler Roberts had a great game against QPR on Saturday, netting the opening goal of the game and playing two key passes.

Of course, a good performance from the Welshman led to some more Samu Saiz comparisons.

However, there is one aspect of the Spaniard’s game that Roberts doesn’t have, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Dribbling vs moving the ball

Samu Saiz was a player noted for his creative abilities during his time at Leeds, and that was at least partly down to his dribbling abilities.

Watch Leeds United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

The Spaniard completed 2.4 dribbles per game during his first season at Elland Road, and although that number dropped to 1.5 during his second term that could be attributed to the fact he was playing fewer minutes per game.

Roberts is also a solid creative force as an attacking midfielder, but his game is more centred around moving the ball along and making things happen with fewer touches.

The youngster averaged just 0.8 dribbles per game last season, and that number has dropped to 0.2 this term.

Find out how to perform one of Ronaldinho’s most insane skills in the video below…

His first start of the season against QPR highlighted that Roberts isn’t a dribbler like Saiz as he had just 43 touches of the ball, with 26 of those being passes and three being shots.

Roberts’ playstyle being different to Saiz’s might be a bad thing for the narrative that he’s replaced the Spaniard, but it’s certainly not a negative in the grand scheme of things.

While the current Girona man’s playstyle was incredibly entertaining to watch, it wasn’t all that effective as he was dispossessed 2.1 times per game during both of his seasons at the club.

The 20-year-old may not be ‘the new Saiz’, but that doesn’t mean that he isn’t exactly what Leeds need in their number ten role right now.

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

Charlton make the short trip across south London this Saturday to take on rivals Millwall, in what will be the first meeting between the two sides since a League One clash back in January 2017.

Lee Bowyer’s men currently sit 10th in the Championship with 22 points from their first 15 games, but suffered their fifth defeat of the season last time out with a 1-0 loss to Preston at The Valley.

In Millwall’s case, Gary Rowett’s side are down in 17th, but could go to within a point of their south London rivals with a win at The Den on Saturday.

Let’s take a look at two Millwall players who Bowyer cannot afford to be complacent over in his pre-match team-talk.

Jed Wallace

The 25-year-old has enjoyed an excellent campaign so far for the Lions.

Millwall’s No.7 has scored six goals and also registered one assist in 13 Championship appearances this term, averaging a goal involvement every 1.86 games.

As per WhoScored, Wallace has 2.2 shots per game on average, as well as making 1.5 key passes and completing 1.6 dribbles, but his impressive attacking contributions have not harmed his defensive output – he completes 2.2 tackles per game as well.

Matt Smith

The 6 foot 5 powerhouse of a striker will be a handful for Naby Sarr, Tom Lockyer and Jason Pearce this weekend.

Aside from the fact that he appears almost unbeatable in the air with 9.3 aerial duels won per game, Smith also contributes a healthy amount of goal involvements with three goals and two assists in 12 appearances this season – the 30-year-old is involved in a goal every 2.4 matches.

Smith is, quite simply, a mountain of a man who bases his game around physicality and bullying centre-backs.

This aspect, coupled with the more diminutive Wallace standing at 5 foot 8 running off of him, makes the pairing a key feature of Millwall’s attacking play – Bowyer must set his backline out to combat it, or Charlton may head back to The Valley with their tails tucked between their legs.

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

Sheffield Wednesday are starting to slip down the table slightly, but as the division is so immensely competitive this year, it will only take a result or two to get amongst playoff contention once again.

Garry Monk’s side drew 2-2 with Swansea City at the weekend, but they must have thought it was going to be three points when left-back Morgan Fox slammed home an effort in the 91st minute.

Watch Sheffield Wednesday Videos With StreamFootball.tv Below

The visitors hit back just moments later when Ben Wilmot scrambled in from a corner.

What will be most annoying for the Owls is the fact that they probably played some of their best attacking football since the 40-year-old took charge at the start of September.

On the Chalkboard

Wednesday registered 20 shots in the game, which is well above the average of any team in the division – West Brom and Leeds included and very nearly double what they usually average at 12.9 per match, via WhoScored.

Yet despite this, Monk’s men came away with just one point to show for it, which will only frustrate them going forward as such attempts have been futile up until this stage.

Since the former Swansea manager took charge at Hillsborough, they have typically been defensively sound having recorded four clean sheets, but they had only been able to find the net on 11 occasions with four coming in one match alone.

Had they managed to put away a few of these chances, then they would have won the game by at least a couple of goals, and that gap to the playoffs would be severely diminished.

For a long time, the side appeared to have a reliance on top goalscorer Steven Fletcher, but the 32-year-old hasn’t netted in six consecutive games now.

It only goes to show just how badly a striker is needed in January – it is clear that neither Sam Winnall or Jordan Rhodes are doing it for Monk while Atdhe Nuhiu and Fernando Forestieri offer those niche characteristics.

The Owls just need someone that can stick the ball in the net. Good luck finding that in a couple of months.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…

Manchester United are set to launch another bid for Wilfried Zaha as they bid to re-sign the Crystal Palace attacker, per The Sun.

What’s the word?

United signed Zaha from Palace in 2013 but he struggled under the management of David Moyes, making just two substitute appearances in the league in 2013/14. He was eventually sold back to the Eagles in 2015.

However, the report claims that United lead the race for the Ivory Coast international and that they could launch a fresh offer next summer.

Any deal would cost around £70m; Zaha, of course, handed in a transfer request in the summer amid rumours of a move to either Arsenal or Everton but ended up staying at Selhurst Park.

Lazy scouting

Surely United can do better than merely going back in for a spare part that never had any real impact at Old Trafford?

The report claims that the club are crying out for his pace and creativity but they signed Daniel James in the summer from Swansea City for exactly that purpose.

On top of that, they also have the likes of Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood. All three can be categorised as having both raw speed and creativity.

It’s easy, of course, for United to believe that Zaha would come running back at the drop of a hat because he potentially has something to prove.

And that could well be true. He made just four senior appearances for United.

But his form this season doesn’t exactly speak to a £70m asking price; he has yet to score in the Premier League and has provided just two assists.

Bringing him in would be a lazy bit of scouting from United and a potentially expensive mistake.

Ricardo Pereira has been in fine form this season and if he continues to play as he did against Luxembourg then he could cement his place in the Portugal squad for Euro 2020.

He has fierce competition for a place from Joao Cancelo and Nelson Semedo, but he has won his place on merit and many supporters were left impressed by his display on Sunday.

Only two Premier League players have averaged more tackles per game this season than the right-back, but Pereira has also made two successful dribbles per game and has two goals overall.

Watch Leicester City Videos With StreamFootball.tv Below

That shows how adept he is in both attack and defence, and is worthy of the praise that has been lavished upon him.

Some supporters thought he was the best player on the pitch against Luxembourg, and has therefore justified his selection choice after biding his time for regular involvement in the national team, having first played for Portugal 2015.

Here is how some fans have been responding to his impressive display.