All posts by n8rngtd.top

Carlo Ancelotti has revelaed an injury blow for Everton ahead of their game away at Brighton and Hove Albion in the Premier League on Monday.

The Italian has confirmed that the former Barcelona ace is not available to play against Graham Potter’s men as he has sustained a ‘small problem’.

Everton could miss Gomes

Gomes is a solid player in the middle of the park for Everton and more often than not keeps things ticking over in the heart of the midfield.

The 27-year-old, currently earning £140,000 per week at the Toffees, averaged no fewer than 45 touches of the ball per game in the Premier League so far in the 2020/21 term, roughly one every two minutes, and is also able to move with the ball well, having averaged 1.3 successful dribbles a match (Sofascore).

Former Premier League striker Darren Bent even went as far as to describe Gomes as a ‘Rolls Royce’ on the ball when speaking in December of last year.

The Portugal ace also does his bit to help out the Merseysiders defensively, winning 3.9 of his duels per match and also averaging 1.3 tackles a game (Sofascore).

Nonetheless, the Blues will have try and find a way to win against the Seagulls without the stricken 27-year-old.

In other news, find out why Alex Iwobi was ‘shocked’ at what one Everton star did against Crystal Palace!

According to a report by reliable Tottenham Hotspur correspondent Alasdair Gold, the club have set a timeframe for appointing a new manager with chairman Daniel Levy aiming to make an announcement before the end of this season.

In a major update, Gold has shared potentially when Tottenham could be making the big decision of who to hire after sacking previous boss Jose Mourinho.

Gold drops major managerial update

There have been plenty of names thrown into the mix even after blows in regards to chasing Julian Nagelsmann and Brendan Rodgers, with the former announced as Bayern Munich’s new manager and the latter likely to stay put at Leicester (Sky Sports).

Gold, dropping an encouraging update, believes the aim is to appoint a brand new boss before the end of this season to avoid a long, drawn out process heading into the summer.

“Understand Spurs are aiming to announce their next manager before the end of this season,” explained the journalist on Twitter.

“So just over three weeks to get that done and dusted.”

Transfer Tavern take

While they haven’t given themselves much time, Tottenham could still be considered a big job by many coaches and there are no shortage of possible candidates.

Indeed, Erik Ten Hag appears to stand out among the plethora of names given his profile suits that of a manager Levy wants to hire.

It is said that Spurs are chasing an attack-minded coach and the Dutchman’s Cruyff-esque philosophy certainly suits fits that mould (AS).

The leap from Eredivisie football to the Premier League could be a big one, but there is little doubt Ten Hag displays plenty of promise.

In other news: This 47-year-old apparently wants the job, find out more here.

Rangers have been linked with both Jerry Yates and Jonson Clarke-Harris in recent weeks, but which of the two would be the best addition to Steven Gerrard’s side at Ibrox this summer?

Jerry Yates

According to The 72, Rangers have joined the race to sign the Blackpool forward this summer, with Nottingham Forest, Bristol City and Blackburn Rovers having all previously registered an interest in the 24-year-old during the January transfer window.

Since joining from Rotherham United last summer, the 24-year-old has established himself as a key player in Neil Critchley’s side and has been one of the most prolific forwards in the division so far this season, with 18 goals in 38 league appearances.

Yates has enjoyed decent loan spells with Carlisle United and Swindon Town in recent seasons but struggled to make the grade at Rotherham in the Championship, with just five goals in 52 appearances there.

Jonson Clarke-Harris

According to Football Insider, Rangers have been scouting Clarke-Harris this season and were in attendance for Peterborough’s 7-0 demolition of Accrington Stanley recently, with the in-form striker notching a hat-trick.

The 26-year-old frontman has since taken his tally to 27 league goals in 40 appearances ahead of the weekend’s derby clash against Northampton, and he looks well on track to earn the top scorer award in England’s third tier this season.

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Clarke-Harris is more than just a goalscorer, though, and has earned many plaudits for his build-up play with Peterborough this season, with Kevin Phillips praising his “phenomenal” campaign whilst also suggesting that he can offer something Alfredo Morelos doesn’t due to his aerial threat.

Who would be better?

As can be seen in the graphic above, Clarke-Harris has clearly had the edge over Yates this season and would be much more of an aerial threat in Gerrard’s side than the Blackpool man, as he wins significantly more aerial duels per game.

With both Blackpool and Peterborough looking strong contenders for promotion to the Championship this season, Rangers may have to wait until the end of the campaign before deciding between the two transfer targets from a financial perspective, as promotion would surely see the respective clubs raise their asking price for their star attackers.

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However, from a purely footballing perspective, Clarke-Harris looks to have the edge over Yates and would likely offer something different in Gerrard’s side, so Ross Wilson should focus first and foremost on bringing the Peterborough man to Ibrox this summer.

In other news… Ross Wilson must avoid disastrous repeat over “positive” gem after manager’s transfer claim 

It would’ve been a hard decision to make at the time, but Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy played a blinder in selling Mousa Dembele when he did.

The Belgian midfield enforcer joined Spurs from Fulham in 2012 after the north Londoners activated his £15m release clause, and it’s fair to suggest that they got plenty of value for their money.

Levy would go onto cash in on Dembele six-and-a-half seasons later, managing to secure a whopping £11m, meaning that Spurs only lost out on £4m.

It can be argued that the 33-year-old was one of Spurs’ greatest-ever midfielders of the Premier League era, as he was a colossal presence in the middle and came on leaps and bounds under Mauricio Pochettino.

Plenty of managers have lavished high praise on him in the past. Martin Jol, the ex-Spurs boss who managed him at the Cottagers, claimed he was among the finest players he’s ever coached. He said back in 2012:

“We’ve had a few players over the last few years who are a class above. Dembele is probably the best player on the ball I’ve ever seen.”

These words echo comments from Pochettino several years later, who wrote in his book that the Belgian was one of the “genius” players he has been lucky enough to meet, as he said [via talkSPORT]:

“I always tell him, ‘Mousa, when I write a book, you’ll be one of my genius players I have been lucky to meet,” before adding: “One was [Diego] Maradona, then Ronaldinho, [Jay-Jay] Okocha and [Ivan] De La Pena. He is a genius too, Mousa Dembele. We always told him, ‘If we had taken you at 18 or 19 years old, you would have become one of the best players in the world.’ I would have loved to have taken him on at 18.”

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Across those six-and-a-bit seasons, Dembele regularly ranked amongst Spurs’ best-performing players. The only two occasions he dipped below a 6.9 WhoScored rating were in 2014/15 – a season riddled by injury – and 2018/19 – his final six months in the capital.

That’s when Levy delivered a masterstroke once again. He knew exactly when it was time to move on from the long-serving Hotspur favourite. Once averaging over 2.5 tackles and dribbles per game across multiple seasons, his final season saw him regress to just 1.3 tackles and 0.7 dribbles per match, via WhoScored.

Perhaps injuries took a toll, perhaps it was an age thing, but either way, the box-to-box beast hadn’t been the same player that year and, aged just 31, he was moved on.

It would have been far too easy to let Dembele see out his career in N17, where he was simply adored by the Tottenham faithful.

That decision is looking more and more justified by the day, even if it did take until this summer to finally replace him (Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg). Still in the money-laden Chinese Super League, Dembele is now worth just £1.35m, as per Transfermarkt.

AND in other news, Levy’s fury: Spurs passenger continues to crash under Jose, his value has dropped 45%…

Many fans of West Ham United have been reacting to a post on Twitter in which ExWHUemployee discussed the performance of match official Jonathan Moss over the weekend.

Following Sunday’s 3-3 draw with Arsenal, a game in which West Ham threw away a 3-0 lead against their London rivals, David Moyes (speaking in his post-match press conference) claimed that the fixture was “tough for the players” due to the level of the officiating, as well as stating that there was a “general feeling of disappointment with the officiating” amongst his squad.

Indeed, the Scot and his players were left furious with an incident towards the start of the second half of the fixture, when Moss did not allow West Ham to play the advantage as they were mounting a promising break against the Gunners.

After ExWHUemployee took to Twitter stating his belief that Moss was “very poor” in the fixture, many fans of the Hammers flocked to have their say on the matter, with plenty also left furious with Moss’ “shameful” refereeing performance.

So, what exactly did these West Ham United fans have to say in reaction to Jonathan Moss’ display in the Arsenal fixture?

“I hate to say it because I feel like it’s so often, and people think it’s an excuse but the number of times we get so many poor refereeing decisions is an absolute joke. I thought he was so Arsenal-biased today in that 2nd half. Either way 3-0 up and not winning, no excuses.”

@dinnerman46

“Jon Moss? Referee? League One standard at best. Wasn’t it he who from the tranquil VAR room was a party to Soucek’s sending off? What head injury caused him to stop the game so quickly when we were 2 on 2 for 4-1? The Premier League is the best in the world with 2nd rate refs, not even mentioned on Sky.”

@SS1Mac

“Moss was in charge of VAR when Soucek was wrongfully sent off. He shouldn’t set foot on another Premier League pitch. He’s lost the plot.”

@Tonymorley2000

“There are too many substandard officials in the PL and we seem to get most of them – Mason, Moss and Dean to name but 3!”

@ricklovell6

“It’s literally like someone phoned him at half time and said you have to go against West Ham.”

@jakechandler17

“Ref was shameful.”

@zl__al

“Ref was a disgrace. No surprise there.”

@LeeJB1970

“Sack him.”

@schmid_regan

In other news: these West Ham fans flocked to a claim from ExWHUEmployee – find out more here!

Speaking to the press via the club’s official website, Tottenham interim manager Ryan Mason has confirmed that Ben Davies will miss the Sheffield United clash this evening and is still out through injury. 

The defender, who has been absent since suffering a ‘significant’ injury blow on international duty with Wales, will again be missing for Tottenham after also being unavailable for the Carabao Cup final last weekend.

Mason confirms Tottenham injury news

In terms of progress, Mason has remained cryptic in regards to when the 28-year-old could return to action for Tottenham and hasn’t really provided anything in terms of his current state.

“In terms of injuries, it’s the same as last week,” explained Mason (via tottenhamhotspur.com).

“Ben Davies is the only one out injured at the moment. Matt Doherty has been training since last week. He had a period of time out injured, but he’s back with the group and has trained all week.

“Harry is fine in terms of the injury. He was disappointed (after the final), like all of us. It hurts us, players, coaches, everyone associated with the Club. Harry is a top professional, like the whole group.

“We’ve trained hard, trained well and we’re prepared for the weekend.”

Transfer Tavern take

Davies started this season brightly, with pundit Darren Bent even calling him a ‘standout’ player in the team at one point (via The Boot Room), but 2020 summer signing Sergio Reguilon has arguably been the better of the two overall. The Spaniard has a greater tackling and interceptions average than his left-back teammate, along with providing more assists (via WhoScored).

Nonetheless, with Spurs still having a shot of qualifying for Europe next season, Mason will be hoping to have Davies back as an option quite soon, especially with tough away games versus Leicester City and Leeds United on the horizon.

In other news: Spurs could now turn to this ‘exceptional’ boss after a ‘fresh blow’, find out more here.

In an exclusive interview with The Transfer Tavern, Rob Lee, who made 280 Premier League appearances, believes that if Tottenham Hotspur signed Jerome Boateng from Bayern Munich, it would be a big gamble.

Boateng is set to be a free agent this summer and he has been linked with a move to Spurs to try and help solve their defensive problems, which have held them back for large parts of this season.

The 32-year old, who has won 26 major trophies in his career, has had a spell in the Premier League with Manchester City during the 2010/11 season where he ended up making just 24 appearances before being picked up by Bayern Munich, so he wouldn’t be a total novice to the league.

Speaking on why Spurs should think carefully before signing Boateng and what the centre back may struggle with if he comes to the Premier League, Lee told The Transfer Tavern:

“I still worry about older players coming to the Premier League because they can be great players, but the Premier League is so different and there are no easy games, every game is a tough one.

“Boateng has been a great player for Bayern Munich and he’s played at the top level so he’s got the ability, but it’s just a case of will he come in and be able to perform, so I think it’s a gamble.”

The German international has been a mainstay in the first-team this season, however Hansi Flick has often rotated between Boateng, Niklas Sule and Lucas Hernandez, although Sule is currently nursing a muscular injury.

The 32-year old has been recognised as one of the best defenders in the world during his time with Bayern Munich which has seen him win 24 trophies with the Bavarian club.

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Tottenham fans have taken to Twitter to discuss Ryan Fredericks’ performance for West Ham against Liverpool on Monday night, after the English right-back put in an excellent shift to help his side snatch an unlikely point against the league leaders.

The 26-year-old, signed from Fulham in the summer, helped limit the Reds’ goalscoring chances, whilst also proving to be a good attacking outlet on the overlap – this was key, as it helped nullify Andrew Robertson’s usually dangerous impact going forward.

Fredericks is a fantastic modern-day full-back, who possesses an abundance of pace but is physical enough to deal with most wingers, and Tottenham fans were certainly made to sit up and take notice of their former youth player’s performance.

Be sure to check out the incredible story of the man who rose from a Tanzanian refugee camp to become one of Australia’s biggest football stars in the video below…

Spurs have a bit of an issue at right-back currently, with both Serge Aurier and Kieran Trippier struggling for form and Kyle Walker-Peters still relatively inexperienced, so they were keeping a very close eye on how their ex-starlet fared against Jurgen Klopp’s side.

In that respect, Fredericks’ fantastic performance prompted some Spurs fans on Twitter to call for their club to sign him…

Former Leeds United striker Noel Whelan believes that Nicolas Tagliafico would be an excellent signing for the Whites should a deal be completed this summer.

Left-back could be an area of the pitch in need of reinforcement, with Ezgjan Alioski looking almost certain to leave Elland Road at the end of the season. Leeds have been linked with new signings in that role, including Crystal Palace’s Patrick van Aanholt, but Tagliafico is being regularly tipped to join at the moment.

The 28-year-old has been a key performer for Ajax in recent seasons, playing in their run to the Champions League semi-finals two years ago, and he also made four appearances for Argentina at the 2018 World Cup.

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Whelan keen on Tagliafico joining Leeds

Speaking to Football Insider, Whelan talked up the idea of Tagliafico becoming a Leeds player:

“Look, Marcelo Bielsa will have a fantastic idea of the qualities he could bring given that he is an Argentina international. The scouting network have also probably had an extensive look at him.

“He is at a great club in terms of the style of football. Ajax have produced so many great players and developed so many great players over the years. It does not surprise me to hear that we are looking at him.

“Bielsa could bring his game on a lot I’m sure. He is a box-to-box player who has played a lot of Champions League football as well so it does not sound like a bad signing!

“He has lots of experience at the top level so he is definitely worth a punt. Get him in.”

Transfer Tavern take

In many ways, Tagliafico looks an ideal man to bring in, with the Argentine possessing international and Champions League experience, as well as still being young enough to be a key player. Last week, Whelan told Football Insider that he feels the 28-year-old “would fit the bill for Leeds”.

He has an ability to both get forward and defend solidly – he has three assists in the Eredivisie this season and is averaging two tackles per game – making him an ideal man for Marcelo Bielsa to sign.

A fee of £13m has been mooted recently, and while that isn’t cheap for a 28-year-old left-back, Tagliafico’s pedigree speaks for itself. He certainly seems a worthy transfer target for Bielsa and the Elland Road club.

In other news, Leeds are believed to be eyeing up a summer move for an international winger. Find out who it is here.

Ralph Hasenhuttl has seemingly been handed a huge boost at Southampton ahead of their trip to West Brom on Monday night, with Kyle Walker-Peters set to feature despite an injury concern.

The right-back’s fitness for the game against the Baggies was in doubt after Hasenhuttl confirmed in his pre-match conference that the former Spurs man had a problem with his leg.

However, Hampshire Live journalist Tom Leach has since tweeted a photo of the young defender in training, claiming that he has shaken off that injury in time for the game on Monday evening.

Walker-Peters, who reportedly earns £23k per week at Southampton, has been a regular in Hasenhuttl’s side since making the permanent switch from Tottenham Hotspur during the summer.

In 22 top-flight appearances, the 23-year-old has averaged a solid 6.92 rating for the Saints, which ranks him as the fifth-best performer in Southampton’s side so far this season.

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It was noticeable how much the Saints struggled earlier in the season when Walker-Peters was sidelined through injury, with Jan Bednarek unable to get forward anywhere near as much as his teammate when played out of position at right-back.

The defender was missing for the defeats against Manchester United, Leeds United, Newcastle United, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Everton before returning for the game against Sheffield United, where Hasenhuttl’s side were able to end their barren run with a 2-0 win at Brammall Lane.

Therefore, it is a huge boost that he will likely be fit for the game against West Brom on Monday, where three points would surely bring an end to any relegation fears for the Saints this season after their impressive comeback against Burnley last weekend.

As well as his attacking threat, Walker-Peters has looked superb defensively this season, averaging 2.8 tackles per game in the top-flight, which is the second-best of any Saints player to feature at least five times.

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Southampton have definitely been at their best this season when Walker-Peters has been fit, so Hasenhuttl will undoubtedly be delighted that the defender will seemingly be available for selection at the Hawthorns on Monday night.

And, in other news… Bye-bye Bertrand: Saints can repeat KWP masterclass by signing £9m-rated gem