Category Uncategorized

Newcastle United midfielder Jonjo Shelvey was Steve Bruce’s unsung hero in Sunday’s goalless draw with West Bromwich Albion, despite Arsenal loanee Joe Willock receiving lavish praise for his performance at The Hawthorns.

Shelvey anchored the Magpies’ engine room against their relegation-rivals as the two sides played out a drab affair, which extended the Toon’s sorry run of form to just two wins in their last 18 games across all competitions.

The result did neither side any real favours with Newcastle now just a point clear of the drop zone, albeit with a game in hand over 18th-placed Fulham while moving above Brighton and Hove Albion after the south coast side lost 2-1 at home to Leicester City on Saturday night.

Neither West Brom nor Newcastle could claim they deserved more than they took from the weekend’s result, in an encounter featuring some intent from both sides but little to no quality from either the hosts or visitors when it mattered.

The Baggies had arguably the better chances to snatch what would have been just the West Midlands outfit’s fourth win of the Premier League season, but could not make their pressure count with Mbaye Diagne only able to direct one of his four shots on target.

West Brom also delivered 36 crosses as a team as they were forced to play wide, but found their efforts thwarted by Jamaal Lascelles and Ciaran Clark in the Toon backline as they restricted Diagne to winning just five of his 15 aerial duels, per SofaScore.

Lascelles won two of his aerial contests while Clark won four, along with seven of nine ground challenges to hold Diagne to two from seven, for Sky Sports to name the centre-back duo as the stars of the visiting side.

Yet, for Chronicle Live, Willock was the Magpies’ Man of the Match having looked like the only Newcastle player capable of winning the game, and would have had it not been for Sam Johnstone denying the Arsenal loanee at his near post on the hour mark.

However, it was not Willock, Lascelles or Clark who was Bruce’s real hero but rather Shelvey, having provided a key defensive presence in the midfield battle. The former Liverpool and Swansea City star also kept Newcastle on the ball far better than United’s winter signing.

Shelvey recorded four successful tackles on Sunday, double the tally registered by Willock and from one fewer attempts, with the Gunners product dribbled past in five of his seven lunges for possession, per WhoScored.

Willock also offered half as many clearances as Shelvey (4) and made no interceptions, while the 29-year-old broke up West Brom’s play a game-high six times – three-times as often as any of his teammates, with Paul Dummett second with two.

Newcastle’s midfield play also flowed through Shelvey, with the £13m-rated beast taking 62 touches and completing 70% of his 44 attempted passes – only Clark (49) attempted a higher amount while Willock misplaced 48% of his 23 passes.

Despite being more defensive-minded in his approach, Shelvey additionally matched Willock for key passes with one goalscoring opportunity created each and shots taken (1).

Shelvey’s efforts even eclipsed the former England international’s average 1.4 successful tackles, 0.9 interceptions and 1.3 clearances per game in the Premier League this season by a considerable margin.

Bruce will have been delighted to see Shelvey thrive at such a level, given some of his performances in February were lazy and disinterested, while putting Willock in his shadow.

AND in other news, some Newcastle players want a “very good organiser” lauded by those he’s worked with to replace Steve Bruce…

After picking up a morale-boosting 2-0 win against bottom side Hamilton, Celtic entertain St Mirren on Saturday afternoon looking to pick up back-to-back victories in the Scottish Premiership for the first time in 2021.

Neil Lennon’s side are out of the title picture, with Rangers running away with it at the top, but the Hoops boss will be keen to ensure they can get some much-needed momentum going.

A home game against seventh-placed St Mirren offers them the perfect opportunity to do just that, so Lennon is likely to keep faith in many of his first-team stars.

With that in mind, below is a look at how Celtic might line up on Saturday.

In goal, Lennon sprung a surprise last time out against Hamilton by dropping Vasilis Barkas and giving Scott Bain a chance, and the 29-year-old should keep his place in between the sticks.

The back-four could be the area that sees the Celtic boss make some major changes. Jeremie Frimpong’s confirmed move to Bayer Leverkusen in mid-week has robbed the Hoops of their starting right-back, and whilst Kristoffer Ajer filled in there against Hamilton, they might be better off going with a more natural fit in there.

Anthony Ralston will surely be hoping to get his chance, and that could see Ajer move into the centre of defence alongside Stephen Welsh, with under-performing duo Nir Bitton and Shane Duffy finally dropped.

The one change in midfield could see Ryan Christie make his return to the starting line-up in place of the “very dangerous” Mohamed Elyounoussi, whilst Odsonne Edouard and Leigh Griffiths will be hoping to find the back of the net again after netting a goal piece last time out.

Predicted XI: Bain; Ralston, Ajer, Welsh, Taylor; Soro, McGregor, Christie, Turnbull; Edouard, Griffiths.

Meanwhile, Lawwell can deliver a final parting gift to Celtic with this 6 ft 1 beast…

فرض التعادل الإيجابي بأربعة أهداف لكل فريق، كلمته على مباراة الاتحاد السكندري وسيراميكا كليوباترا المثيرة التي أقيمت مساء اليوم الإثنين ضمن منافسات الدوري المصري الممتاز.

المباراة أقيمت على أرضية ميدان استاد الإسكندرية، في خضم منافسات الجولة السابعة من عمر الدوري المصري.

فيديو | الجونة يخطف تعادلًا مثيرًا من إنبي في الـ+90 بالدوري

افتتح الأهداف محمد عبد السلام للاتحاد في الدقيقة 12، قبل أن يعدل شادي حسين النتيجة في الدقيقة 14، ويعود كريم الديب ليتقدم للسكندري من جديد بهدف رائع في الدقيقة 15.

وفي الدقيقة 33 زاد كريم الديب من غلة أهداف الاتحاد بهدف ثالث، قبل أن يعود شادي حسين من جديد ليسجل هدف تقليص الفارق في الدقيقة 37، وقبل نهاية الشوط الأول سجل مابولولو الهدف الرابع للاتحاد.

وخلال أحداث الشوط الثاني، سعى فريق سيراميكا لتعديل النتيجة التي تشير إلى تأخره بهدفين، إلى أن سجل محمد إبراهيم الهدف الثالث في الدقيقة 67، ثم أحرز البديل إيفانز منساه هدف سيراميكا الرابع والتعادل في الدقيقة 87.

يذكر، أن الدقيقة 94، شهدت إهدار منساه هدفًا محققًا بعد تلقيه تمريرة متقنة من محمد إبراهيم، أعقبها انفراد محقق للاعب ذاته تصدى له صبحي سليمان، وفشل باسم مرسي في المتابعة بشكل صحيح، لتضيع فرصتي اقتناص نقاط المباراة لسيراميكا.

بتلك النتيجة يرتفع رصيد الاتحاد السكندري إلى 9 نقط محتلًا المركز التاسع في سلم ترتيب بطولة الدوري، كما يصل سيراميكا إلى النقطة التاسعة أيضًا محتلًا المركز السابع. أهداف مباراة الاتحاد السكندري وسيراميكا كليوباترا

حسم لاعب وسط الفريق الأول لكرة القدم بنادي برشلونة ومنتخب إسبانيا، بيدري، موقفه من اهتمام باريس سان جيرمان، ومانشستر يونايتد ومانشستر سيتي بضمه في نهاية الموسم.

ويعد بيدري أحد أبرز المواهب الكروية في عالم الساحرة المستديرة، وفاز بجائزة الفتى الذهبي عن عام 2021، بعد مشاركته في 73 مباراة متتالية بين برشلونة ومنتخبي إسبانيا الأول والأولمبي وكذلك جائزة كوبا لأفضل لاعب صاعد في العام الجاري من مجلة “فرانس فوتبول”.

اقرأ أيضًا.. 7 غيابات في برشلونة قبل مباراة أوساسونا بالدوري الإسباني

وتحدث بيدري عن اهتمام تلك الأندية في حواره مع صحيفة “توتو سبورت” الإيطالية، وقال: “سعيد بالبقاء مع برشلونة، لأن هذا حلمي”.

وتابع: “دعوني ألعب هنا حتى يونيو 2026، ثم سنرى، من فضلكم لقد وقعت للتو على عقد جديد مع برشلونة”.

وكان بيدري قد انتقل إلى برشلونة في يونيو 2020 من لاس بالماس وقدم مستوى رائعًا مع الفريق الكتالوني جعله ينضم على الفور إلى منتخب إسبانيا في يورو 2020 وأولمبياد طوكيو 2020.

In an exclusive interview with Football FanCast, former England midfielder Carlton Palmer has backed Harry Kane to keep on scoring despite the doubts over his deeper role under Jose Mourinho.

Spurs find themselves top of the Premier League standings going into this weekend’s north London derby and that is in large part due to the exploits of the English no.9.

After ten matches in the top-flight, Kane has so far bagged himself seven goals while also providing nine assists, mostly to attacking partner, Heung-min Son as the duo have formed a formidable and prolific partnership.

Indeed, the 27-year-old talisman has added a new dimension to his game by dropping deeper into midfield, which allows the South Korean sensation to cut inside and wreak havoc, feeding off Kane’s impressive passing ability.

He is currently averaging 2.1 key passes per game, which is more than any other Spurs player, including attacking midfielders Giovani Lo Celso and Tanguy Ndombele, via WhoScored.

Kane has already surpassed last season’s numbers, where he managed just the two assists all campaign, despite this, Palmer has made a big claim about the England captain’s ability.

He told FFC correspondent Tom Ward:

“I’m not surprised because he’s always had a few assists. I think just the way the make-up of the team is at the moment, it’s allowed him the freedom to drop off into the middle of the park or in areas to find space.

“He’s a clever footballer. He’s done that and he can pick a pass. The balance of the side allows him to do that, and it also allows him to get in the box.

“It causes a major, major problem for teams, because how do you mark Harry Kane unless you man-mark him?

“It’s not surprised me, he’s a clever footballer and everybody worries about the fact that he drops off and he won’t get his tallies of goals, yes he will.”

Palmer, who played for West Brom and Leeds United in his playing days, believes that supporters shouldn’t be worried about him covering so much ground as he’s still going to bag goals upfront as their only striker.

Kane is well on track to break further records this campaign having already beaten his previous best of seven assists from the 2016/17 season.

As Palmer says, the 6 foot 2 marksman is a “major, major problem” for teams this season and that’s mainly down the way Mourinho has gotten Spurs playing.

AND in other news, Levy can land Mourinho his next John Terry with swoop for £50m “special player”…

Speaking to Football Insider, former Premier League striker Gabriel Agbonlahor has claimed that Spurs star Son Heung-min can go to any club in the world – tipping the player to leave unless Daniel Levy ties him down with a bumper new deal. 

Son, who has been in electric form recently alongside superstar forward Harry Kane, is actually on much less when compared to his teammate – with the 27-year-old England captain taking home around £200,000-per-week.

In comparison, Son is on around £60,000-a-wek less despite contributing to an equally devastating effect under manager Jose Mourinho so far this season.

Son tipped for possible exit

Now, speaking to Football Insider, Agbonlahor has dropped a hint that the £67.5 million-valued Son could leave if Spurs fail to tie him down with a new contract.

According to the pundit, he could play for any side in world football, including four Champions League giants who have an abundance of star players already.

“If I was Tottenham I’d be putting down on a contract on whatever he wants, just to get him signed on because he can go to any club in the world,” he explained.

“At any club in the world he’d be starting, we’re talking Liverpool, Man City, Real Madrid, Barcelona he’s that good.

“Spurs will know that, Jose will know that, Daniel Levy will know that so I’m sure they’ll tie him down and he’ll be one of the highest earners for sure.”

Transfer Tavern take

Described as a ‘dream’ to work with by ex-Spur Alan Hutton, this news comes after Football Insider revealed a huge ENIC development from behind the scenes.

Indeed, according to the outlet, Joe Lewis and the ENIC group have approved of a new deal for Son, but with January around the corner, Spurs will want to tie him down as quickly as possible.

In other news: Alasdair Gold swooned over this shining light against WBA, find out more here. 

Leeds United have had a great start to their first Premier League campaign in 16 years.

The Whites have lost just one of their first four games despite facing off against two of the best teams in the league in the shape of Manchester City and Liverpool.

Marcelo Bielsa will be hoping that he can keep the momentum rolling after the international break, and in order to do that he has to pick the right team against Wolves.

Wolves won’t be an easy team to overcome and their task has been made that much harder by an injury crisis at centre-back.

Liam Cooper and Diego Llorente have both picked up injuries on international duty, so Leeds will have to operate with a makeshift centre-back pairing for this one.

We’ve had a go at predicting how Leeds will line-up against Wolves.

The first place to look is centre-back after Cooper and Llorente’s injuries.

This is a position that Leeds have already been in this season with Cooper being unavailable on the opening day of the season and Llorente not having signed by that point, and on that occasion, Bielsa looked towards Pascal Struijk to fill the gap.

We expect the Argentine to do the same again here, but whether or not this proves to be a good idea remains to be seen as Leeds conceded four the last time Struijk and Robin Koch played together.

Away from that change, the defensive spots remain largely the same, Illan Meslier, Luke Ayling and Stuart Dallas retain their spots in goal and at full-back.

The midfield has just one change as Jack Harrison comes back after being ineligible to face his parent club a fortnight ago, while there is no space for £17m man Raphinha as of yet due to Bielsa preferring to give his new signings a bedding-in period.

Up front, Patrick Bamford starts once again, with Rodrigo’s goal against Man City not enough to earn him a place back in the XI just yet.

Wolverhampton Wanderers have enjoyed a busy week of transfer activity, splashing out a club-record fee on a teenager and bolstering their backline but their latest reported move could spell trouble…

What’s the word?

According to Sport (via Sport Witness), the Molineux-based outfit are showing the most interest in young Barcelona centre-back Jean-Clair Todibo with new manager Ronald Koeman not seeing him as part of his plans this season.

They claim the Catalan giants want €20m (£18m) for the 20-year-old’s signature but they face difficulty in offloading him as he is yet to return to training having tested positive for the virus.

The 6 foot 3 colossus is described as a perfect fit for the Premier League by the same source.

Vallejo 2.0?

It’s an interesting landscape in the west Midlands right now after sporting director Kevin Thelwell departed for America, leaving chairman Jeff Shi in charge of transfers this summer.

He claimed last month that his job is “50 per cent” about recruitment. He’s signed Fabio Silva from Porto and Marcal from Champions League semi-finalists Lyon, but a new central defender shouldn’t go amiss.

However, a swoop for Todibo should be avoided despite all the promise and enamour that he’s been carrying throughout his career is yet to come to fruition.

Bundesliga.com compared him to PL great Marcel Desailly due to his pace, physical strength and technical ability whilst German legend Lothar Matthaus once said: “Todibo is the best centre-back I’ve seen in a long time. At 20 he is incredibly calm, he always finds interesting solutions.”

He’s even been likened to fellow compatriot and Madrid rival Raphael Varane.

The France U20 international has barely featured for Barcelona and even during a loan spell at Schalke, he wasn’t able to get out on the pitch much at all.

From eight appearances, Todibo averaged 2.6 clearances, 1.9 tackles and 1.9 interceptions, via WhoScored.

This move just reeks of being another Jesus Vallejo, who arrived at Molineux with similar glamour yet Nuno very rarely allowed him the opportunity and now with Marcal in the mix, he could find game time even harder in the English top-flight.

Wolves were keen back in 2018, and perhaps they were smart to miss out.

AND in other news, Wolves can’t trust Jorge Mendes over move for expensive FLOP…

Tottenham Hotspur got a glimpse of what could have been on Thursday evening as former transfer target Jack Grealish put in a masterclass during a rare start for the England national team.

The summer of 2018 saw an intense saga develop as Spurs pursued the Aston Villa skipper with the cash-strapped Midlands outfit preparing for life in the Championship.

Sky Sports claimed that the now 25-year-old was in talks over a move throughout the summer whilst The Sun believe Villa were prepared to let Grealish go for just £6m.

They were in a race against time to pay off their debt to save the club from the prospect of administration but Daniel Levy held firm and believed he could get the star playmaker for £1m to £2m cheaper, a decision that soon turned out to be costly.

The Spurs chairman boarded the club’s flight to Los Angeles for their pre-season tour that summer but by the time he landed 11 hours later, billionaire duo Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens had saved the flailing Midlanders and subsequently upped the asking price to over £40m.

Grealish is thought to be worth in excess of £80m and that valuation was placeed upon him before he signed a lengthy contract extension last month, so he could be worth even more now.

And now he continues to show Levy exactly what a disaster his stubborn call was all those years ago.

The Villa dynamo was the Three Lions’ star man as they thrashed Wales 3-0 in a friendly – per Fotmob, Grealish recorded an 88% passing success rate, won four recoveries as well as 87.5% of his duels and enjoyed one key pass.

This has merely been a continuation of his red-hot form over the past 12 to 18 months.

He tore defending Premier League champions Liverpool apart at the weekend to make it three goals and three assists from just as many top-flight matches, which builds on his respectable 12 goal contributions last season, via WhoScored – 3.3 key passes and three shots per game for Villa is an absolute joke!

This form has led to high praise from Goal.com, who wrote: “He is an extraordinary talent; once-in-a-generation doesn’t go far enough. This is a player with the close control, first touch, and head-up vision of David Silva; the weaving dribbles and foul-drawing of Eden Hazard; the swaggering charisma and omnipresence that, to Villa fans at least, recalls George Best.”

Whilst in the past, ex-Villa striker Paul Merson has lauded Grealish as a “special player” adding: “He’s the best three or four-yard passer I’ve seen in the game for a long time.”

He has even been likened to Dele Alli by current boss Dean Smith. Oh, how badly Spurs have missed out here!

The north Londoners may have moved on with the likes of Giovani Lo Celso and Gareth Bale joining the club, but it can’t be denied, Grealish is a huge talent and one that should be playing in the Lilywhite strip in N17.

This may well not be the last time that Levy has to witness exactly why his tough-negotiating can sometimes do more bad than good for Tottenham Hotspur.

AND in other news, Jose Mourinho may have found his new Scott Parker in “talented” Spurs teen…

Chelsea are on the hunt for better defensive players to help them in their bid for silverware next season. 

The Blues have identified their backline as an area of weakness and are hoping to bring in reinforcements this summer. Football Insider has linked the club to a move for Brighton’s Lewis Dunk as Frank Lampard eyes up some new centre-back options.

Chelsea aren’t hesitating when it comes to their summer spending this season, as they’ve already recruited attackers Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner. A highly-anticipated move for Kai Havertz is also due to be completed after Marina Granovskaia reached personal agreements with the German and his agent.

However, now is the time to shift focus onto how to improve the team’s leaky defence, which saw them concede the most goals out of the ten top placed teams this campaign. Kepa Arrizabalaga has been Lampard’s main issue, but with a report from The Times (via The Mirror) claiming Chelsea are looking to sell four defenders, a whole new back-line could be on the list.

The report highlights Marcos Alonso, Andreas Christensen, Emerson Palmieri and Kurt Zouma as those made available this window.

Dunk is currently valued at a friendly £18million, which is a much more appealing price that fellow defensive target Ben Chilwell, who will reportedly command more than £80m (via The Mirror).

The 28-year-old skipper has been almost ever-present in Brighton’s 2019/20 season, missing just two Premier League matches and three cup games (via Transfermarkt). The Seagulls finished seven points above the relegation zone after enduring a tough campaign, but surprisingly conceded the exact same amount of goals as Chelsea who finished fourth (54).

With the experience of leading his team plus staying calm under a lot of enemy fire, Dunk could be a great asset to Lampard’s defence. This season, the centre-back averaged more tackles (1.1) and blocks (0.9) than Zouma, who had an average of 0.8 and 0.5 respectively (via WhoScored).

As Reece James becomes more and more involved in the first team, the England international could also serve as a mentor for the youngster.

Additionally, whatever price tag Brighton settle on will likely be an affordable one, leaving money left over to spend on another defender or new goalkeeper.

Do you think Chelsea should sign Lewis Dunk? Join the discussion in the comments below!