Some Manchester United fans may not have been jumping off the ceiling when the club signed Nemanja Matic from Chelsea, but it is safe to say that he has won over some doubters after making his debut on Wednesday night.The Serbian, whoÂThe TelegraphÂclaimed was Jose Mourinho’s third choice in his hunt for a midfielder, started United’s pre-season friendly against Sampdoria.Matic played 45 minutes at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, and as well as impressing on the pitch, the 29-year-old showed somewhat of a caring side.During the game, the midfielder’s stray ball hit a woman in the face, and he made sure to check that she was okay before continuing.
Overall, it was a good showing from the former Chelsea man, who could line up for the Red Devils in their opening Premier League match against West Ham United next Sunday.
After Matic’s performance in the 2-1 victory for United, fans took to Twitter to give their verdicts on the midfielder.
Southampton defender Ryan Bertrand tweeted for the first time in more than two months on Monday night, stating that he was on his way home to catch up on the popular television series, Game of Thrones.
According to The Express, the 28-year-old is one of three Saints players that is a target for Chelsea boss Antonio Conte before the transfer window slams shut at the end of this month, with fellow defenders Virgil van Dijk and Cedric Soares also on his list as the Italian looks to strengthen in the wing-back positions.
Bertrand has started the south coast outfit’s first two Premier League games of the season but he seemed far from happy in the 3-2 win against West Ham United at St Mary’s at the weekend, trudging straight off down the tunnel at the final whistle despite the last-gasp winner from Charlie Austin.
Chelsea supporters were quick to respond to the England international’s social media post, with many hoping that the fact that he was on his “way home” means that he could be set for a Stamford Bridge return.
Manchester United star Paul Pogba is not simply regarded as a talent on the pitch, he is also seen as an influential figure in the club’s transfer dealings.The France international nicknamed himself ‘Agent P’ after Romelu Lukaku completed a move to Old Trafford from Everton earlier this summer.While Pogba most likely did not have a hand in the negotiations, his friendship with the Belgian international would have certainly helped.Now, the midfielder, who rejoined United from Juventus last summer in an £89m deal, has used his nickname again to promote a video with Zlatan Ibrahimovic.Perhaps the 24-year-old is suggesting that he had a hand in convincing the former Sweden international to sign a new one-year contract with the Premier League giants.
Ibrahimovic scored 28 goals in 46 appearances in all competitions last season, but his campaign ended in disappointment when he suffered a serious knee injury.
As a result, United opted not to trigger a one-year extension, but now that the striker is eyeing a return to action in the winter, the Red Devils have re-signed him.
Arsenal’s performance in their 4-0 defeat against Liverpool provoked anger and frustration from supporters, sections of the media and club legends.
Arsene Wenger’s team selection and tactics were heavily criticised as he started rumoured want-away midfielders Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Alexis Sanchez but left the club’s record signing Alexandre Lacazette on the bench.
Would a different Arsenal starting XI be able to turn the tables on Jürgen Klopp’s side? To help us answer that question we turned to Football Manager and replayed the fixture with a variety of tactics.
Here’s how it unfolded…
Lacazette = Goals
The decision to bench Lacazette was one of the most criticised aspects of Arsenal’s defeat. The French striker has seen 196 minutes of action in the league this season with a return of one goal, which happened to come in the season opener against Leicester.
Against the resolute Stoke defence the previous week, Lacazette had been relatively ineffective but Liverpool’s more porous defence should have given Lacazette more of a chance to have an impact on the game. As it turned out, by the time that he was brought on Arsenal were already 3-0 down and disharmony was spreading through the ranks.
In our virtual rematch Lacazette was a key focal point in our attack, linking up well with Mesut Özil and Olivier Giroud as our 5-3-1-1 formation proved effective at stretching Liverpool’s defensive line and cutting off their supply chain to their dangerous attacking players.
Our faith in Lacazette was rewarded with a brace and the Man of the Match award as the Frenchman grabbed a goal either side of half-time to put us in the ascendancy.
Defensive Discipline
While Arsenal were poor in front of goal last Sunday (they failed to register a single shot on target) their defensive performance was, frankly, woeful.
Perhaps the most glaring example of this was in the build-up to the opening goal when both Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Aaron Ramsey were distracted by something on the sidelines as Liverpool worked the ball into the box for Roberto Firmino to score. They were branded ‘cowards’ by Jamie Carragher in the immediate aftermath of the match and generally showed a lack of desire and organisation throughout the 90 minutes.
To help keep things tighter at the back we recalled Sead Kolašinac – also benched on Sunday – in place of Oxlade-Chamberlain, with Bellerin and Kolasinac swapping flanks and sitting slightly deeper as wing-backs. The theory was that we would be able to use Bellerin’s pace to help us on the attack but had Kolasinac as cover if Liverpool hit us on the counter.
It worked superbly bar the occasional misplaced pass from the central midfielders and Rob Holding mistimed a couple of tackles that gave Firmino a run on goal.
We could do nothing to prevent Liverpool’s only goal of the contest as Georginio Wijnaldum pounced on some uncertainty amongst our central defenders to head home from a corner. Set pieces were the main source of worry for us as Cech was called into action on three occasions over the course of the match because of our inability to win the first ball during a set piece.
Thankfully we were able to reduce the amount of Liverpool set pieces to a handful.
FM Score: Liverpool 1-2 Arsenal Conclusions
Arsenal’s display on Sunday combined with the possibility of losing two or three players before the end of the transfer window without much prospect of making additions to their squad means that morale amongst the Arsenal faithful has sunk once again. We saw last season how the negativity from sections of the crowd affected the players at key moments and Arsene Wenger has a job on his hands to prevent that happening again.
Urgent improvement at the back is required but Wenger needs to inject some passion and desire into his squad if they’re to mount any sort of challenge on the Premier League summit.
Lacazette’s link-up play with Özil was a key factor in our victory on FM but we also addressed some of the tactical errors that Wenger made in his team selection. If he continues to pick players who seemingly have one eye on the Emirates’ exit then he can expect more criticism from the fans and the media, more negativity around the club and more calls for his resignation.
West Ham finally got their season on track on Monday evening following a 2-0 victory over Huddersfield Town at the London Stadium, easing the pressure on manager Slaven Bilic.
The Hammers had lost their opening three Premier League matches, including a trip to Newcastle United, and fans of the Tyneside outfit had their eyes on one player in particular during last night’s clash in East London.
Andy Carroll, who left St. James’ Park for Liverpool in a £35m move that led to a troubled spell for the England international, is still thought of fondly in the North East and many fans took to social media last night to open their doors for a return.
It’s certainly not beyond the realm of possibility considering the Hammers brought Javier Hernandez to the club this summer to be their star striker and Andre Ayew also remains an option, having scored the second goal of the game for the Hammers last night.
Ashley Williams has paid tribute to Mason Holgate following the England Under-21 international’s impressive performance during Everton’s 2-1 win over Bournemouth at the weekend.
Everton looked to be heading for more disappointment when Joshua King sent Bournemouth ahead in the second period of the clash at Goodison Park, but a late double from Oumar Niasse saw the Toffees record a big three points.
Injuries to Michael Keane and Phil Jagielka saw Holgate handed a centre-back position against Bournemouth, and Williams has hailed the 20-year-old for his performance against two of the most dangerous strikers in the Premier League.
Williams told EvertonTV:
“Mason was comfortable and did very well on the ball. King and [Jermain] Defoe are two of the most difficult strikers to mark (in the Premier League), so I thought he had a really good game.
“It is not an easy position for a young player. It is unforgiving. If you make a mistake, the opposition normally score. King is one of the most powerful strikers in the league – and Defoe is Defoe! I thought Mason did excellently against them.”
Holgate joined Everton on a five-year contract from Barnsley in the summer of 2015.
The versatile defender has mainly operated at full-back during his time on Merseyside, but it is understood that the Englishman sees himself as a centre-back.
Everton will now switch their attention to the Europa League as they prepare to face Cypriot outfit Apollon at Goodison Park on Thursday night.
He may have been widely revered as one of the most exciting young players in Europe last season but Bernardo Silva’s had to wait for his chances since moving to Manchester City in the summer.
In fact, the Portugal international has made only three starts in all competitions thus far, totalling just 347 minutes, with the likes of David Silva, Leroy Sane, Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling ahead of him in the pecking order.
But the 23-year-old certainly hasn’t let himself down during his cameo outings for the Citizens and he reminded everybody of what he can do last night, in Portugal’s 2-0 win over Switzerland.
Silva, who Transfermarkt value at £36million, capped off an impressive performance by supplying namesake Andre Silva for the European Champions’ second goal – one of four chances he created throughout the 90 minutes, the most of any player on the pitch.
But what will have perhaps impressed Pep Guardiola more was Silva’s industry off the ball, making the most tackles of any Portugal player and the joint-most of any player for either side.
We often praise Guardiola’s teams for their attacking venom and creative flair, but that wouldn’t be possible without the energy they use to win the ball back – something Silva’s performance last night suggested he’s more than willing to do as well.
With City facing eleven fixtures before the end of November in three different competitions, Silva looks ready to take up a more significant role in the first team.
Everton caretaker manager David Unsworth handed a first-team debut to Beni Baningime in the 2-1 EFL Cup defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night, and Toffees fans were impressed with what they saw.
The 19-year-old started alongside Tom Davies and James McCarthy in the middle of the park for the Merseyside outfit with Morgan Schneiderlin absent through illness, and he quickly made a big impression in Unsworth’s first match in charge following the sacking of Ronald Koeman on Monday.
The DR Congo starlet’s highlight came when he put in a crunching tackle on 17-year-old Blues man Ethan Ampadu, while he also looked generally composed in possession.
Everton supporters were quick to have their say on his performance via social media, and while some said he was “class”, others told the club to “get Schneiderlin on the transfer list” as he won’t be needed in the future.
Liverpool will look to get back to winning ways in the Premier League when they host Huddersfield Town at Anfield on Saturday, but Reds fans are worried that Dejan Lovren will start against the Terriers.
The centre-back has struggled for form this season and he was taken off after just 31 minutes in the 4-1 defeat against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley last Sunday following another miserable performance at the back.
However, Jurgen Klopp doesn’t have a huge selection of centre-back options available to him right now with Joe Gomez and Ragnar Klavan the only real choices to slot in alongside Joel Matip at the heart of the defence, meaning the Croatian could take his place in the team once again for the visit of David Wagner’s side.
Liverpool supporters were quick to have their say on the out of form 28-year-old via social media, and while some said they had a “terrible feeling” he would be playing, others said “if Lovren starts I won’t bother watching”.
According to reports in the Hull Daily Mail, Aston Villa have joined Hull City in the race to sign out of favour Leicester City forward Ahmed Musa, who cost the Foxes £16m in the summer of 2016, during the January transfer window.
The Tigers tried to sign the 25-year-old towards the end of the summer window as their boss Leonid Slutsky knows Musa well having managed him during the duo’s time with CSKA Moscow, but the attacker decided to stay and try and fight for his place at the King Power Stadium.
However, the Hull Daily Mail now says that after one appearance in all competitions this term – in which he found the net – the Nigeria international, who is valued at £15.3m by transfermarkt.com, is considering his options again, and he could be open to leaving either in January or next summer with Hull and Villa both keen.
Meawnhile, Steve Bruce’s side find themselves in sixth position in the Championship standings heading into the busy festive period, and he may look to strengthen his squad in the New Year to ensure they win promotion back to the Premier League this season.
Here are three reasons the Midlands outfit must win the race to sign Musa…
Pedigree
CSKA Moscow’s Ahmed Musa (C) celebrates with his team mates after scoring against PSV Eindhoven during their Champions League group B soccer match at the Arena Khimki stadium outside Moscow, Russia, September 30, 2015. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov Picture Supplied by Action Images
With more than 60 caps for Nigeria and 164 appearances (including a number of Champions League outings) for CSKA Moscow prior to his move to Leicester, there is no doubt that the 25-year-old would be a hugely exciting addition for any Championship club.
While things may not have worked out for him at the King Power Stadium so far, the attacker has shown previously that he can perform at the highest level and perhaps he just needs a regular run of games – something he has never really had with the Foxes – in order to show what he can do.
54 goals for the Russian outfit and two against Argentina at the 2014 World Cup prove his finishing ability, and those extra goals could be the difference between Villa securing a spot in the top two or having to settle for a play-off spot at the end of the season.
Pace
Villa look to be a strong Championship side right now, but they still lack a little pace throughout their team and signing Musa would certainly help to solve that issue.
While the likes of Jonathan Kodjia, Robert Snodgrass and Keinan Davis have become key players in recent weeks especially, Steve Bruce’s side usually rely on Albert Adomah to provide the speed and direct running in the final third.
However, Musa would certainly give opposition defenders a huge problem with his acceleration and ability to take defenders on and he could help to boost Villa’s goal tally.
Point to prove
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Having failed to make a single Premier League squad this season Musa will certainly have a huge point to prove if he does join another club either on loan or on a permanent basis, once he has regained his match fitness.
The 25-year-old will want to prove that he can be a success in England if he does move to a Championship side like Aston Villa, and he will also know that he needs to perform to keep his place in the Nigeria squad ahead of the 2018 World Cup in Russia next summer.
That is something that would benefit Villa, and he could prove to be an unplayable figure for them in the second-half of the campaign.