All posts by n8rngtd.top

Everton fans have taken to Twitter to express their admiration for Theo Walcott, which has not happened much since his £20m signing from Arsenal in 2018.

The love for Walcott comes after he had one of his best performances in an Everton shirt when the club beat West Ham United 2-0. The Englishman was pivotal in the win, assisting Bernard’s goal and claiming the highest rating on the pitch at 8.1, as per WhoScored.

The forward was a thorn in Manuel Pellegrini’s side all afternoon and came desperately close to recording one of the goals of the season in the second half. Walcott smashed a volley from distance and rattled the crossbar, as keeper Roberto was clearly beaten.

Fans are now heaping the praise on the 30-year-old and are hoping that he continues in this current form. Some supporters have claimed he is back to his best, whilst others are suggesting he can “help get us back up that table”.

These kind and positive words from Everton supporters are in stark contrast to the constant criticism he has received since his arrival. However, this time around, fans are finally showing their love for the forward and here’s what some have had to say…

Everton fans are once again targetting Marco Silva for his treatment of summer signing Moise Kean. The Italian arrived from Juventus for £25.1m and has barely been given the chance to have a continuous role in the side, starting just two league games.

Kean did start the win against Watford on Tuesday, but the 19-year-old was missing throughout and once again failed to make an impact on the game. The former Juventus man had just 14 touches and made only three passes against the Hornets.

As a result of yet another poor display, Kean was brought off after 45 minutes in a match that should have been his chance to shine. However, fans have hit out at Silva after believing he needs to start as a centre-forward and not a winger.

The supporters have now expressed their desire to see him up top with one fan reminding the club that he played just “9 minutes on the wing for Juve”. Indeed, as the games recorded by Transfermarkt show, Kean started every game as a centre-forward, scoring seven goals from that role.

Some supporters are now calling for him and Dominic Calvert-Lewin to start up top, and most fans do seem to believe Kean is wasted on the wings. Here’s what a select few had to say…

Arsenal fans on Twitter are far from happy with Unai Emery’s usage of Nicolas Pepe in their 1-1 draw with Wolves on Saturday.The Ivorian winger was left on the bench for the whole match against the Midlands club, and despite Arsenal chasing a goal late in the game, he opted to leave him on the sidelines.Watch Arsenal Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Instead, the Spaniard opted to bring Bukayo Saka and Sead Kolasinac on in the second half, and some fans were baffled by his choice of substitutions.

While some fans were unhappy about Pepe not being brought on, others were fuming that he was even on the bench to begin with as he’s looked much improved in recent weeks.

Indeed, the former Lille man netted two vital goals for the Gunners in their last Europa League match, but he’s been left on the bench just a week and a half later.

In the end, Arsenal dropped points, and the supporters believe that it is at least partly down to Emery’s poor utilisation of the £72m man.

Here’s what Gunners supporters have been saying on Twitter…

West Ham reportedly want two January recruits with a defender and a striker thought to be highest on the agenda.

That strategy has left some fans puzzled and frustrated, as they feel midfield is – and has been – an area which has required improvement for some time.

Declan Rice and Mark Noble have a fixed place in the side but there is a lack of strength in depth in that position, with other midfielders such as Jack Wilshere and Carlos Sanchez too frequently out injured.

Watch West Ham United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

The pair managed a combined total of just 16 appearances last year, and therefore Manuel Pellegrini was unable to rest or rotate players in the middle of the pitch.

Though Rice and Noble are popular figures at the club, some fans feel they could be improved upon, with one supporter crying out for the club to recruit a ball winner.

Doing so would likely improve the Hammers defensively and could act as a boost halfway through the season.

Here are some of the reactions calling on the club to focus on improving the midfield…

Barcelona are currently still a wounded animal as the Catalan giants are struggling with their form.

Their last game saw them take only one point away from Slavia Prague in a match that ended up as a goalless draw at the Camp Nou. A couple of days before that, Levante had taken all the spoils of war in a La Liga clash Ernesto Valverde will soon want to forget.

Watch Spanish Football Videos With StreamFootball.tv Below

Seeing how there are simply no margins for error left for the Blaugrana, a strong performance is expected this weekend against Celta Vigo, a team currently with problems of their own, seeing how they’re sitting in 18th place and battling to stay afloat.

And it would also not be a stretch to say Valverde might want to deploy his strongest line-up in order to get back to winning ways.

With that in mind, here’s what we think his gala XI should look like come Saturday night:

Marc-Andre ter Stegen is a constant that rarely changes for the Catalans.

The German goalie has proven time and time again how vital he is for this squad and dropping him seems almost as unlikely as it would be for Valverde to drop Lionel Messi.

The backline will have to be changed slightly. Jordi Alba is currently out injured and for that reason, despite some questionable management by the coach, Junior Firpo should finally be getting his ticket back into the squad.

Gerard Pique and Clement Lenglet should complete the centre-back pairing and the defensive line of Barcelona should be finalised with Nelson Semedo at the right-back position.

Arthur Melo was rested mid-week and we could very well see his return to the line-up this weekend. The young Brazilian midfielder has been one of the stand-out performers throughout the 2019/20 and his omission from the team-sheet would really be a big surprise if he is fit and ready to go.

The same can be said for Frenkie de Jong and Sergio Busquets as they should accompany Arthur and form the midfield trident for the Catalans.

Up front, the team is still without Luis Suarez but in his stead, Valverde should be looking to deploy a trio of Ousmane Dembele, Antoine Griezmann and, of course, Messi, just as he did in the previous clash.

This starting XI would only see two changes from the one that faced Slavia Prague on Tuesday so we should not expect any major tweaks from the Basque coach.

Let’s see what he ends up doing on Saturday night.

A number of Newcastle United fans have taken to social media to lavish praise on the performance of Allan Saint-Maximin in Saturday’s Premier League clash with Bournemouth.

The 22-year-old is still waiting for his first goal for the club but there is no getting away from the fact that he contributed to his team’s 2-1 win over the Cherries.

According to WhoScored, before being replaced in the final exchanges, Saint-Maximin had two shots, completed four successful dribbles and made two tackles.

He is a threat with his pace and power even if the end product isn’t always there.

And many of the Newcastle fans were impressed with the performance of the attacker, who scored 11 times in 74 games for Nice ahead of a switch to St James’ Park.

Things are starting to look up at Newcastle courtesy of back-to-back wins, and the club’s supporters seem to have found a new hero.

A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:

Having signed Wesley from Club Bruges for a club-record transfer fee, Aston Villa would no doubt have been hoping that he would come in and lead the line up top in their return to the Premier League.

Unfortunately for Dean Smith, the Brazilian hasn’t fired on all cylinders as of yet, and has seemingly struggled to adapt to the pace and intensity of English football. The 22-year-old has struck just four times, but it is certainly a big ask to want him to try and score the goals to keep them up this year.

And after watching Chelsea outcast Olivier Giroud net once again in international colours with France on Thursday night, Villa fans took to Twitter to urge the club to sign him.

Many supporters insisted the veteran would be the perfect signing for them, and that he would be able to mentor Wesley over the coming months.

Some fans insisted that due to his experience of playing in the Premier League, the 6 foot 4 man could come in and do a job for them straight away.

Check out some of the reaction of Villa fans below:

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

No season is predictable or straightforward, and thank goodness for that, but this term more than most appears to be hard to wrestle down and made sense of. Liverpool’s blistering start is hardly a surprise given they lost only once in 2018/19 yet surely even the most ardent Red couldn’t have expected Jurgen Klopp’s creation to be this consistently formidable.

On the flip side to that, few pundits backed Tottenham to make any significant inroads towards a title challenge after a summer of discontent and while nursing an appalling away record that stretches back to last January. But did anyone realistically anticipate that Mauricio Pochettino’s project would so spectacularly unravel to the point in which the Argentine would be sacked and replaced by Jose Mourinho in a desperate bid to salvage a stuttering season? No, us neither.

If these two examples are the headline-grabbers, elsewhere there is an abundance of other surprises that impel the collective scratching of heads. Wolves last year were superb; well-drilled and effervescent and rightfully they were perceived by many to be one of the outstanding success stories by the season’s end.

This time out however – possibly distracted by a Europa League campaign – they have been far less impactful, underwhelming by and large with a propensity to draw games they would have ran away with twelve months earlier. Yet despite sharing the spoils in 58% of their league games and generally flattering to deceive Wanderers are higher in the table than at this stage last year. Make of that what you will.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s men reside a point above Crystal Palace, a club who have experienced just as much false advertising only for them it’s made up of the entirely positive kind. If you believe the press the Eagles are flying high, with Roy Hodgson defying the critics and with a team enjoying a ‘fantastic start’. Yet closer inspection of Palace’s opening few months reveals their flag is only half mast.

From 1080 minutes of Premier League football the South London club have scored precisely four goals from open play. That’s right, four. Their overall goal difference meanwhile is twice as bad as Aston Villa’s despite the Villans hovering fourth from bottom.

So high are the rafters to which Palace have been praised it feels almost sacrilegious to suggest they are struggling but to do likewise with Everton would leave us on safe ground surely? After all, Marco Silva’s job is apparently on the line each and every week as the Toffees disappoint and under-perform.

How is it then that during November’s international break Everton are just three points off fifth?

West Ham’s sudden amnesia as to their potency is another peculiarity.

Blessed with such attacking brilliance and ingenuity deriving from Manuel Lanzini, Andriy Yarmolenko and Felipe Anderson, the Hammers were banging out hit after hit until late September.

Then a storming 2-0 win over Manchester United led to a free fall that simply cannot be accounted for. Now a side that was very easy on the eye and heading for a top six spot is utterly moribund having failed to pick up three points on seven occasions. Oh and they got hammered 4-0 by Oxford in the EFL Cup. It is strange times indeed at London Stadium.

Lastly, it is not only results and league placings that baffle. Unai Emery may be getting some stick right now for presiding over some mixed Arsenal performances but at least the Spaniard always encourages good open football right? Right? Yet even though the Gunners have enjoyed 54% of possession overall in their fixtures this term they are the ‘dirtiest’ team of them all, with 27 yellows and a dismissal.

Who would have thought it? Well, us actually because nothing about this plain odd season surprises us anymore.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

If you had concerns over the fitness of Raul Jimenez they’d be entirely justified.

The bustling Mexican has had a brutal 2019 and heading into Wolves’ match with Bournemouth this weekend, he’ll have played a whopping 58 times.

During that period the £31.5m-rated striker has netted 32 goals in what has undoubtedly been the best form of his career to date.

The forward struggled to hit the ground running in the top-flight this term, finding the back of the net just twice in his opening eight matches. However, he’s looked rejuvenated in recent weeks, scoring three in four outings.

He’s firmly back to his best after a campaign where he finished as Wolves’ top scorer.

But of the 30 goals he’s scored in the old gold, only two of those have come after an international break. Since he arrived in England, there have been seven if you include the one we’re currently witnessing.

The 28-year-old’s form and indeed Wolves’ paints a worrying picture after these breaks take place.

From six matches played after their players have been on international duty, they’ve won just once and conceded a huge 12 goals.

Five of those came this season in what was a rare thrashing at the hands of Chelsea. Their only win was after their first break back in the Premier League – a 1-0 victory over Burnley in September 2018.

Coincidentally, that is the only time Jimenez has scored after being away with Mexico. The forward scored against Southampton in a 1-1 draw after October’s break but fortunately, he’d been granted rest and didn’t travel to play for his country.

Ex-Wolves physio Paul Darby expects Jimenez to be fit enough for this weekend but he will once again have been through a rigorous two weeks.

He’ll return on Thursday and it’s expected it’ll take a full 48 hours for him to recover, just in time for their meeting with Eddie Howe’s men.

However, it takes 12 hours to travel from Mexico City to Birmingham International, something that could leave Jimenez fatigued.

This has clearly been the case in the past where Nuno decided against fielding him in a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Burnley back in March.

Given the number of games he’s played this calendar year, the fear of burnout is a rightful one. There has been a recurring theme when it’s come to Wolves’ and Jimenez’s poor form after international breaks.

They’ll be hoping and praying it doesn’t continue.

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

According to The Mirror, Mikel Arteta is a target for Everton as they eye up Marco Silva’s possible successor should he depart Goodison Park.

However, Moshiri and co will have to act quickly if they do indeed want to bring the former Toffee back to Merseyside.

What’s the word?

Marco Silva has proven to be a troubled figure in the dugout this season as mixed results have plagued their campaign.

A woeful 2-0 defeat against Norwich looks as though it could be the final nail in the coffin for the Portuguese as Everton now sit 16th, just four points above the drop zone.

A host of targets have reportedly been lined up but according to The Mirror, Mikel Arteta is one of them. The 37-year-old made 209 appearances as a player for Everton but he isn’t the only ex-Toffee on their radar.

David Moyes also appears to be in the running, alongside Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe.

Must act quickly

There is a degree of sense to Moshiri biding his time with a new manager – especially after the failed reigns of Sam Allardyce and now Silva.

However, if Everton want to land Arteta they’ll have to act incredibly quickly. This would go away from the tactic the Toffees board have seemingly put in place but it could be worth it.

After all, this is a coach that’s been given glowing reviews by two of the most successful managers to have graced the touchline.

Back in May 2018, Arsene Wenger had the following to say about the Spaniard: “He was a leader, has good passion for the game, knows the club and knows what is important at the club. Overall he has the qualities [to be a manager].”

Meanwhile, Pep Guardiola has also been full of praise for a man who is currently his assistant at Manchester City. He commented this week:

“But I think that the holding midfielder is an incredible lesson during your period as a football player. You don’t need to go to school. More than that he is an incredible human being and works a lot. I said after a few months together he would be a manager. He is already a manager – he behaves like a manager.”

Those comments say a lot about the type of man Arteta is, but with Arsenal lurking, it might not be easy to prise him away from City so soon.

The Gunners held talks with the former player before hiring Unai Emery last year while it’s been reported that they could be willing to re-enter the market for his services in the near future.

That could be a major stumbling block in any plans Everton have to bring him back to Merseyside. If Moshiri wants him, sacking Silva now and moving imminently for the Spaniard would be wise.

If Arsenal part ways with Emery, he may not be available for too much longer.

Meanwhile, check out how Everton fans responded to reports linking them with a return for David Moyes…