All posts by h716a5.icu

[ad_pod ]West Bromwich Albion suffered a 3-1 defeat at Derby County on the final weekend of the 2018-19 regular Championship campaign.The loss was obviously disappointing, but did not mean too much for the Baggies, who have finished fourth and will therefore face Aston Villa in the semi-finals of the playoffs.Jacob Murphy – on loan at West Brom from Newcastle United – again started in the final third of the field, appearing alongside Dwight Gayle and Jay Rodriguez.However, it was a tough afternoon for the 24-year-old, who has replaced on the hour mark when the score was actually 1-0 to the visitors at Pride Park.It will certainly be interesting to see how involved the 5 ft 10 ace is in the playoffs.By the reaction of the West Brom fans, though, the majority do not want to see the attacker named in the starting XI for the remainder of the season.Who are the best away fans in the Championship? Pl>ymaker FC’s Thogden gives his top 10 in the video below…A selection of the Twitter discussion can be seen below:

[ad_pod ]Frank Lampard has secured Derby County a spot in the playoffs in his first year of management, with his reward two legs against Leeds United for a place in the final.

Gary Lineker has rightly praised Lampard for getting Derby into the top-six, beating the likes of Middlesbrough and Bristol City to sixth place.

The Chelsea legend has used his contacts at his former employers to bring in Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori on loan, but also signing experienced Championship striker Martyn Waghorn has proved to be inspired as he has bagged eight goals.

Lampard has found a lovely balance within his Rams side, with a good blend of talented youngsters and experienced Championship players, such as Richard Keogh and Scott Carson.

He could have replaced these with younger maybe more talented players but Lampard realised the importance of keeping wise heads around.

The season has not been plain sailing for Derby with poor defeats against Millwall, Aston Villa and Blackburn Rovers.

However, now he has achieved his aim of taking Derby to the playoffs, can he go one step further and return the Rams to the Premier League?

David de Gea has posted his feelings on Instagram and he expressed his sadness at losing a player of Valencia’s experience.

The Ecuador international responded:

This translates as “Brother, thank you very much, I’m also going to miss you, you’re amazing.”

De Gea and Valencia have been playing together for about eight years and have clearly developed a very close friendship in that time.

Valencia was a great player but his legs have gone in recent years and, though though experienced and determined, wingers had found it increasingly easy to get past him.

The former Wigan man joined as a flying right winger for £16m and played in that position until Louis Van Gaal arrived and signed both Memphis Depay and Angel Di Maria.

Valencia was converted into a right-back as a result, where his physical prowess and speed made him perfect for an overlapping role.

Valencia was then made club captain by Jose Mourinho in 2018 and has won six major trophies with the club. He leaves having made 339 appearances, scoring 25 goals and registering 62assists.

It will be interesting to see how Solskjaer replaces Valencia but surely Diogo Dalot deserves a chance to make the Manchester United right-back spot his own.

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Arsenal fans on Twitter have been discussing former star Santi Cazorla, in the wake of the 34-year-old’s reinstatement to the Spain national team for the first time since 2015.

After enjoying a hugely successful spell at the Emirates, Cazorla was allowed to depart on a free transfer last summer and ended up joining his former club, Villareal.

Devastating injuries leading to 11 operations and 668 days on the sidelines nearly curtailed the Spaniard’s career, but a tremendous renaissance at the Estadio de la Ceramica has seen Cazorla called up to the national side for this summer’s Euro 2020 qualifiers.

Six consistently phenomenal years in England saw Cazorla became a cult hero in north London as he popped up with huge moments such as the sublime free-kick to ignite Arsenal’s 2014 FA Cup final revival against Hull City.

Whilst Cazorla’s career had seemed dead prior to his Arsenal departure, the last 12 months has continued to demonstrate his undeniable quality leading many Arsenal fans on Twitter to yearn for his return.

Check out the best of the reaction to Cazorla’s big news below!

Liverpool fans are in a strange position ahead of this summer. The Reds did a lot of their much-needed business last summer, bringing in a top goalkeeper and a reliable defensive midfielder as well as cover for the front three in Alisson, Fabinho and Xherdan Shaqiri. However, this summer what they need is a lot less clear.

There have been far fewer rumours linking players with an Anfield switch this summer, although there have been a few talks of a left-back coming in deputise for Andrew Robertson, and this report from The Daily Mirror is looking at the possibility of bringing in Ryan Sessegnon from Fulham. The youngster is a boyhood Kopite and whilst the Cottagers want £40 million for him, he shouldn’t cost that much.

When Fulham went down a lot of clubs will have turned their heads to have a look at Ryan Sessegnon’s situation, and The Mirror have reported that alongside Liverpool the likes of Manchester United, Tottenham and Juventus are all looking at throwing their names into the hat to sign the versatile left-sided ace. He may not be as good as Andrew Robertson, but he can provide cover for the Scot and is certainly better than Alberto Moreno.

You can read the Reds’ verdict on Sessegnon here:

The Reds seem keen on swooping for Sessegnon and who can blame them given his age and his incredible potential.

Manchester United and Liverpool are more than likely going to be on opposite ends of the spectrum in the transfer window in terms of the amount of business needing to be done.

While United will be looking to complete a massive summer overhaul, Liverpool will be keen to keep their squad together and will surely only look to tinker if the right player becomes available.

One of the players that both clubs are being linked with a move for though is Real Madrid midfielder James Rodriguez, who has been disappointing in his spell with Bayern Munich, dramatically seeing his stock drop since his breathtaking 2014 World Cup campaign.

The Colombian is undoubtedly a massive talent, but here in the Tavern, we feel that both United and Liverpool need to be wary of snapping up the 27-year-old.

This last season saw him net only seven times in a massively successful Bayern side, and with the German giants not wanting to keep hold of the Madrid man, there has to be some questions asked about just what is holding Rodriguez back from fulfilling his huge potential as a footballer.

At 27 though, he should be coming into the prime of his career, but something is just not quite sitting right with him. This should be of particular concern for United, who are looking to bring in players of suitable character to their squad who want to play for the club and prove themselves. There is an argument to be made that Rodriguez might only choose a move to Old Trafford purely for financial benefit.

Liverpool on the other hand may well need that bit of extra quality, but is Jurgen Klopp going to be able to get the maximum out of Rodriguez? It is a question which can only be answered obviously going forward.

Either way, the Colombian is a risky signing for both clubs given his salary and track record in the last few seasons.

Celtic fans, it’s been yet another amazing season, hasn’t it? Yet another treble, their third successive and sixth in history was confirmed as they overcome Hearts at Hampden, although it could have some devastating consequences. After the game, Neil Lennon was offered the permanent job at Parkhead, and it could cost them in the long-run.

We already know that Celtic are hardly a force in the Champions League, and whilst Lennon may have given them a night to remember in Europe’s top competition with that famous win over Barcelona, he just isn’t the man to take them forward. Despite winning the treble this season, the Bhoys bowed out of the Champions League at the 3rd qualifying round, and under Lennon, that’s happened before.

The furthest that the Bhoys have ever got in the Champions League under Neil Lennon is to the round of sixteen. On two other occasions, the Hoops failed to make it even to the group stage of the competition, falling in the 3rd qualifying round, and should Lennon take up the permanent job the fans can give up on making it into the group stages of the Champions League.

The chances are that if the Hoops want to make headway in Europe then it will have to be in the lesser competition, the Europa League. Unfortunately, even in UEFA’s second string competition, the Bhoys have struggled to make it very far and now it looks like their European hopes are well and truly over, at least until they look to bring in a new manager when Neil Lennon ultimately leaves again.

Do you think you’ll succeed in Europe, Celtic fans? Let us know!

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West Ham United fans on Twitter have been left disappointed by the big news that their club will face La Liga side Athletic Bilbao in the annual pre-season Betway Cup at the London Stadium this year.

The former Champions League outfit will make their first trip to east London since 2000 on Saturday 3rd August to contest the one-match competition which the Hammers beat FC Mainz 05 to win for the first time prior to the 2018/2019 campaign.

It’s the first time the Betway Cup has been held at home since the stadium-opening Juventus clash of 2016. However, some West Ham supporters were far from happy after the announcement.

Many of their arguments centred around the calibre of the opposition as they would have preferred it to have been of the Paris Saint-Germain ilk or a team they have a cult-connection with such as Lazio. And it appeared that was going to be the latter up until recently.

Check out what the Pl>ymaker FC squad got up to at the Football Blogging Awards in the video below…

One member of the Claret & Blue Army took aim at the East Londoners’ ability to organise a high-profile friendly properly, with one more commenting “underwhelming” and another simply posting a crying emoji.

Check out the pick of the West Ham fan reactions below…

Fresh from their Champions League success, Liverpool will be hoping to mount another push for the Premier League title having narrowly missed out to Manchester City last season.

Obviously, City somehow pipped the Reds to the Premier League title by a single point in a mesmerising two-horse race between the nation’s finest.

There’s absolutely no doubt in our mind that Klopp will be looking to build on his first trophy as Liverpool manager with a smattering of domestic success in the upcoming season, and if he manages to keep his key players fit and firing – namely Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk – then there’s literally no reason they can’t achieve their goals.

…that is, unless they drop points in these two ‘nightmare’ fixtures

Manchester United vs Liverpool: Saturday 19 October 2019

Don’t get us wrong, we haven’t included this fixture because we think United stand much of a chance beating Liverpool.

Rather we’ve highlighted it because: 1) it’s at Old Trafford and while that doesn’t mean all that much against the smaller teams nowadays, the crowd can really get going for Liverpool, and 2) Liverpool have one won once in the previous ten Premier League encounters (losing five times, drawing four times and winning one).

Even with Liverpool’s recent upturn of form accounted for, they’ve drawn three of the last five, dropping valuable points in the process.

As we’ve seen this year, two points can make all the difference.

Manchester City vs Liverpool: Saturday 4 April 2020

No surprises here, really.

Manchester City were the only team to beat Liverpool last year, and this Goliath victory was achieved in their own back yard, the Etihad, which is conveniently where this showdown will take place.

Why is it so important? Well, if we need to answer that question, we’re a little worried.

If the upcoming contest is anything like it was this year, it could be a case of City and Liverpool running ahead of the pack whilst everyone else tries desperately to keep up. Dropped points will be the equivalent of picking up muscle cramp 20 yards before the finish line and being unable to complete the race. And this could well be the mother of all cramps for whoever loses.

Liverpool fans, do you agree with our selection? Let us know in the comments below…

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Last season was disappointing from a West Brom perspective as the Baggies failed to seal promotion to the Premier League. During the season, Darren Moore was relieved of his duties, leaving the managerial position vacant. Fortunately for WBA fans, today’s transfer roundup features an update in regards to the dugout. Also included are potential European moves for two strikers.

Bilic agrees deal

According to the Daily Mail, Slaven Bilic is set to become the new Albion manager. The former West Ham boss has reportedly agreed a three-year deal with the club having not worked in English football since the disappointing end to his spell at the London Stadium.

Rondon approached by Fenerbahce

Salomon Rondon is the subject of an offer from Fenerbahce according to Aksam via Sports Witness. The Venezuelan has reportedly been offered €4m (£3.6m) a season to become the club’s new numbers nine, with both Roberto Soldado and Islam Slimani, who returned to Leicester following the end of his loan spell, having recently left the Turkish giants.

Barca after Barry

Spanish juggernauts Barcelona are interested in taking West Brom youngster Louie Barry to the Nou Camp according to the Sun. The striker is just 15 years old but has impressed as part of the Baggies’ U18 team. He turns 16 in June, which would make him eligible for a move abroad.