All posts by z3u9t.icu

Sunderland are the most in-form team in League One over the last five matches.

The Mackems have won seven of their last nine games and are three points off top spot with two games in hand.

The revival under the stewardship of Lee Johnson has been incredible. He has transformed the Black Cats from a rather average looking side to one which should be competing in the Championship.

The football has improved but, more importantly, so have the results.

They now face two massive games in the space of four days. They play fellow promotion hopefuls Peterborough on Monday, but first they’ll encounter the test of Oxford United on Friday.

With football coming thick and fast, how will Johnson’s XI look? Here’s what we’re predicting ahead of today’s 3pm kick-off…

We’re tipping the manager to make two changes from the team which beat Bristol Rovers last time out.

There is a welcome boost at right-back, where Conor McLaughlin returns from international duty with Northern Ireland. He comes straight back into the XI, with Max Power moving forward into his more favoured midfield role.

Consequently, Josh Scowen drops out of the team. He was desperately poor in the win over Bristol Rovers, completing just 41% of his passes; the worst tally of any outfield player to start the game.

He only made 12 passes in the entire 90 minutes that he was on the field, missing a chance to impress with Grant Leadbitter on the bench.

A further change is in attack, where Lynden Gooch drops out. The £5,000-per-week earner is replaced by Jordan Jones, who is fit again after a muscle injury. The Rangers loanee has missed the last four outings but Johnson confirmed on Thursday that he would be in the squad.

Bailey Wright, Jake Vokins and Denver Hume are all still out. However, Hume did play in a behind closed doors friendly earlier in the week as he steps up his recovery, but this game will come too soon for the wing-back in terms of competitive action.

AND in other news, Sunderland must swoop for 25 y/o “great character”, he’s already terrorised McFadzean…

Celtic have had a habit in the last few decades of stumbling upon strikers with incredible quality.

The Bhoys famously had Henrik Larsson in their ranks, a player thought to be one of the greatest in the club’s history. Trying to live up to a talent like that isn’t easy but the Hoops have had a couple of players who have scored goals with similar regularity.

Odsonne Edouard is the current gem at Paradise. He has scored 20 goals this term and has a tally of 81 strikes in 162 outings.

Considering who the Frenchman replaced, he needed to hit the ground running after his club-record £9m arrival in 2018, but he did exactly that.

The man he succeeded was a certain Moussa Dembele. He was the jewel in the crown of Brendan Rodgers’ time in Glasgow, being hailed for his pace and power by the Northern Irishman on several occasions.

Dembele was labelled a “big talent” by Rodgers and it’s clear to see why. The Frenchman racked up 51 goals in 94 outings, playing a huge part in three successive Premiership triumphs.

Signed for a measly development fee after he was out of contract at Fulham, the striker’s value soared to £6.3m during his days with the Hoops.

Since leaving Glasgow, however, his value has risen by a considerable amount. He signed for Lyon in a deal worth £19.7m three years ago before his remarkable form in France led to an increase of 800% in his value; being worth £45m in 2018.

No one can doubt Dembele’s qualities but his value has actually fallen in recent years. After being linked with Manchester United and Chelsea in years gone by, Lyon sporting director Jean-Michel Aulas wanted a considerable €100m (£92m) for his services.

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Considering his worth to the Ligue 1 club, it was strange that he was loaned out to Atletico Madrid in January. That being said, the Spanish outfit have an option to buy the forward for €33.5m (£29m).

That’s a slight increase on his current Transfermarkt rating of £22.5m. That’s still a costly amount and shows that his worth has risen by a whopping 257% since his final days in Glasgow.

Exactly what has triggered such a startling rise? Well, 45 goals in 108 games for Lyon tells a big a part of the story.

Last season was arguably one of his most impressive yet, as only Kylian Mbappe and Wissam Ben Yedder (18 each) scored more goals in the French top flight than Dembele with 16.

Since departing the Scottish Premiership, the 24-year-old can very much be classified among the elite forwards in Europe. He is still quite young and it wouldn’t be a surprise if his value rose once again in the coming years.

A deadly finisher, Dembele has a very high ceiling, one which was aided by his development under Rodgers at Celtic.

AND in other news, Sold for £2m, now worth £25.2m: Celtic will rue terrible call on “superb” £50k-p/w gem…

In an exclusive interview with Football FanCast, Steve Bull, who scored 306 goals for Wolves during his career, has claimed that his former club doesn’t want players like Cristiano Ronaldo to sign.

Ronaldo has been linked with a move to Wolves, with his agent Jorge Mendes helping a number of his clients join the club since they won promotion back to the Premier League.

The £491,000 per week striker would join eight other Portuguese players currently on the books at Wolves, and he has been rumoured to have wanted out at Juventus since they were knocked out of the Champions League by Porto.

Speaking on how Ronaldo would be a good move but also why Wolves don’t need someone like him, Bull told FFC:

“I can’t see why he would want to come to Wolves unless it’s a publicity stunt and he’s short of money.

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“If the rumour happens then it’ll be good for the club because it’ll be a massive PR buzz around the club, but we also don’t want that because we want players to come in and play for the club and stay.”

Wolves’ last big money signing was Fabio Silva from Porto when they paid £36 million for the 18-year old wh0 has scored just twice this season.

Since moving to Juventus Ronaldo has continued to showcase his goalscoring ability having found the net 75 times across three Serie A seasons.

Frank McAvennie has slammed Alex Rae’s suggestion that Glasgow Rangers’ Ryan Kent is worth over £25m.

McAvennie slams Kent claim

Former Gers player Rae previously suggested Kent is worth over £25m (via The Daily Record).

Speaking to Football Insider, McAvennie is shocked by this claim and has shared his disagreement. He said:

“Oh my god, I’ve told him a million times not to exaggerate when it comes to Rangers players.

“He’s boosting Kent up there, it was around £8million they paid for him and he’s a good player. 

“You’re worth whatever someone pays for you. Kent couldn’t hack it in England so he came up here and fair play to the boy he’s been magnificent and you can see the talent he’s got. 

“£25million for a midfield player? I don’t know but nothing surprises me in the transfer world any more. I give up, that’s enough for me.

“I can’t see him going for £25million even if Rangers sold him tomorrow, with the rest of the season to go.”

Astonishing suggestion

It is hard not to agree with McAvennie – in what way is Kent worth £25m? The Gers paid £7.5m to take him to Ibrox from Liverpool in 2019 after a season on loan with the 55-time Scottish champions (Sky Sports). In 123 games for the club, he has 26 goals and 26 assists (Transfermarkt), which is far from a poor record. However, it is not good enough to suggest the Gers could attract a profit of more than 200%.

Clearly, Ross Wilson and Steven Gerrard value him. They turned down £10m from Leeds United last summer (RTE), and now with a Premiership title to his name, they could definitely command a slightly larger fee if they were to sell. However, as McAvennie says, £25m may be a step too far.

In other news, Kevin Phillips says this man must take a pay-cut if he wants to stay at Rangers.

According to recent reports, Tottenham Hotspur could look to bring in Gareth Southgate as the club’s new manager following the sacking of Jose Mourinho on Monday.

The report by The Guardian claimed that Daniel Levy would like to appoint an attack-minded coach as the next permanent manager of Tottenham, with the chairman thought to also be looking for a candidate with a modern outlook on the game as well as having “strong credentials” in the development of younger players.

The Guardian continued by claiming that England manager Southgate could emerge as a target for the north London club, as the 50-year-old has an “excellent relationship” with Harry Kane, before stating that the former Middlesbrough boss would be open to a return to club football.

Transfer Tavern Take

Considering that Southgate’s only previous experience as a manager in club football came during a three-and-a-half-year spell at Middlesbrough, in which he oversaw the club’s relegation to the Championship before being sacked in 2009, the argument could certainly be made that the 50-year-old may not be qualified to take over at Tottenham this summer despite coaching the national team and taking them to the World Cup semi-finals.

However, as The Guardian pointed out, perhaps the manager’s relationship with Kane could be of rather large importance to Levy, who will likely do all he can to keep the Spurs star at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this summer, with the England captain being heavily linked with a move away from the club. That could count in Southgate’s favour if he is interested in replacing Mourinho at N17.

In other news: Insider information on Spurs’ Mourinho sacking emerges; sources rubbish ‘absolutely false’ claim – find out more here!

Leicester City followed up their FA Cup semi-final success with a huge victory in the context of the race for the top four as they thumped West Bromwich Albion 3-0.

The Foxes sparkled in the first half at the King Power Stadium as two goals in three minutes from Jamie Vardy and Jonny Evans gave the hosts a comfortable lead. Kelechi Iheanacho was then on hand once again to extend that advantage and continue his electric form in 2021.

His finish was a typically predatory one, latching onto Vardy’s centre before smashing home past the helpless Sam Johnstone for his 16th goal of the season in all competitions and his 13th in his last 12 domestic appearances.

Aside from his goal, it was another hugely impressive performance from the Nigerian frontman.

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He was a constant threat throughout against the Baggies, racking up a huge eight shots according to WhoScored. For comparison, the remainder of the Leicester team had nine between them.

Iheanacho might have felt unfortunate not to add to the match ball he earned against Sheffield United a few weeks ago after he spurned a few opportunities which could well have seen him secure another treble, whilst twice being denied by Baggies stopper Johnstone.

His contributions were not limited there either – the £60,000-per-week forward also racked up four dribbles, whilst managing to win one aerial duel.

Despite it not appearing on the statistics, the former Manchester City man was also involved in Leicester’s opening goal, showing good strength and awareness to pick out Youri Tielemans, who indeed then set the Foxes away to score.

Considering his form as of late, Rodgers will certainly have been delighted to have seen another dominant performance from Iheanacho.

AND in more news, find out which other Leicester star ran riot against the Baggies on Thursday…

Former Sheffield Wednesday midfielder Carlton Palmer has told Football FanCast in an exclusive interview that the Owls’ failure to settle on one manager has cost the club this season.

While Wednesday are still in with a shot of staying up, time is starting to run out for Darren Moore’s men.

Wednesday have found themselves in the wrong half of the table all season after starting the campaign with a 12-point deduction, later halved to six, for breaking EFL spending rules. And while that has no doubt impacted them this term, Palmer believes all the chopping and changing in the dugout is what has really hurt his old side.

This season, Garry Monk, Tony Pulis, Neil Thompson and Moore have all had spells in the Hillsborough dugout under the Dejphon Chansiri regime.

When asked what has been the main issue at Wednesday, Palmer told FFC:

“I one hundred percent believe that any one of the three managers, Garry Monk, Tony Pulis or Darren Moore, [had they] been in all season, they wouldn’t be in this position. It’s just nonsense, the chairman chopping and changing.”

Indeed, Chansiri is certainly not afraid of wielding the axe. But with that approach not yielding too much success this season, it will be interesting to see if he remains with it going forward.

Sunderland head into their fixture with Blackpool on Tuesday evening looking to end a six-match winless run, with Lee Johnson undoubtedly hoping to all but secure a place in the League One play-offs with a victory for his side.

The Black Cats once again failed to secure a win against Accrington Stanley on Saturday and now face a tougher test on paper, with Blackpool fighting for a top six finish themselves.

However, a victory against Neil Critchley’s side on Tuesday would represent a huge step to securing a play-off place for Sunderland, so will Johnson make any changes from his starting XI last time out at the Stadium of Light?

Here’s our predicted XI, along with the latest team and injury news…

With Johnson having to deal with a significant number of injuries in his first team squad, the 39-year-old has some big decisions to make ahead of Tuesday evening’s CLASH. As a result, we’re expecting there to be two changes to the line-up from the game against Accrington Stanley three days ago.

The Sunderland manager will be without centre-back Dion Sanderson – who has been ruled out for the rest of the season – alongside fellow long-term absentees Jordan Willis and Arbenit Xhemajli, while Tom Flanagan and Conor McLaughlin have also been ruled out of contention for the match.

We expect there to be a change in the heart of the Sunderland defence, with 21-year-old Ollie Younger replacing Luke O’Nien. The 26-year-old has made a number of costly errors at centre-back in recent weeks, as well as averaging a WhoScored match rating of just 6.3 over his last four appearances in that role.

However, O’Nien does not drop out of the side altogether but instead replaces Carl Winchester in the middle of the park, with the 28-year-old moving to the bench.

The only other change sees 26-year-old Rangers loanee Jordan Jones come in alongside Charlie Wyke in the Sunderland attack, with Aiden O’Brien – who had a quiet game in the 3-3 draw with Accrington Stanley – making way.

In other news: £382,000 per goal: Sunderland simply must axe “humble” flop, he’s cost them for years – opinion

Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast, Frank McAvennie has blasted the Celtic squad by saying the club should sell them all.

The Hoops are 23 points behind Rangers in the league after their 4-1 thrashing on Sunday, whilst they suffered an embarrassing League Cup exit to Ross County and crashed out of the Scottish Cup to the Gers earlier this month to ensure their first trophyless season since 2009-2010.

Celtic have already confirmed that captain and legendary midfielder Scott Brown will be leaving for Scottish Premiership rivals Aberdeen, whilst Mohamed Elyounoussi, Shane Duffy, Diego Laxalt and Jonjoe Kenny will all return to their parent clubs.

Meanwhile, Leigh Griffiths, who’s scored more than 100 goals in a Celtic shirt, hasn’t been offered fresh terms and is out of contract this summer, with his deal expiring in two months’ time.

When asked who should be sold this summer, the former Celtic striker told Football FanCast:

“I think the whole team. Ajer is going to go, he’s got to go, I like Jonjoe Kenny, but I can’t see him staying. Luckily, the team is going to break up.

“These guys have done great, but it’s time to move on and that whole team has got to go. From the keeper to the centre-forwards, they have got to go. It’s the same old faces.”

Gary Neville has described Marcelo Bielsa as ‘exceptional’ following Leeds United’s impressive return to the Premier League.

The Lowdown: Leeds excel on Premier League return

The Whites secured promotion back to the top flight last year and they have shone in their first year back in the big time, sitting 10th in the table and taking points off the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham.

It is Bielsa’s influence which has been the key to the Whites’ success, and Neville has been left hugely impressed by the Argentine.

The Latest: Neville lauds Bielsa

Speaking on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football [via Leeds All Over], the former Manchester United defender showed his appreciation for Bielsa, but stopped short of giving him his Manager of the Year prize. He said:

“To be honest with you, Bielsa at Leeds, absolutely exceptional performance.

“But I would still go with Tuchel or Guardiola, because to win the Champions League and the league and the Carabao Cup, which Pep could do, that takes some doing.”

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The Verdict: Leeds’ most important figure

As mentioned, Bielsa is perhaps the key reason that Leeds have enjoyed such a glorious period, with the 65-year-old transforming matters on and off the pitch since taking charge in June 2018.

He has got the Whites playing some of their most entertaining and effective football in decades, also connecting with the fans in a manner similar to Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool, often being seen around town living a normal life.

The fact that Leeds are 10th in the Premier League – which would be their highest finish since 2002 – speaks volumes about Bielsa’s quality, with promoted clubs often battling the drop. Fulham and West Brom, who both came up with the Whites last summer, have both been consigned straight back to the Championship.

If Bielsa hasn’t been the standout manager this season – there are a number of valid contenders, in fairness – he is certainly not far away from being given that accolade. Neville is right to speak highly of the Argentine’s work at Elland Road.

In other news, a pundit has talked up the idea of Leeds signing a left-back this summer. Find out who it is here.