All posts by n8rngtd.top

Fans of Aston Villa have been reacting to a post on Twitter, in which the club confirmed the appointment of Mile Jedinak as a part of Dean Smith’s backroom staff at Bodymoor Heath.

In a short statement on the Villa website, the club confirmed that Jedinak – who made 80 appearances for the club as a player over a three-year spell at Villa Park, playing an important role in the club’s 2018/19 promotion-winning campaign – will be taking up the role of Loan Player Development Coach at the club.

In addition to confirming Jedinak’s return, Villa also revealed that Adam Henshall has been appointed as the club’s new Head of Emerging Talents & Loans.

And, after Aston Villa relayed news of these appointments on Twitter, fans of the club flocked to have their say on the matter, with many appearing delighted at the prospect of Jedinak being a part of the Villa setup once again.

So, what exactly did these Aston Villa fans have to say in reaction to Mile Jedinak’s appointment?

“Oh yes.”

@avfc_jf

“More key work behind the scenes looking after our future.”

@StephenArnold78

“Fantastic to see Mile still involved in the club.”

@BobBobb70447781

“Wow!!! Planning, that’s a novelty…”

@onmyshoe

“Love to see it.”

@liamhaddon1

“Great news.”

@BoysieBaldock

“Mile omds.”

@jlancaster0

In other news: Loads of Aston Villa fans called for this £42k p/w ace’s summer exit – find out more here!

Manchester United have been handed positive injury news with Marcus Rashford having avoided a serious problem.

According to Sky Sports, the England forward has only sustained slight bruising and swelling on his ankle so should only be out for a maximum of one match.

There was a slight worry that the Red Devils star may have been out longer having been forced off following a tackle in Manchester United’s 2-0 victory against Manchester City last weekend.

Despite the concern, United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer praised Rashford as “he sacrificed himself” for the result at the Etihad Stadium. The news will, of course, be welcome for the Norwegian as the season enters a critical stage as he will be able to rely on one of his star performers.

Rashford has been in brilliant form throughout the 2020/21 campaign -he’s currently in the midst of one his most productive seasons at Old Trafford to date.

In 43 appearances in all competitions, he has hit 18 goals whilst providing a further 12 assists.

He has also been one of Solskjaer stalwarts having appeared in every single match in all competitions so far this season.

Whilst the ankle problem could keep him out of Thursday’s UEFA Europa League last-16 first-leg against AC Milan at Old Trafford, the fact that he should be available for a number of key matches will thrill his manager.

Before the end of the season, the Red Devils are set to face West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool and Leicester City – all surely pivotal clashes in the race for the top four.

They also continue their challenge on multiple fronts with both the UEFA Europa League second-leg against Milan and an FA Cup quarter-final face-off with Leicester City still set to come.

With Rashford having avoided a long lay-off, Solskjaer will surely be overjoyed.

AND in more news, read why a big-money move for Tottenham’s Harry Kane has to be Manchester United’s priority this summer…

When Sunderland face Fleetwood on Tuesday evening, they will do so full of confidence.

They swatted fellow promotion hopefuls Doncaster to one side in recent weeks, and their win over Burton demonstrated that the Mackems truly have the wind in their sails.

On the chalkboard

Lee Johnson won’t want to make too many changes to the side that beat the Brewers so comfortably at the weekend.

However, if he is thinking of making a change, then he must drop one specific player to the bench again. That happens to be Southampton loanee Jake Vokins.

The left-back has had a pretty torrid start to life at the Stadium of Light and to date, his temporary spell has been a difficult one. Roker Report said it was hard to picture many worse Sunderland debuts after the 2-2 draw with MK Dons and he’s looked unconvincing ever since.

He was at fault for the second goal during the defeat to Shrewsbury and misplaced a succession of passes in the win over Burton.

It eventually saw him hauled off in the second period in place of a man who simply has to start on Tuesday night.

The solution

The answer to their woes with Vokins lay at the feet of another loanee; Jordan Jones.

The winger has only played six times and started twice since his move south of the border from Rangers, but he’s caught the eye in his minimal time on the pitch.

He was hailed for his efforts by supporters after his cameo off the bench last time out and as his fitness grows game by game, he could become a force to be reckoned with.

Jones was only on the field for 23 minutes against Burton but managed three key passes – the second-highest number of anyone in a Black Cats jersey. On top of that, he finished the clash with a pass success rate of 100%.

You only need to heed words from Glasgow Live reporter Mark McDougall to understand what he can offer: “In all honesty, he should stroll League One if his attitude is right when he goes down there. He’s two-footed so can go inside or outside and has pace to burn.”

The journalist added: “He can be a joy to watch when he’s on his game because of how direct and tricky he is.”

Johnson has already extracted similar qualities from Aiden McGeady in recent weeks so it’s exciting to see what he could do with Jones.

He needs to be unleashed on Fleetwood, not just because of his individual attributes, but because Vokins is struggling down the left.

AND in other news, 1 goal in 15 games: SAFC ace who left Parkinson fuming has been a passenger for months…

Speaking exclusively to FootballFanCast, former Premier League ace Rob Lee has slammed Arsenal star Willian.

The £220k-a-week earning star joined on a free transfer from London rivals Chelsea in the summer transfer window, and enjoyed a superb debut for Mikel Arteta’s side by assisting two goals in a opening day 3-0 win over Fulham.

Since then however, things have gone downhill for the Brazil international, with the 32-year-old still yet to score for the club and only adding one more assist to his total.

That has seen the winger drop out of the starting line-up in recent weeks, with the likes of Bukayo Saka and Nicolas Pepe firmly ahead of him in the pecking order on that right-hand side.

And when asked about how Willian has done this season for Arsenal, Lee delivered a scathing verdict on the Gunners’ summer signing.

He said: “Awful. For someone of his ability, you can see why Chelsea didn’t want to give him a long contract. Could have been Frank’s (Lampard) decision or could have been someone else’s decision, but you can see why they weren’t going to give him a longer contract.

“Willian has got so much talent and so much ability, but again, I don’t know, he just seems he’s not bothered. If he plays great, then great. But if he doesn’t, then not really bothered.”

The idea that Willian hasn’t been particularly bothered at Arsenal this season echoes the kind of problems the Gunners have had with Mesut Ozil, who also has that similar languid style – in fact, The Athletic recently claimed that “some feel that, not unlike Ozil, Willian is not helped by his relaxed body language”.

With the Gunners’ young guns like Saka and Emile Smith Rowe showing the way in recent weeks, Willian’s performances have just been scrutinised even more. And given he still has more than a couple of years left on his contract, it feels like a bad signing already.

Meanwhile, Arsenal could sign another Kieran Tierney in this starlet…

Arsenal travel to Everton on Saturday evening looking to snap a torrid run of form that has seen Mikel Arteta’s side claim a sole win in their last nine Premier League fixtures.

The Gunners’ results have helped to capitalise their worst start to a season in 46 years, and languish in 15th place ahead of travelling to Goodison Park where Carlo Ancelotti’s Toffees are flying high and can move within the Champions League places with a win.

Everton will be fancying their chances of claiming only a second victory over Arsenal since the start of 2017 when the two sides meet at the weekend, having lost five and drawn one of their prior seven top-flight meetings.

But Ancelotti will be unable to name a full-strength line-up after injuries to several key players in recent weeks. So, with that in mind, here’s an XI the Italian could favour…

Ancelotti has confirmed that goalkeeper Jordan Pickford will return to his position between the posts when Everton host Arsenal on Saturday, after benching the England international for AS Roma loanee Robin Olsen at Leicester City during the week.

The decision was purely tactical as Ancelotti sought to keep his options well rested ahead of the hectic festive schedule, and always intended to favour Pickford at home to the Gunners no matter how well 42-cap Sweden colossal Olsen fared at the King Power Stadium.

“Just to rotate the players and keep him involved. He’s a serious professional, good goalkeeper with experience and that’s it. Saturday will be Jordan in goal,” Ancelotti said.

Everton’s makeshift backline of central defenders Ben Godfrey, Yerry Mina, Michael Keane and Mason Holgate all stood up to the task of keeping Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester quiet during the midweek encounter, so would expect to start once more on Saturday evening.

However, Ancelotti has confirmed that full-back Seamus Coleman is in line to make his return to Goodison Park following a reoccurring hamstring injury that has prevented the 32-year-old from featuring in Everton’s last five fixtures, likely at the expense of Holgate.

Ancelotti faces question marks over who he fields in midfield for the visit of Arteta’s Gunners to Goodison Park, too, after losing Allan for a “period of matches” after being forced off with a hamstring injury at the King Power Stadium.

Tom Davies should be the man who Ancelotti looks favourably upon to replace the summer arrival from SSC Napoli, having trusted the Toffees product to serve a similar role against Brighton and Hove Albion in October after losing Allan through injury.

Gylfi Sigurdsson will be heading into the Arsenal affair after one of his better performances of late, and will expect to join Abdoulaye Doucoure, Alex Iwobi, Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin in retaining their starting roles from the Leicester win.

AND in other news, an £18m-rated Everton ace once an automatic pick for Carlo Ancelotti faces a huge hurdle to regain his place at Goodison Park.

If losing Harry Kane to injury last season taught Tottenham anything, it’s that they need more personnel on their attacking roster. As the club push for their first ever Premier League title, a solid back up for the England international should be high Jose Mourinho’s shopping list.

Spurs currently only have loan signing Carlos Vinicius to cover Kane, which isn’t good enough for an elite side on the hunt for silverware. Desperate times like these only highlight deals from the past that turned out to be wrong in hindsight. One of them is Daniel Levy’s decision to let Fernando Llorente leave last year.

Llorente was a loss for Spurs

Looking to bolster their options up front, Spurs paid £15million to sign Swansea’s star player in 2017. Thanks to Llorente and Gylfi Sigurdsson – who also left the club at the end of the 2016/17 season – the Swans survived relegation. The striker netted an admirable 15 goals, finishing in the top ten highest goal scorers for the campaign.

Despite a slow start to his career in north London, Llorente showed flashes of brilliance and ended his tenure with 13 goals and six assists in mainly cameo appearances (via Transfermarkt). And although he played second fiddle to Kane, Mauricio Pochettino was a big admirer of his. So much so that when the Spain international joined Napoli on a free contract last summer, the former boss was left seething when they were trumped by the Italians for his signature.

That certainly would have caused friction between Pochettino and Levy and could have potentially added to the Argentinian’s shock departure just months later. Fans were left distraught when their beloved manager was given the sack and they were frustrated with Levy over his decision to let Llorente go.

It seems despite his clever deals like signing Dele Alli for £5million, the Spurs chairman isn’t squeaky clean when it comes to his business decision. This is definitely up there with some of the club’s major faux pas.

In other news, Dele Alli situation could brew storm between Daniel Levy & Jose Mourinho…

After making his breakthrough in the 2018/2019 season when he made his full Premier League debut against Chelsea, Sean Longstaff hasn’t kicked on some would have hoped at Newcastle.

It even led to then Magpies boss Rafa Benitez saying he deserved a call-up to the England boss, insisting: “Sean wouldn’t look out of place with England, there are not too many young English players with his quality. I think he will go, he’s doing well and playing in the Premier League. I like to see my players going to the national team.”

But fast forward more than a year, and Longstaff has yet to move forward, with this season seeing him play just 13 minutes of football in the Premier League – two games even saw him fail to make the match-day squad.

After handing him a rare start against Blackburn Rovers in the Carabao Cup back in September, Steve Bruce admitted that Longstaff has got a lot of work to do to get back to his best.

He said: “Sean is in the last two years of his contract – we all know what capabilities he’s got he’s got to show it more often and more regularly. He’s got a lot of work to do, but he’s got healthy competition around him and as I said, he was another one who needed a game tonight and I think that showed.”

Bruce also added that he thinks the 22-year-old’s long-term future could be in the number ten role, and that’s something that tallies well with what former Scotland international, Kris Boyd, has said.

Hilariously obscure Premier League players – Can you name them all?

World Class score: 95% | Expert score: 80% | Veteran score: 65% | Intermediate score: 45% | Amateur score: 30% | Try Again: 5%

He declared: “Sean Longstaff is a throwback. He is willing to take risks. He is a midfielder who is willing to take a shot, willing to try that forward pass. He might lose it five times out of six but he is prepared to do that because he knows that the sixth time it might lead to the goal that wins the game. He is always on the front foot and that’s what I like about him.”

With Jonjo Shelvey out injured, Newcastle need one of their brightest prospects to really step up to the mark. If he can get back to his best, then he could be the kind of game-changer that adds something different to the Magpies midfield.

Leeds simply must prioritise signing a new goalkeeper in January following their recent back-to-back 4-1 drubbings. In a campaign that had so much buzz around it, the Whites have now fallen onto a slippery slope and are at risk of throwing 16 years of hard work away.

Whilst Marcelo Bielsa’s attack is struggling, it’s arguably his defence that is in need of the most work. However, not all aspects of the Leeds backline are underperforming. According to WhoScored, a trio of Whites defenders are currently in the top ten list of players who have completed the most blocks so far this season.

Captain Liam Cooper has the seventh highest amount, whilst Robin Koch and Luke Ayling come in at fifth and fourth respectively. With solidly performing defenders, at least in that respect, it could mean that the main issue lies in the goalkeeper.

Leeds must sign to aid Meslier

Illan Meslier joined the club in the summer and has had a mixed bag of performances so far. Whilst he has shown flashes of brilliance, he has been left to look vulnerable on other occasions.

Chris Kirkland recently spoke to Football FanCast about Leeds’ goalkeeping issues and believes that Meslier could be the next Premier League No.1 to be dropped in favour of the second string option. Should this prediction come to fruition, it will certainly dampen the 20-year-old’s spirit, which is why it’s important that Leeds recruit someone who can help the youngster grow.

Bielsa and co have been linked to the likes of veteran Fraser Forster, who would be a solid option coming off the bench as well as behind the scenes to mentor Meslier.

By no means should the club jump the gun and look to already replace the £5million signing. However, this season is massively important to Leeds and they must throw everything at it to ensure that they don’t slip back down into the Championship. Too much is at stake for them to risk ending their returning Premier League season with relegation.

In other news, Leeds could have benefitted from keeping Andy Lonergan at Elland Road…

Some Southampton fans were left fuming at the display of Danny Ings in his side’s 0-0 draw against West Ham United in the Premier League.

So often the talisman for Ralph Hasenhuttl’s team, the England international did not have the best of games at St. Mary’s Stadium, as he recorded a very measly 6.1 overall rating on Sofascore, the lowest out of any player to have set foot on the pitch.

The 28-year-old failed to win any of his eight duels in the entire game, and also never managed to record a single shot on goal or a single successful dribble (Sofascore).

He also had fewer touches than his own goalkeeper in Alex McCarthy in the match, and also failed to register a single key pass, all while losing possession of the ball no fewer than 13 times (Sofascore).

The striker did not escape criticism from some SFC supporters on Twitter after his quite dismal performance.

Southampton fan reaction to Ings display

These Southampton fans slammed his performance, with one even claiming that he was ‘invisible’ in the clash:

“Quite literally, the worst game Ings has had in a #saintsfc shirt. Why play him when he’s not fit?”

Credit: @Jimwhite72

“#SaintsFC lethargic tonight. Ings and more off the pace. Would have liked to have seen Armstrong on 10 minutes earlier. Still, another point and another clean sheet in a difficult period of congested games. Onwards.”

Credit: @JamesConverge

“What a tired, dreary #SaintsFC performance that was. Starting to become a habit at the moment. West Ham came for a point and defended well but just like Fulham and Man City we just played it about with no belief we could score. Ings looks a shadow at the moment.”

Credit: @jonokli

“Another poor performance. The left hand side is pretty much redundant. We an equivalent to KWP ASAP, Bertrand finished IMO. Ings well short too and never looked like scoring again. Only positive is a clean sheet #SaintsFC”

Credit: @jamesalexwhite7

“Ings has been fairly invisible, not fully fit #saintsfc”

Credit: @sfcpaul100

“What’s happened to our goals and Danny Ings. Getting worrying #SaintsFC”

Credit: @SputhamptonFC

In other news, find out why Saints are raving about one particular stat here!

Jurgen Klopp is said to be confident in his current first team selection despite the lack of senior signings made during the transfer window. 

According to James Pearce (relayed via @LFCTransferRoom), the German feels he has not got much wrong when it comes to leading the club. Klopp is not worried over Liverpool’s extremely quiet business compared to the likes of Premier League rivals Chelsea.

The Reds have only signed left-back Kostas Tsimikas, who will serve as a back-up to Andy Robertson this season. Despite the major links between the Merseyside outfit and Bayern Munich’s Thiago Alcantara, no official moves have been made.

These comments haven’t gone down well with Liverpool fans, who are slamming Fenway Sports Group for not putting their hands in their pockets and backing their manager. It isn’t the first time supporters have lashed out at the club’s owners for their lack of new signings.

One fan has complained that Liverpool ‘can’t compete with the likes of Everton’ without first offloading senior personnel in order to make up funds. Their Merseyside rivals recently welcomed Brazilian midfielder Allan to the club for a fee of £21million (via BBC Sport).

Read more replies from the Twitter selection here:

Do you think Liverpool will make any more signings this summer window? Have your say in the comments below…