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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

There’s one thing that really needs to be sorted out at Nottingham Forest.

And the key part of that sentence is ‘one’ because that’s how many years head coach Sabri Lamouchi was signed up for when he was appointed in the summer.

What’s been said?

It might be slightly strange that he was given such a short term deal but despite a start that sees Forest sitting second in the table, there isn’t much to suggest that Lamouchi’s long-term future will be sorted soon.

As revealed by Paul Taylor in his latest Q&A for The Athletic, there has been no progress in regards to a new contract.

He said:

“No talk just yet of a new deal…When they signed him on a short-term deal, you thought to yourself ‘that makes sense’ – you could see the logic in it. It is just typical that, after taking a cautious stance, Forest look as though they have landed a good appointment in Lamouchi.

“It is still very early days… but Forest are not daft. If the good form continues, I am sure that it will be something that is soon on the agenda.”

Thogden ranks all 24 Championship away kits in the video below…

The sooner the better

As David Prutton pointed out the other day, if Forest can make themselves an attractive commodity as possible come January, that will only increase the calibre of player they are able to attract.

That’s what this season for the Midlands outfit should be all about, making themselves as hot a prospect as possible for any potential new players, or dare I say it, any potential new owner wanting to take advantage of a club on the rise.

What better way of showing the kind of vision that someone has for a football club than by tying down the manager on a long-term deal?

Now that doesn’t mean that they need to go out and give him a six-year deal like Manchester United gave to David Moyes, but just a little something to show any potential players ‘we have a plan here, and we have faith in this manager to make it happen’.

After all, Lamouchi has already shown outstanding progress and nouse in the English game.

Will a player be willing to move to a club if he doesn’t think the head coach is going to be there in a few months’ time? Would they be willing to take that risk? Arguably not.

That’s why the club need to get him tied down to a deal as soon as possible, to put to bed any sort of doubt about where Forest are going, not just this season but beyond it as well.

Rangers provided a top performance on Sunday afternoon against Hamilton Academical at Ibrox as they moved top of the Scottish Premiership with a 5-0 win.

A hat-trick from former Tottenham and Portsmouth striker Jermain Defoe had them well on their way whilst his strikes were punctuated by efforts from Connor Goldson and Borna Barisic.

Indeed, much of the back-line was involved in the goal-scoring during the game with James Tavernier setting up Goldson for a crashing header in the first half whilst Barisic arguably scored the goal of the game.

A delightful free-kick from the left-back helped effectively kill the game as he continues to improve and really start to show exactly what Rangers signed him for.

Indeed, it does seem as though the Gers have solved their left-back issue at last with the Croatian and he will be looking to kick on after the international break.

Let’s take a look at the reaction on Twitter to the goal, then, with plenty being said by Gers fans…

This article is part of Football FanCast’s In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets… 

Everton have fallen into the relegation zone after losing 1-0 to Burnley over the weekend, with the team averaging a performance rating of 6.59 at Turf Moor. Although the team did indeed perform poorly, in a surprising manner, Lucas Digne was extremely wasteful in the game and produced an uncharacteristically bad display.

Digne is Everton’s current Player of the Year and Players’ Player of the Year, after an incredible debut season on Merseyside, which saw him average very respectable 7.36 during the Premier League last campaign.

Against Burnley, however, the Frenchman lost possession 26 times throughout the 90 minutes he played and did not threaten much going forward, nor was he defensively astute throughout the game.

Watch Everton Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Considering Everton had 60% of the ball, it is quite an alarming statistic to see such a talented, tidy player lose the ball so frequently, especially when you add in that Digne also completed just one cross out of the 11 he attempted.

On the other hand, the ex-PSG man did not make a single tackle or clearance during the whole game and considering the team made 14 clearances during the match, it is somewhat surprising to see the left-back not make a single one of them – he averaged 2.7 clearances per game last season.

The former Barcelona player was one of the best in the business going forward last campaign, providing four assists, scoring four times and averaging two key passes per match and 2.4 crosses each game. At Turf Moor, however, Digne failed to dribble past a single player nor did he even attempt to do so, and at the same time completed only 35 passes – 11.5 less than his average for the season.

Throughout his time on Merseyside, the Toffees have looked to the Frenchman to provide devastating deliveries into the box and there is little doubting his importance to the club right now. However, this poor display against Burnley is perhaps a sign of the times for Everton, and when such a crucial player struggles in this manner, questions have to be asked of the whole team and the manager.

Going forward, should Marco Silva stay or go, the Blues must hope that one of their key players gets back to his usual threatening ways, otherwise, the Merseyside outfit may find themselves in around the relegation zone for much longer.

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Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer has admitted that he is “really worried” about his former club’s chances of staying in the Premier League this season.

Indeed, in his weekly column for The Sun, as cited by ChronicleLive, Shearer claimed that “relegation is a real possibility”.

Steve Bruce replaced Rafa Benitez as head coach of the club during the summer and it has not been the best of starts to the 2019-20 campaign.

Granted, Newcastle were only just beaten by Arsenal on the opening weekend of the season courtesy of a strike from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

However, they lost 3-1 at Norwich City on Saturday – a result that would have certainly concerned the club’s fans more than the Arsenal reverse given the Canaries are a newly-promoted club.

Shearer has predicted a relegation battle for his former employers this season.

Watch Newcastle United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

And a number of Newcastle fans have been on social media offering their views on the former striker’s claims – a selection of which can be seen below:

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets…

According to talkSPORT, Crystal Palace are eyeing up a move for Rangers captain James Tavernier, as the Scottish giants monitor Leonel Di Placido as a potential replacement.

Tavernier has emerged as a key member of Rangers’ squad since signing from Wigan back in 2015, becoming a real attacking force as well as being appointed as the Gers’ skipper.

The 27-year-old racked up a quite astounding number of goal involvements for a right-back last term, netting 11 goals and recording 14 assists in his 33 Scottish Premiership appearances, whilst he scored 17 and assisted 20 across all competitions – world-class attackers would be proud of those figures.

Whilst those numbers will presumably excite some Palace fans, the Eagles may have to adapt differently to life with such an attacking force down the right side.

Roy Hodgson hasn’t really had a genuine attacking force at right-back since arriving at the club, using only Joel Ward and Aaron Wan-Bissaka in the position – the latter has since left for Manchester United.

Both of them are nowhere near as attacking as Tavernier, reinforced by the fact that Ward has only ever scored 12 goals and got 14 assists in 345 career appearances, whilst Wan-Bissaka has just four assists in 47 appearances.

Contrastingly over on the other side of defence, Palace do have a left-back who loves to attack in Patrick van Aanholt, a man who has scored 17 goals in the four Premier League seasons before the current campaign.

Given that fact, if Palace deploy the Dutchman and Tavernier together, they will have two attacking full-backs for the first time in a while and definitely the first time under Hodgson, meaning the south Londoners will need to adapt.

Whether this means that the two communicate and decide when one should go forward and one should stay back, or if midfielders such as James McArthur and Luka Milivojevic are asked to cover for them whilst they venture forward, Hodgson will have to adapt and overcome the problems that would arise from having Tavernier in his team.

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Former Arsenal teammate Jack Wilshere also responded.

Wilshere is a man who knows all too well about the trials and tribulations of an injury-laden career so one can be certain that, when it comes to sending messages of support, his remarks are truly sincere. Great stuff.

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Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea is set to commit his long term future to the club, according to The Mirror.

The paper report that he is ready to agree a five-year deal to stay at Old Trafford on a whopping £350,000-a-week, a significant upgrade on his current contract of £200,000-a-week.

With less than a year left on those terms, it was a vital piece of business from United to sign up the 28-year-old on a new contract given his importance to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s squad.

Could Paul Pogba be on his way out of Old Trafford? 442oons have put their unqiue spin on the matter in the video below…

De Gea has become some of a Man United icon, making 362 appearances since joining in 2011 and surviving a number of managerial regimes as the club’s number one.

Losing him this summer would have been a real leadership blow in the Old Trafford dressing room, without even taking into account his ability between the sticks.

Watch Manchester United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

United fans are certainly delighted he’s set to stay on, with many taking to Twitter over the weekend to share their thoughts…

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

According to The Daily Star, Crystal Palace have had a £20m bid rejected by Chelsea for Reece James, as the Eagles step up their search for an Aaron Wan-Bissaka replacement.

What’s the word, then?

Well, the south Londoners have only recently sold Wan-Bissaka to Manchester United for a sum of £50m, leaving them with Joel Ward as their only recognised senior player in the right-back department.

They have been linked with both James and their former player and academy graduate Nathaniel Clyne, along with Atalanta right-back Timothy Castagne as they look to fill the Wan-Bissaka shaped hole in their team.

In the video below, find out which Chelsea academy prospect is reportedly being lined up to replace Aaron Wan-Bissaka at Crystal Palace…

Despite making the bid for James, the Eagles have seen their offer rejected for the teenager who shone whilst on loan with Wigan last term.

James represents better value over Clyne

Two English right-backs. Both of interest to Palace. But so much difference between them.

James is a real up-and-coming talent who has an enormously high ceiling, and if Palace can snap him up now, who knows how much he’ll be worth in the next few years – young English talent comes with a premium, as we have seen in Newcastle’s £50m valuation of Sean Longstaff despite the midfielder playing just nine league games.

In Clyne’s case, he is somewhat of a has been now who is almost in his thirties, and wouldn’t represent a good investment for Palace seeing as few clubs will want to spend much on an ageing right-back – Liverpool reportedly value the 28-year-old at £15m, money Palace would probably never see again if they parted with that for Clyne.

By choosing James over Clyne, the Eagles would most likely have to pay a little more but they would be getting a player who can fill the role for the next decade, and would also retain his value whilst presumably seeing it inflate as well given his talent and the fact he is English.

أعلن هاكان تشالهان أوغلو، مهاجم فريق ميلان الإيطالي، تعافيه من فيروس كورونا (كوفيد 19).

وكان هاكان تعرض للإصابة بكورونا في 17 يناير الجاري، وخضع للعزل لحين التعافي.

اقرأ أيضًا.. إيقاف إبراهيموفيتش ولوكاكو بعد أزمة كأس إيطاليا وتحقيق محتمل ينتظرهما

وسيخضع مهاجم الروسونيري الآن للفحوصات الطبية المطلوبة قبل أن يتمكن من العودة للتدريب مع بقية المجموعة في فريقه ميلان.

ونشر النجم التركي رسالة على “إنستجرام” تؤكد أن نتيجة اختباره جاءت سلبية، مع تعليق: “أنا عدت!”.

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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…