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Loads of Liverpool fans have been reacting on social media after Kenny Cunningham told Off The Ball that Fabinho is the weak link in Jurgen Klopp’s plans, and will likely struggle against Manchester City on Sunday.

Fabinho has been a key part of the German’s squad since moving to Merseyside in 2018, with the Brazilian included in 45 of his Premier League matchday squads following the midfielder’s summer switch from AS Monaco.

Cunningham, though, is not entirely convinced by the holding midfielder’s ability to control the defensive position, as the former Republic of Ireland international doubts Fabinho has all of the qualities needed to excel in the role.

“I’m not totally convinced about him in that holding midfield position,” Cunningham claimed. “We’re not arguing here if he’s a very good player or not, he is a very good player, but, as a purely defensive midfield player, going into this game against Manchester City you need a very specific skill set to deal with what David Silva and Kevin de Bruyne are going to bring.

“You’ve got be able to sense danger, slide across the pitch, make tackles, track runners and I don’t think that’s the strongest part of his game.

“For me, the first name on the teamsheet would be Jordan Henderson in that holding role. He has the best defensive mindset in that Liverpool midfield and it’s going to be needed.”

Liverpool fans have been fiercely rejecting Cunningham’s verdict, with one of the more frequent remarks shared being that the Reds are unbeaten in the Premier League whenever the 6 ft 2 midfielder has started.

Fabinho has featured in the opening line-up for 37 of his 38 English top-flight outings, winning 31 and drawing six while losing away to Manchester City last season having come off the bench.

The £100,000-per-week anchor has also averaged the most successful tackles per ninety minutes of any Liverpool central midfielder to have played more than once in the Premier League this season with 2.5 from 3.7 attempts, per WhoScored data.

He also ranks second to Henderson for interceptions with 1.4, and second to James Milner for successful aerial duels with 1.4 from 3.2 battles, as well as for accurate long passes with 5.2.

Here are some of the messages shared from supporters reacting to Cunningham’s comments…

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…

Writing in his Team of the Week column for BBC Sport, Garth Crooks has admitted he may have “misjudged” Manchester United’s Scott McTominay.

What did he say?

The Scotland international has been a virtual ever-present for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side this season, starting in every single Premier League game.

Against Norwich on Sunday, the 22-year-old delivered yet another commanding display in the middle of the park. As per Sofascore, he had a pass accuracy of 86%, won nine overall duels, and completed all four of his attempted dribbles.

Watch the video below to see the most insane overhead kick you will see this week…

After seeing his display, Crooks revealed the Scot has surprised him with his level of performances in recent games, and admitted he may have been too quick to judge him.

He said: “I’ve watched this lad a lot in recent weeks and couldn’t work out why Solskjaer keeps playing him. He runs about a lot and is certainly not afraid to put his foot in – but a Manchester United player?

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“Against Liverpool he was excellent and after his performance against Norwich he finds himself in my TOTW. He’s also bright enough not to get involved in taking penalties for Manchester United. I think I might have misjudged him.”

Silencing the doubters

When you have Paul Pogba in your squad, there is always going to be a certain level of comparison to the France World Cup winner – particularly when he isn’t playing. Questions of can anyone else step up to the plate, or are they even good enough in the first place?

McTominay in certain senses has been pigeonholed as someone who simply works hard and runs around like a madman in pursuit of the ball. But undoubtedly this season, he has begun to refine his work in possession. He has averaged 1.6 shots, 1.5 dribbles and 51.3 passes per game this year in the Premier League. In comparison, the previous campaign saw him average 0.9 shots, 0.1 dribbles and 28.1 passes per game.

If he can continue to change the minds of those who doubt him, like Crooks, then McTominay’s progression will begin to be more greatly appreciated.

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…

أحرز توماس مولر، هدف بايرن ميونخ الثاني أمام باريس سان جيرمان، ليتعادل لفريقه الألماني في المباراة بمنافسات دوري أبطال أوروبا.

ومن كرة ثابتة لعب جوشوا كيميش كرة وصلت إلى مولر الذي سدد برأسية في شباك كيلور نافاس بالدقيقة 61.

وكان كيليان مبابي وماركينيوس تقدما بهدفين لصالح باريس سان جيرمان وسجل موتينج الهدف الأول لبايرن ميونخ.

ويجل باريس سان جيرمان ضيفًا على بايرن ميونخ في ذهاب ربع نهائي دوري أبطال أوروبا، ويمكنك مطالعة أحداث المباراة من هنا. هدف مولر في مباراة بايرن ميونخ وباريس سان جيرمان

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…

Radomir Antic, one of Barcelona’s former coaches, has spoken to Esports Cope and talked about Antoine Griezmann and his struggles at the club so far.

What did he say?

Antic became Barcelona’s coach way back in 2003 when he took over Louis van Gaal’s squad – a team that was in pretty bad shape.

But the Serbian only had a really short spell with the Catalan giants, leading them in just 24 official matches, tallying 12 victories, eight draws and a total of four defeats.

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Of course, the Catalan giants did see an improvement as Antic propelled them to sixth place in the table, as opposed to the 15th in which he found them upon taking over from Van Gaal.

Still, even though he was appointed in February and gone by June, Antic did leave a small mark on the team and is recognised by the club.

Recently, however, he talked to Esports Cope and analysed Barcelona’s new big-money signing, Griezmann. Here’s what he thinks about the Frenchman’s ventures so far:

“Griezmann must reflect and not look for excuses. I am surprised that a player of his characteristics does not risk more and always looks for the easiest move by giving the ball to the nearest teammate. It seems that he has not found his place in the field and participates very little in the game. He is also a player who can contribute little from the bench”.

A problem exists

Even though Griezmann is still pretty new in the Blaugrana squad, Antic has successfully recognised the problem.

The Frenchman is not really involved in Barcelona’s play and has not been that effective on the pitch as of late. Sub-par performances like the one against Inter Milan in the Champions League and his struggles in some of the games prior can surely attest to that.

Watch Lionel Messi and Gareth Bale answer the internet’s weirdest questions in the video below…

But much of it stems from Ernesto Valverde’s decision to slot Griezmann out wide instead of playing him as the team’s centre-forward in place of Luis Suarez.

Obviously, as Antic has also recognised, Barcelona’s new signing participates very little and this is something the coach will have to fix pretty soon.

Of course, we are still pretty early in the new season and Griezmann is still very much in his adaptation process. Thus far, he has scored just three La Liga goals in seven outings.

Still, with his reputation from Atletico Madrid, it remains to be seen how patient the Catalan community will be with their newest attacking addition.

If he wants to succeed, he will have to step up soon.

Arsenal fans took to Twitter to beg for the appointment of Norwich City boss Daniel Farke as their new manager.

The tweets come just two days after the Gunners surrendered a 2-0 lead away to Watford. The north London giants took the lead courtesy of a brace from star striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (via BBC).

The game was then flipped upside down when two mistakes from central defender Sokratis and David Luiz in the second-half saw the Hornets rescue a point for new manager Quique Sanchez Flores.

Farke has had a monstrous impact at Carrow Road in his first season in the Premier League. The German saw his side beat reigning champions Manchester City 3-2 on Saturday.

It seems the result against Pep Guardiola’s side has done enough to convince some Arsenal fans that Farke truly is the man for the job, as they took to Twitter to tweets their thoughts.

Here is a selection of tweets from Gooners:

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more… 

Aston Villa’s Tyrone Mings has had quite the career renaissance in 2019.

He found himself massively out of favour at Bournemouth, so he was duly sent out on loan to Villa Park, and he quickly became the clear choice at centre-back, going on to contribute substantially in their historic ten-game winning run.

After gaining promotion with the club, he then signed permanently in a £20m deal and in the Premier League so far, he’s clearly continued his imperious form as the 26-year-old has been called up to Gareth Southgate’s England squad for their 2020 European Championship qualifiers during this international break.

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That’s quite a turn around for a defender that had played just 17 Premier League matches across four seasons – serious injury only six minutes into his Cherries career effectively placed havoc with his time on the south coast.

He suffered torn anterior and medial ligaments in his knee, which ruled him out for well over a season.

On the Chalkboard

His performances can’t have sprung randomly from anywhere; the upturn has to be a correlation with his arrival at Villa, as he has had the perfect mentor to learn from.

Legendary Chelsea and England centre-back John Terry is the assistant manager at the club to Dean Smith, so undoubtedly he has contributed to Mings’ change in fortunes.

Terry captained England 34 times and could be the man to help England find a towering long-term option at centre-back.

The 6 foot 5 defender has the ‘ideal teacher’ according to Smith, who said: “JT has been an influence on Tyrone since he’s been here; he’s getting better and better. JT will give him a heads up [about being in the England squad], but Tom Heaton is also a regular in the set-up.”

Find out which Premier League stadium has been ranked the worst in the video below…

Smith also describes Mings as a ‘born leader’ in the dressing room, which admittedly only goes to show the effect of having someone like Terry around has had.

The 26-year-old is averaging a mighty 9.8 clearances per game in the league, which is the highest in the division by some margin, on top of 2.3 blocks and 1.5 interceptions per match, according to WhoScored.

So it’s no wonder that the titan is part of the England setup this time around. He’s been perfectly groomed, even if unknowingly, for this moment – thanks to Terry.

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Oh, Football friends (little ‘Inbetweeners’ reference there for you).

Welcome to the Premier League, John Lundstram, it looks like you’re going to do just fine.

The 25-year-old scored Sheffield United’s first goal back at Bramall Lane in the Premier League on Sunday as the Blades grabbed all three points against Crystal Palace.

This achievement is made all the more impressive when you consider the fact that Lundstram struggled to break into the first team at Goodison Park and departed Merseyside on a permanent deal in 2015 after a nomadic, loan-littered Everton career.

He then joined Oxford United in an effort to restart his climb back up the ladder, which is where he met “(oooo) football friend” Kemar Roofe, another one of football’s hopefuls. With the Premier League dream set firmly in their sights, the pair (probably) made a pact: whoever fails to score the first goal in top flight football must, without hesitation, post a throwback to their Instagram story.

Considering Roofe recently ditched English football, there was only going to be one winner…

We wonder if he predicted Anderlecht’s form at the beginning of the 2019/20 season as well?

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LeedsLive have played down suggestions that Leeds United have made a bid of €15m (£13.7m) for SPAL centre-forward Andrea Petagna ahead of the 2019-20 campaign.

Indeed, TMW, via Sport Witness, reported on Monday afternoon that Marcelo Bielsa’s team had submitted an offer for Petagna with the view to completing a summer move.

However, according to LeedsLive, the bid has not arrived, with the publication suggesting that the Championship side do not have the finances to complete a deal.

The 24-year-old scored 17 times whilst on loan with SPAL from Atalanta during the 2018-19 campaign before completing a permanent move to the club this summer.

Leeds will be without Kemar Roofe for the first four weeks of the season due to an ankle injury.

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However, according to LeedsLive, Petagna will not be arriving ahead of the team’s Championship opener against Bristol City this weekend.

The Leeds fans have been on social media responding to the speculation and it would be fair to say that many are fuming with the latest developments:

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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 talkSPORT, Southampton are one of three English clubs interested in signing Maritimo midfielder Josip Vukovic before the transfer deadline next week, and his potential arrival at St Mary’s would surely spell the end of Harrison Reed’s Saints career.

What’s the word, then?

Well, talkSPORT report that Saints, along with Leeds United and Aston Villa, are keen on the Croatian defensive midfielder.

TalkSPORT report that if manager Ralph Hasenhuttl manages to offload some of the deadwood in his squad over the course of the next six days, he could win the race for the 24-year-old – rated at £1.5m by the Portuguese club.

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From Southampton’s point of view much could depend on whether Mario Lemina stays or goes, with the Gabon international frozen out of first-team proceedings and being heavily linked with a move to Everton in recent days.

The end for Harrison Reed

Saints don’t have a great deal of depth in a defensive midfield position right now, with James Ward-Prowse and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg looking far from comfortable shielding the backline during the 3-1 pre-season friendly win against Feyenoord on Sunday in the absence of the injured Oriol Romeu.

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Reed has returned to St Mary’s this summer following consecutive year-long loan spells with Norwich City and Blackburn Rovers, and at 24 years of age you feel it is a case of now or never for the academy graduate.

He did appear in the second half at the De Kuip stadium at the weekend, and was his usual all-action self as he bombed around the pitch looking to win the ball back.

It appears the midfielder still has plenty to do to convince Hasenhuttl that he is worthy of a regular spot in the squad however, and the arrival of Vukovic would be a devastating blow.

According to WhoScored, the Croatian showed his defensive skills in 25 Primeira Liga outings last term, making 1.8 interceptions and 1.8 tackles on average per game, while also showing that he wins the ball back and then can set his team on the counter having averaged 2.7 long balls.

Given he plays in a similar position to Reed, it would be difficult to see him carrying on at Southampton if this deal goes through before the window slams shut.

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