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Another day, another Samuel Umtiti injury.

The 25-year-old French defender simply can’t catch a break as of late and time might be running out for him due to his constant fitness issues.

Even though he made his first appearance of the season last weekend when Barcelona beat Eibar 3-0, Umtiti suffered a new injury shortly after that clash.

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Barcelona left Umtiti out of their squad for the trip to Slavia Prague due to a knee injury and many of the fans immediately swarmed their social media account with worried messages and panicked replies.

Many of them seem to think this was Umtiti’s last chance and that he should now definitely be sold.

One fan even compared him to Thomas Vermaelen, a former Barcelona defender who had similar issues with constant injuries while he was at the club.

At this rate, it seems that some of them are already giving up on Umtiti and will not give him another chance.

You can see some of their replies down in the collection of tweets below.

Check them out…

A number of Newcastle United fans have urged their club to re-sign Papiss Cisse.

On Monday morning, TEAMtalk cited reports which claimed that the Magpies had been offered the chance to bring the striker back to the club for just £3m.

Chronicle Live carried a story later in the day insisting that Newcastle were not considering a move for the 34-year-old.

We mastered the trick in the video below in 8 attempts… could you do better?

However, that has not stopped the club’s supporters from insisting that they would be interested in re-signing the 6 ft ace from Turkish outfit Alanyaspor.

The Senegal international scored 44 times in 131 appearances during his time at St James’ Park – including 37 Premier League goals.

Cisse has actually managed an impressive nine goals in nine Super Lig outings this season, whilst he has 25 strikes in 36 matches for his current club in all competitions since arriving from China.

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Joelinton has only managed one Premier League goal for Newcastle since a summer move, and the supporters have urged their club to consider an approach for Cisse if the opportunity does indeed become available.

A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:

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

Despite being given a major boost ahead of the match by seeing some of his injury doubts over key stars clear up, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer couldn’t guide Manchester United to a fourth consecutive away win on Saturday.

The Norwegian boss admitted in his pre-match press conference that the likes of Marcus Rashford, Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof would have to undergo late tests before being considered for the clash against Bournemouth.

“They got some treatment yesterday, a little bit more treatment today, a light session and hopefully they’re ready. I can’t tell you exactly now.”

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So once he got the green light from his medical staff that the trio would be fit and raring to go against Eddie Howe’s men, surely the United manager would have opted to stick with the tried-and-trusted set-up that has served him so well in recent games? Barring the win over Norwich, the Red Devils have played with a back-three since their impressive 1-1 draw against Liverpool – indeed they saw off Chelsea for the second time this season by using their new formation.

Insted, Solskjaer chose to revert to a four-man defence, and the tactical gamble back-fired as United succumbed to a narrow 1-0 defeat to the Cherries.

On the chalkboard

Lining up with a defence of Ashley Young at left-back, Aaron Wan-Bissaka on the right-hand side, and Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof as a central defensive pairing, the Red Devils were almost at full strength – barring of course the absence of Luke Shaw.

But the nature of the only goal of the game really exposed the weaknesses in their defensive set-up, and not having that extra man as they have done in recent matches, cost them. A ball into the box was chested down by Josh King, before the Norway international could take his time, swivel with his back to goal, before slotting it past David de Gea. Wan-Bissaka hardly covered himself with glory by over-committing himself to making a challenge, but United’s defence parted like the Red Sea.

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

With a five-man defence, someone like Marcos Rojo or Phil Jones would have been occupying the space, or even marking King tightly. Instead, the Bournemouth forward had all the time in the world to simply do what he wanted. Solskjaer took a major risk by changing something that evidently wasn’t broke, and in the end, he paid for it.

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…

Former Everton boss Sam Allardyce has warned Marco Silva that he must change his tactics with the club sat just three points above the relegation zone.

What did he say?

The Portuguese replaced Allardyce back in 2018 and the former England boss has suggested that his work at the club was better than Silva’s.

Allardyce has criticised the current tactics of the Everton man and told talkSPORT: “It’s a massive disappointment for [Farhad] Moshiri with the money available at Everton.

“The things is with Everton, even before me, it was a massive struggle to win away from home for whatever mental reason for the players. It’s gone on for ages, and it’s still the same now.

“I went in in November and I remember winning at Newcastle and that was the club’s first away win since January.

“Our home record, I think I only lost to Man City and Man United. So I was giving the home fans what they want but they didn’t see that as enough because we didn’t have enough goals.

“Now they’re trying to play more of this rubbish that goes around the world of football, this fake news of so-called ‘open attractive football’.

“It’s not ‘open attractive football’ if you’re fourth from bottom of the league with 11 points. Everton fans won’t put up with that.”

Change has to come

After the defeat to Burnley last month, it was reported that Silva had the next three games to save his job. In the time since that report was published, Everton have won two, drawn one and lost one.

However, with the club 17th in the table, there is justification for him to be gone very soon. Up next for the Blues are clashes with Southampton and Norwich City – both are below them in the table.

Dropped points in these fixtures could put Everton in the relegation zone as we head into Christmas, especially when you consider the calibre of the opposition they are set to face after the next pair of games.

After a trip to high-flying Leicester City, Silva must battle with Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Manchester City within a month of each other.

Silva has to change something because there is a serious possibility of the club falling into a genuine relegation scrap in the coming weeks.

A number of Liverpool fans have been reacting on social media to Jurgen Klopp’s verdict on the Reds’ performance against Genk in the Champions League, after watching his side pick up a 2-1 win.

The Anfield outfit had lost their opening Group Stage tie of the term away to Napoli, but have since put three-straight wins on the board to move above their Group E rival and have the knockout stages firmly in their sights.

Goals from Georginio Wijnaldum and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain ensured Liverpool were able to record their third win of the this term’s tournament, and prolong their unbeaten stretch across all competitions that now runs to 11 games.

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Klopp’s men were not given an easy ride on Tuesday, though, as Genk fought back to equalise minutes before the break, as the Reds lacked their usual intensity following a number of changes to the starting line-up.

Despite that, Liverpool managed to record 28 shots against Genk having controlled 71.5% of the possession, although only eight were on target, per WhoScored data.

But a win is a win, and that was the main thing for Klopp.

“The most important thing is that we won and nobody is injured,” the German told reporters after the game, according to quotes recorded by Liverpool’s official website.

“The result is because we didn’t finish our situations off like we should and could have done.

“The longer the game goes the more the momentum goes to the other team, if you don’t finish your situations off. I think Ali[sson] had to make one save, once or twice we didn’t really push up in the last line, which meant they could play a pass into the box, but nothing happened. That was the game – ‘job done’ is the headline from the game, pretty much.”

Here are some of the reactions shared to his comments, as fans seemingly loved Klopp’s view that the most important thing was the win, regardless of how it came about…

Leicester City defender Ben Chilwell played a key role in England recording a 7-0 win over Montenegro in Thursday night’s Euro 2020 qualification match.

Indeed, the left-back assisted each of England’s first three goals at Wembley, setting up Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for the opener before helping Harry Kane score his first two.

What’s more, WhoScored have the 22-year-old down as boasting an 88% pass success rate, in addition to completing three dribbles and four tackles.

It remains to be seen whether the Leicester defender will start the opening match of Euro 2020.

However, his performance on Thursday night would have surely impressed Gareth Southgate.

A number of Liverpool fans were also very impressed with what they saw from Chilwell against Montenegro, with many taking to social media during the contest to react.

Some claimed that they wanted the left-back to arrive at Anfield, whilst others were just keen to pay tribute to the 5 ft 10 ace.

A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:

Christian Eriksen is currently at a crossroads with Tottenham Hotspur.

The great Dane’s contract is due to expire next summer and with no signs of Spurs actually managing to convince him to sign a new one, the two parties separating is more than just a possibility in the not too distant future.

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This really goes hand in hand with the club’s current poor run of form, seeing how the Lilywhites are struggling to stay afloat in the Premier League and falling as deep as 14th place in the table.

But Eriksen is doing well with his national team as they have recently secured a spot in the upcoming European championship, and Tottenham Hotspur’s official account quickly shared that update on social media on Monday.

Needless to say, the fans did not really appreciate it as they were quick to slam Eriksen, either criticising him or simply saying they don’t care about him at all.

Some fans even pretended they don’t even know the player at this point anymore.

You can see some of their replies down in the tweets below:

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

As Jose Mourinho prepares for his first match as Tottenham Hotspur manager, thoughts turn to how he might set his team up against West Ham United.

Following the sacking of Mauricio Pochettino on Tuesday evening, the ex-Chelsea boss was recruited less than 12 hours later.

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Ironically enough, his first match will mirror Pochettino’s; the former Southampton manager beat the Hammers at Upton Park in his maiden competitive outing.

How will Mourinho line up, though?

Transfermarkt list the Portuguese’s favoured formation as 4-2-3-1 and he utilised that on 46 occasions in the Premier League for Manchester United, out of a possible 93 outings. That is almost exactly half.

One has to assume, then, that he may well revert to type rather than trying to experiment from the off.

Indeed, following his appointment, Mourinho used that very system in his first eight matches as United manager.

Thus, we can assume that Paulo Gazzaniga will play in goal; Hugo Lloris is injured and Michel Vorm hasn’t played a single second since his reintroduction to the club.

The back four selection will be interesting but Mourinho has previously coveted Toby Alderweireld – Sky Sports journalist Peter Hall claimed on the Transfer Talk podcast, via talkSPORT, that the Portuguese’s desire to sign him was vetoed by the club’s board.

Mourinho has had success with ageing defenders before, including the likes of Ricardo Carvalho and Walter Samuel, meaning Jan Vertonghen could get the nod alongside him.

Serge Aurier has been erratic at best this season – he was sent off against Southampton and conceded a brainless penalty versus Liverpool – but he may be given the chance to prove his worth, along with Danny Rose on the other flank.

Eric Dier could be a major winner from Mourinho’s move as the Portuguese wanted him when he was at Manchester United; he may start this weekend despite making just three league appearances thus far this term.

Tanguy Ndombele, too, fits the profile of a strong ball-carrier in midfield and partnering him with Dier would make sense for the Portuguese.

Further forward, it remains to be seen if Mourinho will give Christian Eriksen a chance, despite him publicly seeking a move in the summer. Dele Alli is the other option to play in the role and we think he’ll go for the Englishman, purely due to his superior athleticism and energy.

Son Heung-Min and Harry Kane should, really, be undroppable – they have scored half of Tottenham’s Premier League goals this season – but it remains to be seen who will play on the right.

Lucas Moura is an option, while Giovani Lo Celso offers the opportunity to cut inside and employ a wide playmaker.

If fit, we think Erik Lamela will be given the nod because of the aggression he brings to the team, but as he’s still an injury doubt, Lo Celso could be kept in the side purely due to the fact he recently netted against Red Star Belgrade.

Moura’s last Spurs goal was back in September.

Overall then, that’s three changes from Pochettino’s final XI as Tottenham boss, with Ben Davies, Moussa Sissoko and Davinson Sanchez all dropped.

With his socks rolled down and hair in perpetual motion, Jack Grealish doesn’t look much like a 21st century footballer. Then there is the manner in which he floats past opponents with a carefree abandon that gives the impression that productivity is a lesser motivation to fun.

Lastly, the way he often grabs a game by the scruff of the neck is an individualistic pursuit out of step with the uniformity in which Premier League stars are compelled to adhere to. He’s a local hero too and, without going all Nigel Farage on the subject, how rarely is that said that these days.

In short, the Aston Villa midfielder is a wonderful anachronism and should be celebrated as such.

In style and temperament Grealish is reminiscent of the ‘mavericks’ of yesteryear so perhaps it is apt – if depressingly so – that he has yet to be rewarded with an England cap. Famously the likes of Stan Bowles, Alan Hudson, and Tony Currie were routinely overlooked by a succession of England managers throughout the seventies due to their singular skills – the trio of silky greats garnered a measly 24 caps between them – but thankfully that comparison seems certain to end soon as the clamour to see the 24-year-old installed in the international set-up grows in volume.

And should he indeed find himself selected by Gareth Southgate in next spring’s friendlies Grealish’s ascent will be complete after bossing Premier League games all season so soon after demanding inclusion in last term’s Championship Team of the Year.

The latter achievement arrived despite missing two months through injury and despite too being sucker-punched by a pitch invader during the Second City derby. The player went on to score the only goal. Of course he did.

That determination and impact has only increased in recent months, inspired by the captain’s armband and a resolution to finally dispel the doubts that some still hold.

Stationed on the left with a license to roam Grealish has been superb and influential in equal measure. Prior to the weekend fixtures he had recorded 260 carries – 42 more than anyone else across the top flight – with 17 of them ending in a chance created and this plainly illustrates that here is a player not content to pass the buck: instead he drives forward, taking matters into his own hands.

This self-drive has resulted in authoritative performances at Arsenal and Manchester City where he proved to be a thorn in each side. It resulted too in a recent masterclass against Newcastle in front of the Sky Sports cameras. “I live for the big games,” he said post-game. Of course he does.

His virtuoso display that downed Steve Bruce’s side also brought high praise that is long overdue. “He ran the game tonight,” Gary Neville gushed while fellow pundit Jamie Carragher went further still claiming, “Very few players have got it, it feels like when he gets the ball, the game in some ways stops because everyone waits to see what he’s going to do.”

And just when Grealish’s reputation was beginning to culminate, he checked inside and caressed a delightful curled effort into the top-right corner at Old Trafford on Sunday. It was the type of strike that is reserved for some of the most technically refined talents in football, and his nonchalant celebration in front of the Stretford End revealed a level of arrogance that typically accompanies that level of ability.

Socks rolled down and hair in perpetual motion Jack Grealish doesn’t look much like a 21st century footballer nor does he play like one.

England need to benefit from this sooner rather than later.

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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…

Tottenham Hotspur defender Juan Foyth has been speaking to Sky Sports about head coach Jose Mourinho’s approach since he arrived at the club earlier this month, and it shows why he is such a genius.

What’s the word?

Well, the 56-year-old may have been sacked from his previous jobs with Chelsea and Manchester United, but he has proven during his managerial career to date that he is a proven winner, and that he knows what he is doing.

Two wins from two since replacing Mauricio Pochettino is a record that speaks for itself and one many will not be surprised by, and Foyth has offered some interesting insight into what the Portuguese said to the players when he was appointed in north London.

The 21-year-old, who is yet to feature on the pitch under Mourinho, told Sky Sports: “When he arrived, he said we have to go slow. We must not change everything quick. We have to get his idea slow and I think to me and to all the players he tried to give us confidence and see us all happy.

“From the first day he arrived he started to talk with all the players individually and with the squad, and I think that helps.”

Genius

Given what he has achieved and his experience, it would have been easy for someone with the ego of ‘the Special One’ to turn up at Tottenham and completely turn things upside-down and have a serious shake-up following a disappointing end to Pochettino’s reign.

However, as explained by Foyth he has instead taken a more calculated approach, and realised that he has a good squad of players who are perhaps lacking confidence given some of their performances and results this term.

It appears as though the arm around the shoulder and let’s take things slowly method is the one Mourinho has chosen to go with, and it is paying dividends so far even if plenty of work is still needed on the defensive aspect of their game.

Getting everyone in a positive frame of mind and slowly introducing his ideas to the squad is a sensible tactic, and will hopefully lead to more positive scorelines.

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