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Manuel Pellegrini has changed up West Ham United’s system for (mostly) the betterment of the Hammers. 

However, one player he’s been unable to get the best out of is Arthur Masuaku, that’s for sure. Indeed, the left-back was quite the revelation for the Irons last season, igniting their attack with his commendable work down the left flank as David Moyes steadied the ship.

Yet, for one reason or another, the experienced manager has not seen that much potential in him. Masuaku’s made 17 Premier League appearances for the Hammers this season but hasn’t improved defensively. In fact, his disastrous display in their 3-0 battering away at Wolves looks the boiling point of Pellegrini’s patience.

Not only has he not started a match since, Masuaku is apparently being readied for being sold off. According to reports (according to the Daily Mirror via HITC), the Hammers are looking to offload him due to his defensive weakness.

However, this could be a mistake.

Masuaku might not be the best defensively, but his attacking contribution cannot be disregarded.

Also, apart from Aaron Cresswell (who has the knack of picking up injuries), the Hammers don’t have enough cover at left-back right now. Other issues must be addressed over the course of Pellegrini’s second summer in charge and they shouldn’t waste money buying defenders.

Indeed, while Felipe Anderson has made the left-wing role his own, Masuaku can be an effective squad player for The Hammers. Furthermore, rotating him with Cresswell and reigniting his competitive nuture can help him and mitigate the amount of times he’s left on his own defensively.

While Masuaku needs to improve his defensive knowledge, his attacking contribution cannot be undermined. In games where West Ham’s attack is nullified, he can be Pellegrini’s trump card due to his electric, tricky nature and crossing ability.

Letting him go for cheap can come back to haunt West Ham next season.

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Blackburn Rovers produced a woeful first half performance against Middlesbrough at Ewood Park on Sunday. Boro were good value for their 1-0 half-time lead, courtesy of a Britt Assombalonga strike. Despite a second half improvement, Rovers couldn’t overturn the deficit and slumped to their fourth consecutive Championship defeat.

After the game, Blackburn boss Tony Mowbray gave his verdict on his side’s first half display.

What he said

As quoted by the Lancashire Telegraph, Mowbray was damning in his assessment of his team’s performance.

The 55-year-old said, “I didn’t recognise many of them first half I would have to say…We didn’t compete, I’m not sure where it came from.”

How much money could you make busking for a week as a freestyle footballer? Find out in the video below…

Mowbray acknowledged that his side showed more spirit and quality after the break, but the game was lost in the opening 45 minutes, “we nearly sneaked something in the second half which was much better, but the first half we don’t see want any performances of that level ever again.”

Rovers are currently 14th in Championship and probably safe from relegation fears, but Mowbray must arrest his side’s dismal run of form soon. His comments after Sunday’s defeat indicate the frustration he is feeling with his squad.

What he meant

Mowbray’s words can be considered as a warning to his squad. The likes of Jack Rodwell and Corry Evans need to improve. There is some talent in this Blackburn squad, but they aren’t showing it.

Mowbray will hope that his public condemnation of their first half display elicits a positive response from the group. 

In the opening period against Middlesbrough, Rovers didn’t manage a single shot on target and were penned back in their own territory for much of the half. In a home game, that simply isn’t acceptable. Mowbray’s words need to have their intended effect, for the sake of the remainder of Blackburn’s season.

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Liverpool failed to find the result they were missing again Bayern Munich earlier on in the week as they, once again, failed to find a way past a deep-lying defence – the Reds were held to a draw by bitter rivals Manchester United.

It could have been a whole lot worse for the league leaders, though, had it not been for goalkeeper Alisson, who was one of only a few Reds to put in a performance to be truly proud of – others were shells of the players that put United to the sword in December, Mohamed Salah included.

The Egyptian’s incredible first season on Merseyside has set equally high standards for this campaign but he has, thus far, failed to replicate them, with his poor showing on Sunday the latest in a string of sub-par performances.

It has been made clear this year that the electric winger requires a hatful of chances to find the net and therefore it is of little surprise that he was unable to strike at the weekend – the former Roma man had just one shot, which failed to hit the target.

United left-back Luke Shaw kept the speedster silent throughout, although a crazy first half saw Liverpool catalyst Roberto Firmino make way due to injury – the Brazilian’s absences previously have often left Salah extremely isolated.

With Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s battlers hot on his every touch, Salah was dispossessed a match-high 6 times in an uncharacteristically sloppy showing – the number 11 is usually reliable with the ball at his feet but this clash was an exception.

If his disappointing afternoon surely couldn’t get any worse, the 26-year-old took just 40 touches – the second-lowest of the Liverpool outfield players who played over 60 minutes.

Watch how to cross the road like a boss with freestyler Ben Nuttall in the video below…

The Anfield outfit begin a hectic week of football by hosting Watford on Wednesday before a visit to bitter rivals Everton at the weekend, both games of which Salah will see as an opportunity to nip his bad run in the bud.

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Mauricio Pochettino has been handed a touchline ban by the FA after an altercation with referee Mike Dean.

The BBC report that he has been suspended for two matches, against Southampton and Liverpool, and has been hit with a £10,000 fine after squaring up to the referee following Spurs’ clash with Burnley.

Tottenham lost at Turf Moor in a game that derailed their title hopes – they would lose to Chelsea later in the week, all but ending their challenge – and Pochettino was involved in a heated confrontation with Dean following the final whistle.

The referee, who was set to be the fourth official for the clash with the Blues, was withdrawn from that role while the Argentine refused to contest the FA charge.

He has now been handed what may be seen as a harsh punishment; he will be in the stands at St Mary’s Stadium and at Anfield, meaning assistant Jesus Perez is likely to take on the managerial role for each encounter.

And fans have reacted to the news with a mixture of shock and horror, with many insisting Dean was the instigator of the incident. Take a look at the best of the reaction on Twitter below!

Rangers central defender Joe Worrall came in for plenty of praise after his side’s 1-1 Scottish Cup draw away at Aberdeen over the weekend with the 22-year-old grabbing the Glasgow club’s equaliser.

“I thought Joe was outstanding,” Rangers manager Steven Gerrard told The Scottish Sun after the game. “It was a man-of-the-match performance and he will be a captain of whatever team he plays for.”

Gerrard’s words on Worrall’s suitability to be captain wherever he plays is a clear hint that the Nottingham Forest loanee is likely to return to and remain at the City Ground next season.

And if that turns out to be the case, Gerrard will undoubtedly need to bring in a new centre-half with Martin Skrtel a possible candidate to come in.

Skrtel, who was linked with a move to Ibrox last summer (via Daily Record), is set to leave Fenerbahce at the end of the campaign when his contract expires and would be a name who could bring so much to Gerrard’s side.

A strong tackler and dominant presence in the air, Skrtel has the sort of experience that would give Rangers a huge boost in any potential SPL title race against rivals Celtic.

Should Worrall return to England, then Rangers should look no further than Skrtel when it comes to bringing in a replacement.

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Aston Villa midfielder Jack Grealish was involved in a shocking incident during Sunday’s derby clash with Birmingham City at St Andrew’s when a pitch invader attacked him from behind, and we have all now seen plenty of images of the perpetrator and what he did.

However, there are some photos in the aftermath of the altercation that have gone under the radar, including the following one that shows Blues players gathering round the 23-year-old to ask if he is ok and to help the Villans captain to his feet.

On a day where one individual brought shame upon the game of football, it was good to see that even though it was a hostile occasion between two teams desperate for the bragging rights, the hosts were able to instantly react in the right way – as you would expect.

Who has been the Championship’s best player this season? The Pl>ymaker FC squad discuss in the video below…

Of course, Grealish went on to score the decisive goal in a crucial 1-0 win for his team, which took them one point above Garry Monk’s side in the league standings and just four adrift of the top six.

With one point separating the two and 10 fixtures remaining, it is still very much all to play for during the run-in.

Football is finally coming home for Tottenham fans. After almost two full seasons at Wembley Stadium, the Lilywhites will be returning to N17. The first game at the new stadium has been confirmed by the club for April 3rd against Crystal Palace, and Tottenham fans are already fearing the worst for the clash.

Whilst Tottenham fans may be quietly panicking that they’re set to be embarrassed in front of the watching world when their stadium is finally opened for business, the news that they’re set to leave Wembley is fantastic. With every home game at the national stadium the unrest around their homelessness grew, and as they return the fans cannot wait to get their identity back.

In the Lilywhites’ final season at the old White Hart Lane, they went throughout the entire Premier League campaign unbeaten at home. That is the kind of record that they want to be able to boast at the new place too, and with a tough run-in between now and the end of the season there really is no reason why moving back home can’t be the momentum boost they needed in the race for the top four. However, the fans lack of confidence could be taken as a worrying sign from the tweets below.

You can see what the Lilywhites’ have been saying after the news broke here:

Despite the positive news that the fans have been waiting ages for, the Lilywhites have still managed to put a negative spin on things and don’t look confident of grabbing a win in their grand opening.

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Arsenal defender Stephan Lichtsteiner has admitted to Swiss media outlet Neue Zürcher Zeitung that he is unsure of his future at the Emirates Stadium.

What’s the word, then?

The 35-year-old was speaking whilst on international duty with the Switzerland team he’s captain of, implying to the football world that he doesn’t know what his future holds as his contract in north London runs out at the start of the summer transfer window.

Lichtsteiner was only signed on a one-year deal by Unai Emery last year and has struggled to hold down a regular place in his first season with the Gunners, making just 12 appearances in the Premier League, a chunk of them from the substitutes’ bench.

The attacking right-back and right-wing-back who has also been known to cover in other positions around the defence has enjoyed a distinguished career in which he’s represented clubs such as Juventus and Lazio and collected 104 Switzerland caps, but it appears to be set for another turn at the end of 2018/2019.

It’s been a fun season, but it’s time to move on

While Lichtsteiner has also waxed lyrical about how much he’s enjoyed his first campaign at the Emirates, it should go down as the first and last.

For large parts of the season, the vastly-experienced star has been nothing more than a fringe figure and there’s very little to suggest his contribution would be greatly missed should he leave in the summer.

One simply can’t see the veteran picking up more minutes in his second term at Arsenal as he’s already comfortably past the average retirement age and not getting any younger, it would merely be a waste.

If Emery needs defensive cover on the right side, his man is a different player already on the club’s books, former England man Calum Chambers.

The 24-year-old has spent 2018/19 impressing in a number of positions at struggling Fulham and deserves to be kept when he returns in May, just as versatile as Lichtsteiner, Chambers is the ideal option to fill his role next campaign.

The Gunners would be making a very positive move by letting a young, fresh and hungry player replace an ageing one by keeping Chambers and letting the man 11 years his superior quietly leave with dignity in the summer having not been offered a new deal.

Chelsea are set to emulate the Lukaku disaster with another prodigy reportedly keen on leaving this summer, according to Sport Bild (via Sport Witness).

Daishawn Redan, a former product of the illustrious Ajax youth system, only moved to Chelsea two years ago but could be leaving as early as summer after finding notoriously limited opportunities at Stamford Bridge hard to come by.

Once billed by Chelsea’s official website as a ‘versatile forward who can operate on the wide-left or as a number 10’ and someone who ‘developed an incredibly habit for scoring goals’, Redan’s ambitions have now outgrown the confines of youth football.

According to Sport Bild (via Sport Witness) the Netherlands youth international sees ‘no chance’ of making his way in the first-team setup and is setting his sights on a move way from the club.

Borussia Monchengladbach are said to be interested in the player with sporting director Max Eberl keen on strengthening his attacking options next season, but there are a number of admirers from the Premier League also mentioned in the report, including West Ham, Everton and Leicester City.

Everton, who benefited from one of Chelsea’s former castoffs, Romelu Lukaku, whom they signed in 2014 (as per BBC Sport), and scored 87 goals in 166 appearances, will be paying close attention to how the story unfolds.

The Toffees have struggled in the forward position of late. Indeed, their most recent out-and-out striker, Cenk Tosun, has failed miserably to meet the standards of the Premier League and whilst summer recruit Richarlison has done an admirable job, they will be keen on signing a top-quality candidate in the next window to allow him to move back to his natural left-wing spot.

Everton fans, would you prefer to sign an established player or invest in youth, like Redan, this summer? Let us know in the comments below…

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Leeds United teenager Ryan Edmondson produced a match-winning display as the club’s U23 side won the Professional Development League North with two matches to spare on Monday night, and Whites fans were quick to have their say on the striker.

Despite his tender years, the attacker made his debut for the first team last season as a substitute and has also made one outing in the Championship this term for the Yorkshire club.

The 17-year-old’s main job has been starring for the U23s though, and his brace in the 2-0 win against Colchester on Monday took his tally for the current campaign to 14 goals at that level.

With Kemar Roofe injured in recent weeks it is perhaps a surprise that Edmondson hasn’t had more of a look in when it comes to the first-team matchday squad, and one fan certainly suggested that to be true with a tongue-in-cheek comment of “wish Leeds had a striker like this”.

That is in relation to the fact that Patrick Bamford perhaps hasn’t been as clinical as he could have been in Roofe’s absence, and many others have championed the youngster’s case to be more involved.

Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…