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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…

France international Loic Remy has opened up on his failed move to Liverpool back in 2014.

What’s he said?

In a revealing interview with The Independent, the former QPR striker has spoken about all things Chelsea, including the fact that he was supposed to sign at Anfield for £8.5m before sealing his £10.5m switch to Stamford Bridge.

“I was supposed to sign for Liverpool,” he said.

“I went for the medical in Boston, then apparently I failed the medical.

“For me, everything happens for a reason, which means at the end of the day, Chelsea. We had a fantastic season. This year Liverpool had been in trouble, it was not the Liverpool of the previous season.”

Bullet dodged

Liverpool had been in trouble. Looking at those five words in 2019 feels a bit strange considering the incredible consistency Jurgen Klopp has instilled at Anfield.

That said, the 31-cap striker definitely dodged a bullet moving to London instead. During his stay at Chelsea, he won a Premier League title and League Cup trophy, and also scored on his debut for the Blues.

In the 2014-15 campaign, which would have been his first year on Merseyside, Chelsea won the league with a whopping 87 points, while Liverpool finished way back in sixth on 62 points, just two above Southampton.

There were plenty of rumours as to why the forward’s move had collapsed, but it’s certainly good to hear him clear the air once and for all.

Now we’re just waiting for the truth about Nabil Fekir…

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…

Barcelona’s latest clash in La Liga saw them completely destroy Sevilla at the Camp Nou, running out 4-0 winners.

The Catalans subsequently head into the international break in second place in La Liga.

And while Ernesto Valverde will definitely not be happy with the two red cards his team received right at the death, there were certainly some major positives to take away from the encounter.

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With Clement Lenglet suspended for the game, it was Jean-Clair Todibo who started the clash next to Gerard Pique at the heart of Barcelona’s defence, and the 19-year-old centre-back definitely did not disappoint.

The Frenchman played 73 minutes before he was substituted off and managed to maintain 95.9% passing accuracy as well as six clearances, while he was only dribbled past once while he was on the pitch.

He was also really brave on the ball, carrying it out of defence and acting as a true ball-playing centre-back, something that has become a trademark of Barcelona’s tactics with their emphasis on including their defensive line in their attacks.

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

Considering that this was his first big chance of the season, having previously only tallied four minutes in the victory against Getafe on the road, this was more than just a satisfactory performance from the young talent.

But more importantly, with Pique missing the next game due to yellow card accumulation, Valverde should be extremely pleased to see that Todibo can be relied upon in times of need.

The sample of games, however, is still pretty small and a more concrete conclusion can be drawn once the 19-year-old has more game time under his belt.

But as things currently stand, Todibo can only improve and his place in Blaugrana’s roster looks set if he can continue impressing as he did against Sevilla.

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…

Speaking to Sporting Life, Southampton legend Matt Le Tissier has named Crystal Palace as his surprise team of the season.

Le Tissier made 303 appearances for the Saints and scored an impressive 109 goals, with 102 of them coming in the Premier League for the south coast side.

Interestingly, the 51-year-old has been particularly surprised by the Eagles’ start to the campaign.

Roy Hodgson’s men currently sit 6th in the Premier League having lost just two of their eight games, and Le Tissier has sung the praises of the work being done by the former England manager.

What did he say?

Le Tissier said: “I think Crystal Palace have surprised me the most. They are sat in sixth place when I would have expected them to be in the bottom six, considering the lack of goals they have in their side. Roy Hodgson is doing a cracking job at the moment.”

A great achievement so far

What Hodgson has done so far this season deserves a lot of praise.

Presumably, the 72-year-old would’ve loved bundles of cash to spend on a prolific goalscorer in the summer, but instead, he had to make do with a spending spree that consisted of roughly £3.5m leaving the Eagles’ bank account.

Gary Cahill was signed on a free transfer. Jordan Ayew arrived in a deal worth £2.5m, and James McCarthy was signed for what The Athletic believe to be a fee under £1m.

Nevertheless, Hodgson has rolled his sleeves up and got on with it in admirable fashion – he has also had to do so without his first-choice right-back from last season in Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who was sold to Manchester United for £50m.

To have a side missing such a key player, as well as one that has had to go without Mamadou Sakho and James Tomkins, performing so well deserves huge credit – effectively, Hodgson has lost three members of his starting back four from 2018/19 (two only temporarily), but has managed to keep the ship steady.

Le Tissier is right in two regards – Palace’s form is extremely surprising, and Hodgson deserves  all the credit.

It seems that the Paul Pogba to Real Madrid rumours are still going strong.

Daily Mirror have come out with some exclusive images that show Zinedine Zidane meeting with the French midfielder in Dubai during the international break.

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And of course, this has only served the purpose of fueling the speculations of a possible transfer in the not so distant future.

Mirror go on to remind us how Los Blancos and Zidane, in particular, wanted to get Pogba during last summer’s transfer window but Manchester United were adamant in not letting their star go.

And it seems that many of the Galacticos’ fans are also not fully on board with this potential piece of business.

Some of them are annoyed with Zidane’s obsession and others were quick to point out that Pogba is not really that good enough and definitely not worth the big bucks Real Madrid could spend on him.

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

Arsenal fans were left fuming after Kieran Tierney was left out of the Arsenal starting XI to play Sheffield United on Monday evening.The summer signing from Celtic has yet to make his Premier League debut following his £25m move to The Emirates.He has, however, played in both the Europa League and the Carabao Cup – against Standard Liege and Nottingham Forest respectively – though Unai Emery opted against utilising him in the clash with Chris Wilder’s men at Bramall Lane.Sead Kolasinac played at left-back instead and fans were disappointed as the Gunners slipped to a disappointing 1-0 defeat, wasting the chance to move third in the table in the process.

Lys Mousset’s solitary goal proved decisive following Nicolas Pepe’s horror miss in the first half.

And supporters were quick to take to Twitter to slam Emery for his team selection.

Take a look at the best of the reaction on social media below!

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Off the Bench series, which places in-game managerial decisions and squad selections under FFC’s microscope.

Charlton Athletic continued their rich vein of form in the Championship by holding the league leaders on their own patch.

Lee Bowyer’s side came away with a share of the spoils against a West Brom team that has lost just once all season.

The Baggies were handed the lead through Matty Phillips after just ten minutes before Macauley Bonne netted his fourth in as many matches to equalise just after the hour mark.

Nathan Ferguson received his marching orders for a rash challenge soon after, meaning Albion were down to ten men for the final 20 minutes or so, and that didn’t stop them then taking the lead after substitute Hal Robson-Kanu curled a scorcher past Dillon Phillips.

But in a moment of controversy, Naby Sarr was fouled inside the penalty area to hand the Addicks a 94th-minute penalty, which saw Josh Cullen step up and duly dispatch home.

Snapshot

Within ten minutes of the red card, Bowyer withdrew one of his most threatening outlets in Erhun Oztumer for Chuks Aneke, who is yet to start a league game this campaign.

This was a move that allowed West Brom back into the game despite only having ten men as Charlton now were without a man that provided two key passes and created one big chance, per SofaScore.

While the 26-year-old failed to have any impact on the match, failing to register a single successful dribble while losing possession four times from just 20 touches.

Beram Kayal didn’t come on until they were chasing the game with just three minutes left – had he come on sooner, maybe instead of Aneke, then Charlton could well have come away with more than just a point.

Off the Bench

The 31-year-old is exactly the sort of man you’d need in either seeing the game out at 1-1 or taking the initiative against ten men to try and win the game.

He’s won multiple Scottish Premier League titles with Celtic, won promotion from this very league with Brighton & Hove Albion, and has featured in both the Premier League (37 appearances) and on international stage (44 caps).

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That’s a list of accolades that not many amongst the Addicks squad can say they have.

As a box-to-box midfielder, he could have offered the ideal level of support in the attack, while also providing some solidity in defence.

He is also described as having ‘quick feet, passing ability, and a combative edge,’ meaning he would have been a far more excellent option than Aneke, who has played just 214 total minutes of football in the league this season.

Ever since that 5-0 loss against Leicester City, Newcastle have looked a far better side.

In the next four games, they have lost just once – 1-0 against Chelsea – with two wins against Manchester United and West Ham and a draw with Wolves being the other results during that run. Now, they are up to 15th in the Premier League table and are four points clear of the relegation zone.

Take a trip down memory lane to a time when Newcastle were giants on the European stage in the video below…

That victory against the Hammers was their latest fixture, with the end result being 3-2 to the Toon. Federico Fernandez, Ciaran Clark and Jonjo Shelvey scored the goals, meaning that £31.5m-valued striker Joelinton (as per Transfermarkt) still has just one goal in the Premier League since signing for the club.

However, he had a good game at the London Stadium, providing an assist and picking up a WhoScored rating of 7.88. And the St. James’ Park faithful were quick to praise their record signing for his display.

They took to Twitter to share their thoughts, and you can see some of the best comments from the social media platform below.

According to The Athletic, Juventus are considering reigniting their interest in West Ham United midfielder Manuel Lanzini at the end of the season.

The report claims that the Italian champions considered launching a move for the Argentina international over the summer but ultimately decided against it.

However, it is being alleged that the Old Lady still have an interest in the attacker, who only signed a new four-year contract with West Ham in August.

Ever wondered how modern day skills would cope with the world’s oldest football? Find out in the video below…

It would be fair to say that the South American has struggled to show his best form for Manuel Pellegrini’s side this season; indeed, the statistics do not lie.

The 26-year-old is yet to score in 10 Premier League appearances this term, whilst he has completed the 90 minutes on just one occasion since the middle of September.

Lanzini has not actually started for West Ham since the 2-0 loss to Everton on October 19, but Juve are reportedly still interested in signing him.

The London club’s fans have been out in their numbers reacting to the transfer claim, and many would seemingly be pleased to see the back of him:

Looks like Sheffield United are looking to bolster their already impressive defence.

Reports from Football Insider suggest that the Blades have turned their attention to former Everton, Manchester City, Sunderland and Blackburn Rovers midfielder Jack Rodwell.

However, the report notes that Chris Wilder is hoping to play him more as a centre-back rather than in midfield.

The Sheffield Star asked fans what they thought of the news, and it’s fair to say that the reaction was mixed amongst the Bramall Lane faithful.

Some seemed to think that he’s someone that they should stay away from, whilst others went for a rather bizarre approach.

You could put this down as ‘blind faith’ as it were, but there were a couple of supporters who are putting a lot of faith in Wilder on this matter, believing that so long as he is OK with the deal, then it’s OK with them.

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Rodwell had recently been in Italy ahead of a possible move to Roma but a transfer to Serie A fell through. He may have to make do with Bramall Lane instead.

Here’s the best of the reaction.

The final tweet might be pushing it a little bit. Even the best managers make some bad choices every now and then. Sir Alex Ferguson signing Eric Djemba-Djemba, a man who appeared just 39 times for United, comes to mind straight away, but I’m sure you can think of some others yourself.