Tag Futebol

After arriving from French giants Lyon in the summer, it’s fair to say Bertrand Traore hasn’t exactly set the Premier League alight with Aston Villa.

The Burkina Faso international had made a slow start to life at Villa Park, with no goals in the top-flight until December 20 when he netted against West Brom.

But since then, he’s shown real signs of finally finding his feet for Dean Smith’s side, bagging four goals in his last six games, including one against Newcastle in a 2-0 win on Saturday night.

The 25-year-old looked in the mood all game, and his confidence told when he scored with his weaker right foot. All night he looked to make things happen, with Magpies left-back Jamal Lewis having his work cut out trying to stop him.

Traore sent in three crosses and cracked off two shots on goal, almost double the amount of shots he’s taken on average in the Premier League this season (1.1). The former Lyon man also provided one key passes on the night too, again higher than his season average thus far.

The Birmingham Mail’s Ashley Preece gave him the second highest match rating of any Villa player with eight, saying: “Smith kept faith with ‘Berto’ who started his seventh-straight match now. Traore looked lively from the get-go and came up trumps with his fourth goal in his last six with a cool-as-you-like side-footed finish with his weaker right foot after 42 minutes.

“Gave Jamal Lewis problems as Cash looked to work with him whenever he could. Starting to become the £17 million player Villa signed in the summer. Oozed quality and had end product to boot. A real trickster.”

The Athletic’s Gregg Evans further claimed that “he’s turning into a big player now”, and that will be music to the ears of Smith, who no doubt would have been desperately hoping that Traore could sprinkle that extra bit of magic at the top end of the pitch.

Whilst Watkins may grab the headlines for finally breaking his goal-scoring duck – he hadn’t scored in his last nine league games – it was arguably Traore who stole the show for Villa.

Meanwhile, Villa must land this Scandinavian starlet…

Leeds have a battle on their hands this afternoon as they take on Burnley in their next Premier League fixture. The fight will get underway at Elland Road at lunchtime and despite the Clarets being below them in the table, it will be no easy feat for the Championship winners.

Due to a major injury blow, the Whites will be without Robin Koch and captain Liam Cooper today, via premierinjuries.com. The crippling news of the skipper joining the two summer recruits on the sidelines could spell huge trouble for Marcelo Bielsa unless he comes up with a solid back-up plan.

Luke Ayling has been operating from the centre-back position in the absence of regular starter Koch, but without Cooper, Leeds look even more exposed.

Illan Meslier could be the man to pull his side out of a hole if he can put in a solid performance between the sticks this afternoon. With a weakened backline, the 20-year-old will need to be alert and at the top of his game in order to protect his goal from the threat of Burnley’s attack.

Whilst the French youngster has been a little off form in several games this season, he has also pulled off some superb performances. If he can keep a clean sheet or at the very least, help Leeds to a win today then it will be a huge confidence boost for the summer signing.

Meslier joined the Whites on a permanent £20,000 per week deal after enjoying a title-winning loan spell last campaign. He has been lauded as a “remarkable” bit of business by Graham Smyth, speaking on the Inside Elland Road podcast (via This is Futbol).

There’s just four points between Leeds and Burnley at the moment – another three for the Whites will put them on their way to comfortably surviving their first season back in England’s top flight.

In other news, Marcelo Bielsa could axe summer signing Helder Costa already…

Leeds United are clearly looking to build for the future now that they are back in the Premier League, and the club have revealed exciting news on young prospect Niall Huggins.

Update on Niall Huggins

Journalist Adam Pope tweeted: “Leeds United full-back Niall Huggins has penned a new contract with the club. The 19-year-old Wales U21 international has agreed a 2.5 year deal, running until the summer of 2023.”

The news has also been confirmed on the Whites’ official site.

This is great news for Leeds

19 year-old Huggins was promoted to the U23 side at the start of the 2019/20 campaign (Transfermarkt), and he has picked up six appearances and one assist in the Premier League 2.

The defender also got his first glimpse of senior football when he travelled up with the senior team for the first time for the 1-0 victory against Everton.

Paul Robinson has spoken highly of the player, as he said: “Huggins is a very good player who’s performed really well in the Under-23s this season. In fact the Under-23s last year and the year before have been particularly strong and there will be a number of them who will be ready for the first team over the next year or so.”

The fact observers are tipping players like Huggins could break into the first team, especially after he already appeared in a first-team squad, suggest Marcelo Bielsa could have a potential selection dilemma on his hands if someone like Luke Ayling dips in form.

The fact he has been awarded with a new contract highlights how much the club value him, and he definitely looks like one that Leeds supporters should keep an eye on for the future of those all important full-back positions.

Former Celtic player Ramon Vega described manager Neil Lennon as a ‘lost soul’ after his side’s 2-2 draw against Hibernian on Saturday.

Vega worried for Lennon

The Bhoys found themselves struggling at Easter Road and had to claw back from 2-0 down with 30 minutes left to steal a late point through Diego Laxalt’s 91st-minute equaliser.

This led to the Irish tactician scolding his players to the media after the full-time whistle after a recent run of disappointing results in the Premiership and in Europe – they are yet to pick up a win on the continent this season (via BBC Sport).

Here is what Vega had to say on Twitter about Lennon after watching his post-match interview, where the boss said that he was not in a position to defend his players.

Vega, who was a centre-back during his playing days, had a brief spell on loan at Parkhead during the 2000/01 campaign, scoring four goals in 25 appearances (Soccerbase) and played closely alongside Lennon that season under Martin O’Neill.

Transfer Tavern take

After all of the success that Lennon has had as a player and manager over the years, this will be one of the most difficult spells of his career so far.

Results are not going his way and the Bhoys fell further behind arch-rivals Rangers, who are still unbeaten in the league this season (via BBC Sport).

Their objective of securing 10-in-a-row hangs in the balance. This week is a big one for Celtic and they must get a result in Prague to boost the confidence of the squad.

In other news, Chris Sutton gives verdict on when Celtic will ‘sack’ Neil Lennon.

تلقى المدرب الإيطالي كارلو أنشيلوتي، المدير الفني لنادي ريال مدريد، أنباء سارة من معسكر منتخب بلجيكا، خلال فترة التوقف الدولية الحالية، وقبل مباراة غرناطة في الدوري الإسباني.

ريال مدريد بعد نهاية فترة التوقف الدولي يُلاقي غرناطة مساء الأحد في تمام الساعة الخامسة والربع بتوقيت القاهرة، على ملعب “لوس كارمينيس”، ضمن لقاءات الجولة الرابعة عشر من الدوري الإسباني.

وحسب صحيفة “موندو ديبورتيفو” الإسبانية، فإن مدرب بلجيكا روبرتو مارتينيز، قرر السماح للثنائي تيبو كورتوا وإيدين هازارد بالعودة إلى ريال مدريد، رغم أن الشياطين الحمُر سيلاقون ويلز اليوم الثلاثاء.

اقرأ أيضًا – كروس يتحدث عن مستقبله مع ريال مدريد.. ويؤكد: علاقتي مع أنشيلوتي مثالية

مواجهة بلجيكا وويلز تُعد بمثابة “تحصيل حاصل”، وذلك بعد تأهل بلجيكا إلى نهائيات كأس العالم، وتواجد ويلز في الملحق، لذا قرر مارتينيز استبعاد هازارد وكورتوا.

وقالت الصحيفة إن أنشيلوتي تلقى هذه الأنباء بسعادة كبيرة، خاصة أن كاسيميرو عاد كذلك مُبكرًا إلى الملكي قبل نهاية فترة التوقف الدولي من البرازيل، وذلك بسبب الإيقاف، حيث لن يتواجد في مباراة البرازيل والأرجنتين.

ومن المتوقع أن يشارك كورتوا وهازارد في تدريبات ريال مدريد، مساء الثلاثاء، بجانب داني كارفاخال، بعد عودتهم من منتخباتهم الوطنية.

All in all, it has been a rather fantastic transfer window for Everton and the deprture of Sandro Ramirez put the icing on the cake for some fans.

The Toffees made three major signings earlier on in the window, with Abdoulaye Doucoure, Allan and James Rodriguez coming in – all three have made a huge difference, with Carlo Ancelotti’s men currently sitting at the top of the table having won all four of their opening Premier League fixtures.

They also dipped into the market on deadline day too, bringing in Ben Godfrey and Robin Olsen. Not only that, they were also able to shift Theo Walcott on loan, whilst Sandro Ramirez left the club permanently.

Since signing in 2017, Ramirez made just 16 appearances, scoring one goal – such was the lack of impact he made, the club did not even announce on their Twitter page that he had departed.

The Toffees fans, though, were absolutely delighted that he has left the club, and commended sporting director Marcel Brands for the deal. They took to Twitter to share their thoughts, and you can see some of the best comments from the social media platform below.

Let us know what you think!

Things may be a little big gloomy at Tottenham at the moment after their opening day loss against Everton, but they have made three of the most exciting signings of this transfer window.

Gareth Bale’s talents are obvious to all due to his incredible trophy haul and individual honour roll, but there are two other intriguing signings Jose Mourinho’s side have made this summer.

On the Chalkboard

Spurs’ signings of Sergio Reguillon and Matt Doherty have certainly raised a few eyebrows as the London club have spent a combined £45m on two areas that could easily have been pinpointed as weaknesses in the past.

Watch Tottenham Hotspur Videos With StreamFootball.tv Below

However, no matter how talented these players are, they will only flourish if the roles they’re asked to play in suit their skillset, and it’s quite obvious to see that both players are a modern mould of wide defender in that they love to go forward.

Doherty’s 16 goal contributions in the past two seasons from right-back show how much he likes to get up the pitch, while Reguillon’s eye-catching displays in the Europa League consisted mainly of him bombing down the wing, with the Spaniard completing 1.6 dribbles per game in the league last season.

Therefore, Mourinho needs a system to get the best out of these two, and it seems rather obvious as to what that should be.

5 at the back

Mourinho has often operated with a back four with sturdy defensive full-backs, think of Ashley Cole and Paolo Ferreira at Chelsea, but with the game evolving around him, he has to change tact.

With the talent he has at his disposal moving to a five at the back would make the world of sense, it would allow him to use Doherty and Reguillon as more attacking options, while also opening up the opportunity for Ryan Sessegnon to work his way into the wing-back spot.

It will also allow Eric Dier to play in his preferred centre-back spot, while also retaining some of the ball-playing responsibilities of a holding midfielder and not having to take on as much defensive responsibility as he would if he was playing as a part of a back four.

Once Reguillon is up to speed, it will be interesting to see how the former Chelsea manager lines up his side, but it wouldn’t be too surprising to see him switch to a back five.

Coventry City goalkeeper Marko Marosi has heaped praise on the club’s new summer signing Gustavo Hamer.

The 23-year-old became Coventry boss Mark Robins’ first signing ahead of their much anticipated return to the Championship after gaining promotion as League One champions this year.

The Dutch youth international arrived at the Sky Blues for a fee of £1.5m and has a good amount of experience in Dutch football, having made his professional first team debut for Feyenoord against Ajax back in 2017.

Following a short loan spell with Dordrecht in the Eerste Divisie, Hamer joined PEC Zwolle and it was his performances there which gained a move to the Midlands based side.

Shot-stopper Marosi has now handed fans some optimism over Hamer’s signing by touching on his impact and character since joining the Sky Blues.

“Gustavo is unbelievable,” he told Sky Blues Extra podcast as quoted by Coventry Telegraph. “He is a funny guy as well and a great character.

“All of them have been great to be fair, it is nice to have Callum [O’Hare] and [Ryan] Giles back. They’re nice, old faces.”

Joining Hamer at Coventry this summer is Julien Dacosta, who joined from Chamois Niortais on a free transfer and they have since been joined by three more players.

Callum O’Hare was next to be announced as a Coventry signings, agreeing a permanent move from Aston Villa, whilst Marcel Hilssner and Ryan Giles then came on board.

Gustavo Hamer has made quite the impression since joining Coventry behind the scenes it seems, and fans will be excited to see him play his first league game at for the club.

Mark Robins has made some excellent signings this summer and more could follow as the new Championship season gets closer and closer.

How much of an impact do you think Hamer will make at Coventry? Let us know in the comments section below…

One of Tottenham Hotspur’s January targets has reportedly been made available for transfer this summer and given the departure of Jan Vertonghen, it could well be wise to revisit his credentials…

What’s the word?

According to Sky Sports, West Ham are prepared to offload central defender Issa Diop for £45m with two Premier League teams interested in his signature.

The 23-year-old is one of the low earners at the London Stadium and could welcome a move elsewhere.

Kavel Solhekol reported back in December that Spurs were keen on the Irons colossus and saw him as a potential replacement for Vertonghen or Toby Alderweireld – though, the Hammers valued him at £50m back then.

Defensive reinforcements

It is no secret that Spurs are probably in need of a new centre-back following the Belgian’s exit. Jose Mourinho’s backline leaked a total of 47 goals this season, the second-most of any top seven side in the PL.

But is Diop worth it at £45m?

The 23-year-old is quite the imposing figure, standing at 6 foot 4 inches, and has enjoyed a pretty decent season for the Irons aside from battling relegation.

Per WhoScored, he averaged a whopping 5.1 clearances, 1.5 interceptions and 0.8 tackles per game and also won 2.5 aerial duels per match too.

Those in north London should know the Frenchman pretty well after he put in a masterclass display against Spurs towards the end of the 2018/19 season.

Diop contributed towards a clean sheet against an attack led by Heung-min Son and Lucas Moura, who both failed to get a sniff at the goal. No Irons player recorded a higher rating (8.0) via SofaScore.

The powerhouse notched eight clearances, six interceptions, two tackles and won 80% of his duels, leaving Son with a paltry 6.5 rating and less than 30% duels won.

Mourinho has also previously been a fan of the Frenchman, calling him a “monster” who “dominated every duel” whilst FourFourTwo magazine described Diop as “a tremendous athlete, excellent in the air and quick across the ground.”

Diop and Spurs could be a match made in heaven, so Levy shouldn’t baulk at their £45m asking price this summer.

AND in other news, Spurs target £15m upgrade in La Liga star who crosses more than Messi…

أعلن نادي برشلونة الإسباني، أنه سيقدم استئنافًا جديدًا من أجل لاعبه سيرجيو بوسكيتس، واستئناف آخر للمدرب رونالد كومان، على إثر أحداث مباراة قادش في منافسات الدوري الإسباني.

وكانت لجنة المنافسات أعلنت فرض عقوبات على مدرب برشلونة رونالد كومان، واللاعبين سيرجيو بوسكيتس، وفرينكي دي يونج.

وتعرض المدرب الهولندي، الذي طُرد خلال الدقائق الأخيرة من المباراة بعد مخاطبة الحكم الرابع، لإيقاف مباراتين.

وعليه، ستقام مباراة الأحد المقبل ضد ليفانتي دون وجوده على مقاعد البدلاء، وأفاد برشلونة في بيانه أن الخدمات القانونية بالنادي ستدرس يوم الاثنين إمكانية اللجوء إلى استئناف حتى يتمكن كومان من الجلوس على مقاعد البدلاء في واندا متروبوليتانو خلال مباراة أتلتيكو مدريد المقرر خوضها يوم 2 أكتوبر.

من جانبه، سيغيب دي يونج عن مباراة ليفانتي بعد حصوله على بطاقتين صفراوين خلال خمس دقائق، فيما سيقدم النادي مناشدة جديدة لاستئناف العقوبة المتراكمة على البطاقة التي تلقاها سيرجيو بوسكيتس قائد برشلونة.

برشلونة قدم استئنافا بالفعل لرفع عقوبة الإيقاف عن دي يونج وبوسكيتس، لكن تم رفضه من قبل لجنة المسابقات (طالع التفاصيل).

ℹ️ El Club presentarà recurs per la groga a Sergiohttps://t.co/OqIT0JUJ0c

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_cat) September 24, 2021