Losing Ben Foster was a blow to West Bromwich Albion, so they responded by moving for Sam Johnstone.
The goalkeeper signed for the Baggies from Manchester United following a lengthy loan spell at Aston Villa.
The 25-year-old had been on the Red Devils’ books for his entire career, but he failed to find a route to the first team.
Johnstone impressed during his time at Villa, and there were suggestions that he should move to the Midlands outfit permanently, but in the end he signed on the dotted line at The Hawthorns.
The Playmaker FC squad decided to wind-up some unsuspecting Brazil fans at the Emirates on Saturday night. Watch the hilarious results in the video below…
The shot-stopper has started all 19 of West Brom’s Championship matches, and even though they are well positioned in fourth place, the team have kept just one clean sheet in the league.
On Wednesday night, Darren Moore’s side earned a 2-1 triumph over Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium, claiming a third straight league win.
On Twitter, plenty of fans were delighted with the result but unsure about Johnstone.
Unai Emery has breathed new life into an Arsenal side who were starting to suffocate under Arsene Wenger and, for the first time in years, there is genuine buzz around the Emirates as fans feel that there is real potential for success this season and beyond.
The Gunners have a solid spine of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Mesut Ozil and Lucas Torreira, but one feels that there are still areas that are in desperate need of reinforcement – should these weak points be addressed appropriately in the January transfer window, the north London club have every chance of finishing in the top four and, more importantly, above rivals Spurs.
Unfortunately, success doesn’t tend to come cheap in the modern game – an anomalous 2016/17 season aside – as the Pep Guardiolas and the Jose Mourinhos of the Premier League spend stupid amounts on their respective squads, so for Emery and his team to really push for Champions League spots cash must be splashed.
Click through the gallery to see how Sven Mislintat and co. can get the best bang for their buck…
Daniele Rugani is regarded as one of the most promising young centre-backs that Europe has to offer and it would surely require a sizeable fee to prize the Italian away from the Old Lady but it is undoubtedly worth it.
The current Arsenal crop of defenders includes Sokratis, Nacho Monreal and Stephan Lichtsteiner – all of which are in their thirties and thus the twilight of their careers, and so bringing a ball-playing centre-half with a lot more time on his hands should be a priority for Emery as he looks to shape his back line for years to come. Rob Holding needs a partner for the long term and Rugani should be that man.
Former Juventus man Lichtsteiner could play a huge hand in this deal coming to fruition and so it’s not as an unrealistic transfer as it first seems – the project going on at the Emirates is an attractive one.
Brais Mendez isn’t yet a household name but would surely become one if he got a move to Arsenal, the Spaniard recently received a first call up to the senior national side and has chalked up three goals and three assists for Celta Vigo this season already.
The 21-year-old is capable of playing as a wide or central attacking midfielder and his eye for a pass and long range shooting would add a different dimension to the Gunners attack.
Completing 2.1 key passes and taking on 2.5 shots per game, the Sky Blues academy graduate is heavily involved in the attack but is far from a passenger in defence as he averages 1.7 tackles per game, too (WhoScored).
Valued at just £5.4m by Transfermarkt, the maestro could be one of the bargains of the window if Emery snaps him up.
Ben Chilwell is arguably England’s best option at left-back after being called up in October once Luke Shaw withdrew from the squad due to injury and Emery must look at him as a huge upgrade on both Nacho Monreal and Sead Kolasinac.
The former is in his twilight years now and the latter doesn’t seem to be fully trusted by the Gunners boss so finding a player who he can depend on through the remainder of the season and beyond should be of paramount importance if he wants to keep pace with the top four.
Scooping the man of the match award on two occasions, the 21-year-old is capable of stealing the show himself and has the technical and crossing ability to bring the absolute best out of the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Manchester United managed to rescue a point against Southampton after being two goals down in the first half.
Goals from Stuart Armstrong and Cedric Soares looked set to heap even more misery on Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United. However, Marcus Rashford inspired a comeback with United drawing level before the interval. Romelu Lukaku and Ander Herrera both found the back of the net and United were unable to find a winner after the break.
Not for the first time this season, Mourinho fielded a makeshift defence, perhaps sending a message to United board that a new defender needs to be signed. Scott McTominay and Nemanja Matic both started in a back three – something which can’t continue if United are to secure a place in the top four. The transfer window reopens in less than a month, and defensive reinforcements should be a priority.
The perfect addition to the squad could be Atletico Madrid defender – Jose Gimenez. Valued at £45m by Transfermarkt, the Uruguay defender has blossomed into one of the world’s finest defenders under the tutelage of Diego Simeone. Working with countryman Diego Godin, a player United chased in the summer, has done wonders for his development in Spain.
Despite being just 23-years-old, Gimenez has already been capped 43 times by his country as well as making over 90 appearances in La Liga. The youngster is a natural born leader who would add some much-needed stability in the Red Devils back four. Strong in the tackle and excellent at reading the game, Gimenez has the potential to be one of the best centre-backs in the world.
Landing the Uruguayan defender in January would finally give Mourinho the world-class defender he has been crying out for.
Arsenal’s club-captain, Laurent Koscielny, made an emphatic return to the Premier League on Sunday with a clash at Southampton, but his first appearance in the league since April turned out to be somewhat of a nightmare as the Saints ended the Gunners’ unbeaten run with a 3-2 win.
Arsenal boss Unai Emery were again forced into defensive changes with Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis Papastathopoulos missing the encounter at St Mary’s due to suspension, while Sead Kolasinac was ruled out with injury. Indeed, apart from Koscienly leading the team out and left-wing Nacho Monreal also returning from injury, did Emery opt for a back-three formation again with Stephan Lichtsteiner and Granit Xhaka partnering Koscielny at the back.
But the Frenchman was quickly reminded of the pace and physicality of the Premier League as two positioning errors in defence saw former Liverpool striker Danny Ings outsmarting the Arsenal captain and finding the back of the net twice before half-time.
While some Arsenal fans might have slated Koscielny for his lack of judgement in defence on Sunday, Emery should rather not see it as a matter of not ‘good enough’ for his system.
One Europa League match last week before the clash at the South Coast were the only two occasions that Koscielny has worked with the new Arsenal manager on a matchday and will it take time for both player and manager to understand each other in terms of expectations and execution on the pitch.
Koscielny is still one of the most experienced players in the Arsenal squad and would it be foolish of Emery to snub him after one match. Instead, the manager should continue to back him this week as Arsenal host rivals Tottenham Hotspur in the Carabao Cup quarterfinal on Wednesday, before welcoming struggling Burnley in the Premier League on Saturday.
Both of these matches will be prime situations for Koscielny to continue his comeback from that horrible ankle injury he suffered at Atletico Madrid in May.
The Spurs clash especially will present the 33-year-old with a great task of defending against the likes of Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen.
Proving himself against attackers like that will only increase his confidence and help him get back to his known best.
Raheem Sterling deserves the utmost respect for finally standing up to an industry that has irresponsibly reported on his personal life for years now. And that’s an incredibly disappointing thing to say, as part of that industry – the sports media – considering he’s still just 24.
Most young men of Sterling’s age probably don’t even know who they really are or what they want to do with their lives just yet, but the England international has already had a personality and profile drawn out for him in public by hacks with their own subversive agendas.
Indeed, Sterling’s response to the incident at Stamford Bridge was a real eye-opener for those working in the industry that now need to question the integrity of their own reporting on the Manchester City winger and others, harking back several years.
While it doesn’t seem to apply to all black players, Sterling has highlighted undeniable, systematic prejudice against minority footballers who – for one reason or another – are pushed into a certain narrative that has subliminal ethnic demonisation at its core.
But there’s another layer to the awakening Sterling’s unleashed onto an entire industry. If immoral reporting has helped to create an environment where those supposed Chelsea fans – and I use the term supposed because it’s inexplicable that a racist can be a true supporter of a club that in 2012 voted Didier Drogba their greatest ever player – feel hurling racist abuse is acceptable, how long exactly has this problem been going on for?
Judging by the fact the accusations came by those watching on TV rather than nearby attendees at Stamford Bridge, and coupling it with the banana incident in the North London Derby the weekend prior, it seems that racism has been rife amongst sections of football supporters for some time now. Perhaps it never truly went away.
And in fact, when Playmaker FC recently held an exclusive interview with Jermaine Jenas (video below), the former Tottenham midfielder revealed that he always received racist abuse after North London Derbies. Jenas started playing for Spurs in 2005, nearly 14 years ago now.
Of course, nobody is naive enough to think racism hasn’t been a problem in football during this time. But after the horrific monkey chanting of the 1980s, there has been a perception of English football cleaning up its act – the incidents requiring the most condemnation largely taking place abroad.
Whenever there has been an incident, it has often been dismissed as a one-off, the inevitable failure to stop small-minded individuals or the tiniest of minorities. Never, really, have events like Mido being subject to Islamophobia from Newcastle fans in 2008 and Chelsea fans pushing black travellers off the Paris Metro in 2015 been perceived as part of the same tapestry – a tapestry of tacit acceptability amongst supporters, further vindicated by what’s printed by the newspapers.
That’s why Lord Ouseley continues to argue that the FA and the Premier League hide behind Kick It Out, and his colleague Troy Townsend continues to demand more funding, while insisting there are players who feel let down by the powers at be.
That’s certainly the feeling which is now coming across; for far too long, the key organisations at the top of football have treated racism as isolated occurrences, whereas the recent incidents and Sterling’s response have shown the problems are far more widespread and systematic.
Of course, it’s important not to perceive racism in football as a byproduct of the media alone. Newspapers can set the agenda for society but they also reflect the opinions that currently exist within it. In other words, the publications wouldn’t be able to get away with the callous manner in which they’ve covered Sterling’s personal life, which has unquestionably included racial undertones, if there wasn’t a willing readership for it.
Soccer Football – UEFA Nations League – League A – Group 4 – Spain v England – Estadio Benito Villamarin, Seville, Spain – October 15, 2018 England’s Raheem Sterling celebrates scoring their third goal Action Images via Reuters/Carl Recine
Such reporting isn’t limited to sports figures either; from immigration and Brexit to benefits frauds and crime reports, the subliminal messages on ethnic lines span all areas of the media, not just football.
But what has become unequivocally clear, is that another push to stamp racism out of football is greatly needed. For far too long, the English game has rested on the laurel of the situation being far better than it was in the 1980s and thus intrinsic racism has become a marginal problem, an issue that only touches the fringes of fan bases and football clubs.
That, ironically, is partly because Kick It Out has done such an incredible job with limited support from the governing bodies since its creation in 1993. But Ouseley and Townsend can’t do it all on their own; they can’t transform an industry or completely re-educate the ignoramuses of the terraces.
Which is what’s so frightening about what Sterling’s brought to light. If only now, the white majority and the media industry are realising that the last six years of reporting on Sterling and a variety of black players has been viciously subversive, and if that has legitimised if not further fuelled disturbingly racist underbellies of supporter groups, and if Jenas had experienced racial abuse after every North London Derby from 2005 onward – how long has this been going on?
How long has racism been acceptable amongst substantial portions of fan bases? How long has the media influenced, incubated and indoctrinated that way of thinking? And, most troublingly of all, how long have we all been ignoring it?
According to Football FanCast sources, Manchester United have been in talks with Zinedine Zidane for several months but the former Real Madrid manager will only agree to take the Old Trafford job if the club meet three key demands.
What’s the word?
After a humbling defeat and disastrous performance in last weekend’s Northwest Derby at Anfield, which only highlighted the ever-expanding gap between Manchester United and the rest of the Premier League’s Big Six in terms of both style of play and results, Ed Woodward decided to pull the plug on Jose Mourinho’s time at the club – the Portuguese’s abrupt departure being announced on Tuesday morning.
Club legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been appointed on an interim basis until the end of the season, but it’s no surprise that United are keen to hire a permanent manager with a proven record at the very top of the game. Zidane was not only a World Cup and Champions League winner as a player, but also lifted the latter accolade three times with Real Madrid after initially being drafted in as a nightwatchman following Rafa Benitez’s short-lived reign at the Bernabeu.
A source has told Football FanCast that United have been chasing Zidane’s services for several months already, suggesting that Woodward and the club’s board had been preparing for life after Mourinho for some time prior to his actual sacking. Zidane, however, is fully prepared to walk away from the opportunity to take over at Old Trafford if his three key demands aren’t met by the Red Devils.
French Connection
Perhaps the most significant of the terms being imposed on United is Zidane’s insistence on not only Paul Pogba being sold, but furthermore the deal to happen before he’s officially appointed as the club’s new manager.
Football FanCast have been told that Zidane is not a fan of Pogba, despite both belonging to a very exclusive club of World Cup-winning French midfielders, and the Real Madrid legend doesn’t want one of his first duties at the club being to permanently dislodge a player who proved more powerful than the last manager.
Watch the video below to find out who the Playmaker FC squad are tipping to be the next Man Utd manager…
That’s not to say Pogba won a power battle with Mourinho as such, though. If anything, the incredibly public breakdown of their relationship only highlighted the baggage that comes with the former Juventus man.
He’s incredibly talented but inconsistent in attitude and frustratingly individualistic. More pertinently, he’s become a marketing force so vast that it’s actually become quite dangerous for United’s managers.
At times, it feels like Pogba’s profile is bigger than the club itself, something which often put Mourinho in a precarious position. Clearly, Zidane doesn’t want that same challenge to his authority from within his own dressing room.
Bringing in fresh faces
While Zidane may want rid of one Frenchman in Pogba, he’s eager to bring another one to Old Trafford in Raphael Varane – his second demand to the club being a swoop for the Real Madrid centre-half.
Ironically, Mourinho’s adoration of a player he once described as the ‘best defender in the world’ is no secret, and it was actually the club’s failure to prise Varane away from the Bernabeu in the summer that caused many of the problems the Portuguese suffered during his final season at Old Trafford.
As The Telegraph reported in August, United refused to pay for a new centre-half unless he was of the same calibre of Varane, a decision which undoubtedly raised tensions between Mourinho and Woodward as the Red Devils entered the season lacking an obvious leader in the heart of defence.
At times, Mourinho ended up playing midfielders Ander Herrera, Scott McTominay and Nemanja Matic at centre-back, as United conceded 29 goals in 17 Premier League games.
But United were prepared to pay £100million for Varane last summer, only to discover that he wasn’t available, and even at the end of what looks set to be a disappointing season for the reigning European champions, it will be difficult to convince Real Madrid to sell. Transfermarkt value Varane at £72million, but due to his age, proven quality and experience, the Red Devils could well end up paying double that sum.
Football FanCast were also told that Zidane, in his third demand, wants to bring another player into the club – however, this second target remains unnamed. Considering Zidane’s insistence upon selling Pogba, an alternative central midfielder with creative qualities seems the most likely, although United are also short of an obvious right winger and both defensive flanks require fresh blood.
According to the Daily Mail, West Ham United are considering launching a bid to sign out-of-favour Everton midfielder James McCarthy on loan this January.
What’s the word?
After a number of injury lay-offs, McCarthy is now back to full fitness. However, he is not back in the Everton team. The 28-year-old has not featured at all for Marco Silva’s side this season. It now appears, if the midfielder is to get back to playing the regular football he needs, he must seek an exit from Goodison Park as soon as possible.
West Ham may not be able to offer him the week in, week out game time he needs either. At best, McCarthy would probably just be a bench option at the London Stadium.
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A loan move down to Championship level though would give McCarthy the chance to be a regular starter again. Impressing in the second tier regularly could earn the 41-cap Ireland international a permanent switch to another top flight side in the summer.
Aston Villa should make a bold move to bring McCarthy to the Championship on a temporary basis until then.
Revitalising his career
The Villans have been revitalised somewhat under the management of new boss Dean Smith, but he lacks depth in the middle of the park. McCarthy would bring Premier League experience and an injection of quality to Villa Park. His arrival could help the Midlands outfit sustain their bid for a play-off place.
If he can keep fit and impress in the Championship, then a switch to Villa could revitalise his career.
Following a Christmas, New Year’s and FA Cup hiatus Football FanCast’s Fixture in Focus Podast is back, as the Premier League returns this weekend following the Third Round.
It may seem like a long time ago now, but the last Premier League game was Manchester City and Liverpool’s thrilling title clash at the Etihad Stadium. Episode 22 of Fixture in Focus starts with a look back at that game – a dissection of exactly where it was lost and won.
Then there’s the not-so-small matter of this week’s Fixture in Focus: Manchester United have enjoyed an instantaneous revival under the watch of interim manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, but the Norwegian faces the toughest test of his reign this Sunday when his side will face Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley.
To give us the inside scoop on all matters Spurs, Talking THFC’s Sean Cook joins Christy Malyan in an exclusive interview covering Tottenham’s right-back conundrum, Mauricio Pochettino’s future and the much-delayed stadium move.
Host James Jones and FIFpod regular Chris McMullan are back in the fold as well, for the first Fixture In Focus episode of 2019. If you love what we do and don’t want to miss another episode, don’t forget to subscribe on your preferred podcast platform by clicking here.
According to The Scottish Sun, former Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has refused to rule out signing for reigning Scottish Premiership champions Celtic this month.
The 35-year-old has indicated that he will discuss the potential move with Bhoys boss Brendan Rodgers before any final decisions are made.
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Whilst the 101-cap Ivory Coast international may be past his best, he could still add some quality depth to the ranks at Celtic Park. What’s more, his extensive experience, which includes winning three Premier League titles and one Champions League crown, could be invaluable in the dressing room as the Hoops look to fend off Rangers’ title challenge.
As long as Rodgers could agree a fair wage deal with the 6’2″ midfielder, then signing Toure would be an affordable and smart bit of business on his part, and would blow their arch-rivals’ January moves for Steven Davis and Jermain Defoe out of the water.
What do you think, Celtic fans, would signing Toure on a free transfer be a wise move?
Manchester United fans have been going crazy after David De Gea returned to his best to save the Red Devils time and time again at Wembley.
The Spanish ‘keeper made the second-highest number of saves he’s ever been forced into during a Premier League game when United squared off with Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, as he refused to be beaten by Harry Kane and co’s best efforts.
Marcus Rashford had put the visitors one goal to the good as Mauricio Pochettino’s side sleepwalked through the first half without a shot on target, but Spurs came out firing after the break, and a lesser-shot stopper would have struggled to prevent the Lilywhites from equalising and maybe taking the lead.
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Altogether, the 28-year-old was tasked with parrying eleven efforts during the second half and refused to be beaten as he flung his feet and hands in any direction to meet the ball.
While he may not be totally to blame, United have conceded a staggering 32 goals in 22 Premier League games this term, but Sunday’s efforts recaptured the imagination of the Old Trafford faithful who dubbed the goalie once destined for Real Madrid as the best in the world…